The alternate title for this post could be: Todd Babiak’s opinion holds too much influence over me.
Actually, that’s not entirely true. I’ve been considering looking for a house on or near Alberta Avenue (118th Avenue) for a while now. Todd’s column—Arts on the Ave brings soul to the city—in the Edmonton Journal today just made me want to find a home in that area even more.
I’ll be honest, one of the main reasons that I want to live on Alberta Avenue is the price. Homes in that area are much more affordable than in most other parts of the city. This is partly because it is considered a bad neighbourhood.
This is true to some extent, but the area has been cleaned up a lot in recent years, and is experiencing something of a renaissance. The arts community has been slowly moving into the area for the past few years, as it’s been one of the only areas that starving artists have been able to afford a home.
This influx of artistic types has created a strong community, and this community has been actively working to clean up the neighbourhood, and turn it into a great place to live and work. This not only means that Alberta Avenue is no longer the crappy neighbourhood it once was, it also means that it’s a pretty darn cool place to live if you’re an artist (which, I like to pretend that I am).
I’ll admit, it’s still a pretty rough area. It’s not nearly as bad as it once was, though. And, I’ve heard a few stories about people who have recently moved to the area. The vast majority of these stories have been encouraging. The few that haven’t could just as easily occurred in any other part of the city.
Besides, if I get in now, I might just find myself living in one of River City’s coolest communities in a couple of years. And, if, by some hilarious accident of fate, I’ve created a family and outgrown the home that I’ve purchased (which will likely be very small), I’ll probably be able to sell it for a rather nice profit.
From the moment his green Mercedes-Benz pulled out of the parking lot on the east side of Queen Elizabeth Park Road, until he turned off toward the Legislature a few blocks later, Mayor Mandel was tailgating me like a dog chasing it’s own tail.
OK, so the mayor wasn’t really tailgating me. From what I can tell, he isn’t a terrible driver, either. I admit it, I’ve written a tabloid-style headline to get you to read this post.
In reality, the mayor appears to be a pretty normal driver, dealing with rush hour traffic the same as anyone else. I really wish he had been a terrible driver, though, when we were briefly stuck in traffic together.
I wish he had cut me off, or tailgated me, or given someone the finger. I wish he had thrown litter out his window and shown disrespect to the city he’s supposed to care about.
I’m obviously glad that he didn’t do any of those things, but it would have given me something pretty great to write about. I mean, come on, Mayor Mandel, don’t you know that I’ve got a blog to write? Give me something salacious to talk about! Give me something juicy to share with the city.
Especially since there is a civic election coming up in just a few weeks, it would have been great to have something wonderfully tabloid-y to write about Edmonton’s mayor, especially since he might as well be running unopposed. The other candidates are essentially fringe candidates, either because of inexperience, or because they’re just fucking nuts.
As much as I’ve been impressed with Mandel during this past term, he’s done a few things that have made me wonder whether he’s the right man for the job. Unfortunately, since he appears to be the only serious contender, I might be forced to vote for the man (I’m not really a fan of “protest votes,” and I believe that voting by abstention should only be done in the most dire of circumstances, where are truly no candidates worthy of your vote; I also believe that, if you ever find yourself in such a situation, you should seriously consider running yourself come the next election).
There is a good chance I’d have voted for him anyway, even if there were other legitimate candidates running, but I’d prefer to have a greater choice in the matter. There is also a chance that I’m underestimating the other candidates. Maybe, after I do some more research, I’ll find out that I’m wrong, and that I actually want to vote for one of them. Time will tell, I suppose.
Just a quick post to let you know that I will be live twittering all night from the Roar. If, for some reason, you can’t make it out to the Festival, you can still keep track of what’s happening by following my Twitter stream, either on the side bar of my personal blog, on my Facebook profile, or my Twitter page.
If you have a Twitter account and a cell phone, you can set it up so that you get messages sent directly to your phone.
Facebook and the blog seem to be the best places to keep track of the messages. I’ve noticed that messages sent from my cell phone sometimes don’t appear on my Twitter page, but still show up on the blog and on Facebook.
If you can’t make it to the Roar, be sure to keep up to speed by watching my Twitter feed.
Tomorrow night is the Roar. It’s gonna be an ass-kicker. Because I’m shameless, I’m pimping the shows that I’m involved in. Check out the Fabulous Leprechaun Burlesque (details above), where I’ll be tearing up the stage with Michael Appleby, Nicole Pakan, and Patrick Pilarski. It will be a barn-burner, a pants-dropper, and a mind-blower.
