Verb Issue S222 (Jan. 11-17, 2013)

Issue #222 – January 11 to January 17

arts culture music saskatoon

Photo: courtesy of mark cohene

a freshstartwith hannah georgas

Behind the scenes the making of a Blades’ documentary

Johnny don’t on Sex Barbecue and breaking the rules

gangster squad + take this waltz films reviewed

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2Jan 11 – Jan 17

contentscontentscontents

Please recycle after reading & sharing

Behind the scenesAn intimate look at the making of a Blades’ documentary. 4 / local

the wrong thing at the right timeJason Hattie’s biggest gamble. 6 / local

dearly departing Our thoughts on moving urban cem-eteries. 8 / editorial

commentsHere’s what you had to say about the war on Christmas. 10 / comments

q + a with Johnny don’tMike Colli talks Sex Barbecue. 12 / q + a

nightlife photos We visit Pacific Billiards and Béily’s. 22-25 / nightlife

listingsLocal music listings for January 11 through January 19 18 / listings

gangster squad + take this waltz The latest movie reviews. 20 / film

on the Bus Weekly original comic illustrations by Elaine M. Will. 26 / comics

girls! girls! girls!Local playwright explores the nu-ances of women’s friendships. 13 / arts

tantilizing teriyakiDiane’s Kitchen serves up Seattle-style teriyaki. 16 / food + drink

musicTequila Mockingbird Orchestra, Powder Blue + BA Johnston. 17 / music

on symphoniesKirk Smith on performing The Great, Schubert’s Ninth. 14 / arts

on the cover: hannahgeorgasA new album, a new beginning. 14 / coVer

games + horoscopesCanadian criss-cross puzzle, horoscopes, and Sudoku. 27 / timeout

culture entertainmentnews + oPinion

Verbnews.com@verBsaskatoon faceBook.com/verBsaskatoon

editorialPublisher / ParIty PuBlIshIngeditor in chief / ryan allanmanaging editor / JessIca Patruccostaff writers / adam hawBoldt + alex J macPherson

art & productiondesign lead / roBerta BarrIngtondesign & Production / BrIttney grahamcontributing PhotograPhers / PatrIck carley, chrIstIan cortez, 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

Photo: courtesy of trIstan casey

contents

Photo: courtesy of trIstan casey

Verb magazine

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4Jan 11 – Jan 17

Continued on next page »

local

Behind the sceneshe Credit Union Centre is silent, save for the sound of AC/DC’s

“Thunderstruck” blaring from deep within the arena’s bowels.

It’s 3pm on New Year’s Day, and in dressing room #3 Jeff Newman is preparing to give his team a pep talk. But this isn’t the kind of team you’d normally find in a hockey dressing room. No, Newman’s team — comprised of a handful of cam-eramen, a sound guy named Lanny and Newman himself, the writer/director — is in Saskatoon, making a documentary called On the Edge, which airs on SportsNet.

The subject?An intimate, eight-part look

at the Saskatoon Blades and their march to the Memorial Cup. Today they’ll be shooting footage of the Blades’ game against the Medicine Hat Tigers. The music in the dress-ing room is turned off as Newman begins his speech.

“Alright,” says Newman to his team, who are huddled around him, listening to him as though he’s a coach or something. “Tonight I want you all to shoot in the moment. Really commit to it. Stick with it.

Try not to just follow the puck, even though I know it goes against all your instincts.”

And Newman is right. His team consists of veteran sports camera-men whose natural tendency is to follow the play in order to capture the flow of the game. But what Newman is after isn’t flow, it’s the essence of the game.

“Always pay attention, always be listening, always be on the look-out for those little moments that will help make this thing unique,” advises Newman. “Don’t be afraid to take risks. Stay focused on a player after the whistle, on a goalie throwing a water bottle after a goal, on a ref. Whatever you think will work.”

One of the cameramen to New-man’s left pipes up and says, “How about the fans? Last game against PA there were those three fans who were in front of me, jumping up and down, always moving. What do we do about that?”

“That,” responds Newman, “is great. If you get a silhouette of fans, stay with it. We want that stuff. We want the dirty glass, we want to see the dividers. We’re not just film-

ing an ordinary hockey game here, fellas. We’re trying to give our view-ers a new, fresh perspective.”

One of the keys to gaining this fresh perspective is a tall, slender cameraman named Mark Utley.

Fifteen minutes after the pep talk, Utley is in the Blades’ dressing room.

He moves freely through a place that is normally off-limits to outsid-ers. On the far end of the room, Utley reaches into leading scorer Josh Nich-oll’s stall and grabs a pair of shoulder pads. He takes them to the trainer’s station, lays the shoulder pads down, and places a microphone on them.

“This is the front, right?” he kids, then pulls a long stick of black hockey tape from a roll and begins securing the microphone to the pads.

Utley is nearly finished attach-ing the mic when the team’s trainer, Steve “Hilty” Hildebrand, approaches. “What are you doing touching my equipment?” he asks. Hildebrand’s tone is serious, but you can instantly tell he’s joking. Utley cracks wise back, then the two get into a short conversa-tion about pressure points, pain and the Blades’ recent Christmas party.

tthe making of a Blades documentary By adam hawBoldt

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5Jan 11 – Jan 17

And while this may seem like a normal interaction to most, here’s the thing: very few people on Utley’s side of the camera have ever had the kind of access to a WHL team that he does.

For all intents and purposes, he’s the eyes and ears of the entire On the Edge operation. He travels with the Blades on the team bus, he stays at the hotel with them, he films road games and all the behind-the-scenes action that takes place — good and bad — while the Blades are away from Saskatoon.

At home, things are a bit differ-ent. Before games, Utley is in the dressing room filming coach Lorne Molleken’s pep talks. In between periods, he’s back in the dressing room filming. And while games in the Credit Union Centre are being played, Utley films from the omi-nously named “suicide box” — an area next to the Blades’ bench with no protective glass, from which he takes action shots of the bench.

“Simply put, Mark is essential to this whole operation,” says Newman, “He knows everything there is to know about the team. He brings us fantastic insider story ideas, does all the road games, is really entrenched

in the team … without him, this wouldn’t be the show it is.”

So what kind of documentary is Over the Edge?

Well, according to Newman, it’s kind of like HBO’s 24/7 series, which follows two professional hockey teams in the weeks leading up to the annual Winter Classic. The thing is,

though, Newman is in the process of making a show with a much differ-ent look and feel than 24/7.

“This is grittier,” he explains, as the puck drops to start the Blades vs. Medicine Hat game. “We have differ-ent access than HBO does with that series. Maybe better access. So we want to give people a warts-and-all look at this team. It’s like a family with these guys. There are highs and lows,

laughs and fights. And we want to show all of that.”

Which means, from time to time, Newman may not be the Blades’ favourite person.

“Oh, after the first episode aired, some people weren’t overly happy with me,” he says. “But I’m going to have to be the bad guy every now and then. That’s the only way I can tell a balanced, true story here. So not being

everyone’s favourite all the time is just something you have to get used to.”

Another thing Newman has to get used to is a hands-off approach to directing. Admittedly, in the past, he’s had a more hands-on, micro-managing style. So much so that, on another documentary project, he once grabbed a camera off a guy’s shoulder and started shooting himself. But with five cameras set up around the rink

for the game against Medicine Hat, Newman knows he’ll end up with a better finished product if he just lets his camera team do its own thing — with minimal supervision.

“It’s all about the letting go,” he explains, as he flits about the Credit Union Centre, going from camera to camera to ensure everything is running smoothly. “I trust my team, I trust them to get the footage we need. So I don’t get too hands-on dur-ing the game unless something out of the ordinary comes up.”

Something out of the ordinary like what happened against Medicine Hat. The Blades were comfortably ahead (they would go on to win 7-3) late in the game, when one of the Saskatoon players got drilled into the boards from behind. He lay there on the ice, not moving. Skirmishes

ensued. And before you could say “holy crap, that was a cheap shot,” Jeff Newman was up, running down stairs, turning corners at break-neck speed, heading to the dressing room to film that unique moment that hap-pens after a player has just been hurt and taken off the ice. The moment viewers rarely get to see.

Lucky for him, Utley, his ace in the hole, had already leapt out of the sui-cide box and had the camera trained on the young hockey player as he told the trainer that he was “okay, just got real shook up for a bit.”

i’m going to have to be the bad guy every now and then. that’s the only way i can tell a balanced, true story here.

