Arts
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Downtown Girls
As cultured as Winnipeg likes to behave, one thing the city isn’t is high fashion; from Polo Park to sprawling outlet stores, slim shopping options leave much to be desired. Despite these limitations, Chanelle Salnikowski - a local stylist, makeup artist and model - has found a way to take advantage of Winnipeg’s abundance of sleaze and tackiness.
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Playing by their own rules
In anticipation of the Central Canada Comic Con (C4), happening Oct. 31-Nov. 2 at the RBC Convention Centre, Photo Editor Tina Jansen went behind the scenes with a few local cosplay kids to document the process of putting together their pieces.
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Heart & Saul
It’s been a slow burn. Saul’s long served as a thorn in the side of the neo-conservative and excessively rational: over a few decades, he’s authored dozens of works (most famously 1992’s Voltaire’s Bastards), delivered the 1995 Massey Lecture (later published as The Unconscious Civilization) and served as the president of PEN International. But now, his sights have fully swivelled to Indigenous issues. He’s calling Canada to account for its past and ongoing atrocities. Any niceties are gone. The Comeback: How Aboriginals Are Reclaiming Power And Influence is the result.
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Keep on keepin’ on
Self-proclaimed “Greatest Rock n' Roll Band in the World” the Supersuckers will be stomping their boots into town following the release of their ninth studio album, Get the Hell.
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When you’re here, you’re family
Members of Ethnica started playing as a cover band called Side F/X. But recently, they’ve morphed into a metal group, and just released a self-titled EP last month.
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If It Feels Good Do It
Toronto-based artist Bahamas, known as Afie Jurvanen off stage, is one month into a long stretch of touring. But he’s found an effective way to spend his time on the road.
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Ozconscious
This five song debut from local sextet Ozconscious is a bit of a mixed bag.
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Frazey Ford
If you’re in the mood for Basia Bulat with a more folked-out twang, or Ohbijou without the oh, then Frazey Ford’s (Be Good Tanyas) latest solo LP will win you over.
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Frosty feasting
It’s an odd thought: while the boreal forest - the wondrous home of wood bison, spruce trees and 2.5 million Canadians - makes up over half of the country’s land mass, many southerners know very little about it. It’s Michele Genest’s mission to change that through food. The Boreal Feast, a new cookbook that features recipes to promote the use of northern foods, is the latest iteration in her quest, coming on the heels of her 2010 book The Boreal Gourmet.
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Paranormal activity
Ghostly encounters in Room 202 of the Fort Garry Hotel, a deceased war veteran hanging out in the Burton Cummings Theatre, scandals and symbols in the Legislative Building: this is the supernatural history of our city, a history Matthew Komus is ready to share in his debut book, Haunted Winnipeg.
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North by old west
Kansas City, Missouri, 1865. A train engine belches white smoke across a blue sky as Allan Pinkerton reprimands his adult son, William, beneath the shadow of the Dubois Hotel. Nearby people stand silently and watch, iPhones and Starbucks cups gripped tightly in their hands. With a call of the word cut, we are whisked back to Grosse Isle, Manitoba, 2014 and to the set of the new syndicated hour long drama, The Pinkertons.
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A new chestnut
Jill Sawatzky believes functional clothing is the most beautiful clothing one can make. The designer behind local fashion line Tony Chestnut eschews the notion of frivolity that is often associated with design.
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On the Trail of the Far Fur Country
Kevin Nikkel’s On the Trail of the Far Fur Country is a fascinating documentary about Canada, its history and the movies. It’s a reminder that cinema is more than just entertainment: it’s a mirror, reflecting our culture and identity back to us so we can observe and learn from it. A documentary about another documentary might not sound accessible, but On the Trail moved me as a Canadian as much as a film lover.
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Björk: Biophilia Live
Björk: Biophilia Live is a concert film of the stage show adapted from Biophilia, Björk’s 2011 album/app/art project. The film opens with narration from English broadcaster David Attenborough, who promises that the following performance will offer insight into the intersections between nature, music and technology. I’m not sure Biophilia offers insight into anything other than Björk as an artist. That’s fine, if you’re interested in her as an artist. As someone with only a casual interest in Björk’s post-Sugarcubes career, I found the film mostly a curiosity.
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Le cinéma français
For the last 23 years Winnipeg has been home to Cinémental, one of the longest running French film festivals in Western Canada.
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Enjoy the darkness
It’s a freezing cold Sunday afternoon. The members of The Will to Power are in my car. The coffee shop we’d arranged to meet in is too crowded and noisy, so we’ve relocated to the Safeway parking lot. Despite the overcast skies, and the fact that little light penetrates my foggy windows, lead vocalist and songwriter James Hofer is wearing sunglasses.
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Get Low
Alan Sparhawk, guitarist and lead vocalist of legendary alt-indie act, Low, has mixed feelings about returning to Canada. The Minnesota trio’s Oct. 18 show at Winnipeg’s West End Cultural Centre marks the beginning of a three-week tour that will take the band across Canada and the United States. However, it’s not the canuck audiences that worry him; it’s the border crossing.
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One Great City!
Stuck in the Middle: Dissenting Views of Winnipeg is a coffee table book exploring the love-hate relationship some people have with our city, written by Bartley Kives, a Winnipeg Free Press journalist who wrote his first book, A Daytripper’s Guide to Manitoba, in 2006. All photos are by Bryan Scott, a local photographer best known for his Winnipeg Love Hate photo blog. There’s also a foreword written by Weakerthans front man John K. Samson.
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Gone Girl
I was very entertained by Gone Girl. I want to make that totally clear, right off the bat, because I have a lot of thoughts about the film, and a lot of them aren’t positive. Do I think people should see this movie? Definitely. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s kind of a mess.
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Me, Myself and Mum
Me, Myself and Mum introduces its protagonist and narrator, Guillaume, as a boy who is a girl. What that means, exactly, is deliberately ambiguous. He’s flamboyantly effeminate, that much is clear. Is he gay? Transgender? Is this just a surreal narrative gimmick? Even Guillaume isn’t sure. It’s a fun question, and it works right up until the moment the movie answers it.