verb issue s214 (nov.2-8, 2012)

ARTS CULTURE MUSIC SASKATOON

PHOTO: COURTESY OF BRANTLEY GUTIERREZ

DOUG CHISHOLM Documenting the SK GeoMemorial project

KILL COUNT The Balconies knock ‘em dead

FLIGHT + TRISHNA Films reviewed

ISSUE #214 – NOVEMBER 2 TO NOVEMBER 8

AUTHENTICOBSESSIONWITH METRIC

VERBNEWS.COMVERB MAGAZINE CONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS COVER FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

2NOV 2 – NOV 8

PLEASE RECYCLE AFTER READING & SHARING

THEIR NAMES LIVE ON Doug Chisholm and the stories behind the GeoMemorials. 4 / LOCAL

GUNS A’ BLAZIN’ Adventurer “Two-Gun” Cohen’s adventures started right here. 6 / LOCAL

PAY PALSEqualization payments can only go so far. 8 / EDITORIAL

COMMENTSHere’s your say on surviving a zombie apocalypse. 10 / COMMENTS

Q + A WITH THE BALCONIESTalking Kill Count. 12 / Q + A

NIGHTLIFE PHOTOS We visit 302 and Diva’s. 22-25 / NIGHTLIFE

LISTINGSLocal music listings for November 2 through November 10. 18 / LISTINGS

FLIGHT + TRISHNA The latest movie reviews. 20 / FILM

ON THE BUS Weekly original comic illustrations by Elaine M. Will. 26 / COMICS

BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN Talking with Julie Doiron. 13 / ARTS

GOURMET PASSIONSThe Hollows serves up great sustainable food. 16 / FOOD + DRINK

MUSICNeil Young, Leonard Cohen + Eric Church. 17 / MUSIC

PIANO MANJeffery Straker hunts down Glenn Gould’s piano. 13 / ARTS

ON THE COVER: METRICMetric searches for something real. 14 / COVER

GAMES + HOROSCOPESCanadian criss-cross puzzle, horoscopes, and Sudoku. 27 / TIMEOUT

CULTURE ENTERTAINMENTNEWS + OPINION

VERBNEWS.COM@VERBSASKATOON FACEBOOK.COM/VERBSASKATOON

EDITORIALPUBLISHER / PARITY PUBLISHINGEDITOR IN CHIEF / RYAN ALLANMANAGING EDITOR / JESSICA PATRUCCOSTAFF WRITERS / ADAM HAWBOLDT + ALEX J MACPHERSON

ART & PRODUCTIONDESIGN LEAD / ROBERTA BARRINGTONDESIGN & PRODUCTION / BRITTNEY GRAHAMCONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS / PATRICK CARLEY, PATRICIO DEL RIO, ADAM HAWBOLDT + ALEX J MACPHERSON

BUSINESS & OPERATIONSOFFICE MANAGER / STEPHANIE LIPSITMARKETING MANAGER / VOGESON PALEYFINANCIAL MANAGER / CODY LANG

CONTACTCOMMENTS / [email protected] / 881 8372ADVERTISE / [email protected] / 979 2253DESIGN / [email protected] / 979 8474GENERAL / [email protected] / 979 2253

PHOTO: COURTESY OF ANDREW FERGUSON

CONTENTS

VERBNEWS.COMNEWS + OPINION CONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS COVER FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

4NOV 2 – NOV 8

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE »

LOCAL

n May 30, 2003, Doug Chisholm climbed into his floatplane,

the same Cessna 180 he has been flying since 1978. After taking off from La Ronge he turned northeast and flew low over the sweeping expanse of Lac La Ronge. He was bound for MacPherson Bay, an in-let on Iskwatikan Lake, one of the countless bodies of water scattered across the northern landscape. Chisholm has logged more than 5,000 hours behind the controls and never tires of watching the bo-real forest pass beneath his wings. Northern Saskatchewan is a place of limitless beauty. All the better for the task at hand, he thought.

After the Cessna touched down, Chisholm stepped out onto the shore. He screwed a bronze plaque onto a rocky spur while his passenger for the day played a lament on the bagpipes. After taking some pictures, shooting some video, and observing a moment of silence, the two men departed. Chisholm has installed hundreds of similar plaques, observed hundreds of moments of silence. They are perma-nent reminders that initially com-memorated only the men and women from Saskatchewan killed serving in the Second World War, though now the program has expanded to include individuals who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

No one asked Chisholm to devote his life to cataloguing and commem-orating the thousands of GeoMemo-rials that litter northern Saskatch-

ewan. He does it because he thinks it is important. “It’s about honour,” he says simply.

Doug Chisholm was born in Scotland and came to Canada with his family a few years later. By 1975 he was living in La Ronge, chasing a career in aviation. Then as now, northern flying is tricky business. The hours are long and the pay insignificant, but Ch-isholm persevered. In 1978, he bought a floatplane, the silver 1954 Cessna he flies today. He couldn’t know it, but the purchase would have lasting ramifications. “I’d be flying around

the north and every once in awhile I’d come upon a plaque on a shoreline someplace that would explain the ori-gin of the name,” he says. “It would be in memory of someone from the Sec-ond World War who had lost their life. I always kind of knew about it, but it wasn’t real common knowledge.”

Chisholm had stumbled across the province’s GeoMemorials, geo-graphic features that were named for Saskatchewan casualties killed during the Second World War. He flew like this for years, occasionally

recognizing a site as a GeoMemorial but rarely paying much attention to them. Then, in 1997, a cold call changed everything. “I was looking for something new to do, and I was interested in taking pictures from my airplane,” he explains. “I got a phone call from a fellow I knew ask-ing if I’d take a picture of an island out on Lac La Ronge.” Chisholm agreed and soon learned the island in question was named for Pilot Of-ficer James Soutar, an airman from Shaunavon killed when his Short Stirling plunged into the North Sea on August 18, 1942. Soutar’s sister was dying of cancer and yearning

for a glimpse of the island named for her brother. Too frail to travel, she ar-ranged for Chisholm to make the trip.

“I went out and circled the island and I took these pictures,” he recalls. “They weren’t sure if there was a plaque there or not, so when I circled the island that day I landed. There was a cabin there. I talked to the owner and he said, ‘I don’t know if there’s a plaque but we’ll go look.’ We got in the boat and went around the island. I got some sand from the shore, some leaves from the trees,

O

Each site is different. They’re just like the individuals that once lived…all different…

DOUG CHISHOLM

Doug Chisholm and the SK GeoMemorials. BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

THEIR NAMES LIVE ON

@VERBSASKATOON NEWS + OPINIONCONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS COVER FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

5NOV 2 – NOV 8

took some pictures, and sent this package.” His curiosity piqued, Chisholm began looking at the names covering his maps. He made phone calls and looked for information wherever he could find it. “It took me quite awhile, going from office to office,” he says. “People would go, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know,’ and trans-fer me to somebody else.” Eventually, a helpful bureaucrat agreed to give Chisholm a copy of the master list. He was shocked when he opened the envelope: the list included more than 3,800 names. “When I looked at that and reflected on that, then I knew I had something to do,” Chisholm says simply. “Then I knew I wanted to pursue this.”

More than 45,000 Canadians perished during the Second World War. In 1947, the federal govern-ment elected to name geographic features for those killed overseas. Responsibility for the program was transferred to the provinces in 1960; in Saskatchewan, it evolved under the leadership of Abraham Bereskin, provincial director of surveying. Today, there are 3,940 such sites across the province, each named for a resident killed while serving the Commonwealth.

Chisholm, of course, knew none of this. When he began his research, information was all but impossible to come by. Even the official list was vague. “All I had was the name of the individual, his rank, the casu-

alty date, and the location of the geographic feature,” he explains. “It didn’t say his hometown; it didn’t say how old he was; it didn’t say where he was buried — none of that stuff.” He began by writing to legion branches and anyone else he thought might know more about the individu-als on the list. He even photographed cenotaphs to cross-reference them with the master list. People were ea-ger to help and soon he had enough information to begin a card file, one card for each of the servicemen and women on the list.

At the same time, he began taking a camera with him whenever he went flying. “I’ve photographed just about all of them,” he says, adding that the project has consumed about 1,200 hours of flying time and countless thousands of dollars. Chisholm has never received a government grant; families sometimes support the project, but most of the funds are his own. He is modest about this, although he recognizes the impact of his work. “I would meet men and women that had lost a brother in the Second World War, meet them and meet their kids, and they would say, “Dad would never talk about the war.” All of a sudden, they started to open up. The people would ask questions and they would reflect and tears would come to their eyes, but the stories would start to emerge. It became an opportunity to deal with it.”

