A light on the corner: spending time with Reverend Al and Victoria’s homelessIn the pre-dawn of a wet October morning, they come out of the darkness like soggy, chilled moths. They are the homeless of Victoria and they are drawn to the bright light of a man, a most indomitable and irreverent Reverend named Allen Tysick; everyone knows him as Reverend Al. The Reverend, in his Dandelion […] Continue Reading |
The Coup returns with first album in six yearsIt’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 […] Continue Reading |
Local symphony celebrates John Cage’s legacyIs 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 […] Continue Reading |
Dead-on writingAn 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 […] Continue Reading |
Rudd rocks, stands on headXavier Rudd, the ultimate one-man band, who typically hits the stage with three didgeridoos, a guitar, stomp box, assortment of drums, banjos, harmonicas, bells, and a bass guitar, is bringing all of his gear, and himself, to Victoria once again. The fact that Rudd is self-taught and able to execute all of these talents by […] Continue Reading |
Julie Doiron gets over fear of recording, finallyBelieve it or not, Canadian singer-songwriter Julie Doiron had a fear of recording her music until now. That’s eight full-lengths she recorded while combating that fear. But after recording her ninth, she’s finally really starting to enjoy it. Doiron’s fears weren’t conjured up the way most people’s are. She didn’t imagine her albums growing fangs […] Continue Reading |
Foreskin activist to speak at CamosunVancouver’s Glen Callender loves his foreskin. Callender, founder of the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project, just loves foreskin in general, actually, and he’ll be on campus talking all about it on November 16 when he brings his What a Dick! A Men’s Sexual Health Workshop to Camosun. But there’s a cause behind what he’s doing: he’s […] Continue Reading |
Speaker’s Corner: Finding your speaking stylePopularized in the ’90s by Neil Fleming and Colleen Mills, the VARK (Visual, Audio, Reading/writing, and Kinesthetic) modality is a system of describing learning styles. The idea is that teachers can theoretically optimize their students’ performance by understanding how they learn. Briefly, the categories can be described as: 1. Visual: Thinks in pictures, prefers visual […] Continue Reading |
Comedian talks serious about robots at Tedx conferenceMany hats can be worn in the world of entertainment and performance art. Local comedian, playwright, and musician Wes Borg will be changing his chuckles to a more serious tone when he speaks at the upcoming Tedx Victoria conference. Borg will talk about the importance of resistance in all human growth and how we stop […] Continue Reading |
In Search of Lost Time: Some lesbians have penisesAs if there’s not enough hurt out there in the world for those of us whose identities depart from acceptable social norms, or are marginalized in the process of prejudices, there also exists oppression inside the communities we seek refuge and understanding in. The term lesbian, to me, means a homosexual relationship between two women. […] Continue Reading |