Jeff newman

@adamhawboldt

[email protected]

feedback? text it! (306) 881 8372

Photo: courtesy of steve hIscock


6Jan 11 – Jan 17


local

the wrong thing at the right time

Jason hattie’s biggest gamble By alex J macPherson

J ason Hattie is really good at doing the wrong thing. When his friends

were going to lame high school parties, he was figuring out how to survive as a touring musician. He immersed himself in dance music when dance music was profoundly uncool. He joined a German techno band when he was supposed to be studying jazz — and when no one wanted to hear German techno bands. Fortunately for Hattie, he always seems to do the wrong thing at exactly the right time.

“I hate being told what to do,” Hattie sighs, leaning back and running a hand through his long blondish hair. It’s a Friday after-noon. A few hours from now, he will be onstage wearing leopard print pants and absurd sunglasses while hundreds of people writhe on the dance floor; right now, he just looks tired. “I’m good at rebelling from what I’m meant to do, especially in an academic situation. I just kind of fell in love with dance music because it was the anti-jazz. Then I fell so in

love with its simplicity and its hooks and its catchiness. The more I got into it, the more I got into all the other ele-ments of it. Stuff beyond music.”

He couldn’t have known it five years ago, but his infatuation with

electronic dance music would give rise to the project that could define his career. Or bring it tumbling down.

Hattie’s project, Hairdu Records, is a label dedicated to releasing and promoting dance music from across western Canada. A record label is a concept, an idea. Big ones have office buildings and thousands of employees, but their mandate is

identical to the countless labels headquartered in basements and kept afloat by sheer stubbornness: release good music and share it with as many people as possible. The idea is simple. People who like one artist

will probably like others on the same label. It is a mutually benefi-cial arrangement, one Hattie thinks is long overdue in Saskatchewan.

“There was a need within my group of peers and friends,” he says. “There was that spot to be filled that hadn’t been filled.” But taking up space is just the beginning. To be successful, every record label needs three things: a viable market, employees with a broad set of skills,

the one thing i’ve learned lately is that there aren’t many people out there that are going to do any of the work for you.

Jason hattIe

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@macphersona

[email protected]


and a group of like-minded artists willing to trade control for the prom-ise of a long-term benefit.

Hattie discovered the market when his band, 911 Turbo, began to find success. At the time, live dance music was deeply unpopular. “I think a lot of musicians have it in their heads that it’s some big evil or sellout, something they don’t want to do,” he says. “They think they’re sacrificing something about their heritage.” He pauses for a moment before adding, “And so over the last four years I’ve just been getting more and more and more and more into it.” An epic show in Vancouver showed Hattie that the idea was vi-able and convinced him to keep 911 Turbo alive, even though he was also working in a band called Mobadass (now The Steadies). “Vancouver was going off about 911 Turbo,” he laughs. “It was f*cked. We were like, ‘Okay, we should probably keep doing this.’”

He learned how to run a busi-ness after many false starts and even more wrong turns. Hattie, who is 25, has been playing and

recording music for more than a decade; he learned years ago that success is more than just a good song. “A lot of people that grew up in the eighties and nineties started learning music, started getting this dream in their heads that music was just this thing where it’s like, ‘I’ll make good music and that’s all it takes,’” he scoffs. “People tell you that to this day — and I just want to hit them in the nose.” Success in the music business, he explains, requires good music, hard work, in-finite perseverance — and maybe a stroke of luck.

Although he enjoys modest success today, Hattie has struggled in the past. At one point, he found himself sitting in his grandparents’ basement with no money and no work. Rather than give up and get a normal job, Hattie doubled down. He wrote a batch of songs and booked acoustic shows at coffee shops. He hassled everyone he knew, desperate for a chance to get back onstage. He promoted himself on Facebook. “The one thing I’ve learned lately is that

there aren’t many people out there that are going to do any of the work for you,” he says. “You have to figure out how to do it yourself. It’s not that you have to do it your-self: youhave to figure out how to do it yourself.”

Hattie’s first experiences in 911 Turbo introduced him to other peo-ple obsessed with and bent on mak-ing the same kind of music. To date, he has agreed to work with artists like Ricky Rock, Bitchface, Secret Squares, Rave Wind, and PartyWolf. Hairdu will also handle releases by 911 Turbo, Von Trask, and Hattie’s own project, GoldHeart. “It’s not trying to be big business,” he says. “It’s trying to build something that

will help promote a group of us more efficiently.” Safety comes with numbers, but Hairdu Records also promises to give fans a place to hear old favourites and make new friends, a central hub of west-ern Canadian dance music.

Hairdu Records is not a collective, which means Hattie will do most of the work himself. “It’s a control thing,” he laughs. “And it’s not uncommon either.” When he isn’t updating the website or putting the finishing touches on Speed Dating, a mixtape teaser scheduled for release January 15, he is emailing artists, trying to organize their work

under one umbrella and schedule releases well into the future.

It may be an impossible chal-lenge, a potential career-killer, but Hattie couldn’t be more excited. “I’m going into this with the full intent of it being something I want to keep doing for 10 years, 20 years,” he says. “Hopefully.” Then again, Hattie has a track record when it comes to doing things nobody expects, doing the wrong thing. It always seems to be the right time.

Photo: courtesy of alex J macPherson / verB


8Jan 11 – Jan 17


editorial

the dearly departing

s Saskatchewan grows our cities will con-tinue to expand, and

if we want to avoid endless urban sprawl we’re going to have to make better use of the city land that we’ve already got staked out

In the past we’ve written about a few ways we can grow our city more efficiently, and we’ve got another idea that’s often overlooked: moving urban cemeteries outside the city limits. Doing so would free up some extra, in-demand land for urban de-velopment, land that is currently tied down housing the dearly departed of our fair province. Now we under-stand our proposal is an emotionally charged one. Often, the physical surroundings of one’s passed-on friends and relatives become just as meaningful as the person buried. Complexities also arise when con-sidering that some people purchase their plots ahead of time, with a cemetery’s specific location in mind. But there are a good many reasons to consider this proposal, too, and mov-ing a grave can be accomplished in a sensitive and respectful manner.

The first thing you have to realize is that in the early days cemeteries tended to be placed at the edge of communities, but because of urban growth they have since been swal-lowed by cities. So, instead of having a place where mourners are able to visit the deceased in peace, away from the tumult of the urban land-scape, people now have cemeteries smack dab in the middle of their communities, as they try to pay their respects over the sounds of jackham-mers and car horns.

The other thing to consider is that, historically, cemetery relocation is a pretty normal procedure for growing cities. 18th century Paris moved all their cemeteries at once, relocating the remains of six million people into the city’s old stone mines and creating the now famous Catacombs of Paris. In the late ’50s, when the Eisenhower Expressway was being built, about 1,500 graves were moved from Concordia Cemetery in Illinois. In 2001, The Elmbank Cemetery in Toronto was relocated to make room for a new runway at Pearson Interna-tional Airport. You get the idea.

So if we know cemeteries take up prime city space and have to be moved eventually, why not be proac-tive here and move Saskatoon’s ceme-teries outside our city limits, allowing us (the living) to make more produc-tive use of the space right now? Doing so would free up sought-after land, while also providing those who visit the graves of their family and friends with more peaceful surroundings to do so. Now, we’re not suggesting moving the cemetery so far out that it would take too long to get there, just far enough that foreseeable expan-sion of the city won’t reach it.

And not just anybody would be able to undertake this job. The moving of human remains would have to be overseen by an individual or group well-versed in the sensitive treatment of dead bodies, likely ar-chaeologists (such as those employed in the Elmbank Cemetery move).

And once the bodies are exhumed with dignity and transported with care, we propose that they all be shipped to the same place. To a super cemetery, if you will. And we’re not just talking about a big, boring, run-

a

moving urban cemeteries to free up in-demand land just makes sense

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9Jan 11 – Jan 17

@verbsaskatoon

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of-the-mill cemetery in the middle of an old wheat field here. We’re talking something spectacular. Something beautiful. Think the Père Lachaise in Paris, La Recoleta in Buenos Aries, Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C — just with more peaceful surroundings.

We propose the construction of cemeteries that will not only be a quiet and respectful space for family and friends to pay their respects to their dearly departed, but will also draw other people to them from nearby cities, and beyond.A sensitive solution to a pressing problem — to us, relocating cemeter-ies just makes sense.

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

cemetery trivia

• The word cemetery comes from the Greek words koimeterion (which means sleeping place) and koiman (to put to sleep).

• La Recoleta, located in Buenos Aires is the resting place of Eva Perón

• Cimetière du Père-Lachaise in France is arguably the most famous cemetery in the world, in part because of its beauty, in part because it’s the final resting place of Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Frédéric Chopin, and Gertrude Stein.

• Quick, what’s the difference between a coffin, a casket and a sarcophagus? The shape.

• One theory as to how tombstones came to be used goes back to the idea that ghosts could be weighed down.