Chisholm receives far fewer requests for information these days, partly

because so much is now available online, and partly because he pub-lished a book, an attempt to share his research with the public.

In 2001, the Canadian Plains Research Center published Their Names Live On, a collection of 78 stories Chisholm unearthed. One of them is about Ian Edgar MacPher-son, the same man named on the plaque Chisholm installed that day in 2003.

MacPherson, who was my great-uncle, was born in Regina. He gradu-ated from the Royal Military College in 1940 and spent that summer en-during the Blitz in London. Attached to the Indian Army, MacPherson sailed for the east that autumn. His ship was torpedoed off the Irish coast and he narrowly escaped drowning. He reached India in December, 1940, and spent almost two years training in Karachi with the 7th Gurkha Rifles and complaining in letters home about the lack of action and excitement.

After Pearl Harbour, MacPherson’s unit was dispatched to defend Ran-goon against the Japanese invasion of Burma. He served during the long retreat out of Burma and spent much of 1942 in the jungle with a clandes-tine group known as V Force. Later, he was recruited for the Second Chindit Expedition by Orde Wing-ate, and spent the spring of 1944 embroiled in some of the war’s most bitter fighting.

He was killed in action near Mawlu on April 18, 1944. MacPher-son was mentioned in dispatches

three times; he was only 23 years old when he died.

“Each site is different,” Chisholm says of the more than 2,000 GeoMe-morials he has photographed and researched. “They’re just like the in-dividuals that once lived and served our country. They were all individu-als, they were all different, and each

site is different and unique.” Just like the individuals whose names will live on.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF DOUG CHISHOLM

@MacPhersonA

[email protected]

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372


6NOV 2 – NOV 8


LOCAL

he Two Gun Quiche House is a gangster-themed restaurant in

Saskatoon’s Riversdale neigh-bourhood. Its colourful walls are adorned with black and white pictures of crooks and wiseguys from bygone eras — noteworthy individuals like Bugsy Siegel, Lucky Luciano and John Gotti.

And to people of a certain bent (those who dig true crime, watch gangster movies and/or read history), all of these names and photos should be vaguely familiar.

All except one.At the far end of the restaurant,

on a pillar facing the kitchen, there’s a picture, from the shoulders up, of a man. This photo is black and white and faded. And in it the man’s head is cocked slightly to the left.

“Who’s that?” I ask Bill Mathews, the owner establishment.

“That,” he answers me, looking up from where he’s sitting, “is Two-Gun Cohen.”

According to Two-Gun Cohen by Daniel S. Levy, Cohen was born in

1887 to Orthodox Jewish parents in Poland. At a young age his family moved to London where he stayed until the age of 12, when he was pinched for pick pocketing and sent to reform school.

Five years later, after Cohen had graduated, his family — still wary of the lad’s troublesome ways — sent him across the Atlantic to work on a farm near Wapella, Saskatchewan.

His parents reckoned some good honest labour, clean living, and fresh prairie air might help set their son on the straight and narrow.

They reckoned wrong. Sure, Cohen worked the land for a while, but manual labour wasn’t for him. So, not long after arriving, Cohen took off to travel the Old West. He worked his way around, making a living as a

grifter, pickpocket, pimp, card shark, real estate broker and barker for the Greater Norris & Rowe Circus. Even-tually, Cohen’s travels brought him to Saskatoon. And it was there his life would forever be changed.

One evening in 1911, Cohen en-tered the Alberta Restaurant — a chop suey joint/gambling den on

20th Street. Cohen was a regular there, so much so that the owner, Mah Sam, would often stake Cohen a meal if he was down on his luck. From time to time, Mah Sam would even help Cohen out with a few dollars for gambling purposes.

But on that fateful night in 1911, it was Cohen who would be doing the helping.

T

GUNS A’ BLAZIN’Adventurer Morris “Two-Gun” Cohen is remembered in Saskatchewan. BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

[Cohen] trained Sun [Yat-sen’s] troops in boxing and shooting.

ADAM HAWBOLDT

PHOTO: COURTESY OF ADAM HAWBOLDT / VERB MAGAZINE

/VERBSASKATOON NEWS + OPINIONCONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS COVER FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

7NOV 2 – NOV 8

The moment Cohen walked into the Alberta Restaurant he knew something was wrong. Up near the counter his friend Mah Sam had a scared look on his face and was frantically trying to pull his beloved diamond ring off his finger.

There was only one other person in the restaurant and Cohen recog-nized the situation for what it was — a robbery. Unarmed, he approached the robber slowly, being careful not to alarm him. Then, when Cohen was close enough to lay hands on him, he let loose a savage punch and socked the robber on the jaw.

Down the crook went. And out.Cohen quickly took the robber’s

gun and gave the stolen cash back to Mah Sam. Once the robber got to his feet, Cohen gave him a kick or two in the backside and threw him out of the restaurant.

“You have to realize this was a different time than now,” says Randy Pshebylo, executive director of Riversdale Business Improve-ment District. “You have to go back to a time when discrimination was blatant, some would even say harsh. So for a white guy to stand up for a

Chinese fellow like that, it was sim-ply unheard of.”

Indeed it was. It was also an act of kindness Mah Sam would never forget. Not long after that night, Mah Sam — a staunch supporter of the Chinese nationalist cause — intro-duced Cohen to nationalist leader Sun Yat-sen, a revolutionary who was part of the movement that overthrew China’s Qing Dynasty in 1911. Following a stint in World War I, Cohen moved to China in 1922.

There he became Sun Yat-sen’s main bodyguard, and trained Sun’s troops in boxing and shooting. He also smuggled weapons, hung out with some of China’s chief political figures of the time, became a general in the army, and was named Chief of Chinese Intelligence.

It was also in China he picked up the nickname “Two-Gun.” After being shot in the arm during battle, Cohen trained himself to fire profi-ciently with both hands, and started carrying around two guns — one for each hand.

“He was quite the colourful character,” continues Pshebylo. “And to think, no matter how you spin the

story, it all started here … down on the 100-block of 20th Street, that day he stood up for Mah Sam.”

Sitting in the Two Gun Quiche House, not far from where Cohen’s saga began, I’m still staring at his picture on the wall. In it, Cohen’s brow hangs low, eyes glaring off into the distant.

“What a crazy life he led,” I say, wondering how a juvenile delin-quent from Poland could end up in China, by way of Saskatchewan, at the helm of the Chinese army.

That’s when Bill tells me he heard they’re making a movie about Two Gun Cohen. And he’s right. Accord-ing to the Hollywood Reporter, Rob Reiner (of A Few Good Men fame) and Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) are in the process of making a film about Morris Cohen’s curious life.

And to think … it all started here in Saskatchewan.

@AdamHawboldt

[email protected]


PHOTO: COURTESY OF ST. MARTIN’S PRESS


8NOV 2 – NOV 8

EDITORIAL

h, Quebec. La belle province. Our sister to the east has quite

a bit going for it, not the least of which is a pretty sweet racket that involves the rest of the country funneling money into it so that it can keep providing free in vitro fertilization and cheap day care to those who live within its borders.

Yep, this is thanks to the equaliza-tion payments in Canada. And while we think the program is a good one (and helping out people with their children is great), we also believe that Quebec has been taking advantage for far too long.

Equalization has been around for quite a while, and in 1957 our first for-mal system was introduced, whereby provinces with more money (“have” provinces) would give money to provinces with less money (“have-not” provinces). This was intended to create relatively comparable levels of public services for everyone in Canada, regardless of where they lived.

But in 2011-12, Quebec received $7.639 billion in transfer payments, more than every other “have not” province put together. And we don’t have a problem with “have not” provinces receiving help — hey, until 2009 Saskatchewan was on the receiving end of that money train. What goes around comes around, and all that jazz.

What we do have a problem with, though, is Quebec’s steadfast abuse of the system. For lack of a better

word, it’s downright scandalous. See, whereas most provinces try to get into the black, Quebec doesn’t give a hot damn if it ever becomes a “have” province.

You see, Quebec provides a lot of great services to its citizen, such as the lowest university tuition in all of Canada, publicly funded day cares, subsidized private secondary school and free IVF (a treatment that can cost as much as $15,000 a round). That’s nice, but the fact is Quebec is a “have not” province. And as Policy Options editor L. Ian MacDonald notes, these are services that even the “have” provinces can’t afford to provide.

