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Education(al) matters

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As a teacher-candidate who is seven months from graduating and entering what is currently a crowded profession, I spend much of my time resume-building, taking on projects and jobs which will hopefully set me apart from my peers as we enter a world that judges us on portfolios, resumes and interviews. To this end, I quit my steady, high-paying factory job that used to occupy my summers for a low-paying, though highly rewarding, job working with inner-city children.

One of my co-workers this past summer was a woman from India who, despite 10 years of teaching experience, was forced to upgrade her credentials at the U of M while trying to support her family on the occasional substitute teaching position. Although her experience was extensive, this woman was consistently perplexed at what she perceived as a lack of discipline in Manitoban schools. She lamented both her students’ inattentiveness and a lack of firm-handedness by both teachers and administrators alike. “In India,” she would tell me, “students would never talk back to teachers, would never move or speak without asking permission, and would never place trivial matters ahead of their studies.”

Hearing this, I would drool ever so slightly out of the corner of my mouth over the prospect of so disciplined a classroom. However, it also led me to question the apparently huge discrepancy between our two cultures. Why are schools in India so much more disciplined than here in Canada and the United States? Are our parents and teachers really less authoritative? Is our educational system really so lax? Or are our children simply inherently different than in other parts of the world? As I considered these questions, trying to give my co-worker a viable reason for her struggles in Manitoban classrooms, I began to contemplate the differences between our two cultures beyond those of classroom discipline.

My co-worker was accustomed to a system of education in which she lectured, students took notes, studied, were tested and either passed or failed. This system of evaluation grading is no longer as prevalent in Manitoba schools. Our teachers are growing to speak of assessment, rather than evaluation, which is the process of determining what level your students are functioning at in an attempt to adjust your teaching strategies appropriately. We no longer evaluate to mark, but rather assess to teach more effectively. It is becoming increasingly less important where a student finishes in a class, with much more focus on how much progress that student has made over the duration of a term.

As a result, the old system of memorizing facts, dates and equations, and reading and regurgitating notes during tests and exams has given way to a new system more concerned with a student’s thought process than with any particular knowledge set. Remembering the important dates of WWI is no longer as important as a student asking “why?” With the continuing spread of technology giving every phone the ability to perform a Google search, these facts are no longer as relevant as persuading a student to ask why these particular events occurred and giving them the tools to shift through varying perspectives and form educated opinions.

While my co-worker’s native country continues to place importance on facts and dates, Canadian schools are moving increasingly towards the idea of the complete school experience. Teachers and parents are understanding of the importance of all aspects to a student’s life: friends, family, work, sports, hobbies and all other extra-curricular activities. Grades are no longer as relevant to success as a diverse array of experiences. We raise our children to question, to believe in diversity, to accumulate a variety of experiences and to stand up for their beliefs. However, the ironic fact of our cultural differences is, it is not merely educators from other cultures who are having difficulty with our classrooms as a result of this; educators everywhere are having discipline issues and are becoming increasingly hypocritical as a result.

We ask our students to question while we demand that they only speak in turn. We advise them to lead full, rich and diverse lives while we pile hours of homework on them each night. We tell them to form their own opinions while we continue to fault their reasoning. Our culture supports and places critical importance on the propagation of individuals as opposed to drones, yet we continue to outcry against those individual characteristics making an appearance in classrooms. What is it about a silent classroom that is so valued? What is so disconcerting about a classroom that is filled with life?

What educators, both new and old alike, need to realize is, if we accept that individuals are what we are attempting to develop, if it is a society of free thinking, active citizens that we are trying to sustain, then we cannot stomp on that individuality within the classroom for 12 years and expect it to make a resurrection in adulthood. We need to truly value and nurture that individualism throughout the educational process instead of voicing meaningless platitudes while demanding silent, mindless classes.

Jesse Beach remains hypocritical on occasion.

