verb issue s248 (july 12-18, 2013)

Issue #248 – July 12 to July 18

Photo: courtesy of vanessa heIns

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REgaRding hEnRy henry Woolf talks plays, pals + Pinter

plEasE staRE video installation billboards challenge perception

paciFic Rim + lovE is all you nEEd films reviewed

Elliott Broodten years on

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2July 12 – July 18

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EditoRialPublisher / ParIty PublIshIngeditor iN chief / ryan allanmaNagiNg editor / JessIca Patruccostaff writers / adam haWboldt + alex J macPherson

aRt & pRoductiondesigN lead / andreW yankodesigNer / brantIn fIxcoNtributiNg PhotograPhers / PatrIck carley, chrIstIan cortez, adam haW-boldt + alex J macPherson

BusinEss & opERationsoffice maNager / stePhanIe lIPsItaccouNt maNager / nathan holoWatysales maNager / vogeson PaleyfiNaNcial maNager / cody lang

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coNteNtscoNteNts

REgaRding hEnRyThe legendary Henry Woolf. 4 / local

jockEying FoR FiRst The dangers and delight of profes-sional horse racing. 6 / local

a BRight idEaOur thoughts on smart meters. 8 / editorial

commEntsHere’s what you had to say about vac-cinating children. 10 / commeNts

Q + a with aBstRact aRtFoRmMC releases powerful album. 12 / q + a

nightliFE photos We visited Hudson’s and Rook & Raven. 22-25 / Nightlife

listingsLocal music listings for July 12 through July 20. 18 / listiNgs

paciFic Rim + lovE is all you nEEdThe latest movie reviews. 20 / film

on thE Bus Weekly original comic illustrations by Elaine M. Will. 26 / comics

plEasE staREBillboard video installations question purpose of art. 13 / arts

anti-inFlammatoRy is pRo-tastE BudsWe visit Leyda’s. 16 / food + driNk

tough cookiESamantha Savage Smith takes no prisoners. 13 / arts

eNtertaiNmeNt

News + oPiNioN

musicChilliwak, Sweatshop Union + Young Galaxy. 17 / music

gamEs + hoRoscopEsCanadian criss-cross puzzle, horoscopes, and Sudoku. 27 / timeout

on thE covER:

Elliott BRoodReflects on the past decade. 14 / coVer


culture

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Continued on next page »

Photo: courtesy of adam haWboldt / verb magazIne

REgaRding hEnRy

sk Henry Woolf about when his interest in the theatre began,

and chances are he’ll tell you it all started when he left his native England in 1956 to be an exchange student in America.

He’ll tell you about American hos-pitality and about how the phone was always ringing, invitations to social events always being extended his way.

“I was never alone,” he’ll say. “Then I discovered that on the stage the phone can’t ring, people can’t ask you to go places. It’s the most marvel-ous thing. It’s like being a secret agent

in your own life. You’re in the bubble. It was wonderful.” But talk to Henry Woolf long enough, and a new starting point eventually emerges.

He’ll jump through space and time, to back before he became an icon of avant-garde theatre in Britain, back be-fore he meet his wife or his dear friend Harold Pinter (the Nobel Prize-winning playwright) to a cold evening in Febru-ary of 1945.

It was the twilight of the Second World War. The Nazi army, in its death throes, were hammering English cities with V-1 flying bombs. “I was 15 years

old,” remembers Woolf, “and I went to the theatre during a heavy air raid with my parents to see a performance of Arms and the Man. These 2,000-pound bombs were exploding outside and the theatre was shaking. Plaster was falling from the walls.”

Woolf pauses for a moment, sways his arms languidly in front of him, and says, “There was a huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling and it was swinging, back and forth.” Whenever a bomb would explode, rattling the theatre, the chandelier would swing and the great Sir Laurence Olivier — who was on stage playing the part of

Sergius Saranoff — would pause and wait for the explosions to subside. Then Olivier, in his unmistakable voice, would reiterate one of Sergius’ famous lines — “I never apologize” — before picking up where the play had left off.

“Maybe it’s because of Olivier I went into the theatre,” admits Woolf. “It was so much more exciting and magical than real life. It was all the good bits. It really stayed with me. Coriolanus got it right: the world is elsewhere.”

The world is elsewhere. A profound concept and, whether intentional or

a

henry Woolf talks about his famous friends, the theatre and the second World War by adam haWboldt

i’m 83…but that doesn’t slow you down … as long as you can remember your lines.

henry Woolf

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not, a motif that has governed most of Woolf’s professional life.

“Would you like a wine gummy?” asks Woolf as I sit down at a table in his liv-ing room. Behind him, on the window-sill, miniature tea cups are arranged in orderly fashion. The walls of the room are lined with paintings. Outside the sun is shining, and a lady is walking her dog down the street past Woolf’s quaint Saskatchewan abode.

Reaching across the table, Woolf hands me a shot glass filled with wine gummies and asks, “So what do you want to know?”

Excellent question. Before I sat down to chat with Woolf, here’s what I knew about him: he was born in England; he taught drama at the U of S; he was the artistic director of Shake-speare on the Saskatchewan; he was the childhood friend and long-time collaborator of Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter; he directed Pinter’s first play, The Room; and he has appeared in movies and on stage alongside the likes of Peter O’Toole, Richard Pryor, Anthony Hopkins, Katharine Hep-burn, Orson Welles and, yes, even Sir Laurence Olivier.

That was it. When chatting with a man who has seen and done so much, the tendency is to want to know everything. So I ask broad, unpointed questions. Woolf responds with long, articulate, stimulating stories. Stories about America’s pre-civil war cotton in-dustry, about the Education Act of 1944 and the ensuing shift in British culture, about Big Brother and Franz Kafka.

Woolf also talks about the famous people he’s worked with.

On Peter O’Toole: “I was cast in The Lion in Winter because I knew Peter. He used to invent these jobs for his friends. I was only there to keep him company.”

On Orson Welles, with whom he act-ed in the Chimes at Midnight: “He was a real genius. He said to me one day, ‘If all the theatres in the world closed tomor-row, Henry, not only would nobody care, but nobody would notice.’ He was a brilliant, brilliant fellow.”

And then there are the stories about Pinter. The two met while attending the Hackney Downs School. They became friends and ended up collaborating on Pinter’s plays for the next 60 years.

“When Pinter’s first full-length play came out the critics tore it apart,” remembers Woolf. “They wanted to destroy him because he introduced a new theatrical language. A language that didn’t bother to explain itself. One person called it ‘comedy of menace.’ And they’re right. Harold’s plays were funny and menacing. They were all set indoors and you’re always wondering: who is on the other side of that wall? ”

As if on cue, footsteps come from somewhere in the house behind me. “People really had it out for Harold,” Woolf continues, “and he said ‘f**k them’ and kept writing his plays.”

And while Woolf doesn’t mind talking about his famous friends and colleagues, his real interest lies in discussing the theatre.

Now an octogenarian, Henry Woolf is still active in the Saskatchewan theatre

scene. Earlier this year, in fact, he starred as Davies in a staging of Pinter’s play The Caretaker.

“I’m 83 years old, but that doesn’t slow you down … as long as you can remember your lines” jokes Woolf. “You’re much more employable at 83. At 23, there are thousands of people out for your job. By the time you’re my age, most of your competition is dead.”

Woolf’s voice boils over with pas-sion. When he talks about cutting his acting chops in the avant-garde theatre of the ‘60s, performing shows every-where from attics to basements to the-atres, a sparkle dances in Woolf’s eye.

“I was terribly lucky to be involved in that type of theatre, in new theatre,” he beams. “We weren’t afraid to ex-periment, to illuminate old text. When we did Shakespeare we attempted to rediscover him or reinterpret or refresh his works. It’s no good doing it the way it’s always been done.”

From behind me, the footsteps approach the living room again, and Woolf is saying, “The world actors live in isn’t necessarily the literal world. That’s one of the issues for people who inhabit both worlds. The theatre dif-ferentiates you, sets you apart.”

