According to Elections Canada only an estimated 59.1% of Canadians voted in the 2008 election deeming it the lowest voter turnout in Canadian history.

Newfoundland and Labrador the most reluctant to join the Confederation held the lowest turnout at 48.1%, less than the territories. On the high end of the voting spectrum, Prince Edward Island voters arrived to the polls in droves, with 69.5% of its citizens voting.

But who is to say the people are entirely to blame? Several factors may have contributed to the low statis-tics. Calling an early election did not give voters time to digest each candidate platform resulting in voter skepticism. Students on campus deemed it a pseudo-election and when asked if they would vote this year, one student replied that he was waiting for “the real election.”

Government policies could also be partly to blame for low voter turnout. An o�cial for Elections Canada explained a lack of awareness among many voters due to a new rule requiring voters to present either one piece of identi�cation showing their name and address or two pieces of identi�cation. Elections Canada o�cial Dana Doiron stated confused voters presented pass-ports and various forms of ID that did not state their current address. Polling station representative Pendra Wilson witnessed several voters turned away after they arrived without proper identi�cation. Wilson disgusted by the procedures expressed her concerns to the Can-adian Broadcasting Corporation. “It made me sick to see so many conscientious Canadians not allowed to vote today,” she said.

These regulations created a hubbub of frustration and uncertainty in voting queues across the nation. In Halifax, Dalhousie University reported that two-thirds of its student population were ineligible to vote. To allow students to vote identi�cation must show a cor-rect address from the university residence the student attends. For many students this documentation is the only means to identify their current and correct place of residence. Mark Co�n, vice president of education and student council representative at Dalhousie, at-tributed the voter error to lack of information.

“You know, 1.44 million young Canadians didn’t vote in the last election. Well these new rules aren’t making it easier for students to vote.” Co�n said. The regula-tions led many to believe that students who were turned away did not come back to vote.

The desire to vote was evident with many students on the UFT campus When asked about the importance of voting, one student enthusiastically stated “of course (voting is) important! Is it never important to continue to ful�ll one’s democratic responsibility?”

Does a politically disillusioned citizenry have the competence, or willingness, to implement voter reform? The Citizen’s Assembly on Electoral Reform attempted to impose this through a proposed mixed-member proportional system via the referendum only to be disappointed by what I believe was an ill-informed citizenry. There is no excuse for the low turnout if we as citizens have the ability to implement electoral reform.

Vol. XXXI, No: 1October 30 – November 5, 2008 - Vol. XXXI, No: 8

Where have all the voters gone?Voter turnout lowest in Canadian historyRAJIN SINGH

National News Bureau

Is Canada

broken?

2 the newspaper October 30 – November 5, 2008

the inside

the mission statementthe newspaper is proud to be University of Toronto’s ONLY independent

news source. We look to our readers and contributors to ensure we provide a

consistently superior product. Our purpose is to provide a voice for university

students, staff, faculty and U of T’s extended community.

This voice may at times be irreverent but it will never be irrelevant.

write between the lines

the table of CONTENTS

the inside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

the editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

the news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 5

the arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 7, 8

the end . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Administrative AssistantCaroline George

the newspaperPublisher

Matthew Pope

News EditorJennifer Spiers

Arts EditorHelene Goderis

Copy EditorsMichelle Ferreira, Tayyaba Jiwani, Ashley Minuk

LayoutJe!rey Spiers

ContributorsLudwik Antoniuk, Pratima Arapakota, Amanda Campbell, Natalie Rae Dubois,

Shauna C. Keddy, Mathiaus Poe, Thomas Saczkowski, Rajin Singh

1 Spadina Crescent, Suite 245

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fax: (416) 593-0552

Editor-in-chiefAri Simha

Ads & Marketingads@thenewspaper.ca

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thenewspaper.ca

NOW WITH 28.1% MORE AWESOME!

