More Than Honey is one of ReFrame Film Festival's 2014 feature films. Showcasing the demise of the worldwide bee population, it explores the world of bees and what is being done to slow this impending epidemic.
More Than Honey is one of ReFrame Film Festival’s 2014 feature films. Showcasing the demise of the worldwide bee population, it explores the world of bees and what is being done to slow this impending epidemic.
Cinephiles from our region have been anxiously awaiting this coming weekend, as ReFrame Film Festival once again brings some of the best and most thought-provoking films of the year to our community.
Now in its 10th year, ReFrame has welcomed thousands of people to our city and screened hundreds of independent films focused on social justice, diversity, human rights and environmental responsibility.
To celebrate the 10th year of the festival, ReFrame staff and volunteers have set up a special exhibition, which explores a century of film-going history in Peterborough.
The exhibit, which is open until Sunday, January 26th, is located at 140 King Street (corner of George and King St.) and is absolutely free to check out. There is a brief history of film, including amazing archival photographs and film footage; the experience of film is also documented, tracing the evolution from the appearance of the cinematographe in 1897 to the present-day Galaxy, the big box entertainment centre of 2014.
Roasted Root Vegetable Soup with Goat Cheese and Walnut Pesto (photo: Loblaw)
Staying warm and healthy at this time of the year is a challenge at times.
With cold and flu season in full swing, we need to build our body up for the challenge. One of the best ways to keep your family healthy is to implement proper hand-washing techniques and to eat properly.
I have always had a fondness for soups. Soup is a power pack of nutrition: not soup that you rehydrate from a powder, but a real soup full of winter vegetables.
Shane and Amanda Palmer, owners of Green Eyewear Optical and early members of of the Green Business Peterborough program, have taken many steps to ensure their business is as eco-friendly as possible (photo: Matt Higgs)
It seems that more and more businesses — both large and small — are jumping on the green business bandwagon.
You can visit the website of just about any large corporate entity and you’ll find a statement of environmental values and how that company is applying them to day-to-day operations.
His debut collection, Every House Is Haunted, was the winner of the 2013 ReLit Award in the Short Fiction category, while his novelette, “The House on Ashley Avenue,” was nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award. His short fiction has appeared in several markets, including Cemetery Dance, Broken Pencil, and Shadows & Tall Trees.
His work has been selected for The Best Horror of the Year and Imaginarium: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing. Ian is also the author of SuperNOIRtural Tales, a collection of stories featuring supernatural detective Felix Renn.
As the anticlimactic buzz of awards season pulsates ever closer, we cast our critical eye on the past 12 months of cinema and reflect on what we loved and what we endured.
Film is purely product driven: if the material is good people will come; and 2013 was a banner year for commercial entertainment. Taste and commerce met in the middle and audiences were treated to films that occasionally scraped the heights of great art at the multiplexes. I pray this trend stays in vogue.
A pedestrian walks in the bike lane on Hunter St. bridge (photo: Michael Fazackerly)
Winter is always a funny season in Canada, a country that’s synonymous around the world with wintery conditions. We curl, play hockey, ski, snow shoe and generally complain about the cold whenever we’re given the chance. It’s in our blood and I’m pretty sure that if you read our constitution, somewhere in the fine print you’d find that each citizen has the given right to complain about it.
Everyone has a different take on winter. Some love it and some hate it. Some go out and play in the snow, while others hide under a blanket on the couch and wait for April to arrive. One thing that’s a constant is people saying that winters just aren’t as bad as they used to be. Everyone knows someone that tells a story of their childhood in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s or ’80s when the snow was so high they couldn’t get out the door. Then they have a “get off my lawn” kind of moment and say that we just don’t get hit as hard as we used to. But is that true?
Angela Bassett as Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau, Jessica Lange as Supreme Witch Fiona Goode, and Kathy Bates as anachronistic murderess Delphine LaLauire
As Goldie Hawn immortally surmises in Hugh Wilson’s 1996 film The First Wives Club: “There are only three ages for women in Hollywood — Babe, District Attorney, and Driving Miss Daisy.”
It’s no secret that the film industry is less than generous to “women of a certain age” and that even the most revered actrice becomes relegated to demeaning walk-on roles or autocratically dictated cameos.
