Verb Issue R87 (July 19-25, 2013)

arts culture music regina

Photo: courtesy of the artist

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top oF thE woRld saskatchewan man’s quest for everest

FivE alaRm Funk Gettin’ down with this funky orchestra

thE conjuRing +

lovE is all you nEEd films reviewed

issue #87 – July 19 to July 25

SAM KLASSand fluid identity

Verbnews.comVerb magazine contents local editorial comments q + a arts feature food + drink music listings nightlife film comics timeout

2July 19 – July 25

Verbnews.com@verbreGina facebook.com/verbreGina

dRag Racing“Alcohol funny cars” on the track. 3 / local

top oF thE woRldOne Saskatchewan man’s trip up Mount Everest. 4 / local

indEpEndEncE dayOur thoughts on severing ties to the monarchy. 6 / editorial

commEntsHere’s what you had to say about smart meters. 7 / comments

Q + a with FivE alaRm FunkA Vancouver funk orchestra. 8 / q + a

nightliFE photos We visit The Owl. 15 / nightlife

listingsLocal music listings for July 19 through July 27. 14 / listings

thE conjuRing + lovE is all you nEEdThe latest movie reviews. 16-17 / film

on thE bus Weekly original comic illustrations by Elaine M. Will. 18 / comics

lEgsKris Brandhagen’s abstract photography. 9 / arts

swEEt satisFactionThis week we visit le Macaron. 12 / food + drink

musicIron Kingdom, Flying Fox + The Hunter Gatherers + Chris Young 13 / music

dRumhandExotic musical fusion from Toronto. 9 / arts

gamEs + hoRoscopEsCanadian criss-cross puzzle, horoscopes, and Sudoku. 19 / timeout

culture entertainmentnews + opinion

contentscontents

on thE covER: sam klassOn Fluid Identity. 10 / feature

Photo: courtesy of the artist

EditoRialpublisher / Parity PublishinGeditor in chief / ryan allanmanaging editor / Jessica Patruccostaff writers / adam hawboldt + alex J macPhersoncontributing writer / victoria abraham

aRt & pRoductiondesign lead / andrew yanko graphic design / brantin fixcontributing photographers / baily eberle, maxton Priebe, adam hawboldt + alex J macPherson

businEss & opERationsoffice manager / stePhanie liPsitaccount manager / kerri senkow + Gino Giambattistamarketing manager / voGeson Paleyfinancial manager / cody lanG

contactcomments / [email protected] / 306 881 8372

adVertise / [email protected] / 306 979 2253

design / [email protected] / 306 979 8474

general / [email protected] / 306 979 2253

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locallocal

herrie Bodnarchuk is standing next to her trailer, dressed in a pale,

grey racing suit. In front of her, the body of a 1970 Superbird is lifted at a 45-degree angle.

But this is no normal ’70 Superbird. With four exhaust pipes jutting out each side and a motor that stands two feet high, Bodnarchuk’s Superbird is what people in the drag-racing busi-ness call an “alcohol funny car.”

“These cars do great burnouts, they make a lot of noise and they go really fast. This one here does about 200 miles an hour, ” says Bodnarchuk, as her crew tinkers with the engine. To her right a voice says, “Does anyone know where the shoe polish is?” Still staring at the car, Bodnarchuk explains they need shoe polish to write the rac-ing number on the window.

Then she slides into the narrow seat of her car and is towed out to the start-ing line by a pick-up truck. The body of the Superbird still lifted on an angle, Bodnarchuk looks calm in the driver’s seat. Racing since the early ‘90s, she’s been here before. Seen it all. She’s run perfect races and blown up cars.

Just before the car enters the burn-out box, Bodnarchuk’s team takes one last look at the engine. All eyes are on them. The crowd waits for the body to be lowered and the burnout to begin.

But there’s a problem. There’s some-thing wrong with the Superbird.

When you enter the grounds at the Saskatchewan International Race-

way, the first thing you notice are the motorhomes, RVs and trailers. Next to them families sit at picnic tables, shaded from the sun by umbrellas. There are cars everywhere, too. Blue SS Monte Carlos, lime-green Mustangs, black Cameros. Most have their hoods open, engines exposed. Some people tinker with their cars. Others stand around chatting.

The people come from all over. From Regina to Prince Albert, Saska-toon to small-town Alberta. There’s a real sense of community here. A bunch

of like-minded folks brought together by a common interest — drag racing.

The closer you get to the track, the louder it gets. The roar of engines echo through the raceway. Great wafts of smoke and the smell of burning rubber are everywhere. A blue and white car pulls up to the burnout box, a space just under the tower where cars go to burn rubber so that their tires will be warm and stick to the asphalt during their race. And over the PA-system, a voice is saying, “This ’79 Mustang came here all the way from Alberta.”

The driver of the Mustang revs the engine and holds in the brake. Smoke fills the burnout box. Then the Mustang

jumps forward, and inches up to the starting line. Lights on the “Christmas tree” — the automatic starter at the starting line — flick on. They start on yellow at the top, and descend slowly. When the light turns green at the bot-tom of the tree, the front wheels of the Mustang pop off the ground and it’s off, speeding out of sight in a straight line down the track.

An hour or so later, Bodnarchuk and her alcohol funny car pull up to the

burnout box. The engine trouble has been remedied and she’s ready to go. In front of the car, raceway workers spray traction compound on the asphalt to give it more grip. She pulls into the burnout box and revs the engine.

This car doesn’t sound like the rest. It’s louder, more feral, more guttural.

When Bodnarchuk guns the engine and spins the tires, a huge cloud of smoke billows around the car. It shoots forward a couple of feet past the start-ing line, then backs up. Gets ready to run its first race since blowing up last year in Bakersfield.

Before Bodnarchuk pulls up to the line, she tightens her belts and pulls the

car to the starting position. Her foot is already on the gas, the engine roars.

When the Christmas tree lights flash she lets go of the button which is holding the car in place, and the 1970 Superbird takes off. The engine screams in your ears, sending vibra-tions rattling through your face when it passes. Things are looking good out the gate, but a few feet up the track Bod-narchuk’s car jumps, nearly running into the centre area of the track.

“If the car starts to get away from you, sometimes you have to lift [your foot off the gas],” says Bodnarchuk. “Other times you have to short shift to straighten it out. The thing about these cars is, you don’t really have to watch out the front to do the driving. You can actually feel it in your bum. The back

of your car does the sliding. You can feel it and have to straighten that out before it gets to the front.”

Whatever Bodnarchuk does works, because in less than a nanosecond her car is straight and zipping down the quarter mile at 180 miles an hour.

It takes her 7.68 seconds to finish.When it’s over, Bodnarchuk’s team

drives the pick-up truck to the finish line, attaches a rope to the front of the Superbird, and takes it back to the trailer.

