1197: The Bread Issue

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ISSUE: 1197 • OCT 4 – OCT 10, 2018

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COVER IMAGE The Bread Issue / Jennifer Linford CONTRIBUTORS Gwynne Dyer, Ricardo Acuña , Chris Krock, Fraser Hayes, Jake Pesaruk, Yang Lim, Alexander Sorochan, Ryan Hook, Rob Brezsny, Stephen Notley, Fish Griwkowsky, Curtis Hauser, Emilie Compion DISTRIBUTION Shane Bennett, Bev Bennett, Shane Bowers, Amy Garth, Aaron Getz, Clint Jollimore, Michelle Lenihan, Dona Olliffe, Beverley Phillips, Choi Chung Shui

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POLITICAL INTERFERENCE

ENVIRONMENTALISTS: PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE It’s Not Protesters Who Are Harming Canada’s Energy Security Efforts; It’s the Free Market

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Alberta oil rather than imported oil, which was much cheaper at the time. That policy, which remained in place until 1973, contributed tremendously to the development of Alberta’s oil industry at the expense of Eastern consumers, but ultimately did nothing to ensure a national energy infrastructure.

The NOP ultimately died as the price of oil began to increase in the early 1970s and the resulting inflation became untenable. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, at that time, tried to implement price controls and export tariffs on Alberta oil to ensure Canadians would have access to affordable energy from Alberta, but the province’s industry didn’t like that. The industry, and Alberta’s conservative government, felt that Trudeau’s efforts to supply Alberta oil to the rest of Canada was getting in the way of all the profits they could be generating through unfettered exports to the U.S. Those tensions peaked as international prices spiked and Eastern Canadians started to see oil shortages after 1979, which led Trudeau to cement his plans for national energy sovereignty in the National Energy Program (NEP) of 1980. One of the key planks of the NEP was prioritizing Alberta oil for Canadians. Once again, however, the Alberta government, the oil industry, and Albertans in general declared an all-out war against the NEP, which they felt was interventionist and in the way of the huge windfall profits on offer in the U.S. That’s why Alberta’s oil producers and the provincial government were such big boosters of the original Free Trade Agreement with the U.S., and later the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): they wanted the absolute and unfettered access to the U.S. market that free trade would provide. Never mind that it would lock us into exporting to the U.S. almost exclusively, they were more than happy at the prospect of being able to direct as much oil as possible South of the border.

That history, and the resulting North-South energy infrastructure, are the reason the Energy East Pipeline was financially unfeasible. The approval of the Keystone XL pipeline to the U.S. and renovations to Enbridge’s pipeline network, in particular, meant not

enough product left to fill Energy East. That, combined with the increased availability of cheap Alberta natural gas, completely eliminated any rationale for converting the pipe from gas to crude. The only ones currently interested in Energy

free market has clearly expressed its preference for seeing Alberta oil go to the U.S. rather than the rest of Canada. Alberta oil will never go to Central and Eastern Canada unless the government legislates that it should, and I can guarantee that Scheer, Kenney, and the industry would be the first ones in line to kill any such legislation.

Ricardo Acuña

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anada and Alberta’s political right has developed a convenient narrative in the last couple of years about pipelines, environmental activists, and the fact that Canada imports more than 600,000 barrels of crude oil per day to meet demand in Ontario and the East.

The narrative is that the biggest ongoing threat to Alberta’s economic recovery is the fact that radical environmentalists would far rather import oil from countries with questionable democratic and human rights records than use Alberta oil to meet Canadian demand.

That sentiment has been repeated over and over again in the last few years by the likes of Conservative Party of Canada leader Andrew Scheer, Alberta UCP leader Jason Kenney, Rebel mouthpiece Ezra Levant, and their many acolytes on both traditional and social media platforms. Their message is clear: If it wasn’t for environmentalists getting in the way of pipelines, we could be using Alberta oil to supply all of Canada’s oil consumption.

The problem with that particular piece of pro-oil anti-environmentalist rhetoric, like much of the rhetoric from the angry folks on the right, is that it’s just not true.

It conveniently ignores historical facts and current economic reality.

Historically, these same folks on the right who today clamour for Canadian energy sovereignty have fought tooth and nail for an Alberta energy industry that was unregulated and left to the whims of the free market, which always meant prioritizing exports to the United States over Canadian selfsufficiency.

As far back as 1949, when Louis St. Laurent approved Canada’s first major oil pipeline (Imperial’s Interprovincial Pipe Line), its original endpoint was the port of Superior in Wisconsin to facilitate exports to the U.S. The first pipeline going West to Vancouver from Edmonton in the 1950s was built with extensions going into Seattle, and designed to facilitate tanker exports to California.