Immediately following that event will be Night Moves, a show that I’m hosting at the same venue. Night Moves features Corine Demas, Laurie MacFayden, and Lisa Pruden. These women know how to rock it. They will blow your mind. Confessions and confusions about sexuality, identity, nostalgia, femininity, and the journeys in between. It’s not to be missed. I’m left breathless whenever I hear one of them read, and I’m proud to be able to present them to the festival with this show.
For complete event listings and show times, check out the Roar schedule.
Editor’s note: I’ve added a new category called “Civics.” This category will cover things like city politics, services, education, and any other kind of issue or policy that affects the city as a whole.
Recently, as I was driving to work, I noticed a city bus that looked a little bit different than the rest of the New Flyers, driving down Whyte Avenue. The main difference was the paint job. At first, I thought the bus had been turned into a moving billboard, and that the unusual paint job was simply an advertisement that had been painted onto the diesel wagon. I was wrong.
In fact, the paint job announced that this was a hybrid bus. The Edmonton Transit System (ETS) is experimenting with hybrid technology on some of their buses. They’re also running some new clean burning diesel buses, and they’ve retro-fitted some of the older buses with a new filter to reduce diesel particulate emissions by up to 80%.
I was very impressed when I saw the new hybrid bus rolling down the Avenue[1]. There are only 2 of them, at the moment, but I’m hoping that the experiment will prove to be beneficial to both the ETS, and it’s customers. If the project is a success, they might start replacing the remaining old school Flyers with hybrids.
The air quality in Edmonton is pretty good, most days, especially when compared to larger or more industrialized cities in Canada (and the world). It’s not perfect, but it’s good. Using hybrid buses in our transit fleet will help maintain our air quality, and help the environment.
While I don’t use the transit system these days, I’m very glad to see the ETS trying to become more fuel efficient, and improve (or at least maintain) Edmonton’s air quality in the process. Hopefully, the hybrid bus program will prove to be a success, and we’ll get more of them in the future.
For more information about the ETS and the environment, please visit ETS and the Environment.
*****
[1] These buses have actually be in service since December 2006. However, I’ve never seen one of them before, and I suspect the same is true for most people (except for those who ride the routes the hybrids are running on).
It is officially Edmonton Poetry Week. This means that I’m going to be busier than usual, as I’m going to be attending events, and also performing in one, and producing/hosting another. I will try to blog about the Festival as much as possible, but my posts might be sporadic, and may not be published at the usual 10:00am (Mountain Time) publishing time.
In the meantime, here’s a brief listing of some of the events that I’m hoping to check out. There are a few that I probably won’t get out to, just because of the time and location at which they’re occurring, but hopefully those constraints won’t stop you from checking things out.
CORTEX - Cortex is a multidisciplinary event, featuring poetry, visual & video art, music, and dance. I know a few of the people involved, and they’re all insane geniuses (some more insane than others, but all artistic geniuses, in my opinion). Cortex occurs today at Latitude 53 (2nd Floor, 10248 – 106 Street), from 7-9:30pm. Admission is $5.
Poets Across Borders - Showcasing the incredible cultural and ethnic diversity that exists in Edmonton, Poets Across Borders teams poets from Sudan, Pakistan, Croatia, the Phillipines, Chile, Kurdistan, India, and the Caribbean with English-speaking poets to perform collaborative works. I believe that the writers who have come from non-English countries will be performing in their native languages, but I’m not 100% sure about that. Poets Across Borders will be performing daily, at noon on CBC Centre Stage in City Centre Mall.
The Roar Spoken Word Festival - On Friday, September 21, the dynamo of spoken word and performance poetry in Edmonton is back for a 3rd year. A 3 hour literary pub crawl across the downtown core, the Roar features the best and brightest poets from Edmonton, and beyond. A blowout finale party featuring the Raving Poets Band follows the pub crawl. The finale will be held at Axis Cafe (10349 Jasper Avenue).
Small Words, Big Moments - Edmonton-based DailyHaiku launches it’s first ever print edition on Saturday, September 22. Current editors, and poetic power couple, Patrick Pilarski and Nicole Pakan host a Zen-like afternoon of tea and haiku at Cafe Select (8404 109th Street). A haiku workshop will follow the readings.
Coffee Lines Stroll - 40 readers, 4 coffee shops, 2 hours. Some of Edmonton’s most prolific poets will be out in full force on Sunday, September 23 from 2-4pm. Check the event web page for locations and a full list of readers.