• In many cemeteries bodies are laid to rest with their heads to the west and feet to the east.

• In early England, the Saxons would cut off the feet of the deceased so their spirits would be unable to get up and walk.

• On certain Hawaiian islands, corpses are traditionally tied in the fetal position and buried in caves.


comments

10Jan 11 – Jan 17


comments

text your

thoughts to881 verB8372

on topic: last issue we asked what you thought about the alleged war on christmas. here's what you had to say:

– A good way to get rid of the argu-ment (at least when it comes to buses) is to have the destination signs flash “Merry Christmas” … <destination. … “Happy Hanuk-kah” … <destination> … “Joyous Kwanzaa” … <destination> … “Happy Holidays” … <destina-tion> as well as any other holiday greetings. I plan on getting a peti

tion together at some point next year. Let’s make it happen! -Scott.

– Totally agree. Not religious my-self, but doesn’t bother me if some-one wishes me a merry Christmas or anything else. I just take it with the spirit of kindness

it was intended. Merry Christmas everyone!

– Way to sit on the fence Verb. Instead of picking a side you say those offended by Merry Christ-mas and those who say it both need to calm down. So no one says anything to anyone? that’s just a Tuesday.

– I disagree with your editorial on the war on Christmas. The holiday began as a celebration of the birth of our Saviour. What corruption it has evolved to over time needs to be overcome, and that is why it’s so important to push pass all this nonsense and wish people a Merry Christmas (NOT xmas), to remind them of the real reason for this joyous time of year. Peace be with all of you!

– The war on Christmas, as you call it, is such a tiresome and infuriat-ing sham. There are actual issues in this world, and people overre-acting to a casual greeting need to yank their heads out of their asses and get on with their lives. Can’t believe this. There is no war on Christmas, so relax. You’re all free to celebrate it however you want.

– In my opinion you should be able to say Merry Christmas if some-body takes offence to this it’s thier problem not yours!

off topic

– It seems like a double standard in saskatchewan gambling at Casi-nos horse racing bingo VLTs are ok. but strip joints is not ok.

In response to “Close, But Not Enough,”

Editorial page, #220 (December

14, 2012)

– So when guys have just seen some strippers and are heading out on their way home, girls on the streets might be harassed. It could

be putting their safety at risk. It’s not just about watching a strip-per show, it’s about how will the guys watching it fulfill themselves afterward. I just don’t want to hear of women getting raped because of this sexual influence. It is some-thing to think about.



14, 2012)

– U r right it is high time SK al-lowed sex slavery & organized crime to expand & those who r opposed r archaic & puritanical



14, 2012)

– Strippers are cool but live sex shows are better would love to see that come to Saskatoon!



14, 2012)

sound off

– Adults with pets LOSERS! Pathet-ic need for lesser creature in their thrall. Can’t relate to people. Can’t clean after the pet. Hair and stink up their home so bad you don’t want to visit. Can’t train pet. Pee and poop all over neighbor’s yards. Child in adult body. Everybody sees everybody knows!

– Maybe u have advice 2 give on how 2b insensitive. You wrote the tune! JAN A

– What a Fkn Fantasy a billionaire Industrialist International Rescue! Thunder birds are GO more like GTFO!!

– My prayers go out to the families affected by the Sandy Hook El-ementary mass shooting may God be with you all!

– The NRA has spoken but instead of getting rid of assualt rifles they want to arm teachers whats next arm 6 & 7 year olds God help us all.

– The NRA advocates for arming teachers? Remember that school that did have armed gaurds? It was called COLUMBINE

– My heart breaks for the 28 families whose lives was changed forever because a nut with a gun at connecticut elemantry school.

– “Let’s give teachers guns” The NRA: remaining steadfastly out of touch, no matter how hard you try

– If someone has made your job or life easier, say thank you. Two small words but when said can mean a lot!

– Get rich or die mayan

– Jesus Christ was born of a virgin birth. that’s what makes his birth so special and heavenly. He was sent by God to live among mankind for a time. Dec 25 isn’t necessarily the exact day but a day that has been set aside to celebrate his birth.

– I’m texty and I know it.

– I agree with the person who texted with all the things going on, someone is choosing to be upset by a bus sign. There are people losing their lives senselessly and a bus sign is what upsets an individual.

– the merry christmas display on the transit buses will not change just because you come from an-other country you reside here. In canada don’t mean the saskatoon transit bus or the city has to bow down to deal with it <melly :-D>

/Verbsaskatoon news + oPinioncontents local editorial comments q + a arts coVer food + drink music listings film nightlife comics timeout

11Jan 11 – Jan 17

– The guy who’s making a big deal of the Merry Christmas on the front of buses needs to chill out and find somthing else to com-plain about.

– I’ve read a lot of comments on various media sites that are attack-ing the person who is advocating for taking Merry Christmas off the buses. Aside from the irritating fact that this covers up the destination display, making it difficult to tell if this is my bus or not, personal at-tacks / attacks that are not rooted in the actual issue at hand debase the entire dialogue. Not to mention that more often than not, these comments are grounded in un-founded assumptions, which are then often extrapolated to a racist conclusion. Let’s do better, people.

– for the guy complaining about “Merry Christmas” on the transit buses why not have one that reads “Bah Humbug”. I’m serious. That should satisfy non-Christmas believers and at the same time but a grin on other people’s faces. It’s all in good humour and good for a laugh. No harm intended.

– We need jokes written on train cars so that we have something to read while they pass by.

– Reading the silly comments in the paper makes me wish the world actually did end. People are morons.

– Question for the downtown texter in the verb. How come only the first four letters of downtown are capitalized in your texts? Any reason for that?

– I wish drivers would realize that there aren to always two full driving lanes because of the snow and ice. Stop trying to squeeze beside my vehicle and have some patience already!

– Somebody high profile like Dave Batters kills himself. There’s a big public outpouring. “Oh! We have to change how we address mental health!” is the “heartfelt” sentiment. Token efforts are made in the area. Then everything just stays the same. Doctors nurses social workers police everybody treats the mentally ill exactly the way they did before! Nothing changes. Suicide rates stay the same!

– There is no need to prove the ex-istence of Jesus. It’s called having faith and that is what the Christian faith is all about. In a world that seems hopeless in so many ways, environmentally, financially, violently and the list goes on, everyone is, offered hope to live with God for eternity. You do not have to accept this offer and you can live your life without it. But for those that accept it, there is hope to live in the afterlife eternally.

– Have a nice day! I hope I haven’t offended anyone.

– To those who don’t believe in Jesus I pray for you that you may one day see the light and come to his grace.

– My Christmas wish is for all chil-dren to grow up in a world without violence and hatred.

– A happy two year anniversary filled with Love and Laughter to Kelton. Love Amy <3

– If an elderly person or sombody with a stroller gets on the bus and you’re in the front seats let them have that seat!

– Being busy doesn’t make you im-portant. Self-interested busy busy with just your own stuff least of all. Stop it! You’re just spinning wheels and annoying peeps!

– I’ll say I may I’ll say I will I’ll say I’m going to But I will Not ! Say I D0

– Empathy works.

– Hey you guys! U there? I sur-vived the apocalypse!! Did u? Do u know if anyone else did? Should we get together and hunt for food? Do you have food? I don’t have food. Maybe this is hell. Maybe I didn’t survive the apocalypse.

– Just saw The Hobbit best LOR movie ever!!

– A fool puts faith in that which is seen. A wise person puts faith in that which is unseen.

– HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERY-ONE!!! Lucky number 13 here we come LOL

– 2012: survived two apocalypses. Feeling strong. Bring it 2013! :D

– Wish I could be spending new years with u babe xoxo Sarah

– LOL dogs in snowsuits cracks me up. I know there small and cold n need the warmth but there’s no way they dont look stupid. Snow-suits and snowboots FML

– Very excited for mandatory curbside recycling to kick in here in the city. Great way to start the year!

– Hey Saskatoon u got a great art scene going on around you! Over-head some young women com-plaining about there being nothing to do here in the winter, but there’s theatre and galleries and concerts. So much to do, if you just get out and look :)

next issue: what do you think about moving urban cemeteries? 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

sex BarBecue

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Johnny don’t make another rock and roll fusion recordBy alex J macPherson

Photos: courtesy of natalIe struck

@macphersona

[email protected]


we’re so musically diverse. our bass player loves funk … i love the r&B.

mIke collI

ohnny Don’t are get-ting ready to release a new record, their first in

more than two years. The album will be called Sex Barbecue. The first single, “Gone,” is a poppy anthem inspired by the looming apocalypse. (If you’re reading this, the world didn’t end and the hysteria-mongers were wrong — but it’s still a great song.) Al-though the band began as a duo, an outlet for musicians frustrated by the demands of genre and style, it has since evolved into a weird and wonderful fusion of everything from funk and R&B to rock and jazz — proof that break-ing the rules can have unexpect-edly good consequences. I caught up with singer and guitar-slinger Mike Colli to find out more.

