Verb Issue R56 (Nov. 30-Dec. 6, 2012)

PHOTO: COURTESY OF PH

ISSUE #56 – NOVEMBER 30 TO DECEMBER 6

PHOTO: COURTESY OF RICHARD SIBBALD

THEREUNIONWITH BIG WRECK

THE ARTIST’S EYE Joe Fafard on capturing movement

CHRISTMAS CRASS Q+A with the Trailer Park Boys

MID-AUGUST LUNCH + KILLING THEM SOFTLY Films reviewed

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

2NOV 30 – DEC 6

CONTENTSCONTENTS

PLEASE RECYCLE AFTER READING & SHARING

VERBNEWS.COM@VERBREGINA FACEBOOK.COM/VERBREGINA

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

JOE FAFARD A celebrated artist talks capturing movement. 3 / LOCAL

YANN MARTEL On turning his best-selling novel into a major motion picture. 4 / LOCAL

ORGAN OVERHAUL Our thoughts on changing Canada’s donation practices. 6 / EDITORIAL

COMMENTSHere’s what you had to say about free speech in universities. 7 / COMMENTS

Q + A WITH BUBBLESChristmas, caroling and S. Claus with the Trailor Park Boys. 8 / Q + A

NIGHTLIFE PHOTOS We visit McNally’s Tavern.15 / NIGHTLIFE

LIVE MUSIC LISTINGSLocal music listings for November 30 through December 8. 14 / LISTINGS

KILLING THEM SOFTLY + MID-AUGUST LUNCH We review the latest movies. 16 / FILM

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

INTERDEPENDENCIESMartha Cole discusses active witnessing through art. 9 / ARTS

PASTA PRIMAThis week we indulge in fresh pasta and more. 12 / FOOD + DRINK

MUSICKacy + Clayton, Carly Maicher and Dala . 13 / MUSIC

HANDEL’S MESSIAH An old song becomes a new tradition. 9 / ARTS

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

ON THE COVER: BIG WRECKOn reuniting the band and rekindling a friendship. 10 / COVER

PHOTO: COURTESY OF RICHARD SIBBALD

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

3NOV 30 – DEC 6

LOCAL

@MacPhersonA

[email protected]

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

PHOTO: COURTESY OF JOE FAFARD

THE ARTIST’S EYEJoe Fafard makes artwork for everyone BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

T he Metropolitan Mu-seum of Art is full of beautiful things, from

towering sculptures from the Ital-ian Renaissance to oil paintings by the finest Dutch masters. Joe Fafard has explored the vast col-lection many times, but he always comes back to a single piece.

“One of the most beautiful pieces of art I have ever seen is a small carv-ing by an Egyptian in the desert of a small gazelle,” Fafard says from his home north of Regina. “He carved it out of ivory. Whenever I go to New York, I go visit that piece. It sits there in a little glass box. I think that is one of the good things about art and art objects, be it paintings or sculpture:

it is a conduit between one human being and another.”

Today, Joe Fafard is recognized as a regional artist who has transcended political borders and cultural bound-aries. Known for titanic installations at public institutions across Canada, Fafard’s art has escaped the borders of Saskatchewan without sacrific-ing its prairie roots. “Even the great works of art by Michelangelo were regional and localized in that area of

Florence and Rome in their particu-lar time,” Fafard says. “I don’t think you can work from abstract environ-ments: you would live in a totally abstract world, devoid of subject.”

Fafard does not live in an abstract world; he lives in Saskatchewan. Born in 1942 near Ste. Marthe, Fafard grew up in an area dominated by French and Métis influence. The people and things he knew best served as inspiration; the difficult part was carving out a sustainable career in the arts.“I had all kinds of compromises planned,” he laughs. “I didn’t expect that I would support myself so easily from my work.”

What ultimately allowed Fafard to give up his day job at the Univer-

sity of Regina, and what continues to animate his creations, is an innate ability to capture in a single deft movement the essence of a thing. Fafard’s sculptures are strikingly universal not because they contain photographic detail, but because he understands how to transform lumps of clay and metal into the things we remember. “When you try to think of a person who is absent who you know very well, you kind of see them in a way that reminds you about them,” he says, explaining that memory is trig-

gered not by perfect likeness but by movements and gestures. “How they sit, how they … look at you when they are engaged with you. It’s very much like the process that everybody lives through in their daily experi-ence of life; you just have to be able to condense some of it into a work.”

Fafard is best known for his ceramic portraits and his metal sculptures of animals. The strength of Fafard’s practice is his keen eye, his ability to observe and interpret. “You try and condense it to one gesture, one expression, one stance that will give you some information through body language about that particular person’s attitude and experience,” he says. “I don’t try to manipulate other people’s response. I just try to bring out what I see.” This talent is ineffable. What can be explained, however, is the subtle humour that pervades every aspect of his practice.

Fafard’s sculptures are beautiful, but they are also funny. From a cer-tain point of view, things like people and cows and chickens are prepos-terous. “I think the human condition is humourous,” Fafard laughs, “the fact that we are conscious and can observe our environment, see the contradictions and the limitations. The humour is connected to affec-tion and love. That’s why we ought to celebrate life and celebrate the fact that we are here, but we’re not going to be forever. Better to enjoy it than to cry about it.”

Joe Fafard’s work has demolished obstacles because it is grounded in the

most fundamental human activities: observation and communication. He has no ideology to preach; all he has is a remarkable ability to see things and share his observations with the world. And because they are succinct enough, those observations are relat-able. Fafard makes art for everyone — and that, perhaps more than anything else, explains his success. “When I was a younger artist, in my twenties, there was a pretty big attitude around the art circles that the hoi polloi did not understand anything and there was no use reaching out to them,” he says. “And the hoi polloi was just ordinary people, like my dad. Why do they have such disdain for them? They don’t even know them. You want to say, ‘Let’s reach out to people, see if

we can bring them to art, to the joy past artists have tried to put into their work.”

Just like the joy put into that gazelle three thousand years ago. “When I think about that little gazelle in Egypt that was observed by a person how many thousands of years ago, and they observed the gesture, the way it was made, the anatomy of it, I think it’s a pretty exciting thing to have that kind of connection to other humans from times past and maybe times future.”

[Art] is a conduit between one human being and another.

JOE FAFARD

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

4NOV 30 – DEC 6

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE »

ann Martel is getting ready to speak.

It’s a Monday night, and Theatre 2 at the Galaxy Cinemas in downtown Saskatoon is packed. There’s an anxious buzz in the air as people wait for the screening of the new movie based on Martel’s best-selling novel, Life of Pi.

Standing at the front of the darkened room, microphone in hand, Martel is being filmed by a local news cameraperson. The light from the camera sends the author’s shadow, long and distorted, creeping up the blank white screen behind him.

“Thanks for coming,” Martel says to the crowd.

He then goes on to talk about why he decided to bring a screen-ing of Life of Pi to Saskatoon. About what brought him to the city in the first place. About what has kept him here, about libraries and about the movie itself.

“Anyone who has read the book will realize just how faithful this movie is to it,” says Martel. “There are some minor differences, like there’s a love story in the film, but other than that it’s very much the same.”

Martel thanks the audience again, then advises them to watch the movie with the 3D glasses they’ve been given. “It’s the best way,” says Martel. And he should know.

Martel first saw the movie in New York City.

Two days before Life of Pi was set to premiere at the New York Film Festival, a theatre was rented out so that he and the lead actor of the movie, Suraj Sharma, could have a closed viewing. Neither of the men had seen the film before. And, like millions of others who would see the film in the upcoming weeks, Martel was impressed.

