verb issue s242 (may 31-june 6, 2013)

ARTS CULTURE MUSIC SASKATOON

ISSUE #242 – MAY 31 TO JUNE 6

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E ASTRONAUTALISDOES WHATEVER THE HELL HE WANTS

LONG LIVE AVACAL! The SCA brings history to life

CODE ORANGE KIDS Expansive hardcore from Pennsylvania

AFTER EARTH + THE COMPANY YOU KEEP Films reviewed

PHOTO: COURTESY OF MEGAN THOMPSON

VERBNEWS.COMVERB MAGAZINE CONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS FEATURE FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

2MAY 31 – JUNE 6

LIKE NO OTHER RACE Scott Campbell, and the karting world championships. 4 / LOCAL

LONG LIVE AVACAL! Bringing history to life with the SCA. 6 / LOCAL

PUPPY LOVEOur thoughts on mandatory dog train-ing for dangerous breeds. 8 / EDITORIAL

COMMENTSHere’s what you had to say about abolishing tenure. 10 / COMMENTS

Q + A WITH MARISSA NADLEROn writing life. 12 / Q + A

NIGHTLIFE PHOTOS We visit The Long Branch and Béily’s. 22-25 / NIGHTLIFE

LISTINGSLocal music listings for May 31 through June 8. 18 / LISTINGS

AFTER EARTH +THE COMPANY YOU KEEP 20 / FILM

ON THE BUS Weekly original comic illustrations by Elaine M. Will. 26 / COMICS

CODE ORANGE KIDSExpansive hardcore from Pennsylvania. 13 / ARTS

JUST DELIGHTFUL, DAHLIN’Bon Temps Cafe. 16 / FOOD + DRINK

MUSICBen Caplan, Skeletonwitch + The Kentucky Headhunters 17 / MUSIC

A TRAGEDY OF EPIC PROPORTIONSSaskatoon Opera does Carmen. 13 / ARTS

GAMES + HOROSCOPESCanadian criss-cross puzzle, horoscopes, and Sudoku. 27 / TIMEOUT

CULTURE ENTERTAINMENTNEWS + OPINION

CONTENTSCONTENTS

ON THE COVER: ASTRONAUTALISBreaking all the rules. 14 / FEATURE

PHOTO: COURTESY OF COURTNEY DUDLEY

VERBNEWS.COM@VERBSASKATOON FACEBOOK.COM/VERBSASKATOON

EDITORIALPUBLISHER / PARITY PUBLISHINGEDITOR IN CHIEF / RYAN ALLANMANAGING EDITOR / JESSICA PATRUCCOSTAFF WRITERS / ADAM HAWBOLDT + ALEX J MACPHERSON

ART & PRODUCTIONPRODUCTION LEAD / BRITTNEY GRAHAM DESIGN LEAD / ANDREW YANKOCONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS / PATRICK CARLEY, ADAM HAWBOLDT, ALEX J MACPHERSON + ISHTIAQ OPAL

BUSINESS & OPERATIONSOFFICE MANAGER / STEPHANIE LIPSITACCOUNT MANAGER / NATHAN HOLOWATYSALES MANAGER / VOGESON PALEYFINANCIAL MANAGER / CODY LANG

CONTACTCOMMENTS / [email protected] / 306 881 8372

ADVERTISE / [email protected] / 306 979 2253

DESIGN / [email protected] / 306 979 8474

GENERAL / [email protected] / 306 979 2253

VERBNEWS.COMNEWS + OPINION CONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS FEATURE FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

4MAY 31 – JUNE 6

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE »

PHOTO: COURTESY OF CODY SCHINDEL

LIKE NO OTHER RACE

y breath comes in short, ragged gasps. The muscles in my

arms are on fire. My hands ache from grasping the wheel. I can feel sweat running down my back. The air rushing past my helmet is a muffled counterpoint to the roar of the engine. I clench my teeth and turn into the next corner.

As I sweep past the apex, my wheels running up onto the red and white striped kerb, I loosen my grip and allow the kart to move across the track. Then I press my foot down on the throttle. The kart, which consists of little more than a seat and an engine welded to a tubular frame, hurtles down the straight, the asphalt less than an inch beneath me. I glance at the timer mounted on the steering wheel: one minute and three seconds — almost ten seconds off the pace at the Martensville Speedway. The sweet surge of acceleration reminds me to think about the next corner, a difficult 180-degree bend known as a hairpin.

I brake hard and turn in. Every fibre of my being is screaming that I’ve left it too late, that I’m going too fast, that I’m going to crash. I turn hard and hold on, hoping the little slick tires can find some grip. Driv-ing a racing kart is an astonishing experience — exhilaration and terror bound up with a shot of adrenaline that left me shaky for an hour after-

ward. It is a feeling Scott Campbell knows well.

Campbell, who is 34, has been racing karts for more than two decades. His father was a successful kart driver, and Campbell’s switch from racing BMX bikes to racing karts was inevitable. Then he started to win. “I was kind of at the front of the racing right here in the club right away,” he recalls. “I would even be fast against some of the senior guys when I was a junior. Then we started

doing some of the regional races and I was still winning.”

The best racing drivers are united by their desire to win at all costs, a combination of innate ability and utter ruthlessness that manifests every time they get behind the wheel. Campbell is at a loss to explain where his competitive impulse comes from. “I think it’s really an extension of you,” he says. “You want to strive to be the best at all times. My wife doesn’t like playing board games with me, because I’m so competitive.

It’s just this thing inside me.” This tendency emerged early. Campbell was at or near the front during his first races; he soon became so good that he was forced to seek out competition elsewhere. In 2003, he qualified for the Rotax Max Grand Final, the world championships for karts carrying Rotax Max engines — two-stroke motors capable of carrying the fragile contraptions well past 120 km/h.

Because all karts in the Rotax Max Grand Final use the same chassis and

engine, raw ability is the only thing that matters. More than 15,000 racers around the world attempt to qualify; fewer than 300 make the cut. “It was a little hectic,” Campbell says of his first attempt at qualifying, in 2002. His dreams were shattered when a racing incident left him struggling for pace near the back of the pack. He never had a chance, and left dejected — but determined to improve. In 2003, the qualifying sessions started badly and got worse. In the pre-final, which determines the starting grid for the

M

Scott Campbell’s journey to the karting world championships BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

…I’d never had that emotion, the feeling of winning something like it.

SCOTT CAMPBELL

SPICY BITE

LOCAL

@VERBSASKATOON NEWS + OPINIONCONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS FEATURE FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

5MAY 31 – JUNE 6

@VerbSaskatoon

[email protected]

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

final, Campbell was leading when his kart made contact with debris from an accident. “I hit it and spun out, off the track. The second-place guy hit the same thing, and he spun out and hit me. It blew my chain off, bent my rad, and I was done. I was just crushed.”

This incident forced Campbell to start from the back row of the grid. When the green flag dropped there were more than 30 karts arrayed in front of him, all piloted by driv-ers hungry for success. He put his head down and drove the race of a lifetime. “I drove all the way up to second place,” he says, a smile cross-ing his face. But his ordeal was far from over. A controversial penalty, for an incident behind him, cost Campbell a spot. He finished third, just outside the qualifying line. Once again, he drove back to Saskatch-ewan brimming with frustration and disappointment. “But then,” he says, “a month and a half later, the guy who ended up winning withdrew his spot because he couldn’t get a passport. And I was able to go to the world championships.”

Campbell’s first trip to the Grand Final, held at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, was an eye-opening experi-ence. Karting has for years been dominated by Europeans. They start driving early, and the best drivers go on to race in Formula One. “When you’re here and you’re the best in your country you think you’re going to be really fast,” Campbell says. “I went there and learned so much, even after I’d

raced for so long.” Campbell quali-fied forty-first.

Between 2003 and 2009, Scott Campbell raced at the Grand Final, which is held in a different country each year. In 2010, at Muro Leccese in Italy, something astonishing hap-pened. “I qualified on pole, I knew I was going to be quick,” Campbell recalls. “It was close. I had two guys right on my butt in that final, and it was all about protection — try not to let them pass me, don’t let them pass me.” As the karts screamed into the final corner Campbell knew he was going to win. The surge of emotion that accompanied the chequered flag was overwhelming. “When you come across that line, the emotion — I’d never had that emotion, the feeling of winning something like it.”

To experience the sensation of driving at high speed around a rac-ing circuit, I borrowed a kart from Ty Campbell, who last year won the Briggs and Stratton Senior Four-Stroke Division. He was just 16 years old. After a short briefing, I struggled into a borrowed racing suit, strapped on a helmet, and followed Ty out of the pits. The kart made a big impression, and so did the young driver in front of me. My reaction times were sluggish. The sheer force needed to drive through the bends left me drenched in sweat and gasping for air. I drove as hard as I felt I could — and couldn’t keep up. But the thrill was immeasurable.