Manitoba and Saskatchewan look to ban texting while driving

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Increasing evidence regarding the dangers of distracted driving has a number of provinces considering legislation to ban texting and talking on held-held devices while driving.

Manitoba passed legislation this summer and Saskatchewan recently announced it is looking to pass similar legislation this fall.

Other provinces, including Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland have already passed legislation prohibiting the use of hand-helds while driving. British Columbia has recently announced that it too is looking to ban the use of hand-helds while driving.

Premier Brad Wall announced on Sept. 1 that the Saskatchewan government is interested in legislation that will ban texting and talking on a hand-held device while driving.

“There are compelling, true-life tragedies of, especially, young people, who weren’t drinking and driving, but whose lives were lost because of texting and driving,” Wall told the Saskatoon StarPhoenix earlier this month.

“We would be looking at a ban on texting and cell use, but not on hands-free (phones). We’re not going to ban cell use completely but, certainly we want to encourage hands-free, which most people so know, I think, as a matter of course when they’re driving.”

Tony Playter, Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) media relations manager, said that SGI looks to educate drivers on the dangers of driving while distracted.

“The use of cell phones and texting is rapidly increasing [and] cause driver distraction but there are other distractions. We find people reading, applying make-up, eating or drinking, looking at external objects. Those all pose collision risks,” said Playter.

Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Ron Lemieux announced on Sept. 21 the beginning of a public awareness campaign, called “See the Signs.”

“We can’t say enough how important it is to pay full attention while driving a vehicle, and bringing in the new law will address the issue of a major distraction, so motorists can focus on what matters most — the road,” said Lemieux in a provincial news release today.

The amendments to the Highway Traffic Act, which will be proclaimed into law within the first half of 2010, would ban handheld cell phone use and texting while driving. It would also prohibit smoking in a vehicle when child under the age of 16 is present.

Statistics provided by Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation show that drivers who text while driving are 23 per cent more likely to be involved in a motor vehicle collision. The statistics also show that drivers who use a cell phone are four times more likely to be a car accident serious enough to injure themselves.

When legislation in Manitoba is enforced, a fine of $190.80 would be issued for talking or texting with a handheld device.

Samantha Charran, public relations coordinator Canadian Automobile Association said that CAA is pleased Manitoba has moved forward with legislation concerning distracted driving.

“For a long, long time, CAA has called for legislation that asks people not to be distracted drivers. Cell phones and texting, that’s just part of distracted driving,” said Charran.

“We’re happy that Manitoba is moving forward with banning talking on cell phones in cars and banning texting but we still believe that distracted driving on a whole still needs to be looked at.”

A new noise

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Crowds. Lights. A new noise.

I stumble into the Toad on Osborne. The vast hum of the outside world recedes behind me, overcome by the sharp stabs of conversation all around. I exhale. I’m running late. I’m supposed to meet someone here for an interview. My feet take a couple of precipitous steps before my lagging mind halts them.

I have absolutely no idea who I’m looking for.

He’s known as “High Watt Electrocutions,” but his identity is veiled in secrecy. There are whispers and rumors, of course. But the elusive architect of the local music project never reveals his face in any material. I have only one clue — his Myspace.com page claims a Hawkwind influence. Indeed, it takes a particular brand of person to be un-ironically into the high-fantasy space-rock of Hawkwind. I scan the crowd for long hair, Rush t-shirts, dudes air drumming, or any hint of leather. One by one, I approach anyone possessing any of these traits with the same vague journalistic pick-up line.

“Are you influenced by Hawkwind?”

At best, I get an empty stare and uncomfortable silence. At worst, it’s a low-IQ banger who thinks I’m hitting on him with some obscure euphemism. And so it goes. I’m about to give up when I notice a rather unassuming guy at the bar. He’s got vinyl tucked under his arm, and there’s something about him. I feel like Indiana Jones laying eyes on that forlorn clay grail, and half-wait for some bearded medieval dude to tell me that I have “chosen wisely.” Oh, what the hell. I go for it.

“Are you influenced by Hawkwind?”