What was once the kiss of death to an actor’s commercial credibility — television — has become a haven for women over the age of 19. Characters like Carmella Soprano (Edie Falco) in The Sopranos or Ruth Fisher (Frances Conroy) in Six Feet Under completely defined their respective series with their layered and stunningly layered performances.
American Horror Story: CovenAmerican Horror Story: Coven airs at 10 p.m. on Wednesday night on FX Canada.
This recurring scenario was not lost on producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk when they were developing an ambitious new horror series that would be unlike anything else on television.
Hot off the heals of the raging success of their over-the-top musical strop-fest Glee (don’t let that scare you), Murphy and Falchuk were eager to create the tonal antithesis of their earlier pop confection. And thus was born American Horror Story.
Shrewdly conceiving the program as a self-sustained anthology, each season possesses its own unique character arcs and defining attributes, while cleverly utilizing a uniformly excellent ensemble cast lead by the industrial strength abilities of Jessica Lange. Murphy has also been deliberate with his casting of known LGBT actors, but it is seamless and never feels pandering.
Ensuring that each season pushes its thematic material to its absolute limits, the narratives are tantalizing barrages of the arcane and absurd that integrate documented unsolved crime with nightmarish fairy tale mythology. The supernatural aspects are an almost superficial framing device to examine more universal concepts of fidelity and sanity. American Horror Story: Coven, the third and indisputably best season, takes a precision magnifying glass to modern racial and sexual oppression through the rich filter of pagan witchcraft.
The story begins with young Zoe Benson (Taissa Farmiga) traumatically discovering her latent magical abilities and being shipped away to a revered finishing school, which is primarily a refuge for an increasingly scarce race of witches. Presided over by the sedate and logical Cordelia Foxx (Sarah Paulson, excellent), “Miss Robichaux’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies” is in a state of disarray. Faced with low enrollment and overtly passive instructional methods, the students — including arrogant movie star Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts) and human voodoo doll Queenie (Gabouray Sidibe) — have become spoiled and apathetic.
Meanwhile in Los Angeles, Fiona Goode (Jessica Lange) — the reigning Supreme Witch (“Supreme”) — is desperately trying to advance anti-aging treatments that will ensure her vitality is restored. Jessica Lange as Fiona Goode, Emma Roberts as Madison Montgomery, Jamie Brewer as Nan, Taissa Farmiga as Zoe Benson, Gabourey Sidibe as Queenie
This sequence is more than a bit reminiscent of the late great Tony Scott’s 1983 vampire masterpiece The Hunger and is a reassuring indication that this season, like the others, will be a wildly stimulating phantasmagoria of bang-on pop cultural appropriation. References thus far have included Veronica Lake, Grace Coddington, Donovan and an upcoming appearance from the high priestess herself, Stevie Nicks.
Using the intoxicating New Orleans settings for absolutely all they are worth, the narrative largely rides along the simmering tension between the surviving Salem witches who have taken refuge in the Big Easy and the Voodoo practitioners native to the area — a potent if slightly obvious metaphor for gentrification in the continuing turmoil of these post-Katrina times.
But the show belongs to Lange. Having already won two Academy awards in her relatively sparse career, Lange’s recent renaissance is largely due to her Emmy-winning performance in the excellent HBO dramatization of Grey Gardens in 2009.
So why is it that legions of young people now worship at the altar of this 64-year-old veteran?
It’s because Lange’s effortless charisma and acid delivery burn like a beacon in the arctic wilderness of feminine media role models.
Not only can you live a long life and hit a creative peak when your peers are all being hushed away with lifetime achievement awards, you can still wipe the floor with actors a third of your age. Lange won a Golden Globe, Emmy, and Screen Actors Guild Award in 2012 for her portrayal of a murderous neighbour in American Horror Story‘s first season.
Though Lange now shares the spotlight with two other titans of her craft: Kathy Bates (turning in her best work since Misery) as the socialite serial killer Delphine LaLauire, and Angela Bassett (easily still one of the most beautiful women in the world) as Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau. This trifecta has created one of the most captivating and, it has to be said, utterly believable character dynamics in recent horror.