Since the formal system of equal-izations was introduced in the ‘50s, Quebec hasn’t even come close to wading into “have” waters, mostly because government after Quebecois government would rather let our tax dollars bail them out than improve their own economy. Sacre bleu! That is pure federalist crazy talk! In fact, within 24 hours of taking office, Quebec’s recently elected Marois government announced that they have no intentions of developing the province’s shale-gas industry.

Hold on a second. Quebec has natural gas they can tap into and, perhaps, one day become a “have” province? It sure does.

But because Quebec stands to lose about 50 cents in equalization payments for every dollar it makes in resource revenue, they’ve decided improving their economy isn’t worth

the effort. The Quebec government should have the common decency not to take advantage of our tax dollars. And if they absolutely must have an extra incentive to do so, perhaps they should look to the Maritimes provinces for inspiration.

Newfoundland and Labrador found itself in a similar situation not so long ago, where their economy was in shambles yet the cost of developing their offshore oil reserves would mean plenty of work without much gain. But instead of just giving up, like Quebec, they negotiated a special deal with the federal govern-ment to continue to receive full equalization payments while they built up their oil industry. It may seem at first like they’re double-dipping (and they basically were), but in just three years they had oil rigs up and running and became a “have” province for the first time in Canadian history.

We think something similar should happen in Quebec. But for now, if you need to park your kids in day care, you know where to go.

These editorials are left unsigned because they represent the opinions of Verb magazine, not those of the individual writers.

A

PAY PALSQuebec’s abuse of equalization payments needs to stop.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF TEDDSON

@VerbSaskatoon

[email protected]



10NOV 2 – NOV 8


COMMENTS

Text your thoughts to881 VERB

8372

ON TOPIC: Last week we asked how you would survive a zombie apocalypse on the prairies. Here's what you had to say:

– Very good zombie article. What a fad craze phenomenon. I have an idea I feel could capitalize. Expect an email on the subject shortly.

– The zombies brought Sandy

– I’d get a small group of people and take over cabela for gears and weapon and Walmart beside it for food and necessity

– Hi there just wanted to say for the zombie apocalypse as good of a plan as an island is... Zombies can walk underwater.... Maybe not to that depth though

– Zombie apocalypse! I thought I was supposed to be freaking out about the mayan calendar ending or something.

– I don’t think leaving a populated area is a good idea. Then if you’re surrounded there’s no one to show up at the last minute and save you!

– So stockpile old people for bait. Got it.

– I bet the cold here breeds hardier, fast-moving, super smart zombies. We’re F**ked. Just give up now

– Can zombies smell cuz if they can theyl just track u like a dog no mater where ur hidin

– Island to survive zombies attack is stupid they can walk under wa-ter dumbass. And if the cold wont kill em they can walk over ice and eat ur brains in the winter

– I’m more scared of Brad Wall than the zombie apocalypse

– Halloween SH*t see Zombies all the F**kn time! After hours on Broadway

OFF TOPIC

– Shame on Kelly Block for want-ing to cut health care for imigrants these people come to our country with very little money in hopes for a better life!

In response to “The Unwelcome Wagon,”

Editorial page, #212 (October 19, 2012)

– Love Plants and Animals! Muah can’t wait !!!! XD

In response to “The End of That,” Cover

story, #213 (October 26, 2012)

SOUND OFF

– Alot of negitive feedback on Don Atchison winning the election shame on you! Mr Atchison has done more for our city than any other mayor!

– Now is about the time when the food bank starts hoarding food for the Xmas hampers. Hoarding food! while children are hungry just so everyone can play themselves for a few days at Xmas time thats it not like that here.

– 100 yrs ago the buffalo extermi-nated Indians were starving on Re-serves. The Indian agents handed out flour with maggots and rancid lard. Good enough for starving Indians they thought. The food bank is just the same Indian agent thinking in a wealthier soci

/VERBSASKATOON NEWS + OPINIONCONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS COVER FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

11NOV 2 – NOV 8

ety. “Start seeing the hampers as half full” Yeah the Indian agents said sh*t like that too.

– The food bank is not about enough to address the need. The food bank is about just enough to address the guilt. Does a truly charitable society need Charities?

– If your landlord is a little “un-usual” you’re living DOWNtown!

– Loved the downtown shoutout for the comic! Sweet. Look forward to that thing every week!

– Oh! That family that got ripped off 2 mnths rent by a phony landlord! We need landlord school and a landlord registry people can check.

– With the damage and intensity from hurricane sandy we are re-minded that God is still in charge.

– Thinking of friends and fam in southern Ontario/eastern seaboard and especially in NYC. Thoughts and prayers go out to those experiencing Sandy first-hand especially the first respond-ers who are on the scene in the heart of the mess. God bless

– Sandy out east, earthquakes in BC. Pretty glad to live in the middle of the country right now!

NEXT WEEK: What do you think about Quebec’s use of transfer payments? Pick up a copy of Verb to get in on the conversation:

We print your texts verbatim each week. Text in your thoughts and reactions to our stories and content, or anything else on your mind.

VERBNEWS.COMCULTURE CONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS COVER FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

12NOV 2 – NOV 8

Q + A

I

KILL COUNTThe Balconies knock ‘em dead with their new EP. BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF COURTNEY LEE LIP

magine three classically-trained musicians. Now imagine a dirty, sweaty

indie rock band fond of smashed guitars and bloody fingertips. Mash the two together and you have the Balconies, one of Ottawa’s most promising exports. Made up of sib-lings Jacquie and Stephen Neville and drummer Liam Jaeger, the Bal-conies are a force to be reckoned with. I caught up with Neville to talk about, well, plenty of stuff.

Alex J MacPherson: This is the inevitable question, so let’s get it out of the way. How does the classical angle figure in to your music?

Stephen Neville : Stylistically, I don’t think it has a huge impression on our music, but it certainly

has an effect on the way we interact as a group, which really affects how we write together. Because we have the same education background, when we aren’t writing and start-ing to brainstorm, we use the same musical language to communicate ideas. It puts us on the same footing.

AJM: Which leads into Kill Count. It sort of feels less like a collection of songs than it does one piece of music with different movements.

SN: We think about that idea, but I’ve never put it so eloquently. We definitely think about having smooth

transitions and making sure that, tonally, the keys lead into each other properly … That is something a classical artist would think about.

AJM: What’s the appeal of playing as a three-piece?

SN: We’ve always been fascinated with three-piece outfits. It’s a chal-

lenge, everyone having complete output in order to fill up the sound. We’ve really been drawn to the clas-sic three-piece outfits, like Cream, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Police, and newer groups such as Nirvana and Green Day. All those groups, it’s always really been about the song — that’s something we re-ally care about. Not only is it a freak-show onstage, it’s also really concise musical songs.

AJM: With some bands, the idea of the song gets lost behind the veneer of pro-duction. How did you skirt that trap?

SN: I think it has a lot to do with how we worked with Jon Drew, who produced the record. He heard us hashing out the new songs, came to

some of our live shows. His impres-sion of how it should sound was as we were onstage … He’s not trying to change the sound of the band; he was enhancing the sound of the band. AJM: You are renowned for your live show. You even called it a freak-show. What can people expect from the Balconies?

SN: I think the song itself, when we’re doing live shows, the structure is still there. We’re not deviating from anything integral, but at the same time we’re very active onstage. There is lots of movement and we try to keep it fresh — nothing scripted or rehearsed onstage. We’re not changing things on a massive level live, but we’re defi-nitely thinking about that.

The Balconies November 8 @ The Odeon$24.50 @ The Odeon Box Office

@MacPhersonA

[email protected]


Not only is it a freakshow onstage, it’s also really concise musical songs.

STEPHEN NEVILLE

@VERBSASKATOON CULTURECONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS COVER FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

13NOV 2 – NOV 8

ARTSARTSARTS

PIANO MAN Jeffery Straker, Glenn Gould, and a very special instrument. BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

D on’t let the number fool you. Julie Doiron hasn’t

released a record in more than three years, but that doesn’t mean she has been in hiding. Since I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day came out in 2009, Doiron toured the album relentlessly before spending time on the road with her second project, the folk collaboration Daniel, Fred & Julie. She also played guitar in The Country of Miracles, Gord Down-ie’s band. Now, though, Doiron is back with a record of her own.