There’s still another race to run.

s

drag racing, community and lots of smoke at the saskatchewan international raceway by adam hawboldt

Feedback? text it! (306) 881 8372

@verbRegina

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…you don’t … have to watch out the front to do the driving. you can actually feel it…

sherri bodnarchuk

Funny caRs and Fun timEs

Photo: courtesy of adam hawboldt / verb maGazine

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local

he men and women who climb mountains refer to the upper reaches

of Mount Everest as the Death Zone. Above 26,000 feet there is simply not enough oxygen in the atmosphere to sustain human life for more than a few hours. Shortly before 11:00pm on May 16, Steve Whittington left the relative safety of his tent on the South Col, the windswept plateau that marks the entrance to the Death Zone, and as-cended into the night. The summit lay more than 3,000 feet above him, wreathed in clouds and hidden by the gloom. Drained after weeks of climbing and debilitated by the alti-tude, Whittington knew his chances of reaching the top were slim in the best of conditions — and these were not the best of conditions. As he climbed, his world lit only by the narrow beam of his headlamp, he was buffeted by the wind and blinded by the driving snow. Nor-mally one of the strongest climbers on any expedition, Whittington was cold and wasted. Then, he started to doubt.

“I didn’t know if I was going to make it,” he says. “I had never been that weak in my life before, and I didn’t know if I could dig deep. That’s

a feeling that I’ve never had before.” Whittington’s doubts were confirmed when his longtime friend and climbing partner Daniel Branham elected to turn around. After struggling on the

ascent to the South Col the previous day, Branham simply couldn’t keep up. “On every climb around the world he’s been tied to me on a rope, and he’s matched me pace for pace — thou-sands and thousands and thousands of steps,” Whittington says. “I just think he lost heart when he wasn’t tethered to me and couldn’t keep up with my pace.” As Branham began the long descent, Whittington kept slogging upward, determined to realize the moment he had been visualizing for years — the final steps up the summit ridge and the surge of emotion that accompanies arrival on the rooftop of the world.

Steve Whittington didn’t plan to spend his adult life in pursuit

of the world’s most difficult and dangerous summits. He grew up in rural Manitoba, far from anything that even remotely resembled a mountain. His love of climbing was

ignited ten years ago when a friend invited him to join a climb in south-ern Alberta. Bewitched by the allure of the heights, the rawness of the landscapes and the visceral thrill of pitting himself against the wonders of nature, he resolved to keep climb-ing. He has since completed many technical ice climbs and straddled some of the world’s most demand-ing peaks, including Denali and Aconcagua. His goal is to complete the Seven Summits — the ascent of the highest peak on each of the seven continents. Everest has been on his horizon for years. “There’s so much history on that mountain,” he told me before leaving for Nepal. “I want to be on that mountain because it’s

t

nowhERE lEFt to climbsaskatchewan mountaineer recounts his harrowing journey to the rooftop of the world by alex J macPherson

i didn’t know if i was going to make it. i had never been that weak in my life…

steve whittinGton

Photo: courtesy of steve whittinGton

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@verbRegina

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a symbol of mountaineering, and I want to be a part of that.”

Conquering Everest requires a different strategy than other, lesser peaks. Teams lay siege to the mountain, establishing a series of progressively higher camps before striking out for the summit. The route meanders from Base Camp, a tent city perched at a breathless 18,000 feet, through the serrated maw of the Khumbu Icefall, across the vast valley of the Western Cwm, and up the steep slope of the Lhotse Face to the frozen expanse of the South Col. “It was fun in a terrifying way,” Whittington says of the moun-tain’s lower reaches, which are prone to avalanches and proved far more difficult than he expected. “I’d read a lot of accounts of how difficult it was, and I’d hoped that it would be easier for me — and it wasn’t. It really pushes you right down to the bottom. Every step, every movement, every time you raise your hand to pull yourself up, really becomes a force of will.”

By the time he and his team set out for the summit, Whittington was in bad shape. High altitude suppresses the ap-petite and keeps the body from absorb-ing calories. Over the preceding few days, he hadn’t eaten anything more substantial than a granola bar and a few pieces of meat and cheese. He was also exhausted. Even with bottled oxy-gen, sleep is impossible above 24,000 feet. This, he explains, can be problem-atic. “That’s the point where people get into trouble. They push themselves to where they’re in this zombie-like state, just stumbling along. They don’t

have the will to properly place their feet, place their hands, or make sure their rappel device is safe. They lose the ability to make decisions properly because they’re so exhausted.” And then there was the weather.

By the time Whittington and Dawa Sherpa reached the balcony, a prominent ledge at 27,300 feet, he was thinking about quitting. “We’d been knocked around and beaten up by the storm quite a bit,” he says. “The storm had gotten really bad and I remember saying to Dawa, ‘The storm…’ He knew the unfinished question was whether we should turn around, but you don’t want to say it. If you say it, you’ll start to believe it.” Then, a glance at his oxygen cylinder revealed that the bottle was half-full. Most climbers exhaust a full bottle between the South Col and the Balcony, but Whittington and Dawa were climbing well. “That renewed my hope,” he says. “I just had this renewed sense of energy, and I got mad at the mountain. I just started driving my ice axe in, kicking steps in the snow, and leading up. Dawa and I just kept going. We got in a rhythm and started marching up this snow slope.”

After climbing around several other climbers who had stalled on one of the steep technical sections, Whit-tington and Dawa emerged into day-light. “The sun was rising, it was rising above the clouds, and I’d literally climbed out of the storm,” he recalls. “The sun brings warmth, it brings hope. The night is behind me, the storm is below me, and I’ve got a clear horizon.” As he and Dawa crested the

South Summit, a slender fin of snow at 28,500 feet, Whittington knew he was going to make it. After traversing a narrow corniced ridge, Whittington free-climbed the famous Hillary Step, a daunting chimney of rock and snow. At the top of the Step, he and Dawa ascended the summit ridge until they reached a hump of snow adorned with countless strings of prayer flags, snapping in the stiff morning breeze. It was 7:00am on May 16 and there was nowhere left to climb.

Whittington and Dawa didn’t linger on top of the world. After unfurling a pair of banners and taking a handful of photographs, the pair turned their backs on the summit and headed down the mountain. They reached the South

Col a few hours later and collapsed in their tents, too tired to move yet filled with joy at having summited — and survived — Everest. Today, more than a month after his successful summit bid, Whittington is still trying to grasp exactly what Everest means. In the past, he has struggled to return to so-ciety after a long expedition, confused and annoyed by the way people obsess over things that don’t matter at all. The mountains always cast the exigencies of life into stark relief, but Everest was different. He returned from Nepal with a newfound sense of self, and a new appreciation for the slender threads from which our lives hang.

“I look at that stuff and I see pos-sibility,” he muses. “I think the scope

of what I believe is possible has been enhanced. I had a lot of confidence doing things before. However, now I’ll always be able to revert back and know what I did in May of 2013 — and know that I can dig deeper and make things happen. For myself, Everest helped dial in what’s important. I have a good life here, and I want to make sure I live it to the fullest. It’s made things a little sharper that way. But I’m still figuring it out.”

Photo: courtesy of steve whittinGton

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editorialeditorialeditorial

reaking news: Kate Middleton, the royal wife of Prince William, is past

her alleged due date.Or at least that was the rumour

flooding the Internet when we sat down to write this piece. And who knows, by the time you read this she may have already given birth. In fact, even before the royal pregnancy Will and Kate were no strangers to media attention. Seems like everything they do (or don’t do) ends up as national headlines. They are celebrities, and it’s clear that they are rekindling people’s interest in the British monarchy. Which is why we think this is the perfect time for Canada to cut its ties with the crown.

