By Jeff Kubik
As Entertainment editor, it is my responsibility to ensure that my section provides you, the reader, with the most objective, useful information possible. You deserve to know, for instance, that Soca Gold 2003 sounds like some underpaid DJ’s desperate call for help. You also deserve to know that the album is so utterly full of… Continue reading Soca Gold 2003
Fourteen years later, DJ Premier is still a trendsetter. Gang Starr’s better half is a legend, and along with Guru, he’s elevated this crew to near legendary status in its own right. The Ownerz is yet another chapter, brimming with the intelligence, diversity and sick beats we’ve come to expect. Showcasing Premier’s skills and boasting… Continue reading Gang Starr
By Jeff Kubik
Now playing: "…a bloated, unpleasant assembly-line extrusion." –Roger Ebert, Chicago Tribune "…so infuriatingly bad that I honestly wanted to spit on the screen." –Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.Com "…as bloated and fatuous as their [Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay] previous efforts." –Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald In its opening weekend, Jerry Bruckheimer’s Bad Boys II took in over… Continue reading Biting words from ivory towers
By James Keller
I don’t love Alberta beef. I don’t even eat Alberta beef. For reasons beyond the scope of this column, I haven’t eaten a steak in well over a year. I can count the number of hamburgers I’ve eaten over the same period on one hand. I’m not a vegetarian–I still eat and very much enjoy… Continue reading Satellite Stones a sorry solution
So, the United States wanted to prove once and for all that they killed Saddam Hussein’s sons–or “henchmen” to use their nomenclature. In order to prove this, they apparently needed to release graphic photos of their bullet-ridden, mutilated corpses across Iraq and North America. The media welcomed this, they ate it up and many people… Continue reading Dangerous hypocrisy
By James Keller
As the Calgary Folk Music Festival solicits ticket sales, books artists and ultimately throws Calgary’s largest and most significant annual music event, it uses the word “folk” very loosely. Even the performers you could confidently point to as decidedly folk often elude a common thread or theme, a sound that would tie them together. In… Continue reading Folk Fest – Meaning in Diversity
It’s all about harmony. Regardless of whether the men and women on stage can actually carry a tune, the harmony of the patrons is one of the things that makes the Calgary Folk Music Festival so magical. Where else can your gaze drift from a pair of sixtysomething Southern Alberta ranchers to a twentysomething hippy… Continue reading Folk Fest
Blue Rodeo was the order of the day Sunday, backed with horns and playing to an all too excited crowd. Despite Jim Cuddy and Co.’s mass appeal, the day was full of gems that cannot be overlooked. The side stages hosted the likes of Alberta’s own Ann Vriend and the Dropouts, Whitehorse native Kim Barlow,… Continue reading Folk Fest – Day by Day
If the mainstage acts attract people to the festival, the weekend workshops bring them back. The concept? Throw several artists–connected by often ambiguous themes–on stage and see what happens. The results vary considerably, with the rigid turn-taking that was "Not Your Grandmother’s Folk," to the sometimes full-out jam that became of "Bringing in the News… Continue reading Folk Fest – Day by Day
Peter Garbiel. U2. Bob Dylan. These are just some of the many names in modern music to which Daniel Lanois has lent his masterful skill as a producer. The sound of this influence was never clearer than when Lanois took the stage Friday night. Armed with a ruby-red and white electric guitar and a barrage… Continue reading Folk Fest – Day by Day