Ultimately, that is still the blood that pumps through the program’s veins: horror. American Horror Story: Coven never coyly sashays away from the meat of the matter. At times, it’s repellently grotesque, for racism and the oppression of any minority is more horrific that any demonic man (or woman).
Wax Mannequin (a.k.a. Chris Adeney) plays The Spill on January 9th (publicity photo)
Holiday festivities are all over for another year, but excellent live music continues in Peterborough and area.
Here are a few of my picks for the first month of the new year.
Wax Mannequin, Nick Ferrio, and Lowlands at The Spill
You’ll get three times the great music with quirky folk artist Wax Mannequin, local country stalwart Nick Ferrio, and Guelph’s bluegrass/folk band Lowlands.
The show takes place on Thursday, January 9th at The Spill (414 George St. N., Peterborough, 705-748-6167) beginning around 9 p.m.
Tickets are $10 and available at the door.
Wax Mannequin – End of Me
Nick Ferrio – Free Man, Switzerland
Lowlands – First Kill
The Muddy Hack at The Garnet
Rock and roll locals The Muddy Hack will bring their full-on sound to The Garnet (231 Hunter St. W., Peterborough, 705-874-8463) on Friday, January 10th.
There’ll be a cover charge of around $5 at the door.
The Muddy Hack – Revolution
The Strumbellas and I, The Mountain at the Red Dog
If you like lively music with great lyrics and hooks, check out this show. Juno-nominated group The Strumbellas and I, The Mountain are playing on Friday, January 10th at 10 p.m. at the Historic Red Dog (189 Hunter St. W, Peterborough, 705-750-1710).
Taxi Chain performs at The Spill on January 11 (publicity photo)
The first “While the Night is Young” show was a big success. The idea is simple: lively music that finishes up early.
This month’s series will feature Taxi Chain on Saturday, January 11th at 8 p.m. sharp at The Spill (414 George St. N., Peterborough, 705-748-6167).
They’re an excellent group from Toronto that merges bagpipes and funk together, also mixing in more familiar Memphis blues into their sound as well. You will dance and celebrate and still get home at a reasonable hour!
Advance tickets are available at The Spill for $10; the cost at the door is $12.
Taxi Chain – Live at Griffins in Kensington Market, Toronto
Country music at Showplace
Get a healthy dose of country music early in 2014 with “Showplace Does Country 2” featuring: Crooked Furrow, Family Tyes, SweetGrass Band, Western Avenue, and Kait Dueck.
The show is on Sunday, January 12th at 7:30 p.m. at Showplace Performance Centre (290 George St. N., Peterborough). Lots of excellent talent will be on display with enough twang for any country fan.
Tickets are $19 and are available at the Showplace Box Office, by phone at 705-742-7469 or toll free 1-866-444-2154, or online at www.showplace.org.
Western Avenue – Wherever You Are
Valdy at Showplace
Folk artist and troubadour Valdy returns to Peterborough on Tuesday, January 14th beginning at 8 p.m. in the Nexicom Studio (Showplace Performance Centre, 290 George St. N., Peterborough).
Valdy’s legend precedes him and his songs stand the test of time. He’s been crafting and singing greats songs since the ’60s and his talent continues to shine.
Tickets are $25 and are available at the Showplace Box Office, by phone at 705-742-7469 or toll free 1-866-444-2154, or online at www.showplace.org.
Valdy – Play Me a Rock and Roll Song
Tower of Power at Academy Theatre in Lindsay
Storied 10-piece soul, jazz, funk and rock band Tower of Power will be playing on Saturday, January 18th at 8 p.m. at the Academy Theatre (2 Lindsay St. S., Lindsay).
Tickets are $65 and are available at the Academy Theatre Box Office, by phone at 705-324-9111, or online at www.academytheatre.ca.
Tower of Power – What is Hip?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt3CZQXfYtY
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings at Market Hall
Tom Wilson, Colin Linden, and Stephen Fearing are Blackie and the Rodeo Kings (publicity photo)
kawarthaNOW.com proudly presents Canadian roots-rock supergroup Blackie and the Rodeo Kings (a.k.a. BARK) on Thursday, January 23rd at 8 p.m. at the Market Hall (140 Charlotte St., Peterborough).