This is the way Woolf has lived most of his life. One foot in the real world, the other in the world of the stage. For a large part of his existence his life truly has been elsewhere.




Photo courtesy of krIsta carIgnan

arquis Downs is quiet.

It’s race day morn-ing, 9:30 a.m. The stands are empty. No screaming gamblers, no last minute bets. Just the sound of horses neighing and a warm breeze wafting through the air. Over by the stalls, the odd trainer or handler mills around, going about their race-day routine. Horses walk around in circles tied to a yellow merry-go-round contrap-tion, what people in the business call

a hot walker. It’s been around five hours since the horses have been fed, three and a half since the first jockeys arrived.

Well, most jockeys.Unlike the others, Krista Cari-

gnan shows up late on race days. Her daughter goes to day care, so instead of showing up at 6 a.m. she arrives at the track around 8 a.m, then goes through her routine. She checks on the people she’s riding for, tries to organize things so she

ends up with the horses best suited for her and the races they’re run-ning. When this is settled, Carignan familiarizes herself with the horses she’ll be riding — she jogs some, gallops others. Just to get a feel.

In less than 12 hours time, this will come in handy.

The gates crack open and the horses take off like a shot. Hooves pound the ground, wet dirt spits up from under

m

jockEying FoR positionsaskatchewan jockey krista carignan is no stranger to injury ... or winning by adam haWboldt

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their weight. Any jockey worth their salt will tell you this is one of the most important parts of the race. Be-forehand, before you even get on the horse, you have to look at the racing form to check out the competition, horses and jockeys. Know which horse does what, guess how a certain jockey is going to ride.

“Then, when the gate opens, you’re using your peripheral vision,” says Carignan. “You want to know who is going where. You’re thinking: should I be in front of this horse? How’s my horse running? Can I get up to that spot fast enough to get in a good position?”

In Carignan’s first race of the night, the horse she’s riding — a filly out of Kentucky by the name of Northern Brandy — comes out of the gates strong. She’s running second. But it’s only a matter of seconds be-fore she pulls away and starts setting the pace. Around the turn they go. Northern Brandy is running smooth and fast, Carignan is crouched in a squat above the horse’s withers, up on the balls of her feet, her weight balanced on her inside three toes.

At the halfway point she’s ahead by two lengths. She maintains her lead down the straight and finishes well clear of the rest of the pack — four-and-a-half lengths ahead of the field.

It’s Carignan’s fourth win of the season, which puts her fourth on the Marquis Downs’ money list to date.

But make no mistakes about it. Even though Carignan makes it look easy on this given evening, getting to the winner’s circle is no easy task.

In horse racing, getting injured is an inevitability.

“In 2010 I got on a real good injury streak,” says Carignan, who

was racing in Ontario at the time. “I broke my foot, sprained my ankle real, real bad. But I rode with it. If you’re injured and you can keep riding, you do it. As long as you’re not jeopardizing anybody you don’t want people to know you’re hurt.”

That same year, Carignan broke her nose and snapped her collar-bone. “The collarbone happened in Toronto,” she says, the scar from the accident still visible near her right shoulder. “A lot of times older horses will pull up if they hurt themselves in a race because they can feel it,

whereas younger horses have more adrenaline, they’re more inexperi-enced, so they just keep running. The two-year-old I was riding was running so hard her leg literally flew off. We were in front by eight, which was good, because everyone could see and just ran around us.”

Back then, back before Carginan took a break from racing to give birth to her daughter, injuries weren’t the only thing she had to contend with.

“I used to have to worry about my weight, too,” says Carignan. “I was a good five to 10 pounds heavi-er than I am now, so I’d have to cut. On some days I’d only have a half a cup of black coffee in the morning. If I didn’t have to lose too much, maybe I’d have a bit of oatmeal or a hard-boiled egg.”

Then Carignan would bundle up and get on the horses in the morning. She could sweat out about two-and-a-half pounds that way. Then she’d go

for a run to get the rest of it off before her first weigh-in. If that didn’t work she’d sit in a sauna for 20 minutes to lose the last little bit.

These days she doesn’t have to worry about that, though. Since hav-ing her daughter she has focused on eating healthy and getting back into shape. She runs, she skips, she goes through routines she learned from a personal trainer. Some days, she does a CrossFit workout.

“A lot of the guys don’t have to do that. They just have to run to main-tain their weight and leg strength,”

says Carignan. “But as a girl you sort of have to work harder to be as strong as the other riders. If your legs and core aren’t strong enough you’re going to look sloppy and that will affect how your horse runs.”

Yet for all the hard work Cari-gnan does to compete with the rest of the field, she can’t win every race. And as the racing at Marquis Downs comes to a close, she finishes fourth in the last race of the evening atop a horse named Money Baron.

No matter, though. By the time next weekend rolls

around, Carignan will have put this race out of her mind and be ready to go again. Racing towards the winner’s circle.

the two-year-old i was riding was running so hard her leg literally flew off.

krIsta carIgnan



a BRight idEa

g

switching to smart meters makes environmental and economical sense

o outside and take a look at the electrical meter on the side of your

house. Chances are it’ll be one of the old-fashioned analog meters found on most residences in these parts. But it looks like all that’s soon going to change.

You see, SaskPower and SaskEnergy are looking to replace approximately 500,000 of these devices around the province with new smart meters. The Advanced Metering Infrastructure project is moving ahead in Regina and there’s been talk about the same hap-pening in Saskatoon. And while oppo-nents of smart meters have been pretty vocal recently about alleged health and safety issues associated with the devices, we believe that a usage-based system of monitoring energy consump-tion is a great idea that offers both economic and environmental benefits.

What’s a smart meter, you ask? Well, it’s a device that records, in numerous intervals throughout the day, your consumption of electricity. This infor-mation is then sent back to the utility company, where it’s monitored and billed. Instead of having your meters read every three months, thus having most of your bills be guesses at your us-age (with the occasional ‘correction’ for better or worse), smart meters provide an accurate reading of the amount of power you’ve actually used, allowing for equally accurate utility bills.

And while we think paying for the energy you actually use is a great thing, not everyone agrees. In fact, many people in British Columbia and Quebec (two of the provinces that use smart meters) are unhappy with these new devices.

So what are some of their primary concerns? Well, in both places residents claim that the new meters are a serious health risk because they emit a danger-ous radio frequency, which detractors claim have been making people sick.

But you know what? Those fears are unfounded. Health Canada even conducted a study and found that: “The amount of energy absorbed depends largely on how close your body is to a smart meter. Unlike cellular phones, where the transmitter is held close to the head … RF energy from smart me-ters is typically transmitted at a much greater distance from the human body. This results in very low RF exposure levels … much like exposure to AM or FM radio broadcast signals.”

And just in case that wasn’t clear enough, Rob Stirling, an engineer in

B.C., conducted an experiment to see if Health Canada was telling the truth. At the request of the CBC, he went to a busy street in downtown Vancouver to test the levels of RF emissions, which he compared to a bank of smart meters on full blast. The results: the smart meters gave off no more RF emissions than what a person would be exposed to walking down the street.

Though the imagined health effects of radio frequency emissions seem to be the main concern opponents of smart meters have, it isn’t the only one.

Some are also opposed to installing the devices over concerns of them starting fires, though that theory was also de-bunked. Len Garis, fire chief of Surrey, BC, and Joseph Clare, an analyst for the Surrey Fire Service, compared the number of fires in the year before smart meters were installed, and the two years after, and found that there was no increase at all.

Smart meters are safe, and thanks to their more accurate readings, these devices have the potential to be both economically and environmentally beneficial. Smart meters can allow you to use your power resources more effi-ciently by adjusting your power-usage habits to lower your electrical bills as you see fit. With the old metering sys-tem, you really have no way of know-ing whether that new air conditioner

you just bought is a real energy hog, for example. With the new devices, you can actually pay attention to the numbers and use them to make reality-based decisions about your own power use. And this can have real-world eco-nomic benefits. You see, one of the first smart meter rollouts occurred between 2001 and 2006 in Italy, resulting in an estimated 40 million smart meters be-ing put into use in the country. Enel, an Italian utility company, estimates that customers with smart meters are saving up to 50% on their energy bills.

