Verb Issue R50 (Oct. 19-25, 2012)

PHOTO: COURTESY OF CANDICE WEBSTER

SMALL FAMEWITH BEND SINISTER+

BRETT MCCORMICK The Superbike racer gets back on the track

IMMUTO Jennifer Wanner fuses art + science

ALEX CROSS + NEIL YOUNG: JOURNEYS Film reviews

ISSUE #50 – OCTOBER 19 TO OCTOBER 25

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2OCT 19 – OCT 25

CONTENTSCONTENTS

PLEASE RECYCLE AFTER READING & SHARING

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

ART & PRODUCTIONDESIGN LEAD / ROBERTA BARRINGTONDESIGN & PRODUCTION / BRITTNEY GRAHAMCONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS / TAMARA KLEIN, DANIELLE TOCKER, ADAM HAWBOLDT + ALEX J MACPHERSON

BUSINESS & OPERATIONSOFFICE MANAGER / STEPHANIE LIPSITMARKETING MANAGER / VOGESON PALEYFINANCIAL MANAGER / CODY LANG

CONTACTCOMMENTS / [email protected] / 881 8372ADVERTISE / [email protected] / 979 2253DESIGN / [email protected] / 979 8474GENERAL / [email protected] / 979 2253

CULTURE ENTERTAINMENTNEWS + OPINION

RACING TO RECOVERYSuperbike racer Brett McCormick gets back on the track. 3 / LOCAL

ULTIMATE POWER DUOCurtis Olson + Carrie Catherine on visionary neighbourhoods. 4 / LOCAL

UNWELCOME WAGON Ending benefits for refugees makes no sense. 6 / EDITORIAL

COMMENTSHere’s your say on cutting non- Christian chaplains. 7 / COMMENTS

Q + A WITH JENNIFER WANNERGenetic modification + art. 8 / Q + A

NIGHTLIFE PHOTOS This week we visit the Broken Rack. 15 / NIGHTLIFE

LIVE MUSIC LISTINGSLocal music listings for October 19 through October 27. 14 / LISTINGS

ALEX CROSS + NEIL YOUNG: JOURNEYS We review the latest movies. 16 / FILM

ON THE BUS Weekly original comic illustrations by Elaine M. Will. 18 / COMICS

THEY HAVE A CLAIMDel Barber explores the meaning of the song. 9 / ARTS

LATTE LOVEThis week we visit the Rochdale Roca House. 12 / FOOD + DRINK

MUSICAshley MacIsaac, Wiz Khalifa + Wildlife. 13 / MUSIC

DEATH + TAXESThe Stanfields write what they know. 9 / ARTS

GAME + HOROSCOPESCanadian criss-cross puzzle, weekly horoscopes and Sudoku. 19 / TIMEOUT

ON THE COVER: BEND SINISTEROn going big, and Small Fame. 10 / COVER

PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

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3OCT 19 – OCT 25

LOCAL

hen Brett McCor-mick came to he had no idea where

he was. A group of people was standing around him, all of them speaking Dutch. What was going on? How did he get there? What were these people saying?

McCormick had no clue, so he just lay there, mouth shut, neck in a brace, trying to put together all the pieces.

The one thing, the only thing, Mc-Cormick knew for certain was this: he wasn’t paralyzed. Even though his neck was in a brace, he could still move his extremities. But still … what the hell had happened?

What happened was McCormick crashed his motorcycle.

And not just any motorcycle. See, McCormick is a Superbike racer. And the bike he crashed was an Effenbert Liberty Racing Ducati 1098R.

It happened in April at the Superbike World Championship in Assen — a city in northeastern Netherlands. During his second race of the weekend, the 2011 Canadian Superbike Champion was doing well. After battling and weaving through a busy pack, McCormick had moved into the 11th position. But he was still advancing, closing in on the top 10. And that’s when things started to go wrong.

“The weather was a little bit strange that weekend,” remembers McCormick. “Normally when we’re racing it’s either wet or dry. But that weekend we were racing in half conditions.” In these not-so-ideal circumstances, coming out of a turn, McCormick was run a little wide by another driver and forced off the pavement at, arguably, the fastest part of the track.

“When I first left the pavement it was all good,” says McCormick. “Things were dry, it was ridable. But then I got onto the Astro Turf and it was soaked by the rain.” At this point, McCormick only had one thought in mind: if I can get over the Astro Turf to the run-off pavement, I’ll be okay.

He didn’t make it. Nearly the instant he hit the Astro

Turf, the rear wheel of his Ducati slid out. The bike went sideways, and McCormick smashed head-first into the ground. He flipped arse-over-tea-

kettle, hit his head again and came to a sliding stop next to his bike.

McCormick doesn’t remember any of this, though — it was all a blur. And by the time he stopped sliding, McCormick was out cold. When he came to, the Dutch medical crew were crowded around him. McCormick’s fifth cervical vertebra was broken, he had a lumbar fracture, and his thumb was cracked at the bottom joint, right where it connects to your wrist.

Pins and wires were surgically placed in McCormick’s thumb to help hold it together. The recovery time from that injury was just over a month. McCormick’s neck, however, was a different story. He had to wear a collar and back brace to immobilize the frac-tured areas. “I was in that brace for eight or 10 weeks,” says McCormick, who returned home to Saskatoon after the crash.

Eventually, inevitably, the brace came off and McCormick didn’t hesitate. Ten weeks after his injury he climbed back onto a motorcycle — this time, his Blackfoot dirt bike — and started to ride again. It wasn’t long before McCormick got the urge to get back on the WSBK circuit, so in August he traveled to England for a medical to make sure he was able to race. The visit was a success, and on September 9th McCormick got back in the saddle, and continued his rookie

season at the fabled Nürburgring circuit in Germany.

“That first weekend back, I just wanted to finish with no drama,” says the 21-year-old racer. “The only thing I was worried about was if I came back and was slower on the bike. I’m racing at the top level in the world here, so when you break your neck and come back, you have to wonder, ‘Have I lost the touch or will it all be good?’”

McCormick finished 15th, and later that month, in Portimão, Portugal, he would cruise to a fifth and ninth place finish in the weekend races. But then McCormick’s luck turned again. Just before the final round of the Superbike World Championship in France, his team announced they wouldn’t be tak-ing their Ducati Superbikes to the final

round. What’s more, because contracts in superbike racing tend to be year-to-year, McCormick is now officially without a contract or a team.

“To get a two-year contract is almost unheard of,” he explains. “It’s a pretty cutthroat competition and you’re only as good as your last race.”

If that’s the case, McCormick shouldn’t worry. In his last race he placed 9th amongst the best riders in the world, he’s still young and his neck — well, it’s back to normal. Finally.

W

@AdamHawboldt

[email protected]

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

RACING TO RECOVERYAfter breaking his neck, Canadian Superbike Champion Brett McCormick is back tearing up the track. BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

PHOTO: COURTESY OF COLIN FRASER

[W]hen you break your neck … you … wonder, ‘Have I lost the touch…’

BRETT MCCORMICK

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CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE »

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ULTIMATE POWER DUOHow Curtis Olson and Carrie Catherine are challenging perceptions and revitalizing neighbourhoods. BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

PHOTO: COURTESY OF RENÉ PREFONTAINE

LOCAL

urtis Olson remembers when he stopped think-ing about what was and

started thinking about what could be. Today, more than six years after an offhand remark reshaped the way he imagined Saskatoon, the memory is still clear. “In one second my perspective changed,” Olson says between sips of coffee. “I came down here with Jyhling Lee, who is an architect and a friend. We were standing on the corner of 20th and Avenue B. Jyh-ling said, ‘I love it down in Riv-ersdale. It reminds me of Queen Street West in Toronto ten years ago.’ I understood everything she was talking about because I was a touring musician for awhile, and we played in Toronto in the late 1990s. Queen West was filled with used record shops, CD shops, tons of quirky little bou-tiques — it was cheap, it was in-teresting, it was diverse.”

