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This article was published 27/10/2016 (3298 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Halloween events

Halloween isn’t until Monday, but this weekend, venues all over the city will get an early start on celebrating — from music to movies, comedy to ballet, all your bases are covered. So grab your costumes, fill your belly with candy and blood-themed beverages and head out on the town to check out some of these All Hallow’s Eve-themed events — and no, none of them are socials.

Windsor Hotel

To celebrate Halloween, the Windsor is presenting a lineup of three tribute bands Saturday, Oct. 29: Leather Rebel will be tackling the tunes of Judas Priest, Manzig will be performing Danzig tracks and Overkill will pay tribute to Motörhead.

Each of the tribute bands is made up of members from other local bands, such as Flash Out, Satanic Rites, Skunk and Electro Quarterstaff.

“We thought it would be great to do this show, since these bands will never play here again, as Lemmy from Motörhead just passed and Danzig won’t tour anymore. And Judas Priest say they won’t be doing any more world tours. So this is Winnipeg’s only chance to hear this music in a live setting,” says Cory Thomas of Ninjacat Productions, the company putting on the event.

“And it’s fun as hell!”

Cover is just $10 and costumes are encouraged. Music starts at 10 p.m.

Handsome Daughter

This Sherbrook Street bar has Halloween events on both Saturday and Sunday night. On Oct. 29, Pity Party 6 will be in full swing with DJs Adam Dyson, Jessee Kowalski and Steve Dee spinning new wave, pop, post-punk, synth and goth tracks that you can dance (or sulk) to. Cover is $10 with a costume, $15 without. The start time is slated for 10 p.m., but organizers warn it’s better to come early to ensure you’re able to get in.

On Oct. 30, the bar is hosting its first annual Halloween Double-Feature Spooktacular, starting at 7 p.m. with 1987’s Hellraiser and followed by 1984’s Nightmare on Elm Street. The free event will have costume contest (winner recieves a $25 bar tab) and horror movie trivia (winner also recieves a $25 tab). The Facebook page for the event says there will also be bobbing for apples, with the winner recieving “a lifetime supply of apples.” Trick or treat?

Garrick Hotel

The downtown beverage room has a pair of events this weekend that will tickle your Halloween fancy. On both Thursday and Friday night (Oct. 27 and 28), they will be screening cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Though the venue is not a movie theatre, the organizers have “taken all necessary measures to provide you with ‘as close as possible’ experience — big screen, HD picture and even throughout-the-room sound.”

The drinks will be cheap and you can even order discounted Domino’s pizza at the bar (they know all the right people).

Thursday night is already sold out, and there are only a few tickets left for Friday, which will run you $7, plus a small service fee. Free popcorn will be served at sold-out events.

The movie will start at 9 p.m. sharp on Thursday, 10 p.m. on Friday, and one hour prior to the film on both nights, there will also be a screening of a film of famous burlesque performer Dita Von Teese doing her thing at a Parisian cabaret.

And of course, breaking out your best Dr. Frank N. Furter outfit is pretty much a necessity.

On Saturday night, the heavy metal Halloween Zombie Bash will take over the bar, featuring bands Trouser Mouth, Last Horizon, Inhumed and Speed Demon Thrash.

Tickets are $10 (and can only be purchased online), music will run from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., costumes are encouraged and there is a promise of “prizes.” Who doesn’t like prizes?

King’s Head Pub

Over at the Exchange District watering hole, ‘80s cover band the Steamers will be taking the stage for their annual Halloween show Saturday night. As the event page on Facebook says: “‘80s songs are so scary!”

The band plays three sets throughout the night, starting at 10 p.m. Get there early, though; there’s almost always a line. Cover is $5, and all the money will be donated to the Breast Cancer Society of Canada in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Centennial Concert Hall

If you’re looking for something a little more family-friendly and a smidge more highbrow this Halloween season, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet is performing Dracula as its 77th season opener at the Centennial Concert Hall to Oct. 30.

The classic novel, written by Bram Stoker in 1897, is a gothic horror story that centres around Count Dracula’s desire to move from Transylvania to England so that he may find new blood to satiate his thirst and turn more humans into vampires like himself.

While Stoker wasn’t the originator of vampiric characters, his Count Dracula has been credited with defining the modern idea of what a vampire is. Dracula inspired numerous film, television and theatrical interpretations, including the ballet the RWB is set to perform.

“Set to a glorious score by Gustav Mahler, with opulent sets and costumes, this dark fantasy is faithful to Bram Stoker’s gothic novel, brimming with passion and fearful suspense,” says RWB’s website.

Tickets range in price from $38.95 to $129.25, and more information about availability and performance times can be found at rwb.org.

Park Theatre

Oct. 31 the Park Theatre is presenting Monday Night Mic: Halloween Edition, which promises “costumes, candy and more.”

Local comedian Jared (Horror) Story will host the night, putting a spooky spin on the open-mic standup event that runs monthly at the theatre. Performers get five minutes of stage time and admission is free. Sign-up for performers starts at 8 p.m., and the show kicks off at 8:30. There will also be a costume contest and drink specials.

