Verb Issue S293 (June 6-12, 2014)

Issue #293 – June 6 to June 12

arts culture music saskatoon

Photo: courtesy of chrIs Graham PhotoGraPhy

D E S P I S T A D O

+extreme huntress Danielle Bergen sets her sights on hunting competition

two point oh Q+a with tequila mockingbird orchestra

edge of tomorrow + only lovers left alive films reviewed

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2June 6 – June 12

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

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editorialPublisher / ParIty PuBlIshInGeditor in chief / ryan allanmanaging editor / JessIca Patruccostaff writers / aDam hawBolDt + alex J macPherson

art & productiondesign lead / anDrew yankograPhic designer / Bryce kIrkcontributing PhotograPhers / PatrIck carley, aDam hawBolDt + Dylan GIesBrecht

Business & operationsoffice manager / stePhanIe lIPsItaccount manager / nathan holowatysales manager / voGeson Paleyfinancial manager / coDy lanG

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contents

supply solutionHow we think we can solve our supply management problem. 8 / editorial

comments Here’s your say on our current dairy policies. 10 / comments

Q + a with teQuila mockingBird orchestra New members, new sounds + more. 12 / q + a

nightlife photos We visited Maguires + Snooker Shack. 24 / nightlife

listings Local music listings for June 6 through June 14 20 / listings

edge of tomorrow + only lovers left alive The latest movie reviews. 22 / film

on the Bus Weekly original comic illustrations by Elaine M. Will. 30 / comics

the magic fluteSaskatoon Opera takes on a classic.14 / arts

keeping it simpleWe visit HeLi-Days. 18 / food + drink

alBum reviews We review Bry Webb +F*cked Up. 15 / reViews

entertainment

news + oPinion

music Solids, Havok + John Fogerty. 19 / music

games + horoscopes Canadian criss-cross puzzle, horoscopes, and Sudoku. 31 / timeout

on the cover: despistadoReunited, and it feels so good. 16 / feature


culture

thrill of the hunt Danielle Bergen sets her sights on Extreme Huntress. 4 / local

a tatto0-genre film fest firstMark Allard’s exciting project! 6 / local

Verbnews.comnews + oPinion

4June 6 – June 12

Continued on next page »


Photo: courtesy of faceBook

thrill of the hunt

d

saskatchewan’s Danielle Bergen hopes to become the extreme huntress By aDam hawBolDt

local

anielle Bergen is nervous. She and her father had been out in

the bush for less than forty min-utes when it happens. Usually it takes longer, much longer than this, but today the hunting gods have smiled. Today they have

presented them a choice black bear early in the hunt.

It came before, this bear. Maybe five minutes after the Bergens arrived at their double-seater tree stand, located in the wilderness north of La Ronge. It started walking up to the bait, then turned and walked away.

Dang! thought Bergen. There goes the hunt. It’s over.

But she was wrong. The black bear came back half an hour later, this time walking right up to the bait. And now Bergen is shaking like some sort of vibrating machine. Her adrenaline is pumping, her nerves

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5June 13 – June 19


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are jangling. She’s shaking so hard she swears the pine needles are fall-ing off the tree behind her.

Bergen is 13 years old. She has never shot a bear before.

Slowly she gets her bow ready, then stands up to take the shot. She places her feet shoulder-width apart so that they and her hips are resting squarely underneath her shoulders. She doesn’t want to tilt one way or another, doesn’t want to run the risk of missing the shot. Or worse, wounding the animal. That’s the last thing she hopes happens.

Drawing back her bow, Bergen steadies herself and stops shaking. She inhales, then exhales — soft and steady, just like she’s practiced all those hours at home.

Now relaxed and focused, Ber-gen lines her sights up. She brings her finger up to the release, makes sure the pin is on her target, then she starts counting.

One one-thousand … two one-thousand…

As it turns out, Danielle Bergen just happened to stumble upon the Extreme Huntress competition.

It happened last year. Bergen had made a video for a Morrell archery contest and wound up posting it on YouTube. One day she went back to watch it; when the video was fin-ished, a collage of suggested, related videos appeared in the player. One of the videos was for Extreme Huntress

— an annual contest that pits some of the top female hunters in head-to-head hunts and skills competitions.

Well shucks, thought Bergen. I’m gonna have a look at this. “I clicked on the video, watched it and then went to the website,” remembers Bergen, who has been hunting since before she was a teenager. “Turns out, I’d missed the submission dead-line that year. So I filed it away and figured I’d apply next year. Thank-fully I remembered about it when the time came.”

And when the time did come, Bergen wrote a 500-word-or-so essay about why she thought she was the extreme huntress or, as the website entry rules stipulate, why she “is a hard-core huntress by dedicating her life to the outdoor adventure lifestyle.”

This part came easy for Bergen. Seeing as she has been hunting since she was a kid, Bergen knew exactly what she wanted to say.

“I may be small but I hunt big” begins the five-foot-three huntress’s essay. From there she goes on to write about her passion for the hunt, about making the transition from hunting with a rifle to hunting with a bow, about traveling from Cypress Hills in southern Saskatchewan to the north-ern reaches of the province in search of big game.

She also talks a bit about her dad, and the old 243 Winchester rifle of his she used to use. For Bergen, a big part of hunting is family.

“What draws me to the hunt is the chance to spend a morning, afternoon, or evening out in God’s creation with friends and family,” she says. “I love it when I can sit in a tree stand, you know, with my brother, my sister, my dad or mom. Sometimes we talk, but it’s just being with them that counts. And knowing that at the crack of a twig or a crunch of a leaf there could be an animal coming up behind you … that makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.”

…on three one-thousand, Bergen pulls the trigger on her bow. She keeps her pin on the bear while the arrow cuts through the early afternoon air.

It’s a direct hit.“I saw the bear run about, I’d say

10 yards, then I saw it drop,” says Bergen, “All that happened within 30 seconds, then it was over.”

It was a good clean kill — what every hunter wants. Contrary to what some believe, hunting isn’t about kill-ing animals, it’s not the part that hunt-ers revel in. Sure, it is the final result, but it’s the process — not the kill — that drives people like Bergen. Pulling the trigger can often be anticlimactic. For most hunters, it’s more about being out in nature under jeweled sunsets. It’s about the exercise and the thrill of the hunt and an existentially profound connection to the cycle of life as it really is in nature.

“So many people see hunting as hurting the animals, wrecking the animal population,” says Bergen. “But I see hunting and killing as two different things. I love hunting. Love getting outside. But the thought of killing an animal, it doesn’t bring me joy. I don’t get jacked about it. It’s not like all I think about is killing, killing, killing. For me, when I har-vest an animal, I have a deep respect for that creature. I know I’m taking its life, that I’m sacrificing it to put food on our table. I hunt and kill for meat. The last thing I ever want to do is wound an animal.”

And that’s why Bergen prac-tices. She wants to go on the hunt with confidence that her aim will be true. To make sure it is, in the weeks and months leading up to the season she practices — and then practices some more.

“It’ll be the dead of winter, minus-40 degrees, and I’ll go out and find an old shed or go over to my dad’s business and practice with my bow,” she says. “So I know

when I go hunting I’ll be ready. I’ll be confident.”

And soon, hopefully, all that practice, all those hours spent diligently honing her technique, will pay off in another way — at the Extreme Huntress contest, held this year at the famous 777 Ranch in Hondo, Texas.

At the moment, Bergen is one of 20 semi-finalists in a running. Who makes the competition is deter-mined by popular vote, by people who learn about women like Bergen and vote for them at www.extreme-huntress.com.

“It would be great to get enough votes,” says Bergen. “I’d love to go down to Hondo, Texas in July and show what I can do.”


6June 6 – June 12


local

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he tattoo on Mark Al-lard’s right arm is still fresh, less than a week

old. It features the Union Jack shaped as a maple leaf that he got in the crook of his right elbow. That wasn’t his first bit of ink.