“If you’re not having fun, it’s not really worth it,” Scott Campbell told me when I drove back into the pits

after what felt like several hours of pushing my body and mind to the absolute limit. “That’s one of the things about racing go-karts: you want to make sure you’re having fun at all times.” He ought to know. In a career spanning many hundreds of races, at his home track in Martens-ville and abroad, Scott Campbell has reached the pinnacle of the sport. In Martensville, home of the Saskatoon Kart Racers Association, he is some-thing of a hero. Children entering the sport, many of whom are still in elementary school, admire him. Campbell, who will make what he expects to be his last appearance at the Grand Final later this year, is happy to help.

“I try to now help out anybody that needs it, because I’ve experi-enced it all around the world,” he says, pointing out that karting is a relatively inexpensive community-based sport, where teams often include members of several genera-tions. “Now, I just want to help out, do as much as I can to try and give someone else that opportunity. One of my ultimate goals would be if we had someone else on our team to go [to the world championships], just to have that experience. It’s like no other race you’ve ever been in.”


6MAY 31 – JUNE 6


PHOTO: COURTESY OF ADAM HAWBOLDT / VERB MAGAZINE

wo Viking warriors stand on a grassy knoll, poised for

combat. Dressed in gambesons and tunics, wearing metal Viking helmets and leather armour, they hold their swords and shields at the ready. Behind them the sun is setting. A heavy silence hangs in the air.

The shorter of the two, Eirikr of the Wood, grips his shield tight, and

assumes his fighting stance. At first, he moves stealthily towards his op-ponent. Feints. Withdraws. And then, bang! The silence is broken when Eirikr brings his sword crashing down onto his opponent’s shield. It’s not a real sword, mind you. It’s made from a bamboo-like stick called rattan that’s splinter-resistant. But when it hits the shield with ungodly, violent force, the unnatural sounds of war echo down the grassy knoll into the field below.

But this isn’t real war. It’s not even real combat, for that

matter. It’s heavy weapon practice for the Viking warriors of the Barony of Myrgan Woods. And Eirikr of the Wood? He’s not a real Viking. No, for most of the week he’s a student and caring father named Chris Scheirer. But for a few hours every Wednes-day evening, either in the gym at St. Martin’s Church or in the field next to it, Scheirer meets up with his Society

T

LONG LIVE AVACAL!The Society for Creative Anachronism brings history to life BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

HONOR FIGHT PROMOTIONS

LOCALLOCAL

/VERBSASKATOON NEWS + OPINIONCONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS FEATURE FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

7MAY 31 – JUNE 6

…it’s not just about fighting. It’s about recreating history.

CHRIS SCHEIRER


@VerbSaskatoon

[email protected]


for Creative Anachronism pals, dons his Viking garb and sharpens his fighting skills, honing them for battle.

Founded in 1966 in Berkeley, Califor-nia, the Society for Creative Anach-ronism is a living history group dedi-cated to studying and recreating life in the Medieval Ages — the operative word here being history.

“When you look at something like LARP [live action role playing], it can be history-based,” explains Scheirer, “But there’s also fantasy and crime and drama and stuff they do. At SCA, it’s strictly history-based. We don’t

recreate specific battles of instances from history, but we recreate the way life was back then.”

The way SCA works is this: the entire realm is known as the “Knowne World,” which consists of 19 kingdoms and more than 30,000 members worldwide. These king-doms (ruled by kings, naturally) are broken up into principalities which, in turn, are divided into baronies and shires. Here in Saskatchewan we have the Barony of Mygran Wood (Saskatoon), the Shire of Sigelhundas (Regina) and the Shire of Valley Wold (Moose Jaw), all of which are in the Principality of Avacal, which is part of the Kingdom of An Tir, ruled by King UlfR and Queen Caoimhe.

Every year, warriors from the bar-onies and shires of Avacal (which spans from Saskatchewan to B.C.) meet at Quad War to engage in field battles and castle sieges, as well as heavy weapon, rapier and archery tournaments.

But don’t be mistaken. The SCA isn’t just a bunch of macho history buffs getting together to clobber each other with rattan weapons.

“Yeah, you have all the weap-ons tournaments and battles,” says Scheirer, “but it’s not just about fight-ing. It’s about recreating history. There are arts and science tournaments. We’re recreating the coin-making of

the day, the sewing, the candle mak-ing, the calligraphy, banner making, heraldry, the music. There’s also a feast and court — where the nobility will conduct court business.”

Lasting four or five days, Quad War (and other events of its nature) allows participants to wade back through the sands of time and get a serious sense of what life in the Medieval Ages was like. A life full of honour and integrity and courage. A life of arts, sciences, feasts and war.

Back on the grassy knoll in Mygran Wood, Eirikr of the Wood (aka Chris

Scheirer) circles his practice part-ner. He uses his shield to parry his opponent’s attack, slides to the side and swings his sword, hard and fast, at his opponent’s shield arm.

“It’s all about angles,” says Grimolfr Grjotgardsson, Baron of Mygran Wood, who is watching the evening’s action. “You always keep your eyes front to the target.”

Eyes fixed on his opponent, not where he’s aiming, Eirikr’s blow lands flush on the other person’s arm. And instinctively, nay, hon-ourably, his opponent puts his arm behind his back and continues the fight one-handed.

And that’s how SCA fighting works. It’s not just pummel or be pummeled into bloodied submis-sion. There are rules and honour governing combat. If you’re hit on the arm, you tuck it behind your back and fight on. If you’re struck a blow to the leg, you drop to your knee and continue the battle until a “fatal” blow to the head or torso puts an end to matters.

Nothing in SCA combat is choreo-graphed, though. Everything is done with speed and force, precision and instinct. Which, like every other full-contact sport out there, can lead natu-rally to injuries, like broken hands, split fingers, bruises on random parts

of your body. But for the most part, SCA weapons warfare is regulated for safety and fair play. “It’s also a good way to let off some steam,” mentions Scheirer, after his sparring session.

What he doesn’t mention is that SCA fighting, nay, the entire SCA experience, is also a good way to

escape the hubbub of everyday life, to embrace the idealism — the sense of honour, integrity and courtesy inherent in the Medieval Ages— that has a hard time exist-ing in the modern condition. Chris Scheirer doesn’t mention any of this — but he knows.


8MAY 31 – JUNE 6

PHOTO: COURTESY OF NICOLE HOLLENSTEIN

PUPPY LOVE

N

Owners of statistically more dangerous dogs should take mandatory training courses

ot so very long ago, while getting out of a taxi late one evening,

one of our staffers saw a Rottwei-ler roaming the street near his house. When it saw our staff mem-ber exit the cab the dog lowered its head, began salivating, and charged.

After a short run down the block and some quick intervention by the cabbie our employee escaped unscathed, but the incident inspired heated debate around our non-exis-tent water cooler. And the verdict we came to was that something should probably be done about so-called “dangerous dogs” — or rather, with their owners. You see, currently in Saskatchewan nearly all municipali-ties have the ability to pass bylaws to regulate or prohibit certain classes of animals within the municipality. But we feel laws like this are ineffective, impinge upon our freedom, and don’t address the root of the problem: ir-responsible dog owners.

Our spooked staffer aside, dogs can cause real trauma. In March, an eight-year-old child was attacked on a property near Indian Head. In

2012, two children were attacked at a park in Regina. And two years ago, a three-year-old girl was killed during a dog attack south of the Battlefords.

So let’s approach the situation from a sensible angle. Dogs who attack cannot be solely blamed for their behaviour, even if they belong to a breed that many would deem “dangerous.” There are simply too many factors that impact these incidents, everything from hered-ity, early experience, socialization, training, health and victim behav-iour, that need to also be considered.

After all, for every animal you hear labelled “dangerous,” there are countless loving and well-behaved members of the same breed. So instead of supporting a knee-jerk “ban all dogs” approach, we propose

a more nuanced plan that focuses on education.

If you consider the stats for dog attacks in the U.S. and Canada between 1982 and 2012, you’ll notice something obvious: the top two breeds on the list represent substantially more incidents than the rest. According to the editor of Animal People, the top two types of purebred dogs responsible for the most deaths and/or maimings dur-ing those two decades were Pit Bull Terrier (1,306 incidents: 204 deaths, 1,102 maimings) and Rottweiler (346

incidents: 78, 268). Given that the next six dogs on the top ten list are only responsible for 329 incidents, combined, and that all other breeds caused deaths in the low single digits, it’s clear that better educat-


EDITORIAL

And that’s the important thing to remember: the onus is on the owner.

VERB MAGAZINE

PHOTO: COURTESY OF TOM PROKOP

@VerbSaskatoon

[email protected]


NEWS + OPINION

9MAY 31 – JUNE 6

CONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS FEATURE FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

ing owners of Pit Bull Terriers and Rottweilers would have by far the largest impact on public safety.

So we suggest that prospective owners of those breeds be required to take a course in basic dog rearing and safety, and then be able to pass a test on responsible dog ownership before being allowed to adopt a new companion. After all, in the wrong hands some dogs have a much higher potential to become dangerous weapons than others.