— Erin Lebar

 

 

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Peter Katz

Montreal-born singer-songwriter Peter Katz is a big fan of giving people their due. In interviews and on his website, he consistently points readers to musicians he loves or artists he admires. He doles out compliments to bands and organizations who have inspired him, and credits Glen Hansard with “changing his life” after the Irish singer pulled Katz up onstage at a Toronto concert for an impromptu performance of one of his songs.

On his most recent album, 2015’s We Are the Reckoning, Katz took that admiration into the realm of collaboration. Though he’d always worked solo, he recruited fellow Toronto singer-songwriter Royal Wood and Bill Lefler (Ingrid Michaelson) to help him co-produce the album, and was joined in the studio by a host of guests, including Scottish folksinger Rachel Sermanni.

The audience for his upcoming West End Culture Centre concert, however, will see the Toronto-based performer in a more stripped-down format that hearkens back to his roots as a one-man show. Joined only by multi-instumentalist Benjamin Rollo, he’ll be playing old favourites and newer songs, during which his pure, delicate voice will be front and centre.

Katz plays the WECC on Friday, Oct. 28. Tickets are $15 at the WECC, Music Trader, Into the Music and Ticketfly.com.

— Jill Wilson

 

 

Central Canada Comic Con

William Shatner is 85 years old and he’s still doing comic conventions.

That’s especially good news for attendees at this weekend’s Central Canada Comic Con, at the RBC Convention Centre from Friday, Oct. 28 to Sunday, Oct. 30. Shatner, still best known as Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, is the main draw, signing autographs and doing photo ops the first two days of the con only (finishing at 3 p.m. on Saturday).

Two previously announced guests — John Rhys-Davies, (a.k.a. Gimli of the Lord of the Rings trilogy), and Julian Glover (of Star Wars), have cancelled their appearances due to conflicting schedules. But the con still has an abundance of guests, including:

● Former Winnipegger Aleks Paunovic, who attends C4 with a multitude of cult/sci-fi credits including Battlestar Galactica, Supernatural, Smallville and the upcoming War for the Planet of the Apes. He’s proof that, when it comes to making a career in movies and TV, local boys can make good.

● Mark Pellegrino, another actor with significant TV cult status (with credits on Lost, Supernatural and Dexter) who has worked on locally shot films that range from sublime (playing killer Dick Hickock in Capote opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman) to ridiculous (playing a tyrannical youth-camp commandant in the abortive horror film Bad Meat). He also features prominently in not one but two cult movie classics: The Big Lebowski and Mulholland Drive.

● Tia Carrere, the Honolulu-born actress fondly remembered as the out-of-his-league girlfriend of Wayne Campbell in Wayne’s World and the fiendish terrorist enabler who gets down and dirty in a limo fight with Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies.

● Demolition, WWE superstar tag-team wrestlers from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Destructive duo Ax and Smash did their grappling in Kiss makeup and studded leather gear.

Ticket prices range from $16.50 to $20.50 for adults at Ticketmaster.

— Randall King

 

 

Crafted Show + Sale

An event that has quickly shot up near the top of Winnipeg’s crowded arts-and-crafts calendar takes over the Winnipeg Art Gallery for two days starting Friday, Oct. 28.

The second annual Crafted Show + Sale, a partnership between the WAG, the Manitoba Crafts Council and the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association, brings some of the top artists and craftspeople from Manitoba and Nunavut to the Memorial Boulevard gallery.

There will be a variety of pieces on display and for sale at the juried show that takes over all four floors of the gallery and includes more than 50 artists. They include items from Winnipeg-based Etsy jeweler Aeliosdesign; Nunavut ceramic artist Pierre Aupilardjuk, who has pieces in the National Gallery’s permanent collection in Ottawa; Winnipeg feltmaker Helga Schulte-Schroeer and her company Fibreartistry; and Rankin Inlet parka designer Victoria Kakuktinniq.

Last year, more than 3,500 people dropped by the inaugural Crafted show, many of them first-time visitors to the gallery, says Hennie Corrin, who co-chairs the event with Joyce Berry.

“The added bonus to the event is that it brings in a new audience to the art gallery,” Corrin says.

While Crafted provides an opportunity to see and purchase jewelry, ceramics, knitting, textiles and handmade musical instruments, it also provides a chance to visit with the people behind the different pieces, says Tammy Sutherland, program co-ordinator of the Manitoba Craft Council.

Some artisans also do commission work and the show would be an ideal place to begin a conversation on larger-scale projects, such as custom-made furniture, Sutherland says.

Three-hour workshops will also be held on subjects such as paper-marbling, beadwork, calligraphy and fly-tying to give visitors a chance to learn more about different crafts, she says.

The event also has a charitable component. Last year, Crafted organizers asked folks to knit scarves that were put on display during the sale and afterwards were donated to the Chase the Chill campaign that provided the items to Winnipeg’s inner-city community. This time around, knitters have created more than 150 quilts and pillowcases that will be displayed at Crafted and will later be donated to CancerCare Manitoba, targeted specifically for teenage patients receiving cancer treatment.

“They create a beautiful esthetic at the WAG that people can see for themselves,” Corrin says.

Tickets are $5, which include admission to the WAG’s galleries to check out exhibitions such as Our Land: Contemporary Art From the Arctic, a sampling of the collection of works owned by the Nunavut government that are on long-term loan to the gallery.

— Alan Small