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independent newspaper did not cause them to vomit in their soul. Exciting! It’s a

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can send to us! Soon you can rant, discuss and get your hate on for all your least-

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the newspaper is U of T’s ONLY independent newspaper, distributing across all 3 campuses as well as the surrounding community. This is an open call to all potential contributors. We want writers for politics, cur-rent events, sports, %nance, arts and more! We are looking for creators to submit &ash %ction, prose, poetry, photography, art, comics and anything else that falls out of your head. If you’d prefer to work behind the scene and help to edit and re%ne a weekly publication with 15,000 copies in circulation, then come see us.

One more important thing: we o!er free food! Yes! Come to our weekly open sta! meeting, THIS Thursday @ 5pm in our o+ces. We will feed your face! Awesomeness!

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the newspaper 3October 30 – November 5, 2008

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the editorial

I recently attended the release party for the new albums of Snow Patrol, Keane, and Kaiser Chiefs, courtesy of the newspaper’s lovely representative over at Universal Music. I faced blazing beats, intense visuals, and awesome give-aways (a Vespa!) at a free party. Sigh, being a journalist can be such a burden. I may not get paid in dollars, but I do get paid in Awesome.

Not only do I get to face deadlines and di"cult assignments, but I get to go out to fabulous events (free of charge) and basically get paid to party. Schmoozing with industry types and dancing until the wee hours can really take its toll. It’s a tough life, but some-body’s got to do it; which leads me to my next point: all this Awesome and its rewards are just too much for one person to handle, so the newspaper needs your help.

We need people to help us distribute our awesome assignments and their subsequent rewards. It is regular

contributors that get to enjoy the fringe bene#ts here; we like to give back what we’re given. So we want to give you Awe-some. We also hope to involve the local community. To that end, we announce our latest contest:

Local Music Mayhem!Choose a local band, ideally with ties to

U of T. Create an artist pro#le piece (with an interview and album or show review) and submit it to the newspaper. The #rst two articles selected for publication will receive a CD prize pack courtesy of Universal Music Canada!

Submissions should be sent to arts@thenewspaper.ca

The deadline is November 9th. 2008

Paid in AwesomeThat’s how the newspaper rolls

It should come as no surprise to my regular readers that I am a fan of Halloween. For me, it is better than Christmas; it’s non-denominational, non-exclusive and lends itself to all kinds of delightfully horrible perversions. Everyone has a little Demon in them, and Halloween gives us the cultural public license to let it roam.

That said, it is still possible to pervert a perversion, and there are some things seriously wrong with Halloween. The single biggest problem these days seems to be the ab-solute creative vacuum within which people devise their costumes. There are two main categories of transgres-sion: monster stand-bys and sexy _______.

Monster stand-bys are the handful of creatures that everyone seems to fall back on because they’re too obtuse to imagine anything original or o%-beat. Zombies, vampires, werewolves, witches and aliens are the pillars that buttress this shelter of banality. Also falling into this category are any paltry attempts to ‘re-invent’ one of the aforementioned characters by making them Asian, or ‘retro’ or crossing one with another. That is not originality; that is what every tired

Hollywood monster &ick has been doing for the last 25 years.

The second, and far more o%ensive category, is the sexy ______. While women are 75% more likely to violate on this count, men are also regular of-fenders. Classic examples of these types

of crimes are the sexy nurse and sexy cop. There is frequent overlap between this category and the former one (i.e. the sexy vampire), and they are the reason tacky sex shops clean up at this time of year. But there is absolutely no imagina-tion or inspiration in it. If I wanted to see a sexy version of anything, I’d download the appropriate porn. People dress

like hussies and gigolos all year long, so doing it in character for Halloween is nothing special. As I’m sure you’ve heard before, stop thinking with your workplace-appropriate-euphemism-for-breasts/pecks/buttocks/genitals and start thinking with your (upper) head. And

this includes the boys who dress like Barbies because they secretly wish they were one.

On another note, please keep your sprogs (kids) on a leash. These little terrors go screaming o% into the night for razor-blade apples and poison to%ee before running into tra"c and egging your neighbours’ houses. Hal-loween should certainly be a time for the sproglets to carom, but just keep a handle on your litter, okay?