Far from it.Allard got his first tattoo, a

grey eagle on his right bicep years ago, from a big Maori guy in High Wycombe, England. That’s where it started. But back then, back in his university days, Initially, Allard thought he would only get four tattoos. That was the limit. Today he has 27, and plans on getting more.

“I have some ideas of what I want to get,” says Allard. He points to his right arm, covered from shoulder to wrist in ink. “I saw this arm is com-plete and thought, well, may as well do the same to the other.”

There’s room on the other arm. As Allard tilts it he points to the bare spot on his elbow, right there between the drama faces with No Shame scrawled below them and the colour tattoo gun on his left forearm.

“You know,” says Allard, looking out the coffee shop window, “when I first started getting tattoos, if we’re going to be honest, I didn’t really appreciate them for what they are.” He stops, takes a sip of his drink, then continues. “I mean, I’ve always liked tattoos, but it wasn’t until I came to appreciate them as a true art form that I really started loving them.”

It’s a love that’s evident whenever Allard talks about tattoos. And as he talks — about the evolution of tattoos and about the cultural significance of them in places like New Zealand — you can’t help but stare at his own ink. Not in a rude or ogling way, more to get a better understanding of him, and a better appreciation of tattoos as an art form.

There’s the William Ernest Henley quote — “I am the master of my Fate; I am the captain of my Soul” — written on parchment. That one symbolizes the obstacles Allard has overcome in life and his love of the written word. There’s a Scottish dag-ger with parchment coiling around the blade and the words “I remain unvanquished” — the family motto of his grandfather’s last name. There’s also tattoos of 35mm film, a Union Jack star and many more.

Turning away from the window Al-lard says, “In a way, ever since my first tattoo, they’ve been a part of my life.”

He doesn’t specify how big of a part, but pretty soon they’re going to be front and centre when Allard starts his new venture.

The idea to start a tattoo film fes-tival in Saskatchewan came to Allard while he was still living in England.

“At cities in the U.K. they’d have major tattoo conventions, and there’d be these small tattoo film festivals,” says Allard. “So when I moved [to Saskatoon] I found out there was a tattoo convention here. Then I researched and found out tattoo film festivals didn’t exist here. It’s never happened before in Canada.”

Allard has now set the ball in motion to bring the Tattoo Arts Film Festival to town. He secured the Roxy Theatre as a venue, and filmmakers can now submit their work on the sub-missions page on Film Freeway. There are four categories to choose from: Best in Music Video, Best in Short Docu-mentary, Best in Feature Documentary, and Best in Fiction and Alternative.

”It’s undeniable that the taboos of the past that surround the art of tattoo are now long since dead and buried, and with reality TV shows such as Inked, Miami Ink and New

York Ink having hit superstardom in the last decade, along with the rise of celebrity status for successful v tattoo artists, it’s probably fair to say that a global phenomenon of a world-wide discussion and debate has been started on the topic of tattoo,” Allard says.

“Tattoo is now mainstream and acceptable in most areas of modern life, as a result,” he continues. “Direc-tors and filmmakers are taking to their cameras en masse to tackle the subject of this ancient art form, with established broadcasters such as the BBC and Channel 4 releasing docu-mentaries on the rise of tattoo in the past couple of years, without forgetting famed tattoo movies such as Tattoo Na-tion, or even the New Zealand-based horror movie, The Tattooist. This is why a Tattoo Arts Film Festival is not only a viable platform for tattoo films of all kinds, but an important platform for debate and social commentary.”

It’s the idea of social commentary that interested Allard in particular.

Along with a passion for tattoos, Allard also harbours a deep respect for films and filmmaking. He grew up loving movies, worked in theatres, and was even a projectionist for a while. Then, when he was older, Allard decid-ed to hop behind the camera himself. He started out making music videos, then moved on to documentaries.

“The docs I used to make were gentle social commentary,” he says. “I did one about parkour. At the time in the U.K. it was huge, but a lot of people didn’t like it, didn’t under-stand it. They saw it as vandalism when, obviously, it was just people moving about an urban environment in a very different way. I wanted to point that out, comment on it.”

And while his Tattoo Arts Film

Festival aims to do something simi-lar, it’s not going to be pedantic or boring. Allard wants it to be fun, and to engage tattoo lovers and neo-phytes alike.

“The idea is for it to be diverse,” he explains. “I’m going to look at getting some acoustic musicians to do live unplugged sessions. I’m also looking for some well-known local tattoo artists and the filmmakers to

come and do Q&A. I also want to show current tattoo movies, like The Tattooist and Tattoo Nation at the end of each day. I want it to be more of a festival vibe than just your standard

mark allard combines love of tattoos, film to bring cool new project to canada By aDam hawBolDt

t

a tattoo-genre film fest first

Photo: courtesy of shane GrIffIn


8June 6 – June 12


supply solution

lwe can fix the problems with our dairy industry. here’s how.

ast week we wrote about Canada’s dairy supply management,

and the problems we see with that system — the fixed prices, the protective tariffs, the quotas. We also wrote about how all that harms food processors, farmers, and us — the consumers.

So what should we do? Well, take a cue from Australia, who did roughly a decade ago did away with supply management (and where currently the majority of the industry is doing very well). Or better yet, think back to how we reformed the wine industry right here at home. Although at first people cried bloody murder when we took away the protection for that industry, look what happened. Our wine sector is booming.

Deregulating and getting rid of the protection inherent in our dairy supply management policies won’t be easy, though, thanks in part to the Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC, for short). The DFC are one of, if not the, most powerful lobby in our coun-try. You know all those high prices you pay for milk, butter, cheese, yogurt, and more? Well, the DFC uses a good chunk of that money — spending anywhere between $80 and $100 million per annum — to convince politicians to maintain the status quo of the system.

But change can be done. It must be done.

And here’s how we do it: we have to put forward a reform plan that would be a win-win, for both the consumers and the dairy farmers. That’s the first step. Once that’s done, we have to convince those aforemen-tioned farmers to raise hell and call for change themselves.

Now you may be asking yourself what kind of reforms would be a win-win for consumers and farmers.

Well, according to Martha Hall Findlay, executive fellow at the Uni-versity of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, the answer is four-fold. First, we buy out the dairy quota from the farmers. A recent Conference Board of Canada report has recommended using book value quotas instead of market value. If you look at it, the cur-rent market value of the dairy quota is in the neighbourhood of $23 billion; the book value of the same quota is somewhere between $3.6-$4.7 billion.

Next, we eliminate all tariffs. Open ‘er up, and consumers would start paying closer to world prices for dairy products. Then you provide transition assistance for farmers. Some assistance goes to people who stay in the industry, to help them be more competitive when it comes to exporting their goods. We also need to give assistance to those who wish to leave the industry — economically viable assistance.

Finally, there’s the issue of a tem-porary levy on wholesale milk. You

do this to pay for the buy-out of the quotas. In Australia, when they did it, the levy ended up being 11 cents a li-tre for eight years. According to Hall’s calculations, here in Canada the levy would come to about six cents a litre when stretched over 10 years.

And while you may think this levy would burden the consumer, consider this — if we implemented the first three changes in the reform proposition, customers would still be paying less (with the levy added on) than they are now for the same prod-ucts. And eventually, after a decade or so, the consumer would be paying competitive world prices.

If we can do all that, we can fix the problems with dairy supply management. We can give consum-ers a fair shake, farmers will be bet-ter compensated, and our industry could flourish.

It happened in Australia. It hap-pened when we opened up our wine industry. Why can’t it happen again?

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

@verbsaskatoon

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editorial




commentscommentscommentscomments

text your thoughts to881 verB

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on topic: last week we asked what you thought about supply management policy in canada. here's what you had to say:

– I agree that dairy policies should be changed to allow outside competition, allow local farmers to sell their dairy locally as well as internationally, and to minimize tariffs. Truth Is Power-Try It

– Please man up and print that write up in the western producer and put your name to it. You weren’t brave enough to sign your editorial because you talk much of what you know nothing about.