Well, not right this instant. Queen Elizabeth II still has plenty of fans, so ruffling feathers while she still sits on the throne would probably cause a lot of unnecessary angst. But the sec-ond she’s finished fulfilling her royal duties, we should take steps to break free of the monarchy — before it’s too late.

You see, we’ll have a window here, folks. A brief period of time when the widely unpopular Prince Charles takes over that we can push hard to sever our ties with the monarchy. Because if we wait too long, and Will and Kate ascend to the throne, or even simply take over as the public face of the royal family, well then that’s it. People will allow their pseudo-celeb love with the

new royal couple to drain their resolve to change and all will be lost. So let’s get things done while we still can.

Now, some of you may be saying “Why should we break ties with the monarchy?” It’s simple. In fact, we’ve talked about it before in these pages, and one of the reasons we pointed out was the cost. You see, Canadians spent $1.53 per capita in 2009 on the royals, according to Ma-clean’s. In case you were wondering, the money went to supporting the Queen’s performance of her duties when in Canada, or when she is

abroad in her role as Queen of Cana-da. Some of the cash also covered certain costs associated with the governor general and ten lieutenant governors, including travel, security, residences and ceremonies.

Ok, so we understand that a dollar and a half might not sound like much, but as the Brits themselves were only paying $1.32 per capita, it seems a bit suspect. And added all together, main-taining our connection with the throne comes in at a price tag of around

$40-$50 million per year, which we’re quite certain could get Canadians better value if it were spent on almost anything else.

Besides, Canada is a major player on the world stage, and it’s high time we asserted our independence from our current, wildly outdated model. After all, how serious can we appear if our head of state is some other country’s queen, a person to whom we make new Canadians swear an oath? And her presence is everywhere: her face adorns our money (rather than some prominent, you know, Canadian).

And to really hit home just how out of touch maintaining our relationship with the Queen is, Canadian women are still expected to curtsey when they meet her. How quaint!

So not only are we paying out of pocket to support the monarchy, and not only is maintaining these ties hold-ing us back from being an independent nation, but it turns out most of us are ready to cut the proverbial apron string. According to a 2010 Angus Reid poll, 69 percent of Canadians would

like to dissolve our relationship with the royal family and see a Canadian serving as our head of state.

Of course, doing so isn’t an easy process, and would obviously require a serious constitutional amendment. So here’s what we suggest: first, let’s hold a referendum and pose the question to Canadians: should we break up with the monarchy? Presuming the answer is yes, we could set up a federal com-mission to determine the various ways we could select the next head of state, after which Canadians could vote on how we do this.

Perhaps the Irish model is one most worth examining: they elect their presidents, who serve almost directly the same function as our governor generals, but with popular support because they have been cho-sen by the people. It is worth noting that in Ireland there has never been a struggle between the offices of presi-dent and prime minister.

Whatever answer is, we should do it and do it soon. The clock is ticking.

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

b

indEpEndEncE daywe think it’s time for canada to sever its ties to the british monarchy

@verbRegina

[email protected]


[most] canadians would like to dissolve our relationship with the royal family…

verb maGazine

Photo: courtesy of nasa/bill inGalls

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commentscommentscommentscomments

text your thoughts to881 vERb

8372

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

– Smart meters article interesting. My dad retired to BC he said that new meters didn’t really make any savings for him just no dif-ference but he didn’t try to make it cost less so maybe that would have a difference.

– Smart meters are definitely the way to go. You don’t like how much you’re spending? You actu-ally have control over something so make a change to reduce your bill. Most people were probably just pissed when they realized how much they were wasting energy. It’s hard to notice when you’re getting a rounded off figure every now and then.

– I am totally against smart meters. They haven’t been around long enough for us to know what kind of health consequences they could have. Plus how much does it cost to roll these out? I think it makes way more sense to stick with what we’ve got for now, wait and see how it works for BC and Ontario.

– Hi I just read your article about Smart Meters. It seems to me like this article was written by Sask-power, I moved here from BC last year and stating that health issues from RF exposure and concerns over Smart Meters causing fires are the main concerns over these meters is absolute rubbish. The main objection is the cost of your power, saying Smart Meters will allow consumers to save money is absolutely nieve. Government cor-perations and all corporations are about profits and making money and not about investing money on new equipment to save consumers money. The truth behind Smart Meters is they will allow SaskPow

er to increase their rates at peek power consumption times, costing consumers more money not saving them money. Arron Rigden

– Conspiracy theorists love any-thing like this: it’s the government, it’s the radio waves, it’s big brother. Just relax: these have been used in various countries around the world for a while and they’re do-ing okay. You’ll be fine. I say bring them on

– Smart meters radio frequency is DANGEROUS FOR PEOPLE! Don’t listen to the government who says its okay it isn’t!

– Smart meters are a green solution and the way of the future. More people should be furious they’ve been shelling out their hard earned dollars on the utility companies rough estimation of what they’ve used. Why aren’t people more up-set about that?! I’d rather pay for exactly what I used. And of coarse they are safe you think they don’t test that stuff? Come on!

– It’s a nice idea to think you can control the cost, but think about this: it’s costing the companys a lot of $$$ to switch things over to smart meters. How r they going to recoup that? By making the power cost a lot more! So you might be able to control when you use power better but you’re paying way more for it overall. You really put on those rose colored glass verb lol.

– You should look into who paid for those tests to see if the radio frequency were dangerous to

people or not. I bet it was Harper and then you’ll have to think why he would want to do that. The government wants you to think it’s all okay then you get one and you pay way more. Think about it!

oFF topic

– Henry Woolf is brilliant, appar-ently hilarious, and a treasure. What a pleasure to read your profile of him. I like that he likes wine gummies :)

In response to “Regarding Henry,” Local,

#86 (July 12, 2013)

sound oFF

– Nothing more frightening than driving the car slowly over some major potholes to avoid wrecking the suspension and then to get the savage eye from some guy driving a 4x4 with a massive lift kit

– Last weeks text about being with the family in the park and sharing the spot with wasted teens was great. . In the USA someone might of pulled out a revollver and tried to arrest them..canada #1

– What happens when we die?? Atheists think it is like someone shuts off your TV. Theists think someone changes channels..

– Saddened by not surprised by Travon Martin case. FL should maybe not have a law that allows some random to stalk a kid and then shoot him

– Sitting here in a motel room with a broken wrist bad back and gimpy leg I realize the average hotel or motel room isn’t very disability friendly. Its out of touch insensitive in the modern era.

nExt wEEk: what do you think of canada cutting our ties with the monarchy ? 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.

powEREd by thE cREw at moga mobilE

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q + aq + a

FivE alaRm Funk

a

vancouver funk orchestra on the beauty of funk and their forthcoming concept album by alex J macPherson

Photos: courtesy of Johnny liu PhotoGraPhy

@verbRegina

[email protected]


nybody who has seen Five Alarm Funk play, either on a festival

stage or inside a sweaty rock and roll club, will agree that the Vancouver ten-piece funk outfit is one of the best live bands in the country. With a wide variety of musical backgrounds and an even wider array of instruments, these purveyors of infectious grooves and searing melodies have trans-formed funk from a genre into an experience. Rooted in tradition yet unafraid of exploration, Five Alarm Funk have created a sound that transcends the borders of style and genre — and can only be described as a sustained rush of pure, unadulterated joy. I called drummer and vocalist Tayo Bran-ston to find out more about how a hard-touring band from British Columbia is carrying funk into the twenty-first century with style.