Society already regulates other potential dangerous weapons in the same fashion, based upon the likelihood that people may be hurt. For example, if you want to purchase a gun, you must first pass a course in basic training and safety. And if it’s a type of gun that statistically causes more deaths or could more easily lead to greater mayhem if used improperly (think easily concealable handguns), there are additional regu-lations with which you must comply, such as extra training, limitations on where and how you can transport and use it, etc.

If guns are too sinister a com-parison for you, think about motor vehicles. No one would argue that vehicles are inherently “bad” or destructive, but to suggest that we should then allow anyone to purchase and operate a motor vehicle without any sort of train-ing or certification is ludicrous. And again in the case of vehicles, if you want to operate one that could cause more problems in the hands of the inexperienced, such as a big rig or a powerboat, you need to take additional training courses and achieve extra certification, at your own expense.

Now this may sound like we’re in favour of eventually requiring training and licensing for owners of all dog breeds, but since our chief concern here is safety, we’re not advocating that. After all, it’s hard to argue that owning a small, relatively weak animal like a Chihuahua is as dangerous as driving a small car without doing driver’s ed or using a long gun without having taken a basic firearms safety course. So

generally we think the system of dog ownership is fine as it is. It’s only owners of the dog equivalents of handguns and big rigs that we’re concerned with.

And that’s the important thing to remember: the onus is on the owner. If you want to own a type of animal that has been known to hurt and kill people, then you must be able to prove that you can do so responsibly — anything less could lead to trouble and is a grave dis-service to the dog.

Owning a dog is a privilege, not a right. It’s time we started treating it as such.

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


10MAY 31 – JUNE 6

COMMENTS

Text your thoughts to881 VERB

8372

ON TOPIC: Last week we asked what you thought about abolishing tenure. Here's what you had to say:


– Tenure is a contractual agree-ment between the university and professors. You cannot just arbitrarily get rid of it. Would you support firing senior union mem-bers because they are no longer as productive? And junior academ-ics are more likely to go for jobs at universities with tenure than without. You also ignored research, which is a significant part of get-ting tenured. Professors do a lot more than teach.

– It would be a good idea to abolish tenure(lifetime appointments) for university professors. No job is safe these days & theirs shouldn’t be any different. They would be kept on their toes more & perhaps they wouldn’t slack off & be com-placent as much. :0

– Agree to an extent about swap-ping out tenure with a shorter term, performance based contract. A nurse wouldn’t allowed to keep treating patients if they aren’t doing there job properly just be-cause they have a contract for job security, etc.

– Your article is ill-informed journalism. Tenure for academics is the same as a permanent job for any other worker. Thus, an academic may be dismissed for cause or laid off because of re-dundancy. Academics have very long probation, usually around 6 years, unlike the few months probation for other workers, and performance is assessed regularly for promotion and merit. You are conflating tenure and academic freedom, which allows academ-ics to challenge the orthodoxy of their disciplines and university administration. That is different

from tenure which simply means a permanent job. Your proposal for renewable contracts would make it much more difficult for univer-sities to attract and retain high quality professors. Your proposal would therefore jeopardize, not improve, the quality of education. Tim Quigley Professor Emeritus of Law University of Saskatchewan

– Interesting argument for ab-solving tenure though not revo-lutionary; it has been discussed quite a bit in the past. Bet you’ll get hate mail! If I was a prof I wouldn’t like it.

OFF TOPIC

– Just read your story on sex addiction. Its good to see tough subjects out there and it most likely will help someone else with this addiction. The person was very courageous to let his story out and I pray he keeps on the healthy path.

In response to “Might as well face it, you’re

addicted to sex,” Local #240 (May 17, 2013)

– Really enjoyed stephanie pool-ers ideas and outlook on anar-chism. we need more people like HER in this world.

In response to “Anarchy in the SK,” Local

#241 (May 24, 2013)

– Stephanie Pooler is a thought-ful, well spoken woman and I thoroughly enjoyed reading her interpretation of anarchy. Really opened my eyes up to something I didn’t know about before good job Stephanie!


#241 (May 24, 2013)

/VERBSASKATOON NEWS + OPINIONCONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS FEATURE FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

11MAY 31 – JUNE 6

POWERED BY THE CREW AT MOGA MOBILE

– Just like any political party/belief system/ way of thinking, there’s many factions within an umbrella group. Not what I was expecting when reading about anarchy, and was pleasantly surprised.


#241 (May 24, 2013

SOUND OFF

– Instead of removing the streets cape downtown at 22nd & 2nd to prevent inappropriate behaviour, why doesn’t the city install a camera? Kids won’t want to hang out there if they know they’re being watched.

– Thanks to the Saskatoon Blades for a good hockey season, and a good try in the 2013 memorial cup, but something needs to be done in changing what’s ever wrong with blades, from top to down weather it’s new GMs and Coaches, scouts, trainers attitudes need to change we don’t want average we want winners, who hunger to be the best, and want championships.

– Is Saskatoon a sports town, we have had 2 hockey tournaments at CUC this past year the 2013 Univer-sity Cu and now The 2013 Memorial Cup there’s more empty blue seats is the market to small, is it poor marketing I know lots of people who didn’t even know the tournaments are on, I keep hearing Saskatoon wants a CFL or NHL team how are we going to convince people when we can’t fill CUC to watch fine good Jr hockey for the University and now the Memorial Cup.

– I used to believe different but 55 yrs on this planet has shown that except for rare exceptions most humans are stupid dark selfish little things, barely more than

animals. And its not a lack of ca-pacity to be something more. Its a choice people make because rising above the animal takes effort!

– History tells us that we have always killed each other. Zombie cults recreate the very real fear that millions of us have experienced and continue to experience.

– Booze allowed in theaters? Might cause troubles with drunks but at $23 a ticket might attract a higher class of drinkers only time will tell.

– The guy who perdicted that the Blades wouldn’t make the playoff got it right go cry somewhere else you bunch of sissy choke artists!

– BOOZE AT THE THEATER? WOOHOO

– WTF? No more contests in the Verb? That’s what made it differant from the Metro I think I’ll be read-ing Metro now it has new papers every day.

– A winner never quits and a quit-ter never wins.

– ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT AH-HHHHHHHHHHH!!!

– LOL! Remembering Roy Ro-manow’s the poor must wait doctrine. Now the NDP must wait! (likely a decade or more)

– Splashing yourself in the face while going at a urinal is DOWNtown!

– A Man A Plan A Canal Panama

NEXT WEEK: What do you think of implement-ing mandatory training for owners of dangerous dogs? Pick up a copy of Verb to get in on the con-versation:

We print your texts verbatim each week. Text in your thoughts and reactions to our stories and content, or anything else on your mind.

VERBNEWS.COMCULTURE CONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS FEATURE FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

Q + A

12MAY 31 – JUNE 6

MARISSA NADLER

I

Boston songstress on life, writing, and writing about lifeBY ALEX J MACPHERSON

PHOTO: COURTESY OF COURTNEY BROOKE HALL

In the past it was really easy to live a self-destructive life, and then write about it.

MARISSA NADLER

t is both natural and wrong to think of Ma-rissa Nadler as some

otherworldly being, an ethereal songstress deposited on earth to transport audiences with haunt-ing melodies and stark imagery. The songs on her last two records, 2011’s Marissa Nadler and 2012’s The Sister, both of which were released on her own Box of Cedar label, reinforce these notions with a heart-wrenching mixture of American gothic themes and spartan instrumentation. Both records are as much about creat-ing a mood as collecting good songs under a readily-identifiable banner. But Nadler, who is based in Boston, is a smart and engaging conversationalist — nothing like the wistful image created by the repeated listens her albums de-mand. I caught up with Nadler to talk about The Sister, writing good songs, and the perils of mining life for inspiration.

Alex J MacPherson: The Sister has been described as a companion, or a sequel, to your last full-length album. What does that mean, exactly?

Marissa Nadler: The Sister, to me, was really what I consider an EP. Maybe because I put it out myself I

wasn’t clear enough, but it wasn’t in my mind a full-length record. A lot of the songs were recorded in the same studio, in the same session, as the self-titled record. I kind of separated

them stylistically. This is the more sparse companion.

AJM: One thing that stands out about The Sister, as well as the self-titled record, is the degree to which it sucks you in. Transported is a good word. Is that a quality you’re actively looking for in your songwriting?

MN: No. I mean, I don’t think about what other people will feel when they listen to the songs. Ever. I guess my main goal is just to write a good song, and try to make the melody be catchy and timeless. Those are my guidelines for myself: is this acces-sible to the masses? Is this accessible beyond my genre? In terms of the transportive quality, the ethereal atmosphere that sucks you in, I guess that’s just a byproduct of my chosen stylistic production.

AJM: The other thing that struck me was that The Sister is not nearly as devastatingly sad as most of your other albums.