To the rest of you: get your lead from the sprogs and take full advantage of this socially condoned carte blanche to express who you really are, or to express that part which you keep hidden behind social

politesse. You follow the &ock all year long, why do it on the one day you’re ‘allowed’ to break away? People around the world use Halloween, or All Hallows’ Eve, or Scary Fun-time, as an excuse to play. I am a #rm believer that every day is Halloween, October 31st just proves it.

I hate PeopleBut I love Hallowe’en

MATHIAUS POE

Opinion Column Bureau

The views and opinions expressed here are

barely those of the author and not representa-

tive of the newspaper, its parent company

Planet Publications or its helpless minions.

4 the newspaper October 30 – November 5, 2008

A day after the election, the outrage began. How can a party that most Canadians voted against be a representa-tive Canadian government? The Québécois have an advantage by voting as a geographically con-centrated Bloc; many Canadians support the Green Party but the electoral formula does not! There is only one way to explain how a party with minimal electoral support can win increased parliamentary power: our system is broken.

In this year’s election there were 23,401,064 eligible electors. Of that group, only 13,832,972 voted. 5,205,334 voted for the Conservatives, awarding them 143 seats; 3,629,990 voted Liberal, awarding them 76 seats; and 2,517,075 voted for the NDP, awarding them 37 seats. 1,379,565 voted for the Bloc Québécois, who won 50 seats; 940,747 voted for the Greens, not winning them a single seat; and 89,524 voted for local independent candidates who won in two ridings: in Quebec and Nova Scotia. If you attended elementary math class, you can )gure out that approximately 80% of eligible Canadian voters did not vote for the Conservatives. Many indi-viduals now feel, with good reason, that their votes made no di+erence.

The Canadian Parliament was established in 1867 on the Westmin-ster elected parliamentary system. Rpresentatives of the people united and negotiated a government that would represent the people. Although Members of Parliament disagreed on this issue, parties formed on the basis of shared common goals. Before an election, citizens met with their local candidates, informed them of their issues and voted for the candidate who could best voice their concerns. If, as Canadian citizens, we continue to follow this model of representative election rather than supporting strategic oppos-itional voting for vague political parties, Parliament can continue to function in the interests of peace, order, and good governance.

As it currently stands, a minority gov-ernment can seemingly have its Prime Minister write policy independently, whip his fearful party members into obedience, and threaten the nation’s stability if the other parties in Parliament do not (hastily and blindly) appease his demand for con)dence. This is not a democracy. In fact, it can be argued that Canada operates more as a constitu-tional monarchy. One would expect,that the democratic phenomenon would provide the government with a clear mandate. Apparently not. The cur-rent state of the democratic event sees citizens invest their own people with power as Members of Parliament, al-lowing them the authority to act without

answerability. If an elected member acts irresponsibly or even abusively, citizens are powerless to express dissatisfaction until the next democratic election.

Our government has the potential to be responsible and benevolent, given that the habits of convention are dropped. If party discipline is abandoned, if members of Parlia-ment demonstrate loyalty to their constituencies, it becomes clear that the dissolution of Parliament over a non-con)dence vote is not in the country’s best interests. There is a need for important issues to be discussed thoroughly and negotiated fairly, even if that results in a compromise.

Political parties do not serve Canadian interests by stealing the loyalty of our representatives. Ideally, those that repre-sent Canadians would come together to represent Canadians. If parties became nonexistent the media could only report intelligent and consequential issues.

The political parties created today cause unnecessary divisions while pre-senting the people with presumptuous agendas and pre-packaged platforms rarely agreed upon. Individuals on the other hand, can speak to us directly; they can answer individual questions and address speci)c concerns. The members of Parliament we elect should represent the voters, the people.

Like the millions of Canadians, you have one vote. You can vote for the party of your choice even if minimal chances of being elected are evident. Conversely, you can choose to vote for a party you dislike in a strategic attempt to prevent the election of a party you dislike even more. The problem however, is that countless others may be adopting the very same strategy creating a political climate in which a potentially agreeable party is left without any chance of winning at all. How, then, is it possible to achieve voter satisfac-tion? Vote for the person, not the party.