Alex J MacPherson: I think we have to start with your live performances, which people rave about for weeks af-terward. Why do they do that? What about your band is so infectious?

Tayo Branston: The goal, with us and our music, and it’s the same thing we want to give to our crowd, is fun —

a fun, vibrant atmosphere that you can

really enjoy. Everybody likes to have fun and smile and feel good, and that’s basically what the goal of our band is. And in doing that for ourselves, we do it for other people, too. You listen to funk, and it’s music that makes people dance — big sound, lots of groove, and it makes people get up.

AJM: What drew you to funk in the first place?

TB: When I was a young, young guy, I was very much into rock and roll — the grunge scene and stuff like that. My mother is a salsa dancer. Through my high school years that stuff opened up the breadth of what I listened to, and that’s when I got influenced by the horns. Through all the music she listened to, I started listening to a ton of funk. That turned to afrobeat and from there on out your mind expands with all this music, and you get influenced by everything that’s around you.

AJM: Which I suppose explains the diversity of sounds on your latest album, Rock The Sky.

TB: We wanted to play funk be-cause a lot of us were influenced by funk music and jazz and rock and roll as well. We started off as a funk and afrobeat band, which we really wanted to do, but now we’ve kind of progressed into this monster of gypsy rock and roll funk

— a musical behemoth of sorts. It’s really interesting to see the band’s progression of the last ten years because it’s totally changed, but it’s kept the original concept of funk and depth and groove and passion and fun.

AJM: How do you go about writing songs with ten people in the band? That sounds like a daunting task.

TB: It can be difficult. For a song like “The Critic” we literally sat in the jam space and went over it piece by piece. I think it took us about two or three months as a ten-piece unit to write. With other songs like “Wash Your Face,” our guitar player, Ollie [Gibson], came in and said, ‘I’ve got

this great guitar line.’ He played it, I started a beat, and then the horn guys just came up with this line — it took a week or two to write. Each individual song has its own way of coming to fruition.

AJM: And speaking of individual songs, you’ve got a new single out, “We All Scream.” Does that herald the arrival of a new record?

TB: “We All Scream” is the start of the album we’re hopefully going to be releasing next spring. It’s the start of a story of a concept album that we have now written. The whole concept is based around this diabolical ice cream man, who lures

Five Alarm Funk into his factory by kidnapping our conga player and then feeds us this psychoactive ice cream — and we go on this mas-sive journey of the mind. It’s a giant concept album, and it’s basically a massive doomsday event this ice cream man sets off in our minds. But I can’t give away the end!

Five Alarm FunkJuly 30 @ o’hanlon’sfree

you listen to funk, and it’s music that makes people dance…

tayo branston

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artsartsarts

k ris Brandhagen, a multi-disciplinary artist from

Regina, was having a conversa-tion with a friend when the world cracked open and she saw some-thing ordinary in a completely new way. Struck by the power of this observation, the excite-ment of subverting the banal, she recreated the scene a few days later and then photographed it. The resulting series of forty-two monochromatic images, rendered in hues of pink and red, make up her latest exhibition, Legs.

“I work between the lines of mediums,” Brandhagen says of the exhibition, which consists of photo-graphic prints and a video installa-tion composed of the same images. “There’s very little postproduction in the actual imagery; it is what

appeared. The abstraction is in the noticing of things that are abstract that exist in the world.”

Brandhagen, who studied at the University of Regina and Montreal’s Dawson College, has been making abstract photographs for the best part of a decade, and working in traditional forms of photography for much longer. Legs, her second major series of abstract photographs, ex-pands on the ideas laid out in Spine, which used a secret technique to examine the relationship between people and their books.

Perceptive viewers will almost certainly figure out what Brandha-gen was taking photographs of, and she concedes that part of the reason people enjoy abstract work is the inherent mystery. But Legs is much more than a simple guessing game.

By examining and reinterpreting the formal elements of composition — line, shape, colour — that exist in the world, Brandhagen drives home the point that reality is merely a function of perspective. In other words, that art offers an opportunity to see the world in a different way.

“When I make images, I forget about them and then I come back to them,” Brandhagen says, “and then I look at them and I try to see them in a way that is like for the first time. I try to experience what the viewer experiences.”

This reflection, as well as the time and effort Brandhagen devoted to planning the structure of the exhibition, is what gives Legs its emotional weight. Each image in the show is imbued with a sense of persistent wonder; taken together,

they create a radical idea that un-dermines our view of the world as a predictable, familiar place.

Legsthrough august 5 @ 5th Parallel Gallery

lEgs kris brandhagen’s abstract photography by alex J macpherson

Photo: courtesy of kris brandhaGen

h ypnotic grooves. Propul-sive rhythms. Punchy

horns. These are the hallmarks of Drumhand, a band from Toronto whose blend of evoca-tive percussion from around the world and the timeless sound of American jazz is fusion in the purest sense. Although the group draws on a wide range of tradi-tions, including instruments and sounds from countries as diverse as Brazil, India, and Cuba, they cleave to none.

“We don’t tend to use tradi-tional rhythmic content from other parts of the world,” explains Larry Graves, one of Drumhand’s three

percussionists. “A number of the band members have had a lot of experience researching, studying, learning, being inspired by a lot of traditions, especially very heavy, percussion-based traditions. Over time, we realized that instead of playing music that had a strict tradition or history to it, we started making our own.”

Musicians are naturally curious, and Graves and his colleagues were soon experimenting with a wide array of instruments, from the one-stringed Berimbau from Brazil to the West African Gomé foot drum. By weaving instruments together, and by combining sounds that were

never meant to be combined, the band was able to create grooves that defy description — music that flows across borders, political and musical, with ease.

Whether this is intentional, or merely what happens when a bunch of musicians arm themselves with strange instruments, is dif-ficult to determine. But Graves says the band is interested in seeking out connections between people, regardless of their differences. This humanistic streak is most apparent on the band’s latest album, Cheer On The Sun.

From the opening number, a simple chant animated by a springy

percussion track and some horn flourishes called “The Long Road,” it is clear that Cheer On The Sun emphasizes the elemental connec-tions between people.

“More recently, we’ve been using a lot more lyric content,” Graves continues. “And even though some of the lyrics get into parodies of sociopolitical issues, ultimately our music is designed to be uplifting.”

And by shrugging off the shackles of genre and style, the twin tyrannies that impose so many rules on popular music, Graves and his bandmates have left themselves with just one limit: what sounds

can be achieved with their instru-ments, and which sounds can’t. It is an agenda everyone can subscribe to — and it promises to be an en-gaging, dynamic performance for anybody fortunate enough to hear Cheer On The Sun played live.