“Basically I was on the road for almost two years,” Doiron laughs. “When that was done I knew I had all these songs but I didn’t want to rush into recording them. Then I would have to go back on the road. It was a conscious decision, actually, to not make a record.”

Although So Many Days is ostensibly a showcase for Doiron’s stripped-down singer-songwriter aes-thetic, the sonics also reflect her rock and roll experiences. “I really love the way it turned out,” she says. “A lot of that is to do with working with Rick [White]. He made the other two

records with me … He knew I wanted to take the songs in that direction.”

Threaded together by Doiron’s smoky voice, the songs on So Many Days cover a lot of territory. “Another Second Chance” is a simple ballad; “Our Love” is a fully-realized rock song. But while the record may contain some of Doiron’s best songs to date, she’s just excited to hit the road.

“I think it feels good,” she laughs. “I’m really excited to start moving forward and actually playing shows and promoting this particular record. Some of these songs I started writ-ing quite awhile ago, and I started playing them a little while ago, but it’s going to be way more fun to play them … It feels really good.”

Julie Doiron November 9 @ Amigos Cantina$10 (ticketedge.ca)

J

PHOTO: COURTESY OF PETER CUNNINGHAM

BACK ON THE ROAD AGAINJulie Doiron can’t stop touring. BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

PHOTO: COURTESY OF CALVIN FEHR

@MacPhersonA

[email protected]


effery Michael Straker is excited about Glenn Gould’s

piano. Which is strange, consider-ing that Gould was renowned for his Bach interpretations, while Straker’s rollicking piano stomps bear little resemblance to any-thing Johann Sebastian could have imagined. Nevertheless, Straker couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make Gould’s piano the heart of his latest record, Vagabond.

“It was flukey and lucky, yet easy,” Straker says, adding that Danny Michel, who produced the record, had

a contact at the CBC where Gould’s piano is stored. “Gould practiced on it, he performed a bit on it, and it’s not like Toronto is littered with his pianos — he didn’t have a lot of them and they’re not easy to find. It’s not really advertised that it’s there…but Danny really enabled this.”

Instrument choice is extraordi-narily important in the recording studio. In Straker’s case, Gould’s piano set the tone for what became Vagabond, his most contemplative record to date. “To me this was the ultimate piano-playing experience,”

he says. “It laid this magical founda-tion for the rest of what we were trying to do.”

Straker’s sound is difficult to pin down. He had dabbled everything from cabaret and pop to piano-driven rock. But Vagabond surprised every-one, including Straker. “I knew with this effort I wanted things to sound different than they had before, because to me that’s a big reason why I keep making these things,” he says. “That said, having a different approach to capturing the piano sounds was great. When I sat back at the end I thought, ‘Wow, this is different for me.’”

From “Birchbark Canoe,” the delicate ballad that opens the record, to “Myopia,” a perfect combina-tion of cagey orchestration and pop

aesthetics, Vagabond highlights Straker’s commitment to making fully-realized tunes. It is his stron-gest and most introspective batch of songs to date, an apt demonstration of how experience and confidence combine to create something greater than the sum of its parts. “My record Step Right Up in 2008 was very much outward-looking,” he says. “The last one turned the lens inward a bit, but this one really turned it in. There’s a lot of honesty in it. That’s what I hoped people would hear, anyway.”

And even though Straker, a man of apparently limitless ambition, has plans to tour Vagabond extensively before writing another record, he will always remember the time Glenn Gould’s piano came into his life.

Jeffery StrakerNovember 10 @ The Refinery$15/20 @ http://ontheboards.ca


14NOV 2 – NOV 8


etric have always looked to the hori-zon. They have been

cited as champions of the DIY ethic, a band unafraid of charting a course around crumbling record labels and outdated expectations. Some see Emily Haines, Jimmy Shaw, Joules Scott-Key, and Joshua Winstead as the vanguards of a new form of music, others see them as the voice of a generation. But if their earlier efforts pushed the envelope of what rock music can be, their latest album, Syn-thetica, turns the lens inward. It feels like looking into a mirror.

“I know that was a real personal thing for [Emily],” guitarist and pro-ducer Jimmy Shaw says of the mirror analogy. “A lot of what she wrote about in the past, I think, was about external observation. It was about looking at the world and examining the world and looking at it with a criti-cal eye and trying to piece together what she’s seeing, trying to interpret what’s going on around her.” This is the essence of Fantasies, which was released in 2009. But unlike Fantasies, which took Metric into new terri-tory both musically and intellectu-ally, Synthetica rarely leaves Haines’ darkened bedroom. “I think this time around something happened for her where she realized that the internal is actually the same as the external,” Shaw says. “What you see externally is basically just a reflection of what’s going on internally.”

Shaw describes Synthetica as a record about the time we live in, a

little slice of history. It covers a lot of territory — some of it familiar, some of it not — but it always returns to the malaise, the alienation and the isolation, spawned by the rising tide of technology, the terrifying speed of information, and our feeble attempts to understand what it all means. “It’s a part of everyone’s daily conscious-ness,” Shaw says. “Like, what the f*ck is Facebook, exactly?” Haines ad-dresses the same idea on “Breathing

Underwater”: “They were right when they said / We were breathing under-water / Out of place all the time.”

At its core, Metric is the creative part-nership of Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw. Haines was born in New Delhi and grew up in northeastern Ontario. Shaw was born in England and grew up in Bellevue before decamping to New York for three years to attend the Juilliard School. The pair met in the late 1990s; by 2003, they had re-cruited Joules Scott-Key and Joshua Winstead and released Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? The record became a rallying point

for music fans across the country; well before Arcade Fire catapulted Canadian indie rock into the spot-light, Metric were converting people with their cagey rock sensibilities and unwavering love of questioning the status quo. Since Old World Underground, they have expanded the scope of their ideas, as well as their reputation as a first-rate rock band. Synthetica is their most consistent, cohesive, and coherent record to date.

But Shaw says it began life as little more than a desire to experiment.

“The thing I really loved about the process of making this record as opposed to other ones is that I knew I was looking for something that I really hadn’t heard before,” he says. “I didn’t know what it was but I knew that something was going to hap-pen.” Metric decided to work from the outside in. They built a wall of analog synthesizers — Shaw dislikes working with computers — and be-gan to make noise. “There was a mo-ment when what happened sonically just sort of congealed and locked together,” Shaw recalls. “I remember looking at Liam [O’Neil, who engi-

COVER

M

SYNTHETICA Metric’s relentless search for something real. BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

[Y]ou can talk about why something works or doesn’t work forever, but ulti-mately music is like its own language…

JIMMY SHAW

/VERBSASKATOON CULTURECONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS COVER FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

15NOV 2 – NOV 8

@MacPhersonA

[email protected]


PHOTO: COURTESY OF JUSTIN BROADBENT

PHOTO: COURTESY OF JUSTIN BROADBENT

neered the record] and saying, ‘That’s the sound, that’s the sound of this record, that’s what’s going to happen, and we need to follow this.’ That was really cool — and we did.”

Synthetica emerged as a vaguely apocalyptic view of the world today. Packed with recurring themes (“I’m just as f*cked up as they say / I can’t fake the daytime”), and tinged with

a sense of foreboding (“Hangman / We played double dutch with a hand grenade”), it feels like an attempt to counter the rise of the cheap and the disposable, to make something permanent and lasting. This, Shaw points out, is easy to say. “I remem-ber driving back from a show [one night],” he says, laughing. “We were listening to the radio and a song came on, a song from the late ‘70s or something like that. The lyrics were hilarious. It was like, light, laser, disco show, trying to be futuristic. At the time, those words referenced some-thing that was so futuristic. Now it’s so incredibly dated and hilarious. I wondered at that moment whether

all the concepts and the sort of mal-aise and confusion that is portrayed in Synthetica [might], in fifteen years, be the most ridiculously passé thing to think about.”

Whether or not Synthetica can capture the feelings of a genera-tion remains to be seen. What isn’t in question is the band’s mastery of the rock song. The first single, “Youth Without Youth,” is classic Metric: spiky guitars, a pulsating, hypnotic synthesizer, and Haines’ voice. “Breathing Underwater,” on the other hand, casts one of Haines’ best vocals against a repetitive indie-pop guitar lick. When asked about writing Synthetica, Shaw struggles to frame his response. “I try not to think about it a lot,” he admits. “When my ears tell me that the song needs work, the song needs work. When my ears tell me the song is done, the song is done. I feel like there are a lot of conversations that happen about why, and I tend to try and stay as far away from those conversations as possible. I feel like you can concep-tualize, you can rationalize, you can talk about why something works or doesn’t work forever, but ultimately music is like its own language and it’s about music.”