Alex J MacPherson: You started as a duo. How did Johnny Don’t turn into a full five-piece band?

Mike Colli: Well, I was in a different band before. That band broke up, I moved to Montreal for

a year, to find myself as a musician again, [and I] started writing songs. I came back and started jamming with our drummer, Grandma — his name’s Graham, but we call him Grandma — and we decided to try and see if we can get away with it. And we did. Over the past five or six years we’ve gradually added members.

AJM: Let’s talk about sound. The best word to describe your music is di-verse. I haven’t really heard anything else like it.

MC: We’re so musically diverse. Our bass player loves funk, our keyboard

player is a bit of a jazz man, our guitar player is a metal guy. I love the R&B. Over the years of being in different bands we’ve been stuck to one genre, and we didn’t want to do that anymore, because it kind of gets

old after five or six years of touring. Seeing as we listen to all these dif-ferent kinds of music, we decided to write all those different kinds of music, whatever we feel like doing at the time.

AJM: That must make marketing the band to club owners and the like quite difficult. Is there a tempta-tion to tailor the sound to fit some-one’s perceptions?

MC: That’s true. We did design a few songs that we can market toward CBC Radio and mainstream radio. We specifically designed some songs

so we could go out and market ourselves the same way any other band would. We balance that all out in our shows, because there’s a lot of comedy and a lot of banter between the songs, even within the shows.

AJM: And that ties into the music as well. Tell me a bit about Sex Barbecue.

MC: When the first album was writ-ten, it was just me and Grandma, a two-man band. We’ve broadened our horizons on what the capabili-ties of this band are. There are more people to give input. There’s a little more R&B, a little more funk. We’ve veered away from some of the heavier stuff we used to do. It’s an all-around, feel-good album.

AJM: With a great title. Where does that humour come from?

MC: I think it came with experience touring. In the band we were in be-fore, we lived in a tour bus for three

years straight and played almost every single night. And after awhile you start inventing ways to amuse yourself onstage, and that reflects out into the audience. First and fore-most, we want to have fun. We treat it kinda like a business as well, but we want to have fun.

Johnny Don’t January 17 @ winston’s Pubcover tBd

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

13Jan 11 – Jan 17

arts

t

n

girls! girls! girls! saskatoon play explores the depths of friendship by alex J macPherson


@macphersona

[email protected]


on symphonieskirk smith and schubert’s ninth by alex J macPherson

he simplest plays are often the most meaningful. When

action is nowhere to be found, dialogue must carry the audience from confusion to understanding, from climax to conclusion. Noth-ing is more revealing than deep conversation — and nothing is more difficult to write. Tara Schoonbaert, a Saskatoon-based playwright, knows this better than most people. Her latest play, Girls! Girls! Girls!, carries on the tradition established by Edward Albee and brought into the 21st century by Yasmina Reza.

“I absolutely adore dialogue,” says Schoonbaert. “I like people talk-ing. I like writing like they’re talking. I like trying to make people sound like real people, having a ridiculous conversation. I really wanted to keep it just that simple.”

Girls! Girls! Girls! is about three friends, women who grew up together and know each other

intimately, but have drifted apart in adulthood. The play unfolds over a single evening, a reunion that prom-ises to test their loyalty and expose fissures in their friendships. Caro-line, Trish, and Sam must grapple with their differences while striving to maintain friendships too deep to abandon. It is a simple premise, but the ideas involved are complex — and fundamental.

“The beauty of these characters in particular is that they are an amalga-mation of all the women I have in my life,” Schoonbaert says. “It feels like women I know having a conversa-tion. We’re all so good at hiding the right things and saying just the right thing. That’s the beauty of how we are. It’s been interesting and exciting to try and write.”

What makes Girls! Girls! Girls! so interesting is that it is one of a hand-ful of plays with no male characters. “Historically speaking, men were

the writers and men were the ac-tors,” Schoonbaert says. “Now, we’re trying to evolve away from that, and create more theatre that’s driven by women, that’s about women, that features women.”

But that doesn’t mean the play has a narrow focus. Girls! Girls! Girls! is about the way human beings interact with each other, the way we love and the way we lie. “I think we’re all peo-ple,” Schoonbaert says. “And so even though it’s female-driven in that I’m female, and the people in it are girls, it’s still about people trying to connect and trying to make sense of life.”

And one of the things that defines us as human beings is our ability to converse. To empathize. To understand.

Girls! Girls! Girls!January 17-20 + 24-27 @ the refinery$18.50 (student/senior), $21 adult @ ontheBoards.ca

o one knows what Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 9

in C Major sounded like when it was first performed, in early 1839, more than a decade after its composer’s death. The score survived, passed from Schubert’s brother to Robert Schumann to Felix Mendelssohn, but the absence of recordings and deep ambiguities in the document mean no one has any idea what Schubert intended for his last sym-phony. The best we can do is guess — and nobody knows this better than Kirk Smith.

“I’ve always wanted to do this symphony,” says Smith, who is based in Houston and preparing to conduct the Saskatoon Sym-phony Orchestra and soloist Haldan Martinson. “I’m in the process now of dissecting it from a performance standpoint rather than a theoretical standpoint.” In practical terms, this means figuring out what Schubert

meant, and how to make that hap-pen when the lights go down.

“With Schubert’s scores, there are a lot of things that are there that look like an accent or look like a diminuendo,” Smith says. “You’re typically wrong, because of editing and how mistakes in music and mistakes in scores have been published through the decades.” Smith is poring over the score measure by measure, inch by inch, trying to divine Schubert’s intentions and cast light on the perfect balance between melody and harmony found in the piece.

The point of all this, of course, is that classical music is no more rigid than rock and roll, and that interpreta-tion is where careers are made and broken, reputations won and lost. The best interpretations forge connections with the audience — and Smith says those connections are universal.

“There are so many stereotypes about classical music that simply aren’t necessary,” he says. “It’s pretty easy

to figure out when to clap and when not clap, and if you make a mistake, nobody dies. Just because you don’t ‘understand’ a piece — I mean, who understands the harmonic complexity of Michael Jackson’s music?”

And while guests like Smith and Martinson cannot in one evening transform the way people approach classical music, they offer something much more valuable: a fresh perspec-tive and a chance to connect with mu-sic that continues to live and breathe and grow, almost two centuries after Schubert committed it to the page.

The GreatJanuary 19 @ tcu$18–60 @ tcutickets.ca, tcu Box office


14Jan 11 – Jan 17

Continued on next page »Continued on next page »

coVer

he choice was obvious. “I toyed with a couple of things,” Hannah Georgas

says of her new record, her voice dusky and ragged after weeks on the road. “At the end of it all, I didn’t feel like they summed every-thing up. It felt right to self-title it. It felt like it was a good interpreta-tion of where I’m at, musically and creatively. It felt right.”

Unless you are a member of the band Weezer, the decision to release an eponymous album should not be taken lightly. A name is an intimate possession. It is the simplest expres-sion of our identity, the tool we use to separate ourselves from others without sacrificing our humanity. Its use implies presence and commit-ment; it guarantees promises and seals agreements. In the same way a signature transforms a worthless piece of paper into a contract, an inviolable agreement between two people, an eponymous album forges a bond between artist and listener. It is a new beginning. A musical rebirth.

Hannah Georgas, which was released late last year, keeps that promise. Georgas wrote the bulk of the album knowing she wanted to try something different. Her previous records made liberal use of electronic instruments, but were ultimately driven by guitars. Hannah Georgas is a departure. Instead of using synthesiz-ers and samplers for depth and colour and texture, Georgas put them out front. But she couldn’t do it alone. To help realize her musical vision, she

enlisted Graham Walsh, who plays with Holy F*ck. “I’ve always been really into Holy F*ck, and I heard through the grapevine that he is a fantastic producer, so I put two and two together,” she says. “I knew that I wanted his influence and electronic style to definitely play a big role on where I was going.”

That direction was outward. Well before she and Walsh convened in Toronto to cut the tracks, Georgas had used her laptop to assemble a framework of ideas, a skeleton ready

for layers of muscle and tissue. Making complicated demos was a new experi-ence for Georgas. “On my last record, I went into the studio and pressed record and played the song from top to bottom on my guitar,” she explains. “This time I was like, I’d like to do a little more work on my end and give [Walsh] an idea of where I’d like to go.”

