Kozelek enjoys solitude, comfortable with obscurity

Mark Kozelek is a man of few words, but many songs. The now-solo singer/songwriter, also known for this work in indie rock bands Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon, has remained in relative obscurity for the past two decades, despite releasing over 25 albums over his three projects. “I guess I just don’t have […]

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Zion I empower listeners to do their own thing

Unfortunately, “empowerment” isn’t the first word that comes to mind when discussing modern hip-hop. That’s where Oakland, California hip-hop duo Zion I come into the picture. Playing self-described “feel-good music” with a message of empowerment, this ain’t your ordinary rap group. “It’s not music about how fly am I, or how much weed I just […]

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Art show Traces subject to negotiation

No one ever said visual art was going to be easy. Case in point: Traces, a new exhibit featuring the works of three artists (Daniel Barrow, Alison Norlen, and Ed Pien), who are pushing limits of visual art by experimenting with both materials used and, more philosophically, the space usedŃor not usedŃto show the work. […]

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Romano switches to different attack

Deep, deep down, Daniel Romano, best known for his work in Canadian indie rock band Attack In Black, has a country music heart. With his solo career, which includes his recently released third album, Come Cry With Me, Romano takes on a different persona of a classic country singer, brimming with nostalgia and channelling George […]

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Cluttered pearls: The stigma of hoarding

Oh, how the world loves a freak. Call it what you like: collecting; hoarding. The way we look at someone whose space has filled up with stuff is judgmental. It has long mystified me that many are not able to see this behaviour as a serious emotional illness. But attitudes are beginning to change. The […]

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Ability’s Muse: The right to love

It may not be something we think of often, if at all. The right to love can be assumed as a right we all are given: it’s so inherent why would anyone even question an individual’s right to love, be loved, or have children? When someone is denied their right to express their sexuality, they […]

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Local, Live, and Loud: January 23rd – February 4th

Thursday, January 24 Dean Brody, Small Town Pistols McPherson Playhouse, $29.50, 8 pm We live near a gun range. The family likes to go for walks through the forest trails, one of which puts us directly behind any number of different weapons banging and powing at targets behind a fenced perimeter. A week ago we […]

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Speaker’s Corner: Huh? What’d you say?

According to the website Skills You Need, listening is the ability to accurately receive messages in the communication process. If we accept that listening involves receiving, then we can accept that listening involves the brain. When we are listening to someone speak, their wordsŃas well as gestures, body odour, accent, etc.Ńgo in through our senses, […]

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In Search of Lost Time: Defining identity

Since the early 20th century, scientists have been seeking explanations to pathologize gender and sexuality, but only those identities deemed deviant. There’s been no search for the heterosexual gene or the cisgender neurons in the brain. I will certainly advocate against such definitions as defined by science to essentialize difference to biology. I won’t discount […]

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