A faint grin cracks his lips. They part. A new noise.

“The Ryan Settee band? That would sound dumb.” the man behind High Watt Electrocutions tells me a half an hour later over scotch, “Everything is more powerful when you add an element of mystery to it.”

To prove it, Settee pulls out a copy of his latest votive offering to volume, Desert Opuses, released earlier this summer. Somewhere deep within the album jacket rests a nine-song slab of immense soundscapes pressed into translucent gold vinyl. Settee, however, only calls attention to the imposing cover image of voluminous amps awash with flames.

“You know, a lot of people wonder why I don’t put my picture on albums. Well, this . . . ” he rests his finger directly on the amps, “This is my face.”

Indeed, whatever you love, you are. And Ryan Settee is nothing less than a living, breathing, storehouse of sound, steeped in all manner of associated lore. For example, inquire about those amps and he’ll conjure, with palpable admiration, the legend of seminal doom outfit Sleep and the time “their label gave them 100 grand to make an album (Dopesmoker), and they went off and spent 75 grand of it just on amps.”

Settee’s own musical enterprise might not be quite that insanely universe-cracking, but High Watt Electrocutions is still a total triumph of “loud.” Perhaps some of the overall effect is due to the artist’s astute realization that powerful sounds are best tag-teamed with powerful thematic tropes. Indeed, rather than artistically represent his own life, something Settee says would amount to “a concept album about cooking up steak,” Desert Opuses ventures off into more obscure territory — ancient Egypt. And, where The Bangles only dredged up legacies of exoticism when they urged Western white people to “Walk Like an Egyptian” (whatever that means), High Watt Electrocutions actually engages real, relevant topics.

“There’s so many relevant parallels with modern society [in ancient Egypt]. You know, there’s political corruption, hierarchy, oppression. Those things are still around,” Settee says. “Some people might think that’s kind of ‘out there,’ but it’s not like I’m singing about unicorns, trolls or Tolkien. For me to do that would be pretty phony.”

Actually, Settee’s vocals are so buried in the mix on Desert Opuses that he could be singing about unicorns, or cooking steak, for that matter. Voice simply adds texture to the huge sonic palate, a cacophonous drone probably most lucidly described as sounding like a dishwasher on drugs. Indeed, High Watt Electrocutions is truly a new noise, one without any obvious touchstone in Winnipeg.

“I want to do something that no one’s doing here,” Settee says. “There’s some post-rock here, a bit of shoe-gaze, but really nothing like what I’m trying to do. For whatever reason, for off-the-beaten path stuff, it’s not really the most nurturing environment.”

The artist is quick to stress the underlying accessibility of his work, however.

“It’s kind of like stepping into water,” he says. “Sure, it’s cold at first, maybe a little uninviting. But once you get into it, explore a little, it definitely starts to get warmer and more comfortable.”

Settee sometimes performs live with “improvised free-jazz art project” the Broken Orchestra of Winnipeg, wielding the mighty microKORG synthesizer. However, High Watt Electrocutions is strictly studio-bound, a consideration which affords the project it’s considerable aura of mystery. Crafted within the confines of a small one bedroom apartment-cum-recording altar, it is a true home-grown effort, enabled by the digital revolution.

“Digital technology has gotten so cheap that the power has been opened up to the people if they want to use it.” Settee says, “The great thing about your home being a studio is that you can take your time. No having to crank out 12 songs in two hours. Some people like deadlines, not me.”

Oops. Nothing snaps a writer into self-awareness quicker than the word “deadline.” I glance outside — it’s getting late. Yet, as darkness falls, the once-obscure figure in front of me is becoming ever-more illuminated. Less an enigma and more a real person, I can’t help but wonder about the practical considerations of being High Watt Electrocutions. Like, just how shitty is it to live in the apartment next to this guy anyway?

“[Recording] is actually quieter than most people might think,” Settee assures. “I do record guitars in my apartment, but it’s not like they’re completely maxed out like Marty McFly in Back to the Future, where the amp just blows him away and he’s flying across the room.”

