By Natalie Sit
A s of April 1, dependants of post-secondary students are eligible for health benefits under the Alberta Child Health Benefit program. The program will provide 100 per cent coverage for dental services like basic dental work, eye wear, prescription drugs, essential diabetic supplies, and emergency ambulance service from home to a hospital. The ACHB is… Continue reading Post-secondary kids covered
By Bo Rhodes
Oh my gawd! They are like, so dreamy! Mytown is yet another boy band in an oh-so long line of all-male groups. With their self-titled release, Mytown has accomplished something that few other boy-bands have yet to do. This Irish quartet has written the majority of the songs which appear on this disc. Although the… Continue reading Mytown – Self-titled
By David Kenney
Ground control to Major Tom: Eels ready for lift-off. After the chaotic and disappointing Electro-Shock Blues, lead Eel E revamps his Beautiful Freak sound via an acoustic blender. Gone are the noisy guitars with E using hushed acoustics to balance his ballerina-box keyboards. Daisies of the Galaxy is where E gets even. E is one… Continue reading Daisies of the Galaxy – Eels
By Laura Glick
With a pleasant variety of tempos and styles, the latest Victory Records compilation is more accessible and overall more enjoyable than previous albums. Leading the way are New York’s Snapcase and Ontario’s Grade, dishing out tight, frenetic doses of crunchy, raw hardcore. However, the alternate version of Grade’s "A Year in the Past" lacks much… Continue reading Victory Style IV – Various Artists
Amidst the angst of love comes Comatised by Leona Naess. Though the perpetual love-and-relationship theme may be a little heart-wrenching for love-phobes, the album is a refreshing change from the many broken-hearted songs in existence. Songs such as "Anything," "All I Want," and "Paper Thin" are lyrically lovely, set in catchy tunes and mellow melodies… Continue reading Comatised
By Nicole Kobie
"The courage to follow your dreams." Theatre Calgary’s latest production, Holiday, is a romantic comedy about manners, dreams, courage, people, and society. While these themes are important, they are not what bring this work of art to life; it is the characterization, dialogue and acting. The characters’ caustic bitterness, heartbreaking sorrow and gut-splitting wit combine… Continue reading A relaxing Holiday awaits
By Mary Chan
Don’t take Calgary Opera’s latest offering, Johann Strauss’ operetta Die Fledermaus too seriously. Yes, it may contain betrayal, flirtation, revenge, and passion, but in Act II of this entertaining production, the cast also sings a tribute to, of all things, champagne. Die Fledermaus (or The Revenge of the Bat) is in English and includes spoken… Continue reading Strauss’ tale of love and bubbly elixir
By David Kenney
Ever since "Stuck in the Middle with You" made a butchering appearance in Reservoir Dogs, movie music took on a new role. Instead of simply supporting a scene, music served to diffuse explosive situations–that and mutate a song and/or band into something bigger. For local act El Chupacabra, it means a possibility of playing mafia… Continue reading El Chupacabra: hitman friendly
By Justin Lee
CBC Television recently created an important dramatic series, Drop The Beat. A behind-the-scenes look at the Canadian hip-hop industry and the culture that surrounds it, the show follows two twenty-something males, Dennis and Jeff, who host a bi-weekly hip-hop campus radio show on the fictional CIBJ in Toronto. Dennis (Merwin Mondesir) is an up-and-coming music… Continue reading Drop the Beat: picking up hip-hop for the hockey nation
By Justin Lee
Instinctive Reaction to Struggle have represented the Canadian hip-hop underground for a few years now, as part of one of the tightest crews in Toronto known as Monolith. They were responsible for most of the production behind Monolith’s 1998 EP The Long Awaited… in addition to performing on the album. Like other multi-membered crews such… Continue reading Monolith crew members IRS