What’s up

Winnipeg Wine Festival

• RBC Convention Centre, 375 York Ave.
• Friday, 7-10 p.m. and Saturday, 1-4 p.m. and 7-10 p.m.
• Tickets from $88 here

Big, hearty red wines take centre stage at the RBC Convention Centre this weekend, as the Winnipeg Wine Festival returns with the theme “Life is a Cabernet.”

Three sessions over two days will see hundreds of wines being popped and poured for thousands of thirsty Winnipeggers at the public tastings, with around 60 Cabernet Sauvignons available to be sampled alongside other reds as well as bubblies, rosés, white wines and more.

As well as tried-and-true favourites, there will be plenty of products (Cabernet Sauvignon and otherwise) that are new to the province and/or exclusive to the festival from Italy, Chile, Australia, Germany, France and beyond, with a handful of export managers and winemakers on hand to talk about the wines and answer questions about featured products.

Beyond wine, the fest will feature a Drink Sense non-alcoholic booth, a bistro, a silent disco, a Malibu Pink booth and other fun surprises. And for those who discover a new favourite or two, the festival again features an on-site Liquor Mart. (Of note: unlike last year’s Winnipeg Wine Festival, the city’s eight private wine stores are not participating.)

Tickets for the Winnipeg Wine Festival are $88 including fees and are available here, or save on those pesky fees and pop into your local Winnipeg Liquor Mart to grab one in person for $74.95.

A VIP option is available for $150 including fees for the Friday and Saturday evening events, and includes admission one hour early (6 p.m. instead of 7 p.m.) as well as access to the VIP Cabernet lounge, where some exclusive products will be sampled.

And as always, the Winnipeg Wine Festival is an event in support of Special Olympics Manitoba.

— Ben Sigurdson

 

Pulp

• Life’s Short Gallery, 411 Pembina Hwy.
• Saturday, 6 p.m. to midnight
• Free

A new exhibition featuring the work of artists Jason Hare and Shaun de Rooy opens Saturday.

“Pulp reveals vulnerability and resilience as interconnected states,” the artists’ statement reads. “It gathers what has been broken down, torn apart, soaked and separated —matter that has lost the stability of its original form yet carries within it the possibility of another.”

Small sculptures made of pulped wood, including bricks and more, are displayed throughout the gallery, among other works.

Opening night, de Rooy will run a miniature paper press, with the public invited to make a mini paper pulp brick, similar to the bricks featured in the show, which will remain in the gallery through Oct. 31.

— Sheldon Birnie

 

Prohibition Party

• River City Sports Bar & Events Centre, 300-1395 Ellice Ave.
• Friday, 4-10:30 p.m.
• Admission is free, 18+

Winnipeg vocalist and pianist Amber Epp will lead a six-piece jazz band — rounded out by Jon Challoner (trumpet), Jon Gordon (saxophone), Daniel Roy (drums), Liam Allan (bass) and Emmanuel Bach (guitar) — in a fun evening of live music recalling the Roaring ’20s.

The evening will include a free swing dance lesson with Hepcat Studio at 6:30 p.m., Happy Hour from 4 to 6 p.m., Prohibition-inspired food and drink specials, and live music from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to dress in vintage glamour, or come as they are.

— Jen Zoratti

 

Teddy Bears’ Picnic

• Assiniboine Park, 55 Pavilion Cres.
• Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Free

If you go down to the park today, be prepared for a big surprise — the teddy bears together with their families and friends will be in attendance at this annual event, now in its 37th year.

Arrive in time to tuck into the ever-popular pancake breakfast ($5 from here or by cash, debit or credit at the event), which starts right at 9 a.m. and should sustain you as you make your way round the park to check out all the entertainment, events and more than 20 activity tents.

Ailing stuffies — bears and non-bears — can book an appointment online to visit the Dr. Goodbear Clinic (open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) where HSC Children’s Hospital frontline staff will lead them through a number of medical tests and treatments including MRIs, X-rays and casting.

Families can also get ahead of queues by reserving a timeslot to visit the I Want to Be a Scientist tent, organised by Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM). Pre-book for both tents here – and walk-ups are also welcome.

To avoid inevitable parking woes, get on the park-and-ride shuttles running every 30 minutes (7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.) from St. Paul’s High School at 2200 Grant Ave. and Shaftesbury High School at 2240 Grant Ave. Visit goodbear.ca for more information.

— AV Kitching

 

Savant Flâneur gets noisy

• Saturday, 7-11 p.m.
• The Forks National Historic Amphitheatre

Fans of experimental music and awe-inspiring visuals should meet at the Forks on Saturday night for the Nuit Blanche launch of Hocketus, the newest record by Winnipeg’s Savant Flâneur.

Released on New York’s 577 Records, Hocketus consists of five cello/violin works built around five MaxMSP electronic patches, which “do not accompany the instruments so much as define the space in which they meet.”

The patches control which sounds are expressed and which are silenced. “The electronic systems become less a set of effects than a changing architecture through which the performers move together,” says cellist Nathan Krahn.

Co-presented by local sound festival Send + Receive, Saturday’s free performance features live improvisation within the set framework by sound artists Thomas Toews, Zoë LeBrun, Tristan Zaba, McKenzie Warriner and Luana Moth, with visuals by digital artist George Dyck (@void.raster).

Each duo is “playing the album, but without playing any of the same notes, rhythms or melodies as (we do on the album),” says Krahn.

— Ben Waldman

Hellraiser EP release

• Tonight, 8 p.m.
• Public Domain, 633 Portage Ave.

Osani Balkaran — stage name Osani — doesn’t just rap and sing, he makes his own beats from scratch. And they’re wild, experimental beats, recalling Kanye West at his most adventurous in his Yeezus era, but no less original for this.

Where so many hip hop tracks today follow the cookie-cutter formulas of trap rap, with their autotuned vocals and predictable 808 bass patterns that would put you to sleep if they weren’t designed to shatter car windows, Osani’s instrumentals exude a highly confident weirdness.

While he’s still finding his rhythm as a rapper, he has the makings of a singular hip hop producer.

He’s joined at his latest album release by DJ The Kaptain and indie-rockers Tinge. It seems fitting that this musical anomaly, an adventurer in eclecticism, would enlist two openers completely outside the world of hip hop.

— Conrad Sweatman