Drumhandaugust 1 @ creative city centre$10

1. Kris Brandhagen, Legs, 2012, Photographic prints + video installation.

@verbRegina

[email protected]


dRumhandexotic musical fusion from toronto knows no bounds by alex J macpherson



Continued on next page »

feature

s

Fluid idEntity

i was just shocked at how easily people were drawn to it … in terms of being a spectacle to watch? it works for me.

sam klass

am Klass has always been attracted to jam bands and the culture

that surround them. Growing up in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, he was drawn to groups like Phish and the Grateful Dead, iconic acts who fused the improvisation and experi-mentation of jazz to the sounds and textures of rock and roll. He was captivated by the idea of simple rock songs as extended displays of instrumental mastery, songs that broke the rules imposed by com-mercial radio in search of musical perfection. Klass played in bands throughout his high school years and spent even more time jamming when he moved to Hamilton, On-tario to attend university. But none of his projects lasted. By the time he graduated, most of his friends had abandoned music for more stable careers. Undaunted, Klass began experimenting with a tool he had been using for years to practice his guitar playing — a looping pedal.

In music, looping is the process by which a short audio track is recorded and then repeated. This can be ac-complished with an inexpensive electronic pedal. “I kind of got good at it by accident,” Klass says with a laugh before explaining that looping allowed him to perfect difficult pas-sages without the other band mem-bers. “It was just a convenient thing to do. You can just keep the loop going.

I was always pretty serious about wanting to pursue music, and what I was left with when all those bands broke up was my loop pedal.”

Today, Klass is one of the most accomplished looping artists in North America. His latest album, Fluid Identity, is an expression of his desire

to create a one-man jam band. But it didn’t occur to him that looping could be anything other than a practice tool until he bought a Roland RC-50 “Loop Station.” Early loop pedals were primitive; with only a single recording track, Klass was unable to expand his musical horizons beyond simple, one-dimensional songs. The technology simply didn’t exist. “When you have the one single loop pedal, no matter what you’re kind of always stuck with a song that’s based on one riff, or at least one key,” he says. “When you’re in a multitrack environment, it just ex-ponentially expands what you can do.”

The introduction of the Roland RC-50 changed everything. In much the same way as electronic music pro-

ducers sample and combine dozens of different sounds, Klass uses the RC-50 to record and then replay as many instrumental parts as he likes. With three tracks, he can create complex songs with different parts and even different key signatures in real time. “I only started thinking about making it

into a show, a thing, a solo act, once I got the RC-50,” he recalls. “It was kind of like the ideas were there, and then as soon as the technology became available I knew what to do with it.” Shortly after the release of his first album, 2009’s The Last Names, Klass recorded One Track One Take. Whereas The Last Names was a collection of songs recorded as a series of overdubs, One Track One Take was a true looping album — one live take with no over-dubs and no postproduction.

“It’s the missing link,” Klass says of the record, which bridges the gap between The Last Names and Fluid Identity. “All of these songs are straight-up loop songs without the production of Fluid Identity. All you

sam klass and his quest to become a one-man jam band by alex J macPherson

feature

/Verbregina culturecontents local editorial comments q + a arts feature food + drink music listings nightlife film comics timeout


Photo: courtesy of sam klass

Photo: courtesy of sam klass

@verbRegina

[email protected]


sam klass and his quest to become a one-man jam band by alex J macPherson

can hear is guitar, beat-box, voice, and the bass generator.” But One Track One Take owes its existence to more than just technology. Klass only cut the record after he discovered that his live performances could attract a crowd. After watching a video of the Austra-lian looping artist Dub FX performing

on the street, Klass packed up his gear and ventured into the city. “I was just shocked at how easily people were drawn to it,” he says. “It makes it fun to watch, and not just because of the cra-zy foot dance. Things are happening, and at no point am I just chilling on my instrument. I’m always recording a loop or beat-boxing or changing the structure of the song or manipulating the loops. In terms of being a spectacle to watch? It works for me.”

Klass knew he could forge a career after a spontaneous performance at Nuit Blanche in Toronto attracted hundreds of people. “The street per-formance was what got me noticed as well as inspired me to do it,” he recalls, adding that the impromptu perfor-

mance gave him the idea of travelling to electronic music festivals across North America. “I went to the Electric Forest Festival in 2011. I brought all the gear to Electric Forest and set up in the campground. It was like — holy s**t.” People were captivated by Klass, whose performances are a combina-tion of delicate choreography and ti-tanic waves of sound. And while Klass concedes that American fans, who are much closer to the nexus of jam band culture, are often quicker to grasp the essence of his project, Fluid Identity is the tool to which he has harnessed his hopes and dreams.

All of the songs on the record were recorded in real time, with nothing but a looping pedal, an electric guitar, and a wide array of effects boxes. “Jer’s Line,” a three-minute barrage of slip-pery funk guitar and complex melody lines, captures both Klass’s jam band influences and also his ability to weave an incredibly detailed sonic tapestry with just a few simple tools. But Fluid Identity is more than just a collection of jams. “Myself,” which fuses a choppy guitar lick to a hip hop-inspired beat-box track, features Klass’s first vocal on the record. As smooth as his guitar playing, Klass’s voice adds an extra di-mension to the songs — and separates him from many looping artists, who play purely instrumental music.

“Some songs are more conceptual,” he muses. “At a certain point, they be-come whatever they are. I don’t try and

force lyrics into songs that have strong melody hooks.” This is indicative of the way Klass thinks about music. Instead of treating songs as mere backdrops for vocals, he conceives of his voice as just another instrument, another piece of the whole. “Spiral Growth,” for example, is defined by a rotating series of complex melodic, harmonic, and contrapuntal ideas; adding a vocal line would detract from the essence of the song. “Wrapped Up,” on the other hand, is built around a simple guitar figure and a hypnotic beat-box. Klass’s vocal line adds to the song, providing a simple focal point for a simple yet effective song.

Fluid Identity is a strong record, both in terms of the songs it contains and as an expression of Klass’s musi-cal vision. But its creator has strug-gled to overcome the idea that his act is a gimmick. Looping is essentially live sampling, but while electronic music has a strong following, looping artists are often regarded as novelty acts. “The idea of being a gimmick is something I’m constantly fighting against,” he says. “I feel like if I’m using my creativity and if I’m getting my artistic messages across and ex-pressing myself live through my in-strument, then that’s enough for me. I do want to develop into a band, and I do love playing with other people on stage, but I don’t think I’m missing anything as sometimes people sug-gest.” This is true. Klass is a talented

musician, a gifted songwriter, and possessed of the innate ability to stop jams before they lose meaning. But he is also a pioneer, and pioneers are too often relegated to the fringes. In the same way electronic music has moved from the periphery into the spotlight, Klass’s one-man jam band idea will surely find the success it deserves.

Sam Klassaugust 3 @ connect music festivaltickets: $130+ @ connectfestival.ca



lEt’s go dRinkin’ vERb’s mixology guidE

FREnch 75

This cocktail was allegedly created in 1915 at the Parisian landmark Harry’s Bar and was a favourite of French soldiers, so why not have a French-themed party and drink a toast to history! This cocktail is sure to make your night memorable.

ingREdiEnts

1 ounce gin1 ounce Cointreausqueeze of lime1 sugar cubechampagne

diREctions

Place the sugar cube into a tall glass. Pour everything in except the cham-pagne. Finally top off with the champagne and add a squeeze of lime.

