What’s up: Nelly, Zilla Jones, comedy showcase

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/04/2025 (212 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nelly

• Canada Life Centre
• Friday, 7 p.m.
• Tickets are $65 to $243 at Ticketmaster

It’s hard to believe that Country Grammar, the critically acclaimed debut album from St. Louis, Mo., rapper Nelly that cemented him as one of the defining voices of the 2000s, came out 25 years ago.

And he’s celebrating that milestone with — what else? — a rager.

The Grammy-winning artist born Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. rides into Canada Life Centre on Friday night with a bunch of friends and collaborators in tow — including Ja Rule, Chingy, St. Lunatics — on his Where the Party At tour.

Very few tickets remain in the lower levels, but lots of 300-level seats are available.

— Jen Zoratti

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Zilla Jones book launch

• McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park location (1120 Grant Ave.)
• Wednesday, April 23, 7 p.m.
• Free admission

Her short fiction has been widely lauded and published by writing prizes, literary journals and magazines. And now local African-Canadian author and lawyer (and Free Press book reviewer) Zilla Jones takes the next step on her writerly career.

The Journey Prize-winning Jones launches The World So Wide, her first full-length novel, on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at McNally Robsinon’s Grant Park location.

Published by Cormorant Books, the book follows a Winnipeg-born woman with a Grenadian mother and (absent) white father who studies opera in London in the 1960s. When she travels to Grenada in 1983 to perform, she gets tangled up in the Grenada Revolution as the Americans invade.

Jones will be joined at the launch by Chimwemwe Undi, Canada’s poet laureate and winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award in Poetry for her debut collection Scientific Marvel.

Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

— Ben Sigurdson

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Winnipeg Comedy Showcase

• Park Theatre, 698 Osborne St.
• Friday at 6:30 p.m.
• Tickets: $20 in advance on TicketWeb, $25 at door

If you missed the first 38 editions of the Winnipeg Comedy Showcase, rectify your repeated absence by grabbing a ticket to No. 39.

For the last 11 years, comic Jared Story has handpicked the all-local lineup for the quarterly event. This edition makes for an exciting opening act to the upcoming Winnipeg Comedy Festival, which runs from April 29 to May 4.

Taking the stage will be Poplar River’s resident sitcom star Paul Rabliauskas (standup special Uncle, steaming on Crave); Tyler Penner, a regular host and headliner at Rumor’s; Mike Green, host of the FibeTV1 series Hot Deals With Market Mike; Jeff Sinclair, who recently opened for Kyle Kinane and Todd Barry; Tim Gray, known for his silliness and his impression of the Canadian flag; and Jeff Gobeil, who produced this year’s Joke Around and Find Out, a province-wide competition for new First Nations, Inuit and Métis comics.

— Ben Waldman