“The first time I saw the movie, I thought it was visually dazzling,” says Martel, breaking off a piece of cookie while sitting in the Il Secon-do coffee shop in Saskatoon. He puts the cookie in his mouth, chews, then says, “I thought it was leisurely in its pacing. Very faithful to the book, very well acted, technically accom-plished. You know … the tiger, the life boat, that kind of stuff.” The sec-ond time Martel saw the movie was

at the film festival, the third was in Montreal (where a portion of the movie is set), and the fourth was at the screening in Saskatoon. And the more he watched the film version of his book, the more Martel began to notice the little things, the inher-ent beauty in it all.

“Ang Lee, who directed the film, is really good at creating tableaus,” explains Martel. “He’s really good at creating beautiful scenes, but with movies, they’re moving all the time so you don’t really have time to linger on just one. So the advantage of having seen it four times now is that I’m becoming more familiar with the scenes so I can appreci-ate them more. There are several tableaus in the Pacific — still ones, with the lifeboat, the tiger — that I can look at now better because I’ve seen them more often. Same goes for some of the shots in India. Now that I’m more familiar, I can linger a bit more and I’ve come to appreciate more the visual quality of the film.”

Directed by the incomparable Lee, Life of Pi the movie (like the book)

LOCAL

PHOTO: COURTESY OF YANN MARTEL

YANN’S LIFEYann Martel’s life has been a whirlwind of late BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

Y

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

5NOV 30 – DEC 6


@AdamHawboldt

[email protected]

tells the story of a young Indian boy named Piscine “Pi” Patel. Pi is a religious lad whose family owns a zoo in Pondicherry, in southern India. After a series of events and economic issues, the Patel fam-ily find themselves emigrating to Canada — and taking their animals with them. The beasts are stowed away in the hull of a Japanese ship and the family sets sail. But in rough seas near Marianas Trench, tragedy strikes. The ship sinks, and

Pi ends up stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger, fighting for sur-vival in the vast Pacific Ocean.

And if you talk to Martel, those are two of the things that really wowed him about the film — the treatment of the sinking ship and the Bengal tiger.

“Books are very good for describing ideas and emotions, but they’re not very good at describing objects or at describing cataclysmic events like, for example, the sinking of a ship,” explains the author. “Part two of the book begins, literally, ‘The ship sank.’ And I have a few more descriptive jabs and I quickly move on to what Pi’s reac-tion is … In the movie, those three words ‘the ship sank’ are done incredibly powerfully.”

Indeed they are. The cinematic treatment of the

sinking ship is intense, dramatic, and visually stunning. And the scene when Pi is underwater while the ship is sinking beneath him, well, it’s absolutely beautiful. The way the

lights of the ship beam below the waters of the Pacific, eerily contrast-ed against the black depths of the ocean, will linger with you long after the movie is over.

So too will the scenes involving the tiger, Richard Parker.

Not only is the beast menacing and ferocious, not only does it com-mand your attention every time it appears on screen, but it’s virtually impossible to tell when they’re using one of the four tame tigers on set, or when the creature is a CGI version.

“The tiger was extraordinary,” admits Martel. “When the tiger jumps off the lifeboat, remember that scene? That’s a real tiger. And when you see the camera under-neath, that’s also a real tiger. But, do you remember early on when Pi is a little boy and he meets Richard Parker for the first time, and he’s

holding a piece of meat and Richard Parker is coming down the corri-dor? In that scene all the tiger does is walk up, stare, then come a bit closer. I thought for sure one of the four tame tigers they had could’ve done that, but no. That’s a CGI tiger, and I honestly couldn’t tell the dif-ference.”

And chances are neither can most people.

As the final credits roll and the lights come up in Theatre 2, the audience begins to clap. It’s just a smattering at first before it erupts into full-blown ap-plause. After that come the whispers.

“Amazing,” says one voice. “Absolutely stunning,”

says another.Amid all the hubbub, Yann

Martel makes his way down the

stairs from the back of the theatre. He’s greeted by well-wishers along the way.

“That was terrific,” says a man in passing.

Martel thanks him, stops for a moment, then keeps walking. Outside the theatre, the author mills about, chatting with friends. He stays there for a bit, then heads to the counter to pay for all the free pop-corn and drinks he purchased for the crowd. He lingers around Galaxy Cinemas until nearly all his guests have left. Then Martel heads home for, one can only guess, a much needed rest.

Books are very good for describing ideas and emotions, but they’re not very good at describing … cataclysmic events…

YANN MARTEL

PHOTO: COURTESY OF 20TH CENTURY FOX

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

EDITORIAL

6NOV 30 – DEC 6

@VerbSaskatoon

[email protected]


ORGAN OVERHAULid you know that every week, five Canadians die because the organ

they need to live is not available for transplant?

This staggering figure comes courtesy of the Donation Project, a nonprofit organization in Canada whose aim is to increase the number of registered donors across the country.

Now, we understand that not everyone wants to be an organ donor. Some choose not to because of religious beliefs, or they may per-ceive it as a desecration of the body after death. You may be one of these people. And that’s cool. We support your right to choose whether or not you want to be an organ donor.

Here’s the thing, though: a lot of people don’t sign up for reasons that are less than stellar. For instance, some people simply can’t be bothered to put the Organ & Tissue Donor sticker on their health card or fill out the Consent Under The Human Tissue Act form that comes with the card. Then there are those who refuse to sign up because they believe in the myths surrounding organ donation. These are the people who say, “Oh, I’m too old to donate” or “If doctors see my card they won’t work hard to save my life,” or our personal favourite, “After the reckless life I’ve lived, who the hell would want my organs?”

None of those things are true. Your age or “reckless lifestyle” doesn’t automatically prevent you from being

a donor. And trust us: a doctor is going to work to save you, whether or not you’re willing to offer up a lung or a kidney for another person.

So why are we talking about this now? Well, obviously Canada is facing a healthcare issue when it comes to organ donation. In fact, our national donation rates in Canada have been stagnant since 2006. Which would be fine and dandy if, you know, our rates were high to begin with. But they aren’t.

While 95 percent of Canadians say that they support organ and tissue donation, the Donation Project has found that only about 35 percent of people are actual donors. And consid-ering that as of mid-way through 2012 roughly 4,800 patients are waiting for transplants in Canada, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Informa-tion, that percentage is entirely too low.

So what can be done to eradicate this gap and fix the problem? Well, a new study out of Alberta suggests that Canadians would be more inclined to donate their organs and tissues if they were given money for doing so. And while there is some merit to that suggestion, we believe the answer lies elsewhere — in a nationally integrated opt-out system.

Obviously the current opt-in system isn’t working as well as it should. And while the idea of financial compensation (or any other incentives, like funeral expenses being taken care of) for organ donation may work better

than our current system, we feel the best way to help people and save lives is with an opt-out system.

This would provide the best of both worlds. If you were adamantly against organ and tissue donation for whatever reason, all you have to do is fill out a card and bingo! Your organs will go to the grave with you, safe and sound.

What’s more, an opt-out system would also encourage people to talk to their loved ones about what to do with their organs and tissues while increasing the amount of organs and tissue available for transplant.

Sure, this may seem like a sim-plistic solution, but consider this: in the New York Times’ piece “Opting In vs. Opting Out,” Richard Thaler notes that in Germany, which uses an opt-in system, only 12 percent of the popula-tion gives their consent to be donors. In Austria, which uses an opt-out, a staggering 99 percent agree to donate.