MN: It was definitely a record that was written when I was in a relationship, versus when I wasn’t. So it was drawing from different in-spirations. There are certain songs

I’m really proud of on that EP, and certain ones that I’m not, but I think I feel that way about every record. I think it’s a good thing to be self-critical. It keeps you on your toes.

AJM: Are you hard on yourself when you put out a record?

MN: Yes. I think that some people, looking at a picture of me or listen-ing to my music would think I was just this floaty, ethereal person. But I’m just so far from that it’s not even funny. I think I make this music as a form of medication for myself; it’s one of the only things that soothes my racing thoughts, is to make this trance-y music. I’m a neurotic over-achiever, where nothing’s ever up to par. But I’m working on that.

AJM: You mentioned the idea of mak-ing music as medication. Do you write these devastating songs so you don’t have to live them?

MN: I actually did live those things when I was younger. Right now, I’m going through this process where it’s like my life is more stable now, and I’m not in turmoil — so now where do I write from? In the past it was

really easy to live a self-destructive life, and then write about it. It was this negative feedback loop: really great inspiration but really bad for me. Now that I’m a little older, and I’d like to live until I’m old, I’m not romanticizing an early demise any-more, like I was when I was a stupid teenager. I think I’m trying to do what you said, write so I don’t have to live these things.

Marissa Nadler 15 June @ Refinery$15 (door) or free with MoSoFest Priority Pass

@VerbSaskatoon

[email protected]


@VERBSASKATOON CULTURECONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS FEATURE FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

ARTS

13MAY 31 – JUNE 6

I

C

A TRAGEDY OF EPIC PROPORTIONS Saskatoon Opera brings Carmen to the main stage BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

t is apparent from the first bars of Love Is Love / Return To

Dust that Code Orange Kids, a hard-core band from Pittsburgh, Penn-sylvania, have accomplished more in a few years than many bands will in a lifetime. The first track on the band’s 2012 full-length debut, “Flowermouth (The Leech),” is an assault on the senses, a high-octane romp through the underground his-tory of hardcore music.

But Love Is Love is also an expres-sion of everything Code Orange Kids stand for, the most important of which is a desire to make the music they love. “We don’t have to answer to anything or anybody, so why would we?” says Jami Morgan, who has played drums in the band since its formation in 2008, when its members were 13 and 14 years old. “If people don’t [like it], then whatever. We’re still going to do it. It doesn’t change anything.”

Code Orange Kids grew up free from the restrictions of genre and the tyranny of style because the band was

born from the adolescent urge to play music. “We didn’t know anything,” Morgan says of the band’s formation. “We were literally like 13 years old, and we just wanted to play punk rock. Then we started getting into hardcore and metal — extreme music. And so it shaped itself that way.”

Love Is Love is at its heart an expression of this ideal. Although it is a hardcore album, the band has no trouble bringing elements of shoegaze and psych-rock into the mix. “Col-ors (Into Nothing)” features a pair of reverb-drenched guitar parts. “Calm/Breathe” casts a harmonic-laden guitar part against an atmospheric backdrop — another sharp reminder that Code

Orange Kids can find purchase outside the borders of hardcore.

But the bulk of the album is fast and aggressive. “Bloom (Return To Dust)” is a reminder of just how heavy guitars and vocals can be. It may be their first full-length record, but Love Is Love is proof that Code Orange Kids can write a coherent record — virtually every lyric deals with the struggle to reconcile human action with the un-fathomable dimension of the universe — while pushing the music they love into fresh new territory.

Code Orange Kids @ MoSoFestJune 15 @ Rock Bottom$10 (door) or free with MoSoFest Priority Pass

@VerbSaskatoon

[email protected]

`Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

armen was first performed on March 3, 1875, in Paris.

A story of love and seduction, jealousy and violence, the opera by Georges Bizet has been performed countless thousands of times since its premiere. Alicia Woynarski, who is preparing to sing Mercédès in the Saskatoon Opera’s upcoming production of the Spanish-themed classic, attributes its longevity to Bizet’s penchant for universal themes and timeless melodies.

“The story is so universal,” the Re-gina-based mezzo-soprano explains. “There are so many themes that are pertinent to everyday life: sexuality,

morality, power, jealousy, loyalty, destiny, freedom. All things that can be put in any time period.” Like all good stories, Carmen explores ideas common to everyone. But to keep the presentation fresh, the Saskatoon Opera has recast it in the 1930s.

Carmen, which was originally set in the Seville of the 1820s, tells the story of Don José, a credulous young dragoon who abandons the love of his life for Carmen, a seductive gypsy girl. Trouble brews when Carmen jettisons Don José for a glamorous toreador named Escamillo. The opera unfolds into a tragedy of epic propor-tions — a tale of romantic depravity

and lawlessness in a world where love is meaning and power and life.

According to Woynarski, shifting the opera forward more than a century will change very little, apart from Escamillo being transformed from a matador into a rodeo star. The score, which is the sort of score that most people recognize even if they can’t place it, will remain unchanged. And even though the libretto is written in Spanish, Woynarski says everybody will be able to understand the action.

“It’s probably one of the sexiest operas out there,” she says. “And just listening to the music, you definitely get a sense of the emotions — the

main characters fighting and loving. The music is up and down emotion-ally, as Carmen’s character is dealing with her love and sexuality and want-ing to be free.”

Woynarski has previously tackled the role of Carmen, but she is happy to be singing the part of Mercédès, one of the fiery girl’s friends and confidants. “I can just relate to her so much,” she says. “We’ve all been there, we’ve all had friends doing things that are ques-tionable — and you just want to stand by them and make sure they’re making the right choices.”

The characters in Carmen do not make the right choices. But their

tragic flaws do not diminish Woynar-ski’s contribution to the production — which is both a chance to perpetu-ate a classic and an opportunity to in-troduce a new generation of listeners to the wonders of opera.

Carmen (Saskatoon Opera)June 15, 18, 20, 22 @ Remai Arts Centre$30+ @ Persephone Box Office

CODE ORANGE KIDS Expansive hardcore from the heart of Pennsylvania BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

PHOTO: COURTESY OF CODE ORANGE KIDS’ FACEBOOK

ARTS


14MAY 31 – JUNE 6


ndy Bothwell is a genuine innovator in an industry saturated

with forgettable clichés and tired banalities. But Bothwell, who performs as Astronautalis, does not seem particularly inserted in prog-ress for the sake of progress. He just wants to make music that thrills and inspires him — and in a career spanning more than a decade, that is exactly what he has done.

“I make whatever the hell I want,” Bothwell says from a tour stop in Germany, his languid drawl cutting through a bad Skype connection. “That’s sort of an oversimplification. But when you feel your inspiration pull you one way, you go that way. You make a record that inspires you, a record that thrills you. When you have an idea, you chase it down. That’s all there is to it.”

Bothwell, who is 31, has been on the cutting edge of rap music since

the early part of the last decade. After emerging from Jacksonville, Florida, he set about impressing fans and critics with his distinctive brand of genre-bending rap. His first album,You and Yer Good Ideas, was released in 2003; each of his subsequent records, includ-ing 2011’s This Is Our Science, has

upped the ante significantly. Because Bothwell was trained in

theatre, and not in music, he subscribes to few rules or conventions. Instead, he operates like a sponge, soaking up ideas and imprinting them with

his own distinctive stamp. And his entrance into the world of rap music could not have come at a better time. Unlike rock and pop, the structures of which were established in the 1960s, rap has not yet been hardened by time and experience. When Bothwell start-ed making music, white performers

like the Beastie Boys were a novelty, and the idea of making a career out of music “seemed audacious and impos-sible.” Today, rap offers something for everybody. The tension created by outsiders has given way to a sense of

WHATEVER THE HELL I WANT

I think that the wave of exciting … creativity that’s going on in rap music is not exclusive to rap music at all.

ANDY BOTHWELL

PHOTO: COURTESY OF JAMIE LYN

No rules, no boundaries for genre-bending rapper Astronautalis BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

FEATURE

/VERBSASKATOON CULTURE

15MAY 31 – JUNE 6

@VerbSaskatoon

[email protected]


limitless possibility, a tantalizing idea that the absence of rules will keep the music flowing. “I think rap music is at one of its most thrilling points right now,” he says. “It’s really just becoming excitingly stratified, and there’s some rap music for everybody.”

This Is Our Science, his latest record, captures the spirit of this evolution. Bothwell considers himself a rapper, and most of the songs on the record are anchored by his glassy delivery and penchant for percussive phrases. But his choice of unconventional musi-cal backdrops shows that his vision is broader than any one genre or style. “Contrails,” a collaboration with Tegan Quin of the rock band Tegan and Sara, hints at the spiky architecture of electronic music in the 1990s before settling into a comfortable groove — a pair of arpeggiated guitar licks cast against an airy synthesizer line. (Both-well’s collaborations, like his albums, transcend genre; he says he wants to cut a track with Dr. John.)

