Dan Mangan looks at art through a different lens

“I don’t want to say I don’t give a shit anymore, but I give less shit.” This is Juno-winning Canadian singer/songwriter Dan Mangan, who, when we chat, is about to launch a Canada-wide tour in support of his latest album, More or Less. Although I am the sixth of seven back-to-back interviews for him, I […]

Continue Reading

Fred Penner never loses focus on the importance of a good show

At 72 years old, beloved Canadian children’s performer Fred Penner has been delighting multiple generations of fans for over 40 years. It’s a feat that Penner himself admits he has no idea how he’s managed to pull off. “All I can relate that to is my commitment to what I’ve been doing,” says Penner. “I […]

Continue Reading

What’s Going On: February 6 to 19, 2019

Wednesday, February 6A Soup-er good causeThe annual Souper Bowls For Hope 2019 is quickly approaching; the event, which takes place in April, includes a soup bowl auction for the Victoria Youth Empowerment Society. From 5:45 to 8:45 pm on February 6, you can go to Fired Up! ceramics studio to paint a bowl to be […]

Continue Reading

New Music Revue: Sammy Duke sets himself apart with new album

Sammy Duke Terminus (Independent)4.5/5  With his second album, Terminus, Ontario-based multi-instrumentalist Sammy Duke sets himself apart from the rest of today’s folk-rock and world-fusion artists. Terminus, which was recorded in a solar-powered studio, starts off with “Pressure,” a hearty song with a pop-rock feel that is lively and upbeat yet depressing and introspective; it sets the tone […]

Continue Reading

Artist looks at history of Japanese-Canadian fishermen in new exhibit

Marlene Howell’s art show “A Series for Contemplation,” part of The Lost Fleet exhibition, looks at the world of Japanese-Canadian fishermen in British Columbia before the bombing of Pearl Harbour, which launched the United States into the Second World War. This impacted thousands of Japanese-Canadian lives in BC. “I can’t believe that nearly 1,200 Japanese-Canadians […]

Continue Reading

What’s Going On: January 23 to February 5, 2019

Until Saturday, February 2Can I have the definition? Langham Court Theatre is putting on The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, a musical about the quirky cast of characters competing in a spelling bee. The show brings both scripted and improv elements to the stage and includes the opportunity for audience participation in the bee. Tickets range in price […]

Continue Reading

Chantal Gibson rewrites Canada’s whites-only historical narrative

Artist, poet, and Simon Fraser University instructor Chantal Gibson presents altered text and history books in a sculptural re-telling of Canada’s whites-only historical narrative in her exhibit How She Read: Confronting the Romance of Empire. Gibson went to high school in Mackenzie, BC, and when she was younger, her mother—an African-Canadian woman who grew up […]

Continue Reading

Mother Mother remind us that it only hurts because it didn’t

Joy is the essence of pain. Mother Mother guitarist/vocalist Ryan Guldemond wrote the band’s seventh studio album, Dance and Cry,with this philosophy in mind. Guldemond argues that although the two emotions seem to be opposites, they depend upon each other. “Hopefully the title and the album bring to light how maybe these things aren’t in […]

Continue Reading

New book too scribbled to have impact

Shoelaces are Hard: And Other Thoughtful Scribbles is a book of anecdotes written by CTV News investigative reporter Mike McCardell. It’s a heartfelt collection of stories written during McCardell’s search for his favourite kind of reportage: human-interest stories. From the clothesline of a woman named Linda to a young autistic boy who believes that anything […]

Continue Reading