And if so many people are dying on waiting lists, then isn’t it worth giving this a shot?

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

DUpdating how we become organ donors will save lives

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

7NOV 30 – DEC 6

COMMENTSCOMMENTSCOMMENTS

ON TOPIC: Last week we asked what you thought about free speech on university campuses. Here's what you had to say:

– Definitely agree with free speech. Its easy to stand behind it and then shrink away when an unpopular opinion wants its turn to talk (went to uni in 80s and gay rights were a hot button issue). You gotta take the good n the bad dialogue is the only way we can go

– Typical lefty universities shut down any talk that might not be PC abortion is a sin deal with it don’t silence us!

– Free speech defendors? Ok here u go: I don’t like you verb :D

– How is protecting the rights of people who spew hateful, misinformed ideological beliefs empowering to anyone? Makes no sense to me

– Sure protect free speech but what about the people who would like to pursue their education and life on campus without having malformed and incorrect images of a fetus shoved in their face what about those people.

– Free speech is something we should vitally strive to protect, especially on universities. The tricky bit is where free speech and hate speech intersect. That line is blurry and difficult to parse. But the con-versations are always worth having.

OFF TOPIC

– On topic: The U of R students made a mistake and should get a second chance.

In response to “School Break,” Editorial

page, #216 (November 16, 2012)

SOUND OFF

– The Grey Cup is the only champi-onship Toronto will ever win since hockey just ain’t thier game!! HA HA HA! The Leafs suck!!

– This so called labor shortage is BS. Plenty of bodies in Sask. Employers are just being too picky and cheap. Good wages treat em-ployees well, no labor problems!

– Why don’t they have guys to hand out Verb like the Metro does? Seems like if you guys want to keep your readers you should keep up with compitition.

– Had to bust a move to stay on my feet ystrdy. Yee Hah! Its break-dancing season. Even Sask elders put L.A. hip hoppers to shame. (you can break something)

– I’ve seen at least 4 people totally bite it walked across campus, disappearing suddenly into a puff of snow as they erratically fall to the ground. Which would be real funny if you knew that at any second that could be you.

– You could say that a belief in Santa Claus is dogmatic. Yet people all over the place embrace the idea and don’t bat an eye. I prefer to believe in Jesus Christ and don’t apologize for my beliefs. You believe what you wish.

– I don’t want to force my perspec-tive on you. We do however live in a country of free speech. I choose to believe in God. You don’t. That’s your choice. I’m not knocking that.

I just would like to see some Chris-tian support out there and don’t want Christianity to fade away. It is your choice to believe whatever you like. So don’t think I’m forcing my perspective on you because that was not my intention.

– To the txtr who said keeping Christ in Christmas is dogmatic. I also don’t believe in god (atheist) but I think when both sides ac-cuse each other of pushing views whenever they say something is counterintuitive. I didn’t feel the OP was dogmatic, they were just expressing their wish. So for u I hope ur holiday is secular and to the OP I hope u don’t lose your love of christ in this season. Ap-preciating each other is what we should be doing this time of year. Peace.

– You give my life a hope that’s real ‘cause when I’m with you you take me away to another world.

– What is this white stuff some one asked . it’s called snow love it or go back where you came from.

– Tuesday is going to get it on Tues-day !

– We work very very hard at accentuating the differences be-tween men and women with hair clothes makeup etc. This is a fairly chauvinistic homophobic society!

– Ever notice how girls jeans are so tight and guys jeans look like they will fall down?

– Cold winters build character. I doubt that Californians know what Canadian winters are all about.

– Why can ‘t you drive when winter comes! Slow down and don‘t drive so close . It comes every year.

– Cars going down freeway with snowbank on roof and windows frosted up Dumb idea

– We lost our dear father husband grandfather and freind. Dad was a very special person and touched very many hearts. I will and already miss him very much. You are free from agony now dad and you will be beside us everyday and with every step we take. Life with you was a gift full of laugh-ter so many good times and yes very tearfull in the end. You were so strong and you fought so hard never complaining or showing any fear. You hid your greif and pain inside only to keep us from crying. You always smiled reguardless of your fear and wanted us to always stay strong and smiling with you. You were very dear to me and im so thankful for everything you have taught me in life. We had very many cherished memories that I will carry with me forever and held me when I cried. Love u forever xoxo

– Not many people around here know how to draw and paint. Easy skills to teach and learn. Like that when I was a kid. Taught myself. Dumb ass peasant schools.

– Out of Town Losing your liscene for 08 Then using combine to go to the bar

– It’s Christmas not Xmas.

– Keep the Chanukkah in xmas

NEXT WEEK: What do you think about changing organ donor policies? 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

Text your thoughts to881 VERB

8372

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

Q + A

8NOV 30 – DEC 6

he first time the Trailer Park Boys went on tour, it was because of a

judge’s sentence. These days, things are different. Ricky, Julian and Bub-bles like touring. They like meeting new people, seeing new things, and ingesting as much “liquor and whores” as they possibly can. And for the first time ever, when their show Dear Santa Claus, Go F**k Yourself rolls into town, they’ll be joined by Randy. And you know “wherever Randy is, that f**kin’ Lahey’s not far behind.” Adam Hawboldt: For you, what’s the true meaning of Christmas?

B: Well, I mean, for me it’s just about being with your friends and your family and hav-ing a nice time. Gettin’

drunk. Havin’ some nice food. It’s not about who spent more on who kind of bulls**t. We want to debunk all those myths. That’s not what Christmas is about. Not for me.

AH: Tell me about the best Christ-mas you ever had.

B: All the Christmases I had when I was a little guy before my parents took off on me. Those were the best Christmases for me. We used to have bonfires and hang out with

Ricky and Julian and all those guys. But my parents took off when I was around five or six years old and I’ve been hoping they’d come back every Christmas, but I never heard tell of ‘em again. So it’s those early Christmases that I remember.

AH: Why, exactly, should jolly old Saint Nick go f**k himself?

B: People put themselves in debt and end up f**kin’ shooting themselves or someone else cuz they get so depressed after Christmas. So Santa Claus represents that whole spending-too-much-money thing. And in that way, he can go f**k himself.

It sort or all deals with Ricky, too. I’ve been dressing up as Santa and leaving presents for Ricky cuz nobody has the heart to tell Ricky that Santa’s not real. I usually get Ricky really drunk and high and Ricky passes out, then I’ll sneak in and leave his presents. But last year he went and woke up right when I was doing it and he thought someone was in there robbin’ him.

There I am, dressed up like Santa Claus, and he gets up and f**kin’ sucker punches me. So I had no choice. He was comin’ at me like a wild bear. I had to grab him by the ears, I started kneeing him in the face. It turned into a horrible fight. So now Ricky feels bad and he wants to apologize to Santa. That’s why we’re heading out on tour. To find Santa for Ricky. F**kin’ Ricky, he thinks we’re going to the North Pole.

AH: What’s the craziest thing that’s happened to you guys when you are out on tour like this?

B: Oh Jesus! All kinds of crazy stuff happened. We were down in Australia earlier this year and I got attacked by a kangaroo. We were just outside the city, havin’ some drinks and this kangaroo came at me, whizzin’ its feet, and I f**kin’ beat the c**ksucker almost to death. I had no choice. The thing almost bit my f**kin’ arm off.

AH: What’s the best and worst part of doing a tour like this Dear Santa, Go F**k Yourself tour?

