Features
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The Uniter Fiver Showcase
In December we asked new artists to submit their best songs and you voted on them. The idea is to give a leg up to people new to this business we call show, and to do it with a little ceremony.
It’s not always easy to get your sounds out there, so Manitoba Music is giving the Fiver bands one year memberships. The “winner” (chosen by an industry panel) is on this very cover and will get to record at Collector Studio with Will Grierson and Arthur Antony. Maybe we’ll come up with a few more goodies between press time and the show, who knows.
Come on out to The West End Cultural Centre on January 15 to see The Janzen Boys, Carey J. Buss, Somebody Language and the Way it Feels, autumn still and Mabel’s Flight play an industry showcase. Doors are at 7:15, show at 8pm, $10 at the door, all ages.
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Sprechen Sie Somebody?
There are many contradictions at the heart of Somebody Language, the creative musical brainchild of songwriter and frontman Benjiman Figler. This singer-songwriter project is also a huge, sometimes eight-piece band.
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Sing along, Boys
The Janzen Boys have come a long way from after-dinner sing-alongs and silly hallway jingles.
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Still with enthusiasm
The members of up-and-comers autumn still are a humble group - too humble to even use capital letters in their band name. “We’re not looking to be in-your-face,” vocalist and bassist Bethany Swanson says with a smile.
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Home with the Bell
Carey J. Buss first picked up a guitar at age 12 after hearing his dad’s copy of AC/DC’s Back in Black on a primitive cassette tape. But it was a piece of life-changing advice - “If you can’t find the music you really want to listen to, make it yourself” - that inspired him to dust off his guitar and start writing songs of his own in 2013.
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Ready for take-off
Most of the musicians in Mabel’s Flight are still in their final year of high school, but that isn’t stopping the band from starting to establish itself in Winnipeg’s indie music scene.
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Favourite Prof
For four years Joanne Kelly has been pushing students out of their comfort zones and getting results.
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The Uniter 30
Hey, it’s that Uniter 30 issue.
We asked you to vote on your favourite local people, places and things of 2014. We tried to find categories that interested our readers. Yes, we’d love to include every type of restaurant and every type of dancer, but as some of us ex-Uptown contributors can attest, that is a lot of categories to get through so we’ve kept it at 30. You’ll see some people that won last year, some names that regularly appear in the paper and a few surprises.
Yeah, normally we put out the Uniter 30 as our December issue, and it sits on the shelf for a month while the students take a break, and everyone smiles if they liked what got picked or they complain if they don’t like what got picked. But when I went to tabulate the votes (a task that took me two days last year) I realized that a lot more people submitted ballots. Last year there were 194 ballots, while this year there were 1,506 (two of which were handwritten). I’m guessing it took me about 70 hours to tabulate everything. So you’re getting this issue now (I almost abandoned the concept entirely in favour of a cute puppies issue, but then I’d have to choose WHICH cute puppies to include and I got stressed out). That being said, thank you SO MUCH FOR ALL THE VOTES.
We then asked our writers to talk to these people, visit these places and hold(?) these things that you voted for. Some people took pictures of them, while other people drew pictures of them. It all turns into this thing in your hands RIGHT NOW. I think it’s a decent representation of what makes up Winnipeg, or at least what a Uniter reader is into. Not your favourite stuff? I don’t know what to tell you.
-NJF
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Favourite Political Moment
In politics, one person’s decision can often have unexpected consequences. By choosing to leave office rather than run for re-election, former Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz may have helped set in motion a series of events that dramatically altered politics in our province.
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Favourite Local Activist
When the Falcon descended on last year’s mayoral race he was the fringe candidate who wound up coming in third. All the people I knew that voted for Judy last time around were voting for him, as were a lot of people who had never cast a ballot before. He brought about change simply by speaking to people that most candidates ignored. He also did a Reddit AMA.
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Favourite Winnipegger abroad
In her own way, Samantha Hill is taking part in theatre history. The Winnipeg-born actress who cut her teeth starring in Rainbow Stage productions of Peter Pan and Beauty and the Beast has moved on to the Broadway stage. After a successful run as Christine Daae in The Phantom of the Opera (which remains the longest-running show in Broadway history), Hill is now starring as Cossette in the newest revival of Les Misérables at the historic Imperial Theatre.
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Favourite local writer
Steve Locke is a poet
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Favourite Local dancer
For Jill Groening, dance began as a hobby, one amidst all the other usual extracurricular sports, at age 11. As the years passed, the sports fell to the wayside and dancing grew from a hobby into a passion. When she learned of the Uniter 30 results, her reaction was one of bashful humility. Groening, a writer for this very publication, is humble, bordering on embarrassed by the honour, admitting she’s not a competitive person.
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Favourite Local Filmmaker
In many ways, seeing Guy Maddin (My Winnipeg, The Saddest Music in the World) voted as favourite local filmmaker isn’t a surprise. The director’s name is as synonymous with Winnipeg as the Golden Boy or the bitter cold of winter. But it’s also a fitting testament to his staying power, with the celebrated auteur nearing 30 years as a major force in world cinema.
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Favourite Local Athlete
Unless you live under a rock (no pun intended), or are actively striving to be the worst Winnipegger ever, you have probably heard of local curling sensation Jennifer Jones. Renowned as one of the top female Canadian curlers of the last decade, Jones has been throwing rocks and shouting “hurry!” since she was 11-years-old.
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Favourite Local Achiever Under 30
Ian Bawa knows a thing or two about success.
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Favourite person behind the Counter
“Coffee brings people together,” says Nils Vik, the guy behind the counter at Parlour Coffee on Main St.
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Favourite Local comedian
Comedian Garet Seman has only been performing stand-up for two years, but is already gaining a reputation in the Winnipeg performing arts scene. He speaks humbly of his beginnings in comedy, quipping, “I wasn’t bitten by a radioactive comedian.”
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Favourite Local Bakery
When pastry chef Nathalie Gautier set out to buy a bakery two and a half years ago, she was aiming for St. Boniface, but ended up on North Main. “I didn’t know exactly what area I was [in] or what the community was, so it was a good challenge,” Gautier says. They arrived in March, and by August of the same year, A L’Epi de Ble opened its doors.
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Favourite farmers’ market
Along with music festivals and potholes, Winnipeg has no shortage of farmers’ markets. It’s clear that our city has a love for fresh produce and locally made wares - in Winnipeg alone there are 13 markets, spread out enough to effectively compete with chain grocery stores.