When Conservative Prime Minister Diefenbaker instituted the National Oil Policy (NOP) in 1961 it was with Alberta’s strong support, but resulted in massive opposition in central Canada. That was because the NOP had the effect of forcing everyone West of the Ottawa Valley to purchase expensive

East are politicians, not the energy companies themselves.

The reality of why Canada imports as much oil as it does has nothing to do with environmentalists. It has everything to do with the fact that for 70 years Alberta governments, the industry, and Albertans themselves have pushed for an unregulated free market space for producing and selling our oil, and that

Learn more at: edmonton.ca/futureofwaste

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VUE

THE NEW DANK

So fancy! / Adobe Stock

BRIEF

The Scrambledome Is Law! City Starts ‘Barn Dance’ Intersection Pilot

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he city hopes that big deluges of omni-directional pedestrian traffic will increase road safety, and it began a pilot project last weekend to test its hypothesis.

On Jasper Avenue and 104th Street, and Whyte Avenue and 105th Street, the City of Edmonton set up test runs of pedestrian scrambles.

Scrambles, or the twee-ly named barn dances, allow pedestrians to cross from all directions (even diagonally) during a time frame dictated by traffic lights.

During this time, traffic is not allowed in the intersection at all (obviously), and cars are not allowed to turn right on red lights at these intersections (only marginally less obviously).

According to a City of Edmonton press release, pedestrian crossing will be prohibited at these intersections while the lights for cars going any direction are green.

“Safety for everyone is the priority for this pilot,” says Olga Messinis, director of network operations for the City of Edmonton, in the release. “The goal of the pilot project is to see if this intersection design decreases or eliminates collisions between pedestrians and vehicles, a major goal for the City’s Vision Zero strategy.”

In all, according to the release, the city expects that travel times for vehicles may be increased along these intersections (chosen for their high levels of pedestrian traffic and, also, collisions), but those travelling on foot may well have an easier time because of them.

Pedestrian scrambles existed in Edmonton up until 1959, when the last two of them were removed as the city began using more and more motor vehicles. Other cities have implemented pedestrian scrambles, like Calgary, which currently has two.

The city hopes to hear back from residents through a feedback form at edmonton.ca —DJ

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THE NEW, BIZ-FRIENDLY LOOK OF POT Making Cannabis Retailers Seem like Apple Stores Could Keep Neighbouring Businesses Happy

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he old head shop aesthetic—Pink Floyd and Bob Marley posters, pot leaves, and anthropomorphic blunts—is likely to be a thing of the past.

Or, at least, businesses neighbouring cannabis retail spaces hope this old imagery will be a thing of the past when the new operations start selling.

According to Ian O’Donnell, executive director of the Downtown Business Association, some retailers in the city’s core have expressed concern over how pot shops will look and operate—the overarching sentiment is that it’s an “unknown,” he says.

“People don’t know how these retailers, dispensaries, are going to be opening up. Some of them are being created by fairly substantial firms with highquality interiors … Those kinds of operators, I think, are reassuring some people that the stores will be a contribution to the area, not a detriment.”

Part of the worry is that people from a certain crowd that businesses “may not necessarily want,” might linger around the shops. However, according to O’Donnell, the application process for cannabis retailers is an “onerous” process.

“I think that rigour, pardon the pun, has weeded out some the perhaps less qualified or less sophisticated applicants,” he says.

The Downtown Business Association hasn’t heard many complaints about the marijuana paraphernalia shops in its borders, though there’s some concern over how their operations will change come legalization.

As such, clean and modern storefronts with high-concept designs—kind of akin to Apple Stores—will keep neighbours of pot retailers happy as cannabis legalization starts to roll in. Ryan Seeras—co-founder of Numo Cannabis, which is set to open in the Kingsway region of Edmonton later this month— says he has heard some con-

conception about a lot of topics,” he says. “When we talk about culture and cannabis, they think about the pothead who has 420 on his t-shirt or dreads and smokes a lot at the leg[islature building]. The truth is, teachers, business leaders, social workers, etc., all use it— no one’s really talking about those folks.”

“I think that rigour, pardon the pun, has weeded out some the perhaps less qualified or less sophisticated applicants.”

There’s a reminder here for the city and the police, he says: over the coming months, the agencies need to get ahead of the game in ensuring a high standard among these shops.

“People are just waiting to see what happens,” he says. “At the end of the day, nuisance properties can take any form, and, so, it’s really about the operator and ensuring management complies with the standards set out by the city.”

cerns around his pot shop opening.

However, he says, historically speaking the negative aspects of legalization are either minimal or easily solved.

In all, Seeras says, cannabis legalization will lead to a modernization of cannabis culture in terms of ethos and aesthetic.