Canada has a shortage of dairy products right now how and what do you want to export

– End Supply Management in Dairy! We killed the CWB, the Dairy Commission is next!

– Kick out the quota and then lift gst to say 25%to bail out the dairy industry

– Seems surprising the dairy farm-ers aren’t wanting this themselves, especially if it means they would be able to sell their products to more people.

off topic

– I think Idaho stop great idea!In response to “Bring on the Idaho stop,”

Opinion #291 (May 23,2014)

sound off

– I would like send out a thank you to the bus drivers that helped me get home quickly and easily may 30

– I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel - Maya Angelou

– Thoughts and prayers go out to victims families of Moncton RCMP tragedy.

– A terrible, senseless tragedy in Moncton. I hope they catch this vile person soon.

– While recumbent bicycles may be comfortable to ride, I think the rider is making themselves less visible to traffic. I know I wouldn’t want to be riding around the streets with big huge trucks roaring around the streets. How do you know those drivers will see you since they are sitting up so high and you’re only a foot off the ground?

next week: what do you think about transi-tioning away from supply management? text in your thoughts to 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

ast month, the Tequila Mockingbird Orches-tra released a pair of

new tracks, its first release since 2012’s Follow My Lead, Lead Me To Follow. Formed in Victoria, B.C. in 2008, the Tequila Mock-ingbird Orchestra has always had a talent for infusing stan-dard folk song structures with hints of jazz, flamenco, and Latin American music. The band’s sound evokes the stillness and the harmony of the landscape its members adore. The new

songs, which were recorded in an isolated home studio on B.C.’s Quadra Island, mark a change of direction for the band. The ar-rangements are denser and more orchestral, the textures richer and more tightly-woven. “Come Back Home” features keys and an electric guitar, new additions to the band’s sonic arsenal. These changes are to some degree the product of lineup changes. Since 2012, the band has added a new fiddler and a new bassist to the fold. But the new tracks also re-

flect natural growth, says guitar-ist Kurt Loewen, who was born in Saskatoon and currently lives in Edmonton. Most of the forth-coming album, the band’s fourth full-length, is rooted by the same natural grooves and earthy textures that defined Follow My Lead, Lead Me To Follow. In a recent telephone conversation, Loewen spoke at length about the band’s growth, and how its mem-bers’ love of the natural land-scape — from the wilderness of British Columbia to the enormous

two point ohnew members, new sounds, and new energy for victoria’s tequila mockingbird orchestra By alex J macPherson

l

Photos: courtesy of BItter north PhotoGraPhy

@Verbsaskatoon culture



to try and want things the way they were is impossible; it’s just not a reality.

kurt loewen

@verbsaskatoon

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skies of rural Saskatchewan — influences the music.

Alex J MacPherson: Since you released Follow My Lead, Lead Me To Follow in 2012, there have been some significant lineup changes. Has that been a big obstacle to overcome?

Kurt Loewen: It’s intense, actually. In the band’s infancy it was more like a seven-piece collec-

tive rotating cast. After that first year went by, there was the five of us from about September 2007 until September 2012. Then our fiddler, who made the last record with us and had been with us for so long, didn’t tour with us at all. That was a big challenge, getting someone to fill his shoes, both in terms of talent and ability, and being able to get along with the group as a human. But with Keith [Rodger] and Mack [Shields] it’s been really nice. They love the material, they’re willing to learn all the old stuff that we still play, and have been super positive contribut-ing forces throughout the last tour and now during this record.

AJM: How did the new musicians contribute to writing and recording the new album? Was the band dynamic quite different?

KL: Injecting new energies into the music has really changed the way that we approach our songwriting. The whole process this time through was very relaxed. Not to get too much into our past history, but we didn’t used to operate like that: we’d operate on timeframes and perhaps that would cause certain stresses. This time was very much laissez-faire, which worked very well for us. Both Mack and Keith, who’ve recorded with us and played with us, bring those physical instruments — double bass, fiddle — that are our old sound, but with a newness and a genuine desire to want to learn and play with us, and then create as well. But a good way to describe it is that it’s T.M.O. 2.0.

AJM: It’s clear from the two new tracks that the band’s sound has shifted. How would you characterize this change?

KL: The addition of things like electric guitar and keys, which are all over the album — that’s brand new. On our last record we had a cameo, part of one song was electric guitar. But there’s been a lot on this.

AJM: The new tracks sound denser to me.

KL: There’s a lot of influences on our music all the time, but one thing I think has come out during the last record and this record is thickness of tracks, but also the ability to cre-ate space within that. The dynamic shifts are a lot bigger on this record, I think, than they’ve ever been on all of our other stuff. A lot more space, but a lot more things happening on the other end. It’s divergent, in a way, from the old stuff. That’s why I call it 2.0.

AJM: Is it difficult to balance bigger, more ambitious arrangements against

the simplicity that seems to define your earlier releases?

KL: Our first big show was in Victoria. We were a new band, like a year old, and somehow five hun-dred people came to see us, which was incredible. We were like, ‘How is this happening?’ Then we played these songs, which were three-chord songs — like, ten of them. It would be like, everybody, one hundred percent, go. It’s really fun to be at a show like that, but as time goes on you mature and you’re like, beauty is created in all the space that you don’t play. With musicians that have played a lot together, you really start to notice each others’ tendencies and you start to notice each others’ intrica-cies. Being able to exploit those in the best possible way just naturally creates that space.

AJM: Is a big shift like that difficult to deal with?

KL: I think that, like anything that you care about or that you love or you deem worth doing, there’s no way it can’t grow or change. To try and want things the way they were is impos-sible; it’s just not a reality. We want to embrace change, but also to honour all the things we’ve done to get to this point where we can create what we want to and essentially set our own boundaries and rules.

AJM: One idea that seems inextricably tied to the idea of your band, whether it’s this new album or any of the older ones, is your relationship to nature. Can you tell me a bit about that? Why is it important?

KL: I think that the honest answer is that we’re like-minded individu-als in the way that we interact with nature, and how much of a role

it plays in our lives. Right now we’re at an amazing home, which a friend of ours has built over the last fifteen or twenty years. It’s in the middle of the most beautiful British Columbian Kootenays, and this is where we create. The way he lives, the kinds of people that he knows and they way they live, their community and their nature, is a major influence on our lives and on our music. It’s impossible to even separate the two.

Tequila Mockingbird OrchestraJune 12 @ Gillian snider’s house$10 in advance; $15 at the door

Verbnews.comculture



a Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, and

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 have one thing in common: they have transcended the context in which they were created, and become part of the wider popular culture. These works are immediately recognizable, even to people with little knowledge of Italian Renais-sance paintings, Russian ballet, or German classical music. This is because their creators found the perfect balance of beauty, mean-ing, and accessibility. Another ex-ample of this phenomena is Wolf-gang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute, an opera which premiered in 1791. And for good reason, says Rob Herriot, an opera singer and director from Winnipeg.

“It’s probably one of the most beautiful operas Mozart composed,” says Herriot, who will serve as stage director for the Saskatoon Opera’s upcoming production of the classic opera. “There’s a maturity to the sound and the harmonies he creates. The music itself, I think, is the num-ber one selling point of this piece. The story is whimsical and it’s fun. It’s not heavy drama: no one’s going to die of consumption at the end. It appeals to a huge age range.”

The Magic Flute chronicles the adventures of Tamino, a prince who embarks on a quest to save Pamina, daughter of the mysterious Queen of the Night, from imprisonment. As the opera unfolds, Tamino and his accomplice Papageno must use a magical flute and a set of silver bells to ward off danger — and survive a number of trials set by the sorcerer Sarastro, who is holding Pamina hostage. Herriot likes to think of the story, which has been adapted for several films and inspired countless other works of art, as a means of escaping the everyday grind.