A month has passed since the former chairman of the American Federal Reserve informed the New York Times he was not to blame for the )nancial crisis. He revoked his statements.

Appointed by Reagan in 1978, Alan Greenspan was a consistent )scal conservative and deregulator. His performance impressed free market capitalists enough to maintain a record-breaking tenure as the Federal Reserve’s chair. However, it was surprisingly noted Greenspan stated “I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interest in organizations, speci)cally banks and others were such as they were best capable of protecting their own share-holders and the equity in their )rms.”

Paul Krugman, recently awarded the economic Nobel prize, constantly criticizes Greenspan’s policies – after all, he did receive his prize for his New Trade Theory, which critiques tenets of laissez-faire capitalism. Kru-gman suggested that Greenspan is

most responsible for the recession. Greenspan’s words a1rm his culp-ability, stating last year that “American consumers might bene)t if lenders provided greater mortgage product alternatives to the traditional )xed-rate mortgage.”

Prominent economist, Joseph Stiglitz holds similar views. Although he gives credit to Greenspan for his “great mo-ments”, including his handling of the 1987 stock market crash and the possible prevention of a global )nancial crisis in 1998, he refused to let Greenspan hide from his mistakes. Stiglitz states that Greenspan “bears heavy responsibility” for the recession today.

Credit is due to Greenspan for admit-ting fault in his legacy including major failures. But does he expect the world to forgive him? It is naïve to think that world markets are independent and impervious to what transpires in the United States.

the news

Richard-Feinnes Clinton encourages his guests to “use your imaginations, these are real stories told by several di+erent people.” Clinton’s company, Muddy York Tours, provides guided walking tours around the city of Toronto and has been conducting ghost tours of the University of Toronto for the past ten years. Every night until Halloween, Clinton is hosting a 90-minute ghost tour of U of T, chronicling all its historic tales of ghost sightings.

On a cold and rainy Monday night, I attended the tour, bringing the group to a total 3 members. As Clinton provided a detailed back-ground of the buildings and the origins of the ghost stories, I was eager to learn about the history of the university and the sorts of awful macabre events have occurred over the past 150 years. I was dis-appointed when only four deathly stories of the U of T campus were told. The rest of the stories were related to the surrounding area, but not directly to the university. I personally do not believe in ghosts or spiritual realms, but I can appre-ciate a convincing story, or at least a frightening one. Unfortunately, I was ultimately disappointed as the tour concluded in Queen’s Park. The stories were few, and I could have read all of them in a small pamphlet. Perhaps I was fazed by the cold or the low attendance, but Clinton was lethargic and seemed

uninterested in being an e+ective and scary storyteller. On the upside, the ghost stories were interesting, and I can now scare little children with tales of murder and suicide.

Depending on the student, the tour can be unnerving and even horrifying. It reminds one that our university has a long and brutal history – as Clinton said when he concluded the tour, “you don’t know what’s beyond the dark.”

U of... BOO!A ghostly walk around campusTHOMAS SACZKOWSKI

University News Bureau

When green goes wrong Greenspan admits faultRAJIN SINGH

International News Bureau

Broken Canadian votesChange the democratic phenomenonLUDWIK ANTONIUK

National News Bureau

the newspaper 5October 30 – November 5, 2008

Canadian Youth Don Halloween Costumes for Meal Exchange’s Trick or Eat Food Drive and Hunger Awareness Campaign

Hundreds of U of T students to par-ticipate in National Campaign to Raise Awareness of Local Hunger

Over 5,000 students from 44 com-munities across Canada will participate in Meal Exchange’s Trick or Eat Campaign this Halloween to help alleviate local hunger. Donning costumes, U of T stu-dents will celebrate by collecting canned food instead of candy.

U of T students will canvass neigh-borhoods around campus, collecting non-perishable food items for donation to the U of T food bank and Scott Mis-sion, in an e"ort to raise awareness of the 2.4 million Canadians su"ering from hunger.