Settee pauses for a moment, as if absorbing the image. For the first time, he lets an unabashed smile crease his face.

“Although that would be pretty awesome.”

A few minutes later and I’m out into the evening drone again, a copy of Desert Opuses in hand. The sun has slipped behind the modest cityscape, and I can almost hear the sidewalks yawn as they cool beneath my feet. Somewhere in the distance, tired buses lurch. Occasionally, there’s a sharp laugh or crash as the night settles in. I hear it, and I’m almost half-ready to go check out what’s going on . . .

I think it was Rimbaud who said that his deepest unrest — his insatiable drive to move forward — was compelled by the pursuit of “a new noise.” Whatever, it’s getting late. I’ve got to get home and listen to this record.

A rainbow of chaos

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Amongst the clutter of the forty paintings that compromise Milos Milidrag’s A Global Inuit (Sex, Jokes and Polar Bears), I was immediately drawn to a piece entitled “Live to Skate, Skate to Learn, Learn to Fall.” It is a light-hearted painting dominated by a phallic-shaped polar bear standing on its hind legs, swooping towards a small cartoonish man welding a sword. To add to the playfulness of the painting, the bear is wearing crimson nail polish on his human-like feet. It is this particular piece that embodies all of the quirkiness promised in the title of the exhibit, currently showing at the Ken Segal Gallery.

Milidrag draws heavily on the cultural, religious and spiritual practices of the Inuit people in A Global Inuit (Sex, Jokes and Polar Bears). His images depict shamans, as well the glowing skies which might be interpreted as the northern lights, and, according to some Inuit spiritual beliefs, are associated with the afterlife. Interestingly, the Winnipeg-based artist is not Inuit. Indeed, Milidrag refers to himself as a “Global Inuit,” which he cryptically comments on in his artist statement — “How many similarities between them and us, how many same fears, how much of the same lust for life, how much love, humour, sorrow and pain. One sun but it bathes us differently. If the word “Inuit” means people, then we are all Inuit. [ . . . ] Am I an Inuit or a Serbian? Is the answer hidden in this exhibition? Does it matter at all?”

Milidrag’s range of colour is perhaps his most impressive trait. Indeed, while some canvases are brought to life with energetic fields of color — bright oranges, royal blues and vivid greens — others are composed of a cool pallet, using muted yellows, crisp whites and ivories and soft blues. Amongst these sunset-like backdrops, grotesque yet charming creatures appear. Some look to the sky with malformed eyes sunk in hairless heads resting upon misshapen bodies. Others, dancing wolves and polar bears, are positioned within the vast fields of colour. These loosely defined fields seemingly disregard the formal technicalities of painting and draw heavy inspiration from Henri Matisse and others associated with the artistic movement Fauvism. Indeed, Matisse and his contemporaries, Les Fauves or “the wild beasts,” were defined by their use of harsh colours and simplification of technical skill.

The opening reception of A Global Inuit (Sex, Jokes and Polar Bears) was held on Sept. 10. That evening, the small space housed a moderate crowd and was filled with chatter as people cut slices of exotic cheeses and drank wine from pixie-sized plastic cups. The majority of observers remarked on the mesmerizing swirls of rich colours, but it seemed that the conceptual meaning, that critical question of identity articulated by Milidrag in his artist statement, was lost on the crowd. While I waited to ask the artist a question, a petite woman commented that, while she didn’t quite understand the content, she loved the colours. It’s a sentiment I am sure was on the minds of many others in the gallery.