“In the beginning, Tamino is caught up in the world of the mun-

dane,” Herriot says, comparing the young prince’s predicament to that of office workers, whose time spent in cubicles causes them to lose sight of what it means to be alive. “For me, the journey in the piece is the journey to greater enlightenment of what it is to be alive. In other words, getting back to the basics of life, see-ing what the joys of loving are — and how once you pare away all of those expectations, you truly find enlight-enment and happiness.”

The powerful narrative is en-hanced by Mozart’s music, which is exemplified by the Queen of the Night’s famous aria, “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen” — “Hell’s vengeance boils in my heart.” A breathtaking display of vocal pyro-technics, the aria is the Magic Flute’s signature piece — and one of the most difficult operative passages ever composed. Herriot says only a few singers can pull it off. Fortunately, he adds, coloratura soprano Ambur Braid is more than capable of singing the part with the passion and techni-cal proficiency it demands.

Opera is about more than virtuos-ity, however. The best productions create harmony between the music, the singing, the acting, and the stag-ing. For his production of Mozart’s iconic opera, Herriot hopes to conjure up an atmosphere that emphasizes the work’s best qualities. “My job is to get the audience to relate to it, and not just make it some sort of mysti-cal, magical journey,” he says. In this he will be aided by the opera itself, which has survived for more than two centuries for the same reason works by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Da Vinci remain popular: “Most people get the Magic Flute,” he says. “It’s just so accessible.

The Magic FluteJune 12-21 @ remai arts centre$30+ @ Persephone theatre Box office (306) 384 7727

d

saskatoon opera to stage a new production of mozart’s iconic opera By alex J macPherson

@verbsaskatoon

[email protected]


Photos: courtesy of the saskatoon oPera

arts

the magic flute

/Verbsaskatoon culture



reViews

alBum reviewsBry webb — free will idée fixe records, may 2014

by alex J macPherson

f*cked up — Glass Boys arts & crafts, June 2014

by alex J macPherson

The weirdest part of Bry Webb’s new record is the title track. “Free Will”

closes the album with one minute and seventeen seconds of dron-ing, spinning, squealing noise. On its own, this is not particularly unusual. But after nine contem-plative songs about life and love and family, “Free Will” takes on a new, greater significance. Webb, who rose to fame as a member of the spectacularly unhinged Constantines, is not bound by convention or cliché. He can do whatever he wants. And on Free Will he does it with poise, grace, and meaning.

Free Will is a poignant counter-point to Constantines’ catalogue, which is dominated by smart songs

about the visceral thrill of being young and alive. In 2011, after the birth of his daughter and Constan-tines’ retreat into hiatus, Webb re-leased his first solo album. Provider emerged as a collection of medita-tive yet pointedly ambiguous songs about life at home. Free Will is much more direct than its predecessor, and much more refined. Over the last three years, Webb has concen-trated his thoughts and hardened his resolve — and it shows.

“Go to the places where I can’t protect you / I will keep trying to know what you’re going through / The more f*cked up things get / The more I love you,” he murmurs on “Let’s Get Through Today,” as a gentle acoustic guitar riff wafts above a bed of unsettling atmo-spheric noise. This is not a song about burning out. This is a song about fading away, and it points to

the album’s great truth: Free Will is a record about surrender, about the realization that it’s okay for other people to matter more.

Webb lays out his priorities on “Fletcher,” which opens with a burst of crystalline synthesizer noise before his fey voice and a sparse acoustic guitar take over: “You can’t civilize me / I keep running, just keep running back / Running back to where I want to be.” This tension defines the inevitability of middle age, and the awareness that nothing ever stays the same. For Webb, this is a major change, and probably a difficult one. But instead of fighting it, he embraced it. On the delicate “Posi-tive People,” he condemns “postures of defeat,” and sings: “Strength through boredom / Strength through joy / You can’t ignore them / You can’t avoid positive people.”

@verbsaskatoon

[email protected]


For a band with a name most publica-tions deem unfit for print, F*cked Up have

demonstrated a remarkable ability to transform countercultural angst into a mainstream message. F*cked Up’s success is to no small degree a product of their willingness to take chances. In 2009, they won the Po-laris for Chemistry of Common Life, an elaborate concept album. Their next release, David Comes To Life, was even more audacious: a rock opera. Although it lacks the epic quality that made the band’s previ-ous releases so much fun, Glass Boys succeeds in other ways.

It is difficult to describe anything the Toronto hardcore punk band does as “subtle,” but Glass Boys offers a nuanced examination of F*cked Up’s major problem: how to exist in an

industry hostile to the ideals on which the band was founded. “Echo Boomer” finds singer Damian Abraham, whose manic onstage presence and harsh, guttural howl give F*cked Up songs their shape and texture, contemplating the problem at hand: “I can still hear who I meant to be.”

Abraham is even more explicit on “The Great Divide,” a sustained barrage of unsettled guitar riffs and unrestrained vocal contortions: “With reddened faces and pointed fingers / We express disdain for what’s been done / Yet we all know the words to sing along to the songs.” On “Paper The House” he describes himself as “a self righteous man [turned] parody” before conceding that “nothing is more uplift-ing than finally admitting you were living a lie.” None of this solves the problem. The very existence of Glass Boys suggests F*cked Up are content, if vaguely unsettled, by the course of their career.

Glass Boys is also the most straight-forward, and the most accessible, re-cord F*cked Up has ever released. The riffs are more familiar, the melodies triumphantly melodic, and Abraham’s gruff vocals more easily discernible. But this should not be interpreted as a concession to the record industry, or anyone else. Abraham and his bandmates are smart enough to know that messages need an audience; blasting music into the void fulfills no one. Glass Boys may be easier to digest, but it doesn’t lack the unpretentious honesty and burning urge to make the world better that makes F*cked Up so f*cking good.

Verbnews.comculture




n 2004, Despistado broke up. It was by all accounts an unpleasant affair. No

one involved was particularly forthcoming about the details, but the split seems to have been caused by internal strife and argu-ments over money. A statement issued by the band’s record label offered a more poetic explanation: Despistado’s career was simply “too intense and searing to sustain itself.” Whatever the cause, less than four years after the post-punk band emerged from a subur-ban Regina basement, its members were back on the prairies, looking for work. Despistado was finished.

Like so many promising young bands, it had burned bright — and then burned out.

Despistado, which is Spanish for “confused,” was formed in 2001 by four young musicians: Dagan Hard-ing, Joel Passmore, Brenan Schwartz, and Leif Thorseth. Together, they wrote songs that were fractious and unsettled, energetic and remark-ably sophisticated. Their 2002 debut, The Emergency Response, welded cryptic lyrics to edgy, angular guitar riffs. The hyperkinetic “A Stirstick’s Prediction” emerged as a jubilant celebration of punk rock madness, “Hi-Fi Stereo” an unhinged collec-tion of spiky guitar riffs and pent-up

anxiety. Upbeat and urgent, The Emergency Response convinced a lot of people that Despistado was much more than a bunch of upstarts from some town in Saskatchewan

On a tour stop in Vancouver, the band forged the first of many con-nections with major record industry executives. Everybody seemed to love the band’s tightly-coiled post-punk aesthetic, its ability to extract universal themes from bizarre lyrical contortions and lo-fi guitar riffs. In 2003, Despistado signed a contract with the American inde-pendent label Jade Tree Records, re-released The Emergency Response, and began work on a full-length

i

Iconic saskatchewan post-punk band to reunite ten years after breaking up By alex J macPherson

feature

despistado

@Verbsaskatoon culture




@verbsaskatoon

[email protected]


album. It was a remarkable period for the band. In just a few months, the four musicians went from play-ing dingy punk clubs in nameless Canadian towns to some of the big-gest stages in North America.

And then, just as quickly, the band fell apart. By the time The People Of And Their Verses began to generate momentum, the band had played two final shows, a pair of blistering performances for rabid hometown crowds. Soon afterward, the four musicians moved on to other projects. Passmore played with Sylvie before joining Thorseth in Rah Rah. Schwartz lent his talent to the metal band Anatta. Harding did time in Geronimo and War Doves, and began releasing solo material. Despistado was over, its legacy a pair of relentlessly upbeat and noisy records and countless vague memo-ries of writhing dance floors in dank rock clubs.