The end result pushes the bound-aries of what a singer and song-writer can achieve, and undermines perceptions of Georgas as just another songstress with an effervescent voice. Guitar records occupy a specific

sonic space, a range of frequencies is defined by the physical limitations of the instruments. Synthesizers know no such caveat; they can produce any sound that can be imagined. Consequently, Hannah Georgas is broader and more expansive than its predecessors, sprawling across the sonic landscape, a series of sweeping strokes that fill in unexpected places and skirt more familiar ones. “I didn’t want to crowd the production,” Geor-gas says. “I wanted there to be lots of space in the music and just serve the

song, what it is, and really have some tasty little production stuff here and there.” Walsh’s wizardry and Georgas’ ingenuity combined to produce a record that is heavy without being dense, forceful without being violent.

But Hannah Georgas is more than a sonic spectacle, more than a collection of songs tied together by a synthesizer riff and an ambient pad. It is also the most articulate and thoughtful record Georgas has ever made. She wrote the songs in just five months, forcing herself to work every day. “Some days there was nothing,” she laughs. “Other

t

hannah georgas

I find myself in these situations, where it’s like … i overthink things, and i’m like, ‘why the f*ck am i like this?’

hannah georgas

a new album, a new beginning By alex J macPherson

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

15Jan 11 – Jan 17

@macphersona

[email protected]


Photos: courtesy of trIstan casey

days, stuff would come.” Because it was written so quickly, and because it was written during a time of emo-tional upheaval, the themes and ideas flow together; Hannah Georgas traces the arc of experience, from confu-sion and anger to understanding and acceptance. It is the story of Georgas’ struggle to understand time — to find her place in the world and ask if it is worthwhile.

“Everything I was feeling was just coming out, everything I was going through in my life,” she says. “I guess

that was why these themes were com-ing out, because it was all focused on a concentrated period of time.” Georgas explains the problem on “Elephant,” a sombre song propelled by waver-ing vocals and the hypnotic pulse of a synthesizer. It is a frank assessment of aging (“As I age it sinks deeper in / This life is temporary, it’s all gonna end / This is all gonna end”) weighted with a profound sense of uncertainty: (“I don’t wanna wake up one day thinking where the hell have I been”). “I think with that song I was just realizing I have different priorities as I’ve been

getting older,” she reflects. “And I’m realizing that I am getting older.”

If “Elephant” presents a specific problem, “Robotic” attempts to solve it — by dulling the pain with a new kind of anaesthetic (“I wanna be reprogrammed / I wanna be robotic / No more blood in these veins / I wanna press reset”). “Robotic” casts a moment of intense vulnerability against a backdrop of bright guitars and swirling keyboards. Its construc-tion echoes the emotional uncertainty that permeates every note on the record. But it also leads to a conclu-sion. Only by banishing emotion and recreating herself as a dispassionate automaton can Georgas understand that humanity is defined by feeling: (“If you wanna win / You gotta play”). “I find myself in these situations, where it’s like I’m a sensitive soul or I overthink things, and I’m like, ‘Why the f*ck am I like this?’” she says of “Robotic.” “I just want to brush this off and move on. A lot of the time I find myself battling that.”

“Ode To Mom” and “Waiting Game,” which close the record, take the ideas presented in “Elephant” and “Robotic” to their logical conclusion. Rather than shrink from feeling, Georgas chooses to embrace it. “Ode To Mom” is about the rippling effect of her father’s death. It builds to a towering crescendo before lapsing, exhausted, into a dissonant coda, a moment of understanding. Georgas uses the permanence of death to il-lustrate the idea that each moment is valuable, each feeling worthwhile.

This idea overflows into “Waiting Game,” the moment of acceptance: (“Every conversation is all the same / I’m just a sucker, waiting for your call / I get so hard, I get so hard on myself”). “I think that was just a nice end to sum up the thoughts that are going through my mind,” she says. “And the whole theme of the record, for sure. [“Waiting Game”] feels like the end, and that’s the end of the set we’re doing right now.”

Hannah Georgas is a record about the human condition. It is a deeply moving example of how a deeply personal journey can resonate with complete strangers. “[It is about] realiz-ing what are the important things, what I want to do on this planet before I die,” she muses. “And I’m realizing I’m not this young kid anymore. I am a grown adult.” Georgas calls this realization a “sad clarity.” Life may be dark and stupid and painful, but it is all we have.

Hannah Georgas captures Georgas at her absolute best, artistically and musically. The choice was obvious.

Hannah GeorgasJanuary 24 @ amigos$10 @ ticketedge.ca or amigos


16Jan 11 – Jan 17

food + drink

tantalizing teriyaki

let’s go drinkin’ verB’s mixology guide

cran-sake cocktail

Just like teriyaki restaurants have become intensely popu-lar in Seattle, sake cocktails are popping up in bars and res-taurants all around the world. Here is a simple yet delicious recipe for you to try.

ingredients

3 ounces of sake, chilled (good quality, like Momokawa Sake)1 ounce cranberry juice, fresh if you can get it2 lime wedges, dividedSprite (or 7-Up)

directions

Fill the martini shaker with ice. Add the sake, cranberry juice and 1 lime wedge. Shake well, then strain into the glass. If you want it sweet, top the drink off with a splash of Sprite or 7-Up. Garnish with a lime wedge.

i

diane’s kitchen brings seattle-style dining to saskatoon By adam hawBoldt

@adamhawboldt

[email protected]


Photo: courtesy of adam hawboldt

f you’ve ever been to Seattle, there are a few things you probably no-

ticed: the Space Needle, the wet climate, and the abundance of teriyaki restaurants.

Yes, that’s right. No matter where you go in Seattle you’ll run into a teriyaki restaurant. Strip malls? Check. Main streets? You bet. You’ll find them everywhere, from road-side vendors to Safeco Field.

See, Chicago has its deep-dish pizza, Philly has its cheesesteaks, and Seattle has its teriyaki huts.

Diane Lee knows this. She lived and operated her own restaurant in

Seattle for years, and now she’s in Sas-katoon, trying to bring a piece of the teriyaki phenomenon to the prairies.

Located near Holiday Park, Lee’s new dining establishment, Diane’s Kitchen, is everything a good teriyaki restaurant should be. The service is

quick, the prices are low, the staff is friendly and —perhaps most impor-tant of all — the food is delicious!

If you’ve never had a teriyaki res-taurant experience, I highly recom-mend you go with the first thing you see on the menu. Literally.

Every teriyaki joint you go into will have the exact same #1 on their menu: chicken teriyaki.

And at Diane’s Kitchen, let me tell you: it’s crazy good.

Served with white rice and an iceberg lettuce salad (the standard teriyaki sides), Diane’s #1 is so good I ate it for supper one evening, then went back the next day and had it again for lunch. I kid you not.

The chicken (white meat only) is moist, the tempura-like crust is thick and delicious and stays crispy even when loaded with teriyaki. As for the sauce — which is made from scratch (like everything at Diane’s Kitchen)

— it is sweet and savoury and maybe even slightly addictive.

But hey, if sweet, savoury, deli-cious chicken teriyaki isn’t your thing, don’t worry. They also serve hot and spicy chicken teriyaki, hearty beef teriyaki, pork teriyaki, tofu teriyaki, and more. You name it, odds are they’ve got it.

And while teriyaki is Lee’s specialty, it’s not the only thing she serves. Far from it. There’s every-thing from Mongolian beef to udon to General Tao’s chicken on the menu. Basically, Diane’s Kitchen is a Japanese-Chinese fusion restaurant that specializes in authentic, Seattle-like teriyaki dishes.

And the best part (aside from the taste, of course)?

Not only are the portions large, but there isn’t a single thing on the menu that costs more than $9. Head to www.dkstoon.com to see for yourself.

Oh, and if you don’t feel like din-ing out some evening, good news: at Diane’s Kitchen you can either eat in or take out.