Consumers can also save a little cash by working their energy usage around peak use times. You see, power companies can charge less for using power when it’s not in high demand (like overnight). So by mod-ifying a few habits — like running your dishwasher or dryer overnight rather than during the day — con-sumers can save money without even changing the total amount of power they use or making any huge sacrifices in lifestyle.

And using less energy offers a green bonus as well. In fact, in 2009 a Min-nesota cooperative utility, Connexus Energy, used information from smart meters to provide its customers with monthly data on how much energy they used in comparison to their neigh-

bours. The result: over the course of a year consumers reduced their overall energy consumption by 2%, an annual savings to the consumer of around $30.

Whatever your motivation, smart meters provide you with the tools to be more in control of the energy you use, and are the way to a greener, and more cost-effective, future.

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

@verbsaskatoon

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editorial

smart meters can allow you to use your power resources more efficiently…

verb magazIne


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text your thoughts to881 vERB

8372

on topic: last week we asked what you thought about immunizing children. here's what you had to say:

– Conspiracy theorists have been blindly ignoring the information you provided about vaccines for years and doubt you’l change their mind but good point.

– Exactly: vaccinations don’t just protect the kids that get them but the other people they’re around. Why this is something that even needs to be said in 2013 is beyond me. Ignorance and jenny mccarthy are to blame i guess. Wake up people!

– How dare you suggest that a par-ent’s personal choice for their chil-dren’s health be up to you/any one else to decide. We have no idea of all the ingredients in a vaccine nor their long term effects. You should not be promoting such a position unless you are a doctor and know what your talking about.

– Excellent point on vaccination. These have been proven, time and again, to be an effective and safe method of protection. It’s disgust-ing that there are instances of these diseases that we can actually control, popping up again. Irre-sponsible people!

– Vaccines for kids is a good and responsible thing to do, that the medical community strongly strongly recommends. Shouldn’t even be a question at this point.

– Vaccine your kids it’s stupid and irresponsible not to.

oFF topic

– Those float tanks sound terrify-ing I don’t know if I could get in

one it would freak me out so much. But maybe that would pass

In response to “Passing into nothingness,”

Local, #247 (July 5, 2013)

sound oFF

– If i hear one more person com-plain about the hot weather/rainy weather/mosquitos/bad drivers etc I’m gona lose my mind its Sas-katchewan deal

– People! DO NOT leave your animals in your cars in this hot weather! Even 20 minutes can be too much. If you see an animal in a locked car call the SPCA or animal control asap you could save a life

– LETS GO RIDERS BLEEDIN GREEN YAH :D:D:D

– What do you think happens to us when we die? Stardust? Kind of cool.

– If you can’t use a freaking turn signal how the f*@! did you get a licence? It’s so basic just drive like not an idiot.

– Praying for those in Quebec affected by the train blast. What a horrible, senseless accident. Shouldn’t be focussing on big oil, etc at a time like this: let’s look to the victims and their families before we start screaming about Big Oil have some respect

– CRAVEN WOOOOT WOOOOT! Can’t wait to see y’all there and to see the dixie Chicks eeeeee! Lol

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powEREd By thE cREw at moga moBilE

– Craven is going to be amazing this year so many great shows to see. Love goin country!

– JayZ’s new album is AMAZING he is a true genius best guy in the game these days

– Climbing up out of the most dif-ficult thing I’ve ever been through and achieving amazing new goals. Life is good :) Hope you’re having an amazing day!

– With all the grabass in the Rider locker room you’d think they’d Catch a football

– Why aren’t there more ice cream trucks rolling around I remember there being tons when I was a kid and now when I want one theres none to be found.

– Nothin better than hanging out in a park with the family on a hot summer’s day, and a group of wasted teens sits right beside you, smoking weed and being obnox-ious and then you realize you were them at one point and you feel old and lame.

– Massive flooding out there makes roads super dangerous. Be careful everyone! Driving (trying to)through Southern Alberta is devastating

– To everyone impacted by the rail accident in Lac-Megantic our thoughts and prayers are with you. What an absolute devastation

– Maybe if we stopped relying so much on oil then they wouldn’t be carting it across this freaking country by train.

– Why do birds fly south for the winter? It’s too far to walk!

– Tried to come up with a DOWN-town but terrible at it. DOWNtown guy: we need you back!

– I HATE the sound of air condi-tioners running so annoying.

nExt wEEk: What do you think of installing smart meters on homes in sas-katchewan? Pick up 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.

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q + a

aBstRact aRtFoRm

s

Winnipeg mc releases his most powerful and personal album to date by alex J macPherson

Photos: courtesy of mark alberto + davId leWIs

hea Malcolmson, who performs as Abstract Artform, wasn’t sure if

making a deeply personal album was the right choice. But As The Crow Flies, which welds grungy soul and fraying country wailing to Malcolmson’s punchy vocals, is the best record he has ever released. I caught up with the man behind Abstract Artform to talk about the album and the opening of a whole new chapter in his life.

Alex J MacPherson: Did you anticipate that As The Crow Flies would come out as a deeply personal record?

Shea Malcolmson: It was my third record, and I knew I’d started to develop a sound and I knew that my prairie

background, the country funky back-ground, was there. I was always trying to make myself really stand out in that sense, to sample and use slide guitar — something people didn’t use very much in hip hop. With this record, I just felt like I was that much more knowing what I wanted to hear, knowing the sounds I wanted to hear.

AJM: And from the very first track, it’s clear that you’re bringing a whole new palette of sounds into your hip hop.

SM: That’s key for me, that’s what makes me stand out. Out of every rapper in Canada you could probably count on one hand how many artists are doing what I’m doing. It’s what I call back porch rap: the type of music

that I felt we would be sitting and free-styling on the back porch, just hanging out, listening to blues and all sorts of different stuff. That’s where it came from for me.

AJM: Based on the lyrics, this record feels like you coming to grips with the past, and then leaving it behind.

SM: The first two records were me kind of figuring out what I was doing, learning to get better with beats. On this third one I was very much focused on just making exactly what I wanted. I wanted it to be very much focused on myself, make an introverted record, a record where I talk about all the things I don’t normally talk about. I’m not saying the record isn’t fun, but there’s more depth to it.

AJM: Did you find that writing tracks that were so personal and so specific was a much greater challenge for you, both as a writer and as a performer?

SM: As a writer it wasn’t harder to write deeper. It was harder to put it out. People write some deep, sincere stuff in their journals, their diaries. It isn’t hard to write the truth out, but it’s showing people that — it’s like open-ing up your diary and showing the world what you thought in the last six

months. That was really difficult. And once you finish a record, it becomes a snapshot of the moment you lived in. It’s just weird to sit back and think about those things sometimes, and it’s hard to put out there.

AJM: Ultimately, I think that’s why people can identify with this record. Your

experiences resonate, and you don’t pull any punches — it’s all there.

SM: The funny thing is I didn’t like a lot of hip hop growing up. The artists that I were listening to at the time weren’t the artists that other people were. When people were into Dr. Dre and Snoop and stuff, I was listening to completely different rap music. I never related to a lot of that, so I found hip hop that I related to — and then realized that’s how I had to write my hip hop. It may be a niche market, but it’s not a fad.

Abstract Artform July 24 @ rock bottom$tbd

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The funny thing is I didn’t like a lot of hip hop growing up.

shea malcolmson

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arts

i n 2007 the Washington Post asked Joshua Bell, one of

the finest violinists in the world, to busk in a subway station. The newspaper wondered whether passers-by could separate the extraordinary from the ordinary. A disguised Bell made just $32; most people didn’t spare a sec-ond glance for the man playing Bach’s “Chaconne.”

This idea forms the heart of Please Stare, an exhibition of video art across Saskatoon and Regina. John G. Hampton, an artist and curator from Regina, has been thinking about subversive public art since display monitors appeared on the University of Regina cam-pus. “I remember a lot of people I know being pretty upset with that,” he recalls. “At some time, just as an offhand comment, I said, ‘Why not put video art up on those and take advantage of them?’”