I asked Milidrag what the curious paper airplanes featured in several of the canvases represented. These paper airplanes are depicted in different stages of creation, some still a half folded piece of paper, while others soar past the sun or glide down from the orange-red skies. Milidrag pointed to one work, titled In the Night of the Full Moon (White Night), explaining that the paper plane gliding through the sky has four folds in its tail, perhaps mirroring the four ghoulish and menacing figures that fill the canvas. Clearly fascinated by these paper planes, in his studio he finds that they take on different forms and fall different ways. He told me that they could mean whatever I wanted them to mean. Gallery owner Ken Segal echoed this sentiment, saying of the entire exhibition, “Whether it is the image of a shaman, dancing polar bear, migrating geese or the arrival of the sun, they all have different meanings to the observer.”

A Global Inuit (Sex, Jokes and Polar Bears) runs until Oct. 3 at the Ken Segal Gallery, 531 Osborne.

TV in the cinema

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TV is often hailed as the greatest mass communications advance of the 20th-century, but viewers worldwide are being challenged to do away with it this week. To tie in with “TV Turn Off Week,” the Winnipeg Cinematheque is presenting a program of short films which critique our growing dependence on the “boob tube.” The program, How to Talk Back to Your Television Set, was curated by local filmmaker and TV non-owner Jenny Bisch after she came to realize the insidious effect television has on our lives.

“Television is so appealing because it strikes people as a good thing to do when you have no ideas,” she says. “My goal with [How to Talk Back to Your Television Set] is twofold. First, to showcase films that grapple with the pervasive topic of television, and also to give TV Turn Off Week participants something to do!”

It’s a statement that begs the obvious question — why is going to a movie theatre a preferable alternative to watching TV? Birsch believes that even “the simple act of just buying popcorn” offers a genuine human interaction that sitting down on the couch and watching The Hills could never hope to achieve. Moreover, Birsch believes that there are fundamental differences between the ways short films and television shows engage people.

“Short films are more intimate, challenging and engage the viewer on a higher level,” she says; “Televisions shows tend to appeal to the lowest common denominator and want us to get off on seeing people fall down.”

That said, How to Talk Back to Your Television Set shouldn’t be a dour sermon on the evils of television. Birsch is a fan of some programming, like Arrested Development and irresistibly trashy offerings like Paradise Hotel. She believes that the medium “lends itself to humor because it’s so easy to mock”, and, accordingly, many of the shorts programmed have a distinctly comedic, universal appeal. One prominent theme explored in the program, which includes local fare such as David Zellis’ Demons of Bars and Tone and Curtis Wiebe’s Tale of a Televisionary, is how transparent the television medium is in its desire to sell the viewer products, and how willing it is to talk down to us in that pursuit.

Another modern technology that Birsch believes people should try to do without for a week is their internet connections — another thing touched on by the program. Indeed, consider that the average World of Warcraft player spends 892 hours staring at their computer screen every week. Bisch believes that the greatest harm of these modern technologies is that they ultimately hurt institutions like the Cinematheque and other arts and culture venues around the city. In the end, she says, they rob everyone of alternatives to the “fast food entertainment” offered by television and video games.

The bi-annual “TV Turn Off Week” challenge runs from Sept. 20-26. How to Talk Back to your Television Set: Films That Challenge the “Boob” Tube runs on Sept. 23 and 24 with a post-screening panel discussion featuring U of M Film Studies professor Gene Walz on opening night.

UMFM Show Spotlight : The Scene

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The UMFM Show Spotlight is monthly column showcasing various programming on the University of Manitoba’s campus and community radio station. To recommend a show for spotlight, contact [email protected]

Looking for a local music fix? UMFM’s The Scene is sure to hit the spot every Friday afternoon, when hosts Jeff and Dave serve up a healthy dose of musical styles that are all-Winnipeg all the time.

About five years ago, the high school friends decided they wanted to start a radio show. Dave, a U of M Law School graduate and Jeff, a graduate of Assiniboine Community College’s Media Production Program in Brandon, thought there wasn’t enough local content on the radio and proposed the idea to the station. “We figured it was a shoo-in to get a show.” says Jeff. “I mean, who’s going to say ‘no’ to Canadian content?”