The insight came like a flash of light: Olson saw the potential of an

otherwise unremarkable street in the Saskatoon core. Just as Queen Street West became a bastion of social dynamism and carefully-managed growth, so too could Riversdale. Six years later, he and his wife, Car-rie Catherine, have emerged as the vanguard in a dramatic urban trans-formation. Their vision of a mixed neighbourhood overflowing with exciting businesses and interesting people is now a reality.

Ten years ago, many people thought of Riversdale as a hive of transient businesses and dodgy characters. Anchored by the infamous Barry and Albany Hotels, the old neighbour-hood on the western edge of Saska-toon’s core was best forgotten. Not Olson and Catherine. Where some people saw decay, they saw oppor-tunity. Where others noticed derelict buildings and crumbling façades, they saw a vast urban playground. Olson and Catherine saw Riversdale for what it could be, not what it was.

“We’ve always been firm believ-ers in the notion that a city is what you make it,” says Catherine, a singer-songwriter who is well-known as a social and developmental activ-ist. “We loved the notion that a lot of people feared, which was that it was a very mixed neighbourhood — a lot of older residents who had been there forever, a lot of new people moving in, and a lot of rentals. Cul-turally diverse. All of those things, to us, were assets.”

The pair have spent several years building an ideal that reflects their belief in the benefits of diversity. They see the natural intersection of communities in Riversdale as something to embrace, not ignore or correct. Olson and Catherine believe diversity breeds stability: “It’s a good thing because it drives compassion, it drives charity, it drives all of these other positive social aspects — just because of people crossing paths with each other.”

Although Olson works as a devel-oper and Catherine as a songwriter,

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both have ideas that transcend their vocations. These ideas are captured in their home, an old Safeway store that has been transformed into a sleek and modern space, a functional office, and a performing arts venue. It is called the HayLoft and it works because it brings together people of many different stripes. “We needed something unconventional to accom-modate our lifestyle,” Catherine says. “So when we actually found this old convenience store and decided to use that as our home base, that’s when we became intimately more

connected to events and things in Riversdale.” This same principle can be applied to their latest project.

The TwoTwenty is an office building, a social hub, and one of the city’s liveliest public spaces. Based on an idea called coworking, the TwoTwenty is an extension of the principle at work in the HayLoft and a microcosm of the larger neigh-bourhood: spontaneous meetings grounded by common goals and shared experience.

Catherine sees coworking as the perfect metaphor for a healthy community. “If you create the condi-tions where people are going to cross paths, sit side-by-side, grab a coffee together, just by sheer virtue of proximity people are going to … collaborate,” she says. “The idea is to help your business grow just by be-ing part of the community.” Besides Olson’s Shift Development, clients include a printing studio, an immi-gration lawyer, a publishing house, a photographer, and a developer of affordable housing.

“The goal of the TwoTwenty was to build a home for our business, but also our colleagues and other busi-nesses that are part of every one of my projects,” Olson says, adding that the building is only part of the bigger picture. Rapid development is chang-ing the face of 20th Street. A class of young entrepreneurs whose vision for the area mirrors that of Olson and Catherine has taken root in the neighbourhood. Today, Riversdale is home to a boutique guitar store, a

pair of coffee shops, and dozens of other similar ventures. “Carrie and I came to agree that we have this great little urban sandbox that we’re play-ing in,” Olson laughs. “And all the other people jumping in the sandbox are of the same philosophy … adding to the richness and the diversity of the neighbourhood.”

Projects like the HayLoft and the TwoTwenty have captured the imagi-nation of many people, but Olson and Catherine are still working to prove their ideas. “There are people who have a strong belief about the neighbourhood, and it’s never going to change,” Olson laments. “Carrie and I have tried to focus on doing projects or events … that are embrac-ing the people that are open to it.”

In September, Catherine threw her weight behind PARK(ing) Day, an international event aimed at generat-ing ideas about how cities are planned and executed. “My response to many challenges we face is to throw a party,” she laughs. “And a party is a great way to involve the broader community, to make them feel the emotion that goes along with being in that kind of neighbourhood.”

PARK(ing) Day was not without critics. Many people questioned the wisdom of transforming a normal street into a bustling hive of activity, a hybrid urban atmosphere replete with thousands of spontaneous conversations. Catherine thinks a

demonstration can be much more convincing than a conversation: “For me to sit here and talk to somebody about biking who will never bike around downtown, and blather on about the benefits of bike lanes? I’m never going to convert that person.” But the multifaceted event offers people a chance to participate, rather than simply listen. And that, Cath-erine and Olson believe, is precisely what the neighbourhood needs.

A few months ago, Olson and Cath-erine were invited to speak to a class of entrepreneurship students. Olson asked if anyone remembered the

Barry and Albany Hotels. “Nobody put up their hand,” he says. “It blew me away.” In an instant, he and Catherine realized their project had already succeeded. “We’re talking about changing perceptions of Riv-ersdale and changing the direction of the neighbourhood,” Catherine says. “One person puts up their hand and says, ‘What did people think about Riversdale when you guys were kids?’”

@MacPhersonA

[email protected]


If you create the conditions where people are going to cross paths…by sheer virtue of proximity people are going to…collaborate.

CARRIE CATHERINE

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EDITORIAL

hances are that by now you’ve heard about Saskatoon-Rosetown-

Biggar MP Kelly Block and her infamous mail-outs.

If not, here’s a quick recap: last week Block sent out a circular to her constituents that read, “Ending Un-fair Benefits for Refugee Claimants.” Under that, the mail-out informed readers that “New arrivals to Canada have received dental and vision care paid by your tax dollars. They’ve had free prescriptions.” And beneath that lingers the bold, underlined phrase: “Not anymore.” In the bottom corner of the page, Block’s constituents had the choice to check one of two boxes. The first said “I agree with Kelly Block! Newcomers don’t deserve more benefits than Canadians;” the other read “I disagree! Refugee claimants should get dental, vision and pharmacare even if I don’t.”

Well, the reaction to this mail-out was swift, divisive, and fairly

predictable. People were outraged. In no time at all, a Facebook group called Tell MP Kelly Block “I Disagree” with Racism sprung up, and Block was called everything from a bigot to Grand Wizard.

That’s some pretty heavy lan-guage, but we think we should get to the real issue here, which is: separate from the woman herself, Block’s mail-out is bad policy and bad poli-ticking. Plain and simple.

On the policy side of things, we feel that Block’s ideas are seriously wrong-headed. By taking a poke at refugees, Block is targeting some of the most vulnerable in our society. Essentially, she is advocating for kicking people when they’re down.

The federal government defines refugees as people “in need of pro-tection in Canada whose removal to their home country … would subject them personally to: a danger or torture; a risk to their life; or a risk of cruel and unusual treatment or pun-

ishment.” So why in the heck would you want to deprive these unfortu-nate, misplaced people of medicine or help if they need it?

Doing so is not humane, and definitely not decent. What if a person has diabetes? Should we withhold insulin just because they’re a refugee? What if they have asthma? Do we turn our backs and deprive them of inhalers? Or say a refugee has an infection, do we not give them penicillin?

