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This article was published 06/06/2019 (2611 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Paige Drobot releases debut EP

If it wasn’t evident from her multi-coloured floral EP cover or the vintage-inspired bubble lettering on her promo poster, Winnipeg singer-songwriter Paige Drobot is all about the ‘60s and ‘70s psychedelic rock vibes.

The new EP, Zero Thought, out Friday, June 7, follows suit, embracing the hazy, raspy, rough-around-the-edges sound and vibe indicative of that era.

Drobot, 25, has worked as a live and studio guitarist for nearly eight years and is also part of prog-rock three-piece the Psychics, but Zero Thought is her first foray into production. She also played the majority of the instruments on the four-song EP.

The title touches on Drobot’s belief she is a “stream-of-consciousness artist,” meaning, for her, art is a “gift from an entity larger than her and happens once she can achieve zero thought,” her Facebook page explains. “Zero thought is achieved by allowing the soul to be totally uninhibited, so that the spirit can translate her emotions to art.”

Drobot and her band will be celebrating the EP release Friday, June 7, at the Cavern; Man Candy and Ponemah will also perform. Tickets are $10 at the door, or through Drobot directly at paigedrobotmusic@gmail.com. Music starts at 10 p.m.

— Erin Lebar

 

MB Food Fest

A mouth-watering new festival focused on local food and drink is hunkering down in a centuries-old setting in St. Boniface in the hopes of pleasing palates while raising a bit of money.

The first annual MB Food Fest takes place Sunday, June 9, at Fort Gibraltar (866 Rue Saint Joseph) from 2-6 p.m. All manner of locally made food and drink will be available for sampling, with the added option to purchase on site directly from many of the dozens of vendors.

On the culinary side of things, vendors include Chocolatier Constance Popp, 1882 Hot Sauce Company, Little Bones Wings, Happy Dance Hummus and Bones & Marrow Broth Co. Drinks-wise, participating locals include Kilter Brewing, Capital K Distillery, Shrugging Doctor Beverage Co. and Farmery Brewery.

The fest is the brainchild of three gastronomic gourmets — Shawn Brandson of Promenade Café and Wine/Fort Gibraltar Dining Corporation, Sherry Sobey of Generation Green and Acorn Café, as well as Kevin Burgin of CJOB’s The Main Ingredient. Brandson has had a hand in creating the Poutine Cup and the Winnipeg Beer Festival, both of which take place at the fort. Burgin, meanwhile, also had a hand in starting the Winnipeg Beer Fest, as well as Manitoba Pizza Week, which wraps up this weekend at select eateries throughout the city.

The fort’s folks are also organizing a number of on-site activities for participants, including leg wrestling, hatchet throwing and firing a musket. (It goes without saying: exercise moderation on those beverages before picking up a hatchet or firing a musket.)

Entry to MB Food Fest starts at $30 plus taxes and fees, with a portion of proceeds going to support programming and upkeep at Fort Gibraltar. For tickets, as well as more information (including a complete list of vendors), visit mbfoodfest.com.

— Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson

Rise Up 100: Songs for the Next Century

A hundred years ago this month, Winnipeg was embroiled in a general strike, during which more than 30,000 workers walked off the job in protest. In a bleak postwar economy, most labourers were struggling to get by on paltry wages while working long hours in unsafe conditions. The strikers’ demands included an eight-hour work day, a living wage and the right to collective bargaining and unionization.

To celebrate this groundbreaking event — the longest general strike in history, it inspired sympathetic work stoppages across the country — the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union are sponsoring a free concert in Old Market Square, featuring a lineup of musical performers (curated by the Winnipeg Folk Festival) who know their way around a protest song.

American iconoclast Ani DiFranco and Canadian icon Bruce Cockburn take a different esthetic approach to their music, but their roots are in folk music — the classic Woody Guthrie-style performer with a “This machine kills fascists” sticker on their acoustic guitar. Whether it’s Cockburn lamenting the state of the world in 1981’s The Trouble With Normal (”Strikes across the frontier and strikes for higher wage / Planet lurches to the right as ideologies engage”) or DiFranco asserting her right to the proceeds of her labour in The Million You Never Made (”I may not be able / to change the whole f—ing world / but I could be the million / that you never made”), they both use their music to embody the concepts of empowerment and solidarity.

Also on the bill are Manitoba singer-songwriters John K. Samson (formerly of the Weakerthans) and Leonard Sumner, along with folk-pop trio Sweet Alibi and roots duo Two Crows for Comfort.

Rise Up 100 takes place Saturday, June 8, from 2 to 11 p.m.

— Jill Wilson

Gatlin Brothers mark six decades of performing

The Gatlin Brothers, one of country music’s longest-serving groups, return to Winnipeg on Wednesday, June 12, for a concert at the Club Regent Event Centre.

The Gatlins — Larry, Steve and Rudy — have entertained audiences around the world with their rich harmonies for more than 62 years, starting as gospel artists in their home of Abilene, Texas. They eased into the country music genre and hit their stride in 1976 with the Grammy Award-winning Broken Lady. Later that decade, they recorded their signature song, All the Gold in California (”All the Gold in California / Is in a bank in the middle of Beverly Hills / In somebody else’s name”), as well as Houston (Means I’m One Day Closer to You). The ‘80s brought more No. 1 hits such as I Don’t Wanna Cry, Statues Without Hearts and Love is Just a Game.

Larry Gatlin has been the group’s main songwriter, and his songs have been recorded by a who’s who of music, from Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand and Johnny Cash to Tom Jones, Glen Campbell and Roy Orbison.

Tickets, which sell for $40.14, including fees, are available at Ticketmaster and casinosofwinnipeg.ca.

— Alan Small