@verbRegina

[email protected]


food + drink

swEEt satisFactionphotos courtesy of maxton priebe

iYou can’t go wrong with flavours when you’re using real ingredients.

Gilles Gobin

can always tell a new customer, they have this amazement, this delight-

ful look on their face … their mouths drop a little bit,” said le Macaron co-owner and cake designer, Jacqueline Gobin.

Such a reaction is not surprising. le Macaron is a full artisan bakery, meaning they make everything from scratch, including the chai latte syrup. They use fresh lemons for the filling in their lemon tarts and shavings of real Belgian choco-late for their hot chocolate.

“You can’t go wrong with fla-vours when you’re using real ingre-dients,” said co-owner and pastry chef Gilles Gobin. Gobin trained

in pastry arts in Winnipeg, and his right-hand man at the café is a

second generation pastry chef from Casablanca, Morocco.

If you are able to tear your eyes away from the delectable drink

menu and the assortment of pastel coloured macarons, generous fruit tarts, éclairs, cashew caramel New York style cheesecakes and almond tarts that beckon from behind the glass, you will notice the burnt orange walls, large, ornate leather chairs, and high round tables that make le Macaron every bit the pretty, Parisian-style café.

The Gobins opened the place two and a half years ago. They were inspired by the macaron renaissance taking place in Europe at the time, with macarons popping up everywhere as the go-to dessert, and the lack of a French-style café in Regina. Having worked at the Hotel Saskatchewan for 10 years, Gilles was also keenly aware of Reginans’ growing desire for high-quality food.

“Regina is on a nice wave in the past five to six years of change,”

said Jacqueline. “People are much more educated about food now,” added Gilles.

As a result, between making delicious pastries to please the sweet-toothed among us and doing catering and weddings, le Macaron has done very well.

They make approximately 1,800 macarons every week with six or seven different flavours; a complicated process that involves whipping eggs and sugar into an Italian-style meringue, grinding almonds, and folding and sanding the “shell” until it’s smooth. The dessert is baked at a low tempera-ture to create the perfect crunch on the outside and a soft, chewy filling on the inside.

I tried the salted caramel, espresso and berry macarons; all three lived up to the crunchy and chewy promise, and were distinctly and richly flavoured. I also had the famous chai latte and the blanche neige torte, a light white chocolate mousse and raspberry cake I am still thinking about.

It’s great having a little taste of Paris right here in the prairies.

le macaron2705 Quance street east | 306 779 2253

le macaron brings a taste of Paris to the city by victoria abraham

@Verbregina culturecontents local editorial comments q + a arts feature food + drink music listings nightlife film comics timeout


music

Photos courtesy of: cassie devaney / the artist / the artist

Coming upnext Week

iRon kingdom

There was a time when heavy metal ruled the airwaves. Back in the ‘80s, bands like Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Slayer and more stomped the musical terra like long-haired, hard-partying gods. Those days are gone now, but the influence of these bands isn’t. Case in point: Surrey, B.C.’s, Iron Kingdom. With their soar-ing lyrics, fast-fingered guitar riffs and driving drums, this metal band has a sound that will transport you back in time to when metal was king. Consisting of Chris Osterman (lead guitar/lead vocals), Amanda Osterman (drums), Leighton Holmes (bass) and Kenny Kroecher (guitar), Iron King-dom sounds like if Iron Maiden and Judas Priest had a modern-day child. Check them out when they lift the roof off The Exchange next week.

@ the exchanGesaturday, July 27– $10

How does one describe the music of Flying Fox and the Hunter Gather-ers? Gypsy-jazz orchestral? Operatic rock? Does it even matter? Not really. The only thing that matters is that the music this five-piece from Winnipeg makes is all kinds of good. It’s the kind of music that, since releasing Hans My Lion in 2011, has been honed in venue after venue all across this vast country of ours. Consisting of frontman Jesse Krause, Lindsey Collins (bass), Andrew Littleford (trumpet), Kyle Wedlake (sax/clarinet) and Jaime Carrasco (drums), Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers sing dark, beautiful, imaginative tales that grab audiences’ attention and never let go. Their sound is hip and haunting; their stage presence magnetic. Head down to the Artful Dodger when they come in August!

Flying Fox + thE huntER gathERERs

Sometimes it takes artists a while to hit their stride, find their voice, come into their own — whatever you want to call it. For some it comes early in their career, for others it comes later. For Chris Young, that moment undoubtedly came when he sat down to record his third studio album, Neon. Sure, his previous records did well and earned him some award nomina-tions. But on Neon Young’s sound has matured and excelled. The record shot up the charts, topping out at #4 on the Billboard Top 200, and spawned hit sin-gles like “Tomorrow,” “You” and “I Can Take it from Here.” If he keeps on this trajectory, Young’s future is so bright he’ll have to wear shades (or pull his cowboy hat down a little lower). He’ll be touring this fall with Brad Paisley. Tickets through Ticketmaster.

– by adam hawboldt

chRis young

@ artful dodGerthursday, august 1 – $tbd

@ brandt centrethursday, october 24– $63+

sask music pREviEwIf you are a musician or vocalist that has performers as a featured or back-ground performer on a commercially released sound recording, then Musi-cians’ Rights Organization Canada may have some money for you! MROC collects a different type of royalties than SOCAN does — ones for performers, not songwriters. For more information, and to complete your free registration, please visit http://musiciansrights.ca.

keep up with saskatchewan music. saskmusic.org

Verbnews.comentertainment contents local editorial comments q + a arts feature food + drink music listings nightlife film comics timeout


listingslistings

The most complete live music listings for Regina.

july 19 » july 27

5 6

12 1310 118 97

s m t w t

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

gEt listEd

[email protected]

FRiday 19dJ Juan lopez / Envy Nightclub —

This DJ loves requests, nothing is off

limits, so stop on by and get your groove

on. 10pm / $5

dJ pat & dJ Kim / Habano’s Martini &

Cocktail Club — Local DJs spin top 40

hits every Friday night at this popular

Regina hotspot. These two are sure to

get you on the dance floor. 9pm /

$5 cover

Big Chill fridays / Lancaster Taphouse

— Come out and get your weekend

started with DJ Fatbot, who’ll be doing

his spinning thing every Friday night.

Could a Friday get any better?10pm /

Cover TBD

sean Burns Band / McNally’s Tavern

— A talented singer/songwriter from

Ontario who blends electric and acous-

tic guitars.10pm / $5

diana desJardins / Pump Roadhouse

— This country songstress can really

belt ‘em out, so come on out and hear

her do her thing. 9pm / Cover TBD

soniC orChid / The Sip Nightclub — A

hard-rocking local four-piece. 9pm /

Cover TBD

dJ longhorn / Whiskey Saloon —

Come check out one of Regina’s most

interactive DJs as he drops some of the

best country beats around. It’s time to

get the party started, so come on down!

8pm / Cover TBD

Chris henderson / Whiskey Saloon

- Doing country the way it’s meant to be

done. 10pm / $10

satuRday 20Jordie lane / Artful Dodger — A cap-

tivating folk musician from Australia,

Lane’s performance will not disappoint.