For a full listing of Edmonton Poetry Week events, visit the www.edmontonpoetryfestival.com.
Last night, I was at a meeting with some of my fellow poets to finalize the details of our show for this year’s Roar Festival—Patrick Pilarski’s “The Fabulous Leprechaun Burlesque,” which I am performing in. I’m also producing a show called “Night Moves,” which will take place immediately after the Fabulous Leprechaun Burlesque. Both of this shows will be absolutely kickin’.
Because I was at this meeting, and because the Roar is only 7 days away, there is little else on my mind. Next week is Edmonton Poetry Week. The Roar will be the highlight of the week, but there is a lot of other stuff happening that week, as well. Check out the schedule for full event listings.
There will be something for everyone at this year’s Edmonton Poetry Festival, as well as at the Roar. Both festivals include a wide range of poetry. If you’re into confessionals, you’ll be able to see that. If you love Zen and haiku, you’ll find some of that, as well. And, of course, there will be a full metric tonne of ass-kicking performance poetry going on during the Roar.
If you think that you don’t like poetry, I invite you to check out any of the events happening at Three Bananas Cafe during the Roar. It will be the poetic equivalent of a rock show. You might find that you like poetry after all.
Last night, I had a date, and we went to Doan’s Vietnamese Restaurant (south side location) for dinner. Doan’s has long been one of my favourite restaurants in the city (either location—both are equally good, in my opinion), so I figured that we couldn’t go wrong. It’s also rarely busy—a table is usually guaranteed without a wait, even on the weekend—and the food is inexpensive.
My favourite dish on the menu is the Seafood Sizzling Platter, but I don’t order it often, as it’s one of the most expensive items on the menu (approx. $17). Last night, I opted for the Prawns, Beef & Pork Vermicelli dish. I honestly didn’t even look at the price, but I think it was around $10 or $12. My date ordered one of the Combinations for 1. Specifically, she ordered the chicken combo (Combo A).
Each of the Combo for 1 dishes comes with a small bowl of wonton soup, and a main course of rice, vegetables, and whatever meat is in the combo (beef, pork, prawns, or chicken are the options). Each of these combo plates is about $10. The prawn combo is slightly more expensive at $11.
If you’re not feeling particularly adventurous, the Combo for 1 dishes are a safe bet. They aren’t bland or boring, but they’re not particularly creative or unique, either. They are a safe, inexpensive option for more cautious diners. I’ve been known to order a combo plate myself, from time to time.
While I find that most of the food I order at Doan’s to be quite flavourful, the vermicelli dish wasn’t. I found it very bland, even after adding soy sauce and hot chili sauce to it. The special fish sauce might have given it some zing, but I’m not a huge fan of fish sauce, so I didn’t try it.
I’ve ordered vermicelli dishes at Doan’s before, and had the same problem. I’d much rather order one of the many lemongrass dishes, or the Seafood Sizzling Platter that I’m so fond of. I think I’ll try and remember to stay clear of the bland vermicelli dishes from now on.
I ordered a Tsingtao beer with my meal, which went well. As tends to be the case with beer, if you order a drink from the same region as the food you’re eating, it will likely compliment it well. Tsingtao is a Chinese beer so, while it isn’t Vietnamese, it comes from Asia, and goes well with most Asian food (though, I have a feeling that it wouldn’t work as well with Japanese food). At $4.75 for a bottle, the Tsingtao was a very good price, considering what you typically pay for imported beer in other restaurants.
In terms of service, I have to admit that the south side location is much better than the downtown location. I tend to go downtown more often, just because it’s so close to my apartment, but the service is very slow, and very poor most of the time. It’s rare that I even get my water glass refilled before the end of my meal at the downtown location. The south side location provides much faster, and far more attentive service than the downtown location.
The food is equally good at either location, but the service is better at the south side location. Having said that, the downtown location isn’t so bad that I’d make a point of driving to the south side because of the difference in service.
For more restaurant reviews and information, check out my Edmonton Restaurant Guide.
Despite the so-called “Alberta Advantage,” most of the Edmontonians I know are strapped for cash. I’m strapped for cash. Maybe it’s just because I associate mostly with writers, artists, and students—people who are stereotypically short of money—but I don’t really see many people enjoying the wealth that has been flowing up from the tar sands for the the past few years.
A lack of money shouldn’t mean a lack of fun, though. I want your help to create a list of fun things that you can do for free in Edmonton. Bonus points if you come up with something that is exclusive to Edmonton. I’ve got a few things to start the list off.