Ultimately, Synthetica is a record about fighting dehumanization. “The thing I’m actually most proud of is that what it does is it inspires people to live the life they want,” Shaw says of the band he built. “It inspires people to move and take action and not be lazy and not

be passive. Emily and I have actually done that with this band.”

The last track on Synthetica is called “Nothing But Time.” It is the redemptive closer. Over a long coda of pulsating guitars and kaleidoscopic synthesizers, Haines sings: “I wanted to be part of something / I’ve got noth-ing but time / So the future is mine.”

This, more than anything, is what Metric is. And it’s what they hope everyone can be. “You know,” Shaw says. “I feel that people are actually inspired by that — and that changes the way people approach their own lives.”

MetricNovember 26 @ Brandt Centre (the only tour stop in Saskatchewan)42.50+ @ Ticketmaster


16NOV 2 – NOV 8

FOOD + DRINKFOOD + DRINK

GOURMET PASSIONS

LET’S GO DRINKIN’ VERB’S MIXOLOGY GUIDE

GIN TODDY

With the cold months settling in, why not try a hot cocktail to take the edge off your winter blues? This is a new spin on an old classic.

INGREDIENTS

A shot of dry gin1/2 shot of lemon juice boiling water 1 tsp sugarcinnamon stick

DIRECTIONS

Bring water to a boil. Mix the gin, lemon juice and sugar in a brandy snifter (a wine glass also does the trick). Add the boiling water, then stir the mixture. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

assion,” said Oprah Win-frey, “is energy. Feel the power that comes from

focusing on what excites you.” And yes, I just quoted Oprah. I

know, that’s terrible. But I have good reason. See, when you sit down to talk to Kyle Michael — the chef who co-owns The Hollows along with fellow chef Christie Peters — the first thing you’ll notice is the passion he exudes. Not manic-Oprah passion, but genuine, honest passion and interest. And not just for food, but for the res-taurant and the environment and life in general. And to be honest, in this pre-packaged world it’s refreshing to see a bit of free-range attitude.

Sitting with Kyle one afternoon in the restaurant, he and I get to talking. And the first topic that comes up is the building The Hollows is in.

Located on the corner of 19th Street West and Avenue C South, The Hollows resides where the old Golden Dragon once was. Christie and Kyle didn’t bother changing the décor when they opened, which has

resulted in a ‘50s chop-suey-joint vibe, and a very hip, retro-chic atmosphere.

I mention this to Kyle, who contains a wealth of information about the history of the building, and he tells me about things like why there’s a band-saw in the kitchen, a drain in the floor in the basement, the numbered rooms

upstairs, and the wooden crates strewn around the place.

From there the conversation veered to the environment, buying local, and sustainability. Sustainability: that’s what The Hollows are after. Sure, they buy local as much as possible. But

really, when’s the last time you saw an olive grow in Saskatchewan, or a wheel of parmesan cheese produced in the city? And for Kyle and Christie, it’s all about sustainability.

Currently the pair are work-ing with a farm that grows a lot of their vegetables, and rears pigs and chickens for them. But this is a get-and-give relationship. For example, when it comes time, they’ll go get the pig, butcher it with the bandsaw, and use every possible part of that animal in their food. Any leftovers are given back to the farm to be used as fertiliz-er, which will help grow food they’ll be using down the road.

Oh, and speaking of their food, the good chefs at The Hollows do a bang-up job! I had dropped by the night before to take advantage of their Thursday special: poutine and a pint for $10. Now, poutine is pretty standard restaurant fare these days, but The Hollows’ version was incred-ible. Featuring chicken gravy and Quebec cheese curds, I didn’t think this could get any better. Until I tried the truffle-infused mayo. Which I could easily have eaten with a spoon.

The Hollows features a delectable menu with an array of tantalizing options (and a breakfast poutine to boot), so head on down for some chill atmosphere and great food.

The Hollows334 Avenue C South | 652 1505

@AdamHawboldt

[email protected]


Photography courtesy of Adam Hawboldt.

[The poutine featured] chicken gravy and Quebec cheese curds…

ADAM HAWBOLDT

P

The Hollows prides itself on sustainability and great food. BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

@VERBSASKATOON CULTURECONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS COVER FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

17NOV 2 – NOV 8

PHOTOS COURTESY OF: THE ARTIST / THE ARTIST / THE ARTIST

COMING UPNEXT WEEK

NEIL YOUNG

Ask most people who the greatest Canadian musician is, and chances are they’ll say Neil Young. And can you blame them? From his early days as a folk rocker, to his electric guitar days or his experiments in synth-rock and country, “The Godfather of Grunge” has been nothing short of brilliant. As the website for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame puts it: Neil Young is “one of rock and roll’s greatest songwriters and perform-ers” — ever. Whether he’s playing with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Buffalo Springfield, or doing his solo thing, this music icon has been enter-taining crowds and garnering critical acclaim since the ‘60s. Don’t miss your chance to see a Canadian music legend when he comes to Saskatoon. Tickets available at Ticketmaster.

@ CREDIT UNION CENTREWEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14 – $84.75+

Singer, songwriter, poet, novelist, Companion of the Order of Canada, member of the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, ordained Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk — and that’s just the tip of the Leonard Cohen iceberg. He’s the original Canadian Renaissance Man. The lyrical ladies’ man. The guy who Lou Reed once said belongs to the “highest and most influential echelon of song-writers.” And now this Montreal art-ist is coming to Saskatoon and bring-ing his deep, crackling bass voice and a catalogue of classic songs with him. So here’s your chance to see the songwriter who created such exquisite songs as “Suzanne,” “Hal-lelujah” and “Famous Blue Rain-coat.” Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.

LEONARD COHEN

The year 2011 was a coming-out party of sorts for Eric Church. Sure, his previous two albums had gone gold in the U.S., and sure, he’d toured with the likes of Rascal Flatts, Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert. But when the country artist from North Carolina released his album, Chief, in July of 2011 his rising star skyrocket-ed into the spotlight. On the strength of songs like “Drink In My Hand,” “Homeboy” and “Springsteen,” the album went platinum. Any way you slice it, Chief was a game changer for Church, and he set out on tour late last month to show North America just how much game he has. So if you like your country with a splash of attitude, this is a concert you might not want to miss. Tickets available through Ticketmaster.

– By Adam Hawboldt

ERIC CHURCH@ CREDIT UNION CENTRETUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20 – $36.50+

@ CREDIT UNION CENTRETHURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2013 – $46.25+

SASK MUSIC PREVIEWThe JUNOs are coming to Saskatchewan, and the Awards Host Committee is looking for volunteers to help support the events of the 2013 JUNO Awards. And as a little thank you, you’ll be invited to a volunteer appreciation event! Interested? See juno-awards.ca to see if you qualify, and how to sign up.

Keep up with Saskatchewan music. saskmusic.org

MUSIC

VERBNEWS.COMENTERTAINMENT CONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS COVER FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

18NOV 2 – NOV 8


FRIDAY 2HOUSE DJS / 6Twelve Lounge — DJs liven

it up. 9pm / No cover

THE CREEPSHOW / Amigos — This band

from Ontario plays a unique brand of

psychobilly and horror punk. 10pm / $12

(ticketedge.ca)

SHELDON CORBETT / The Bassment

— Come check out Corbett tickle the

ivories. 4:30pm / No cover

COLIN LINDEN / The Bassment — A

Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter

plays roots. 9pm / Cover $17/22

AUDIO/ROCKETRY, MILES AND THE BLANKS, BRITTANY BOOM, LITTLE CRIMI-NALS / Beaumont Film and Record — A

stellar line up in a hot venue. 8pm / $5

AUSTEN ROADZ / Béily’s — It’s a high-

energy dance party. 9pm / $5

RIPPERTRAIN / Buds — A local band

playing southern metal. 9pm / $6

CAUGHT IN A DREAM / Crown and Rok

— A Alice Cooper cover band. 8pm Hal-

loween Bash / The Fez — Featuring Three

Simple Words, Silo, Wild Uprising and

Reynauld Nighthawks. 9pm / $10

DJ ECLECTIC / The Hose — DJ Eclectic

pumps snappy beats. 8pm / No cover

DJ SUGAR DADDY / Jax Niteclub — This

crowd favourite breaks the latest and

greatest tracks. 9pm / $5 cover

ALEXIS NORMAND, ZOE FORTIER / Le

Troupe du Jour Production Centre — Nor-

mand makes the music, Fortier supplies

the art. 8pm / $15+ (306.565.8916)

CO-OP FEST / The Odeon — Featuring

The Seahags, Kirby Criddle, Slow Down,

Molasses and Library Voices. 8pm / $18

(theodeon.ca)

DJ BIG AYYY & DJ HENCHMAN / Outlaws

— There’s no better party around. 8pm /

$5; ladies in free before 11pm

DOUG BOOMHOWER / Prairie Ink — Live

jazz tunes. 8pm / No cover

BUDDY HOLLY SHOW / Royal Canadian

Legion Nutana Branch — A tribute to

Buddy Holly. 8pm / $10 advance (Mc-

Nally Robinson, the Legion); $15 door.

