Entertainment

Adversity is like a furnace. It can burn, consume, and reduce solid constituents to charcoal, ashes, smoke, and heat. What goes into the fire of sorrow and difficulty always exits as something different and potentially useful. Ashes can be scattered to fertilize new growth. Charcoal can become an art medium. …

Cartel Madras, comprised of Priya and Bhagya Ramesh – known by stage names Contra and Eboshi, respectively – have taken Calgary by storm. Formed in January of this year, the band has embarked on shows in, and out of Alberta, and have performed and opened for acts such as Lou …

By Nick MacDonald Weal Writer Consider this situation: you and a half dozen of your friends are facing down an enormous red dragon. He’s big, he’s angry, he’s picking his teeth with the bones of a teammate he just fried, and he’s probably got a kidnapped princess buried in his …

The Calgary Underground Film Festival (CUFF) will be hosting their annual 12-hour horror movie marathon on Oct. 27 at the Globe Cinema. The first film has already been announced, and it’s a gruesome one, titled Hell Fest. The film has all the makings of a devilish slasher film – teenagers, …

It may be an early winter outside, but Edmonton-based band The Velveteins, thawed out the Gateway Oct. 6 with a taste of psychedelic surf rock. The band has ridden their debut album, Slow Wave, to opening spots at festivals this summer with big-name headliners like Brian Wilson, Social Distortion, and …

As Screamfest gears up for its 13th and final year, no amount of effort is being spared to make sure it goes out with a bang. Mike Sheppard, owner of Screamfest, is teaming up with Zombie House to bring in a seventh attraction to the grounds. In this attraction, however, …

Alberta has a lot of musicians, some great ones. Wide Cut Weekend aims to showcase that Alberta sound.  Now entering its fourth year, Wide Cut is a music festival focused primarily on roots, folk, blues and country. The unique aspect of Wide Cut, what makes it so different from other …

Honour Beat, a play featuring Calgary’s first all-Indigenous cast and crew, has wound down after a busy month of performances running from Sept. 4 to Sept. 29. “It’s the first time in the history of this country where there’s been an ability to speak this truth,” said Michelle Thrush, director …

After a recent trip to Walmart, the seasonal décor inside the store says we’re nearing Halloween. Although the desire to blow off first-semester steam is strong, the lingering sting of tuition payments called for a more subdued spooky season this year. With the proliferation of weekend activities like board game …

Beakerhead is back, and Calgary’s five-day extravaganza of science, art and technology has a whole new lineup ready for the crowds.  Since its debut in 2013, Beakerhead has been entertaining Calgarians with a vast array of science, art and culture. While it is a year-round program, the most spectacular events …

Having won nine Tony awards, including Best Score, Best Book, Best Direction and Best Musical, it is no wonder that the hit musical Book of Mormon performs to a full house.  Book of Mormon premiered in New York in the spring of 2011, and has been gaining popularity ever since. …

Calgary’s science and art festival to continue to inspire SAIT students. A nine-metre long dung beetle will grace SAIT campus on Sep. 19, but fear not, it is inflatable, made out of recycled vinyl, and quite magnificent. The Dung Beetle is a sculpture made by artist Max Streicher, who lives …

Aasiva’s debut album straddles the genres of singer-songwriter, and pop. The album is meant to showcase Indigenous culture and more importantly northern Indigenous culture. The songs flow fairly well from one to the other, but run up against a creative roadblock midway through the album, where Nakashuk seems to have …

For the multi-talented Bracken Burns, playing the lead part of Elle Woods in Stage West’s production of Legally Blonde: The Musical is the perfect way to return to theatre after a three-year hiatus. “It’s a dream role,” she said. Burns’s hiatus was due mostly to wanting to try her hand at …

Masked Canvas productions held their first ever launch party on Saturday, March 24 at the Chinese Cultural Centre to promote an upcoming play titled Wonderland. The party, called the Down the Rabbit Hole Masquerade, was filled with acro-yoga performers, singers, comedic acts and a trailer for Wonderland, which offered the …

Calgary based band, The Ashley Hundred, always wanted to release a full length album. “I guess it was always part of the plan,” said Brett Cassidy, the band’s banjo player, in a phone interview. However, the cost of recording, producing and releasing the album initially held the band back from …

Family is everything, and nothing matters more in this world. ‘The Humans’ cannot stress this enough, and portrays this theme beautifully in a well-acted, well laid out, poignant way. ‘The Humans’ is a play written by Stephen Karam, following the lives of the Blakes during Thanksgiving. The youngest daughter, Brigid …

A stretch of Stephen Avenue will be filled with snow and people freestyle skiing and snowboarding on April 26. Banff’s Sunshine Village Ski Resort will be hosting their annual Downtown Throwdown and dumping three tonnes of snow straight from the Canadian Rockies onto Stephen Avenue. “We want to bring the snow …

The pilot for Faultline, a dark thriller web-series, held its Calgary premier on Feb. 4, 2018 at Kensington’s Plaza Theatre.   The six-part series follows three sisters, who reconnect with each other, to piece together a crime that took place 15 years ago, ending in their mother’s arrest and suicide. …

What’s Gold Bloody Gold about? The book is about my father’s gold discovery in Mali, in West Africa in 1981. He flew to Mali at the behest of a financier based in London. The result of his work was a geological report that delineated vast gold reserves in the western …