In addition to not making sense, Block’s wildly misguided proposal doesn’t make cents, either, and here’s why: what if the diabetic newcomer slips into a coma, or the asthmatic suffers a serious attack or an infec-tion begins to threaten a refugee’s life — what happens then? The afflicted end up in emergency care which, in the long run, costs far more to taxpayers than contributing to the preventative healthcare dedicated to refugees. If Block is actually con-

cerned with the cost to Canadians, would she not have thought of this?

And keeping with using or misus-ing taxpayers’ money, wouldn’t Block have had to use our dollars to create and send her mail-out letter? That’s not just bad money sense, it’s bad politicking. Because whether she intended it to be or not, Block’s mail-out was divisive as hell. Any sensible politician would’ve known to a) tone down the rhetoric and b) include facts.

Trying to convince your constitu-ents to support something simply because you believe in it isn’t good politicking. If you want to win sup-port, a way better way to go about it is to give constituents cold, hard, empirical facts and let them make up their own minds. If you go looking

for said facts and can’t find any, well, that should tell you something. And over and above that, taking to task vulnerable individuals who are in need of our help is wildly bad policy.

Too bad Kelly Block didn’t know this. It probably would have saved her, her party, and her constituents a lot of grief.

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

C

@VerbSaskatoon

[email protected]


THE UNWELCOME WAGON This MP’s suggestion to end benefits for refugees is bad policy.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF KELLY BLOCK

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COMMENTS

ON TOPIC: Last week we asked what you thought about the govern-ment cutting non-Christian prison chaplains in federal jails. Here’s what you had to say:

Text your thoughts to881 VERB8372

– The harper governments recent cut to non-christian chaplains while planning on spending twenty five million to re brand a museum shows how little respect they have towards diversity and the wishes of the people.

– Wow harper government work-ing towards making this a fully christian country. This is abyssmal-ly stupid. Cut diversity to a already at risk populations is retarded.

– That’s terrible that the gov is cut-ting all non christian religious help in jail. So much for diversity!

– They should just cut all religious people from their payroll. This is federally funded! Why not let each jail organize it on behalf of their prisoners instead?

OFF TOPIC

– Interesting read on NDP can-didates though I still get feeling they’re all just talking heads.

In response to “A New Direction,” Local

page, #49 (October 12, 2012)

– Housing for the homeless is a fantastic idea! Mangano sounds incredibly progressive we learn from him

In response to “Home Sweet Home,” Edito-

rial page, #48 (October 5, 2012)

SOUND OFF

– To this day, I still think about making bannock for everybody…I would name it “Wonderbannock”.

I would make sure everyone get a piece of fry bread or baked ban-nock. Keeps you full for hours. You can go to work with bannock sandwhiches. U can have the ulti-mate hangover bannock munch-ies…other then all that BANNOCK IS GOOD FOR U!

– I was appalled at the number of texts in Verb this week decrying over the food hampers. People need to work together and take care of one another. How dare you assume that because someone said a hamper wasn’t full, they were a recipient and not donating! How dare you lecture someone saying they aren’t owed anything. Everyone needs a helping hand at some time, and we clearly need some empathy. Let’s pull together instead of pushing apart.

– All that mean hearted selfish greedy crap betrays what your people were over there and what you still are. Small desperate loser feudal peasants!

– Apparently you can take the peasant out of the Dark Ages but you can’t.......

– About the food hamper Whiner be greatful you received somethng For Nothing there are many work-ing Poor that contribute

– Camping out in tiny old houses with few or no utilities is DOWN-town!

– An oven in an electric stove is a DOWNtown campfire! We’re

thinking of having an oven party. Wienies potatoes beans marshmal-lows smores.

– The Bowery Boys were the origi-nal OOoold School DOWNtown crew. Comedy dramas. They might be on the net or NetFlix. Fairly good.

– “On The Bus” is DOWNtown! Good Job Elaine M. Will!

– Why dont you have the offbeat section anymore that was my favorite

– Abos in general we’ve always known the real cause of this scarcity is human inspired not The Great Spirit punishing us. It don’t play the same way on us!

– Take the bus. Really. How are we suposed to when the bus wont reach 3/4 of the industrial part of town where half the city works. Thats why we have the most ve-hicles per house hold

– I agree with text about Verb look-ing at metal/hardcore scene in city.

– The children the elderly the sick and the disabled this loser society is failing miserably at looking after its weaker members. NO SCAR-CITY HERE! LOSERS!

– Careful running yellow lights, seen an uptick in cops watching intersections.

– Know we’re Canadian but the US presidential debates are

fascinating to watch. Fascinating and utterly predictable and full of empty phrases. But still could you imagine Harper doing that?

– Instead of building condos on the university land maybe it could be converted into a park and ride. We need to alleviate traffic congestion in this city.

NEXT WEEK: What do you think about Kelly Block’s mail-out? Pick up a copy of Verb to get in on the conversation:

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

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Q + A

J

SLICING AND SPLICING Jennifer Wanner’s latest exhibitions tackle genetic modification. BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

BRASSICA RAPA, GLYCINE MAX, GOSSYPIUM HIRSUTUM, NICOTIANA TABACUM, ZEA MAYS 2009. WATERCOLOUR ON PAPER; 38.75” X 23.75. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF JENNIFER WANNER

ennifer Wanner’s art is impossible. For now, anyway. An attempt

to address cutting-edge work in genetics as well as our evolving relationship with nature, Wanner’s drawings of mutations and or-ganic fusion were inspired by her research into Dutch floral still life painters. I caught up with Wanner, who is based in Calgary, to talk about how art history can spark a discussion of our future.

Alex J MacPherson: Tell me about the connection between your watercolours and the Dutch still life painters.

Jennifer Wanner: I did a lot of reading and research when I was in graduate

school surrounding art history in Dutch floral still life painting. Through my research into that, I discovered that when Dutch floral still life painters would do these very intense renderings of their flowers, if you take a look at many of the bouquets, they are actually these very strange collages. I like to think of them as early surrealists in a way, because they would create these invented bouquets of flowers that would be blooming at different times of the year.

AJM: And that led you to genetics?

JW: That got me thinking about the way in which we very much do a similar thing, but on a more genetic and microscopic level, of genetic transfer science. I find it quite inter-

esting the way art and science borrow language from each other in a way. In collage, you’re slicing; in genetics,

you’re splicing. We slice the image in collage, then we can splice it together with another image to create a new modified whole … I found that quite interesting, how art and science meet.

AJM: Tell me about your process.

JW: Instead of going out into the field, I’m actually doing virtual

fieldwork. When I do print images off of the internet, I’ll print the whole image, cut it out, and reconfigure it into a new life form. Then I’ll do a collage maquette, glue it together, and then I measure off of this maquette to translate it into a watercolour. I me-ticulously measure with a ruler and plot that onto my watercolour paper. The drawing process takes just as long as the painting process. It’s very

scientific; I don’t trace or anything like that.

AJM: One thing that strikes me is that you offer few answers about the future of genetic work in Immuto.

JW: I’m not about being didactic in my work; I’m more about asking questions in my work. We do have

this huge problem called seven billion people we need to feed, and genetic modification is one of the supposed answers. I myself am very much an organic, local farmer supporter, and my whole garden is pesticide free, but there is this very big question: how are we going to feed seven billion people? Genetic modification began its life with an altruistic intention, but it ended up being the flipside of that.

AJM: And yet few, if any, of your per-sonal views are apparent in the exhibit.

JW: I like to leave questions. To me, the biggest function of art is to give debate and be open-ended. People can bring their own views to it.