B: The best is meetin’ new people, seeing all the different cultures. Like when you go over to Scotland or Ireland and you can barely understand those c**ksuckers. But they’re good, they like to fight and drink. It’s nice to see those cultures. The worst part is traveling in a vehicle with Ricky and Julian. That Ricky, he eats a lot of pepperoni and he’s always drinking liquor. It’s all gurgling around. It’s like a f**kin’ compost in there. He lets off a lot of different types of gas.

Trailer Park BoysDecember 11 @ Casino Regina$45+ @ Show Lounge Box Office

BUBBLIN’ OVER

T

Here’s what one Trailer Park Boy thinks of Christmas and touring BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

F**kin’ Ricky, he thinks we’re going to the North Pole.

BUBBLES

PHOTO: COURTESY OF SONIC ENTERTAINMENT


@AdamHawboldt

[email protected]

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

ARTS

9NOV 30 – DEC 6

@MacPhersonA

[email protected]


HANDEL’S MESSIAHAn old piece of music becomes a new tradition BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

M artha Cole is bent on saving the planet. Her

latest exhibition of textiles, In-terdependencies, explores natural beauty, the appreciation of which has been lost to so many people, sacrificed at the altar of straight-forward economics. Referring to Thomas Berry’s The Great Work, she says: “There are eras in our history in which there is a great social change that needs to hap-pen, a change that has to happen on all different kinds of levels — and it entails all of us.” It goes without saying that she thinks this is one of those times.

Interdependencies showcases Cole’s complex textile-based works. After printing photographic details onto sheets of silk or cotton, she em-bellishes the pieces with paint and careful stitching. The finished works are not flat representations of nature; they are contoured and textured distillations of what natural beauty can be.

“Mostly what my work is about is something called active witnessing,” she explains. “What I’m trying to do is show individual things in our envi-ronment, other living forms, in all of

their complexity, because it’s incred-ibly beautiful. I think that beauty is an active force for change. If you see something that’s beautiful, if you are moved by it because it is beautiful, your heart just opens.”

Which is not to say that Inter-dependencies is propagandistic. Good artwork can be accessed on different levels, and Cole under-stands this. Her images of lichens and mosses and trees can be read as simple representations of beauty, landscapes under the microscope. But the title of the exhibition hints at something more, some broader meaning or purpose.

“Lichen are actually made up of two different species, neither of which can exist without the other,” Cole says, alluding to the notion that humankind cannot exist without the earth. In this sense, the works in Interdependcies transcend simple beauty and point inexorably toward the compromises necessary to sustain life on earth — for us and for the planet.

Ultimately, Interdependencies cannot escape the realm of the political, but Cole insists that she is not particularly interested in per-

suading people to make significant political changes. She just wants to show people that there are levels of understanding beyond a detached analysis of cost and benefit. Whether or not the viewer chooses to subor-dinate economics to beauty and all its complexity is and always will be a personal choice. But the exhibition succeeds because Cole isn’t afraid to ask.

Martha Cole: InterdependenciesThrough January 10 @ Dunlop Art Gallery, RPL Sherwood Village Branch

V

LICHEN, ROCK FROM A PRAIRIE PASTURE, 2008PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

INTERDEPENDENCIES Martha Cole and active witnessing BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

ictor Sawa spends a lot of time looking forward to

Christmas. “I’m a traditionalist,” the maestro explains. “That’s very important to know, that the turkey, the tree, the presents are very im-portant for this time of year.” And then there’s the music. Sawa admits to stocking his iPod with Christmas carols, but says the two most impor-tant pieces are more profound than “Jingle Bell Rock”: Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and Handel’s Messiah. The latter has become an annual tradition for the Regina Symphony Orchestra, one Sawa spends all year looking forward to.

Composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, Messiah is a large-scale concert piece for an orchestra, a choir, and several soloists. A musical interpretation of the life of Jesus Christ as Messiah, Handel’s most famous piece received middling reviews when first performed. Today, Messiah is one of the most popular choral works, and for good reason. Heard live, Messiah is a towering pillar of sound. The “Hal-lelujah Chorus” is probably the most recognizable part, but Sawa says every moment is memorable. “You wait for them every year,” he laughs.

Perhaps most importantly, Messiah is no longer regarded as a reflection

on religion. Which, Sawa points out, would probably surprise Handel. “Dif-ferent pieces from different composers just have a life of their own,” he says. “He liked this one, it was one of his fa-vourites for sure, but what happened? Nobody knows. It acquires a life of its own and all of a sudden it’s there.”

Which is a good thing. “It’s become an experience,” Sawa says. “Especially in this day and age we are in need of traditions … we live in a disposable society — and what’s interesting are the things that have endured.”

Featuring the RSO, the Halcyon Chamber Choir, the Regina Philhar-monic Chorus, and solists Kerri Cor-

nish-Morton, Renée Brad, Paul William-son, and Lawrence Shirkie, Messiah is a chance to celebrate as one year comes to an end and another begins.

Handel’s MessiahDecember 12 @ Knox Metropolitan$45 @ tickets.reginasymphony.com


COVER

10NOV 30 – DEC 6

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE »

hat is a rock and roll band? If you ask Ian Thornley, he

will probably tell you that a rock and roll band is an ideal: five guys joined together by friendship and music, driven by a burning desire to laugh, to create, and to share with as many people as possible. That’s what Big Wreck is — which is astonishing, because two years ago one of Canada’s best-loved bands was nothing more than a faded memory.

Formed in 1994, Big Wreck was the brainchild of Thornley and

guitarist Brian Doherty. Their debut album, In Loving Memory Of…, was released in 1997 and produced a slew of hit singles, including “The Oaf” and “That Song.” The band experienced a period of significant success in Canada and released a follow-up in 2001. The Pleasure and the Greed was well-received here but failed to generate momentum south of the border. A year later, the band broke up, its founding friendship ob-scured by a cloud of “dark stuff swirl-ing around.” Thornley later found success with his solo project. Doherty moved to Sarnia and started a band

called Death of Eight. Big Wreck was forgotten. Until now.

“In a lot of ways it feels like a new band to me, but with Brian in it,” Thornley says. “We didn’t aim to put the band back together, there was none of that. It was really just about rekindling a friendship, then from that it all fell into place in a really genuine way. Paulo [Neta, Thornley’s guitarist] couldn’t make a gig, he was going to be in Portugal, and he suggested, ‘Now that you’re hanging out with Brian, why don’t you get him to fill in?’” Thornley agreed, not knowing what would happen. What happened was a national tour, a new Big Wreck album, and a second major outing. The last year has been extraordinarily busy, but Thornley couldn’t be happier.

“It feels great, man,” he says. “In many ways it’s the same as it ever was, and in a lot of other ways it’s a lot more positive — there’s a lot of great energy in and around the band right now. It’s all gravy.” Much of Thornley’s enthusiasm stems from Albatross, an album that sums up where Big Wreck has been and hints at what the band can be — even if it might surprise longtime fans.

From “Head Together,” a mid-tem-po chugger animated by an infec-tious chorus and thunderous guitars, to “Time,” a pensive ballad freighted with regret, Albatross feels roomier,

airier, and more spacious than its predecessors without sacrificing the grit Thornley and his bandmates have spent years refining. “That was by design,” he says. “We wanted it to feel the way albums used to feel, when you could actually hear the band even if you weren’t blaring the

record through speakers. If it was on in the background [we wanted it to] feel like there was an energy there, a personality there — and not like wallpaper. And I think a lot of records these days do.”

Thornley is right. Wallpaper rock is all too prevalent today, chiefly because technological advances allow engineers and producers to make every note perfect. Thornley dislikes this approach. “They’re just too manufactured,” he says. “I don’t hear the human element. I don’t hear a human voice. I don’t hear a hand holding a stick hitting a drum or a hand squeezing guitar strings.