But Harding, Passmore, and Thorseth kept in touch. In 2009, four years after The People Of And Their Verses was released, they started playing together again. That year, a reformed Despistado played a

handful of shows in Saskatchewan. A couple of years later, the band — with Rah Rah’s Jeffrey Romanyk filling in on drums — embarked on a tour of cramped clubs between Regina and Vancouver. It was like the early days: no pressure; only rock

and roll. And now, half a lifetime af-ter the four young men from Regina first dreamed of stardom, Despistado is poised for yet another reunion — a triumphant return to the Saskatch-ewan stage, and a chance to rekindle the flame its members can’t bring themselves to extinguish.

Alex J MacPherson: You’ve reunited a few times now. What prompted the initial decision?

Dagan Harding: We had some interest from various booking agents, and people in general still expressed a desire for the music, I guess. Leif and Joel and I are all still in each oth-ers’ lives in pretty significant ways. Leif and I performed in various acts in the past, and Leif was in Rah Rah with Joel. When I was in Montreal, Joel would stay with me. We all still talk, and the members of the band that still play are still really tight — so we decided to go on a vacation, and take the songs with us.

AJM: Given the circumstances of the band’s initial breakup, could it be that you and the other guys felt that some-thing was left unfinished?

DH: With the role that we played in Regina, as a band, and having that come to such an abrupt end without ever really being able to celebrate it, was a part of it for us. Not from a posi-tion of, ‘Oh yeah, we’re just going to do this for reasons that a lot of bands might get back together for.” Because it’s been a long time, a lot of people don’t know who we are. It was more

a thing for us, to continue that project. We worked really hard at a lot of things as a band in a short amount of time — and then we sort of just disappeared.

AJM: And now you’re able to tour behind the full-length, which you

didn’t get the chance to do in 2005. What does it feel like, playing those songs today?

DH: I think that we all still have a really intimate relationship with the songs, particularly when we listen to them and sort of re-learn them. But for the most part, we see them as just songs. They’re snapshots of a bunch of sounds and arrangements that we liked at a given moment as a collective. We try not to blow that part out of proportion too much, because we’re all still engaged with music. When we get together and perform Despistado music, the songs we wrote together as a band, that’s going to be special regardless of what the circumstances are. It’s an honour to be able to go back to something that still means something today and share it and be engaged with it.

AJM: What’s interesting is that even though the band wasn’t around for years, people in this province contin-ued to talk about it and the records. What was it that endeared this music to so many people?

DH: Looking at how people respond to the record, it’s hard to pinpoint why that is. I think maybe the record might have come at a time in people’s lives that was really [important], like the end of adolescence or the start of adulthood. Perhaps the band had a part in peoples’ lives at a significant time. Maybe that’s a part of grow-ing up, and having things that mean something in a certain context. We get nostalgic when we perform the songs, so maybe that’s a part of it, too.

AJM: Could it be that Despistado sort of launched the music scene we see in this province today?

DH: That might be a bit too much of a stretch, just simply because it wouldn’t be true to the fact that we were so heavily influenced by bands before us, bands that had interna-tional attention from more of a major label record perspective. But I know what you mean: we definitely were a part of the end of a cycle that may be ongoing. There was such momentum and such hype, and we happened to be at the top of this wave that hit its precipice. But by no means were we

the only band playing that kind of music that well.

AJM: At the same time, the EP and the full-length didn’t sound like anything else that was coming out of Saskatchewan, then or now.

DH: I think what we tried to do was be as authentic as we could, to ourselves and to the music. Our in-fluences were derived pretty directly from the local scene, and the bands members of the local scene listened to and supported — the sort of older generation we grew up adoring and listening to so much. There were some influences from various dif-ferent kinds of music, too. We were afraid of trying to sound too much like anything, but at the same time, trying to sound like something.

AJM: What does the future hold for Despistado? Has there been any talk of making another record?

DH: It would take the right timing and the right efforts to get some material going. But we’re not ruling it out. We’ve definitely passed ideas back and forth. It’s definitely a possibility, but there’s nothing about the immediate future that makes us think that would be something that would happen.

AJM: Ultimately, it sounds like you’re in a good place, free from the stress and pressure that ultimately led to the band’s breakup and able to just enjoy playing these songs again.

DH: We’re really honoured and really grateful to have people in our lives to remind us that the music still makes a difference for them. That it still excites them, and that it’s still enjoyable. We’re just happy to bring that to people, and that’s the reason we started as a band.

Despistado @ MoSoFestJune 14 @ vangelis tavern$81.29 @ Picatic.com (festival Pass); $tBa at the door

we worked really hard at a lot of things as a band in a short amount of time — and then we sort of just disappeared.

DaGan harDInG

Verbnews.comentertainment



food + drink

keeping it simple

iheli-Days sticks with the classics while adding a little something new By aDam hawBolDt

let’s go drinkin’ verB’s mixology guide

green tea moJitos

Looking for something cool, tall and a little bit different to drink? Why not give this varia-tion of your standard mojito a try? It’s tasty and will hit the spot on a warm spring day.

ingredients

1 tbsp fresh lime juice4 large mint leaves2 tsp sugar1/2 cup of chilled green tea2 oz rum

directions

Muddle the lime juice, mint and sugar together in a tall glass. When the leaves bruise lightly, add ice until the glass is about 3/4 full. Add rum and green tea. Stir and serve.

@verbsaskatoon

[email protected]


Photo: courtesy of aDam hawBolDt

f something ain’t broken, don’t tinker with it too much. That’s a simple

rule to live by. And that’s exactly what the folks at HeLi-Days restaurant did when they set up their new restaurant.

Located on Central Avenue where Doc Hollandaise used to be, HeLi-Days opened a little less than a

month ago. And instead of shaking the apple cart too much and chanc-ing the loss of loyal customers who loved Doc Hollandaise, they decided not to tinker with the menu too drastically. There’s still a number of different variations of eggs benedict, skillets and omelets for those break-fast lovers. You can still indulge in the burgers, pasta and those oh-so-

tasty ribs for a main fare. Heck, even the decor is the same: same hanging lights, same floral chairs — even the fireplace in the middle of the room is still there.

Why mess with a good thing, right?But that’s not to say HeLi-Days

is just Doc Hollandaise under a dif-ferent name. There are a few new touches that’s been brought to this classic establishment, such as the new sushi menu. There’s also the HeLi Tuna benny, and a HeLi Tuna sandwich — to name just a few.

The other day when I was there, I was kind of torn about what to have. The ribs there are delicious, arguably some of the best in the city, and there are a number of other dishes I’ve tried in the past that I was tempted to revisit. But even though it was lunch I wasn’t overly hungry and, to be complete-ly honest with you, it was one of those days when I was in the mood for something simple. Something easy. Something fresh.

So I chose the HeLi Tuna sand-wich, which comes with the option of soup, salad or fries. I went with the salad, where I was confronted with another decision: Greek, tossed, or Caesar. After hemming and hawing for a bit I got the Caesar, and then ordered a California roll for good measure — may as well give the new sushi menu a shot, right?

The sushi was good. Well-rolled and tasty, it was a nice little warm-up for the HeLi Tuna, which arrived at the table served on a warm, multi-grain sub bun. It was great: nothing fancy or snazzy, just a yummy, simple, warm tuna sand-wich that hit the spot. The salad was good, too, and together this made for a light, refreshing lunch.