BARK is made up of Stephen Fearing, Tom Wilson, and Colin Linden.
The group will be releasing their brand new acoustic album South.
Tickets are still available, though this show will surely sell out.
VIP seats are $38 and regular seats are $32. VIP and regular tickets are available at the Market Hall Box Office, by phone at 705-749-1146, online at www.markethall.org.
Regular tickets (for rows B, E, and L) are available at Moondance (425 George St. N., Peterborough, 705-742-9425).
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings – South
Charming Ruins at the Red Dog
Local two-piece rock/blues heroes Charming Ruins will be kicking out the jams on Friday, January 24th at 10 p.m. at the Historic Red Dog (189 Hunter St. W, Peterborough, 705-750-1710).
Ticket price is to be announced, but will likely be between $5 and $10.
Charming Ruins – Feel It
Mayhemingways at the Pig’s Ear
Come and celebrate the new EP by alt-country/roots duo Mayhemingways at their first hometown show of 2014 on Saturday, January 25th at the Pig’s Ear Tavern (44 Brock St., Peterborough, 705-745-7255), beginning at 10 p.m..
Cover charge is only $3 and the music will last all night.
Mayhemingways – Wanderers
Sharron Matthews at Showplace
Music and comedy are the name of the game as Sharron Matthews hits Peterborough on Wednesday, January 29th at 8 p.m. in the Nexicom Studio (Showplace Performance Centre, 290 George St. N., Peterborough).
Her show is a tour de force in every way.
Tickets are $30 and are available at the Showplace Box Office, by phone at 705-742-7469 or toll free 1-866-444-2154, or online at www.showplace.org.
Sharon Matthews “Superstar”: The Love Child of Bette Midler and Jack Black
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfKWXJf5bAs
J.P. Cormier and Dave Gunning at Market Hall
J.P. Cormier performs at the Market Hall on January 31 (publicity photo)
There will be an impressive double bill of East Coast musicians at the end of January. Folk Under The Clock is presenting J.P. Cormier and Dave Gunning on Friday, January 31st at 8 p.m. at Market Hall.
J.P. Cormier is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Cape Breton whose impressive body of work has earned him a vast and loyal fan base around the world.
Nova Scotia born and bred singer-songwriter Dave Gunning just recently won Hockey Night in Canada’s Song Quest with his tune “A Game Going On”.
Tickets are $35 ($25 for students, available at the door only). Advance tickets are available at the Market Hall Box Office, by phone at 705-749-1146, online at www.markethall.org. Advance tickets for Rows FF and D tickets are available at Moondance (425 George St. N., Peterborough, 705-742-9425).
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" opened in theatres on December 13
Peter Jackson officially acquired George Lucas’ fantasy throne when he unleashed his The Lord of the Rings trilogy on the public at large during the holiday season of 2001. This bank-breaking endeavour dusted off Tolkien’s tomes and completely redefined the word epic in the context of film. The films became a brief December tradition as they were released mid-month between 2001 and 2003, and are still considered yuletide favourites for many. The Star Wars of the 21st century had arrived.
Unfortunately, like Lucas’ storied space opera, the record-breaking box office achieved by Jackson’s opus instantly green-lit production of a litany of hollow, money-grubbing prequels. Thus the comparatively flimsy predecessor The Hobbit was adapted into not one but three three-hour films: An Unexpected Journey (released in December 2012), The Desolation of Smaug (released this month), and There and Back Again (scheduled for release in December 2014).
Tom Wilson, Colin Linden, and Stephen Fearing are Blackie and the Rodeo Kings (publicity photo)
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings (BARK) is returning to Peterborough for the second time in 14 months — thanks to kawarthaNOW.
The roots-rock supergroup of Tom Wilson, Colin Linden, and Stephen Fearing will perform once again at the Market Hall on Thursday, January 23rd at 8 p.m.
The band’s previous show at the Market Hall in November 2012 was a standing-room-only sell-out, with kudos from all in attendance. Peterborough is one of the very early stops on the tour for the band’s new album South, which will be released in mid January and is destined to be a new BARK classic.
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