In some respects, “Contrails” is closer to indie rock than rap. Both-well’s dense verses are punctuated by a simple chorus, repeated several times, which accentuates the tension between his drawl and Quin’s airy alto. It’s the same story on “Thomas Jefferson,” which juxtaposes sparse verses with a half-sung shoegaze cho-rus that soars higher than anything he has ever released. “The River, the Woods,” sounds like a straightfor-ward rap song — until Bothwell’s perspective, which feels like an ode to Fitzgerald’s “fresh, green breast of the new world,” reveals a depth absent from most contemporary rap.

Many artists claim to bend genres and fuse styles. More often than not,

this is what happens when a pair of similar ideas run together. Bothwell’s music is much more sophisticated. By exploring the tension between poles, he paves the way for a musical vision that transcends the borders of genre,

style, and form. This Is Our Science is music in motion, the manifestation of raw creativity in a world without rules.

This freedom is the essence of Bothwell’s project. “I think that the wave of exciting innovation and creativity that’s going on in rap music is not exclusive to rap music at all,” he explains, pointing to the revolution in technology that has made the tools of creation accessible to anybody with a few hundred dollars and a good idea. “I think it’s happening in all music, in all creative mediums. If you have an idea that’s good enough and a work ethic that’s hard enough to support it, then you’ll be able to do something exciting — something that is unique and targets an audience you wouldn’t normally be able to target [like] ten years ago.”

Innovation is often misunderstood. Artists who break new ground are seen as outsiders, doomed to exist on the fringes until the rest of society catches up. Bothwell has skirted this trap by writing lyrics that are acces-sible and relatable. Many of his songs address the problems of modernity in terms that appeal to our most basic impulses — greed and empathy, self-preservation and compassion, equality and progress. His lyrics frequently explore the moments of rupture, the seconds before and after tranquility is shattered by violence and chaos — and the seconds when decisions have to be made. Bothwell takes time to write about people dangling from the fray-ing thread of existence, people on the edges of oblivion, but he does not see himself as a political agent.

“I don’t know if I really feel myself taking on that sort of responsibility,” he says after a pause. “I don’t see myself as a voice for the voiceless. I see myself as a voice for my voice, and my inter-ests tend to cover a pretty wide berth and go in all different directions, and a lot of times I pick up some hitchhikers along the way. But I don’t see myself as a Woody Guthrie.” Instead, Bothwell writes about things that interest him: travel, art, politics, history, science, and above all, change. His relentless tour schedule opens him up to countless new experiences, and he enjoys his status as an observer. “I write about what’s exciting,” he says. “Sometimes that excitement comes from other peo-ple’s lives, sometimes it comes from my life, sometimes it comes from history, sometimes it comes from other science,

other art. It’s more or less just writing the songs that thrill me, that inspire me, and that’s the only way I know.”

Bothwell’s reluctance to be identi-fied as a political actor, despite the fact that his songs are laden with political and social commentary, stems from his aversion to telling people what to do. This Is Our Science is appealing because it leaves the difficult deci-sions to the listener; Bothwell merely lays out the facts. “I really try to avoid writing songs that tell people what to do,” he says. “I find most of those songs stupid. I think that they’re very naïve and I think that they’re very arrogant. I’d rather just show people a picture and let them decide what they should do with it.”

This Is Our Science is two years old. Bothwell says a follow-up is in produc-tion, but he won’t give too much away. “I’m writing not necessarily a strictly journalistic approach, but thinking more like a reporter from the front lines of the rest of the world,” he says. “I’m

particularly fascinated with places that are sort of in transition, places that are teetering on the edge of success or fail-ure. It’s an interesting time to be alive and it’s an interesting time to see these parts of the world, and I get a lot of in-spiration from these places — and that’s what I’m generally writing about.”

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what he writes about. Bothwell will continue to do whatever the hell he wants. Music will change and evolve. And so will Astronautalis.

Astronautalis @ MoSoFestJune 15 @ Amigos Cantina$15 (door) or free with MoSoFest Priority Pass

PHOTO: COURTESY OF MICHAEL SPEAR HAWKINS

CONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS FEATURE FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT


16MAY 31 – JUNE 6

FOOD + DRINK

JUST DELIGHTFUL, DAWLIN’

LET’S GO DRINKIN’ VERB’S MIXOLOGY GUIDE

PIMM’S CUP

This gin-based concoction is the perfect summer drink if you want to get refreshed while not getting trashed. With a low alcohol content (25 per-cent), it’s the kind of cocktail you can drink all afternoon on a hot weekend. Or nearly all afternoon — they do eventu-ally creep up on you.

INGREDIENTS

1/2-inch thick English cucumber wheel1/2-inch thick lemon wheel 2 ounces Pimm’s No. 1 4 ounces 7-Up, lemon-lime soda, or ginger alelemon twist

DIRECTIONS

Muddle the cucumber and lemon slices in a tall cocktail glass. Combine Pimm’s and 7-Up (or any other lemon-lime soda) in a shaker filled with ice. Shake well. Pour the combination into cocktail glass. Add ice, garnish with a lemon twist and serve.

A

Bon Temps Cafe blends Bourbon Street cool with crazy-good Cajun taste BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

Photo courtesy of Adam Hawboldt

@VerbSaskatoon

[email protected]


ny time you find yourself peeing into an alligator urinal you

know you’re in a special place. Sorry for putting that image in your head, but the bathrooms at the newly opened Bon Temps Cafe are too hip and trendy for me to ignore. Seriously, I kid you not. From the snazzy gator urinals to the funky mirrors and wild murals (especially the one covering the ladies’ room), the whiz palaces at the Bon Temps Cafe may very well be the cool-est in the city.

Same goes for the rest of the restaurant. Exposed brick walls, cop-per ceiling, dark wooden tables, live music, the massive metal sculpture of a skeleton band playing instru-ments near the back of the bar — everything about the Bon Temps Cafe oozes Bourbon Street chic. If you’ve ever been to New Orleans, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s one of those dimly lit, festive places great for tossing back a drink with friends, eating some traditional Creole cuisine and listening to a live act playing the down-home music of New Orleans.

And if you’re a stranger to New Orleans, not to worry. The menu will teach you all about Cajun cooking, New Orleans culture, the lingo, how to properly eat a crawdad, etc., etc.Oh, speaking of the menu, on it you’ll find all your favourite New Orleans classics. There’s gumbo and po’boys. Oysters and jambalya and crawfish etouffee. Heck, there’s even some fusion dishes like creole poutine up for grabs.

Then there’s this thing called the Cajun spice boil, which involves a long wooden table topped with newspaper and mounds of succu-lent crawdads just waiting to be eaten.

With all these tasty dishes avail-able, the first time I looked at the menu I didn’t know what to choose. Luckily, it was a pre-opening trial run, and along with a festive bead necklace I was given the chance to blindly draw my meal choice from a colourful top hat. What I came out with was pimento cheese and crackers for the appetizer. Think of those little cheese packs with the red plastic spreading sticks you used to eat as a kid, then ramp the delectable level up a dozen notches, and you’ll get the idea.

For the entrée, I drew the chicken and sausage jambalaya. Served with a biscuit and crawdad on top, this dish was spicy and hearty with big chunks of chicken and sausage

strewn throughout. So, so good. Call me optimistic, but something tells me the Bon Temps Cafe, with its inviting atmosphere and top-notch food, is the type of place that I, along with a host of others in the city, will start frequenting on a regular basis.

Bon Temps Cafe 223 2nd Ave S | (306) 242 6617

@VERBSASKATOON CULTURECONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS FEATURE FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

17MAY 31 – JUNE 6

MUSIC

COMING UPNEXT WEEK

KENTUCKY HEADHUNTERS

There are beards, and then there’s Ben Caplan’s beard. Hanging down to his chest with a pointed mustache that nearly spans from shoulder to shoulder, Caplan’s beard is nothing short of epic. But this guy is more than just some totally rad facial hair. With a rugged, raspy voice and punch-you-in-the-gut lyrics, this singer/songwriter from Halifax has made a mark on the landscape of Canadian music. Think of Tom Waits as a gypsy and you’ll get an idea of what this guy sounds like. Having toured the Com-monwealth and beyond, bringing his poetic ballads and eclectic anthems to the music-loving masses, Caplan is stopping in Saskatoon to play Mo-SoFest. Tickets available at the door, or the show is free with a MoSoFest Priority Pass.

@ DAKOTA DUNESFRIDAY, JULY 5TH – $TBD

Since late 2006, Skeletonwitch — a heavy metal band from Athens, Ohio — has been on the road almost non-stop. Between festivals and tour-ing they never seem to rest. At one point in 2012, on the U.S. Abomination Tour (which they headlined), they hit 63 North American cities in 65 days. Oh, and since 2006, with only a few months off here and there, they’ve also managed to pump out three albums along the way. Consisting of Scott Hedrick, Nate Garnette, Evan Linger, Dustin Boltjes and Chance Garnette, this heavy-shredding five-piece is nothing if not stylistically diverse. When touring with death metal bands, they play death metal; with black metal bands they go black metal. Check out these multi-talented musi-cians when they come to town.