Similarly, there are ways to avoid many of the negative aspects of cannabis legalization—smell management, for example.

“I think there’s a lot of mis-

VUEWEEKLY.com | OCT 4 - OCT 10, 2018

When cannabis use becomes more common among people across demographics, the stigma surrounding it and its sale will dissipate, he says. Also, a level of outreach between cannabis retailers and the surrounding communities will help calm people’s concerns.

“Let’s get together in a room, in a town hall, and talk about cannabis,” he says.

Doug Johnson doug@vueweekly.com

DYER STRAIGHT

ARE THERE STAR MEN WAITING IN THE SKY?

They’d Like to Come and Meet Us, and There’s a Good Chance that One Day They Will if We Keep Surviving

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The universe is a pretty big place,” as Carl Sagan once remarked. “If it’s just us, seems like an awful waste of space.”

The Drake Equation is gradually filling out, and it’s looking good for the existence of life, the rise of intelligence, and (likely) the number of civilizations elsewhere in the universe.

There’s even reason to hope that some high-energy technological civilizations successfully pass through the energy-environment bottleneck that our own planetary civilization is now entering. But not many make it through the bottleneck without suffering major losses, and quite a lot just collapse.

The Drake Equation was written by American radio astronomer Frank Drake in 1961 to estimate how many high-tech civilizations there were in the galaxy. It had seven factors, but they were all empty.

The first three factors, all uncertain in 1961, were: what is the average rate of star formation in our galaxy; how many of those stars have planets; and what pro-

portion of those planets can potentially support life? We know the answers now, and they are pretty encouraging.

There’s around one new star annually, most stars have planets, and about one star in five hosts one or more planets with liquid water on the surface. That means that there are probably around a hundred billion planets in this galaxy alone that can support life, but that’s just a start.

As Douglas Adams pointed out in The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “Space is big. Really big.

You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is.”

The Hubble telescope has revealed around a hundred billion galaxies in the universe. Total number of potentially life-supporting planets? Around 10, 000, 000,000,000,000,000,000 (ten billion trillion).

Drake’s remaining factors are still unknown quantities. The only two that matter for Adam Frank—because all he wants to know is how many non-human civilizations have ever existed

anywhere in the universe—are what fraction of potentially lifesupporting planets actually do develop life; and what proportion of those planets go on to develop intelligent life.

What Frank has done, in his recent book, Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth, is to point out that there must therefore have been a lot of exo-civilizations. Make your assumptions about first life and then intelligence emerging on any given planet as pessimistic as you like, and there will still be a lot.

Maybe not billions or even millions, but even if you assume that only one life-supporting planet in a million trillion ever supported a civilization, there would have been ten thousand of them. That’s big enough for a statistical sample, and what Frank really wants to do is to crank the numbers and get a handle on how many of those civilizations would have made it through the bottleneck.

He doesn’t need to know anything specific about those unknown exo-civilizations. He only

Space, the final frontier. / Adobe Stock

needs to know that all civilizations use large amounts of energy, and that there is a strictly limited number of ways that a technologically ‘young’ civilization like ours can access energy.

There are fossil fuels, if your planet had a Carboniferous Era, or just burning biomaterials if it didn’t. There’s hydro, wind, and tides. There’s solar, geothermal, and nuclear. That’s it. Using energy always produces waste, but some of these modes produce far less heat, carbon-dioxide, and toxic chemicals than others.

So put different original mixes of these energy sources into your experimental models, put in different planetary conditions as well (some planets closer to their suns, some further away), and run a few thousand of these models through your computer.

It turns out that most of the models see runaway population growth, followed at a distance by growing pressures on the planet’s environment that lowers the ‘population carrying capacity.’

At some point, the alarmed popu-

lation switches to lower-impact energy sources. There is still a steep die-back (up to 70 percent) in the population, but then a steady state emerges and the civilization survives.

In other models, the planet’s people (creatures? beings?) delay switching the energy sources for too long. They all switch in the end, but the laggards still don’t make it. The population starts to fall, then appears to stabilize for a while, then rushes downward to extinction. Nobody saw that one coming, but it’s what the models are telling us.

There’s still a huge amount of research to be done in this new domain, but it’s time to ask where our own planetary civilization falls on this spectrum of possible behaviours.

I don’t know, but this just in: oil production is at an all-time high of 100 million barrels a day, and the Organisation of Petroleum-Exporting Countries predicts that it will reach 112 mbd in the next 20 years.

That’s the wrong direction.

Gwynne Dyer

L I V E AT T H E R I V E R C R E E E N T E R TA I N M E N T C E N T R E

STRANGELOVE

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Must be 18+. Ticket price does not include GST and Service Charges. All tickets and package purchases are final. No exchanges or refunds.

