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This article was published 22/03/2018 (2840 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Woodhawk at Handsome Daughter

If you’re looking to catch some “riff-rock wizardry” this weekend, head over to the Handsome Daughter to check out Calgary three-piece Woodhawk.

The band is touring in support of their debut full-length, 2017’s Beyond the Sun. The album was recently named the No. 12 most played released on the Canadian College Radio Top 20 Loud Charts for 2017 and this tour will see the band trek from Alberta to Quebec, stopping in Winnipeg on Saturday, March 24.

Beyond the Sun is described as “equal parts 1970s Birmingham and a myriad of 21st-century heavy who’s who” — and while we’re not entirely sure what that means, this album is definitely rock, it’s definitely loud and it will definitely get a fist-pumping party started.

Two Winnipeg bands — Madeira and the Psychics — will open the show. Doors open at 9:30 p.m., music starts at 10 p.m. and tickets are $10 at the door.

— Erin Lebar

 

Jazz fest announces more performers

The Winnipeg International Jazz Festival is doing its 2018 lineup announcement in three phases: earlier this month, headliners the Flaming Lips, Daniel Caesar, Chris Botti, Jill Barber and Tune-Yards were revealed; and today, jazz fest divulged the second wave of performers who will make their way to the festival, which runs June 14-24, in and around the Exchange District.

Artists announced today include:

Lido Pimienta
Michael Kaeshammer
The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer
Allison Au
GoGo Penguin
Alsarah & The Nubatones
George Colligan
The Wet Secrets
Cadence Weapon
Guillaume Perret
Robi Botos
Ellen Doty
Kamikaze Girls

 

• For more information on tickets and scheduling, visit jazzwinnipeg.com.

 

— Erin Lebar

 

Jim Heath

Rockabilly revivalist Jim Heath has practised what he’s preached for 33 years.

Heath, the vocalist, guitarist and “Reverend” in the Reverend Horton Heat, first delivered his psychobilly sermon in 1985 in Dallas, Texas. Psychobilly, if you’re not a devout rockaBilly or a rockaBetty, is a fusion of rockabilly and punk rock, pioneered by such bands as the Cramps and the Meteors.

Heath and his longtime partner in psychobilly, upright bassist Jimbo Wallace, along with drummer Arjuna (RJ) Contreras, will play back-to-back nights at the Pyramid Cabaret on Friday, March 23 and Saturday, March 24. Opening the shows are Unknown Hinson and Igor and the Red Elvises.

The Reverend Horton Heat has made a few famous converts over the years, including the late Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead and comedian Drew Carey, who had the band on his ABC sitcom as well as his HBO special, Mr. Vegas All-Night Party.

Tickets for the Reverend Horton Heat are $32 at Into the Music, Ticketmaster and pyramid7.com.

— Jared Story

 

Polycoro: Path of Miracles

Polycoro Chamber Choir will take listeners down the road less travelled when it presents English composer Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles. Two shows — one added due to popular demand — will be held Saturday, March 24, at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. at the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s Tyndall stone atrium.

The a cappella concert is inspired by Spain’s fabled Camino de Santiago and features acclaimed Winnipeg experimental filmmaker Deco Dawson, who projects his “jaw-dropping” (New York Times) abstract imagery on the choristers’ bodies as a living, breathing canvas.

“Path of Miracles is, itself, a re-imagining of what a concert can look, feel and sound like,” artistic director/conductor John Wiens says in an email of the four-movement work originally composed for London, England-based choral chamber group Tenebrae in 2005.

Each year, the “Camino” draws hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who tread the 480-kilometre walking route, which begins in France’s Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port near Biarritz, and culminates in the Spanish city — and alleged burial site of Biblical apostle St. James — Santiago Compostela. It takes an estimated 35 days to complete the trek and during that time, pilgrims seeking spiritual growth collegially break bread, share their travails and triumphs of the journey and bunk in a series of hostels along the way. Many testify to the life-changing experience of “walking the Camino,” an experience that inspired the late Canadian fiddler/composer Oliver Schroer’s 2006 album, Camino.

As a bonus, ticket holders who wish to stay after the first performance — or early birds for the second show — will hear tales of personal epiphanies shared by key artists and local pilgrims during a 9 p.m. panel discussion at the WAG. The evening will wrap up with an interactive after-party hosted by DJ King Cabernet, including an opportunity to have your photo taken with Dawson’s visual projections.

“The music is already fantastic and individual in so many ways. There is not another work I know that is in the same scope, and the collaboration with Deco has yielded a stunning result,” Wiens says. “This is a real feast for the senses.”

Two performances will be held Saturday, March 24, at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. For tickets or further information, see polycoro.ca.

— Holly Harris

 

John Cleese: Why There Is No Hope

Legendary British comedian John Cleese is best known for his years with English sketch troupe Monty Python’s Flying Circus; playing Basil Fawlty, the irascible hotelier in the 12-episode British series Fawlty Towers; and his comedic turns in films such as A Fish Called Wanda and Shrek.

None of these roles were particularly political, but Cleese has long been involved in political causes. In 2014, he told The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart: “I’m thinking of writing a show called Why There Is No Hope, because there is no hope. Democracy has failed, so what’s next? But the nice thing is… I think that’s very funny.”

Perhaps the events of the 2016 U.S. election kick-started the concept, as Cleese has long been a vocal opponent of the Republican party (he offered his services as a speech writer to Barack Obama). As the title of a comedy tour, it doesn’t sound like a barrel of laughs, but Cleese’s dry wit will no doubt wring the humour out of the grimness of our current political climate. Plus, he promises lots of anecdotes from his years in the comedy business.

Cleese will do two shows at the Centennial Concert Hall — Saturday, March 24, and Sunday, March 25. The Sunday show is sold out, but second-balcony tickets remain for Saturday at 8 p.m., $79 at centennialconcerthall.com.

— Jill Wilson