SKELETON-WITCH

You know that famous Ken-tucky Headhunters’ song? The one that goes: “Let’s all go down to the water”? Or is it: “Let’s all go down to do Miss Walker?” Nope. The song’s name is “Dumas Walker” and in it they’re going down to Dumas Walk-er’s to get a “slaw, burger, fries and a bottle of the Ski.” Don’t beat yourself up if you didn’t know that. The cho-rus of “Dumas Walker” is quite often misheard. And speaking of hearing things, you might want to go down to the Dakota Dunes Casino to hear this Grammy-award winning band. With a rough-around-the-edges sound that’s influenced by country, blues, Southern rock and heavy metal, the Kentucky Headhunters are a diverse group that’ll make you wanna get up and boogie.

– By Adam Hawboldt

BEN CAPLAN

@ AMIGOS CANTINAFRIDAY, JUNE 7TH – $TBD

Keep up with Saskatchewan music. saskmusic.org

@ AMIGOS CANTINATHURSDAY, JUNE 13TH– $15

PHOTOS COURTESY OF: THE ARTIST/ THE ARTIST/ THE ARTIST

SASK MUSIC PREVIEWIt’s time to register for the Stickman Drum Experience, happening June 27-July 1 at the Cedar Lodge on Black Strap Lake! Stickman is a multi-day drum camp that provides an immersive experience for a wide range of ages and abilities. 2013 artists include Scott Pellegrom, Matt Halpern, and more. See www.stickmandrumexperience.com to register and for more information.

VERBNEWS.COMENTERTAINMENT

18MAY 31 – JUNE 6

ENTERTAINMENT CONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS FEATRE FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

LISTINGS

The most complete live music listings for Saskatoon.

MAY 31 » JUNE 8

31 1

7 85 63 42

S M T W T

FRIDAY 31HOUSE DJS / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul

& lounge DJs. 9pm / No cover

CLASSY CHASSYS / Amigos Cantina —

A rockin’ night of rockabilly. 10pm /

Cover TBD

PIANO FRIDAYS: NEIL CURRIE / The

Bassment — Feel like taking in some

smooth jazz stylings? 4:30pm / No cover

BACK OF THE BUS, THE RESIDUALS / The

Bassment — Break out your dancing shoes,

the Celts are coming. 9pm / $15/20

DJ AASH MONEY / Béily’s — DJ Aash

Money throws it down. 9pm / $5 cover

MEN WITHOUT SHAME / Buds on Broadway

— A night of rockin’ covers. 10pm / $6

DJ ECLECTIC / The Hose & Hydrant — DJ

Eclectic pumps snappy beats. 8pm

DJ SUGAR DADDY / Jax Niteclub — This lo-

cal crowd favourite rocks. 9pm / $5 cover

THE ARCHERS, SIX MOONS LATER / Lydia’s

— A night of upbeat folk rock. 10pm / $5

DJ BIG AYYY & DJ HENCHMAN / Outlaws

— Round up your friends ‘cause there’s no

better country rock party around. 8pm / $5;

ladies in free before 11pm

LYNN JACKSON / Prairie Ink — A folk singer

you don’t want to miss. 8pm / No cover

THE SHOELESS JOES, THE GROVE / Rock

Bottom — Folky alt-rock. 8pm / Cover TBD

FUSE COLLECTIVE / Rock Sugar — With Dr. J,

Prasun and Jono Curz. 10pm / $5+ MITCHY THE KID / Spadina Freehouse — A local DJ

spinning dope beats. 9pm

IDLE RAINS / Stan’s Place — Rock music to

get your weekend started. 9pm / No cover

DUELING PIANOS / Staqatto — With

Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King.

10pm / $5

PARTY ROCK FRIDAYS / Tequila Nightclub —

Featuring DJ Dislexik. 9pm / Cover TBD

OWLS BY NATURE / Vangelis — With Gun-

ner and Smith and Fisticuffs. 10pm / $8

SATURDAY 1HOUSE DJS / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin

soulful tunes all night. 9pm / No cover

NORTHCOTE / Amigos — Laid-back folk

from B.C. 10pm / $10 (ticketedge.ca)

TATRINA TAI / The Bassment — A talented

songstress performing with the Maurice

Drouin Orchestra. 9pm / $15/20

DJ AASH MONEY + DJ CTRL / Béily’s Ul-

traLounge — These two DJS throw down

a high-energy top 40 dance party every

Saturday night. 9pm / $5 cover

DON AND THE SECOND LINE / Bon Temps

Cafe — A night of smooth, infectious

tunes. 8pm / No cover

MEN WITHOUT SHAME / Buds — A night

of rockin’ covers. 10pm / $6

DJ KADE / The Hose & Hydrant — Saska-

toon’s own DJ lights it up with hot tunes.

8pm / No cover

DJ SUGAR DADDY / Jax Niteclub — This

local crowd favourite rocks. 9pm / $5

SKYLAB / Le Relais — Everything from

house to bass, breaks and dub. 9pm / $10-30

JENAVIVE / Lydia’s Pub — With Friends of

Foes. 10pm / $5

MAZZFEST 2013 / Odeon Events Centre

— Featuring Liferuiner, Expire, Being as

an Ocean and more. 1:30pm / $25-40

(theodeon.ca)


Country Rock Bar — Round up your friends

‘cause there’s no better country rock party

around. 8pm / $5

SILENT SEA / Piggy’s — A local folk singer/

songwriter. 9pm / Cover TBD

IAN MARTENS / Prairie Ink — Acoustic folk

rock. 8pm / No cover

RIFF RAFF / Redline Harley-Davidson roof-

top — Playing for your entertainment for

customer appreciation day. 1pm /

No cover

NEW JACOBIN CLUB, MISTRESS NAGINI, PHOENIX CHRIST, SUN FALLS EAST / Rock

Bottom — A night of hard rocking bands.

9pm / Cover TBD

IDLE RAINS / Stan’s Place — Rock music to

get your weekend started. 9pm / No cover

DUELING PIANOS / Staqatto — Terry

Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King belt out

classic tunes and audience requests, from

Sinatra to Lady Gaga. 10pm / $5

SEXY SATURDAYS / Tequila Nightclub —


(ladies get free cover before 11pm)

SLED ISLAND FUNDRAISER / Vangelis —

Featuring Wizards, Powder Blue, Caves, and

the Seahags. 10pm / $5

MASTERS OF THE WIND / Walter Murray

Collegiate — Indian-inspired jazz music

and raga. 7pm / $5-20

SUNDAY 2INDUSTRY NIGHT / Béily’s UltraLounge —

Hosted by DJ Sugar Daddy; this crowd fa-

vourite has always been known to break the

latest and greatest tracks in multiple genres.

9pm / $4; no cover for industry staff


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 3ROSS NEILSEN / Buds on Broadway — One

of Canada’s hardest working blues rockers.

9pm / $6

METAL MONDAYS / Lydia’s Pub — If hard,

heavy awesomeness is your thing, swing

by. 9pm

TUESDAY 4ROSS NEILSEN / Buds — One of Canada’s

hardest working blues rockers. 9pm / $6

ENTERTAINMENT

19MAY 31 – JUNE 6

/VERBSASKATOON ENTERTAINMENTCONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS FEATURE FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

19MAY 31 – JUNE 6

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

GET LISTED

[email protected]

DJ SUGAR DADDY / The Double Deuce —

This crowd favourite rocks. 9:30pm / $4

VERB PRESENTS OPEN STAGE / Lydia’s Pub

— The open stage is a chance for bands, solo

artists and even comedians to showcase

original material. 9pm / No cover

OPEN MIC / The Somewhere Else Pub —

Come show your talent. 7pm / No cover

WEDNESDAY 5HUMP WEDNESDAYS / 302 Lounge & Dis-

cotheque — With Resident DJ Chris Knorr.

9pm / No cover until 10pm; $3 thereafter

M.O.P., BRONZE NAZARETH, TRAGIC / Ami-

gos — A night of infectious hip hop. 10pm /

$20 (ticketedge.ca)

ROSS NEILSEN / Buds — One of Canada’s

hardest working blues rockers. 9pm / $6

DJ KADE / The Hose — Saskatoon DJ lights

it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover

DR. J ‘SOULED OUT’ / Lydia’s Pub — Dr. J

spins hot funk and soul every Wednesday

night. 9pm / No cover

WILD WEST WEDNESDAY / Outlaws —

Hosted by DJ Big Ayyy & DJ Henchman.

