Rat Pack throwback
BEFORE THE LIVE SHOW:
Cuthbertson, James-Smith and Whiting“Hi, we’re shopping for tuxedos!” Graham Cuthbertson’s on the phone while he and the rest of the indefatigable theatre group SideMart Theatrical Grocery get their look together for a trip to the 1950s. “Travelling back to a simpler time where smoking was good for you and liquor cured all that ailed.”
The Whiteman’s Whiskey Comedy Revue—part theatre, part vaudeville—takes over Théâtre Ste-Catherine (264 Ste-Catherine E.) this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 27–28 at 8 p.m., in a Dean Martin-esque live-to-air experience from television’s Golden Age.
“We’re trying to make it as authentic as we can,” Cuthbertson says. “A mix of wild elements as close to the style of the ’40s and ’50s variety show as possible.”
The show’s longtime host Jack “Ping” Lancaster has dropped dead, and the cast—including Dick Powell (of the Pacific City Casino Wolf Pack), Nicky Darling, risqué divorcée Mirelda Shorts, and Chester Knuckles the “Uh Oh!” boy—are thrown into a scramble.
Joining Cuthbertson are usual SideMart suspects Patrick Costello, Andrew Shaver, J. Whiting, Sarah Yaffe, Kyle Gatehouse, Gemma James-Smith, and Trent Pardy. A four-piece house band led by Bucky Wheaton—and of course, a bar—complete the setting. $15.
by NEIL BOYCE
Six collide at Collision 5
LOOKING FOR WARMTH:
“Comfort” by Tia Halliday
Parisian Laundry (3550 St-Antoine W.) shows its love for a new crop of emerging artists with Collision 5—an exhibition of work by some of Concordia’s outstanding MFA candidates.
Each fall, prospective graduates submit their thesis projects to gallery director Jeannie Riddle, who makes her selections based on both the quality of the proposal and the student’s ability to describe how their project fits in with the curatorial vision of Parisian Laundry.
Running until March 7, the year’s show features six artists: Douglas Moffat, Dominic Papillon, Clement Yeh, Amélie Guérin-Simard, Tia Halliday and Meghan Price.
Perhaps the most exquisite pieces in the show are the incredibly delicate and labour-intensive hand-tatted sculptures by Price, their intricately woven forms suspended on the surface of the wall like strange and beautiful butterflies.
Halliday’s Strange Love is another stand-out. Using her own image as a starting point, Halliday has created a series of characters who, in their desire to bring warmth and comfort into their lives, have found these “strange loves” in synthetic reproductions of reality; a comment on the impact that new technologies such as Facebook have had on human relationships and interactions.
by STACEY DEWOLFE
Words on the lam
The Fugitives, a charming hybrid of spoken word troupe and folk band, coalesced in the fertile cultural mulch of East Vancouver. “Barbara Adler and I were on a  poetry slam team together, and we were a fan of Mark Berube’s music,” Brendan McLeod explains. “We then met Steve Charles, our banjo player, through the bluegrass and old time music scene, which is quite large in Vancouver.”
The Fugitives write collectively, a formula that has yielded a couple of acclaimed CDs. “It’s a very difficult process, trying to write songs with four different sets of inputs and ideas, but hopefully the positive aspects outweigh the frustrations,” says McLeod. “Our thinking is that if the four of us all end up liking something, then it probably doesn’t suck.”
Currently on their third national tour (they’ve also toured Europe four times), the Fugitives will be winning new converts this Saturday, Feb. 28 at the Green Room (5386 St-Laurent), 8 p.m., $5.
by VINCENT TINGUELY
Child soldiering
Vancouver-based artist Matilda Aslizadeh returns to Montreal with her latest body of work, Hero of Our Time, at Galerie la Centrale (4296 St-Laurent).
Playing off similar themes as Mikhail Lermontov’s Russian novel of the same  name—which followed not one, but three war veterans—Aslizadeh’s work follows Hero, a 12-year-old soldier fighting in an unnamed country. Using staged sequences as well as found/documentary footage from YouTube, Aslizadeh intertwines the two forms to tell Hero’s story.
By mixing film practices with real footage, the video references the many ways in which our culture understands and interacts with war and the pain of others.
The show also includes Village, a series of large-scale photographs of a miniature-sized town, and a banner with a hard-to-decipher message.
The vernissage takes place tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. Aslizadeh speaks about her work and processes on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m.
by SACHA JACKSON
Is it art?
MOUSTACHE MANIA: The ’stache is back. Ironic or iconic, it’s the facial hair to have, but why bother to grow one when it’s easier, and faster, to put on a pair of gloves?
Jumping on the “fingerstache” phenomenon—the craze sweeping the nation in  which people tattoo stylized ’staches on their index fingers for instant comic relief—designer Jack Spade’s created a pair of merino wool gloves, sure to give you the same amount of laughs, without the permanent ink. They might be faster and more stylish than a tat, but at $95 a pair, they’ll likely cost more.
With each index finger adorned with a different style of ’stache—the right is a dandy, while the left is sombre and rather proletariat—you can change your look depending on your mood.
jackspade.com
Arts
hole
MUSIC FOR THE MASSES: This Friday, Feb. 27, head over to le Cagibi (5490 St-Laurent) at 9 p.m. for Chicks With Decks, a monthly night of guilty pop and innocent rock from DJs Amyl Nitrate and Secrets & Lies. This month’s edition is a fundraiser—PWYC/suggested donation of $5 at the door. The money raised will go towards a set of decks for le Cagibi. • FASHION FORWARD: Montreal Fashion Week, opens this coming Monday, March 2 with 25 renowned and emerging designers presenting their fall/winter 2009 collections. For the first time ever, fashion week is opening its doors to the public, tickets will be available for the runway shows at the Bonsecours Market, daily from 4–8 p.m, and will sell for $25 each.
Artistat
The amount it’ll cost you to attend the fourth annual Expozine Alternative Press Awards Gala happening this Tuesday, March 3 at 7 p.m. at Casa del Popolo (4873 St-Laurent) in celebration of the best in the small and indie press: 0 |