It doesn’t feel authentic to me. It doesn’t feel real.” Technology can be beneficial in the studio, but too much interference can neuter even the most vibrant band, transforming a powerful and dynamic song into a sterile wall of noise. Thornley and Doherty worked hard to avoid this,

electing to keep technology out of the stream as much as possible. It worked. Albatross has an openness absent from so many other albums. Even the hardest songs, “Rest of the World” and “You Caught My Eye,” feel aggressive and powerful without sacrificing the feel of a band playing live in the studio. “A lot of that air,” Thornley deadpans, “is because that’s the way the song was played.”

Albatross is a contemporary hard rock record that doesn’t sound like a contemporary hard rock record. For inspiration, Thornley dug deep into his album collection, unearthing gems by Thin Lizzy,

WIan Thornley reunites a band, rekindles a friendship, and records a great rock record BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

We didn’t aim to put the band back together, there was none of that. It was really just about rekindling a friendship…

IAN THORNLEY

PHOTO: COURTESY OF RICHARD SIBBALDBIG WRECK

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

11NOV 30 – DEC 6

@MacPhersonA

[email protected]


PHOTO: COURTESY OF MIKE ALFANO

PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Fleetwood Mac, and Dire Straits. These classics influenced more than just sonics and texture, how-ever. “In the last six, seven years there’s just a focus on the really simplified, gentrified, lowest com-mon denominator, sweeping kind of lyric that everyone can identify

with,” Thornley explains. “It’s a sales pitch, not a song.” Albatross is definitely not a sales pitch, and nowhere is this more evident than on the title track. From beautiful imagery (“One last cup of starlight before I wake and start my day”) to metaphors reeking of profun-dity (“I’ll wear the albatross for one more day”), the track captures Thornley’s talent for crafting inter-esting, engaging songs.

Inspired by “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” Coleridge’s epic that is today considered the pre-amble to British Romanticism, the song “Albatross” is about carrying

a burden and learning to accept it. In Coleridge’s poem, the Mariner shoots an albatross, believing it to be a bad omen. The crew turn on him. As a sign of penitence, or perhaps an expression of his guilt, the Mariner slings the bird’s limp carcass around his neck. Thornley latched onto the idea and used it to frame a song, a personal story. “I just thought it was an interesting take on it,” he says rather modestly, adding that most of his songs draw on personal matters.

“Time,” on the other hand, is a much simpler song, a delicate plea to the relentless sweep of the clock: “Time’s the one wasting us.” “It’s a line that I jotted down about something akin to the amount of time I’ve wasted wishing I could go back,” Thornley says. “It sounds pretty sap-py when you just say it, but I knew I wanted that as a theme. Musically it was a bit of a bitch to put together: it’s actually a mashup of two similar ideas we ended up marrying and then it finally worked.”

Ultimately, Albatross works because it captures the band at a pivotal moment: unsure of the road ahead yet determined to banish the past. Strangely, Albatross is a great record because it is a bad record — by industry standards, anyway. In other words, recording quickly and without fanfare produced a record

that is more honest than anything subjected to months of digital enhancement could ever be. “I’m really happy with what we ended up with,” Thornley says. “I don’t think there’s as much sort of loosey goosey jamming stuff on there as we had originally set out to have, but I don’t think it would have worked in retrospect. There are always things I hear that probably no one else would where I’m like, ‘I should have changed that last line to blah, blah, blah, whatever.’ It’s the taking the drawing away from the kid scenar-io: it’s good enough, f**king stop.”

That Big Wreck didn’t make a big wreck is testament not only to Thornley’s dedication, but also in his belief in the idea of the rock band — that fundamental desire to create and to share. “Just the other day we watched a girl weep through most of the set,” he says. “I was like, ‘Wow man, I get it, I really do get it.’”

Big WreckDecember 10 @ Conexus Arts Center$36.50+ @ Conexus Box Office


FOOD + DRINK

12NOV 30 – DEC 6

@TheGeekCooks

[email protected]


have to say that pasta is one of my all-time favou-rite foods. It is warm, com-

forting, filling, and you can have it with any number of sauces that fit with what you’re craving. That is exactly what Pasta Prima is serving up – a wide variety of pastas and

sauces all made in-house (that’s right, they actually make their own pasta), and tons of other entrée options.

I started with a decidedly non-pasta and non-Italian dish from Pasta Prima’s extensive menu – Korean short ribs. The ribs themselves were marinated in a special barbecue sauce before being grilled to give them a beautifully

glazed look. The tender ribs had great flavour from the sauce, and I loved the slightly charred taste from the grill. Be-side the ribs was a lovely pile of crisp green beans in a bit of melted butter, and a fluffy bed of saffron rice pilaf.

Next up was a fusion pasta dish of mango curry chicken chutney on

fettuccine. Don’t let the name scare you off, this is a fun twist on fettuccine alfredo, with the creamy sauce infused with a mild curry, as well as red onion, mango, and bell peppers.

The thick fettuccine noodles were bathed in the mildly spicy and slightly sweet sauce, which was studded with juicy pieces of chicken breast. This dish had a lot of great

flavours and was really something deliciously different.

Blackened chicken was the last of the entrées, and it also happened to be our photographer Danielle’s favourite meal from Pasta Prima.

The al dente spinach linguine was combined with a creamy sauce that featured sautéed spinach, garlic, black olives and basil. On top of the pasta were boneless strips of white meat chicken in a spicy and flavour-ful blackening spice. The chicken had a nice heat that blended very well with the sauce to make this par-ticular item a exceptionally creamy, spicy, lovely dish.

Dessert was up next, and came in the form of a slice of banoffee pie. The layers of whipped cream, ba-nana, caramel and a crumbly choco-late topping all rested on a crisp graham crust. The sweet whipped cream, smooth caramel, and delicate slices of banana made this a great dessert that was perfectly sweet, but not overwhelming.

Owner Quang Pham has been in charge of Pasta Prima for the past ten years, and stresses their focus on making their pasta, sauces, and everything else in-house. Nothing can beat freshly made pasta, and it elevates all of Pasta Prima’s dishes to the next level of taste.

Pasta Prima4440 Albert St. | 347 2782

BUON APPETITO!Photography courtesy of Danielle Tocker

I

Inventive and homemade pasta dishes, great desserts and more at Pasta Prima BY JESSICA BICKFORD

The al dente spinach linguine was combined with a creamy sauce…

JESSICA BICKFORD

LET’S GO DRINKIN’ VERB’S MIXOLOGY GUIDE

BICICLETTA

The bicicletta is a casual Ital-ian aperitif, or before-dinner drink, that stimulates the appetite and quenches thirst. This cocktail is lightly floral and fruity along with a good bit of bitterness, but please don’t ride your own bicicletta home after a couple of these.

INGREDIENTS

2 oz. Campari1 ½ oz. white wine½ oz. club sodalemon slices ice

DIRECTIONS

Fill a wine glass with ice, then add the Campari, white wine, and soda. Give it a stir and garnish with a slice of lemon – easy as riding a bike.

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

MUSIC

13NOV 30 – DEC 6

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

COMING UPNEXT WEEK

KACY + CLAYTON

Raw, simple, haunting, accom-plished, infectious: those are just a handful of adjectives that come to mind when you hear the music of Kacy and Clayton. Oh, and amazing. That’s another one. With Clayton playing the ever-loving hell out of his guitar, and Kacy’s distinctive voice working its way into your ears and mind, it’s safe to say this young duo puts on one heckuva show. Their music is traditional folk with soulful twangs and a bluesy quality that is, altogether, pretty darn remarkable — and getting better. After a busy summer that saw them play numer-ous shows, Kacy and Clayton have remained active this fall. Next week they’ll be taking the stage at Creative City Centre as a part of the Prairie Roots Revue, so head on down.