9pm / $4; no cover for industry staff

THE AVENUE RECORDING COMPANY PRES-ENTS OPEN MIC / Rock Bottom — Hosted

by Chad Reynolds. Sign up and play at this

weekly event. 10pm / No cover

CJWW KARAOKE / Stan’s Place — Your tal-

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

DUELING PIANOS / Staqatto Piano Lounge

— With Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad

King. 10pm / No cover

THURSDAY 6BIG BANG BABY / Buds on Broadway — A

tribute to the Stone Temple Pilots. 9pm / $6

THROWBACK THURSDAYS / Earls — Come

experience the best in retro funk, soul, reg-

gae and rock. 8pm / No cover


toon DJ lights it up. 8pm / No cover

DJ SUGAR DADDY / Jax Niteclub — Local DJ

Sugar Daddy will be rocking the turntables

to get you dancing on the dance floor! 8pm /

$5; free cover with student ID before 11pm

THUNDER RIOT W/CONKY SHOWPONY / Rock Bottom — Come dance the night away

as this local DJ plays the kind of music that’ll

get your feet moving. 9pm / $5

TRIPLE UP THURSDAYS / Tequila — Featur-

ing DJ Stikman. 9pm / Cover TBD

CATDAD, SEXY PREACHER / Vangelis —

Psychedelic garage rock and liquor-fueled

gutter rock. 10pm / $8

FRIDAY 7HOUSE DJS / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul

& lounge DJs liven up the atmosphere at

6Twelve. 9pm / No cover

SKELETONWITCH, UNTIMELY DEMISE / Amigos Cantina — Heavy metal that’ll blow

your hair back. 10pm / Cover TBD

PIANO FRIDAYS: PAUL SUCHAN / The

Bassment — Feel like taking in some

smooth jazz stylings? 4:30pm / No cover

ANA EGGE / The Bassment — A folk singer

with an angelic voice. 9pm / $15/$20

DJ AASH MONEY / Béily’s UltraLounge — DJ

Aash Money throws down a high-energy

top 40 dance party. 9pm / $5 cover

MR. BROWNSTONE / Buds on Broadway —

A tribute to Guns N’ Roses. 9pm / $6

DJ ECLECTIC / The Hose — Local turntable

whiz pumps snappy beats. 8pm / No cover

DJ SUGAR DADDY / Jax Niteclub — This lo-

cal crowd favourite rocks. 9pm / $5 cover

LORDS KITCHNER, PANDAS IN JAPAN / Lydia’s Pub — Indie rock the way you want

it. 10pm / $5

WOMEN WHO ROCK / Odean Events Centre

— Featuring Sarah Farthing, Kirby Criddle,

and the Bear Jammers. 6:30pm / $40

(theodeon.ca)

DJ BIG AYYY & DJ HENCHMAN / Outlaws —

There’s no better country rock party around.

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

NEIL ROSTON / Prairie Ink — A local blues/

folk duo. 8pm / No cover

BAND WARS IX FINALS / Rock Bottom —

Featuring the best of the Rock and Metal

categories. 9pm / Cover TBD

BUDDY HOLLY WITH ENGLAND / Royal

Canadian Legion (Nutana) — Come rock

and dance the night away. 8pm / For tickets

call 374-3292 or 955-3599

SOUNDWAVE / Somewhere Else Pub — In-

strumental music of the ‘50s and ‘60s. 9pm

JONES BOYS / Stan’s Place — Come rock the

weekend away. 9pm / No cover



King. 10pm / $5

PARTY ROCK FRIDAYS / Tequila Nightclub —


WE ARE THE CITY / Vangelis — Dope Van-

couver rockers. Also appearing: Fisticuffs

and Hannah Epperson. 10pm / $8

SATURDAY 8HOUSE DJS / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin

deep and soulful tunes. 9pm / No cover

WE WERE LOVERS / Amigos Cantina — A lo-

cal electro-pop duo that oozes talent. 10pm

/ Cover TBD

THE STONE FRIGATE BIG BAND / The

Bassment — Swing music from the ‘30s and

‘40s. 9pm / $12/$16

DJ AASH MONEY + DJ CTRL / Béily’s

UltraLounge — These two DJs throw down

a high-energy top 40 dance party every

Saturday night. 9pm / $5 cover

MR. BROWNSTONE / Buds on Broadway —

A tribute to Guns N’ Roses. 9pm / $6


toon’s own DJ lights it up with hot tunes.

8pm / No cover

DJ SUGAR DADDY / Jax Niteclub — Able to

rock any party, this local crowd favourite

has always been known to break the latest

and greatest tracks in multiple genres. He

is sure to have you on the dance floor in no

time. 9pm / $5 cover

LYDIA’S FUNDRAISER / Lydia’s Pub — A line-

up of infectious music. 10pm / $5


Country Rock Bar — Round up your friends

‘cause there’s no better country rock party

around. 8pm / $5

IT’S TOO LATE, BABY / Prairie Ink — Playing

the music of Carole King and James Taylor.

8pm / No cover

WHISKEY SONGS, BLACKWATER / Rock Bot-

tom — Good ol’ fashioned rock. 9pm

SOUNDWAVE / Somewhere Else Pub — In-

strumental music of the ‘50s and ‘60s. 9pm

/ No cover



King. 10pm / $5

SEXY SATURDAYS / Tequila Nightclub —


KLEINS 96, CHRIST WALTER, SOUL MATES, MYSTERY SQUAD / Vangelis — Hit up the

ChristCORE after party. 10pm / $5+

VERBNEWS.COMENTERTAINMENT CONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS FEATURE FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

20MAY 31 – JUNE 6

new sci-fi action movie starring Will Smith and directed by M.

Night Shyamalan? It’s gotta be good, right?

I mean, most of Smith’s sci-fi films have been pretty darn good so far. Think about: I Am Legend, Independence Day and the Men In Black franchise are both entertain-ing as all get out of here. Even I, Robot wasn’t too shabby.

And M. Night Shyamalan … sure his movies have been, ahem, less than stellar lately, but any time a guy directs a movie like The Sixth Sense (or even Signs, for that matter), you have to hold out hope that he has the ability to pump out a good film from time to time.

But here’s the thing about hope: sometimes what it leads to is misery.

Take Smith and Shyamalan’s new flick, After Earth, for instance. If you sit through all one hour and 40 minutes of this new Sony “fran-chise,” there’s a solid chance you’re

going to be miserable by the time the final credits roll.

Why? Well, let’s get into that in a minute. First, let me tell you what the movie is about. Actually, let me begin by telling you about the backstory — it’s by far the best part of the movie.

Okay, so here’s the deal. Once upon a long time ago, Earth was evacuated after an environmental catastrophe. But don’t worry, the human race has survived and is currently living on a new planet

called Nova Prime. Thing is, a race of vicious aliens known as Ursas consider Nova Prime their home and birthright and, for the past thousand years or so, have been

trying to kill us in order to get the planet back. This is important because, before the movie begins, an Ursa has killed Cypher Raige’s (Will Smith) daughter. This has brought tension to the Raige household

because the son, Kitai (played by Smith’s real son Jaden) thinks his dad blames him for the incident.

Anyway. When we first meet these characters they are on a mis-

sion and their spaceship crashes to Earth. The ship is torn apart, Cypher’s leg is broken, and his son (who, unlike his general dad before him, is having a tough time as a cadet in the United Ranger Corps) is sent on a mission to retrieve a rescue beacon from a part of their ship that has broken off, so they can beam out a distress signal.

Eyebrow-raising sci-fi action then ensues.

Wait a second, no it doesn’t. In-stead of amping up the man-against-hostile-environment tension, After Earth spends the next hour or so talking your ear off with father-son dialogue. Seriously. There are only two action sequence that deserve note in the whole movie — one with

deranged apes and a final battle that doesn’t live up to the hype.

To make matters worse, it’s almost as though Smith (whose charisma and talent is undeniable) was sleep-walking through the entire movie. So much so that his name, Cypher, is more fitting than you can imagine.

Now, I’m not a seer or anything, but something tells me Sony’s After Earth “franchise” is not destined to be.

FILM

A

Summer sci-fi blockbuster, After Earth, fails to deliver. BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

…After Earth spends the next hour or so talking your ear off…

ADAM HAWBOLDT

AFTER EARTH

DIRECTED BY M. Night Shyamalan

STARRING Will Smith, Jaden Smith,

Sophie Okonedo + Zoë Kravitz

115 MINUTES | PG

ABORT MISSION

@VerbSaskatoon

[email protected]


PHOTO: COURTESY OF COLUMBIA PICTURES

@VERBSASKATOON ENTERTAINMENTCONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS FEATURE FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

21MAY 31 – JUNE 6

H

…The Company You Keep … is all character, no tension. Even the final reveal … kind of just puffs away.

ADAM HAWBOLDT

THE COMPANY YOU KEEP ... IS SOMETIMES SLOW.New Robert Redford movie full of good acting but lacks tension BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

@VerbSaskatoon

[email protected]


THE COMPANY YOU KEEP

DIRECTED BY Robert Redford

STARRING Robert Redford, Shia LaBeouf,

Julie Christie + Susan Sarandon

125 MINUTES | PG

ow can’t you love Rob-ert Redford?