Meal done, I thanked the pleasant server and thought about grabbing a dynamite roll or some salmon nigiri to take back to the office. But in the end, I decided not to. I can always go back again sometime and give them a try.

heli-Days#6-705 central avenue | (306) 952-4599

/Verbsaskatoon entertainment



music

Photo courtesy of: faceBook/ faceBook/ faceBook

Coming upnext Week

solids

It’s no great secret that the Solids are fans of ‘90s music. That they take their musical cues from bands like Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, and Super-chunk. One listen to their blistering, fuzzed out brand of rock and you’ll hear the influence right away. You’ll also hear a very talented duo from Montreal that’s on an upward trajec-tory. Consisting of Xavier Germain-Poitras (guitar and vocals) and Louis Guillemette (drums and vocals), Solids feel as though melody shines best when it’s forced to fight through lay-ers of distortion and feedback. It is a philosophy of sound that appeals to punks, rockers, metal enthusiasts — you name it. They’ll be perform-ing at Amigos as a part of MoSoFest. For ticket information, visit www.moso2014.com.

@ amIGos cantInafriday, June 13 – $81.29+ (for full festI-

val Pass)

@ o’BrIans event centrewednesday, June 18 – $15

@ creDIt unIon centrefriday, noVember 21 – $26+

If you listen to or follow heavy met-al, you’ll know that retro-thrash bands are popping up everywhere these days. Bands that are pumping out good ol’ ‘80s-style thrash songs that will remind you of early Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer. Colorado four-piece Havok is one of those bands. Actually, they’re not just one of those bands — they’re one of the better retro-thrash bands on the scene today. Founded by high school friends David Sanchez and Haakon Sjoegren (who is no longer around) in 2004, the band has released three studio albums — Burn, Time Is Up, and Unnatu-ral Selection, the last of which breached the Billboard Top 200 in its first week in the #154 slot. Be sure to check out these heavy hitters when they roll through town next week; ticket information at www.obrianseventcentre.ca.

havok

Before this Californian became a solo act, he was part of one of the most iconic bands of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Maybe you’ve heard of them — Creedence Clearwater Rival. Yep, that John Fogerty. The guy who Rolling Stone magazine ranked as the #40 best guitarist of all time, as well as the #72 best singer. His solo hits include “Centrefield” (perhaps the greatest baseball song ever penned) and “Jambalaya,” but come this fall he’ll return to his CCR roots as he sets out on a coast-to-coast tour to celebrate the year 1969 — the year in which CCR produced three semi-nal albums: Bayou Country, Green River and Willy and the Poor Boys. He’ll be at the Credit Union Centre on November 21st. Tickets available through Ticketmaster.

John fogerty

sask music previewSaskMusic and Big Dog 92-7 are pleased to announce the Top 10 semi-finalists in The Next Big Thing 2014 country talent competition. This year’s Top 10 are: Amy Nelson (Regina), Blake Berglund (Kennedy), Kelsey Fitch (Park-side), Mandy Ringdal (Outlook), Scott Richmond (Regina), Stephen Maguire (Saskatoon), Steve Gibson (Theodore), Tenille Arts (Weyburn), The Dead South (Regina), and Val Halla (Regina). The Top 3 will perform in a showdown on June 26 at Eldorado’s Country Rock Bar where 2013’s winner, Alex Runions, will also perform. Tickets will be available at the door.

– By adam hawboldt





listingslistingslistingslistings

The most complete live music listings for Saskatoon.

June 6 » June 14

6 7

13 1411 129 108

s m t w t

friday 6House DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul

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

THe seaHags / Amigos — Old-timey coun-

try garage music from Saskatoon. 10pm /

Cover TBD

Paul sucHan / The Bassment — Feel

like taking in some smooth jazz stylings?

4:30pm / No cover

anDerson Burko / The Bassment — An

engaging roots duo. 9pm / $15+

FlasHBack FriDays / Béily’s — The best of

the 80’s, 90’s & top 40 hits of today. 9pm / $5

Hung Jury / Buds — Playing popular cov-

ers all night. 9pm / Cover TBD

BlackwaTer / Capitol Music Club — With

the Grove. 9pm / Cover TBD

BPM / Diva’s — Resident DJs spin electro/

vocal house music. 10pm / $5

DJ eclecTic / The Hose — Local turntable

whiz pumps snappy beats. 8pm / No cover

DJ Big ayyy & DJ HencHMan / Outlaws —

Round up your friends. 8pm / $5; ladies in

free before 11pm

Barrel anD craTe / Prairie Ink — Playing

country tunes. 8pm / No cover

DJ sTikMan / Rain — Come and get your

weekend started! 9pm / Cover TBD

saskaToon legenDary rHyTHM anD Blues / Somewhere Else Pub — A night of

R&B. 9pm / No cover

sPenT Penny / Stan’s Place — Come out for

a rockin’ good time. 9pm / No cover

THe norTHern ligHT / Vangelis — With

Doug Hoyer + more. 10pm / Cover TBD

saturday 7House DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin

deep and soulful tunes. 9pm / No cover

cHaD Vangaalen / Amigos Cantina —

With Viet Cong. 10pm / $15 (ticketedge.ca)

Jazz singer FesT ii / The Bassment — Fea-

turing Sarah Anderson + more. 8pm / $17+

DJ aasH Money + DJ sugar DaDDy / Béily’s — These two throw down a dance

party every Saturday night. 9pm / $5 cover

le grooVe anD PHoenix / Bon Temps Cafe

— Good tunes all night. 9pm / Cover TBD

Hung Jury / Buds — Playing popular cov-

ers all night. 9pm / Cover TBD

Moka only / Capitol — Swollen Members

rapper headlines a night of DJs! 9pm / $10

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 gooDTiMes / Longbranch — Playing the

hottest country music. 8pm / $4 cover

DJ HeaVygrinDer / Nutana Curling Club

— With Deko-Ze + more. 8pm / $30


Round up your friends. 8pm / $5

caMille anD Dale / Prairie Ink — Acoustic

soul/blues/R&B. 8pm / No cover

DJ sTikMan / Rain — Playing all the ladies’

favourites! 9pm / Cover TBD

saskaToon legenDary rHyTHM anD Blues / Somewhere Else Pub — A night of

R&B. 9pm / No cover

sPenT Penny / Stan’s Place — Come out for

a rockin’ good time. 9pm / No cover

DJ ancHor / Sutherland Bar — It’s the

world famous video mix show! 10pm /

Cover TBD

THe gay nineTies / Vangelis — With The

Wet Secrets. 10pm / Cover TBD

sunday 8inDusTry nigHT / Béily’s — Hosted by

DJ Sugar Daddy. 9pm / $4; no cover for

industry staff

acousTic nigHT / Buds — Featuring Har-

rison James. 9pm / Cover TBD

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 9irene ellioT Trio / Bon Temps Cafe — A

nice of sweet, engaging tunes. 7pm / Cover

TBD

eDDie roBerTson / Buds — Playing slick

blues. 9pm / Cover TBD

DJ auDio / Dublins — Spinning dope beats.

9pm / Cover TBD

caVes / Vangelis — With Fountain, Phalec

Baldwin, Heaven for Real. 9pm / Cover TBD

tuesday 10JonaTHan ricHMan / Amigos

Cantina — Singer/songwriter from

Massachusetts.10pm / Cover TBD

eDDie roBerTson / Buds — Playing slick

blues. 9pm / Cover TBD

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 Mic / Rock Bottom

— Come and rock the stage! 9pm / No cover

oPen Mic / The Somewhere Else Pub —

Come out to show your talent. 7pm / No

cover

wednesday 11DJ MoDus / 302 Lounge & Discotheque —

Spinning all your favourite tracks. 9pm / No

cover until 10pm; $3 thereafter

salsa nigHT / Béily’s UltraLounge — Latin

music and salsa dance lessons. 8:30pm /

Cover TBD

Penny canDy For Billionaires / Buds

— Indie/alt music from Vancouver. 9pm /

Cover TBD

DJ MeMo / Dublins — Spinning dope beats.