Please Stare features video installations by seven Canadian artists, including Jon Sasaki, Lee Henderson, and Dana Claxton. Displayed on video billboards across Regina and Saskatoon, the works are interspersed with advertisements. And because they

are removed from the context of a gallery, the relationships between artist, viewer, the space, and the work itself are unclear.

“The idea is to hopefully alter the billboard space, to give a dif-ferent outlook on the ads that are surrounding these pieces,” explains Hampton, who organized the exhibition with Regina’s Neutral Ground and Saskatoon’s AKA Gal-lery. “Because they’re not identified as artworks, the people who aren’t aware that Please Stare is even go-ing on see these pieces amongst the general rotation. It maybe doesn’t register for awhile — and then they start to wonder what’s going on, why it’s there.”

Please Stare raises important questions about the capitalist system in which most art is cre-ated and displayed. But it is also an examination of the way we see the world. By inserting unusual works of art into the normal cycle of advertisements, Hampton hopes to disrupt routine. Please Stare is meant to subvert our ambivalence to advertisements, and create a mo-ment of consciousness in a stream of passivity.

Please Starethrough aug 9 @ various locationsmore info @ neutralground.sk.ca

Photos: courtesy of John g. hamPton

arts

plEasE staRE video installations on billboards question the meaning and purpose of art by alex J macPhersoN

1. Hadley + Maxwell, Please Stare.

i

tough cookiE samantha savage smith on her highly-anticipated second album by alex J macPhersoN

@verbsaskatoon

[email protected]


n 2011, Samantha Savage Smith released her debut

album, Tough Cookie. An engaging mix of ornate pop constructions, slinky guitars, and soaring vocals, the album put the young singer from Calgary on the national map. Since its release, Smith has been bombarded with questions about her forthcoming sophomore album. Today, almost three years later, she is putting the finishing touches on the new record — and is reluctant to reveal any details.

“The new one? It’s quite a bit different from Tough Cookie,” Smith

says, her coy laugh as captivat-ing on the telephone as it is on the stage. “It’s a bit more poppy, I guess. Not like pop pop music. I’ve been playing with my band for a long time, and all the songs have been worked out with my band over the past couple of years, as I started writing them.”

There is an old adage that musicians have their whole lives to write their first record, and just a few years to finish their second. Smith wrote Tough Cookie before she had plans to cut an album. Each song on the record, from the frac-

tious rock aria “Nobody Loves Me But My Own Kind” to the devastat-ing ode to love lost “You Always Come To Mind,” feels open and raw — a reflection of the earnestness with which they were written.

But success breeds pressure, and Smith was forced to write her new record in the shadow of expectation. But instead of writ-ing the record people wanted to hear, she headed in a completely new direction. “Before, I was just writing songs and it turned out I could make a record,” she laughs. “I guess that’s what changed. I was

starting to write songs with the intention of putting them on an album. I wouldn’t say I was at any point catering to people. If any-thing, I haven’t done that. What I’m doing now, I think it’s quite a bit different.”

Just how different remains to be seen. Smith has been playing her new batch of songs on the road for the best part of a year, often excluding most of the songs on Tough Cookie from her setlist, and those reverb-soaked arrangements offer few hints at the contents of her new record.

But it is certain that Smith’s voice, an aural confection as brittle as it is sugary, will be more assured, more confident, and stronger than ever before.

Samantha Savage Smith July 20 @ amigostickets at the door




n early 2004, an unknown band from Toronto called Elliott Brood released a six-

song EP titled Tin Type. Drawing on elements of folk, country, and early rock and roll, the album emerged as a twenty-minute blast of raucous acoustic guitars, rollicking ban-jos, and whiskey-soaked vocals. Because it was recorded in just two days, and because the band were on fire after a string of rowdy shows in small bars, Tin Type sounded fractious and raw — a reflection of the band’s boisterous live perfor-mances rather than a polished studio album. None of the members of Elliott Brood — Mark Sasso, Stephen Pitkin, and Casey Laforet — expected much from the record; they certainly didn’t think it would change the course of their lives. But today, almost ten years later, they are preparing to reissue Tin Type, along with several new recordings of songs from the same period. Over the last decade, Elliott Brood has played hundreds of shows, toured the country more than thirty times, earned a place on the Polaris Music Prize shortlist, and won a Juno Award — all because of Tin Type.

“It was such a special record for us because we kind of did it as a demo,” explains Casey Laforet, who plays gui-tar and trades vocal duties with Sasso. “The original purpose was to try and get shows. We sent them out initially just to get shows around Toronto, to

get a bit of work and to develop our sound.” After releasing Tin Type, each copy of which was packaged in a handmade paper bag, luck intervened. Phil Klygo, co-founder of the indepen-dent folk label Weewerk, heard the re-cord. “He was the first guy to jump on board and really send it out to people,” Laforet recalls, “and it got us on tour. ‘Oh, Alberta’ is on that record, and that was definitely the first song that put us on the map with people.”

Perhaps because “Oh, Alberta” figured prominently into the arc of the

album, but more likely because Tin Type was an extremely strong debut, the band started finding venues in the west. The first club to book them was in Lethbridge, a daunting two thousand mile drive from Toronto. But instead of complaining or finding a venue closer to home, the band packed their gear and drove straight through. The show sparked a glut of touring, hundreds of long days on the road and late nights in cramped bars, which has lasted for almost ten years. “It was the start,

it was the first-born,” Laforet says of Tin Type. “It got us on the road and we never looked back.”

Since releasing Tin Type, Elliott Brood has become an integral part of the Canadian music scene. Fans across the country count on them to release engaging albums and deliver enthusiastic live performances. In 2011, the band released their fourth studio record, Days Into Years. In-spired by a trip to the Étaples Military Cemetery, the record addressed the prospect of growing old, and the

inevitable changes that come with the growth of a family. (All three band members have kids). Unlike its pre-decessors, which relied on acoustic instruments, Days Into Years was shaped by the thick sound of Laforet’s Fender Telecaster Deluxe. The electric guitar added a new dimension to the band, imbuing the most personal songs the group had ever written with additional depth and weight. Earlier this year, the record won the Juno Award for best roots and traditional

i

tEn yEaRs oF Elliott BRood

In the early days, we had a lot of fun. We had a lot of whiskey and we played to our friends.

casey laforet

toronto alt-country heroes reissue their first album, hit the road again by alex J macPherson

feature

/VerbsaskatooN culturecoNteNts local editorial commeNts q + a arts feature food + driNk music listiNgs film Nightlife comics timeout




toronto alt-country heroes reissue their first album, hit the road again by alex J macPherson

@verbsaskatoon

[email protected]


album. But the band wasn’t in Regina to accept the trophy.

“It was our third nomination, so we didn’t really expect anything,” Laforet says with a laugh. “The first two times I think we were kind of excited. And then it didn’t happen — no big deal. Then we were actually playing a show in Quebec City when we found out.” Laforet is quick to point out that he sees the award as a tribute to every-body who has helped the band, from their earliest supporters to the people who continue to buy tickets today.

“The word independent is used a lot, but obviously there’s a lot of people that help a band like ourselves get where we’re going,” he says.

Listening to Days Into Years, which includes the Crazy Horse-esque anthem “If I Get Old” and the gentle country weeper “Northern Air,” dem-onstrates how far the band has come since they recorded Tin Type. “You learn all these things over recording and playing all these different places, and I think the recordings reflect that

as well,” Laforet muses. “There’s a little bit more knowledge, and probably a little bit more money, involved. I mean, we did the first record for something like $700.” But Days Into Years is also a reminder that some things never change. The songs on Tin Type sound jagged and raw, but they remain a vital part of the band’s repertoire — mostly because tracks like the fractious “Oh, Alberta” and the menacing “Edge Of Town” are as good as anything the group has ever written.