Last year, U of T raised over $5,000 worth of food in one night. Across Canada, Trick or Eat raised over $289,000 worth of food and over $11,000 in online donations. The goal for 2008 is to raise $350,000 worth of food and $20,000 in online donations.

Trick or Eat provides students with the opportunity to creatively and actively engage in &nding solutions to the hunger problem in Canada.

Meal Exchange (www.mealexchange.com) is a national student-founded,

youth-driven, regis-tered charity organ-ized to address local hunger by mobil-izing the talent and pas-sion of students. Since 1993, programmes have been run on over 50 campuses across Canada and have generated over $2 mil-lion dollars worth of food (equivalent to 727,200 meals) to address local hunger.

In addition to food donations, Meal Exchange initiatives educate students and the general populace about the root causes of hunger and foster the develop-ment of leaders who are committed to creating long term solutions for food insecurity in Canada.

For more information or to register for Trick or Eat, please visit

www.trickoreat.com or contact:Pratima Arapakota, Trick or Eat Co-

ordinator at p.arapakota@gmail.com

the newscont’d

www.athabascau.ca/standout

Our city is not exactly bike-friendly. Many of our major streets do not have bike lanes, and drivers tend not to be courteous. Developing a good cycling com-munity requires a large population committed to cycling and the co-operation of the municipality to provide necessary safety measures.

Many citizens of Toronto attempt to raise awareness of these issues by having peaceful gatherings, such as Critical Mass (CM). CM occurs on the last Friday of every month. Cyclists gather together at the intersection of Spadina Avenue and Bloor Street to ride through the city in a leaderless group. To be an e"ective mass, cyclists must oc-casionally go through red lights, which usually results in tra+c being held up brie/y. During the July mass, cyclists entered onto the Gardiner Expressway, exiting at Jameson; this caught the attention of the Toronto Police. In August, no less than 20 police o+cers participated in the mass to monitor safety and prevent a repeat of last month’s dangerous highway detour.

Another month passed, and the last Friday of September meant another

Critical Mass. I cannot remember what had happened during my day, but I know that I showed up at Spadina and Bloor in a disagreeable mood. There were about 250 cyclists this time, and 20 to 30 bike cops to babysit. When we started o", the o+cers immediately began enforcing the law, demanding that no one run red lights. Within 15 minutes the mass had split in two; I stayed in the larger chunk. We turned north onto John Street and came to a full stop at the Chum City intersection. I took this opportunity to go into gra+ti alley and pee down a sewer drain. When I returned, however, there was all sorts of commo-tion. A paddy wagon had pulled into the intersec-tion and the cops were arresting a young cyclist. I asked people what had happened and heard di"erent stories – none of which were reliable. The 100 or so cyclists started chanting, “Let him go!” Obviously, this was useless, and the tickets continued. Most of those

who were out for a good time separated from the group.

About 25 of us kept on riding and decided to go the police station on McCaul Street near Avenue Road. We grouped outside the front doors and demanded the police o+cers to tell us what happened to the man that was ar-rested. In 15 minutes, there were over 30 o+cers guarding the front of the police station. Most of them seemed apathetic; I even saw one o+cer sitting down eating an apple. It was dark, and most of the cyclists looked uncomfortable. An o+cer came out and asked who the leader of the group was. He told us “All we want to do is negotiate.” To me, this sounded like an amazing opportunity – I had never negotiated with the police before! So, I volunteered to go into the station. By this point, there were only &fteen cyclists left outside. I asked the o+cer in charge, “What happened to the guy that your o+cers arrested?” He replied, “This is not really high priority, I don’t know anything, you should just go home.” I told him with a smile, “Use your radio thing and &nd out.” This time, with fervor, he told me, “Tell everyone to leave! But you are free to stay here and wait to hear what happens.” I glanced at the dwindling group outside and shouted sarcastically, “Thanks for your help!” as I stomped out of the station.

This is a prime example of how our city o+cials respond to the concerns of cyclists.