Enjoy.

diane’s kitchen 1517 11th st. w | 244 3663

[the teriyaki sauce] is sweet and savoury and maybe even slightly addictive.

adam hawBoldt

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

17Jan 11 – Jan 17

music

Photos courtesy of: the artIst / ryan smIth / the artIst

Coming upnext Week

tequila mockingBird

orchestra

There ain’t no party like a good ol’ house party, and this one threatens to be better than most. Not only will there be great company, but the band — Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra — puts on a show that will make you want to clap your hands, nod your head, and stomp your feet. An acous-tic ensemble consisting of Kurt Loew-en, Ian Griffiths, Paul Wolda, Peter Mynett and Patrick M’Gonigle, TMO plays a brand of music that has been sharpened and honed from years of working together. With splashes of flamenco from Spain, percussion from Africa, bluegrass and more, this bohemian band from Victoria, B.C., has a sound they characterize as “gypsy-folk-roots-grass.” Tickets for this intimate affair are available through [email protected]

@ gIllIan snIder’s housesaturday, January 19 – $10 (advance)

Comprised of members from local bands like We Were Lovers, Ultimate Power Duo, Foggy Notions and Color Field, this all-female group is full of experienced and talented musicians. With a catchy and haunting sound, Powder Blue — which consists of Shelby Gaudet (guitar/vocals), Elsa Gebremichael (keys/drums/ vocals) and Amber Kraft (drums/keys) — plays an infec-tious blend of grunge-garage-psy-chedelic music that is sure to grab audiences’ attention. Since forming in 2011, this up-and-coming badass group of musicians has been honing their sound into something that’s simultaneously dark and beautiful, slow burning and infectious. See for yourself at Amigos next week. Tickets available at the door.

powder Blue

If you haven’t heard this Hamil-ton musician before, brace yourself for a serious dose of tunes dripping with hilarity. In the past, this talented singer/songwriter from Ontario has released songs such as “Jesus is from Hamilton” (a song about JC helping the Hamilton Ti-Cats beat the Toronto Argonauts) and “Love Letters to the Girls in High School Art Class” (self-explanatory). With his latest album Hi Dudes!, this alternative acoustic musician has amped up the funny and the off-beat awesomeness. His live shows are full of jokes and end-less energy, and shirts are frequently optional. So if you’re looking for a hella fun time, don’t delay! Head to Amigos in March and see what this eccentric cat has to offer. Tickets will be available at the door.

– By adam hawboldt

Ba Johnston

@ amIgos cantInasaturday, January 19 – $tBd

sask music previewAttention teachers: do you have students interested in the many different types of jobs available in the music industry, both off and on the stage? Sask-Music can come to your classroom to speak about our industry, and explain the ins and outs of the music business. For more info, please contact us at 347-0767 or 1-800-347-0676.

keep up with saskatchewan music. saskmusic.org

@ amgIos cantInasaturday, march 23 – $tBd

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

18Jan 11 – Jan 17

listingslistings

The most complete live music listings for Saskatoon.

January 11 » January 19

11 12

18 1916 1714 1513

s m t w t

listings

friday 11house DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk,

soul & lounge DJs liven up the atmo-

sphere at 6Twelve. 9pm / No cover

the shakey elevators / Amigos — A

local bluegrass/folk-rock band. 10pm /

Cover TBD

Piano FriDays: Maurice Drouin / The

Bassment — Enjoy some smooth jazz styl-

ings. 4:30pm / No cover

alexis korchinski / The Bassment — An

intimate evening of music and laughter

with this talented singer/songwriter. 9pm

/ $10/14

greg rekus / Beaumont Film and Record

— An alt/punk act from Winnipeg. 8pm /

Cover TBD

austen roaDz / Béily’s UltraLounge —

Austen Roadz throws down a high-energy

top 40 dance party every Friday night, so

come on down and show off what you’ve

got! 9pm / $5 cover

Men without shaMe / Buds on Broad-

way — Classic glam rock you won’t want

to miss. 10pm / Cover $6

activist Maguire / Crown + Rok —

Come out for some kickass music. 9pm /

Cover TBD

DJ eclectic / The Hose — Local turn-

table whiz DJ Eclectic pumps snappy

electronic beats. 8pm / No cover

DJ sugar DaDDy / Jax Niteclub — Come

party with this local fave. 9pm / $5 cover

DJ Butterz / Lounge 306 — Top 40

songs. 8pm / Cover TBD

kelly reaD BanD / Lydia’s — Local blues

played by consummate professionals.

10pm / $5

MethoD Man / The Odeon — This fa-

mous rapper is swinging by Saskatoon on

his So High Tour. 8pm / $42.50-60 (www.

theodeon.ca)

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

troy huDson / Prairie Ink — A folk trio

worth checking out. 8pm / No cover

charly hustle / Spadina Freehouse

— He drops beats for your listening

pleasure. 10pm / No cover

DJ Mern + chan-l / Tequila Nightclub

— Come out for the 3rd annual Catalina

Wine Mixer. 8pm / $10 advance, $15 at

the door

Dr. cuthBurts lions w triPloPhon-ics / Vangelis Tavern — Come on down

for a hot show. 9pm / $5

saturday 12house DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs

spin deep and soulful tunes all night.

9pm / No cover

wasteD catheDral / Amigos Cantina

— The music of Chris Laramee, from the

wicked awesome Shooting Guns. 10pm /

Cover TBD

Piano series: Jan Janovsky trio / The

Bassment — Ragtime to classical to jazz to

polka. 9pm / $12/16



top 40 dance party along with DJ CTRL

every Saturday night. 9pm / $5 cover

Men without shaMe / Buds on Broad-

way — Classic glam rock you won’t want

to miss. 10pm / Cover $6

activist Maguire / Crown + Rok —

Come out for some kickass music. 9pm /

Cover TBD

walter ostanek / Dakota Dunes —

Come celebrate Ukrainian New Year’s

Eve with Canada’s polka king. 7pm / $40

(www.tickets.siga.sk.ca)

six Block / The Fez — A little alt-rock

coming at you out of Meadow Lake. 9pm

/ Cover TBD

DJ kaDe / The Hose & Hydrant — Saska-

toon’s own DJ lights it up. 8pm / No cover

DJ sugar DaDDy / Jax Niteclub — This

local crowd favourite has always been

known to break the latest and greatest

tracks in multiple genres. 9pm / $5 cover

DJ Butterz / Lounge 306 — Top 40 songs.

8pm / Cover TBD

zooline, groovePushers / Lydia’s Pub

— Come check out the loft and get your

funk on. 9pm / Cover TBD



no better country rock party around. This

promises to be one great night. 8pm / $5

wire`s n’ wooD / Prairie Ink — Latin,

jazz and gypsy tunes. 8pm / No cover

Funktion saturDay / Spadina Free-

house — EDM from your favourite local

DJs. 10pm / No cover

Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge

— Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad

King belt out classic tunes and audience

requests. 10pm / $5

DJ QBert / Tequila Nightclub — A flat-out

legend on the turntables. 8pm / $12.50

(www.ticketmaster.ca)

the all Mighty voice w/guy anD the Fellas / Vangelis — Some folk/roots/soul

for ya. 10pm / $5

sunday 13inDustry night / Béily’s UltraLounge —

Hosted by DJ Sugar Daddy. 9pm / $4; no

cover for industry staff


toon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm /

No cover

Blues JaM / Vangelis — Come and get

your jam on. 9pm / No cover

monday 14Metal MonDays / Lydia’s Pub — If hard,

heavy awesomeness is your thing, swing

by, listen to some killer music and get in

on some concert giveaways. 9pm

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19Jan 11 – Jan 17

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

get listed

[email protected]

tuesday 15Jesse roaDs / Buds On Broadway —

Come out and enjoy some classic rock,

straight to you from southern Alberta.

9pm / $6 cover

DJ sugar DaDDy / The Double Deuce

— This crowd favourite has always been


tracks in multiple genres. If it’s a dance

party you’re after, then this is where you

want to be. 9:30pm / $4 cover

verB Presents oPen stage / Lydia’s

Pub — The open stage at Lydia’s has host-

ed many of Saskatoon’s finest performers.

9pm / No cover

oPen Mic / The Somewhere Else Pub —

Come on out to show your talent.

7pm / No cover

Blue roDeo / TCU Place — Canada’s

iconic country/rock band will be lighting

up the stage. 8pm / $25-49.50 (www.

tcutickets.ca)

synaPtic / Vangelis Tavern — An elec-

tronic music open stage. 9pm / No cover

wednesday 16huMP weDnesDays / 302 Lounge & Dis-

cotheque — Resident DJ Chris Knorr will

be spinning all of your favourite songs

and requests. 9pm / No cover until 10pm;

$3 thereafter

Jesse roaDs / Buds On Broadway —

Classic rock from southern Alberta.

9pm / $6

the avenue recorDing coMPany Presents oPen Mic / The Fez on Broad-

way — Hosted by Chad Reynolds. Sign

up and play at this weekly event. 10pm /

No cover

DJ kaDe / Hose & Hydrant — 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

goJira / Odeon Events Centre — This

heavy metal band from France will rock

the house. 7pm / $26 (www.theodeon.ca)

wilD west weDnesDay / Outlaws

Country Rock Bar — This is Saskatoon’s

top industry night, hosted by DJ Big Ayyy

& DJ Henchman. And don’t forget to come

ride the mechanical bull. 9pm / $4; no

cover for industry staff

Ben anD kaitlyn / Spadina Freehouse

— Come out for a night of live music. 8pm

/ No cover




requests. 10pm / No cover

thursday 17rock & Blues series: outsiDe the wall / The Bassment — A night of Pink

Floyd tributes. 8pm / $15/20

Jesse roaDs / Buds On Broadway —

Classic rock from southern Alberta.