Approximately 550 artists make up the local music catalogue at UMFM, and the number is constantly growing. Each week, Dave and Jeff make sure to check out what new, local music has been dropped off at the station and take a listen. If it plays well on-air, they’ll include it in the show. Another way they come across music is simply by going to local shows or Festivals, approaching the bands they like and asking them to send in their music.

The Scene will let local musicians send tracks through email, however most artists drop off their music in the station mailbox. “We encourage people to send us information on their band, but we also visit the Manitoba Music website for show listings and artist backgrounds,” Jeff explains.

Both hosts try to cover all genres of music: country, rock, pop, hip hop — but they each have personal favourites when it comes to local musicians. Jeff enjoys Oldfolks Home, Boats and The Waking Eyes while Dave, a musician himself, is a big fan of Dr. Rage and the Uppercuts, Men in Kilts and The Dust Rhinos. “There’s a lot of really good music out there, sometimes you just have to hunt for it,” says Jeff.

The Scene tries to give local bands the chance to have their music heard in an otherwise overly populated radio community. When compared to commercial radio, perhaps the biggest difference of this show is that these guys don’t only play radio “singles.” “Whatever we like, we play; we actually make a point of playing a lot of songs from the same album,” Jeff says. “With commercial radio, you hear the same songs all the time, and when you hear the same song continuously, you tend to gloss over it.”

That’s not the case on this show. Where else can you hear songs from Ultra Mega’s album “Black Wu Jackets” — a handful of folk covers of Wu Tang Clan songs? These local musicians do “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” like you’ve never heard before.

More than just music, however, The Scene also conducts live interviews and performances. “If we’re featuring a local band in an interview, we’ll try and dedicate at least half of our hour-long show to them and their music,” Jeff explains. Manitoba band Tonitis recently drove in from outside the city to be interviewed live, and Steinbach’s Katelyn Dawn, who made it to the Top 16 on the sixth season of Canadian Idol, has been interviewed recently on the show as well.

As far as advice for someone who wants to start a show on UMFM, Jeff just recommends thinking of an interesting show concept and pitching it to the station. You really have nothing to lose. “As long as you’re prepared and find a time slot that works with your schedule, hosting a show is really fun and you constantly get to hear new music.”

Catch The Scene weekly Fridays at 1 p.m. on 101.5 UMFM.

CD Review – The Dead Letters “The Dead Letters” EP

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There’s something quiet about spaghetti westerns. The storylines are basic enough: enigmatic cowboy hero draws-and-fires his way to the bottom of the human condition. But even during the most raucous of gun battles, that certain calmness, illustrated in the landscape, is always maintained.

As these films propel their stories onward, they differentiate themselves from Hollywood’s old West. Not content to pit cowboys against Indians and let the guns blast, in these films the west becomes a dusty fairytale of heroes and villains. Much of the mystique is thanks to the creative scoring that accompanies the roaming bandits throughout the films.

The Dead Letters’ primary influence is Ennio Morricone, composer of countless spaghetti western film scores. He was responsible for such iconic scores as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Fistful of Dollars and Once Upon a Time in the West. Not surprising, then, that guitarists Jim Demos and Alex Janusz, the group’s primary songwriters and some fashion of roaming bandits themselves, conjure a mood reminiscent of those old westerns.

Demos — a direct descendent of Demosthenes, acclaimed orator and “overflowing fountain of genius” — formed the band with his long-time compadre from the now-defunct National Monument, Janusz, the son of a Polish prospector. According to the band’s website, “As a young child [Demos] was indoctrinated with Demotika and Rebetika music.” While not evident lickety-split, these influences, along with Morricone, become apparent as the short E.P. gallops onward. More evident — particularly as the first track, “Ghost of A Thousand Battles,” jumps to life — is the western orientation of Janusz’ personal influences.

The E.P. rolls on and, like the score of a Sergio Leonne flick, peters in and out of catchy gallops, slow builds and dramatic surges. A viola and guitarrone, played by Jill Winzoski and Alex Janusz respectively, lend the songs an air of authenticity.

