Arts

Ghost Lights Saltwater (Akashic Records) 3.5/5 Whoa. And you thought Jon and Roy were some earthy, granola-stuck-in-hair dudes? Check out this Montreal folk band for some real back-to-nature stuff. Like, I feel high just listening to it. I think in the first song the singer talks about smoking weed in the woods! He might talk […]

Ride the Cyclone features six different characters who have different dreams and totally different personalities. They are also on totally different paths in life when they die at the same time at the same place: a roller-coaster accident in a small town in Saskatchewan. “The show is essentially them doing their final performances before they […]

A screening of the 1951 holiday classic A Christmas Carol at The Vic Theatre on Saturday, December 15 is more than just holiday cheer for the Victoria Film Festival. The event is for film fans of all ages and is part of a series of fundraisers for the festival, which took over management of The […]

I once made an executive decision to break Victoria’s fire-code bylaws in order to cram as many people possible (85) into a private booth karaoke room with a capacity of 25. Why? To bastardize Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” with other adult-oriented-rock-loving ’80s hair rock heshers, of course. Another time I led an army of kids […]

When I think of Peter Pan and Neverland, immediately I think of faeries, flying, pirates, a hungry crocodile, children playing make believe, and a boy that never wanted to grow up. Kaleidoscope Theatre embraced these classic elements yet told the story with a few new twists with Pan, their take on the classic tale. There […]

Alexisonfire Death Letter 
(Dine Alone Records) 3.5/5 City and Colour Covers Pt. 2 
(Dine Alone Records) 2.5/5   Emo kids rejoice!
Newly reworked material is being released by Dallas Green and Wade MacNeil of Alexisonfire just in time to hit your Christmas wish list. The best part? It’s called Death Letter. Think of how excited your […]

[Because we tend to think that Propagandhi are the most important Canadian band of our time and because the last time they played Victoria was the early ’90s, we got a comrade one province over to head out and write about their recent concert there. -ed] One of my favourite concert memories of all time […]

If you want to see a dystopian love story that manages to throb, numb, and bleed your heart out, 1.9.8.4.—Giggling Iguana’s production of the George Orwell classic 1984—will be right up your alley. 1.9.8.4. takes place in a seemingly totalitarian society (Victory City, a take on modern-day Victoria) run by the mysterious and illusive Big […]

The BBC radio play Kafka the Musical—a show about famous German author Franz Kafka being approached by producers who try to have him star in a musical about himself—is having its world premiere on stage here in Victoria on Friday. Kafka the Musical writer Murray Gold (also an award-winning playwright and musical director for Doctor Who) […]