KELLY READ, WE’RE THORRY / Somewhere

Else Pub — A night of hot tunes. 9pm /

No cover

JONES BOYS / Stan’s Place — A local act

you won’t want to miss. 9pm / No cover

DUELING PIANOS / Staqatto Piano Lounge

— Featuring Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie

and Brad King. 10pm / Cover $5

HALLOWEEN PART 3 / Tequila — Featur-

ing DJs Mern, Kidalgo and Von Howard.

9pm

RODNEY CARRINGTON / TCU Place — Part

musician, part comedian. 8pm / $47.50

(www.tcutickets.ca)

FISH AND BIRD / Vangelis — A folky five-

piece from B.C. 10pm / $5

SATURDAY 3HOUSE DJS / 6Twelve — Resident DJs

spin all night. 9pm / No cover

A.C. NEWMAN / Amigos — This singer-

songwriter plays rocking power-pop

music. 10pm / $15 (ticketedge.ca)

AUSTEN ROADZ / Béily’s UltraLounge —

Featuring Austen Roadz and DJ CTRL.

9pm / $5

THE THREE TROMBONES / The Bassment

— Featuring Sarah Anderson, Colin

Neufeld and Ross Ulmer. 9pm / $12/16

RIPPERTRAIN / Buds — A local band

playing southern metal. 9pm / $6

CAUGHT IN A DREAM / Crown and Rok —

An Alice Cooper cover band. 8pm

HALLOWEEN BASH / The Fez — Featuring

Three Simple Words, Silo and Six Blocks.

9pm / $10

DJ KADE / The Hose & Hydrant — Saska-

toon’s own DJ lights it up. 8pm / No cover

DJ SUGAR DADDY / Jax — This favourite

breaks the latest tracks. 9pm / $5

ALEXIS NORMAND, ZOE FORTIER / Le

Troupe du Jour Production Centre — Nor-

mand makes the music, Fortier supplies

the art. 8pm / $15+ (306.565.8916)

DAN MANGAN / The Odeon — He’s a

Juno-awarding winning singer/songwrit-

er. 6pm / $34.75 (www.ticketmaster.ca)


— There’s no better country rock party

around. 8pm / $5

NO HURRY TRIO / Prairie Ink — Blending

acoustic guitars and tight harmonies in

this live musical event. 8pm / No cover

KELLY READ, WE’RE THORRY / Somewhere

Else Pub — A night of hot tunes. 9pm /

No cover

JONES BOYS / Stan’s Place — This is one

local act you definitely won’t want to

miss. 9pm / No cover


— Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad

King belt it out tunes. 10pm / $5

SASKATOON SYMPHONY MASTER SERIES / TCU Place — Featuring music inspired

by Shakespeare. 7:30pm / $18+

MODUS + DUBZ / Tequila — A night of hot

tunes. 9pm / Cover TBD

DEPARTURES, UNCLE BAD TOUCH, CAN-NON BROS / Vangelis — Three hot acts in

one night! 10pm / $5

SUNDAY 4A TRIBE CALLED RED / Amigos Cantina

— Creators of “Pow Wow Step.” 10pm /

Tickets $15 (www.ticketedge.ca)

INDUSTRY NIGHT / Béily’s UltraLounge —

Hosted by DJ Sugar Daddy, come down

and party the night away. 9pm / $4; no

cover for industry staff


toon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm

/ No cover

SUNDAY JAM / Vangelis Tavern — The

Vangelis Sunday Jam offers great tunes

from blues to rock and beyond. 7:30pm

/ No cover

MONDAY 5METAL MONDAYS / Lydia’s Pub — If hard,

heavy awesomeness is your thing, swing

by, listen to some killer music and get in

on some concert giveaways. 9pm

HELLYEAH / The Odeon Events Centre /

A heavy metal band from Texas. 7pm /

$29.50+ (www.theodeon.ca)

NIKOLAI CHOUBINE / U of S, Convoca-

tion Hall — Playing the works of Bach,

Scriabin, Puccini and Rachmaninoff.

12:30pm / Admission by donation

TUESDAY 6DIABLO / Buds — Come rock the night

away. 9pm / $6

DJ SUGAR DADDY / The Double Deuce

— Sugar Daddy is able to rock any party,

so come on down and enjoy the night.

9:30pm / $4 cover

VERB PRESENTS OPEN STAGE / Lydia’s

Pub — The open stage at Lydia’s is a

chance for bands, solo artists and even

comedians to showcase original material.

9pm / No cover

OPEN MIC / The Somewhere Else Pub —

Come out to show your talent. 7pm /

No cover

WEDNESDAY 7HUMP WEDNESDAYS / 302 Lounge & Dis-

cotheque — Resident DJ Chris Knorr will

be spinning. 9pm / No cover until 10pm;

$3 thereafter

PLANTS AND ANIMALS / Amigos Cantina

— An indie rock band from Montreal.

10pm / $10 (www.ticketedge.ca)

The most complete live music listings for Saskatoon.

NOVEMBER 2 » NOVEMBER 10

2 3

9 107 85 64

S M T W T

LISTINGS

/VERBSASKATOON ENTERTAINMENTCONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS COVER FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

19NOV 2 – NOV 8

Have a live show you'd like to promote? Let us know!

GET LISTED

[email protected]

ROOTS SERIES: JAMES KEELAGHAN TRIO / The Bassment — Music from an award-

winning folk musician. 8pm / $20/25

DIABLO / Buds — Come rock the night

away. 9pm / $6

THE AVENUE RECORDING COMPANY PRESENTS OPEN MIC / The Fez on Broad-

way — Hosted by Chad Reynolds. Sign

up and play at this weekly event. 10pm

/ No cover

DJ KADE / the Hose & Hydrant — Saska-


/ No cover

WINTERSLEEP, ELLIOT BROOD / Louis’

Pub — Two amazing acts in one great

venue. Don’t miss it. 8pm / $23.25 (www.

ticketmaster.ca)

DR. J ‘SOULED OUT’ / Lydia’s Pub — Dr. J

spins hot funk and soul every Wednes-

day night. 9pm / No cover

WILD WEST WEDNESDAY / Outlaws

Country Rock Bar — Hosted by DJ Big

Ayyy & DJ Henchman. 9pm / $4; no

cover for industry staff



King belt out classic tunes and audience

requests, from Frank Sinatra to Lady

Gaga. 10pm / No cover

OWLS BY NATURE / Vangelis — An Ed-

monton band playing kick ass folk rock.

10pm / $5

THURSDAY 8DELHI 2 DUBLIN / Amigos Cantina — A

mash up of Celtic, Bhrangra, reggae

and electronica you won’t want to miss.

10pm / $12 (www.ticketedge.ca)

ROOTS SERIES: ROSE COUSINS / The

Bassment — An east-coast folk singer/

songwriter. 8pm / Cover $12/16

THE GUTTERDOGS / Buds — No nonsense,

good ol’ fashioned rock and roll. 9pm / $6

C-WEED / Dakota Dunes Casino — Award

winning songwriter Errol Ranville and

his band take to the stage for an unfor-

gettable night of great music. 8pm / $15

(www.tickets.siga.sk.ca)

THROWBACK THURSDAYS / Earls — Come

experience the best in retro funk, soul,

reggae and rock. 8pm / No cover

THUNDER RIOT W/CONKY SHOWPONY / The Fez on Broadway — Come dance

the night away with this great local DJ.