9pm / $6

throwBack thursDays / Earls — Come

experience the best in retro funk, soul,

reggae and rock provided by Dr. J. 8pm /

No cover


toon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm /

No cover

DJ sugar DaDDy / Jax Niteclub — Local

DJ Sugar Daddy will be rocking the turn-

tables to get you dancing on the dance

floor! Every Thursday night will be filled

with pole dancing, shadow dancers and

much more! 8pm / $5; free cover with

student ID before 11pm

nelly FurtaDo / Odeon Events Centre —

Come check out this Canadian music star

on her Spirit Indestructible Tour. 7pm /

$49.50-74.50 (www.theodeon.ca)

Belle Plaine, Jenny Berkel, Jeans Boots / Vangelis — A night featuring

talented musical women that you won’t

want to miss. 10pm / $5

friday 18house DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk,

soul & lounge DJs liven up the atmo-

sphere at 6Twelve. 9pm / No cover

BoDy lvl / Amigos Cantina — Featuring

Mehta and Will Kaufold, come enjoy a

groovy psychedelic journey. Also playing

will be Sleepwreck. 10pm / $5 at the door

Piano FriDays: DaviD Fong / The

Bassment — Enjoy some smooth jazz styl-

ings. 4:30pm / No cover

rock & Blues series: outsiDe the wall / The Bassment — A night of Pink

Floyd tributes. 8pm / $15/20

the wizarDs, the FaPs / Beaumont

Film + Record — Two sweet acts for your

listening pleasure. 9pm / Cover TBD



top 40 dance party every Friday night.

9pm / $5 cover

riFF raFF / Buds on Broadway — Classic

hard rock from a local act. 10pm / $6

Mayne Jayne / Crown + Rok — Come

rock the night away.

DJ eclectic / The Hose & Hydrant —

Local turntable whiz DJ Eclectic pumps

snappy electronic beats all night long.

8pm / No cover




tracks in multiple genres. He’s sure to

have you on the dance floor in no time.

9pm / $5 cover

sirvis / Louis’ Pub — A CD release party

thrown by a local rap talent. 9pm /

Cover TBD


8pm / Cover TBD

ultiMate Power Duo / Lydia’s Pub —

They’ll rock you like a hurricane.

10pm / $7



no better country rock party around. 8pm

/ $5; ladies in free before 11pm

Doug BooMhower trio / Prairie Ink

— Some smooth jazz for the soul. 8pm /

No cover

triBute to the everly Brothers / Royal Canadian Legion — A classic trib-

ute show at the Nutana branch. 8pm / $10

the gaFF / Spadina Freehouse — He

drops beats for your listening pleasure.

10pm / No cover




requests. 10pm / $5

DJs Mern + MoDus / Tequila Nightclub

— Come on down and get your party on.

10pm / Cover TBD

the lonesoMe weekenDs / Vangelis —

Also appearing is Zachary Lucky. 9pm / $8

saturday 19house DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs

spin deep and soulful tunes all night. 9pm

/ No cover

PowDer Blue / Amigos Cantina —

Haunting songs from this all-female

quintet. 10pm / Tix available at the door

guitar series: Doug BooMhower Quartet / The Bassment — It’s a night

of nastily awesome guitar arrangements.

9pm / $12/16



top 40 dance party along with DJ CTRL

every Saturday night. 9pm / $5 cover

riFF raFF / Buds on Broadway — Classic

hard rock from a local act. 10pm / $6

seven strait / Crown + Rok — A hard

rocking good time. 9pm / Cover TBD

suiciDe Messiah / The Fez — A Black

Label tribute band. 9pm / $10

teQuila MockingBirD orchestra / Gillian Snider House Concert — Foot

stomping folk. 8pm / $10 (advance),

$15 (door)


toon’s own DJ lights it up. 8pm / No cover




tracks in multiple genres. 9pm / $5 cover


8pm / Cover TBD

BlackBerrywooD / Lydia’s Pub — This

multi-instrumental group is sure to

please. 9pm / Cover TBD

liFteD / Lydia’s Pub — Come dance your

heart out in Lydia’s loft. 10pm / $5


— Round up your friends ‘cause there’s no

better country rock party around. 8pm / $5

no hurry trio / Prairie Ink — Easy lis-

tening tunes from the 50’s to the present.

8pm / No cover

Fuse collective / Spadina Freehouse —

Break out your dancing shoes and come

have some fun. 10pm / No cover




requests. 10pm / $5

alBert + Dislexik / Tequila Nightclub —

Dust off your dancing shoes and get ready

for a party. 9pm / Cover TBD

elsethings Fest / Vangelis — Featuring

Magna Carta, Jeans Boot, Gunner + Smith,

Economics. 10pm / $5


20Jan 11 – Jan 17

Verb prize

film

Photo: courtesy of warner Bros. PIctures

h

Gangster Squad might not live up to your expectationsBy adam hawBoldt

[t]he unoriginality of it all really holds Gangster Squad back.

adam hawBoldt

gangster squad

directed By Ruben Fleisher

starring Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling,

Josh Brolin, Nick Nolte + Emma Stone

113 minutes | 14a

not quite right

@adamhawboldt

[email protected]


ere’s the thing about Ruben Fleischer’s new flick, Gangster Squad:

it’s a good movie, just not as good as you expect/want it to be.

Which is unfortunate, because on the surface the film has so much going for it. Fleischer is a very

competent director (best known for Zombieland), the story is a real humdinger, and the cast is terrific. Think about it: a crime flick about infamous LA crime boss Mickey Cohen, starring Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Giovanni Ribisi and Nick Nolte?

If you’re a fan of the gangster genre, one of the first thoughts that flitted through your head when you saw the trailer for Gangster Squad was probably something along the lines of, “Hot damn! Sign me up.”

And when you watch the open-ing scene of the movie, you’ll get the feeling that you’ve signed up for

something visceral, violent and epic. You see, the movie begins with Cohen (played by Penn) standing behind the old Hollywood sign, explaining his uber-violent back story to a Chicago mobster. But this is no friendly expla-nation. See, the mobster is chained to a pair of motors. And to prove just

how violent he really is, Cohen orders for the motors to be revved up and for the mobster to be torn in two while dogs feast on his guts.

Okay. Admittedly, that’s not a scene for everyone. But for anyone who likes their movies to start out with a bang (or in this case, an evis-ceration), Gangster Squad delivers — in a big way.

The problem is, though, that initial bang soon peters out into a clichéd, derivative whimper.

But more on that in a minute. For now, let’s look at the basic plot of the film. The year is 1949, in post-war Los Angeles. Cohen, an ex-boxer-

turned-crime-kingpin, controls the city’s drug, gun and prostitution rackets with a bloodied iron fist. To ensure he’s safe to shuck and illegally jive as he pleases, Cohen puts a plethora of police, judges and politicians on the payroll.

But it’s not enough.Police Chief Bill Parker (Nolte)

puts together a small team of LAPD officers to take Cohen down. The squad, led by war hero/super cop John O’Mara (Brolin), consists of wisecracking ladies’ man Jerry Wooters (Gosling), sharpshooter Max Kennard (Robert Patrick), tech expert Conwell Keeler (Ribisi), beat cop Coleman Harris (Anthony Mackie) and rookie tag-along Navi-dad Ramirez (Michael Peña).

As they go about their duties (by any means necessary), you’ll slowly realize this plot is far from original. And at the point of the movie you hear Penn scream “I want them all dead! I want their families dead!” it’ll hit you like a sack of bricks — this movie is so much like Brian

De Palma’s The Untouchables it’s almost criminal.

That’s what killed it for me. Perhaps “killed” is too strong of

a word. Because, to be honest, the movie has a lot of good dialogue, good action, and is really eye-catch-ing (in an art-deco-advertising kind of way.)

But the unoriginality of it all really holds Gangster Squad back. Unfortunately.

@Verbsaskatoon entertainmentcontents local editorial comments q + a arts coVer food + drink music listings film nightlife comics timeout

21Jan 11 – Jan 17

t here’s one scene in Take This Waltz that really stands out.

In it, Michelle Williams and Sarah Silverman are nude. In a shower. But this isn’t like any female nude scene you’ve seen before. There’s no sexual-ity, no music to tell you how to feel, no sexy lighting. Nothing of the sort. It’s just Michelle Williams, Sarah Silver-man and bunch of women showering at a local pool, talking about relation-ships. The scene isn’t funny or sassy or dramatic. As Silverman said in a recent interview, “It just is.”