I never found out what happened to the guy that was arrested or what he was arrested for. I am sure I will hear some more about it at the upcoming CM on October 31st. I encourage all Toronto residents to come out and join the Hal-loween mass this Friday – it’ll be a scare. With any luck, we’ll scare some sense into our cycle-phobic city.

Riding the lineOn our city streetsTHOMAS SACZKOWSKI

Community News Bureau

So hungry its scaryYouth dress up for food drivePRATIMA ARAPAKOTA

Community Correspondence Bureau

6 the newspaper October 30 – November 5, 2008

the artsBig comic bangFractal comics come together

SHAUNA C. KEDDY

Graphic Arts Bureau

The !rst Crystal Fractal comic was re-leased this July at the Paradise Toronto Comicon, one of Toronto’s many annual comic book conventions. Crystal Fractal Comics is a comic book publisher and character licensing company. The Convention was a great opportunity for them to market their !rst issue, titled CFU 0.0 (Crystal Fractal Universe, the zero issue). There were actually a number of fans and the comic roused a “little buzz” at the convention.

Founder Derreck S. Lennox explained how Crystal Fractal Universe, the !ctional place that all the comics are based around, was conceptualized. He said that there are two kinds of comic book publishers today: companies like Marvel and DC whose di"erent stories are connected so that their universes “get tighter every day, since it helps them in selling products” and com-panies who have completely unrelated stories and products.

“I thought it would be good for people to have a separate universe to go to than those of Marvel and DC. Crystal Fractal Universe is great because

it has several potential o"-shoots within the universe.”

The idea of a separate universe was thoroughly researched. Along with the !nancial and human resourcing that is needed to establish any business, the company also had to deal with copy-writing, trade-marking and just generally coming up with a business strategy. Lennox explains that “there is a de!nite risk of basing it all o" one idea because people may like it and buy a few, or not like it and buy none. We have launched several products from the di"erent o"-shoots.”

The near future of CFC holds the release of a comic called Magnus Rex. There will be sample pages on their website, www.crystalfractals.com. The comic, written by American Shawn Smith, is described as a battle between Evangelista and Sebastien vs. creatures, monsters and members of the Core.

It’s the building we love or hate. The Royal Ontario Museum’s infamous Bloor Street West addition, the Michael Lee-

Chin Crystal, is polarizing. You think it’s wonderful. Or you think it’s monstrous.

Director Kenton Vaughan’s 90-minute

documentary “The Museum” is about the construction of this new Toronto landmark. It presents a di"erent (and

often hilarious) perspective from that of the casual street observer. In fact, it may just change your mind about the Crystal. The movie accurately portrays the many sides of the ROM story. The !lm fol-lows William Thorsell (Director and CEO of the ROM) in his visionary quest to rejuvenate the ailing institution: enter starchitect Daniel Libeskind. Through the dynamic relationship between these two men, the story of the challenge of building the ROM is told. On the other hand, interviews and commentary from executive directors and senior curators at the museum keep the tale grounded. They remind the viewer that the new addition must be more than “art, ego and steel beams;” it also has a demanding function to ful!ll.

The !lm is a beautiful and energetic tribute to the monumental e"ort of building the ROM. It provides a fourth dimension to the explosive three-dimensional façade: the individuals who were involved. Their e"orts and opin-ions will make you think (or look) twice about the Crystal as you rush past it on your way to school.

Check the !lm’s website, http://www.nfb.ca/webextension/the-museum/ for updates on when the !lm will become available to the public.

ROM debate continuesIn National Film Board’s ‘The Museum’

NATALIE RAE DUBOIS

Graphic Arts Bureau

the newspaper 7October 30 – November 5, 2008

clearer direction by Evan Tsitsias.Tsitsias doesn’t attempt to force a

narrative on Pasek and Paul’s song cycle, but adds subtle moments to each transition, encouraging the audience to draw their own parallels and !esh out an array of possible stories without pinning anything down. The music is infused with all the passion and talent of musical director Reza Jacobs.