8pm / Cover TBD

reBa mCentire / Brandt Centre — One

of the most successful female recording

artists will be rolling through Regina!

7:30pm / $49.50+

Kroovy roCKers, zero Cool, soiled doves / The Club — Punk rock from

Edmonton and here. 7:30pm / $10

dJ Juan lopez / Envy Nightclub —


limits. 10pm / $5

sean Burns Band / McNally’s Tavern

— A talented singer/songwriter from

Ontario.10pm / $5

diana desJardins / Pump Roadhouse

— This country songstress can really

belt ‘em out, so come on out and hear

her do her thing. 9pm / Cover TBD

soniC orChid / The Sip Nightclub — A

hard-rocking local four-piece. 9pm /

Cover TBD

Chris henderson / Whiskey Saloon

- Doing country the way it’s meant to be

done. 10pm / $10

sunday 21WeaK linK, the man and his ma-Chine, fpg / The Club — Everything

from punk to hardcore to thrash. 7pm

/ $10

Board to death / The Exchange —

Featuring Jah Cutta and Determination

along with Pimpton. 8pm / $10

monday 22open miC night / The Artful Dodger —

Come down and jam! 8pm / No cover

monday night Jazz & Blues / Bushwakker Brewpub — Featuring

Whiteboy Slim. 9pm / No cover

West of hell, deadrot, vivisepul-ture / The Exchange — Heavy metal

mayhem all night. 7:30pm / Cover TBD

tuEsday 23megadeth / Brandt Centre — A legend-

ary thrash metal band you gotta see.

4:30pm / $48+ (ticketmaster.ca)

wEdnEsday 24elliott Brood / Artful Dodger — Awe-

some alt-country from Ontario, Elliott

Brood packs the house every time they

play. Come be a part of the action 8pm /

Cover TBD

Wednesday night folK / Bushwakker

Brewpub — Featuring Becky and the

Jets, a popular Regina group playing

some classic folk tunes. 9pm / No cover

Jam night and open stage / McNal-

ly’s Tavern — Come on down and enjoy

some local talent. 9pm / No cover

thuRsday 25shotgun Jimmie / Casino Regina Sum-

mer Stage — Rock out at the F.W. Hill

Mall on your lunch break. 12pm / Free

gateWay festival KiCKoff party / The Exchange — Featuring Indigo

Joseph, Shotgun Jimmie and more. 7pm

/ $12

deCiBel frequenCy / Gabbo’s Night-

club — A night of electronic fun. 10pm

/ Cover $5

ps fresh / The Hookah Lounge — DJ

Ageless started spinning in Montreal,

DJ Drewski started in Saskatoon. They

both landed in Regina and have come

together to sling some bomb beats. 7pm

/ No cover

open miC night / King’s Head Tavern

— Come out, play some tunes, sing

some songs, and show Regina what you

got. Not up for it? Then kick back and

enjoy the show. 8pm / No cover

midWife Crisis / McNally’s Tavern —

Come out and support some amazing

local talent. 8:30pm / $5

marC laBossiere / Pump Roadhouse

— A must-see singer/songwriter from

Winnipeg. 9pm / Cover TBD





get the party started! 8pm / Cover TBD

alex runions / Whiskey Saloon — A

little country loving coming at ya from

Kipling, Saskatchewan. Runions will

have you moving your feet! 10pm / $5

FRiday 26fpg, soiled doves, no Blood, no foul / The Club — Hardcore, punk and

more. 7:30pm / Cover TBD



limits. 10pm / $5

u.v. paint party / The Exchange —

Featuring DJ Izn and Neuf. 9pm / $20

dJ pat & dJ Kim / Habano’s Martini &

Cocktail Club — Local DJs spin top 40

hits every Friday night at this popular

Regina hotspot. These two are sure to

get you on the dance floor. 9pm / $5

cover

Big Chill fridays / Lancaster Taphouse

— Come out and get your weekend

started with DJ Fatbot, who’ll be doing

his spinning thing every Friday night.

10pm / Cover TBD

men Without shame / McNally’s

Tavern — A guitar-driven classic rock

band. 10pm / $5




Whatever / The Sip Nightclub — Play-

ing covers you’ll rock along to. 9pm /

Cover TBD





get this party started! 8pm / Cover TBD





satuRday 27iron Kingdom, itChy stiChes, naraKa, oBlivion’s eye / The Club —

A wicked night of awesome metal.

9pm / $10



limits. 10pm / $5

men Without shame / McNally’s

Tavern — A guitar-driven classic rock

band.10pm / $5




Whatever / The Sip Nightclub — Play-

ing covers you’ll rock along to. 9pm /

Cover TBD





/Verbregina entertainmentcontents local editorial comments q + a arts feature food + drink music listings nightlife film comics timeout


nightlifenightlife

Photos: courtesy of Verb magazine

CheCK out our faCeBooK page! These photos will be uploaded to

Facebook on Friday, July 26.

facebook.com/verbregina

wEdnEsday, july 17 @

thE owlThe Owl3737 Wascana Parkway(306) 586 8811

musiC viBe / Top 40, hip hop and housefeatured deals / Famous Dollar Draft WednesdaysdrinK of ChoiCe / The Alabama — named for a player from the Regina Red Sox, and made with secret ingredientssomething neW / Many things in the works, to be revealed when students return. See you in September!



filmfilm

t’s 1971. The Perron fam-ily — Roger (Ron Livings-ton), Carolyn (Lili Taylor)

and their daughters — have moved into a musty, old town-house in Rhode Island. There’s nothing out-of-the-ordinary about the Perrons: they’re a ge-neric, working-class family.

But there is something out-of-the-ordinary about the house they’re moving into.

Covered in cobwebs, there’s a hidden cellar door in the bowels of the house. The kind of door you see in horror movies and think: “What-ever you do, don’t open that!”

Alas, the door is opened and strange things start happening —

creepy things. The family dog takes off, all the clocks in the house get stuck at 3:07am, strange odors fill the house, one of the Perron

daughters begins sleepwalking. Oh, and the youngest daughter starts talking to an imaginary friend.

Things get so creepy the Perrons decide to get some help.

Enter Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga.)

The Warrens aren’t your average, run-of-the-mill married couple. No. They’re what we call,

in today’s lingo, ghost hunters. Lorraine is a clairvoyant, Ed is a Vatican-sanctioned demonologist. Working for the church, the pair have investigated hauntings and waged holy war on evil spirits. More often than not, the cases they work on are hoaxes.

But not this one.The Perron case is about to take

the Warrens (and the Perrons, for that matter) to the brink of fear and madness.

This, in case you’re wondering, is a true story. It’s also the plot of director James Wan’s new horror flick. The Conjuring.

And you know what? Wan, who previously directed Saw and Insidious, has hit a home run with this film. Unlike most horror flicks out there these days — which fall under massacre porn or a special-effects bonanza — The Conjuring isn’t out to shock or wow you. It’s a throw-back horror flick, kind of like The Amityville Horror or Poltergeist or The Exorcist. Those late-’70s/early ‘80s horror films that worked their way under your skin like a slow-moving virus.