Jennifer Wanner: Immuto Through November 10 @ Dunlop Art GalleryFree

@MacPhersonA

[email protected]


I found that quite interesting, how art and science meet.

JENNIFER WANNER

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ARTS

@MacPhersonA

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DEATH AND TAXESThe Stanfields write what they know. BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

D el Barber released his third album, Headwaters, more

than six months ago. He is still try-ing to understand what it is about, a process that begins with live per-formances. But, he says, “I haven’t been able to tour it properly yet. I have been mostly opening shows and playing folk festivals … I haven’t played a full set.”

Songs are born from a single mind and reared in the sterile, acoustical-ly-deadened solitude of a recording studio. Then, they are launched into the world. Barber is captivated by this idea, and the sense of commu-nity it implies. “[Songs] belong to people and not a person, because it can’t be boiled down to anything,” he says. “You can’t have an ultimate script of what songs are because they belong to culture. Despite what the law says, I don’t own them or the

meaning of them or the relationships other people have with them.”

Barber has lived in eight provinc-es and fifteen states. His accumulated experiences could fill reams of paper. The songs on Headwaters are the best of the best, transformed into simple poetry. But because he believes in the power of the song, he has devoted much of his time debunking the myth of the mysterious artist. (“They’re just people who are trying to redo their hardwood floors and cook better and get in car accidents,” he says.)

He does this by grabbing a Gibson and hopping onstage, where he spends between forty and sixty minutes swapping stories with an au-dience. Headwaters is a great country record, to be sure, but it is also an at-tempt to show the universal power of the song. Barber writes about simple subjects. “All my favourite songs in

the world make mundane things important again, or at least see more mundane characters realizing there is more meaning in your life than you’re willing to give it,” he says.

It is a shame that Barber hasn’t had more chances to play Headwa-ters. Maybe then people might grasp his idea that songs are just another way for us to feel close to each other, if only for a moment.

Del BarberOctober 27 @ The Artful Dodger$12 advance (ticketedge.ca); $15 door

I

PHOTO: COURTESY OF MARK MARYANOVICH

THEY HAVE A CLAIM Del Barber explores the meaning of the song. BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

PHOTO: COURTESY OF SCOTT BLACKBURN

f you ask most people, they’ll tell you that there are only

two certainties in life: death and taxes. Ask Jon Landry, and he’ll show you a third way. It’s called rock and roll.

Landry writes songs for and plays guitar in the Stanfields, a band from Nova Scotia. Their latest record, Death & Taxes, bridges the gap between raucous bar rock and mainstream sensation. Blending tra-ditional sounds and stories with con-

ventional instruments, the Stanfields’ music is often compared to that of the Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly. This is natural but wrong, Landry says, pointing to records like Ragged Glory, the garage rock mas-terpiece Neil Young and Crazy Horse released in 1990.

Death & Taxes is an engaging record for the same reason Ragged Glory is: it sounds live. Recording studios are notorious for dulling the sound of a live band; racks of com-pressors blunt the visceral gutpunch of spontaneous live performance. Landry rejects this.

“It’s like reverse engineering,” he says. “For me, I have this nit picky perfectionist attitude. Instead of that mentality, it’s like, ‘That sounds too perfect, let’s dig our hands in there and mess this up a little bit.’ Because that’s what we sound like live.”

Dancing around the big question of authenticity and honesty in music, Landry points out that the discus-

sions that spawned Death & Taxes focused on the band’s unwillingness to make a commercially viable re-cord. “I found so many times that I’d see a band, listen to their record, and it’s just pristine,” he says. “We didn’t want to do that.”

And they didn’t: Death & Taxes is raw and ragged and perfect. Best heard at top volume, it offers the band’s listeners some insight into where the Stanfields come from.

“The Boston States,” for example, tells of love during the American War of Independence; “Run on the Banks” is a devastating story of murder and retribution in the postwar Maritimes. “I guess I’m kind of a history buff and a news junkie,” Landry admits. “I draw inspiration from these things. As long as the world is turning, there is something I can see on the news or jog my memory back to something I read about in a book, there’s an overarching story there that can tie the past and help predict the future.

History works in a cycle, as they say.” And if that’s the case, we can expect more solid albums from the Stanfields.

The StanfieldsOctober 30 @ The Exchange$10 @ ticketedge.ca


10OCT 19 – OCT 25

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE »

ong before most bands record an album, issue a single or even play

a show, they dream of breaking into the United States. This is the holy grail for Canadian bands, the moment when success at home is eclipsed by international fame. It is a moment plenty of artists never get to experience; for Bend Sinister, a rock band from Vancou-ver, it is happening right now.

“I always say I never have any expectations with the music industry because it’s such an evil and fickle thing,” Dan Moxon, the band’s long-haired and heavily-bearded front-man, laughs when asked about play-ing south of the border. “So as long as we’ve got a team around us that’s helping out and as long as people want us to keep playing shows, I’ll keep doing it.”

Moxon, who is extremely modest, underestimates his band’s potential for success. In reality, Bend Sinister are one of the best rock bands work-ing in Canada. Their latest album,

Small Fame, was released in July. It is their best effort to date and it marks the culmination of more than a decade in the trenches — long days and late nights spent playing chaotic shows for gangs of rowdy college students. Now, Moxon and his band-mates are gearing up for another jaunt across Canada before taking the plunge below the 49th parallel.

Bend Sinister are a difficult band to classify, something Moxon is quick to acknowledge. “When I describe Bend Sinister, the first thing that comes up is the name,” he says, his naturally high voice wavering. “Often, some people find it doesn’t represent the music, because it sounds like it could be a metal band. I say we’re sort of an indie rock band that’s somewhat classically influenced, or classic rock-influenced, but with a more modern sound.”

That modern sound is largely a result of instrumentation. Moxon is a piano player; using a wide array of

synthesizers and effects, he creates a lush soundscape reminiscent of the electric pianos used on some of the biggest songs from the 1970s. Think of the Guess Who’s massive hit “These Eyes,” a song Bend Sinister covered several years ago.

But the real key to Bend Sinister’s sound is the way Moxon balances his buoyant synthesizer lines against the harder edge provided by bassist Matt Rhode, guitarist Joseph Blood, and drummer Jason Dana. Unlike Moxon, whose pop sensibilities land him somewhere in the Motown era, Dana, Blood, and Rhode are rockers: their influence transforms Bend Sinister from a contemporary R&B revival into something inde-scribably modern.

This balance is what makes Small Fame such a strong record. From “She Don’t Give It Up,” a straightforward piano-driven rocker, to “Quest For Love,” which sounds like Brian Eno making babies with Iron Maiden, Small Fame is a dynamic record full of surprises. Unlike the band’s previ-

ous efforts, which rarely strayed far from the rock-infused pop archetype, Small Fame covers a lot of ground. This is because Bend Sinister

are beginning to work as a single, cohesive unit.

“Whereas in the past I’ve written a lot of songs by myself on piano first, and then brought them to the band, I think the next record will be a joint venture,” Moxon says, adding that he mines everything from classical and jazz to rock and heavy metal for inspiration. “That’s what we did with Small Fame and I think it really helps showcase everybody’s abilities and talents. Basically, if I were to keep

writing, I’m sliding in the direction of Motown — a little more laid-back, stripped down — whereas Bend Sin-ister just screams ‘70s rock and roll.”

