Arts

Cry of the Outcast: Josiah’s Story is a powerful true story about a mother who takes in Josiah, an abandoned African baby boy; it’s a decision fueled by her passion to prevent Josiah’s death. The book is written by the mother, Wendy Reaume. Throughout the book, the reader is witness to the brave struggle of […]

I’ve seen A Christmas Carol many times in my life, through multiple mediums and numerous renditions. The Muppet Christmas Carol, Jim Carrey’s A Christmas Carol, Bill Murray’s Scrooged, Bugs Bunny’s A Christmas Carol: I’ve seen each of those and more. Every rendition I’ve witnessed has touched me in one way or another, but none has […]

Any time a photographer hangs 11 large blue squares on white walls and calls it art, I must check it out. It’s always possible we have the next Black Square on our hands, and I want to have seen it first. Now, I admit that I’m a contextualist. If it’s an image that needs an […]

Aristotle once said that the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them. In order to practice what the philosopher called “experiential learning,” students at the University of Victoria in a course called Performing German Drama decided to perform part of a body of work called Lehrstźecke (“teaching […]

Singer, composer, and Juno Award winner Chantal Kreviazuk’s music comes from a deep place inside of her. And it’s her emotions that make her the impeccable composer she is and allow her to, as she puts it, “sponge out” her music. “I came from a musical family and had many influences growing up and felt […]

Transcendental magic and cheese-based creative experiences: Vancouver-based art-pop quintet Mother Mother have been busy. Hot off the heels of a whirlwind year of touring in support of their third album Eureka, the band recently released their most eclectic (yet, at the same time, most cohesive) offering to date: The Sticks. The Sticks carries on with […]

It’s been six years since the politically conscious Bay Area rap ensemble The Coup dropped Pick a Bigger Weapon. Now, with the release of Sorry to Bother You, the band is back, although with a slightly different sound. Straying away from a strictly sample-based approach to production, The Coup adds an assortment of sounds you […]

Is banging pots and pans music? Is street noise music? Is silence music? US composer John Cage, who died in 1992, thought so. And now, a Victoria Symphony concert entitled Cage 100 will celebrate the influential musician. The concert is part of the Cage 100 festival happening between November 8 and November 22 that will […]

An anthology of obituaries sounds like it would be just right for what’s shaping up to be another gloomy Victoria autumn, but it turns out there’s nothing morbid about Tom Hawthorn’s Deadlines: Obits of Memorable British Columbians. The focus of this collection is life, not death, and a colourful cast of real-life heroes and antiheroes […]