@ CREATIVE CITY CENTRETUESDAY, DECEMBER 11 – $10 (ADVANCE)

$12 (DOOR)

If you’ve never heard of Carly Maicher, well, things are about to change. With a voice that sounds like a cross between Joni Mitchell and Feist, this young singer/songwriter from Winnipeg is an up-and-comer on the folk music scene. Her latest album, Hiding, was a long time in the making. Wanting to connect with her familial roots, Maicher went to Grand Manan Island in New Brunswick, to her family’s summer house. It was a trip that was only supposed to last a little while. Three and a half years later, Maicher got around to making her album, and what an album it is. Haunting, delicate and beautiful, Hiding is a deeply personal album that is all kinds of good. Maicher will also be appearing in the Prairie Roots Revue.

CARLY MAICHER

The first thing you notice are their voices: lofty, beautiful and hypnotic. The kind of voices that grab you by the lapels at the beginning of a concert and don’t let go until it’s time to go home. This duo — consisting of Sheila Carabine and Amanda Wal-ther — first met at school in Scarbor-ough, Ontario. In 2002 they formed the group, by 2003 the pair had a five-year deal with Big Bold Sun Mu-sic, and this year marks the arrival of their sixth studio album. Along the way Dala has won fans and won over critics by the score, so much so they’ve been nominated for a Juno and, in 2010, was the Canadian Folk Music Award for Vocal Group of the Year. So yeah, you should probably check ‘em out. See culturalexchange.ca for advance ticket info.

– By Adam Hawboldt

DALA

@ CREATIVE CITY CENTRETUESDAY, DECEMBER 11 – $10 (ADVANCE)

$12 (DOOR)

Keep up with Saskatchewan music. saskmusic.org

@ THE EXCHANGEWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30 – $20 (ADVANCE)

$25 (DOOR)

SASK MUSIC PREVIEWInterested in performing at JUNOfest, the annual music festival that will showcase the best Canadian artists in venues across Re-gina and Moose Jaw? Submissions will be accepted until January 11, 2013, and the event will take place during JUNO week (April 15-21, 2013). Interested artists can check out http://marcatoapp.com/website_integration/junofest2013/artists/ to apply. Open to Canadian artists only; must be at least 19 to apply.

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

14NOV 30 – DEC 6

LISTINGS

The most complete live music listings for Regina.

NOVEMBER 30 » DECEMBER 8

30

7 85 63 42

1S M T W T

FRIDAY 30ROBERTO LOPEZ LOPEZ, ABSTRACT REG-GAE / The Artful Dodger — Come out for

a night of funky music. 8pm / Cover TBD

CHINA GROVE / Casino Regina — The

ultimate Doobie Brothers tribute band.

8pm / $20+

CHRONO-BENEFIT SHOW / The Club

— Featuring Shadow in the Mirror,

Cloudfight, The Jump Off and Chronobot.

7:30 / $10

RSO SPECIAL: THE GALILEO PROJECT / Conexus Arts Centre — Featuring the

Tafelmusik Orchestra and images from

the Hubble telescope. 7:30pm / $38-68

(www.reginasymphony.com)

DJ JUAN LOPEZ / Envy Nightclub — This

DJ loves requests, nothing is off limits.

10pm / $5

PORT NOISE / The Exchange — Some

hard rock from a distinct act. 8pm /

Cover TBD

THE ACCOMPLICE, SCREAMIN DAISIES, BLACK DRAPES / Gaslight Saloon — A

night of fun and some sweet, hard tunes.

9pm / Cover TBD

DJ PAT & DJ KIM / Habano’s Martini &

Cocktail Club — Local DJs spin top 40

hits every Friday night that are sure

to get you on the dance floor. 9pm / $5

cover

THE TIFF HALL BAND / McNally’s Tavern

— A pop/jazz band from Edmonton

10pm / $5

WILDMEN / O’Hanlon’s — Local alt-

country act. Also appearing will be The

Seahags. 9pm / No cover

FOXX WORTHEE / Pump Roadhouse —

The powerhouse “bad girls” of country.

9pm / Cover TBD

ALBERT / Pure Ultra Lounge — Appearing

every Friday night, come listen to Albert

as he does his spinning thing. 10pm / $5

cover

CONRAD BIGKNIFE / The Sip Nightclub —

Country/rock played with pep. 10pm /

No cover if in attendance by 6pm

ALEX RUNIONS / Whiskey Saloon —

Kickass country from this musician from

Kipling. 8pm / $10

DJ LONGHORN / Whiskey Saloon —

Come check out one of Regina’s most in-

teractive DJs as he drops some of the best

country beats around. 8pm / Cover $10

SATURDAY 1CHINA GROVE / Casino Regina — The

ultimate Doobie Brothers tribute band.

8pm / $20+


DJ loves requests, nothing is off limits. As

long as you’re dancing he’s happy. 10pm

/ Cover $5

ELECTRIC LETTUCE / Gaslight Saloon — A

hot act takes the stage. Come early and

jam from 5-9pm. 10pm

CODY GAMRACY / Lancaster Taphouse —

A local indie-folk rock musician worth

checking out. 9pm / Cover TBD

DAN SILLJER BAND / McNally’s Tavern

— Some funk, soul and rock guitar. 10pm

/ $5

FOXX WORTHEE / Pump Roadhouse —

The powerhouse “bad girls” of country.

9pm / Cover TBD

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

CONRAD BIGKNIFE / The Sip Nightclub —

Country/rock played with pep. 10pm /

No cover if in attendance by 6pm

OPEN JAM SESSIONS / Smokin’ Okies

BBQ — If you play an instrument, drop

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

listen. 3pm / No cover



Kipling. 8pm / $10

SUNDAY 2RSO FAMILY: BEETHOVEN CHRISTMAS / Conexus Arts Centre — A concert the

whole family can enjoy. 2:30pm / $25

(www.tickets.regingasymphony.com)

BILL BOURNE, SCOTT COOK, INDIO SARA-VANJA / The Exchange — Three wildly

talented folk musicians. 8pm / $15 (@

Bach&Beyond, Buy the Book, Vintage

Vinyl), $20 (door)

MONDAY 3LATIN LOUNGE / Artful Ddoger — Enjoy a

night of salsa. $5

MONDAY NIGHT JAZZ AND BLUES / Bushwakker Brewpub — Featuring The

Ministry of Groove, playing jazz and

funk. 8pm / No cover

TUESDAY 4WIL, RYAN MCMAHON / The Artful Dodg-

er — Awesome roots/rock music. 7:30pm

/ $10 (advance), $15 (at the door)

KARAOKE TUESDAY / McNally’s Tavern

— Famous live music venue offers its

patrons a chance to share the stage. 8pm

/ No cover

THE MACEVOYS / O’Hanlon’s — A night

of music you won’t want to miss. 9pm /

No cover

WEDNESDAY 5WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOLK / Bushwakker

— Kory Istace and the Time Pirates play

original + seasonal tunes. 9pm / No cover

JAM NIGHT / McNally’s — Come enjoy

some local talent. 9pm / No cover

THURSDAY 62 BEATS & A HAT / Artful Dodger — Pre-

sented by DJ Verbal & E-Major the first

Thursday of every month. 7pm / $5 Deci-

bel 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 — Fea-

turing DJ Ageless and DJ Drewski sling-

ing some bomb beats. 7pm / No cover

OPEN MIC NIGHT / King’s Head Tavern —

Come out and show Regina what you got.