But the comparison reveals one shortfall of the album, however. Leonne’s films show a great propensity for patience. Certain scenes expend themselves at their own pace as though waiting for the next movement of the score to draw them onward. The Dead Letters attempts this in its closing track, “Wars,” but, at a lean 20 total minutes, just doesn’t have time to execute properly.
It’s a fantastic album, particularly for those fans of Joanna Newsom or Black Mountain, but I’ll wait for a full length before joining the posse.

* out of **

CD Review – Keith Price “Breakfast of Champions”

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On Dec. 19, 2008, a group of musicians under the leadership of Keith Price assembled at Epiphany Lutheran Church in Winnipeg to record an album. This is the result: straight-ahead neo-bop jazz reminiscent of that great collaboration of Miles Davis and John Coltrane but pre-Kind of Blue. Price has his Lenny Breau guitar licks down in this session. He is joined by Neil Watson on alto sax, reminding one of the Coltrane’s Prestige recordings of the mid-fifties, William Bonness on piano and keyboards, Julian Bradford bass, Curtis Nowosad drums and, on one track, the immaculate songstress Amber Epp.

Each contributor here is alone a fixture on the Winnipeg music scene. It’s fabulous to hear Julian Bradford play arco applying the bow to the strings of the bass, something which he does far too infrequently. This group moves tautly through a range of moods from the passionate to the sublime, reminding the listener, in the more romantic moments, of Errol Garner. Particularly note-worthy is the sensual tone of Epp’s voice on “Warmth,” a tune whose lyrics she wrote to Price’s melody, accompanied by Bonness’s Garneresque piano in the background.

The only thing diminishing the excellence of this CD is that Price’s “Zoom Zoom” has been split into three parts with one beginning the CD, one in the middle and one at the end together with fade-ins and fade-outs, a gimmick which should have been discarded ages ago when the rock groups of the ‘60s began to use it. Other than that minor annoyance, this is an inspired album that belongs in every jazz lover’s collection.

*.5 out of **

Amber Alert

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In the past few years, a coterie of musicians, many, if not all, graduates of the University of Manitoba’s School of Music’s Jazz Studies program, have been transforming the music scene in Winnipeg.

Amber Epp, the talented singer from Steinbach via Rio de Janeiro, Havana and Lima (at least in attitude), is the only female in that coterie but is rapidly becoming one of the major forces for change — something she amply demonstrated at the Park Theatre on Sept. 10, 2009.

Having woodshed-ed for four or five years beginning at Steve Kirby’s Monday Night Hang, then performing at the Academy on Stradbrook with Marco Costillo and serving as either backup or featured singer in a number of groups, she has finally emerged as leader of her own — Amber Epp In Rhythm.
Not to say she hasn’t brought this coterie along with her. She has. The group Thursday evening consisted of her on keyboards and vocals, Keith Price guitar, Julian Bradford bass, Scott Senior percussion and Curtis Nowosad drums.

This is a powerhouse combo with each the best at what they do. To have Nowosad and Senior as your percussion section is any musician’s dream; having Bradford add the bottom and Price the top is just an added bonus. That’s what musicians’ wet dreams consist of.

The evening opened with the jazz standard “My Foolish Heart.” Epp began the piece in the manner associated with sultry nightclub singers — something she is well-suited for. But then the band kicked it up-tempo, announcing to the appreciative audience what would be in store for the rest of the evening.

Songs were drawn from a wide variety of sources. The second, “All I Want,” was part of the Joni Mitchell songbook. Mitchell would have been proud of this rendition.

Epp added lyrics to well-known composers works — Hank Mobley’s “Dig Dis” and Stanley Cowell’s “Equipoise.” In the latter, the band was allowed to stretch out, demonstrating just how talented these musicians are.