The cast is unbelievable. Eric Craig is hysterical in “Pretty Sweet Day” and the spastic “In Short”. He is equally touching in “Part of a Painting.” Gabi Epstein’s voice continually soars, her eyes shine and she displays every bit of the stage presence of Judy Garland. Jordan Bell’s voice is gorgeous, and his nuanced, earnest performance of “I Once Knew” will break your heart. Sara

Farb’s voice is powerful, beautiful and extremely soulful. We will be watching her Tony Award acceptance speech in no time. All four wear their souls on their sleeves and sing every verse with such openness and honesty that their whole-hearted belief in everything they’re saying is crystal clear.

If you have a sister, are addicted to Fa-cebook, admire your mother, have ever gotten drunk, have ever been scared to grow up, or doubted whether you were good enough or worth it, Edges is a show you just can’t a"ord to miss.

Edges plays from October 20th, 2008 to November 10th on Sundays at 7pm and Mondays at 8pm at Revival Bar, 783 College Street (at Shaw). For more information visit

www.edgestoronto.com.

Tony Award winner, Idina Menzel made her Broadway debut as Maureen in the Original Cast of Jonathan Larson’s musical, Rent. She went on to release two solo albums, Still I Can’t Be Still (1998) and Here (2004). In 2003, Menzel performed as Elphaba in Stephen Schwartz’s musical Wicked, for which she won her Tony Award. Following the success of Wicked, Menzel appeared in Michael John LaChiusa’s musical See What I Wanna See, reprised her role as Elphaba in Wicked in London and also repeated the role of Maureen for Chris Columbus’ version of Rent (2006). Her third solo album, I Stand, was released on January 29, 2008. The album debuted at #58 in the Billboard 200, making it her /rst solo album on the charts. Menzel will be performing a one-night only solo concert at the Danforth Music Hall Theatre in Toronto on November 7th, 2008 at 8:00pm. We at the newspaper were granted the privilege of speaking to her last week.

the newspaper: Hi! Thank you so much for

taking out the time to talk to me. You’ve

done a series of touring concerts. What

made you decide to include Toronto in

your tour?

Idina Menzel: (laughs) Well, first of all, I love Toronto. My husband Taye was there filming Kevin Hill and I used to fly in on weekends. It’s a beautiful city. And secondly, so many of my fans in Toronto were writing in saying that they felt left out, and so I felt like I owed it to them to come.

tn: Did you feel inspired by any artists who

wrote their own songs, or were you writing

because you didn’t have anyone to connect

to in that way?

IM: Early on my influences were just great singers - like Aretha Franklin…Billie Holliday and Chaka Kahn, people who didn’t write their own music - but then I started to listen to people like Joni Mitchell

and Annie Lennox…. I don’t know why I started to write… it was just always the way I chose to express myself.

tn: I Stand is doing really well. It must be a

dream come true for you. What’s that like?

IM: I feel really lucky, I have a lot of great people supporting me and this record affords me a lot of opportunities, like I went to the UK to promote the album there. You’ve got to keep moving, that’s what I’m learning, you have to keep doing the work, there’s no finish line. And I get to go on tour, which is the best part for me. I get to connect with fans and I get to rediscover my music. I love the live performance aspect of it. I also like throwing in new songs for the band to learn at sound check, and being able to keep the show fresh, because then the audience feels like they’ve really seen something special.

tn: I’ve heard that you sometimes do

improvised freestyle rap at your concerts.

Can we expect any of that in Toronto?

IM: I haven’t done that in a while! I’ve always been confident in getting a beat and a melody and being able to come up with lyrics on the spot. If I’m feeling courageous on the day, then I’ll do a little flow.

tn: You have performed with some of

the coolest people in American musical

theatre. Kristin Chenoweth, the whole cast

of Rent, Taye [Diggs], Norber [Leo Butz],

is there anyone left who you are dying to

work with?

IM: I would love to work with Patti Lupone. And Bernadette Peters.

tn: How important do you think it is for

theatre to be accessible to young people?