This is important, because Elliott Brood are at their best on stage, under the lights. In the beginning, before Tin Type was recorded, nobody in the band expected to play to more than a few dozen people. Laforet realized the band was gathering momentum when strangers started showing up. “In the early days, we had a lot of fun,” he laughs. “We had a lot of whiskey and we played to our friends. Our friends just kept coming back, and then they brought other people. I don’t remember the exact moment, but I felt like, ‘wow, people are really into what we’re doing and they’re coming to see us over and over again.’” People were drawn to the band’s earliest shows for the same rea-son they keep coming back today: the members of Elliott Brood understand that making music is about more than just playing the notes.

Because Laforet is notorious for breaking guitar strings, and because Sasso’s first banjo refused to stay in tune for more than a few minutes,

the band was often confronted by dead air. They dealt with it by engag-ing with the crowd. From the very beginning, Elliott Brood shows have been characterized by a barrage of sto-ries, jokes, and anecdotes coming from the stage. When they weren’t beating on their instruments and howling into their microphones, they did their best to break down the barrier between the stage and the crowd.

“We definitely focused on the fact that we want people to have an awe-some time at our shows, and if that involves talking to them or whatever, that’s what we do,” Laforet laughs. “It might have come out of necessity in the early years of just having to fill in time for dead air — but it’s something we’ve crafted pretty well, I think.”

This summer, the band will embark on yet another tour of the country. Laforet has lost count of just how many times he and his bandmates have driven from one end of Canada to the other, but estimates that the total num-ber is close to forty. This time, they will

take the opportunity to play some of the clubs they played on their first tour.

“We’ve played a lot of these places many times,” he says, “but there are a few smaller ones we’ve obviously grown out of that we get to go back to this time. Those are the most fun shows.”

And while fans of the band have never yearned to hear the songs on Tin Type, mostly because they get played every single night, this tour promises to sum up a decade of music from one

of Canada’s hardest-working bands — and point inexorably toward another ten years on the road.

Elliott Brood July 19 @ ness creek music festival$60+ @ nesscreek.com



food + driNk

anti-inFlammatoRy mEnu is pRo-tastE Buds

lEt’s go dRinkin’ vERB’s mixology guidE

mountain BluEBERRy

These days more and more people are trying to eat healthy, organic, locally sourced food. But it doesn’t have to stop with your meal. Why not try adding this healthy drink to your meal (in moderation, of course).

ingREdiEnts

3 oz vodka (organic, if possible)2 oz organic blueberry nectar splash of organic balsamic vinegar 1 organic limegrind of black pepper

diREctions

Muddle the blueberries. Fill the shaker with ice, then add the vodka, blue-berry nectar, balsamic vinegar, a splash of lime and black pepper. Shake until the outside of shaker is frosty. Pour into a chilled martini glass and serve.

lnew restaurant leyda’s aims to make you healthy by adam haWboldt

Photos courtesy of adam hawboldt

@verbsaskatoon

[email protected]


The gluten-free bread is … the best gluten-free bread I’ve ever eaten.

adam haWboldt

et food be thy medi-cine and medicine be thy food.”

The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (yes, the same one they named the Hippocratic oath after) said those words thousands of years ago. Words that have stood the test of time and have been embraced, in modern-day Saskatoon, by a new restaurant called Leyda’s.

Located on 22nd Street, Leyda’s looks unassuming from the outside. Just a little, rock-faced storefront with a couple of red tables on the sidewalk near the door. But once you walk inside, you realize Leyda’s isn’t little at all.

Once you pass through the stylish front dining area you snake behind the kitchen, through a quaint little room containing a chef’s table and a herb cultivator, and end up in a party room — which can be closed off from the rest of the establishment by sliding barn doors.

Everything in the place screams bistro chic: the decor, the ambience, and the menu.

Speaking of the menu, that’s where Leyda’s really sets itself apart. Remember the Hippocrates quote? Well, that is the essence of Leyda’s. This isn’t just a place that serves organic, locally-sourced food. No, Leyda’s takes things a step further. There’s no deep fryer in the

restaurant, no nonstick chemical-lined pans, no high-temperature pan cooking, or foods found on the Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” list.

What you will find, however, is a reverse osmosis water purifier in

Leyda’s basement and a menu that is at once both utterly appealing, full of anti-inflammatory items, and healthy as all-get-out-of here.

The vision for this — to create a restaurant where medicine is your food and food is your medicine — comes from the owner, Dr. Shirley Maltman, who is committed to trying to make a difference in how people eat around these parts.

“People today do so much mindless eating,” says Dr. Malt-man, sitting in the party room at the back of her restaurant. “That’s something we want to change.”

And if the quality of food they serve at Leyda’s is any indica-tion, change may very well be on the way.

The gluten-free bread is, hands down, the best gluten-free bread I’ve ever eaten. The juxtaposition between its moist middle and its crispy crust is as surprising as it is delicious. You have to try it to understand what I’m talking about. Seriously. Try it!

As for the mussels in Mediter-ranean broth I ordered? Well, they were pretty darn good, too, and ar-rived with a side of the aforemen-tioned bread along with a bed of veggies served atop freshly made hummus and tzatziki sauce.

Medicine has never tasted so good.

leyda’s cafe 112 20th street West | (306) 244 0707

@VerbsaskatooN culturecoNteNts local editorial commeNts q + a arts feature food + driNk music listiNgs film Nightlife comics timeout


music

Photos courtesy of: the artIst / transmItnoW events / the artIst

Coming upnext Week

chilliwack

The year was 1981. The DeLorean DMC-12 (the same car as in Back to the Future) was rolling off the production line, Ronald Reagan was surviving an assassination attempt, Joseph Gordon-Levitt was busy being born, and Vancouver rock band, Chilliwack, was dominating the Canadian airwaves with their song “My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone).” You know the one: “Gone, gone, gone … she been gone so long … she been gone, gone, gone so long.” That song, along with another hit single (“I Believe”) helped propel Chiliwack’s Wanna Be A Star album to platinum status. And while their platinum days are behind them, Chilliwack keeps doing their thing, bringing classic rock to the stage. They’ll be rolling into Sas-katoon mid-July. Tickets for the show available at theodeon.ca

@ odeon events centrefriday, July 19th– $9.60

What do rap artists Dirty Circus, Pigeon Hole, Kyprios and Innocent Bystander have in common? Well, other than being Vancouver-based, all four are into politically minded and socially conscious rapping. So in 2000 they got together and formed the hip hop collective known as Sweatshop Union, and began rapping about everything from war to misogyny to the plight of the downtrodden. But it’s not all serious, high-minded political stuff with Sweatshop Union. Case in point: in 2011 they released an award-winning album called The Bill Murray EP, featuring a song titled (yep, you guessed it!) “Bill Murray.” Other al-bums have received Juno and Western Canadian Music Award nominations. Come check them out when they hit up Amigos next week.

swEatshop union

It helps to know successful people. Back in the day, Stephen Ramsay was a touring guitarist with Canadian indie pop band, Stars. Fast forward a few years, and when Ramsay and his girlfriend Catherine McCandless created an indie-pop/dream-pop band called Young Galaxy, it wasn’t long before they were brought aboard Stars’ label, Arts & Crafts. But it wasn’t just an act of one group of friends helping out another. With a space-like, ethereal sound and soaring vocals from both McCandless and Ramsay, Young Gal-axy have the goods to go a long way in the music industry. The kind of goods that makes the likes of The Besnard Lakes and Patrick Watson what to contribute to their albums. Don’t miss ‘em when they come here in the fall. Tickets at ticketedge.ca

– by adam hawboldt

young galaxy

@ amIgos cantInawedNesday, July 24th – $tbd

sask music pREviEwSaskMusic is launching an exciting new program: Music2Media. It will help artists and those in the industry distribute new music releases to media and industry personnel across Saskatchewan and beyond for review, airplay, licensing opportunities and more. For more information, call 1-800-347-0676 or visit www.saskmusic2media.com

keep up with saskatchewan music. saskmusic.org

@ amIgos cantInafriday, sePtember 20th – $10

VerbNews.comeNtertaiNmeNt coNteNts local editorial commeNts q + a arts feature food + driNk music listiNgs film Nightlife comics timeout


listiNgslistiNgs

The most complete live music listings for Saskatoon.

july 12 » july 20

12 13

19 2017 1815 1614

s m t w t

FRiday 12House DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul

& lounge DJs liven it up. 9pm / No cover

tHe new Jacobin club / Amigos —

A gothic shock rock outfit. 10pm /

Cover TBD

DJ aasH Money / Béily’s — DJ Aash

Money throws it down. 9pm / $5 cover

seven straigHt / Buds on Broadway —

Hard rock the way it’s meant to be played.