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Gibbard Block. // Supplied

KITCHEN TIPS Shaken or Stirred: Both Techniques in Martini-Making Have Their Place, It’s Just about Time and Place

HISTORIC ZONE

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ontrary to popular belief, James Bond didn’t ask for a medium dry shaken martini just to sound cool. Well, maybe he did—or maybe he knew the reason a shaken martini was his choice and not a stirred one. The age-old question arises “Do we shake or stir a martini?”

Both shaken and stirred are correct, and there are many other ways to chill the perfect martini. The origin of the martini cocktail is unclear, but I’m going to go with the story of Alessandro Martini (Martini brand vermouth) being the origin of the name and maker of the cocktail. Using vodka, Martini dry vermouth, and a lemon twist became the classic we all know as a martini. Over the years, the drink has been adapted numerous times—most notably, the popular espresso martini that happens to be on the forefront of the beverage’s popularity right now.

Back to the question at hand though. What is the best way to prepare this classic? There are a few simple ways to answer this quandary. Stirring the martini chills the drink down with the least amount of dilution you can get while using ice—this is the preferred way for someone that likes their drink to be more spirit forward. Also stirring is best for the classic format of the drink.

Shaking with ice will rapidly cool the Martini but also add more water to it, creating a less spirit-forward martini. This way is also best for flavoured martinis or dirty martinis, as the process mixes the ingredients better than stirring. If you like something a little more floral you can go ahead and use a gin; if you like it more dry use a London dry gin.

There are a many styles of Martini’s out there—just pick one you like and go with it. You are not doing it wrong by either shaking or stirring: you are doing it right by drinking.

—Chris Krock, Cocktail Guy and Former General Manager Ampersand 27 Cucumber Dill Martini • 1.5oz Prairie Organic Vodka • 0.5oz Martini dry vermouth (if you like it less dry, use less vermouth) • 1 Dill frond • 1 Slice of cucumber Add all ingredients into a Boston shaker, top with ice and shake until the tin is super cold. Double strain into martini glass and garnish with cucumber and dill. Enjoy responsibly!

cheers to sweater weather

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NEW BUSINESSES, OLD BRICKS IN GIBBARD BLOCK

Historic Building in Highlands Neighbourhood to See Burger Joint, Liquor Store, and Delicatessen

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urgers, bagels, and beer—historic Gibbard Block will sport this triple threat of culinary treats in coming weeks, an effort that, the trifecta of businesses’ owners hope, will fill some culinary holes in the Highlands neighbourhood.

Black Box Hospitality—known for Elm Café, District, and Little Brick—is carving up the 106-yearold brick building into three separate vendors, an effort coinciding with an ongoing renovation effort to save the historic building that’s ran throughout 2018.

One of the early stages in open-

ing these outlets was looking at the other businesses around the area, to avoid stepping on their toes, says Nate Box, founder of Black Box. “We spent a lot of time trying to figure out what would compliment the neighbourhood, rather than compete with other businesses,” he says. “A huge part for us is being able to genuinely build community … Part of that is being good neighbours, and being good neighbours isn’t opening a competing business or splitting market shares.”

Fox Burger, the first business, will sport 40 seats and a selection of micro-brewed beers. The effort is lead by chef Sean O’Connor of Canteen and Red Ox Inn , and according to Box, its food will be affordable and made from scratch.

The next business is June’s Delicatessen, which offers an array of traditional bagels, cured salmon, pastrami, rye bread, etc. Finally, Black Box is opening Highlands Liquor, a high-end booze emporium.

“It’s going to be clean and airy ... the kind of place you take your inlaws to to impress them, or grab a quick bite before work,” Box says of June’s Delicatessen. In regards to the liquor store, he adds “It won’t be the kind of place you go to buy a cheap 40 of generic liquor. It would probably be somewhere you find something a little more unheard of, or trust the person behind the counter’s recommendation.”

All told, the three locations take up the building’s main and basement floors, a total of 8,000 square feet. The building lends

VUEWEEKLY.com | OCT 4 - OCT 10, 2018

Fox Burger, June’s Delicatessen, and Highlands Liquor Gibbard Block, 6427 112 Ave NW bbhg.ca itself well to being divvied up into three spots, Box says.

“It’s 110-year-old construction we didn’t want to mess with,” he adds.

Originally built in 1912, Gibbard Block has long been a staple of the Highlands, having served, at different times, as office, housing, and retail spaces in its long run.

It is named for Thomas William Gibbard, who was partners with Edmontonian businessmen W.J. Magrath and B.A. Holgate, who helped develop the region in its early stages. Oddly enough, Gibbard was not an Edmontonian, and most likely lived in Ontario where he had a successful furniture business, the building’s website says.