Nowhere is this more evident than on the album’s centrepiece, the pairing of “Hot Blooded Man” and “Black Magic Woman.” The former is a raucous, searing rock song, the latter a moody ballad best heard with the consciousness-expanding influ-ence of a late-night jazz cigarette. Together, these songs capture the breadth of what Bend Sinister can accomplish. “We play those togeth-er,” Moxon says. “It’s a really good dynamic changeover: one about

COVER

LSMALL FAME Bend Sinister make it big. BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

Maybe we’re starting something where we can be on the forefront of a new sound.

DAN MOXON

/VERBREGINA CULTURECONTENTS LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENTS Q + A ARTS COVER FOOD + DRINK MUSIC LISTINGS NIGHTLIFE FILM COMICS TIMEOUT

11OCT 19 – OCT 25

hot blooded men and one about evil women, one slow and one crazy fast and chaotic.”

This epic ten-minute romp through the history of rock and pop encapsulates the band’s musical vision — the seamless fusion of disparate influences. But it’s also

a roadmap, a glimpse of what the future holds for one of the brightest lights in Canadian music.

Today, that future is starting to become clear. After a stint in Canada this fall, Moxon, Rhode, Blood, and Dana will be taking their show south of the border. Moxon is understand-ably concerned.

“If you’ve got a unique sound and you’re not lumped in with a group

of bands or other people doing the same thing down there, it’s harder to find where you fit into things,” he says. “Are we a heavy rock band? Are we a pop band? What venues do we play? Sometimes, it’s confusing.”

Although the band’s distinctive sound could be a liability in the United States, it could also be an asset. Pointing out that the songs on Small Fame have been tested on the road since 2010, Moxon says the band is tighter than ever before.

“It gives us the ability to put on a very energetic live, loud show,” he explains. “We often get noted for be-ing one of the louder bands out there, which can sometimes be a curse if a place is small, but we try to put on a stadium-style show. We love what we do and I think it shows when you see it live.”

More importantly, he continues, “There are no big blowouts on tour.” Bands are notoriously volatile. Disas-ters result when creative sensibilities clash and personal rivalries poison relationships. Moxon, however, is confident that Bend Sinister won’t fall victim to the classic rock and roll implosion. “There are always little things here and there but I think

everybody’s keen and everybody’s doing things to promote the record and work for the band,” he says. “I think it’s the right group of guys to make a go of it.”

Bend Sinister are in an interesting position. Popular in Canada and unknown in the US, their tour of-fers a chance to carve a new path for themselves.

“Maybe twenty years down the line people will say, ‘Wow! That band was ahead of their time but they didn’t get the recognition they de-served!’” Moxon says. “Maybe we’re starting something where we can be on the forefront of a new sound.”

Maybe he doesn’t realize it, but they already are.

Bend SinisterOctober 30 @ O’Hanlons’s PubFree

PHOTO: COURTESY OF BRIAN VAN WYK

PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

@MacPhersonA

[email protected]



12OCT 19 – OCT 25

FOOD + DRINK

LATTE LOVE

LET’S GO DRINKIN’ VERB’S MIXOLOGY GUIDE

SPICED SPANISH COFFEE

As the temperature creeps low-er and the sky threatens snow, it’s nice to snuggle up with a warm and comforting beverage to stave off the chills. Nothing could be better for this than spiked coffee with the added autumnal aroma of nutmeg.

INGREDIENTS

½ oz. spiced rum½ oz. Triple Sec 1 oz. Kahlua brewed coffeedash of nutmegdash of cinnamonwhipped creamsugar to rim

DIRECTIONS

Mix some sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon together. Rim a coffee mug with this mixture. Add the rum, Triple Sec, and Kahlua to the mug and fill with hot coffee before topping with whipped cream. Add a dash of nutmeg and cinnamon on top of the whipped cream for a spicy flourish.

Photography courtesy of Danielle Tocker

ESignature coffees and tasteful teas at Rochdale Roca House BY JESSICA BICKFORD

FOOD + DRINK

@TheGeekCooks

[email protected]


The hints of sweetness in the latte mellowed the spices out.

JESSICA BICKFORD

Photography courtesy of Danielle Tocker

veryone needs a favou-rite coffee shop that offers them friendly

service, a wide variety of bever-age choices, and an ever changing display case full of tasty edibles for either a small lunch or an indulgent treat.

Rochdale Roca House should cer-tainly be in the running for those who find themselves in Regina’s north end, and Sunday is Belgian waffle day! Which could really only be beaten by Tuesday, which is coconut bun day, or Friday, which is cupcake day. I wholeheartedly support all of these initiatives to bring delicious home-made things to their customers.

I was lucky enough to score a white chocolate and cinnamon latte

cupcake. The icing was fabulously rich, sweet and smooth, and lightly flavoured with cinnamon and va-nilla. The cake itself was dense, and tasted of cinnamon and coffee with a

disk of creamy white chocolate cling-ing to the base. The flavour combina-tion was incredibly interesting, and the little cake was deliciously sweet and very tasty.

With the cupcake I had a pump-kin spice latte, which came topped with whipped cream, caramel sauce and spices. The aroma wafting off this latte was wonderfully comfort-

ing, and the rich coffee flavour had background notes of cinnamon, nutmeg and pumpkin. The hints of sweetness in the latte mellowed the spices out, and made this beverage perfect for chilly days.

Next I tasted Roca House’s chicken cranberry salsa wrap, which arrived on a crispy grilled spinach tortilla. The slightly spicy salsa and sweet tartness of the cranberries made this a great lunch option or even a hearty snack.

A flowers of paradise rooibos tea latte was with the wrap, and the tea had a wonderful floral aroma coming through the dense, frothy milk foam. The fresh and floral loose leaf tea was almost nectar-like, but the milk added a distinct richness to the drink.

I finished off with some home-made banana bread with chocolate chips, which was served warm with a bit of butter. A classic item that goes great with coffee, the banana bread was stuffed with chocolate chips that were ooey, gooey good, and worked perfectly with the strong banana flavour.

Along with this I had a nutty Roca House macadamia latte, which matched very well with the banana bread. A hint of chocolate and cara-mel sweetness played off the slightly bitter espresso, and the latte art was just about as lovely as the taste.

What really won me over was the fact that Rochdale Roca House has a whopping 47 varieties of loose leaf teas that they not only serve to you in tasty beverage form, but also to take home to brew yourself. Talk about options!

Rochdale Roca House1010 Pasqua Street N. | 545 6766

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

13OCT 19 – OCT 25

MUSIC

PHOTOS COURTESY OF: THE ARTIST / CHRIS MCKAY / THE ARTIST

COMING UPNEXT WEEK

ASHLEY MACISAAC

Ashley MacIsaac may be no stranger to controversy. He may have admitted to a drug addiction, flashed his genitals on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and went crazy at a rave in Halifax. But here’s the thing: there’s no one out there who plays a fiddle like he does. Ever since his album Hi, How Are You Today? dropped in 1995, MacIsaac’s wildly different approach to fiddle playing has been on full (frontal) display. The enfant terrible of the fiddle scene, MacIsaac has won Junos, made multi-platinum records and can easily be counted as one of the best, most original people to ever pick up a fiddle. Don’t believe me? Give his latest album, Crossover, a listen. Better yet, head down to the Artesian and see the guy live. Advance tickets at picatic.com.

@ ARTESIAN ON 13THFRIDAY, OCTOBER 26TH – $33 (ADVANCE) /

$38 @ THE DOOR

What’s your favorite Wiz Khal-ifa song? “Should I Feel Bad” … “Goodbye” … maybe “Say Yeah?” If you’re Verb scribe Alex MacPher-son the correct answer is “The Thrill.” Dude loves that song. Loves. It. And for good reason. See, rapper Wiz Khalifa (aka Cameron Jibril Thomaz) is a star on the rise. His single “Black and Yellow” hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and, in 2011, he was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards. Not too shabby for a kid born in Minto, North Dakota. Wiz Khalifa kicks off his North American tour this week, where he will eventually land in Regina to lift the roof off the Brandt Centre. For more information about the show or to purchase tickets, check out www.ticketmaster.ca.