10pm / $6

bPM / Diva’s — Resident DJs spin electro/

vocal house music. 10pm / $5

DJ eclectic / The Hose — Local turntable

whiz pumps snappy electronic beats. 8pm

/ No cover

DJ stikMan / Jax — Kick off your week-

end with all your favourite hits. 8pm / $5

Miss Quincy anD tHe sHowDown / Lydia’s Pub — Also featuring Hello, Lady.

10pm / $5

anDy Persian / Odeon — Also appearing

is DJ Ammo. 6:30pm / $60+

DJ big ayyy & DJ HencHMan / Outlaws —

Round up your friends. 8pm / $5

unDercover Pirates / Piggy’s — Playing

hits from the 60s to today. 9pm / No cover

Jenelle orcHerton Duo / Prairie Ink — A

Montreal jazz duo. 8pm / No cover

Dusty tucker + More / Rock Bottom — A

CD release party. 7:30pm / $10

Dislexik / Spadina Freehouse — Spinning

tunes that’ll make you move. 9pm

black riDge country / Stan’s Place — A

night of kicking country. 8pm / No cover

Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge

— With Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad

King. 10pm / $5

Party rock FriDays / Tequila — Featuring

DJ Anchor. 9pm / Cover TBD

DJ nick ruston / Uncle Barley’s — Come

and check him out! 9pm / Cover TBD

DesPistaDo w/ sPoils / Vangelis — Also

featuring Myles and the Blanks. 10pm / $10

satuRday 13House DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin

deep and soulful tunes. 9pm / No cover

bob log iii / Amigos — An American one-

man blues punk band. 10pm / $10

DJ aasH Money + DJ ctrl / Béily’s —

These two DJs throw it down. 9pm / $5

seven straigHt / Buds — Hard rock the

way it’s meant to be played. 10pm / $6

saturgay nigHt / Diva’s — Resident DJs

spin exclusive dance remixes. 10pm / $5

DJ kaDe / The Hose — Saskatoon’s own DJ

lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover

DJ stikMan / Jax — Ladies night with DJ

Stikman and the Jax party crew. 9pm / $5

anna eileen / Little Stone Stage — Broad-

way’s Live at Lunch series by Victoria

School. 11:30am / Free

Fur eel / Lydia’s Pub — A funk/soul/rock

band out of Regina. 10pm / $5

DJ big ayyy & DJ HencHMan / Outlaws

— Round up your friends! 8pm / $5

unDercover Pirates / Piggy’s — Playing

hits from the 60s to today. 9pm / No cover

wHo Drew a Porno? / Rock Bottom —

Progressive funk/punk country. 10pm /

Cover TBD

PoseiDon / Saskatoon Academy of Music

— Featuring Battlebots, Billy B, and more.

10pm / $15 (advance), $25 (door)

Funktion saturDay / The Freehouse —

Come out and join the party. 9pm / No cover

black riDge country / Stan’s Place — A

night of kicking country. 8pm / No cover

Dueling Pianos / Staqatto — With Terry

Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King.

10PM / $5

DJ ancHor / Sutherland Bar — It’s a video

mix show! 10pm / Cover TBD

sexy saturDays / Tequila — Get your

night started right! 9pm / Cover TBD

DJ tHorPDeo / Uncle Barley’s — Spinning

hot tunes all night. 10pm / Cover TBD

tHe treble, bastarD Poetry, seat oF MorPHus / Vangelis — Three talented acts,

one low price. 10pm / $8

sunday 14inDustry nigHt / Béily’s UltraLounge

— Hosted by DJ Sugar Daddy; this crowd

favourite has always been known to break

the latest and greatest tracks in multiple

genres. 9pm / $4; no cover for industry staff

kiss / Credit Union Centre — These rock

icons are still at it. 7:30pm / $28.25+ (tick-

etmaster.ca)

DJ kaDe / The Hose & Hydrant — Saska-

toon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm /

No cover

blues JaM / Vangelis Tavern — The Van-

gelis Sunday Jam is an institution, offering

great tunes from blues to rock and beyond.

7:30pm / No cover

monday 15eDDie robertson anD tHe electric blues banD / Buds on Broadway — Blues

done right. 9pm / $5

DJ auDio / Dublins — Spinning dope beats.

9pm / Cover TBD

Metal 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

tuEsday 16eDDie robertson anD tHe electric blues banD / Buds on Broadway — Blues

done right. 9pm / $5

DJ sugar DaDDy / The Double Deuce

— Able to rock any party, this crowd

favourite has always been known to break

the latest and greatest tracks in multiple

genres. 9:30pm / $4 cover

DJ nick ruston / Dublins — Spinning

dope beats. 9pm / Cover TBD

verb Presents oPen stage / Lydia’s

Pub — The open stage at Lydia’s has hosted

many of Saskatoon’s finest performers, and

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

Jack Miller + More / Taste of Sas-

katchewan — Great food and great

tunes. 11:30am onwards

wEdnEsday 17HuMP weDnesDays / 302 Lounge &

Discotheque — Resident DJ Chris Knorr

will be spinning all of your favourite songs

and requests, every Wednesday night. 9pm

/ No cover until 10pm; $3 thereafter

FeeDing Fiction / Buds — Hard rock

meets metal when this local band takes the

stage. 9pm / $5

DJ MeMo / Dublins — Spinning dope

beats. 9pm / Cover TBD



No cover

Dr. J ‘souleD out’ / Lydia’s Pub — Dr. J

spins hot funk and soul every Wednesday

night. 9pm / No cover

wilD west weDnesDay / Outlaws

Country Rock Bar — Hosted by DJ Big

Ayyy & DJ Henchman. Come out and ride

the mechanical bull! 9pm / $4; no cover for

industry staff

tHe avenue recorDing coMPany Pres-ents oPen Mic / Rock Bottom — Hosted

by Chad Reynolds. Sign up and play at this

weekly event. 10pm / No cover

cJww karaoke / Stan’s Place — Your tal-

ent, aired on the radio! 9pm / No cover


— Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King

belt out classic tunes and audience requests,

from Sinatra to Lady Gaga. 10pm / No cover

sePteMber long + More / Taste of Sas-

katchewan — Great food and great tunes.

11:30am onwards

thuRsday 18blue king brown / Amigos — Urban

roots music all the way from Australia.

10pm / $10 (ticketedge.ca)

stuck in tHe 80s / Buds on Broadway

— In the mood for ‘80s songs? You’re in

luck. 9pm / $5

tHrowback tHursDays / Earls — Come

experience the best in retro funk, soul,

reggae and rock provided by Dr. J. 8pm /

No cover



No cover

nazaretH / Odeon Events Centre —

Love may hurt, but watching these

classic rockers certainly doesn’t. 8pm /

$34.50+ (theodeon.ca)

tHunDer riot w/conky sHowPony / Rock Bottom — Come dance the night

away as this local DJ plays the kind of

music that’ll get your feet moving. 9pm / $5

wHiteboy sliM + More / Taste of Sas-

katchewan — Great food and great tunes.

11:30am onwards

triPle uP tHursDays / Tequila — Featur-

ing DJ Stikman. 9pm / Cover TBD

FRiday 19House DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul

& lounge DJs liven up the atmosphere at

6Twelve. 9pm / No cover

tHe resignators / Amigos — Psychos-

ka from the Land Down Under. 10pm /

Cover TBD

/VerbsaskatooN eNtertaiNmeNtcoNteNts local editorial commeNts q + a arts feature food + driNk music listiNgs film Nightlife comics timeout


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

gEt listEd

[email protected]

kasHMir / Buds — Western Canada’s

premier Led Zeppelin tribute band.