Black Box is crowd-sourcing funds to help usher along the development, and on Kickstarter the project has nearly $30,000 of its $100,000 goal, as of last weekend. Reaching the goal would alleviate a sizable amount of burden the project represents, but, according to Box, the project will go ahead, crowd-funded or not.

“We don’t really have a choice.

Prior to going through with this, we had to put our names on the line … We had to push all in whether Kickstarter helps or not,” he says.

Doug Johnson doug@vueweekly.com

KETO BREAD

LOW-CARB LOAF

Ijeoma Omodu of Jovic Bakery makes keto bread and bread buns. / Chelsea Novak

Edmonton Baker Offers Keto-Friendly Bread, and a Registered Dietitian Shares Thoughts on the Diet

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he ketogenic, or keto, diet— where you eat high fats, moderate protein, and low carbs—has gained popularity as a quick way to lose weight. It’s not easy, though.

High-carb foods are everywhere and are often considered staples, like bread for instance. It can be a hard thing to give up, but maybe you don’t have to.

Ijeoma Omodu is one of the owners of Jovic Bakery in West Edmonton, and she offers her customers not only keto bread, but keto bread buns, wraps, pies, cookies, bagels, and more. Her products are made with almond or coconut flour—not carb free, but low-carb and natural sources of fat—and other omnivorous keto staples like butter, eggs, cream, and cheese.

Omodu explains that she started offering keto products because she is on the diet. She knew there was a demand, and though the profit margins weren’t promising, she rationalized that it at least made sense to bake them for herself.

“I spend a lot of time in the bakery, and then when I get home I start making keto products for myself—I say ‘What the hell? I can just make a little bit of it, and put [it] in the bakery. Whether or not someone buys it doesn’t really matter, because I’m the one buying anyway,” she says.

Omodu takes time to develop her recipes—making a recipe several times and testing it until it tastes and looks good.

“For a particular recipe, it takes us a minimum of four weeks,” she says.

Nutritional information on all of the products are available online and in store, so that keto dieters can track things like grams of carbs, and calories from fat. Products can also be ordered online, and Omodu says she has customers who order from out of province.

By next year, her goal is to make a keto version of every pastry in

the shop. She also caters to customers with other dietary restrictions, offering gluten-free and sugar-free products. In fact, since they use nut flours, all of the keto products are gluten-free as well.

Omodu says she wants people to know what they are eating.

The purpose of the ketogenic diet is to put your body into ketosis.

“Ketosis is essentially a process that the body goes through in the absence of its most desired fuel, which is glucose,” explains Emily Mardell, a registered dietitian (RD) and founder of Food First Nutrition Consulting. “So when there are no carbohydrates present, it says ‘Well okay, how are we going to feed the brain? What are we going to do?’ And what it does, is it starts to produce alternative fuel—that means ketones.”

Mardell says that a common ketone is acetone, found in nail polish, and that’s why one of the early side effects of the diet is bad breath. People can also experience flu-like symptoms, known as the keto flu.

The ketones are produced from fatty acids, Mardell says, so the body burns fat to produce it.

Generally speaking, registered dietitians have hesitated to widely endorse a ketogenic diet—in part because the research still isn’t in, and in part because they tend to be against diets that are overly restrictive. Mardell emphasizes that a diet should meet your personal needs.

“Any diet or eating plan—whatever that might be—it is something that needs to be personalized and reflective of what an individual’s food beliefs, values,

nutritional needs, health needs,” she says. “So, to me, it’s not necessarily that one diet is better than the other. When we look at all of the collective research that there is relating to weight management, or better health, or improving health outcomes— whatever it might be—really it’s the eating plan that has some joy and things that people can be consistent with.”

A drawback of keto is that people often find it overly restrictive and therefore aren’t able to stick with the diet long-term, but Mardell offered an example of a client who benefited greatly from the diet: He needed knee replacement surgery, which would greatly improve his mobility and quality of life, but needed to lose weight to proceed. In that case, using the keto diet to quickly drop weight over the short term worked well.

Another consideration for those thinking of taking on the keto diet is that it involves a lot of math.

“You need to be able to weigh

VUEWEEKLY.com | OCT 4 - OCT 10, 2018

and measure your food, and have a good understanding of macronutrients—protein, carbohydrates, fat.

You are weighing, and measuring, and accounting for carbohydrates in very small amounts in food—foods that we may not think of as carbohydrate sources,” Mardell says.

If you decide to give it a go anyway, she recommends having a good care team, which could include a dietitian as well as a doctor (some health benefit plans will cover RD visits). Mardell also points out that weight is not a measure of your total health, and there are other health markers that RDs look at when helping clients.