8pm / No cover

REDBEARD’S REMEMBERING JIMI HEN-DRIX / McNally’s Tavern — Local guitar-

ists pay tribute to the master. 8:30pm / $5

WILDFIRE / Pump Roadhouse — Hot

country from this talented songstress.

9pm / Cover TBD

DJ LONGHORN / Whiskey Saloon —

Come check out one of Regina’s most

interactive DJs. 8pm / Cover $5

FRIDAY 7COLLEGE KIDS, THE SPOILS / Artful

Dodger — Local rockers take to the stage.

Also appearing is The Spoils. 8pm / $10

JESSE COOK / Casino Regina — Bllues

guitar that will melt your face. 8pm /

$30/35 (www.casinoregina.com)



10pm / Cover $5

KREAYSHAWN / The Exchange — Check

out her Group Hug tour, featuring Rye

Rye, Honey Cocaine and Chippy Non-

stop. 7pm / Tickets TBD

DJ PAT & DJ KIM / Habano’s Martini &

Cocktail Club — Local DJs spin top 40

hits that are sure to get you on the dance

floor. 9pm / $5 cover

FOGDOG / McNally’s Tavern — Track suits

and classic covers. What more could you

want? 10:30pm / $5

LORDS KITCHNER / O’Hanlon’s — Hot

indie rock from a Moose Jaw band. 9pm

/ No cover



9pm / Cover TBD

ALBERT / Pure Ultra Lounge — Appearing

every Friday night, come listen to Albert

as he does his spinning thing. 10pm /

$5 cover



Kipling. 8pm / $10

SATURDAY 8VALDY / Artesian on 13th — A multi-

talented, Juno-winning pop/folk artist.

8pm / $20 (picatic.com), $25 door

JOHN MCDERMOTT / Casino Regina —

One of the finest Celtic singers you’ll

ever see. 8pm / $30-35 (www.casinore-

gina.com)

THE CROOKED BROTHERS / Creative City

Centre — A classic country sound fused

with the blues. 7:30pm / $12(advance),

$15(door)



10pm / Cover $5

HARDLUCK + TROUBLE / Lancaster

Taphouse — Blues/rock/roots music that

you’ll dig. 9:30pm / Cover TBD

FOGDOG / McNally’s Tavern — Track suits

and classic covers. 10:30pm / $5



9pm / Cover TBD

DREWSKI / Pure Ultra Lounge — Doing

what he does best, every Saturday night.

10pm / $5 cover

CHRISTMAS WITHOUT CAROLS / Sachwyn

Guitars — A fundraiser featuring Bob

Evans, Ray Bell, Tahnis Cunningham, Ken

Hamm + Keiffer McLean. 8pm / $20

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

CHRIS HENDERSON / Whiskey Saloon —

A seriously talented country artist.

8pm / $5 cover

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

GET LISTED

[email protected]

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

15NOV 30 – DEC 6

NIGHTLIFE

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25 @

MCNALLY’STAVERNMcNally’s Tavern2226 Dewdney Avenue(306) 522 4774

MUSIC VIBE / Everything, from dance to the good ol’ classicsFEATURED DEALS / Pints for $5.75DRINK OF CHOICE / Burt Reynolds shots — and if you have one, you get to pose with a classic photo of the man himselfTOP EATS / NachosCOMING UP / A New Year’s Eve party with Slow Motion Walter

Photography by Klein Photography – [email protected]


FILM

16NOV 30 – DEC 6


@AdamHawboldt

[email protected]

PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY

B KILLING THEM SOFTLY

DIRECTED BY Andrew Dominik

STARRING Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta, James

Gandolfini + Scoot McNairy

97 MINUTES | 14A

rad Pitt may not be the best actor work-ing today, but he’s

my favourite.Why? Well, the answer is two-

fold. First, in part, he has the same thing going for him that Marlon Brando, Paul Newman and James Dean did. That smouldering vibe of cool makes you either want to be him or be with him.

But that’s just a small part. The main reason Brad Pitt is so awesome is because of the roles he chooses and the way he knocks the ball out of the park — time and time again.

Think about it: he’s Tristan Ludlow in Legends of the Fall, David Mills in Seven, Jeffrey Goines in Twelve Monkeys, Tyler Durden in Fight Club, Mickey in Snatch, Lieutenant Aldo Raine in Inglourious

Basterds, Billy Beane in Moneyball. The list goes on and on.

And now you can add another knock-the-leather-off-the-ball, cooler-than-hell role to that list — Jackie Cogan in Killing Them Softly.

In the movie, directed by Andrew Dominik (Chopper), Pitt plays a self-conscious hitman named Jackie brought in to fix a situation for a crumpling mafia empire.

The situation begins when a couple of small-time grifters — Frankie (Scoot McNairy) and Russell (Ben Mendelsohn) — are let in on a surefire scam by a local thug that simply can’t go wrong.

The scam is easy: knock over a backroom poker game run by Markie Trattman (Ray Liotta), and let Tratt-man take the fall. Naturally, things go wrong. Trattman’s bosses know he’d never do something so stupid, so they bring in an enforcer to find the two responsible and remedy the situ-ation. Enter Brad Pitt’s Jackie.

But when Jackie stumbles upon a few realizations, he decides to hire a New York hitman named Mickey (James Gandolfini) to help him.

Without giving anything else away, let me just say that Kill-ing Them Softly is a terrific movie.

There’s something fresh about it, something original. Sure, it has all the violence and vivid brutality in-herent in the gangster genre. But this isn’t your average clichéd gangster film. There are scenes of true and ter-rifying beauty. There are also scenes (and there are a lot of them) made up of lengthy, witty, detailed dialogue.

Killing Them Softly is also a stinging satire.

The bosses running the show are inept, the middle men are on the take and the guys on the bottom are gonna get it — good and hard. Everything everywhere around everyone is crumbling. And if that sounds a lot like what’s happened economically in America to you, well, you’re not wrong.

From top to bottom, Killing Them Softly is a savage satirical stab at corporate-political America that cuts

through the capitalist system like a bullet through fractured glass (this simile will make more sense after you watch the movie.)

Think Dr. Strangeglove meets Wall Street meets Goodfellas. Think what-ever you want, but whatever you do don’t miss this movie.

New film starring Brad Pitt is a stupendous, satirical addition to the gangster genre BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

KILLING YOU SOFTLY WITH AWESOMENESS!

Killing Them Softly is a savage satirical stab at corporate-political America that cuts through the capitalist system…

ADAM HAWBOLDT

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

17NOV 30 – DEC 6


@AdamHawboldt

[email protected]

ometimes a title fits a movie perfectly.Take, for instance, Gi-

anni Di Gregorio’s film Mid-August Lunch. Not only is it, in a way, about food and cooking, it also unfolds with all the charm and ease of a long, lazy afternoon meal replete with good company, great food and excellent conversation.

Set during Ferragosto — an Ital-ian holiday that’s been around since ancient Rome, during which people feast, frolic and drink too much — Mid-August Lunch is a warm, funny, endearing look into the life of a middle-aged man named Gianni (played by Di Gregorio, who also wrote and directed the film).

Gianni is a baggy-eyed, unem-ployed chain smoker who lives at home and takes care of his 90-year-old mother in an apartment in the working-class district of Trastevere.