9pm / $5

DJ aasH Money / Béily’s UltraLounge —

DJ Aash Money throws down a high-ener-

gy top 40 dance party every Friday night.

9pm / $5 cover

bPM / Diva’s — Resident DJs spin electro/

vocal house music. 10pm / $5

DJ eclectic / The Hose & Hydrant — Local

turntable whiz DJ Eclectic pumps snappy

electronic beats. 8pm / No cover

DJ stikMan / Jax Niteclub — Kick off your

weekend with all your favourite party

hits.. 9pm / $5 cover

kaitlin anD tHe strengtH / Lydia’s Pub —

A night of sweet, catchy tunes. 10pm / $5

cruz FM tHe 80’s / Odeon Events Centre

— Featuring Chilliwack, The Odds and The

Rebel O’s. 8pm / $9.60 (theodeon.ca)


Country Rock Bar — Round up your friends

‘cause there’s no better country rock party

around. 8pm / $5; ladies in free before 11pm

wHere’s My Mullet / Piggy’s — Come

and rock out! 9pm / No cover

one More troubaDour / Prairie Ink — In-

strumental acoustic music. 8pm / No cover

kroovy rookers / Rock Bottom — Also

featuring Zero Cool, Exoskeleton and

Zombie Bouffant. 9pm / $10

Dislexik / Spadina Freehouse — Spinning

tunes that’ll make you wanna move. 9pm

/ No cover


— Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad

King belt out classic tunes and audience

requests. 10pm / $5

riPPer train / Taste of Saskatchewan

— Great food and great tunes.

11:30am onwards

Party rock FriDays / Tequila — Featuring

DJ Anchor. 9pm / Cover TBD

DJ nick ruston / Uncle Barley’s — Come

and check him out! 9pm / Cover TBD

satuRday 20Jay arner / Amigos — A psychadelic in-

die pop rocker from the West Coast. 10pm

/ Cover TBD

House DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin

deep and soulful tunes. 9pm / No cover

DJ aasH Money + DJ ctrl / Béily’s —

These two DJs throw down a high-energy

top 40 dance party. 9pm / $5 cover

kasHMir / Buds — Western Canada’s pre-

mier Led Zeppelin tribute band. 9pm / $5

saturgay nigHt / Diva’s — Resident DJs

spin exclusive dance remixes every Satur-

day. 10pm / $5

DJ kaDe / The Hose — Saskatoon’s own DJ

lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover

DJ stikMan / Jax Niteclub — Ladies night

with DJ Stikman and the Jax party crew.

9pm / $5 cover

tHe eMPire associates / Lydia’s Pub — A

folk duo from Regina. 10pm / $5

aPatHy, celPH titleD / Odeon Events

Centre — Two talented hip-hop artists.

9pm / $30 (theodeon.ca)


Country Rock Bar — Round up your

friends ‘cause there’s no better country

rock party around. 8pm / $5

wHere’s My Mullet / Piggy’s — Come

and rock out! 9pm / No cover

wires n’ wooD / Prairie Ink — Local trio

playing jazz, latin and gypsy music. 8pm /

No cover

Fuse ProDuctions / Spadina Freehouse

— Come check out this dope act. 9pm /

No cover


— Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad

King belt out classic tunes and audience

requests, from Sinatra to Lady Gaga.

10pm / $5

DJ ancHor / Sutherland Bar — It’s the

world famous video mix show! 10pm /

Cover TBD

riFF raFF + More / Taste of Saskatch-

ewan — Great food and great tunes.

11:30am onwards

Datsik / Tequila — A dub step producer

and DJ from BC. 9pm / Cover TBD

DJ tHorPDeo / Uncle Barley’s — Spinning

hot tunes all night. 10pm / Cover TBD

by Divine rigHt, tHe Moas / Vangelis — A

night of cool indie rock. 9pm / $10



ver wonder when the concept of summer blockbusters began?

You know, all those movies that Hollywood rolls out in the sum-mer months full of eye-catching explosions, cool special effects and mindless entertainment.

Well, I’m no authority on the subject, but to the best of my knowledge it all began in 1977 with this little movie called Star Wars.

Yes, that Star Wars.Not only did this spectacular,

new, effects-laden movie land the first death blow to ‘70s movie-making (arguably the best era in history), but it also kicked off the genre of movie we now know as the summer blockbuster.

Thanks a lot, Star Wars!But really, though, it hasn’t been

all bad. There have been some ex-cellent summer blockbusters over the years: Jaws, The Dark Knight, Inception — all terrific films.

But for every one of those, there have been dozens of terrible summer blockbusters: Battlefield Earth (arguably the worst movie of all time), Godzilla, Batman & Robin, Catwoman, Speed 2, Stealth … the list goes on.

But rest easy, movie fan. Guillermo del Toro’s latest flick,

the sci-fi action film Pacific Rim, isn’t one of the bad ones.

In fact, it’s rather good.

Sure, it’s mindless entertainment, sure, it borrows unabashedly from classic Japanese monster films of yore, and sure, all the archetypes from that genre are rehashed (nerdy scientist, unflinching leader, trou-bled hero, etc), but in del Toro’s ca-pable hands, Pacific Rim is instilled with a certain panache, a certain

style and humanity, that allows it to rise above the diurnal scum of your everyday summer blockbuster.

The movie begins with a rumble between Kaiju (alien monsters that come to Earth via a portal at the bot-tom of the ocean) and Jaegers (huge robots operated by human warriors who are telepathically linked to the machines). At the forefront of this battle are brothers Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam of Sons of Anarchy fame) and Yancy (Diego Klattenhoff.)

Raleigh survives the battle, Yancy does not. Things happen, the

Jaeger program is scrapped, and the Kaiju are free to stomp our earthly terra.

Fast forward five years. The Jaeger program has gone under-ground and the leader of the project, Stacker Pentecost (The Wire’s Idris Elba) recruits Raleigh to come back and fight the Kaiju one last time. A final battle for Mother Earth, if you will. Raleigh agrees, but under one condition. His part-ner has to be a pretty young lady named Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi).

This is when the movie really starts to rock and roll.

Without giving too much away, let’s just say that several major coastal cities are decimated, mon-sters are flung through buildings, boats are used as weapons, and battles rage on land, sky and sea.

And while Pacific Rim may not be for everybody (artsy, sophisti-cated movie-goers beware), there is enough eye-popping action, good acting, stylish set pieces, and inter-esting characters you will end up caring for to make this movie one of the better blockbusters you’ll see this year.

So take a seat, grab a bag of popcorn, and enjoy.

film

Photo: courtesy of Warner bros. PIctures

EPacific Rim a big summer movie with style by adam haWboldt

paciFic Rim

diREctEd By Guillermo del Toro

staRRing Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba,

Charlie Day + Rinko Kikuchi

131 minutEs | pg

a classic summER BlockBustER?

@verbsaskatoon

[email protected]


…in del toro’s capable hands, Pacific Rim is instilled with a certain panache…

adam haWboldt

@VerbsaskatooN eNtertaiNmeNtcoNteNts local editorial commeNts q + a arts feature food + driNk music listiNgs film Nightlife comics timeout


h aving a sympathetic character in your movie goes a long

way towards keeping the audi-ence interested.

And in Love is All You Need, the main character, Ida (Trine Dyrholm) is about as sympathetic as you’ll find in a romantic comedy.

Ida, a Danish hairdresser, is lovable, kind, sweet and caring. She’s also kind of goofy and a tad awkward. When we first meet Ida, she’s returning home from a session of breast cancer treatment. She is feeling hopeful and is in decent spirits. Those spirits are crushed when she walks into her house and finds her husband Leif (Kim Bodnia) cheating on her with a pretty young woman named Thilde (Christiane Schaumburg-Müller).

At this point, it being a romantic comedy and all, you expect Ida to pick up a vase and throw it at her husband or to say something cut-tingly funny.

None of that happens.Instead, Ida just stands there.

Staring. Crushed. Not saying a word. And in that moment, the audience immediately and sympathetically connects with her.

It’s a connection that lasts throughout the rest of the movie.