Mardell is a big proponent of cooking at home, and grew up making her own bread—so she recommends baking at home, but if you are buying bread in store— keto or otherwise—she recommends looking for a loaf that is low in sugar and sodium, and high in fibre and protein.

Chelsea Novak chelsea@vueweekly.com

dish 7

SOURDOUGH

HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS: SOURDOUGH TREATISE

Cultivating Bacteria in Your Kitchen May Sound Weird, but Damn if It Doesn’t Yield Some Kickass Bread

CITY MARKET RETURNS TO THE MAIN FLOOR OF CITY HALL ON OCTOBER 13, 2018 EVERY SATURDAY 9AM TO 3PM

You gotta start your starter from the bottom before it gets here / Fraser Hayes

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ARTISAN CLASSICO A SWEET BREAD BORN OVER A CENTURY AGO IN MILAN, ITALY. Our artisan Panettone is lovingly handcrafted the traditional way. A natural yeast starter, and days of kneading and proofing the dough, give our Panettone it’s signature lightness. Candied orange peel and raisins are then added to impart the bread with the classic taste that makes Panettone a beloved holiday tradition.

VISIT CANOVA.CA FOR ONLINE ORDERS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON! 8 dish

aking a perfect loaf of naturally leavened sourdough is a life-long pursuit that can fill you with both rage and euphoria. When you get it right, your followers will gather to share in the bounty you’ve provided, and sing your name to the high heavens. When it goes wrong, you will be hungry and alone with only a flat, gummy, bread-shaped mass to sop up your tears.

Keep this range of emotions in mind as we go ahead. I assure you, this is a worthwhile endeavour— and it all begins with the starter.

A sourdough starter is the natural equivalent of instant yeast. Yeast and bacteria that lie dormant in the flour become activated through a simple process and give your bread the sour flavour, chewy texture, and artisanal look only achieved with a natural leaven.

All you need is a pint-sized mason jar, unbleached flour, and water.

I use water from my kettle, previously boiled but no longer hot. I also use an unbleached rye flour for my starter, mostly because it is easier to clean up than higher gluten flours. Stay away from bleached flour—it will just make it much harder to get things going.

Day One: Put a couple heaping scoops of flour into your jar, add enough water to get the consistency of pancake batter. Loosely cover and keep in a warm place. I keep mine either on top of the fridge or in the oven with the light on.

Day Two: Add one scoop of flour and water until you get the same consistency. Cover and return to its warm place.

Day Thee: Before you do anything, have a close look at the starter. If you see any bubbles at all, you’re in business. If not, don’t worry; stay the course. This time you’ll add a scoop of flour but no water. Add just enough flour to achieve a hummus like consistency.

Days Four through Seven: Continue adding flour and water, maintaining the stiffer consistency described above. The jar should never be more than half full. Discard as much as you need to with each feed of flour and water to keep it at or under this level. When your starter doubles in size after half a day, it is fully matured; nice work. If it still looks lifeless, soldier on with this feeding schedule until it does.

Going forward: Now that you have your starter, keep it at room temperature and continue this

VUEWEEKLY.com | OCT 4 - OCT 10, 2018

feeding schedule if you are using it more than once a week. Alternatively, keep it in the fridge, where it only needs a feed every couple of weeks. The day before you bake, take a scoop of your starter and put it in a different jar, feed it, and put it back in the fridge. Build your starter back up from this scoop for use in your recipe.

Having a strong starter is the key to any artisanal loaf. Make sure it is at its peak when you add to your recipe. Beyond bread, your starter can be used to make delicious pancakes, waffles, pizza dough, tortillas, crackers, or pastries.

Once you know you have a healthy starter, thinly spread a scoop of it on some parchment paper and leave it out overnight. Once it’s completely dried out, you can break it into chips, and put them into a zip-lock bag in your freezer. If you somehow manage to kill your fridge starter, or you end up in a “there is no starter, only Zuul!” situation, you’ll always have these chips as a backup.

Now you’re ready to bake your first loaf, pretty soon you’ll be getting random high-fives on the street, and your schedule will fill with potluck invites.

Fraser Hayes

KITCHEN TIPS Sourdough Is a Blast from the Past, but Easy to Make and Potentially Healthier to Ingest

S

ourdough: what a beautiful thing. For thousands of years, natural fermentation has been the only way to make bread, and almost every culture in the world has some sort of bread in their repertoire. Up until the late 1800s/ early 1900s, all leavened bread was done so naturally. Then came commercial baker yeast.

We could make breads in a few hours instead of a day, or even longer. We gained time, but what did we lose?

We lost the flavour, the craftsmanship that went along with producing a great loaf of bread.

In the last 15 to 20 years, we’ve seen a big resurgence in the old ways, a naturally fermented dough that takes a long time to produce, and a lot of care by the maker, but produces a better flavour. Many also would argue

that this is a healthier bread, and one that’s easier to digest.