Gianni is a long-suffering, good-natured son with a warm, charming

personality. But that’s not to say he’s without faults.

See, money isn’t Gianni’s strong suit and when the film opens we learn that he’s several years behind on rent and facing eviction.

Things don’t look good until the building manager, Luigi (Alfonso Santagata) suggests a solution: seeing as it’s Ferragosto, a holiday when most Italians go on vacation, Luigi tells Gianni his debts will be forgiven if he takes care of Luigi’s mother so he can get out of town with his lady friend.

Naturally Gianni says okay.But when Luigi shows up the

next day, it’s not just his mom he brings with him. No. He also brings along his aunt.

So now Gianni has three old ladies to take care of.

No, wait. Make that four, because not long after the building manager

leaves, Gianni’s physician Marcello (Marcello Ottolenghi) shows up and convinces Gianni to take care of his old mom as well.

What ensues are a few days that will test Gianni’s otherwise stoic

patience. He has to juggle the needs of the old ladies, solve disputes (two of the women fight over the televi-sion remote) and regulate diets (one of the women can’t eat cheese or tomatoes, yet is hellbent on sneaking bites of Gianni’s macaroni casserole), all the while trying to cook and clean and maintain a modicum of san-ity. Which he does by imbibing no small amount of wine. Whether he’s sneaking off to a local wine shop to sample glasses of vino, or drinking while cooking, Gianni seems to exist

in a state of just-enough-booze-to-deal-with-this drunkenness.

And that’s the plot. Nothing cata-clysmic happens, no explosions or pulse-quickening situations. Just the day-to-day business of a guy caring for a brood of old hens. And you know what? Mid-August Lunch is a quiet, warm little gem of a movie. Very dif-ferent than Di Gregorio’s last flick — a wonderful, hard-hitting gangster film called Gomorrah.

So if you’re in the mood for a very human movie about very human

problems, and the way food and wine can help people bond, then I suggest you see this movie. Posthaste.

Mid-August Lunch will open at the Regina Public Library on De-cember 6th; see reginalibrary.ca for showtimes.

And you know what? Mid-August Lunch is a quiet, warm little gem of a movie.

ADAM HAWBOLDT

UNHURRIED CHARMItalian film, Mid-August Lunch, is a slow-winding look at life and companionship and food BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

MID-AUGUST LUNCH

DIRECTED BY Gianni Di Gregorio

STARRING Gianni Di Gregorio, Alfon-

so Santagata, Valeria De Franciscis +

Maria CalÌ

75 MINUTES | NOT RATED

S

PHOTO: COURTESY OF ZEITGEIST FILMS


COMICS

18NOV 30 – DEC 6

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

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

19NOV 30 – DEC 6

CROSSWORD CANADIAN CRISS-CROSS

ACROSS1. Drink fast

5. Knocking sounds

9. Is very angry

10. Praise highly

12. Negotiate with an

enemy

13. Elderly person

15. To another place

16. Greek consonants

18. Easy as ___

19. You can’t walk on just

one of them

20. Dogs and cats do it

21. Warm wine with sugar

and spices

22. Straight and vertical

24. Post-mortem

examination

26. Reading stand

28. Moral consideration

31. Greek vowels

35. Genealogy diagram

36. Consequently

38. French goose

39. Be wrong with

40. Container for flowers

41. Dark plain on the moon

42. Think in a logical way

44. Spied on racehorses

46. Cooks by simmering

47. Fire sign

48. Manoeuvre gently

49. Vetch plant

DOWN1. Place to park your car

2. Unattractive

3. Protective shelter

4. Mentally prepare

5. Gunshot evidence

6. Tools for splitting wood

7. Baking container

8. Mistake

9. Less experienced

11. Works hard

12. Whitish

14. Have confidence in

17. They warm you up

20. One level of stairs

21. One prefix

23. Fact that helps solve a

mystery

25. Group of three

27. Wash

28. Point of light in the

night sky

29. Inarticulate sounds

30. Tell about

32. Exactly

33. Buenos ___

34. Plant in soil

37. Subtly suggest

40. Wedding words

41. “The Maple Leaf For-

ever” composer

43. Kind of horse

45. Mouths, in zoology

HOROSCOPES NOVEMBER 30 – DECEMBER 6

© WALTER D. FEENER 2012

A B

SUDOKU ANSWER KEY

A

B

7 8 1 9 4 6 3 2 59 6 3 8 5 2 7 4 15 2 4 7 3 1 8 6 93 4 9 5 1 7 6 8 28 1 6 4 2 3 5 9 72 7 5 6 9 8 1 3 44 5 7 3 6 9 2 1 86 9 2 1 8 5 4 7 31 3 8 2 7 4 9 5 6

8 3 4 1 2 9 5 6 75 2 7 3 6 8 4 9 11 6 9 4 7 5 2 8 36 1 2 7 4 3 9 5 87 4 8 9 5 2 1 3 63 9 5 6 8 1 7 2 42 7 3 8 9 4 6 1 54 5 1 2 3 6 8 7 99 8 6 5 1 7 3 4 2

8 1 4 3 6 3 8 5 2 8 6 93 4 5 1 7 2 72 5 9 1 4 7 3 6 2 1 6 9 5 7 8 4 9

8 4 1 2 7 2 8 11 5 2 36 7 4 3 9 5 7 8 3 3 6 4 9 54 5 6 8 99 6 1 7 2

CANADIAN CRISS-CROSS

ARIES March 21–April 19

Expect the expected this week,

Aries. Your intuition is running

high. Whatever you think will happen,

will happen.

TAURUS April 20–May 20

Sometime within the next few

weeks you should really consider

making plans for a trip, Taurus. You don’t

know it yet, but your battery is dwindling.

GEMINI May 21–June 20

Success is just around the corner,

Gemini. The problem is, the corner

is hard to find. Don’t give up, though.

Keep looking, bucko.

CANCER June 21–July 22

You should pick up a new book

this week, Cancer. If you can’t

read, well, you won’t know what I’m say-

ing here, so no matter.

LEO July 23–August 22

You will stumble upon some

surprising information, Leo. What

you do with it, well, that’s up to you. But

whatever you choose, don’t ignore it.

VIRGO August 23–September 22

Feeling creative, Virgo? If so, don’t

let that energy go to waste. Start a

new project, whether it’s writing, drawing,

singing or something else.

LIBRA September 23–October 23

Beware of snow-covered curbs

and run-away dogs this week,

Libra. They’re both out to get you. Don’t

take them lightly.

SCORPIO October 24–November 22

This is a good week to blow off

some steam, Scorpio. So why not

go out and tie one on over the next couple

of days? You won’t regret it.

SAGITTARIUS November 23–December 21

There’s a massive decision coming

down the pipe, Sagittarius. Brace

yourself. And even if you don’t want to

make it, have faith. You’ll get it right.

CAPRICORN December 22–January 19

Have you been thinking about

expanding your skill set lately,

Capricorn? If so, why don’t you give

underwater basket-weaving a shot?

AQUARIUS January 20–February 19

If you find your mind getting

wrapped up in political issues this

week, Aquarius, step back, breathe and

think about something else. Like statim.

PISCES February 20–March 20

New ideas are going to flood your

head over the next few days,

Pisces. You’d be best advised to wear

water wings. Everywhere. All week.

SUDOKU CROSSWORD ANSWER KEY

TIMEOUT

Verb Issue R56 (Nov. 30-Dec. 6, 2012)

Documents

Transcript of Verb Issue R56 (Nov. 30-Dec. 6, 2012)