After the cheating incident, Ida attempts to pull things together long enough to attend her daughter’s wedding in Italy.

She heads to the airport and runs into the father of her future son-in-law, Philip (Pierce Brosnan). And when I say “runs into,” I mean literally. While in the parking lot she backs out and hits the side of Philip’s car.

Philip — a successful businessman who lost his wife a few years back — is a sour, curmudgeonly bastard who doesn’t take the accident too well.

He gets past it, though, and Ida and Philip head to Italy together for the wedding. Needless to say, the two don’t get along well in the beginning. Their relationship is marked by cutting barbs and funny verbal sparring.

Eventually, inevitably, the two reconcile their differences and begin to fall for each other as funny family chaos erupts around them.

If this sounds like nearly every other comedic family wedding movie you’ve ever seen, don’t worry. It’s not.

Yes, all the normal clichés and standard plot points are there, and yes, the outcome is entirely predictable. But what sets Love is All You Need apart from other family-chaos wedding movies like, say, Mamma Mia! or The Big Wedding, is its director — Susanne Bier.

In this Oscar-winner’s hand, Love is All You Need becomes more than just another silly, feel-good

marriage movie, mainly because she has a way of making the ridiculous look true-to-life. Of manipulating the story in such a way that it is forever taking subtle, naturalistic turns back to the core of each of the main characters. For instance, instead of having Philip fall for Ida after some slap-sticky incident, Bier lets this happen when Philip sees Ida at her most vulnerable. Naked, bald (she wears a wig because of the chemo), trying to hide her breasts.

That doesn’t mean Love Is All You Need is a special film that everyone must see. But it is a refreshing, realistic installment to the worn-nearly-thin marriage comedy genre.

Love is All You Need is currently being screened at Roxy Theatre.

lovE is all you nEEd

diREctEd By Susanne Bier

staRRing Pierce Brosnan, Trine

Dyrholm, Kim Bodnia + Paprika Steen

110 minutEs | pg

Photo: courtesy of sony PIctures classIcs

@verbsaskatoon

[email protected]


not just anothER maRRiagE comEdyLove is All You Need takes a realistic approach to a nearly worn-out genre by adam haWboldt

[Bier] has a way of making the ridiculous look true-to-life.

adam haWboldt



Nightlife FRiday, july 5 @

hudson’sHudson’s Canadian Tap House401 21st Street East(306) 974 0944

FeatureD Deals / Half-priced wings and half-priced PilsnerDrink oF cHoice / Pints of PilsnertoP eats / WingssoMetHing new / Proceeds from the Stampede Hoagie go to help flood victims in Calgary, a new summer feature menu has just been launched, a new football-themed shot ski, and a new DJ will be spinning the latest tunes



Photography by Patrick Carley

cHeck out our Facebook Page! These photos will be uploaded to

Facebook on Friday, July 19z.

facebook.com/verbsaskatoon



Nightlife monday, july 8 @

Rook &RavEnThe Rook & Raven154 2nd Avenue South(306) 665 2220

Music vibe / RelaxingDrink oF cHoice / Nice to PeachatoP eats / Mac ‘n’ cheesesoMetHing new / Two new beers on tap

@VerbsaskatooN eNtertaiNmeNtcoNteNts local editorial commeNts q + a arts feature food + driNk music listiNgs film Nightlife comics timeout


cHeck out our Facebook Page! These photos will be uploaded to

Facebook on Friday, July 19.

facebook.com/verbsaskatoon

Photography by Cortez



sudoku answER kEycRosswoRd Canadian Criss-Cross

acRoss 1. Scandinavian rugs

5. One’s own person

9. Velvety leather

10. States to be true

12. As a whole

13. One who makes an

inappropriate display

of learning

15. Cry out in pain

16. At most

18. Teen’s wish

19. Stretch, with ‘out’

20. Covered with frost

21. Be fearless

22. Legislative meeting

24. Airplane seat choice

25. Units of a baseball game

27. Burn with hot water

30. Tall hairdo

34. Duck’s place

35. Piece of chewing

tobacco

36. Extinct bird

37. Bristle-like appendage

38. Boot out

39. Roasting rod

40. Place to hide an ace

42. Monopoly purchases

44. Pitching stats

45. Don’t answer directly

46. Gave for a while

47. Still red, as a steak

down 1. Red corundums

2. Loud communication

3. Bustle

4. Part of a newspaper

5. Overly sentimental

6. Former premier of

Ontario

7. Called the shots

8. Noisy disturbance

9. Legless reptile

11. Angry growl

12. Rams’ mates

14. Arboreal animal’s

home

17. Anthology

20. Orange cover

21. Antenna type

23. Young herring

24. Old-looking

26. Not any one

27. Health resorts

28. Hooded robes

29. Toughen glass

31. Interfere with

32. Curtain material

33. Snack food

35. Adventurous journey

38. Kitchen appliance

39. Part of a constellation

41. Adam’s wife

43. Eggs

timeout

© waltER d. FEEnER 2013

a

b

6 2 7 9 5 1 4 3 89 8 5 4 3 2 6 1 74 1 3 8 6 7 2 9 55 3 8 6 1 9 7 2 47 9 6 2 4 5 1 8 32 4 1 7 8 3 5 6 91 7 9 3 2 4 8 5 68 5 4 1 9 6 3 7 23 6 2 5 7 8 9 4 1

2 6 8 7 1 3 9 5 47 9 1 4 6 5 8 2 35 3 4 2 9 8 1 7 61 5 2 3 4 9 6 8 73 8 6 1 5 7 4 9 29 4 7 8 2 6 5 3 16 7 9 5 3 1 2 4 88 2 5 6 7 4 3 1 94 1 3 9 8 2 7 6 5

hoRoscopEs July 12 – July 18

sudoku cRosswoRd answER kEy

a b6 2 1 4 3 9 5 4 6 8 6 9 3 8 1 7 2 9 1 3 4 7 8 3 1 2 5 8 5 4 6 7 2 5 7 9

6 7 1 9 9 1 8 2 5 2 9 7 1 5 4 6 8 73 1 7 2 4 6 6 5 3 88 4 3 94 3 2 5

aRiEs march 21–april 19

Tensions may be running high

this week, Aries. Don’t get

caught up in the noise. It’ll only bring

you down.

tauRus april 20–may 20

Take action! It’s as simple as

that, Taurus. Don’t sit around

being idle this week. It will come back

to haunt you.

gEmini may 21–June 20

Get out and be seen this week,

Gemini. Don’t hide away in your

house and let some excellent opportuni-

ties slip away.

cancER June 21–July 22

The fire within you has been

simmering, Cancer. This week,

though, it will burn white-hot. Make

the most of it.

lEo July 23–august 22

We know you love the spot-

light, Leo. But for the next

few days let other people stand in

the limelight.

viRgo august 23–september 22

Oh, buddy! Someone close to you

may try to pick a fight, Virgo. Try

not to jump to conclusions. You may be at

fault, so keep an open mind.

liBRa september 23–october 23

For every action there is an

equal and opposite reaction, Li-

bra. Tread carefully in the days ahead.

Who knows what could happen!

scoRpio october 24–november 22

Some weeks are all about you,

Scorpio. This isn’t one of them,

though. Encourage others to do their best

in the coming days.

sagittaRius november 23–december 21

Put your reservations in your

pocket, throw caution to the wind

… all that kind of stuff, Sagittarius. The

payback will be worth it.

capRicoRn december 22–January 19

Changes are a’ comin’, Capricorn!

Don’t fear them, though. By em-

bracing change you’ll set yourself up for

something swell.

aQuaRius January 20–february 19

Some bold and mighty forces

may come to your aid this week,

Aquarius. Even if this isn’t your nature,

you’ll benefit from it.

piscEs february 20–march 20

Sometimes love is all you need,

Pisces. This week is one of those

times. Seek love in family, friends and

“special” friends.

VerbNews.com

verb issue s248 (july 12-18, 2013)

Documents

hell jump

courtesy of vanessa

q anightlife photos

listingspacific rim

elliott broodreflects

page photo

icon of avantgarde theatre

christian cortez