I could spend hours on here giving explanations on how best to bake, and I still couldn’t scratch the surface, but I implore you to take the time to read up on sourdough and try some at home. The starter is relatively easy to get started, and it will change your world.

We use sourdough starter in the restaurant and at my house for so many things—pizza, yeah, it makes the best pizza.

White bread? Of course—who doesn’t love a light fluffy loaf with a nice tang to it with the nicest crispy crust you can think of? My daughter’s first memories of food are gonna be bread-based, as we’ve baked every week since she was two.

She can easily tell you how to

make a loaf of bread, and how to take care of a starter, and she’s only six. It’s a skill she will never forget, and in doing so will always be able to at least put something awesome on the table, even in tough times.

Sourdough starter is a relatively easy thing to make, it basically comes about by mixing flour and water, and leaving it out to collect natural yeast that is in the air all around us.

The first sourdough was thought to be an accident, something that was left out for too long and eventually got nice and bubbly. When it was baked they would have found a more flavourful, lighter dough than was previously used. If you ask me, it was a great tasty accident.

— Andrew Cowan, chef at Northern Chicken

Voted Best Greek Restaurant

Cloud Bread Cloud bread is reasonably easy to make. / Adobe Stock

Cloud bread is a keto-friendly bread that can easily be made at home. It uses only a few ingredients and is relatively quick to make.

There are many different recipes online, with variations in the ingredients, but basically it’s made using eggs, cream cheese, cottage cheese or Greek yogurt, cream of tartar, and salt or sweetener.

The egg whites are whipped

into ‘stiff peaks’ with the cream of tartar as a stabilizer, and the egg yolks are combined with the cheese or yogurt. The salt or sweetener is added to one mixture or the other, depending on the recipe, or can be omitted entirely. Herbs can also be added for a savoury sandwich bread.

You then very carefully add the yolk mixture to the egg white

mixture and fold them together before spooning the mixture onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

Baking times seem to vary widely from recipe to recipe, so keep an eye on them while they’re in the oven.

The final product is low carb and looks kind of like a cloud.

Chelsea Novak chelsea@vueweekly.com

VUEWEEKLY.com | OCT 4 - OCT 10, 2018

BOOK YOUR PARTY WITH US 10719 124 Street • 780 452 5383 koutouki.ca dish 9

VUEPICKS

Two of the characters ready to welcome you to Deadmonton Haunted House. / Yang Lim

Murder at Make Out Point // Oct. 6, 13, 20, 27 (7:30 pm) Rapid Fire Theatre presents an improv based on classic teen slasher movies, like Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and Halloween. It’ll probably be set in a cabin the woods somewhere, and there’ll be the usual cast of characters: the ‘cool’ kid, the party douche, the pothead, the hero, and—of course—the murderer.

Prepare to die laughing, or at least laugh at people dying (ya sicko).

Check out the fun trailer at facebook.com/rapidfiretheatre/videos/1856894207681481. (Citadel Theatre, $12 in advance or $15 at the door; students will valid ID receive two-for-one admission at the door) // CN

HAUNTED HOUSE

OCT 12 - 27, 2018

NSI IndigiDocs Application Deadline // Mon., Nov. 5 (3:30 pm) The National Screen Institute is accepting applications from Indigenous director and producer teams to create short documentaries with NSI IndigiDocs. The program offers mentorship, training, and up to $16,000 in cash toward the production of a team’s documentary.

Up to four teams will be chosen, and will have the chance to attend Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto, and have their documentaries air as part of a one-hour special on APTN. To find out more and submit an application, visit nsi-canada. ca/courses/nsi-indigidocs/apply. ($100) // CN

NORTHERN LIGHT THEATRE PRESENTS

Canadian Premiere!

by Bryony Lavery @ Studio Theatre inside the ATB Financial Arts Barns $25 Student/Senior, $30 Adults, $20 Sunday Matinée T I C K E T S A N D S E A S O N S U B S C R I PT I O N S : www.northernlighttheatre.com or 780-471-1586

10 arts

DEADMONTON IS BACK AND

BIGGER THAN EVER Kick-Start Your Halloween with a Quarantine Experience

“

Let’s go, let’s go! Get inside!”

Those are the first words that will greet you as the rusty door swings open and a bearded man in military-inspired, distressed garb emerges, barking orders at you. Once inside, the door swings shut and you find yourself in a nondescript hallway where you are immediately given your marching orders before you are released into the house’s winding and dimly lit interior.

Deadmonton Haunted House first appeared in 2014, and is back for a fifth year. This year, it has relocated to Gateway Boulevard on Edmonton’s South side, taking up an empty warehouse that has been transformed from the ground up over the course of a few months.

