Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival evolving with the timesEvery summer, The Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival sets up its stage outdoors at Camosun’s Lansdowne campus and performs two Shakespeare plays. This year, the festival is tackling Julius Caesar and one of The Bard’s first works, Two Gentlemen of Verona. At the helm of the production of Two Gentlemen is director Christopher Weddell, who has […] Continue Reading |
Victoria theatre company puts local talent to use in ConstellationsLocal theatre company hapax theatre—lower case intentional—is named for a linguistic term that dates back to ancient Greece. A “hapax legomenon” is a word that appears only once within a certain context—for example, in a play or an entire body of work. A hapax legomenon can be very mysterious and difficult to interpret, since it […] Continue Reading |
New Music Revue: Steven Bowers delivers decent but flawed fifth albumSteven BowersElk Island Park(New Pony Music)3.5/5 After a seven-year wait, Newfoundlander Steven Bowers—who now calls Victoria home—has released his fifth LP, Elk Island Park. Co-produced by Juno-winning producer Colin Stewart, Bowers’ latest effort picks up right where he left off with his last album, 2012’s Beothuk Words. Elk Island Park offers a collection of well-crafted, […] Continue Reading |
What’s Going On: June 12 to July 9, 2019Until Sunday, October 6 The art of matriarchs New exhibits on now at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria include Canadian contemporary artists Daniel Young and Christian Giroux’s Film Path/Camera Path with under-titles, where their projected images meet motion, dimension, and sculpture. Matriarchs: Prints by First Nations Women is guest curated by Margaret August, a two-spirit Coast […] Continue Reading |
Less Than Jake still going strong after all these yearsThere’s a certain laid-back tranquility to Canada’s west coast. Just ask Chris DeMakes, guitarist/vocalist of Florida ska/punk band Less Than Jake. The group have travelled all over the world in the 27 years since they formed, and they’ve never looked back. “I dunno what else there is to say, man—it’s British Columbia. It’s Canada. I’ve […] Continue Reading |
New Music Revue: Riot Ten gets fiercely diverse on new EPRiot TenHype or Die: Sun City(Dim Mak Records)4/5 Texas-based DJ and producer Riot Ten—also known as Christopher Wilson—has unleashed his fierce new EP, Hype or Die: Sun City, on Dim Mak Records. The first track, “Los Pinches,” is unforgettable. It leads with trumpet and impresses on the listener an image of the scorching sun burning […] Continue Reading |
Langham Court to close out season with a heap of British humourLocal community theatre company Langham Court Theatre is preparing the final show of their 90th season, Noises Off. For director Don Keith, the shenanigans of the 1982 British comedy about a theatre troupe on the final night of rehearsals before the big opening of their show hit close to home. “Noises Off, I laugh […] Continue Reading |
New Music Revue: Dave Hause’s Kick a 2019 essentialDave Hause Kick(Rise Records)4.5/5 It’s been a while since I heard an album that was as skilfully written and executed as Dave Hause’s fourth solo album, Kick. A commentary on issues facing working-class America, Kick is full of heart, musically empowering, and lyrically insightful. With the album full of societal critiques, songs like “Saboteurs”—driven by […] Continue Reading |
Discovery of rare prints leads to Landscapes of EdoLandscapes of Edo: Ukiyo-e features an abundance of Japanese prints from artists such as Utagawa Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai that were pulled together from The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria’s extensive collection. For curator Haema Sivanesan, the process of putting this collection of ukiyo-e—a style of Japanese art that depicts the life of the common […] Continue Reading |
Snotty Nose Rez Kids bring hip hop with a message to townQuinton “Yung Trybez” Nyce and Darren “Young D” Metz, the two members of Vancouver-based hip hop band Snotty Noze Rez Kids, are doing more than making music—they are communicating a message of empowerment and healing. They’re not the first to voice injustices through music, and—like other musicians who create music this raw, real, and impassioned—they […] Continue Reading |
