Arts

There’s a moment in most peoples’ lives when they wish they didn’t speak (or understand) the English language. In The Foreigner, the main character pretends just that… and gets away with it. Director Toshik Bukowiecki says Larry Shue’s play is a perfect way to conclude the 2011/2012 Langham Court Theatre season. “It’s a wonderful play […]

Ah, yes, paintings of boats, the ocean, the sun setting over a wharf. Blissful? Serene? Peaceful? No, sounds about as cliché and dull as the rest of your grandma’s goddamn décor. But paintings of boats don’t have to be cheeseball. Tony Grove’s exhibition A Boatbuilder’s Perspective, being shown at Dales Gallery, shows the Gabriola Island-based […]

Rush Clockwork Angels (Anthem/Universal) 4.5/5 A new Rush album. Always, there is a certain crispness, hidden away in a sonic place between the hi hat and the vocal mix. Vocalist Geddy Lee, song one: “I can’t stop thinking big.” There are lonely men in record stores all across North America at this very moment. The […]

Men Without Hats Love in the Age of War (Big Fat Truck) 3.5/5 Everything old is new again. Or, at least, everything old has a new album. The tunes on ’80’s Canadian hitmakers Men Without Hats’ new release, Love In the Age of War, harken back to a different era. A time when real instruments […]

When you see the best show of your life, do you know it? At what point does it surpass the best memories you have of shows you saw when you were younger, the first time you saw one of your favourite bands (finally), or that time when that upstart hip-hopper blew your mind in a […]

The amazing Blue Box is a 90-minute memoir to author and actor Carmen Aguirre’s life as a freedom fighter in Chile. Whether it’s being subjected to government surveillance or undertaking perilous missions to deliver supplies through the Andes, Aguirre’s story is seeping in political unrest and secret-life paranoia. But Blue Box is also seeping in […]

Disclaimer: I’m not a dance guy. I can barely move around my room in the morning without stubbing several toes, and I’m certainly not the right person to be analyzing choreography and fluidity and movement, or whatever words you use to talk about dance. I appreciate the human form and I like to see bodies […]

Improv has long been the ugly stepchild of live theatre and I, for one, have never understood why improvisational shows can’t fill bigger venues and get the same kind of buzz as, in my opinion, less exciting forms of theatre (um, Shakespeare, anyone?). So, here we are with local improv magician Dave Morris’ Photo Booth, […]

On the seventh day, god created standup comedy… and he made local comedian Mike Delamont the king. Delamont’s UNO show, God Is a Scottish Drag Queen, at its core is a trumped-up comedy act. Except that’s like calling heaven a pretty decent place to chill out. From the moment Delamont hits the stage in his […]

Henry Rollins is an underground music legend that, along the way, became a spoken word artist. In recent years, Rollins has focused mostly on speaking and he’s coming through town on his The Long March Tour. Those familiar with Rollins know that he never does anything half-assed; his speaking performances tackle hard subjects and often […]