And what it is is a realistic, every-day occurrence that is completely un-clichéd — much like the movie itself.

Written and directed by Sarah Polley, Take This Waltz is a sear-ingly honest look at everyday life in relationships. The main relationship in question is between Margot (Williams) and Lou (Seth Rogen), who have been married for five years. Lou writes cook-books; Margot is a freelance writer who does a lot of tourism work.

And on the surface, Margot and Lou appear to be a good, healthy couple.

They live in a trendy Toronto neigh-bourhood, they still enjoy each other’s company, and have a real affection for each other. Their relationship, like the aforementioned shower scene, is unflinchingly real and diurnal.

Also like the shower scene, these characters (and for that matter, every character in the movie) avoid cliché. We simply don’t know these people in Take This Waltz. And that’s the best part about it. They’re all fresh. Nobody

speaks lines you can guess, nobody sticks to one single mode of behaviour.

And in a world where a lot of Hol-lywood movies reek of convention and cliché, Take This Waltz is a refreshing blast — at least when Margot and Lou are on screen.

But when Daniel (Luke Kirby) — a guy Margot meets while on assignment in Cape Breton and who, it just so hap-pens, is Margot and Lou’s neighbour — enters the equation, well, that’s when things get a tad stale.

See, Daniel is an artist with smol-dering good looks and a strange pen-

chant for wearing pedal pushers. He’s also the guy who threatens to come between Lou and Margot’s seemingly solid marriage.

Take This Waltz is a tender and heartfelt movie that you should prob-ably go see if explosions and CGI aren’t your thing. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying Take This Waltz is a perfect movie. Far from it, in fact.

Whenever it turns to attraction between Daniel and Margot, the

entire thing fizzles. And, at times, Pol-ley’s hand is a bit too heavy, a bit too contrived. But, on the whole, Take This Waltz hums with anticipation, with realism and the thrill of temptation.

Oh, and did I mention that the act-ing (save for Kirby, who never really brings Daniel to life) is excellent? You’d expect as much from Williams, who is a three-time Oscar nominee. But from Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman (who plays Lou’s alcoholic sister in the film) too? You bet. Even though they are bet-ter known for their raunchy comedy, both Rogen and Silverman deliver big in dramatic roles.

Don’t believe me? Think I’m giving them a tad too much credit? Go see for yourselves.

Take This Waltz is currently being screened at the Broadway Theatre.

@adamhawboldt

[email protected]


take this waltz

directed By Sarah Polley

starring Michelle Williams, Seth

Rogen + Sarah Silverman

116 minutes | 14a

an alright dance you won’t regretthis touching flick about love and redemption is pretty charming By adam hawBoldt

Photo: courtesy of mongrel medIa

[o]n the whole, Take This Waltz hums with anticipation…

adam hawBoldt


22Jan 11 – Jan 17

nightlife tuesday, January 8 @

pacificBilliardsPacific Billiards609 1st Avenue North(306) 665 0009

Music viBe / Classic rock and bluesFeatureD Deals / Domestic beer for $4Drink oF choice / Pints of Original 16toP eats / Chicken fingerscoMing uP / League play on Tuesday nights


23Jan 11 – Jan 17

Photography by Patrick Carley


24Jan 11 – Jan 17

nightlife

Photography by Cortez

@Verbsaskatoon entertainmentcontents local editorial comments q + a arts coVer food + drink music listings film nightlife comics timeout

25Jan 11 – Jan 17

monday, decemBer 31 @

BÉily’sBéily’s Ultralounge2404 8 Street East(306) 374 3344

Music viBe / Top 40, hip hop, country and party hitsFeatureD Deals / Prime ribDrink oF choice / Vodka water splashtoP eats / Prime ribcoMing uP / Béily’s will once again be hosting their DJ compe-tition, which kicks off January 20th with Anthem Kingz


26Jan 11 – Jan 17

comics

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


27Jan 11 – Jan 17

timeout

crosswordacross1. Not attractive

5. Area farthest from the front

9. Flora and fauna of a region

10. Wading bird

12. Go sightseeing

13. Beckham’s game

15. Assistant

16. Take small tastes of

18. Make more acute, as

one’s skills

19. Suffix with hero

20. Eucharist plate

22. Canada’s neighbour: abbr.

23. Animal resembling

a monkey

25. Knife used in an operat-

ing room

27. Make a long tear in

29. Make fast

30. Unidentified man

34. Scenic wide view

38. “___ on a Grecian Urn”

39. Clear a chalkboard

41. Barley bristle

42. Auction cry

44. Do your best

45. Move lightly and swiftly

46. Lying face upward

48. Act as a go-between

50. Program you’ve

seen before

51. Word processing

command

52. Tear apart

53. Roll call reply

down1. Crown worn as a sign of

sovereignty

2. Travel constantly

3. Broke a fast

4. Model airplane wood

5. Look up to

6. Self-esteem

7. Curved entranceway

8. Win back

9. Pickling solution

11. Verb form

12. Comet part

14. Not pretended

17. Part of TGIF

20. Group of lions

21. Easily taken advantage of

24. Big coffeepot

26. Floral necklace

28. Be a sign of

30. Chinese figure of a god

31. Aroma

32. Assistant

33. Spike of corn

35. Intravenous solution

36. Unforeseen development

37. Poker stake

40. Slender woman

43. Desperately urgent

45. Treating people equally

47. One who has taken vows

49. Anger

Canadian Criss-Cross

horoscopes January 11 – January 17

© walter d. feener 2012

sudoku crossword answer key

a b

sudoku answer key

a

b

6 1 8 3 9 4 7 2 59 2 7 5 8 6 3 4 14 5 3 2 1 7 8 6 95 7 6 4 3 1 2 9 82 8 9 6 7 5 1 3 41 3 4 9 2 8 5 7 63 9 1 8 4 2 6 5 78 6 2 7 5 9 4 1 37 4 5 1 6 3 9 8 2

6 3 1 9 7 5 2 4 88 7 5 1 2 4 6 9 39 4 2 8 3 6 1 5 72 5 9 6 1 7 8 3 43 6 4 2 8 9 5 7 11 8 7 4 5 3 9 2 65 2 8 7 4 1 3 6 97 9 3 5 6 8 4 1 24 1 6 3 9 2 7 8 5

6 2 2 8 3 4 4 5 2 1 7 9 7 3 1 9 8 9 5 1 1 3 8 6 9 8 4 6 5 6 7 5 37 4 2

6 3 9 7 4 7 2 2 8 1 5 72 5 6 1 8 3 4 1 7 5 3 9 5 4 6 9 9 6 8 24 1 3 8

timeout

aries march 21–april 19

You have a strong creative com-

ponent to your personality, Aries.

That’s no secret. So why don’t you tap into

that side of you this week?

taurus april 20–may 20

Sensitive much, Taurus? If so, you

might want to work on toughen-

ing up in the coming days. You’re going to

need a bit of a thick skin to get through.

gemini may 21–June 20

Things could be getting hectic,

Gemini, so when you get the

chance take some time, kick your feet up

and relax — if only for a few minutes.

cancer June 21–July 22

You have a lot to offer, Cancer.

But sometimes you forget that.

This week make sure you show the world

what you have. It may surprise people.

leo July 23–august 22

It’s a jungle out there, dear Leo.

Lucky for you, you’re the king of

that sucker. So stomp the terra this week

like you own it.

virgo august 23–september 22

Ideas are going to come at you

this week like snowflakes in a

blizzard. Don’t let the mess of ‘em confuse

you. Pick out a few, and grab on.

liBra september 23–october 23

Things will be happening on the

home front this week, Libra —

some good, some bad. Make sure you

keep on top of it all.

scorpio october 24–november 22

A chance for you to make a major

commitment to something looms

on the horizon, Scorpio. Look, think and

ponder before you leap.

sagittarius november 23–december 21

No rest for the wicked, Sagittarius. If

that old cliché holds true, then you

must’ve been quite bad, because you’re go-

ing to be busy, busy, busy this week.

capricorn december 22–January 19

It’s important to give, Capricorn,

but if you hit a wall and find you

have nothing left, don’t fret. Just take some

down time and recharge your battery.

aquarius January 20–february 19

Good things come to those who

wait, they say. But what they

neglect to tell you is that if you wait too

long, you’ll miss your opportunity

pisces february 20–march 20

Don’t be a drama queen this week,

Pisces. If things seem like they’re

spinning out of control, don’t lose your

head. Take a deep breath and be rational.

Documents

Verb Issue S222 (Jan. 11-17, 2013)