Seriously. Not only did the guy act in two of the great-est buddy movies of all time (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting), not only did he direct terrific movies like The Quiz Show and Ordinary People, but dear ol’ Bob Redford has also made a habit of working with the best of the best during his five-decade career. He’s shared the screen with the likes of Marlon Brando and Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier. Then there was Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Faye Dunaway, Michael Caine, Brad Pitt, Gene Hackman and many, many more — the list goes on.

And in his latest flick, The Company You Keep, Redford was at it again, amassing a list of actors that includes Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte, Shia LaBeouf, Stanley Tucci, Brendan Gleeson, Chris Cooper and many more to help tell the story of the Weather Underground.

For those of you unaware of the Weather Underground, they were a group of radical lefties who

conducted a campaign of domestic bombings in the US, and took part in the jailbreak of Timothy Leary during the 1970s.

But this film doesn’t take place during those politically charged time. Instead, The Company You Keep is

set in modern times and tells the story of Nick Sloan (Redford), an honorable lawyer living in upstate New York.

But Nick has a secret: his name isn’t really Nick. It’s Jim Grant. And

in a former life, Jim Grant was a member of Weather Underground, and was involved in a robbery gone wrong that resulted in the death of bank guard.

His secret has been safe for 30 years. But when former-radical-

turned-suburbanite Sharon Solarz (Sarandon) turns herself it, feces hits the ever-spinning fan.

Soon a snoopy young reporter named Ben Shephard (LaBeouf), hell-bent on making a name for himself in the newspaper racket, starts digging deeper and deeper into the story.

When things get a tad too hot, Nick goes on the lam with his 11-year-old daughter, Isabel (Jackie Evancho), who is unaware of her father’s past. Along the way, he enlists the help of old faces like his brother Dan (Chris Cooper) and former running mate Donal (Nick

Nolte.) Others — like radical-turned-professor Jed (Richard Jenkins) and old flame Mimi (Julie Christie) — aren’t so helpful.

For Nick, it’s a race to find someone who can clear his name before the reporter or the FBI can catch him.

Actually, the word “race” is very misleading. Instead of being a thriller that unravels quickly and keeps you guessing, The Company You Keep plays out like cold molas-ses dripping down a half-closed carton. It’s all character, no tension. Even the final reveal which, in all honesty, should’ve been a whopper kind of just puffs away.

With a tighter script and better pacing, The Company You Keep could’ve been one heckuva movie. Instead, it has to settle for just be-ing okay. The acting is solid and the story of faded hippy radicalism is engaging. But if you’re looking for a movie that grabs your attention and doesn’t let go, you might want to keep looking.

The Company you Keep is being screened at Roxy Theatre.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES CLASSICS


NIGHTLIFE

22MAY 31 – JUNE 6

SATURDAY, MAY 25 @

BÉILYSBéily’s UltraLounge2404 8th Street East(306) 374 3344

MUSIC VIBE / Top 40 + danceFEATURED DEALS / $8.50 doublesDRINK OF CHOICE / DoublesSOMETHING NEW / Official patio launch June 14, featuring an ‘80s party band

/VERBSASKATOON ENTERTAINMENTCONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS FEATURE FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

23MAY 31 – JUNE 6

Photography by Patrick Carley

CHECK OUT OUR FACEBOOK PAGE! These photos will be uploaded to

Facebook on Friday, June 7.

facebook.com/verbsaskatoon


NIGHTLIFE

24MAY 31 – JUNE 6

THURSDAY, MAY 23 @

THE LONG BRANCHThe Long Branch806 Idylwyld Drive North(306) 665 6500

MUSIC VIBE / Country, and great DJs spinning all nightFEATURED DEALS / Shots or beer for $3.25DRINK OF CHOICE / Bud Light and Great West Pilsner

NIGHTLIFE

@VERBSASKATOON ENTERTAINMENTCONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS FEATURE FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

25MAY 31 – JUNE 6

CHECK OUT OUR FACEBOOK PAGE! These photos will be uploaded to

Facebook on Friday, June 7.

facebook.com/verbsaskatoon

Photography by Ishtiaq Opal


26MAY 31 – JUNE 6

COMICS

© Elaine M. Will | blog.E2W-Illustration.com | Check onthebus.webcomic.ws/ for previous editions!

/VERBSASKATOON ENTERTAINMENTCONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS FEATUREº FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS FILM NIGHTLIFE COMICS TIMEOUT

27MAY 31 – JUNE 6

HOROSCOPES MAY 31 – JUNE 6

© WALTER D. FEENER 2013

SUDOKU CROSSWORD ANSWER KEY

A B9 6 2 3 4 1 3 4 7 9 3 2 5 7 6 1 9 8 3 6 8 4 5 2 2 5 7 8 1 8 9 6 7 1 4 5

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

TIMEOUT

SUDOKU ANSWER KEY

A

B

9 5 6 2 3 4 1 8 72 1 3 7 5 8 6 4 94 7 8 9 6 1 3 2 55 3 7 6 1 2 4 9 81 9 2 4 8 7 5 3 66 8 4 3 9 5 2 7 13 2 9 5 7 6 8 1 48 4 5 1 2 9 7 6 37 6 1 8 4 3 9 5 2

4 7 3 5 1 6 9 8 29 1 8 4 3 2 7 5 66 5 2 7 9 8 3 4 11 3 7 6 8 4 2 9 55 8 4 1 2 9 6 3 72 6 9 3 7 5 4 1 83 9 5 2 6 1 8 7 48 2 1 9 4 7 5 6 37 4 6 8 5 3 1 2 9

CROSSWORD CANADIAN CRISS-CROSS

ACROSS 1. Large group of relatives

5. Coat of ___

9. Pale sandy colour

10. The end of life

12. Once in a while

13. Medicine chest

door, usually

15. Out of sorts

16. Welcome words to

a hitchhiker

18. Adam’s wife

19. Symbol of a country

21. Group of games in tennis

22. It goes from stem to stern

23. Physical features of a

piece of land

25. Vestibule

26. Calm excited feelings

28. Supply used as it is needed

31. Grown with

natural fertilizers

35. T, on some tests

36. On the contrary

37. Cooked thoroughly

38. Take in food

39. Assume as a fact

41. Place for a

hospital patient

42. Strong supporter

44. Gloomy

46. Lacking experience

47. One who lives outside

the parental home

48. Lawn intruder

49. Protuberance

DOWN 1. Place for a

wine collection

2. Movable cover

3. Full of excitement

4. An opponent that

cannot be beaten

5. Come clean

6. Bridle strap

7. Cause damage to

8. Address part

9. Favourite at the ball

11. Be suspended

12. Put through a sieve

14. Be dependent on

17. Flimsy

20. Prayer of thanks said

at a meal

22. Work dough with

the hands

24. Invite

25. Humpty Dumpty is one

27. Skilled worker

28. Put your foot down

29. Wedding dress part

30. Make illegal

32. Drug a racehorse to

prevent it from winning

33. Chemically unreactive

34. Surrender

36. Uninterested

39. Macadamize

40. Kind of list

43. Be recumbent

45. Strong coffee

ARIES March 21–April 19

Feeling tense lately, Aries? It’s time

to get rid of the stress, so do what

needs doing, whether it be jogging, hitting

a punching bag, meditating, whatever.

TAURUS April 20–May 20

You have a certain natural charm

that causes people to gravitate to

you, Taurus. You know you do. It’s best to

put it to good use this week.

GEMINI May 21–June 20

Someone may jump down your

throat this week, metaphorically

speaking. Don’t get too defensive — they

may have a point.

CANCER June 21–July 22

You could be feeling emotional

from time to time this week,

Cancer. Don’t let it get the better of you, or

you’ll become an emotional wreck.

LEO July 23–August 22

This may not be your forte, Leo,

but at some time this week some

self-sacrifice is going to be needed.

Don’t hesitate.

VIRGO August 23–September 22

You may be tempted to do some-

thing you know you shouldn’t do

this week, Virgo. Though it may be hard to

resist, try to tread carefully.

LIBRA September 23–October 23

Humility: that’s the key word

for you over the course of the

next week, Libra. You are awesome, but

please try to keep this in mind.

SCORPIO October 24–November 22

You’re known for your strong

willpower, Scorpio. In the days

ahead, you’re going need every ounce of

it. Temptation will be lurking everywhere.

SAGITTARIUS November 23–December 21

Discouraging things could start

happening to you soon, Sagittar-

ius. Keep your head up, stay strong, and

you’ll be able to weather the storm.

CAPRICORN December 22–January 19

Be tolerant of other people’s opin-

ions and social and political posi-

tions this week, Capricorn. You may find a

kindred spirit where you least expect to.

AQUARIUS January 20–February 19

Doubt may come to plague you

soon, Aquarius. And while it may

be disheartening, you’ll learn a lot about

yourself if you pay close attention.

PISCES February 20–March 20

Good things come to those who

wait. You know that, Pisces, so

why have you been so dang impatient

lately? Ease up, and all will come to be.

verb issue s242 (may 31-june 6, 2013)

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