WIZ KHALIFA

Consisting of singer/guitar-ist Dean Povinsky, Graham Plant (guitar), Dwayne Christie (drums), Derek Bosomworth (bass, vocals) and Tim Daugulis (keyboard, synth), this indie rock outfit from Ontario has been making quite a name for themselves since they put out their debut album, Strike Hard, Young Diamond, on the independent label Easy Tiger Music. Their sound is big and bold and catchy. With lyrics that will stick your head and music that will fill you full of energy, this band is bound to win fans across the country when they set out on tour with The Wooden Sky. You won’t want to miss either of these bands-on-the-rise when they pull into town and take to the Artesian stage; tickets are avail-able at www.picatic.com.

– By Adam Hawboldt

WILDLIFE

@ BRANDT CENTRETHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1ST – $48+

@ ARTESIAN ON 13THSUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25TH – $15

SASK MUSIC PREVIEWSaskMusic, with the help of the provincial government, has launched a new investment program designed to help the Sas-katchewan music industry by providing funding for recording, tour support, marketing initiatives and more. Applications can come from commercial artists or recording industry profes-sionals; initial applications are due by November 15, 2012. See saskmusic.org for more information.

Keep up with Saskatchewan music. saskmusic.org

MUSIC

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

14OCT 19 – OCT 25

The most complete live music listings for Regina.

OCTOBER 19 » OCTOBER 27

19 20

26 2724 2522 2321

LISTINGS

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

GET LISTED

[email protected]

FRIDAY 19CATHERINE MACLELLAN / Creative City

Centre — You don’t get much better than

this east-coast folk singer/songwriter.

7:30pm / $17 in advance, $20 at the door

CARA LUFT / The Club — This folk singer/

songwriter is incredible. 8:30pm / Cover $12

DJ PAT & DJ KIM / Habano’s — Local DJs

spin top 40 hits every Friday night. 9pm

/ $5 cover

ALAIN LALONDE / The Hookah Lounge

— Come check out this dope local DJ/

producer. 7pm / The Hookah Lounge

JOHN MCCUAIG BAND / McNally’s Tavern

— Come out for a night of great Cana-

dian rock and roll. 10pm / Cover $5

BLACK MASTIFF / O’Hanlon’s — Some

good old-fashioned, hard-hitting rock

out of Edmonton. 9pm / No cover

ALBERT / Pure — Appearing every Friday

night, come listen to Albert as he does his

spinning thing. 10pm / $5 cover

WONDERLAND / The Sip — A night of

classic rock and one-hit-wonders from

one of the finest acts in town. 10pm / No

charge if in attendance by 6pm

CHRIS HENDERSON / Whiskey Saloon

— This singer/songwriter and his band

rock. 8pm / Cover $5

DJ LONGHORN / Whiskey Saloon —

Check out this interactive DJ. 8pm / $10

SATURDAY 20MATTHEW DE ZOETE, MARK CEASER / Creative City Centre — Come see what

these musicians are about. 8pm / Cover $10

HIWAY 45, TONGUE JUNGLE / The

Exchange — Come check out these two

talented acts! 8pm / Cover TBD

JOHN MCCUAIG BAND / McNally’s Tavern

— Come out for a night of great Cana-

dian rock and roll. 10pm / Cover $5

DJ NOOR / The Hookah Lounge — This

talented DJ knows how to rock a crowd.

7pm / $5 cover

DREWSKI / Pure Ultra Lounge — Doing

what he does best, every Saturday night.

10pm / $5 cover

WONDERLAND / The Sip — A night of

classic rock and one-hit-wonders. 10pm

/ No charge if in attendance by 6pm

CHRIS HENDERSON / Whiskey Saloon

— This singer/songwriter and his band

rock. 8pm / Cover $5

SUNDAY 21SEPTIC FLESH, KRISIUN MELECHESH, EX DIO, INQUISITION / The Exchange —

Come out for a night of hard-hitting mu-

sic. 7pm / Tickets $27.50 (ticketedge.ca)

MONDAY 22MONDAY NIGHT JAZZ AND BLUES / Bushwakker Brewpub — Featuring The

Ministry of Groove, playing 1970’s jazz

funk. 8pm / No cover

DENNIS NYKOLIATION / Casino Regina —

Manitoba’s favourite old-time, country

and prairie dance band! 7pm / Tickets

$10 (www.casinoregina.com)

TUESDAY 23FRED EAGLESMITH / Artesian on 13th —

A rebel rocker with an awesome body

of work, Eaglesmith puts on a rollicking

show you don’t to miss. 8pm / SOLD OUT

AIDAN KNIGHT / The Artful Dodger —

Playing a rustic brand of experimental

folk, this Victoria-based act is al kind

of good. 7:30pm / Tickets $10 advance

(www.ticketedge.ca), $15 at the door

TROUBADOUR TUESDAYS / Bocados —

Come check out some live tunes from

local talents every week. 8pm / No cover

MARIANAS TRENCH / Brandt Centre —

Don’t miss his Juno-nominated pop-punk

act from Vancouver. 7pm / Tickets

$42.50+ (www.ticketmaster.ca)

RAIN / Conexus Arts Centre — Come out

for this amazing Beatles tribute. 7:30pm /

Tickets $55.50+ (www.admission.ca)

KARAOKE TUESDAY / McNally’s Tavern

— Live music venue offers its patrons a

chance on the stage. 8pm / No cover

INK ROAD / O’Hanlon’s — Come rock the

night away with this local pop/alt/rock

act. 9pm / No cover

WEDNESDAY 24WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOLK / Bushwakker

Brewpub — Featuring Becky and the Jets.

9pm / No cover

THE AWESOME HALLOWEEN SHOW / The

Exchange — Featuring Greater Than

Giants, Colfax, The Argent Strand and

Cleanse Kill. 8pm / $10 advance, $12 door

JAM NIGHT AND OPEN STAGE / McNally’s

Tavern — Come on down and enjoy

some local talent. 9pm / No cover

THURSDAY 25BILL ANDERSON / Casino Regina — A

world class songwriter, Whispering Bill

is also a an accomplished country musi-

cian. Tickets $30+ (casinoregina.com)

DEEP DARK WOODS / The Exchange —

An alt-country band from Saskatoon that

puts one heckuva show. 7pm / Tickets

$18 (www.ticketedge.ca)

DECIBEL FREQUENCY / Gabbo’s Nightclub

— Dig electronic dance music? Then

break out your dancing shoes and get

down to Gabbo’s. 10pm / Cover $5

PS FRESH / The Hookah Lounge — DJ

Ageless and DJ Drewski have come

together to sling some bomb beats. 7pm

/ No cover

OPEN MIC NIGHT / King’s Head Tavern —

Come out and show Regina what you got.

8pm / No cover

SWITCH, WHATEVER / McNally’s Tavern

— Come out and support some damn fine

local musicians. 8:30pm / Cover $5

SHEILA DECK / Pump Roadhouse — This

local country artist is getting ready to

take the world of contemporary country

radio by storm. 10pm / Cover TBD


Come check out one of Regina’s most

interactive DJs. 8pm / Cover $5

SARAH BETH KEELEY / Whiskey Saloon —

Country meets rock, with smattering of

pop. 8pm / Cover $5

FRIDAY 26ASHLEY MACISAAC / Artesian on 13th —

This Cape Breton talent puts on a helluva

show. 8pm / $33 advance, $38 at the

door (www.pictatic.com)

BOYZ II MEN / Casino Regina — This

Grammy-winning, multi-platinum group

put on a show you can’t afford to skip.