Several samba tunes were heard that evening — Gilberto Gil’s “Ladiera de Preguica,” Violeta Parra’s “Gracias a la vida” and Djavan’s “Flor de Lis.” It certainly didn’t hurt to have Scott Senior, who is intending to start his own samba school in Winnipeg, as percussionist on these numbers. Surrounded by an amazing array of instruments including conga and bongos, he selected to perform on the pandeira, the Brazilian national instrument, for these pieces. Essentially a tambourine, in the hands of Senior it becomes an instrument capable of playing the most complex and subtle of rhythms.

Rounding out this performance were two pieces written by Winnipeg guitarists — “Warmth” by Keith Price and “Three Trees” by Aaron Shorr — and several by Epp herself. Not only is Epp one of the best singers Winnipeg has seen in a long time, ranking up there with the New York transplant, Anna-Lisa Kirby, she is also a fine lyricist.

With this much talent on display, the crowd could not help but give them a standing ovation. Normally, following such an ovation, the band would return to the stage to perform one more piece. This didn’t happen.

Instead, only Epp and Senior returned, the rest of the band standing off to the wing to watch what was about to take place. Epp began a cappella to sing Paul Simon’s “Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover.” Only after the song was established did Senior enter with his pandeira. The crowd watched while Senior gyrated and played to Epp’s voice. Judging by the grin on his face, Senior had as much fun with this unexpected performance as did the crowd.

What a fitting way to end a five-star performance.

Booze cruisin’ to the bottom

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Dan Fante’s new novel, 86’d, is a rip-roaring novel about a forty-two year old alcoholic, pill-popping loser at life on his last legs. The story is humourous, if you like laughing at people who fall down and hurt themselves, the language profane but real, and the characters flawed but human. Fante, son of the late John Fante (author of Ask The Dust), writes in the easy to read “hyper-realist” style that Charles Bukowski, Hubert Selby Jr, and Fante Sr. had a hand in pioneering.

Indeed, Fante wears his influences on his sleeve, making reference to the writing of each at least once over the course of the novel. Much like Fante Sr. used Arturo Bandini and Bukowski used Hank Chinaski, Fante Jr. puts himself into the narrator’s role as Bruno Dante. This tale of anti-hero Bruno Dante, the fourth in a series that includes Chump Change and Mooch, takes place in Los Angeles, where Bruno has recently been 86’d from his shitty call-centre job, almost immediately lucking into a managerial position with Dav-Ko, a chauffeur service, thanks to a fake resume and an ex-boss willing to give the down and outer a second chance. From there, Bruno makes the worst of nearly every situation, fucking up time after time until he hits the end of the line and is forced (partly by court order) to face his demons, or end it, successfully, once and for all.

But inside Bruno’s narrative of alcoholism and depression we find an almost parallel portrait of Hollywood as it stands in the 21st century: hollow, self-indulgent, and shamelessly self-destructive. Many of Dav-Ko’s clients are thinly disguised celebrities – Jennifer Lopiss, for example – whose infantile behaviour provides for some comic relief. However, these comic interludes are short lived, and most often the clients are little more than coke snorting assholes that drive Bruno to popping Xanax and chugging Jim Beam. When one of Dav-Ko’s biggest clients, a tantrum throwing producer, tries to con Bruno out of the rights to one of his short stories using a “legendary Hollywood scam” that was old in Fante Senior’s day, Bruno snaps. There’s only so much shit a man can swallow.

In the end, 86’d is a good, fast read. Much funnier and far less plaintively obnoxious than other “addiction/recovery” books that blur the line between fact and fiction – Augusten Burrough’s Dry and the barely readable Million Little Pieces come immediately to mind – 86’d will likely strike a chord with anyone who’s tangled with addiction themselves. For those readers who have no such experience of their own, the book offers insight into how negative work situations often act as catalysts to substance abuse. Above and beyond that, though, 86’d is an enjoyable read and a welcome break from the mundanities of day-to-day grind best enjoyed with a cold beer, or a bourbon on the rocks.

Dan Fante’s 86’d is available now from Harper Perennial books.

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