Week of July 2, 2009, Issue #715
COVER
The Bestest of Edmonton
Here we are in 2009 and despite the naysayers who insist that we're all on the downslide now, Edmonton is still alive and well. Sure there have been some defections to other places, but a lot of us are still here. Why, you're wondering? What is it that makes the city so special? Well, rather than throw together one of those lists of best-this-or-thats, Vue's writers have put their heads together, stepping off the beaten path to come up with the bestest of the best—those strange and curious wonders that make Edmonton a place worth sticking up for. Welcome to the Bestest of Edmonton 2009. read more...
FRONT
Into the belly of the beast
It's almost midnight by the time I find myself swinging my legs over the top of the temporary fence, taking a quick glance at the "No Trespassing" sign as I pull myself up and drop down on the other side. read more...
Scott Harris / scott@vueweekly.com
Scott Harris / scott@vueweekly.com
Issues: Who's doing the math here?
Province announces $3 billion royalty break, needs to trim $2 billion from budget - Ricardo Acuña / ualberta.ca/parkland
Infinite Lives: Michael Jackson's Moonwalker
A WHOO-hoo! in memoriam - Darren Zenko / infinitelives@vueweekly.com
Well, Well, Well: Veganism and Health
The end of the veganing? - Connie Howard / health@vueweekly.com
Province needs to look at both sides of ledger to see if health care is affordable - Scott Harris / scott@vueweekly.com
Let's get proactive - Bethany Padfield / queer@vueweekly.com
DISH
The Dish & The Runaway Spoon
Whenever I drive down Stony Plain Road and spot the sign for The Dish & The Runaway Spoon, I can't help but smile. A picture of a roomful of cherubic three-year olds immediately flashes across my brain, plump fingers and uncoordinated arms flailing awkwardly as they mimic the movements to "Hey Diddle Diddle." Then I start to hear their squeaky voices stiltedly reciting the rhyme: "Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle ... and the dish ran away with the spoon." Over and over and over. And then I quit smiling. read more...
Xtreme Asian Fusion Restaurant
A good mix: Xtreme offers selections from many countries - Maria Kotovych / maria@vueweekly.com
Buying local doesn't just support our economy, it tastes better - Mike Angus / mikeangus@vueweekly.com
To the Pint: A taste of Upper Canada
Like Ontario, this stuff is stuck up, but gets better - Jason Foster / greathead@vueweekly.com
An herb garden is easy no matter where you live - Sharman Hnatiuk / sharman@vueweekly.com
ARTS
Real Life
Ron Mueck's sculptures are quite well known for obvious reasons: "A Girl" is the first thing seen as one enters Real Life, and it makes an impression. This gigantic baby is like a dinosaur, a huge object in the middle of the gallery which is simultaneously alien and understandable. Much work has been put into it, but Mueck's two works and the collection of explicatory material presented along with them are in some ways inevitably disappointing, and Mueck is overshadowed by his co-presenter Guy Ben-Ner. read more...
Blood, guts and laughs: Murder, cannibalism and mistaken identity at Hawrelak Park - Paul Blinov / blinov@vueweekly.com
Tip your performers: Buskers will be passing the hat at Churchill Square for the 25th year in a row - Fawnda Mithrush / fawnda@vueweekly.com
Hopscotch: The Invention of Morel
Into the fantastic: The Invention of Morel is both homage and prescient - Josef Braun / josef@vueweekly.com
Picking up the pieces: Zorn's short stories examine objects and their memories - Sue Karp / sue@vueweekly.com
Speeding motorcycle: Mary Joyce sketches landscapes from the back of a bike - Sarah Hamilton / hamilton@vueweekly.com
Making an Impressionist: Print show reveals the development of a movement - Sarah Hamilton / hamilton@vueweekly.com
Second impression: A New Light illuminates Canadian art past and present - Adam Waldron-Blain / adamwb@vueweekly.com
FILM
Whatever Works
Its title alone, the verbal equivalent of a shrug, evokes creative lethargy, and indeed the script was dug out of a desk drawer caked in 30 years of dust. But no one ever accused Woody Allen of trying to be up-to-date—not even Woody Allen. So if the stray signs of contemporary life spied in the margins of the Manhattan Chinatown locations are just about the only things that keep Whatever Works from feeling like 1979, well, the comic sensibility driving the film is of a considerably elder vintage anyway. And if we like Woody, we're hardly bothered by his tending to the flame of old-old-school humour accompanied by a soundtrack of even older records. "They really don't write them like they used to," says our protagonist Boris Yellnikoff. Though he has exclusive knowledge of his being watched by an audience and repeatedly breaks the fourth wall, Boris seems somehow oblivious to the fact the movie he lives inside of is being written very much like they used to. read more...