9pm / Cover TBD



No cover

Buck wilD weDnesDays / Outlaws

Country Rock Bar — Come out and ride

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

industry staff

thursday 12MosoFesT 2014 / Amigos Cantina — Fea-

turing Factor, Def3 + more. 9pm / Ticket info

at moso2014.com

MosoFesT 2014 / Buds — Featuring The

Pistolwhips, Bend Sinister + more. 9pm /

Ticket info at moso2014.com

@Verbsaskatoon entertainment



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

get listed

[email protected]

Tequila MockingBirD orcHesTra / Gillian’s House (121 Avenue G) — Playing

gypsy-folk-roots music. 8:30pm / $10



No cover

DJ gooDTiMes / Longbranch — Playing

the hottest country music all night. 8pm /

$4 cover

MosoFesT 2014 / Vangelis — Featuring

Woodpigeon,Gunner and Smith + more.

9pm / Ticket info at moso2014.com

oPen sTage / The Woods — Hosted by

Steven Maier. 9pm / No cover

friday 13House DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul

& lounge DJs liven up the atmosphere at

6Twelve. 9pm / No cover

MosoFesT 2014 / Amigos Cantina — Fea-

turing Close Talker, Solids + more. 8:15pm

/ $27+

Piano FriDays: Jesse Brown / The

Bassment — Feel like taking in some

smooth jazz stylings? 4:30pm / No cover

laura lee McFarlane / The Bassment —

With guests, In With The Old. 9pm / $15+

FlasHBack FriDays / Béily’s UltraLounge

— The best of the 80’s, 90’s & top 40 hits of

today. 9pm / $5 cover

aPollo cruz / Bon Temps Cafe — Playing

high-octane blues. 9pm / Cover TBD

MosoFesT 2014 / Broadway Theatre- Fea-

turing Atlas Sound, Powder Blue + more.

9pm / Ticket info at moso2014.com

screaMlyne / Buds — A local rock quartet.

9pm / Cover TBD

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

MosoFesT 2014 / Kinsmen Hall — Featur-

ing We Are The City, Humans + more. 9pm /


DJ Big ayyy & DJ HencHMan / Outlaws

Country Rock Bar — Round up your friends

‘cause there’s no better country rock party

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

ian MarTens / Prairie Ink — Playing

acoustic/folk. 8pm / No cover

DJ sTikMan / Rain — Come and get your

weekend started! 9pm / Cover TBD

MosoFesT 2014 / The Refinery — Featuring

Mahogany Frog, The Basement Paintings +

more. 9pm / Ticket info at moso2014.com

MosoFesT 2014 / Rock Bottom — Featuring

KEN Mode, Buffalo Invasion + more. 9pm /


gorgeous Blue Dogs / Somewhere Else

Pub — A night of good tunes and great

company. 9pm / No cover

JoMaMa / Stan’s Place — Come out for a

rockin’ good time. 9pm / No cover

naTalie sTruck / Underground Cafe —

With Fabian Minnema. 9pm / Cover TBD

MosoFesT 2014 / Vangelis — Featuring Old

Cabin, Fisticuffs + more. 9pm / Ticket info at

moso2014.com

saturday 14House DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin

deep and soulful tunes. 9pm / No cover

MosoFesT 2014 / Amigos — With Kay

the Aquanaut + more. 9pm / Ticket info at

moso2014.com

THe BassMenT Big BanD / The Bassment

— With The Saskatoon Community Jazz

Band. 8pm / $15+

DJ aasH Money + DJ sugar DaDDy / Bé-

ily’s — These two DJs throw down a dance

party every Saturday night. 9pm / $5 cover

MosoFesT 2014 / Broadway Theatre — Tim-

ber Timbre and Andy Shauf. 8:30pm / $22+

screaMlyne / Buds — A local rock quartet.

9pm / Cover TBD

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

MosoFesT 2014 / Kinsmen Hall — Mitch-

matic + more. 9pm / Tickets moso2014.com

DJ gooDTiMes / Longbranch — Playing the

hottest country music. 8pm / $4 cover


Round up your friends. 8pm / $5

rayney / Prairie Ink — Playing contempo-

rary folk. 8pm / No cover

DJ sTikMan / Rain — Playing all the ladies’

favourites! 9pm / Cover TBD

MosoFesT 2014 / The Refinery — With

Chad Munson + more. 8pm / $12

MosoFesT 2014 / Rock Bottom — Public

Animal + more. 9pm / Ticket moso2014.com

gorgeous Blue Dogs / Somewhere Else

Pub — Good tunes all night. 9pm / No cover

JoMaMa / Stan’s Place — Come out for a

rockin’ good time. 9pm / No cover

DJ ancHor / Sutherland Bar — It’s the

world famous video mix show! 10pm /

Cover TBD

MosoFesT 2014 / Vangelis — Featuring

Despistado, Pandas in Japan + more. 9pm /





emember when Tom Cruise made awesome movies? Remember The

Color of Money, Rain Man, Born on the Fourth of July, A Few Good Men, Top Gun, Interview with the Vam-pire, heck, even Jerry Maguire?

Those were the good old days. Lately, though, it seems like

he’s been making the same action-fueled, explosion-heavy flick time after time. Think about it: all the Mission Impossibles, War of the Worlds, Knight and Day, Jack Reacher, Oblivion. They all have three things in common: Cruise is the hero, there are a crapload of explosions, and he’s forever hitting you with that blank stare of his.

And now we have Cruise’s new flick, Edge of Tomorrow, which fits right in there with that last bunch of movies I mentioned. But here’s the thing: it’s pretty darn good. Well, pretty darn good for a summer block-

buster. Still, it’s a thousand times better than his last project — the way-too-sluggish Oblivion.

Directed by Doug Liman (Swing-ers, The Bourne Identity), Edge of Tomorrow begins with a montage of news reports that talk of an alien invasion of Earth. It doesn’t look good for us humans. But along comes Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), a super

soldier who takes out a bunch of aliens wearing the military’s new exo-skeleton armour.

Enter Cruise as Major William Cage. He shows up on the news to reassure people that forces around the world will soon be getting this new armour/weaponry. Cage is happy to be a desk jockey, to put a positive spin on the crisis, but he wants nothing to do with the fight-ing — he even chickens out and refuses to go to the front lines.

This doesn’t sit well with his higher ups, and eventually Cage is arrested and knocked out. He wakes up at

Heathrow and finds out he’s getting sent to do battle against the invaders.

He’s shipped out the next morn-ing and proves himself to be an utterly inept soldier. He outlasts most of his fellow soldiers by sheer, stupid luck, and even wounds an alien (who then bleeds all over him). Then Cage is killed. End of movie.

Well, not really. See, Cage wakes up in a loop and is forced to fight the same battle over and over again. Eventually, he meets Rita — who also was once stuck in a loop — and she starts train-ing him. Slowly but surely Cage goes from desk geek to super soldier.

If you think of Edge of Tomorrow as a kind of Groundhog-Day-meets-Independence-Day-meets-Full-Metal-Jacket mashup, you’ll be on the right track.

And while it isn’t a game-changing movie by any means, Edge of Tomor-row does manage to entertain. Cruise delivers an understated performance,

Blunt shines, and the story is interest-ing enough to keep you captivated.

The only really bad thing about the film is the ending, but hey — that’s just my opinion. For the most part, Edge of Tomorrow is sharper, cleverer and just flat-out better than a lot of fluff Hollywood throws our way during blockbuster season.

film

Photo: courtesy of eDGe of tomorrow

r

Edge of Tomorrow kicks off blockbuster season with style By aDam hawBolDt

edge of tomorrow

directed By Doug Liman

starring Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt

+ Bill Paxton

113 minutes | pg

repeat if necessary

@verbsaskatoon

[email protected]


cruise delivers an understated performance, Blunt shines, and the story is interesting enough…

aDam hawBolDt




here is no shortage of vampire movies out there, and they come in

all shapes and sizes. There’s the classic vampire flicks

(Dracula and Nosferatu), slick ones (From Dusk Till Dawn), epic ones (In-terview with the Vampire), foreign ones (Let the Right One In), terrible ones (the entire Twilight saga) — the list goes on.

