New Music Revue: Ian Blurton’s Future Now delivers fun, solid riff rockIan Blurton’s Future Now Second Skin (Pajama Party/Seeing Red) 3/5 A mainstay on Toronto’s indie rock scene since the early 1980s, Ian Blurton is set to release a new LP. After decades performing with bands like Cowboy Junkies and C’mon, finding Top 40 success with Change of Heart, and producing records for numerous notable bands, […] Continue Reading |
New exhibit pays homage to Maud LewisCanadian folk painter Maud Lewis died in 1970, but her work lives on. The exhibit Maud Lewis is touring Canada, with Victoria getting the only BC stop at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Lewis didn’t grow up with privilege, and that shows in her art, says McMichael Canadian Art Collection chief curator Sarah Milroy […] Continue Reading |
Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival returns with As You Like ItAs part of the Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival, director Barbara Poggemiller will be presenting Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Poggemiller says the play—being presented at The Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, the fest’s second time there after leaving longtime home of Camosun in 2020 due to construction, and new venue Esquimalt Gorge Park—is very much […] Continue Reading |
Sooke-based artist explores trauma in new exhibitSooke-based mixed-medium artist Maurina Joaquin is using her work to dive deep into transformations. In particular, in her new exhibit Natural Transformations she’s exploring the changes that people who are recovering from trauma, a brain injury, or chronic pain go through. “The silhouette heads [used in pieces in the exhibit] represent the individual struggle to […] Continue Reading |
New Music Revue: The Sylvia Platters deliver incredible summer soundtrackThe Sylvia Platters Youth Without Virtue (Independent) 4/5 As soon as I started listening to Youth Without Virtue, the new EP from Fraser Valley-based dream-pop band The Sylvia Platters, I knew I was listening to something amazing. The band’s songs are, seriously, such hidden gems. They have an incredible, very daydreamy, feel and sound to […] Continue Reading |
Into the Weeds refreshing and honest documentary about Roundup dangersVictoria-raised filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal’s new documentary Into the Weeds: Dewayne Lee Johnson vs. Monsanto Company follows the story of Johnson and his litigation against agrochemical company Monsanto. Johnson developed a rare form of cancer called non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after being exposed to Monsanto’s weed killer Roundup. Roundup is the world’s most widely used weed killer and—spoiler—it contains glyphosate, […] Continue Reading |
Fred Penner celebrates four decades of the cat coming backThis weekend, Canadian children’s music icon Fred Penner will be visiting the McPherson Playhouse as part of his 40th anniversary tour for his hit debut album, The Cat Came Back. Penner says that the show will feature a mix of songs from The Cat Came Back—which actually came out in 1979—and other albums. “Many of […] Continue Reading |
New book The Sunbearer Trials takes flightNew York Times bestselling author Aiden Thomas is taking his first crack at a multi-book series with his Mexican-inspired fantasy novel The Sunbearer Trials. The book follows Teo, a 17-year-old semidiós who is chosen by the sun god Sol to compete in the deadly decennial Sunbearer Trials. To win the trials is a great honour, […] Continue Reading |
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria connects with ReverberationsThe Art Gallery of Greater Victoria is aiming to better connect with Victoria’s artistic community with their exhibit Reverberations. For the exhibit, co-curators Nicole Stanbridge, Heng Wu, and Mel Granley selected emerging artists—including visual artists, poets, and composers—to collaborate with bodies of work from the gallery’s permanent collection. “We worked with each of the collaborators […] Continue Reading |
Dream Technology art exhibit celebrates Black history, futureThe Dream Technology exhibit at Flux Media Gallery is the result of a collaborative community collage project that involved 13 people who celebrated and explored ideas relating to Black history and futures. The exhibit came out of a community project for Black History Month, says assistant curator Josh Ngenda. “We were just really trying to […] Continue Reading |
