Following last Friday’s Black Keys’ show, a concert that blew away my rather low expectations — I really only wanted to hear the song that goes “la-la-la la/la-la-la la” and the one with the “oh whoa uh-oh” chorus — my first thought was “I’m going to stick it to Josiah Hughes and his rather low estimation of this band.

Re-reading his comments in this week’s “Goings On” column, I’m not as sure I have as strong a leg to stand on as I did Friday night.

Hughes is right: The Black Keys have been mining the same aesthetic territory for their whole career. Sure, they occasionally flush things out with expanded instrumentation — keyboards, strings, the odd tambourine — but at its core it’s a very tried and true variation of the same old blues rock shuffle that’s … Read More

As we walked through Stampede Park in the chilly May snows (goddamn you, Calgary) following last night’s Van Halen show, and in between moaning about the weather and how my feet hurt and wondering if my new (large) Van Halen Tour 2012 T-shirt would fit better than all the other ones in my closet (mediums — which have suddenly taken to revealing more belly and man-boob than is socially acceptable), I had the temerity to remark to my companion that David Lee Roth sure isn’t the scissor-kicking, high-flying front man of days gone by.
After all, that Vaudevillian soft-shoe shuffle he broke into for most of the show brought to mind an eccentric auntie after one too many sherries more than anything else.
The irony of following my own … Read More

The folks behind Calgary 2012 are promising a “circus meets vaudeville meets High Performance Rodeo with a rock concert” kick-off to Calgary’s year as the "Cultural Capital" of Canada.

The party — officially entitled “The Sweet City Opening Celebration" — goes down this Friday at the BMO Centre on the Stampede Grounds, but if you haven’t already got it a ticket, you may be out of luck — the event is sold out (though, there is still a chance to put your name on a wait list).

But, if you’re among the 3400 ticket holders, expect a spectacle — besides the obligatory dignitaries who’ll be in attendance (Premier Alison Redford, Mayor Naheed Nenshi, etc., etc.), you’ll being seeing close to 200 local performers, including: Calgary Animated Objects Society … Read More

Looks as though this is going to be the summer of big birthdays — a few weeks before we celebrate a 100 years of cow-punching and whatnot, Calgary will play host to the 10th Annual Magnetic North Theatre Festival (June 13 – 23, to be precise).
Earlier this afternoon, the full fest line-up was announced at Jack Singer Hall, and if there’s a common thread to be found among the eight main stage plays and various ancillary events taking place at nine venues city-wide, it’s a focus on social issues.
For instance…

•Festival opener Oil & Water, by Governor General Award-winning Newfoundland playwright Robert Chafe, looks at the true story of Lanier Phillips — the sole African-American to survive the wreck of the USS Truxton, a racially … Read More

The Bard has been absent from Prince’s Island since 2010, but a new partnership between Theatre Calgary and Mount Royal University will rectify the situation this summer.

Each year, the program will pair theatre professionals with emerging talent (i.e. recent graduates from MRU and other post-secondary institutions) who will together mount top-grade productions.

The inaugural reboot of Shakespeare in the Park kicks of June 27 with A Midsummer Nights Dream and will run until August 11. Michael Shamata of Victoria’s Belfry Theatre leads off the mentorship program as director of the production.

From Saturday night's festivities: Damo Suzuki, The Famines, Dean & Britta, and Sonic Boom. Good times...

Apparently TED talks are such a hot ticket you need to fill out an application to get in…
Actually, that’s just part of the reason behind the unusual audience selection process — with its mandate to bring together a diverse array of people in the spirit of exploring “ideas worth sharing,” the global conference series aims to be lot more than a regular lecture.

Only 250 applicants will be chosen for the third TEDxYYC, which will be held on May 25th at the Telus Spark Science Centre; featured speakers include arctic explorer Christina Franco, artist Jeff De Boer, filmmaker Mark Horvath, and children’s entertainer Raffi Cavoukian, among others.

If you’d like to attend, grab the application form here and get cracking — entries must be … Read More

Like talking art? And politics? While drinking beer? Well, then, you’re certainly in luck tonight — ArtsVote Calgary is hosting a little get together at the Auburn Saloon, with the promise of all three of those things.

ArtsVote, of course, is the advocacy entity committed to making sure arts issues are part of the focus in both municipal and provincial elections. Tonight’s event, a “We Should Know Each Other” party, promises a lively discourse between elected officials, candidates and their staff with ArtsVote committee members and the general public (which, unless you’re a politician, means you).

Plus there’ll be beer.

The good times start at 7 p.m.

Calgary 2012 has just announced over $800, 000 worth of investment into the local arts, culture and heritage communities this morning.

It’s the first of several cultural cash infusions that will be announced over the course of the year.

This time around, $425,000 goes to 75 individual artists and arts organization as part of the 2012-Projects grants program. An additional $393,000 will be awarded to 24 organizations through the Connecting Calgary program.

The aim of Connecting Calgary is to further artistic interactions between Calgary and the rest of the world — i.e. bringing high-profile projects to city while exporting work created here —while 2012-Projects focuses on awarding grants to individuals and organizations … Read More

This year’s Laureates of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards were announced this morning at news conference here in Calgary at Theatre Junction Grand.

Recipients of the 20th Annual GGPAA Lifetime Artistic Achievement honour are as follows: concert pianist Janina Fialkowska, dancer and choreographer Paul-André Fortier, theatre director and production designer Denis Marleau, film director Deepa Mehta, comedian Mary Walsh and…. Rush! (All three of ‘em.)

Also: longtime arts supporter Earlaine Collins receives this year’s Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts, and Tony-award winning director, writer and composer Des McAnuff takes the National Arts Centre Award thanks to his … Read More