8pm / Tickets $60+ (casinoregina.com)

EDEN ROHATENSKY / Creative City

Centre — This local musician is throwing

a party for the release of her debut EP,

Hobbies. 8pm / Cover 10

DJ PAT & DJ KIM / Habano’s Martini &

Cocktail Club — Local DJs spin top 40

hits every Friday. 9pm / $5 cover

ALAIN LALONDE / The Hookah Lounge

— Come check out this dope local DJ/

producer as he does his thing. 7pm / The

Hookah Lounge

SLOW MOTION WALTER / McNally’s Tav-

ern — Playing hits from the 80s to today.

10pm / Cover $5

ALBERT / Pure Ultra Lounge — Come

listen to Albert as he does his spinning

thing. 10pm / $5 cover

DANGEROUS CHEESE / The Sip — If the

80’s are your thing, don’t miss his quirky

party band. 10pm / No charge if in at-

tendance by 6pm

BRANDY MOORE / Smokin’ Okies BBQ —

Live tunes in Queen City. 8pm / Cover $5

SARAH BETH KEELEY / Whiskey Saloon —

Country meets rock, with smattering of

pop.8pm / Cover $5


Come check out one of Regina’s most

interactive DJs. 8pm / Cover $10

SATURDAY 27DEL BARBER / The Artful Dodger — An

alt-country/folk singer/songwriter ooz-

ing talent and stage presence. 7:30pm /

$10 advance (ticketedge.ca), $15 door

RSO MASTERWORKS: RUSSIA’S GREATEST / Conexus Arts Centre — From Tchai-

kovsky to Shostakovich. 8pm / Tickets

$33-63 (www.reginasymphony.com)

THE EMPIRE ASSOCIATES, MEGHAN BOWMAN, KEIFFER MCLEAN / Creative

City Centre — Three great Saskatchewan

acts on one stag. Come see what they’re

all about. 8pm / Cover $10

FEAST OF SCREAMS 2012 / The Exchange

— Featuring Threat Signal, End Program,

Itchy Stitches, Contaminate and more!

8pm / $10 (available at Vintage Vinyl)

SLOW MOTION WALTER / McNally’s Tav-

ern — Playing hits from the 80s to today.

10pm / Cover $5

DJ NOOR / The Hookah Lounge — This

talented DJ knows how to rock a crowd.

7pm / $5 cover

DREWSKI / Pure Ultra Lounge — Doing

what he does best, every Saturday night.

Come on down and dance the night

away with this local DJ. 10pm / $5 cover

DANGEROUS CHEESE / The Sip — If the

80’s are your thing, don’t miss his quirky

party band. 10pm /Cover TBD

OPEN JAM SESSIONS / Smokin’ Okies

BBQ — If you play an instrument, drop

by for a jam. If not, stop buy and just

listen. 3pm / No cover

SARAH BETH KEELEY / Whiskey Saloon

— Country meets rock, with smatter-

ing of pop, in this Calgary musician’s

music.8pm / Cover $5

S M T W T

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

15OCT 19 – OCT 25

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14 @

BROKENRACKThe Broken Rack3860 Albert Street(306) 585 2760

MUSIC VIBE / Top 40sDRINK OF CHOICE / Pints of beerTOP EATS / Wings or nachos

Photography by Klein Photography – [email protected]

NIGHTLIFE


16OCT 19 – OCT 25

PHOTO: COURTESY OF SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT

[A]nother thing that torpedoed this movie was the … lack of suspense.

ADAM HAWBOLDT

ALEX CROSS

DIRECTED BY Rob Cohen

STARRING Tyler Perry, Matthew Fox +

Edward Burns

90 MINUTES | PG


@AdamHawboldt

[email protected]

FILM

W

Without Morgan Freeman or a sensible plot, the latest Alex Cross movie falls flat. BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

NOT WORTH A TRIP ACROSS THE STREET

hoever is respon-sible for this new movie, Alex Cross,

should be locked in stocks.Okay, maybe that’s a tad exces-

sive, but I couldn’t help myself. Alex Cross is so monumentally bad that words are beginning to fail me. Public punishment and/or humili-ation seems like the only sensible recourse left.

Now, you may be thinking “Al-right, Mr. Overreaction … just relax. Take a deep breath. The movie can’t be as bad you’re making it out to be.” Oh yes it can!

In fact, Alex Cross is, hands down, with the shadow of a doubt, the worst movie I’ve seen this year, maybe even the worst I’ve seen in the last couple of years.

What makes it so bad? Well, let’s start with the casting of the main character. The last time we saw psy-chologist/detective Dr. Alex Cross, he was in a movie called Along Came a Spider; the time before that he was in Kiss The Girls.

In both of those films, Dr. Cross was played by the always watch-able, though only sometimes bril-liant, Morgan Freeman.

But since Freeman is getting on in years, the powers that be decided to revamp the Cross series (all based on James Patterson’s best-selling thriller novels). They decided to go back in time and do an origins story, of sorts. So naturally they cast Tyler Perry in the lead.

That’s right, the guy who directs and stars in all the Madea movies is

the same guy they chose to hunt a psychotic assassin/serial killer. Ye gods!

Don’t get me wrong. Tyler Perry is a bankable star who plays likable characters that, in truth, make me chuckle from time to time. But cast-ing him in this role is kind of like casting Woody Allen as Hannibal Lecter. Or Bruce Willis to play Mar-tin Luther King, Jr.

Again, that’s a little over the top, but you get the point.

Moving right along … another thing that torpedoed this movie was the complete and utter lack of suspense.

You’d think that a thriller would be suspenseful, right? Wrong.

Not once during the hour and a half running time will you think to yourself “what’s going to happen next?” Not once will you bite your nails or sit on the edge of your seat.

The only thing that will keep you guessing is how, in the name of all things sacred, Dr. Cross can’t catch a clumsy killer who is known simply as “Picasso.”

Played by Matthew Fox, Picasso is an assassin hired to take out high-profile targets.

He’s a real whack-job, this guy. Gets a kick out of torturing his tar-gets before he kills them, and then leaves charcoal sketches at crime scenes. Which, admittedly, in the right hands, could’ve lent the film an eerie, tense feel.

But here’s the thing: Picasso also leaves behind a path of evidence and clues so in-your-face and trace-

able that my half-blind little cousin could see them. I kid you not.

And I think that’s the main rea-son this film grated on me so much.

It wasn’t Tyler Perry in the lead so much as it was the dead, lifeless, silly way the plot unfolded. The ut-ter lack of tension took the piss out of the entire thing. Unfortunately.

Bring back Freeman. Until then, Alex Cross is a miss for me.

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

17OCT 19 – OCT 25

R


@AdamHawboldt

[email protected]

emember Neil Young’s song “Helpless?”

You know, the one with the verse that goes, “There is a town in north Ontario / With dream, comfort, memory to spare /And in my mind I still need a place to go / All my changes were there.”

Well, in Jonathan Demme’s new Neil Young film, Journeys, we get to see the iconic singer/songwriter visit that northern town he sings about. It’s called Omemee, it’s Young’s birthplace, and he takes us on a tour of it with his brother Bob both on foot and in a classic 1956 Ford Crown Victoria. They inspect old haunts, laugh about old stories (especially the one about Neil being convinced to eat tar) and, at times, sadly reminisce about how much things have changed around Ome-mee. Simply put, Demme (Philadel-phia, Silence of the Lambs) gives us an honest, intimate and unpreten-tious look at the famous rocker in his old stomping grounds.