IM: My whole career has been based on shows that younger people can connect with - smart shows that don’t condescend young people and that they can relate to. They are the future of musical theatre, and I am a

huge advocate for that. I’m always trying to find pieces, new material that can be turned into plays. I read a lot of books, and I google (laughs) famous women just looking for ideas for things that can be turned into a play.

tn: Rent just closed on Broadway, and I was

wondering what you think the biggest

legacy it has left behind is.

IM: I think it’s Jonathan Larson and his lyrics “No Day But Today”. He reached out to people who didn’t feel like they belonged and he validated artists. He reminded people

that we can’t take anything for granted, we have to live in the moment.

tn: Thank you so, so much for answering all

those questions.

IM: Thank you. It’s been great talking with you.

For tickets to Idina Menzel’s live con-cert, visit www.ticketmaster.ca.

To read the extended version of this interview visit thenewspaper.ca and look under “web exclusives”.

the artscont’d

Sometimes four chairs, /ve talented artists and a piano are all you need to be genuinely blown away. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s musical, Edges, produced by Acting UpStage Theatre Company proves that you can keep your barricade, cage those cats and forget the chande-lier - you don’t need them to create a powerful musical theatre experience.

Edges speaks poetically and poign-antly to the experience of trying to

connect to our inner selves and to each other in a digital world rooted in super-/cialities.

Cast members Gabi Epstein and U of T student Sara Farb produced a sold-out reading of the show last year with the same cast and creative team. The remount, produced by Mitchell Marcus, has not the same youthful, optimistic energy as the original, but also has a fantastic venue, three new songs and

Theatre on edgeWith a high-calibre cast

AMANDA CAMPBELL

Community Theatre Bureau

Broadway comes our wayExclusive interview with star Idina Menzel

AMANDA CAMPBELL

Muscial Arts Bureau

8 the newspaper October 30 – November 5, 2008

the end

the artscont’d

There was a French landing at famed Spadina Avenue music venue El Mocambo on Friday, October the 17th. Toronto concertgoers were treated to the hip, moody music of Montreal #ve-piece Pas Chic Chic, whose talented orchestral arrangements and alternative pop rock sound kept the crowd bobbing their heads and tapping their feet. The show was one of the few Canadian dates on this short tour, with more shows in Europe (shows in Leeds, London, Ireland and Paris, and a festival in Bel-gium) in a couple months.

Glamorous, sometimes gothic and certainly dramatic, Chic’s music is a “modern take” on French pop from the ‘60s. “Au Contraire,” the band’s debut full length album, took inspiration from various in%uences, being mostly French pop groups of that decade.

Chic opened for fellow Montreal band We Are Wolves, a rock/punk/electronica band made up of vocalist/bassist Alexander Ortiz, drummer/vocalist Antonin Marquis, and keyboard/backing vocalist Vincent Levesque. Imagine a French and possibly more hardcore version of The Faint. Opening for Chic was The Wet Secrets. Complete with marching band uniforms and choreographed dances to songs, Secrets won me over solely by naming their opening song “Grow Your Own Fucking Mustache Asshole.”

While the crowd was drawn to Secrets’ energy, jokes and upbeat stage presence, they backed o& for the more obscure sounds of Chic. Between songs, strange sound e&ects would drift from the stage, creating a distinct atmosphere. Marie Douce St. Jaques, the band’s keyboardist and vocalist, calmly danced when not playing the keyboard, causing the audience to easily bob and drift to the sounds of Chic. During the We Are Wolves set, however, Ortiz got the crowd wild and a giant mosh pit broke out part way through their hour-long set. Ortiz was a stereotypical lead singer and bassist, pulling stage antics that included sliding into the splits while playing his

bass, spitting into the audience and yelling in French between songs, riling up the mem-bers of the crowd who could speak French but only confusing the rest.

Check out a full version of this article at www.thenewspaper.ca, complete with band interview.

For more arts, visit:

www.thenewspaper.caRetro pop oh-so Chicwith some Frenchies and a marching band

SHAUNA C. KEDDY

Local Music Bureau

BY STEPHEN NOTLEY