9pm / $5



/ No cover

DJ SUGAR DADDY / Jax Niteclub — Local

DJ Sugar Daddy will be rocking the turn-

tables! 8pm / $5; free cover with student

ID before 11pm

BIG SUGAR / The Odeon Events Centre

— Bluesy, reggae-tinged rock at its finest

— come on down and see what’s up. 8pm

/ $24.50+ (www.theodeon.ca)

ALICE COOPER / TCU Place — An iconic

hard rocker who puts on one heckuva

show. 8pm / Tickets $64.50 (www.

tcutickets.ca)

ANDY SHAUF / Vangelis — The acoustic/

folk musician from Regina is all kinds of

good. 10pm / Cover $8

FRIDAY 9HOUSE DJS / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk,

soul & lounge DJs liven up the atmo-

sphere at 6Twelve. 9pm / No cover

JULIE DOIROIN / Amigos Cantina — An

award-winning indie singer/songwriter

will be taking over Amigos for a night

of haunting tunes. 10pm / $10 (www.

ticketedge.ca)

PIANO FRIDAYS: TROY MCGILLVRAY / The

Bassment — Feel like taking in some

smooth jazz stylings? Look no further

4:30pm / No cover

BLUES & ROCK SERIES: TEE VEXATIONS / The Bassment — Playing R&B and soul

hits for your listening enjoyment. 9pm /

Cover $12/16


Austen Roadz throws down a high-ener-

gy top 40 dance party every Friday night.

9pm / $5 cover

RIFF RAFF / Buds on Broadway — Classic

80’s rock covers. 9pm / $6

RAVEWIND DANCE PARTY / The Fez on

Broadway — Dust off your dancing shoes

and get down here. 9pm / Cover $10

DJ ECLECTIC / The Hose & Hydrant —

Local turntable whiz DJ Eclectic pumps

snappy electronic beats all night long.

8pm / No cover


local crowd favourite is sure to have you

on the dance floor in no time. 9pm / $5

cover

BASS INVADERS / Lydia’s Pub — A local

alt-rock band. 10pm / $5


— There’s no better country rock party

around. 8pm / $5; ladies in free before

11pm

JAMES STEELE TRIO / Prairie Ink — A

night of great fiddle tunes. 8pm / No

cover

BUDDY HOLLY SHOW / Royal Canadian

Legion Nutana Branch — Come out and

relive the past with this tribute show to

Buddy Holly. 8pm / $10 advance (Mc-

Nally Robinson, the Legion); $15 door

LOOSE STONES / Stan’s Place — Come out

for a rockin’ good time. 9pm / No cove





Gaga. 10pm / Cover $5

BC READ / Somewhere Else Pub — Come

down and check out this consummate

musician. 9pm / No cover

SATURDAY 10DRAMA AT THE DISCOTHEQUE / 302

Lounge and Discotheque — A drag show

with stellar DJs. 9pm / Cover TBD

HOUSE DJS / 6Twelve — Resident DJs

spin deep and soulful tunes all night.

9pm / No cover

LOCALS ONLY 5 / Amigos Cantina —

Featuring Killa1nce, MH + AB, Fabric,

Frank Rizzo + Heywood. 10pm / Tickets

at the door

PIANO SERIES: CHRIS DONNELLY AND MYRIAD / The Bassment — Think jazz

meets classical meets pop on the piano.

9pm / $15/20


Featuring Austen Roadz + DJ CTRL. 9pm

/ $5 cover

RIFF RAFF / Buds — Classic 80’s rock cov-

ers. 9pm / $6

WHOLE LOTTA ANGUS / The Fez — Classic

AC/DC covers. 9pm / Cover TBD

MAGIC CITY CHORUS: THOSE WERE THE DAYS! / Forest Grove Community Church

— A musical flashback to the 60’s. 7pm /

$22 (call 956-7357)


toon’s own DJ lights it up with hot tunes.

8pm / No cover


local crowd favourite is sure to have you

rocking on the dance floor in no time.

9pm / $5 cover

LIFTED / Lydia’s Upstairs Loft — Come

dance your heart out in Lydia’s loft, and

enjoy what Saskatoon’s electronica scene

has to offer. 10pm / $5


Country Rock Bar — Round up your

friends ‘cause there’s no better country

rock party around. 8pm / $5

JON BAILEY / Prairie Ink — Come on

down and enjoy some rock/folk tunes.

8pm / No cover

LOOSE STONES / Stan’s Place — Come out

for a rockin’ good time. 9pm / No cover





Gaga. 10pm / $5

BC READ / Somewhere Else Pub — Come

down and check out this consummate

musician. 9pm / No cover

MODUS + CHAN L / Tequila — A night of

phat beats awaits — you won’t want to

miss. 9pm / Cover TBD

EVENING HYMNS / Vangelis — Indie folk

rock hot out of the Big Smoke. 10pm / $5


20NOV 2 – NOV 8

n writing classes you are taught that you must hook readers early.

Grab them by the lapels, shake them, don’t let them go. The same principles apply to movie making. You want to come in strong, take hold of your audience and lead them on a journey. And boy oh boy does Robert Zemeckis’ new film, Flight, do that!

Hands down, this action thriller has the best opening few scenes I’ve seen in quite some time.

It all starts with a shot of full frontal nudity, followed by Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) fix-

ing a hangover with a couple bumps of cocaine. Cut to Whitaker at work, piloting a flight through heavy turbulence. Once they’re in the air things go sideways in a hurry: the plane experiences serious mechani-cal failure and begins a long nose-dive towards imminent destruction.

And for the next few minutes you witness one of the most fantas-tic and exhilarating film scenes I’ve ever seen.

When all is said and done, when Denzel crash-lands the plane, if you don’t exhale and say something

along the lines of “holy sh*t balls, that was intense and Denzel is the damn man!” then you probably don’t have a pulse.

And here’s the best thing about Flight: what starts out as a thrill-a-second nail-biter soon changes tack and become a deep, dark study of a man embroiled in alcoholism. Think Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas, only better.

Yeah, I said it. And the thing is, I loved Cage in that flick. But here’s the rub … this is Denzel’s best per-formance. Like, ever.

Sure, he was stellar in Training Day, amazing in The Hurricane and

uncannily tremendous as Malcolm X. But as Whip Whitaker, Denzel, to put it simply, kicks such copious amounts of ass that if he doesn’t get at least an Oscar nomination I will personally go to Hollywood, placard in hand, and protest against every-thing the Academy stands for.

But let me take my lips off Den-zel’s sweet ass for a moment and tell you about the rest of the movie.

After Denzel plays hero and lands the plane with minimal casualties, he winds up in the hospital. There he meets a woman

named Nicole (Kelly Reilly), whom he befriends. He’s also visited by his best friend Harling Mays (the always awesome John Goodman), who enters with the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” playing in the background and a bag full of booze and dope.

Once he’s released from the hospital, Denzel goes to his grand-father’s farm, pours all the liquor down the drain and tries to dry out.

Which might’ve worked well if he hadn’t been brought under inves-tigation because liquor and drugs were detected in his blood when the plane crashed. And that, good reader, is all I’ll say about the plot. And I’m sure it’s pretty clear what my thoughts are on the acting.

Here’s hoping you trust me when I say that Flight is a movie that works on so many levels — from suspense to acting to script to cinematography — that you’ll kick yourself if you don’t see it.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES

I Denzel Washington shines in his latest movie. BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

FLIGHT

DIRECTED BY Robert Zemeckis

STARRING Denzel Washington, John

Goodman, Don Cheadle + Melissa Leo

139 MINUTES | 14A


@AdamHawboldt

[email protected]

A MAJESTIC FLIGHT

FILM

Denzel, to put it simply, kicks … copious amounts of ass…

ADAM HAWBOLDT

@VERBSASKATOON ENTERTAINMENTCONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS COVER FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

21NOV 2 – NOV 8

A


@AdamHawboldt

[email protected]

nyone familiar with British director Mi-chael Winterbottom

knows he has an affinity for the novels of Thomas Hardy.

In 1996 he made Jude — a bril-liant, straightforward adaptation of Hardy’s Jude the Obscure, starring Kate Winslet. In 2000, he directed The Claim, taking Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge and setting it in Cali-fornia during the Gold Rush of ’49.

Now Winterbottom is at it again, this time with a new film called Trishna, which is a loose adapta-tion of Hardy’s classic Tess of the d’Urbervilles. And to be honest, Trishna has a lot of things going for it.

For instance, instead of set-ting his flick in Victorian England, Winterbottom transplants the story into modern-day India. This works because, much like Hardy’s England, India is a place where issues about class, tradition, gender, social values and globalization are all being brought into question.