Too bad there’s not more of these looks. You see, while Neil Young: Journeys, is part travelogue/journey into the past, it’s only a small part. Like 20 percent small.

The rest of the movie focuses on a pair of concerts Young puts on at the historic Massey Hall in Toronto. And what concerts they are.

For casual Neil Young fans, there are a smattering of his old hits. Everything from “Ohio” to “Hey Hey My My” to “After the Gold Rush.” For those who consider themselves seri-ous-to-diehard Neil Young admirers,

he plays a lot of tracks off his 2010 album Le Noise, the one produced by Daniel Lanois (whom Rolling Stone magazine called “the most important record producer to emerge in the Eighties”). Oh, and there’s even a heartfelt, yet-to-be-released rendi-tion of his piano ballad, “Leia.”

All these songs are played solo. No Crazy Horse. Just Neil Young, his instruments and a voice that seemingly hasn’t changed a lick in decades.

Demme captures this concert brilliantly. Starting in the dressing room before the show, he gives us a glimpse of Young’s pre-concert ritual. We see him in a dark corner, seated at a table, drinking tea for his voice. Drinking a beer. Sucking on a lemon.

We follow Young onstage to where Demme has positioned small cameras on the microphone and in-

side the piano. The result? We get a serious up-close-and-personal look at the singer/songwriter on stage. Everything from his stubble to his cavities to the beads of sweat on his forehead and the hair in his nostrils.

And trust me, while these offbeat angles can be a tad unnerving at times, they — in no way, shape or form — detract from the over-all awesomeness of Neil Young: Journeys. Ok, sure: it’s not quite as good as both of Demme’s other documentaries about Young (2006’s Neil Young: Heart of Gold and 2009’s Neil Young Trunk Show). But Journeys is still mesmerizing and hella good. The kind of film that both fans and Neil Young neophytes will enjoy.

Neil Young: Journeys opens Octo-ber 25th at Regina Public Library. See reginalibrary.ca for showtimes.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

Demme…gives us an honest, intimate and unpretentious look at the famous rocker in his old stomping grounds.

ADAM HAWBOLDT

A JOURNEY WITH NEILA new documentary about Neil Young offers an intimate portrait of the music icon. BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

NEIL YOUNG: JOURNEYS

DIRECTED BY Jonathan Demme

STARRING Neil Young

87 MINUTES | G


18OCT 19 – OCT 25

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

COMICS

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

19OCT 19 – OCT 25

TIMEOUTTIMEOUT

CROSSWORDACROSS1. Serve a drink

5. Mark points on a graph

9. Animal with a long head

10. Object-locating

equipment

12. Dessert similar to

a frappé

13. Continental glacier

15. Shot of liquor

16. Cattle moving together

18. Fasten with rope

19. Clearing of the

throat sound

21. Eggs

22. The location of a

property

23. Captain of industry

25. Morally correct

27. Troop withdrawal

29. God (with “The”)

32. Adam’s needle, for one

36. Gradient in a road

37. Small powerful boat

39. Game played riding

horses

40. ___ rule

41. Lion features

43. Cooking container

44. Small fact

46. Pass by

48. Fight against

49. Business concern

50. Say is not true

51. Wide-mouthed water

pitcher

DOWN1. Hospital employee

2. Sphere

3. Accustomed

4. Modelled on a style of

fashion from the past

5. Not for other people to

know about

6. Delicate fabric

7. Lyric poem

8. Skillful move

9. Fuss

11. Indian salad

12. Attempt

14. Beauty treatment

17. Swarming

20. Lesson taught by a

fable

22. A physical exercise

24. Light meshwork fabric

26. Winter feed

28. 100 percent

29. Pieces punched out of

a punch card

30. Vertical part of a step

31. Ecstatic

33. Reddish-brown metal

34. Group taught together

35. Top-notch

38. Birds flying in a V

formation

41. One’s general appear-

ance

42. Cabbage salad

45. Primate

47. Type of beer

CANADIAN CRISS-CROSS

HOROSCOPES OCTOBER 19 – OCTOBER 25

© WALTER D. FEENER 2012

SUDOKUA B

SUDOKU ANSWER KEY

A

B

5 4 6 8 1 3 7 2 93 1 7 2 9 6 8 4 52 9 8 4 7 5 3 6 16 7 5 3 2 8 9 1 48 3 4 1 5 9 6 7 29 2 1 6 4 7 5 3 81 6 3 9 8 4 2 5 74 5 9 7 6 2 1 8 37 8 2 5 3 1 4 9 6

6 5 1 8 7 9 3 2 42 3 8 4 6 1 5 9 79 7 4 3 5 2 8 6 18 6 7 9 4 5 1 3 21 9 2 7 3 6 4 5 85 4 3 1 2 8 9 7 67 1 9 6 8 3 2 4 54 8 5 2 9 7 6 1 33 2 6 5 1 4 7 8 9

6 3 7 2 93 1 2 9 4 7 6 6 2 8 9 1 48 3 5 2 7 5 1 9 8 74 5 3 8 5 1 4 6

5 8 9 3 42 8 1 7 2 8 6 9 3 2 3 6 4 5 5 4 3 1 9 7 1 6 2 8 5 9 7 6 1 4 7

TIMEOUT

CROSSWORD ANSWER KEY

ARIES March 21–April 19

Change is constant, Aries, so don’t

resist it. Especially this week.

Instead, embrace alterations as an oppor-

tunity to start things anew.

TAURUS April 20–May 20

In boxing, one of the first defensive

things you learn is how to roll with

the punches. Here’s hoping you figure out

how to roll with life’s punches this week.

GEMINI May 21–June 20

Things been hectic for you lately,

Gemini? Feel like a one-legged

person in an arse-kicking contest? Breath

easy — things will slow down soon.

CANCER June 21–July 22

Have you been getting agitated

lately, Cancer? If so, blow off some

steam this week. Go have a drink with

some friends, check out a show, have fun!

LEO July 23–August 22

Things may be getting stale lately,

Leo, so why not change it up. Try

something new this week. An activity, a

new type of food, anything.

VIRGO August 23–September 22

Inspiration: sometimes you have

to chase it down with a stick, other

times it chases you. This week, Virgo,

prepare to be chased.

LIBRA September 23–October 23

Wanna do something spontaneous

this week, Libra? Throw a party.

A big, ol’ bash. You could meet someone

who will change your life.

SCORPIO October 24–November 22

You will meet a tall dark stranger

this week, Scorpio. Or maybe it’ll

be a short, light one. Who knows — just

remember, though, to be friendly.

SAGITTARIUS November 23–December 21

Have you had your eye on some-

thing for awhile? Something that

you just have to have? Well, Sagittarius,

this is the week. Enjoy!

CAPRICORN December 22–January 19

Frustration is going the be a word

that comes to mind an awful lot

this week, Capricorn. So grit your teeth,

clench your jaw, and get ready for a doozy.

AQUARIUS January 20–February 19

What’s your biggest fear, Aquari-

us? The thing that scares you the

most? This week, figure the answer to

that, then face it. The time is now.

PISCES February 20–March 20

Patience is a virtue, young grass-

hopper — especially this week.

But patient you must be, Pisces. For your

good and the good of those around you.

VERBNEWS.COM

Documents

Verb Issue R50 (Oct. 19-25, 2012)