Enter Jim Jarmusch. He’s the guy who made critically

acclaimed films like Stranger Than Paradise, Broken Flowers, Ghost Dog—The Way of the Samurai. Under his idiosyncratic and minimalist guid-ance, the vampire genre is given the independent treatment in his new film, Only Lovers Left Alive. Sure, immortal blood suckers have gone indie before — but not like this.

Starring Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston, Only Lovers Left Alive is an elegant, offbeat, somber and quirky film. At times it’s deadpan funny. It’s also moody, stylish and exceedingly well-shot. Everything you’d expect from a Jarmusch movie.

So what’s it about?Well, in simplistic terms, it’s about

two vampires and eternal love. One of the vampires is named Adam (Hid-dleston). He lives in a mansion in an

all-but-abandoned area of Detroit. He’s a musician, too. Not a Bieber-like superstar, but a moody, reclusive musi-cian with a cult following. The kind of musician who lounges around playing vintage guitars and listening to old LPs. For news about the outside world, he relies on a young fan (Anton Yelchin). For food, he has a doctor (Jeffrey Wright) who provides him a steady supply of O-negative blood.

The other vampire is named Eve (Swinton). She lives in Tangiers, where she spends a lot of time with her friend and fellow vampire, Marlowe (John Hurt), who is … you guessed it … a playwright. He also hooks Eve up with high-quality blood.

Needless to say, these aren’t your average, cliched vampires.

Anyway, things are going relatively well in Eve’s world until one day she senses Adam is in trouble. Her intuition is right. Adam has gone and got his hands on a bullet made of wood, a bul-let he plans to use on himself. Eve hops on a plane to Detroit to reunite with her unhappy, suicidal lover.

All goes well in the beginning. Then Eve’s sister, Ava (Mia Wasikowska) shows up. Without letting the cat too far out of the bag, let’s just say Ava is a bit of a sh*t disturber. After she arrives

on the scene, Adam and Eve’s reunion is tested.

The result is a haunting, beautiful and meditative film that is slick and memorable — thanks, in large part, to Swinton. She plays the hell out of Eve, who is easily the coolest, most languid vampire to ever grace the silver screen.

Twilight this is not. Sure, Only Lovers Left Alive could’ve benefitted from a bit of cutting (the narrative is a tad long), but for the most part it is an really good film with great acting, directed by a great director whose fingerprints are all over the project.

Only Lovers Left Alive is currently being screened at Roxy Theatre.

vampire chicOnly Lovers Left Alive is a slick, stylish and entrancing addition to the vampire genre By aDam hawBolDt

t only lovers left alive

directed By Jim Jarmusch

starring Tilda Swinton, Tom Hid-

dleston, John Hurt + Anton Yelchin

123 minutes | nr

Photo: courtesy of sony PIctures classIcs

@verbsaskatoon

[email protected]






nightlife friday, may 30 @

maguiresMaguires Irish Pub & Brewery2105 8th Street East(306) 955 7500

cHeck ouT our FaceBook Page! These photos will be uploaded to

Facebook on Friday, June 13.

facebook.com/verbsaskatoon

Photography by Patrick Carley





tuesday, June 3 @

snookershackThe Snooker Shack3421 8th Street East(306) 374 2100

nightlife


cHeck ouT our FaceBook Page! These photos will be uploaded to

Facebook on Friday, June 13.

facebook.com/verbsaskatoon




nightlife



© elaine m. will | blog.e2w-illustration.com | check onthebus.webcomic.ws/ for previous editions!

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horoscopes June 6 - June 12 sudoku crossword answer key

a baries march 21–april 19

You will experience a breakthrough

this week, Aries. Could be in a proj-

ect, could be with a person. Who knows?

taurus april 20–may 20

Ever get the feeling that no matter

how hard you try you can’t win?

Don’t worry. Some wins are coming your way.

gemini may 21–June 20

Every now and then you have a

tendency to be stubborn, Gemini.

Try to avoid it this week.

cancer June 21–July 22

Intellectually, you will excel this

week, Cancer. Emotionally, well,

things could get rather dicey.

leo July 23–august 22

Take time to get acquainted with

your innovative, irrational side

this week, Leo. You won’t regret it.

virgo august 23–september 22

This is going to be one of those

weeks where it’s best to stay in

and pull down the blinds.

liBra september 23–october 23

You may not be firing on all cylin-

ders early in the week, Libra. With a

perseverance, that can change.

scorpio october 24–november 22

Examine your emotions in the

coming days, Scorpio. If you don’t,

they may get you in trouble down the road.

sagittarius november 23–December 21

Try to bring a wonderful breath of

fresh air to any group you’re with

this week. People will notice.

capricorn December 22–January 19

Don’t get bent out of shape if

things don’t go according to plan

in the coming days, Capricorn.

aQuarius January 20–february 19

You may feel vulnerable this

week, Aquarius. If so, hide and

find shelter from the storm.

pisces february 20–march 20

Unexpected events will crop up

in the coming future, Pisces. Be

prepared for the best … and the worst.

sudoku answer key

6 1 2 4 2 5 3 89 4 7 2 3 7 9 9 4 1 8 5 1 6 3 7 5 2 8 4 7 6 1 5 6 3 9 8

7 3 1 23 5 1 9 6 4 2 8 5 4 7 96 9 1 9 8 7 5 3 2 4 3 6 5 4 8 2 1 8 6 7

© walter d. feener 2014

a

b

6 1 5 8 3 2 4 7 97 4 2 6 5 9 3 1 89 3 8 1 4 7 5 2 64 8 3 2 7 5 6 9 12 9 7 4 6 1 8 5 31 5 6 9 8 3 7 4 23 7 9 5 1 8 2 6 48 2 4 7 9 6 1 3 55 6 1 3 2 4 9 8 7

8 4 7 5 9 3 1 6 23 2 5 1 8 6 9 7 41 6 9 4 2 7 8 5 35 3 1 2 6 4 7 8 96 7 2 8 3 9 4 1 54 9 8 7 5 1 3 2 62 1 4 3 7 5 6 9 87 5 6 9 4 8 2 3 19 8 3 6 1 2 5 4 7

crossword Canadian Criss-Cross

across 1. On-line diary

5. Easy win

9. Hang over

10. Pandora released them

12. Bird with a large

colourful beak

13. Achieved success

15. Make a decision

16. Not widespread

18. Israeli submachine gun

19. Partner of potatoes

21. Keyboard key

22. ___berry

23. Not one of the main rules

25. One who calculates

insurance risks and

premiums

27. Religious homage

29. Inexpensive piece

of jewellery

32. The time between

evening and morning

36. Perform a funeral

service for

37. The end part

39. Gloomy

40. Cuckoo bird

41. Ornamental tree

43. Alcoholic drink

44. Country-styled

46. In fine ___ (fit)

48. Oyster’s creation

49. Makes available

50. Unspecified quantity

51. All there

down 1. Extremely honest, in a

way that seems unkind

2. Resinous substance

3. Iridescent gemstone

4. Jib used on a racing yacht

5. Second game between

the same teams

6. Egg-shaped

7. Central

8. Lung covering

9. One of the Seven Dwarfs

11. Undergraduate receiving

maintenance aid from

Cambridge University

12. Burial vault

14. Minute

17. Having removable sections

20. Brownish-yellow

22. Boy with a bow

24. Pan used in

Asian cooking

26. Its Latin name is stannum

28. Grid in the eyepiece of

an optical instrument

29. Ski lift

30. Let debts accumulate

31. Eye parts

33. Chin beard

34. Pea pods

35. Genealogical diagram

38. Smokes a pipe

41. Like some mattresses

42. Antitoxins

45. Path to be followed,

in Confucianism

47. Low card in a royal flush

timeout

Verbnews.com

Verb Issue S293 (June 6-12, 2014)

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Transcript of Verb Issue S293 (June 6-12, 2014)