The Conjuring is that kind of a film.

Relying on small things like pencils, a ball and a music box, Wan takes horror and makes it minute again. He makes it creepy, makes it scare the bejesus out of you in subtle, smart ways. He doesn’t try to smack you in the face with shock after shock. Instead, Wan lets the tension slowly mount, piece by piece, until the audience is on the edge of their seat (or cling-ing onto the person next to them), then he strikes.

It’s a master work of a director who seems to have really found his stride in the horror genre.

It’s also a display of excellent acting. Both Taylor and Farmiga are excellent in their roles. They bring a gravitas to the screen, a whole lot more than many horror heroines who get by on being pretty and be-ing able to scream really well. The guys (Ron Livingston and Patrick Wilson) are also good. Same goes for the kids.

So if you’re a fan of horror (or if you just want to stay awake at night wondering if something is going to yank you out of bed), you should probably check out The Con-juring. It’s one heckuva film.

i


@verbRegina

[email protected]

…wan lets the tension slowly mount, piece by piece, until the audience is on the edge of their seat…

adam hawboldt

thE conjuRing

diREctEd by James Wan

staRRing Vera Farmiga, Patrick

Wilson, Ron Livingston + Lili Taylor

112 minutEs | 14a

Photo: courtesy of warner bros Pictures

tRuE tERRoRlovers of horror films will dig The Conjuring by adam hawboldt

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Photo: courtesy of sony Pictures classics

…what sets Love is All You Need apart from other family-chaos wedding movies … is its director — susanne bier.

adam hawboldt

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


@verbRegina

[email protected]

h aving a sympathetic character in your movie goes a long way towards

keeping the audience 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 treat-ment. 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

cuttingly funny. None of that happens.Instead, Ida just stands there. Star-

ing. Crushed. Not saying a word. And

in that moment, the audience imme-diately and sympathetically connects with her.

It’s a connection that lasts through-out 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 success-ful businessman who lost his wife a few years back — is a sour, curmud-geonly 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 predict-able. 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 being screened at Regina Public Library; it opens on July 25. See reginalibrary.ca for more information.

lovE is all you nEEd

diREctEd by Susanne Bier

staRRing Pierce Brosnan, Trine

Dyrholm, Kim Bodnia + Paprika Steen

110 minutEs | pg

/Verbregina entertainmentcontents local editorial comments q + a arts feature food + drink music listings nightlife film comics timeout


cRosswoRd Canadian Criss-Cross

acRoss 1. Use a cart, perhaps

5. The world has seven

of them

9. Be unselfish

10. Bite-size pies

12. It sprays water over you

13. Landed property

15. Eat an ice cream cone

16. Price of a cab ride

18. Fifth calendar page

19. Big expense for news

papers

20. Brought into life

21. In no other place

22. You may not have

room for it

24. Trailing plants

25. Looked up to

27. Sends out

30. They are eaten mixed

with milk

34. Cutting side of a blade

35. Modelling material

36. ‘The dog ate my home

work’ is one

37. Weather map symbol

38. Does garden work

39. Place to build

40. Has an inclination

42. The remaining ones of

several

44. Attempt to heal

45. Whom a leader follows

46. Big elephant features

47. Complete collections

down 1. Unpleasant surprises

2. Raptorial bird

3. Unrefined rock

4. Entertain an audience

5. Back of a boat

6. Facility

7. Gallery display

8. Pollen-bearing organ

9. Put a polish on

11. Fixate one’s eyes

12. Came into a base

horizontally

14. Places for patches

17. Written piece in a

newspaper

20. Flower gardens

21. Be hard to find

23. Auction

24. Exceedingly

26. Thinks logically about

27. Hoarder’s problem

28. Mature person

29. Pay no attention to

31. Beings from another

world

32. 1.76 pints

33. Catches a glimpse of

35. Is priced at

38. Get wind of

39. Hypodermic injection

41. Pod occupant

43. Bunion locale

timeout

© waltER d. FEEnER 2013

hoRoscopEs july 19 – july 25

sudoku cRosswoRd answER kEy

aRiEs march 21–april 19

You’re going to be like the

Energizer Bunny this week, Aries.

You’ll keep going and going and going, so

make sure you’re accomplishing something.

tauRus april 20–may 20

Don’t be afraid to let new people

into your life, Taurus. They’ll be

of use to you in the weeks ahead. Trust in

them, and you can achieve great things.

gEmini may 21–June 20

Some people will have fun at your

expense very soon, Gemini. Don’t

take it too seriously, their hearts are in the

right place.

cancER June 21–July 22

Ever get the feeling you aren’t getting

out what you put into things, Can-

cer? Don’t worry. That’ll change this week

when all your efforts bear fruit.

lEo July 23–august 22

Your emotional cup may overflow

this week, Leo. This could mean

a couple of turbulent days, but don’t fret.

The storm will soon pass.

viRgo august 23–september 22

Tasks and appointments may threat-

en to overwhelm you in the coming

days, Virgo. Get your cards in order — now is

not the time for things to get confusing.

libRa september 23–october 23

Questions will fly at you this week.

Too bad the answers are nowhere to

be found. Try not to speak out of turn unless

you’re certain of what you’re saying.

scoRpio october 24–november 22

Don’t doubt the power of posi-

tive thinking, Scorpio. You’ll be

needing every ounce of that power in the

coming days.

sagittaRius november 23–december 21

The sun is shining, the weather

is sweet. Don’t get stuck indoors.

Your adventurous energies will be taking

over, so go out and explore, Sagittarius.

capRicoRn december 22–January 19

I see patios and friends and drinks

in your near future, Capricorn.

What better way to unwind in the summer?

Enjoy it. Things won’t remain calm for long.

aQuaRius January 20–february 19

It’s tempting to take things at face

value, Aquarius. But not this week.

Objects and people may be different than

they appear.

piscEs february 20–march 20

If you can dream it, you can do it. Act

as though those words are always

dangling over your left shoulder, Pisces. Time

to tackle that big project!

a b 6 73 4 2 5 9 9 6 8 3 1 7 2 6 2 5 1 1 4 7 3 8 2 5 4 1 9 86 8 5 3 4 9 7

9 2 4 51 2 5 7 8 3 4 7 5 6 5 9 7 6 4 8 1 3 9 28 3 9 2 6 1 4 7 3 6 8 1

sudoku answER kEy

a

b

5 1 8 9 3 6 2 4 73 4 7 2 5 1 8 9 69 2 6 4 7 8 3 1 57 5 2 1 8 4 6 3 98 3 9 6 2 5 1 7 41 6 4 7 9 3 5 8 22 9 1 8 6 7 4 5 34 7 3 5 1 2 9 6 86 8 5 3 4 9 7 2 1

7 8 6 9 2 1 3 4 51 2 9 4 5 3 7 8 63 5 4 6 8 7 1 2 94 7 8 5 1 2 6 9 35 9 2 7 3 6 4 1 86 1 3 8 9 4 5 7 28 3 5 1 4 9 2 6 79 6 1 2 7 5 8 3 42 4 7 3 6 8 9 5 1

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Verb Issue R87 (July 19-25, 2013)

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Transcript of Verb Issue R87 (July 19-25, 2013)