By Roman Auriti
From small-town Manotick, Ontario, Hollerado members Dean Baxter, Jake Boyd, Nixon Boyd and Menno Versteeg grew up together and lived on the same street. What really makes Hollerado special, though, is how they are able to blend hit rock songs with a unique indie style. Once the album starts spinning an unfamiliar and unpolished sound… Continue reading Spun: Hollerado
By Richard Lam
There are at least half a dozen red flags with They Call Me Shiest even before putting it in the CD player. There is the home-made album cover, with Shiest looking a little too tough for his own good. There are unflattering track titles like “Nuttin New” and “Props Pilin Up.” There is the dead… Continue reading Spun: Shiest
If his dynamic performance with Dan Mangan in their recent Calgary show wasn’t enough, Versicolour, Aidan Knight’s first release, is enough to convince anyone that this is a songwriter with some serious talent. It may be his debut album, but the experience gained from working as a backing musician for established bands such as Mangan,… Continue reading Spun: Versicolour
If there is a truth in Horacio Castellanos Moya’s novel Dance With Snakes, it is a dirty one: a truth about the grotesque possibilities and misunderstanding of humanity. The book opens in confusion. A mysterious yellow car has been parked in front of a housing complex in San Salvador, El Salvador. Intrigued by the vehicle… Continue reading Snakes explores humanity’s grotesqueries
Ricca Razor Sharp’s Causeways and C-Trains release this summer brought a new voice into a budding hip-hop scene in need of another powerful local MC. Ricca, whose labelmate on Neferiu Records is Calgary-based art-rapper Mantrakid, is an immigrant to the city. Born and raised in Nova Scotia, he finished school at Acadia University and found… Continue reading Ricca’s on the Razor’s Sharp edge
Imagine an era sometime in the future where modified cars, home-built rides and highly personalized one-off buggies roam around a world where competition for increasingly scarce resources takes centre stage. For most people, the image usually evoked by this thought experiment tends to be of a harsh, dystopian, perhaps even post-apocalyptic scenario. In fact, if… Continue reading Re-thinking the green car
We are a generation of fatties. Everything from the lifestyles we live to the food we eat is contributing to the extra weight we’re all carrying. Of course, the question asked by public health officials is why do we consciously choose things we know are unhealthy? Certainly everyone has a vague idea of which foods… Continue reading Helping your waistline and your wallet
“O Canada” has a storied past. Canada’s national anthem was commissioned in 1880 by the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec for that year’s Saint Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony. Some of the English version used today was penned in 1908 by Robert Stanley Weir, who wrote new lyrics instead of using the French version. Weir’s lyrics were amended… Continue reading Our national anthem needs revision
By Marie Turner
Nothing decides your true moral character more than when you’re inebriated, hot and heavy with your new love interest and there are no condoms. Do you risk ruining the mood and rejection? Do you tell them you have an STI? Apparently the ’80s are back and unprotected sex is on the rise again, though this… Continue reading The STI dilemma: to tell or not to tell? And when?
By Kim Nursall
The curtains opened on a full house this past Saturday night, with the star of the show, Sarah Palin, set to make her first appearance in Canada — aptly in the Conservative stronghold of Calgary. Right-wing political figures filled the BMO Centre: I passed by Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith, disappointedly viewed the Treasury Board’s… Continue reading Sarah Palin preaches to the choir