You must remember this: Formalist masterpiece hunts down the elusiveness of memory - Josef Braun / josef@vueweekly.com
Nothing worth saving: My Sister's Keeper stomps on your heart strings - Jonathan Busch / jonathan@vueweekly.com
DVD Detective: Eastbound & Down
The asshole way: Hill and McBride craft another hilarious, unloveable loser - David Berry / david@vueweekly.com
SideVue: Revenge of the Mid-Summer Machines
Brian Gibson / brian@vueweekly.com
MUSIC
Matt Mays
What came as a surprise to some earlier this summer was actually a much needed change for Matt Mays. In early June, when the Halifax singer-songwriter announced that he and his acclaimed backing cohort, El Torpedo, were disbanding, questions arose as to what Mays upcoming tour would hold. Would it be a one-man acoustic show? With a different band? A new name? And what brought about the sudden shift? read more...
Streams for nothing, downloads for free: The Internet has changed the rules of the music industry's game - Steven Sandor / steven@vueweekly.com
One for the dogs: Behemoth's Darski is a dog's best friend - Bryan Birtles / bryan@vueweekly.com
Black 'n' roll damnation: Blackened metal band nods to the '80s on new album - James Stewart / jstewart@vueweekly.com
Alone time: Black Francis goes solo - Bryan Birtles / bryan@vueweekly.com
Natural musicians: Inspiration is in the trees for Elfin Saddle - Carolyn Nikodym / carolyn@vueweekly.com
On the Record: Bruce Peninsula
Open up and say, 'Ah' : Bruce Peninsula's A Mountain is a Mouth - Eden Munro / eden@vueweekly.com
Jun. 26th, 2009 / Arden Theatre - jprocktor / www.jprocktor.com
June 2009 / Calgary, Alberta - Bryan Birtles / bryan@vueweekly.com, Gravy / gravy@vueweekly.com, Rob Butz / butz@vueweekly.com
ALBUM REVIEWS
New Sounds: Ford Pier
From the opening growl of a bass guitar rising up straight into the rumbling charge of "Siege Perilous" right through to the closing, off-the-wall ramble of "An End to Gerunds," Ford Pier's Adventurism careens along the edge, crossing lines between pop and punk and prog and even metal—sometimes within the same song, or even the same few bars, like on "Sick of the Good Times" where he can go from a pop verse, throw in a brief operatic metal vocal rise, slip into a jazzy aside and then back into the pop to do it all over again. read more...
TB Player / tb@vueweekly.com
New Sounds: El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez
Jonathan Busch / jonathan@vueweekly.com
New Sounds: The Lovely Feathers
Fawnda Mithrush / fawnda@vueweekly.com
Mary Christa O'Keefe / marychrista@vueweekly.com
Eden Munro / eden@vueweekly.com
Whitey Houston / quickspins@vueweekly.com
BESTEST
Bestest of Edmonton
Here we are in 2009 and despite the naysayers who insist that we're all on the downslide now, Edmonton is still alive and well. Sure there have been some defections to other places, but a lot of us are still here. Why, you're wondering? What is it that makes the city so special? Well, rather than throw together one of those lists of best-this-or-thats, Vue's writers have put their heads together, stepping off the beaten path to come up with the bestest of the best—those strange and curious wonders that make Edmonton a place worth sticking up for. Welcome to the Bestest of Edmonton 2009. read more...