- Take a walk in the river valley. Edmonton has the longest stretch of continuous green space in North America. The river valley is host to a massive trail system, much of which is wooded heavily enough to allow you to forget that you’re in the city for a brief moment. Going for a walk or a run in the river valley is one of the easiest, and cheapest ways to escape the stress of city life. While some people will argue that certain parts of the valley are better than others, I think that the whole stretch is beautiful, and recommend that you check out as many different areas as you can. Other good walks in the city, outside of the river valley include downtown (I love wandering the Core in the autumn, with a good friend to chat with), and Whyte Avenue. Both of these areas happen to be close to the river, so you can experience both nature and concrete in the same walk, if you want.
- Visit your local library. Yes, I’m hitting you with a cliché of “how to have fun for free” lists. One of the cool things about the Edmonton Public Library is that they don’t just have books, music, and movies that you can borrow for free (an adult membership is $12/year, but I’ve been told that they will waive the fee if you are unable to afford it), but they also give free film screenings at the Stanley A. Milner location downtown. I’ve gone to a few of the film screenings they’ve shown, and I’ve yet to be disappointed. I’ve been confused, and uncertain about what think about some of the movies, but I’ve never been disappointed. That said, they show mostly “art house” flicks, so if that’s not your thing, you might not enjoy the movies that are shown in the basement of the library. The Stanley A. Milber library also has an art gallery, that you can view for free. The current exhibit features the photography of Kan Ki Chiu.
- Embrace your inner child: visit a playground. When was the last time that you visited a playground? It might seem silly, but getting together with a group of over-sized kids for a game of sand tag can be surprisingly fun. If you’re into the idea of playing tag, but not into the idea of taking over the local playground, you might want to check out Manhunt.
- Have sex. I can almost guarantee that some joker was going to put this in the comments section. Well, now I’ve beat you to it. Having said that, if you’ve got a willing partner, it’s not a bad suggestion.
I’ve given you some ideas to get started. What other kinds of free fun can you have in Edmonton?
This weekend, I went to New City. I hadn’t been in quite a few months, so I was really looking forward to it, especially since New City is one of my favourite clubs in the city.
There’s just something about rocking out with punks, goths, raver kids, queers, and pretty much any other “weird” subculture that’s totally awesome. Plus, the music is usually pretty ass-kicking.
Saturday happened to be goth night, which I hadn’t realized ahead of time, but it was still a blast. Dark rave music blasted, and was pretty fun to dance to, even though it’s not really my kind of music. Toward the end of the night, the music changed up a bit, and went more toward the punk and neo-mod side of things, which is more my speed. Dancing to “Anarchy in the UK” is a bit of an odd experience, though.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the New City Compound, it consists of the Likwid Lounge (upstairs) and the Suburbs (downstairs). The Lounge is, as the name indicates, a lounge. There are plush couches, pool tables, and TVs that tend to show cool old school cartoons (Betty Boop, for example).
The Suburbs area is the club. It’s got a huge dance floor, and three separate bars. It’s also got a good-sized stage that’s host to all kinds of punk and rockabilly shows on weekdays. The atmosphere is a cross between the old school rave scene, and the Nightmare Before Christmas.
The music varies depending on the night of the week, and is different depending on whether you’re upstairs or down, but typical sounds include punk, rockabilly, electro, industrial, and anything that still manages into that vague and undefinable area known as “alternative music.”
In addition to being a bad ass night club, New City is also host to a number of concerts, stand-up comedy events, and punk rock bingo.
In many ways, it’s the gathering place for the alternative subcultures in Edmonton. Essentially, everyone is welcome. If you go on any given Saturday night, you’re likely to see drag queens, hardcore punks, goths, weird shirtless dudes in too-tight leather pants, and the occasional “normal” person, as well.
The only thing you won’t see at New City are the self-absorbed bar star types (both male and female) that you tend to see at a lot of “trendy” clubs. Aside from the fact that these people won’t usually go to New City, the dress code of “no athletic wear” allows the staff to use their discretion to keep out anyone who is likely to cause trouble.
Basically, if you like a crazy atmosphere where pretty much anything goes, New City is the place for you. Whether you’re looking for a laid back time in the Likwid Lounge, or a hardcore party downstairs in the Suburbs, you’ll be hard-pressed to have a bad time at New City.
For more nightlife reviews and information, check out my Edmonton Nightlife Guide.
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