Another thing that works is the way Winterbottom spins parts of the novel. He has one lover instead of two, Hardy’s milkmaid Tess is replaced by Trishna, a hotel maid, the farm horse becomes a jeep, etc. These updates are all clever and well presented.

Oh, and perhaps the brightest spot of all is Winterbottom’s terrific filmmaking. But more on that later. For now, let’s look at the story.

It begins in Rajasthan when a poor village girl, Trishna (Freida Pinto), catches the eye of a British-

educated playboy named Jay (Riz Ahmed), who also just so happens to be an heir to a chain of Indian hotels.

Beguiled by Trishna’s beauty (and my word, is Pinto ravishing!), Jay offers her a well-paying job as a maid at one of his daddy’s upscale hotels. And because Trishna is a good-hearted woman trying to do right by her family, she accepts the offer.

One thing leads to another, Jay and Trishna start to have feelings for each other, and eventually they end up moving to Bombay together.

From there things get more and more romantic until the story ends happily ever after.

Okay, that’s completely untrue. Because if you’ve ever read Hardy you’d know that things tend to not end well for people in his books.

And true to the novel, when Trishna and Jay move to Bombay feces hits the ever-spinning fan as their relationship becomes darker.

However, despite being a slick ad-aptation and despite the fact that the film — from the rolling landscapes of Rajasthan to the steamy, hubbub of Bombay — is incredibly beautiful, Trishna is lacking something.

I’m not sure if it’s the plot or the acting, but there’s something Win-terbottom is missing here. The story of Tess of the d’Urbervilles is one of dreams and defeat and the slow rot of a person’s soul. It’s the kind of story that, by the final scene, kicks you in the chest and makes you ache like hell for the main character.

And while Winterbottom’s Trish-na tries to do the same, it ultimately falls short. Too bad.

Trishna is currently being screened at the Roxy Theatre.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF MONGREL MEDIA

TRISHNA: NOT QUITE TESSMichael Winterbottom’s adaptation of the classic novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles comes up short. BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

TRISHNA

DIRECTED BY Michael Winterbottom

STARRING Freida Pinto, Riz Ahmed +

Roshan Seth

117 MINUTES | 14A

[D]espite being a slick adaptation… something is lacking in Trishna.

ADAM HAWBOLDT


22NOV 2 – NOV 8

NIGHTLIFE

Photography by Patrick Carley – [email protected]


23NOV 2 – NOV 8

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27 @

302302 Lounge + Discothèque302 Pacific Avenue(306) 665 6863

FEATURED DEALS / $10.25 for mini pitchersDRINK OF CHOICE / Jello shooters (served in a syringe)COMING UP / Mr. Gay Saskatch-ewan on November 3rd, Drama at the Discothèque on November 10th, Babes on a Bull November 16th and the Moustache Party on November 23rd


24NOV 2 – NOV 8

NIGHTLIFESATURDAY, OCTOBER 27 @

DIVA’SDiva’s Nightclub110-220 3rd Avenue South(306) 665 0100

MUSIC VIBE / DanceEVENT / Danse Macabre — The Asylum Ball, featuring DJs Aaron Paetsch, US Marshall, Nick James and Quadrant KhanCOMING UP / Flashback Retro Party — Part 2 on November 17

@VERBSASKATOON ENTERTAINMENTCONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS COVER FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

25NOV 2 – NOV 8

Photography by DelRioPhotographics.com – [email protected]


26NOV 2 – NOV 8

© Elaine M. Will | blog.E2W-Illustration.com | Check onthebus.webcomic.ws/ for previous editions!

COMICS


27NOV 2 – NOV 8

TIMEOUT

CROSSWORDACROSS1. An orange, minus the

juice

5. Response to an insult

9. Laser printer powder

12. Give a loud shout

13. Wickerwork material

15. Like about half of a

team’s games

16. Class reunion attendee,

for short

18. Computer language

19. Give the nod to

20. Skip over

21. Two-masted square-

rigger

22. Something for nothing

25. City in Alberta

27. Tall and slim

30. Taken as a whole

34. Margarine

35. Bed size

36. By way of

37. Cut the grass

38. Kind of dollar

39. Hammer part

40. Alexandria lighthouse

42. Come from concealment

44. Actor’s representative

45. Lasso loop

46. Competitive advantage

47. Quality of a musical

sound

DOWN1. Roof of the mouth

2. Unattractive

3. Sheltered side

4. Ancient Egyptian royal

tomb

5. Walk with your chest

thrown out

6. Fertile soil

7. Hill builder

8. Kind of firecracker

9. Crouch down in fear

11. Families once gathered

around it

12. Football game division

14. Reminds a bit too much

17. Short rest

20. Old wedding vows word

21. Canadian who played

Perry Mason

23. Therefore

24. Finely sharpened

26. Easily understood

27. Play energetically

28. “Welcome to Waikiki!”

29. Music genre

31. Strongly disliking

32. Feudal lord

33. Narrow road

35. First small bite

38. Set of words set to music

39. Manual labourer

41. Ruby colour

43. Barn sound

CANADIAN CRISS-CROSS

HOROSCOPES NOVEMBER 2 – NOVEMBER 8

© WALTER D. FEENER 2012

SUDOKU CROSSWORD ANSWER KEY

A B

ARIES March 21–April 19

You may have a strong urge to be

around others this week, Aries. If

so, give in to your urges. Go hang out with

friends or family.

TAURUS April 20–May 20

Things are going on behind the

scenes that you may be unaware

of, Taurus, but who gives a crap. Just live

your life the way you have been.

GEMINI May 21–June 20

Feeling confused lately, Gemini?

Like words the mouth in your

work don’t? No worries. Things will be-

come clearer for you in the near future.

CANCER June 21–July 22

Wake up on the wrong side of the

bed today? Get used to it, because

this week is going to try your patience, I’m

afraid. Grit your teeth and get through it.

LEO July 23–August 22

Leo, you know your insecurities

… yeah, those things you try to

avoid? Well, you may be forced to con-

front them. Best you deal with them now.

VIRGO August 23–September 22

Don’t be afraid to ask for help

this week. Yeah, we know you’re

strong and independent and all that jazz,

but all of us need a hand at some time.

LIBRA September 23–October 23

Holy moly! Look whose fortune is

going to shine this week. Yes, Libra.

I’m talking to you. If approached properly,

the next few days could be awesome.

SCORPIO October 24–November 22

Ever feel like your life is one long

balancing act on a tight rope over

the abyss, Scorpio? If so, suck it up and

keep your balance. Falling will hurt.

SAGITTARIUS November 23–December 21

If you’re invited to a special gath-

ering this week, Sagittarius, run,

do not walk, to it. You don’t want to miss

the new doors that it may open.

CAPRICORN December 22–January 19

Expect visitors this week, Cap-

ricorn. Whether it will be from

a friend or foe, I can’t say. But don’t be

surprised when they show up at your door.

AQUARIUS January 20–February 19

You know how they say we should

march to the beat of our own

drummer? Well, what if your drummer

sucks? Resist, Aquarius, if you need to.

PISCES February 20–March 20

Worry, worry everywhere … but

why the hell should you care,

Pisces? Just ignore the negative, embrace

the positive. And brush your teeth.

SUDOKU ANSWER KEY

TIMEOUT

A

B

3 5 8 1 4 2 6 9 76 7 4 9 5 8 2 3 12 9 1 7 3 6 5 4 88 1 3 2 6 4 7 5 97 2 6 5 9 1 4 8 35 4 9 3 8 7 1 6 29 3 7 4 2 5 8 1 61 6 5 8 7 3 9 2 44 8 2 6 1 9 3 7 5

9 4 3 1 5 2 6 8 72 6 5 7 8 9 4 1 31 7 8 3 6 4 9 2 56 1 2 4 3 5 7 9 87 5 4 9 2 8 3 6 18 3 9 6 7 1 5 4 23 2 7 8 4 6 1 5 94 8 1 5 9 7 2 3 65 9 6 2 1 3 8 7 4

2 76 5 12 9 1 3 6 5 4 8 7 5 7 9 8 4 9 3 8 7 6 4 5 61 3 9 2 4 8 2 1 3

3 5 2 72 7 4 1 8 6 9 56 1 4 3 87 9 3 6 1 3 6 2 4 1 8 5 9 7 2 5 9 8 4

verb issue s214 (nov.2-8, 2012)

Documents