Each annual incarnation of this attraction has a narrative backstory.

This year, its premise revolves around a scientific expedition’s discovery of an ancient, living fossil, and the inadvertent release and proliferation of a mysterious infection, which leads to an uncontrollable global pandemic that wipes out much of civilization. Now, a survivalist group brings the remaining survivors to their quarantined compound, where they hope to develop a scientific cure to combat the pandemic.

Ryan Kozar, the creative brains and drive behind Deadmonton, is passionate about building a fun and memorable Halloween event for visitors. This year, he wanted

to create a more immersive experience by devising a more effective staging area. Upon arrival, people will encounter roaming monsters, an enacted scene, and a quarantine tent. Once inside, the haunted house will immerse visitors with its well-crafted mashup of scenes reminiscent of post-apocalyptic, horror, sci-fi, and fantasy movies.

Characterized by twisting corridors and disfigured beings who flit in and out from the darkness, the house’s realism and spookiness is enhanced by sets and props, such as corpses lying on tables, scientific labs with blinking consoles and chemical equipment, a garage with a rusty vehicle, and tentacle-like protrusions dangling from the ceilings. Creatures scurry by amidst the foggy and dimly lit areas, while lightning, screams, and other sounds permeate the atmosphere.

The house attracts a wide demographic of visitors, several of whom are repeat customers.

They speak enthusiastically about the house’s attention to detail, great actors, and realistic-looking props. As one visitor comments, “you can scream like a baby” and have a good time.

The entire operation involves an impressive amount of work, both prior to and during the attraction’s annual run. Deadmonton manager Katherine Petch chuckles that her involvement

VUEWEEKLY.com | OCT 4 - OCT 10, 2018

Until Nov. 4 Deadmonton Haunted House 7031 Gateway Blvd $25 regular ticket, $45 speed pass For dates and times, visit deadmontonhouse.com does make for long shifts as she also has a day job. However, it is evident that everyone involved is enthusiastic and committed, as proven by the annual return of several actors and crew. Darryl Plunkie, manager of the actors, affirms that the haunted house requires around forty performers to run, half of whom are returning this year. In addition, preparations occur nearly year-round.

After the attraction finishes its annual run, work will resume in January for next year’s edition.

Kozar visits other haunted houses and attends trade shows to network, get ideas for next year’s concept, and purchase props.

The haunted house is recommended for people age 12 and up, and visitors are advised to come early to avoid the long lineups.

After experiencing the house, visitors can purchase costumes, accessories, masks, and more from Deadmonton’s shop. “It’s a great Edmonton tradition,” one visitor enthuses. Indeed it is—five years and counting.

Yang Lim

PAINTINGS

“Fantasia,” but is it I or II? / Stephan Boissonneault

AN ELECTRIC UNDERSTANDING OF COLOUR Erin Loree’s Forth and Back Exhibit Touches on the Process of Painting

Until Oct. 20 Forth and Back by Erin Loree Peter Robertson Gallery

“

The painting has a life of its own.

I try to let it come through.”

That quote from abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock can certainly describe painter Erin Loree’s process. Much like Pollock, Loree thinks of her paintings as living entities, searching to find their own way and meaning. Usually, when she paints, the canvas is left with a spontaneous, vibrant result created by her intuition and experimentation.

Sometimes the result is a glimpse into a surreal landscape, the background of Loree’s marriage between saturated and muted colour. Other times, the painting lives in its own universe of enigmatic, coated colour and shapes.

For her current show, Forth and Back, Loree deliberately added a constraint on herself—she created pairs of paintings, but for every second one, she attempted to replicate the first.

“I started thinking about the relationships between paintings and what they can say about each other, and how they reinforce each other and fill in each other’s blanks,” Loree says while pacing through the Peter Robertson Gallery. “My initial plan was to copy it [the first painting] to the best of my ability, so it forced me to analyze my process and look at my use of material and colour in a way that I had never done before.”

It was a way for Loree to challenge the habitual ways of making art and to force her to set a structure. Though uncomfortable at the beginning, Loree perse-

vered and learned how to recreate those “painterly aspects” that just happen on a canvas.

“The idea of the show isn’t about the two pairs,” Loree says.

“It’s really about the process of painting. It came from not replicating the painting exactly but letting the painting become what it needed to become. So some pairs are quite similar and some suggest a shifting of time or a transformation.”

An excellent example is the pair “Secrets of Night,” where a pearly moon waxes above a fuschia mountainside. The first painting leads on into the second, with the moon now full and the mountainside slowly shifting.

“So you get a sense that something has happened in between,” Loree adds.

“Fantasia,” the colours seem to have a hidden conversation between one another. The backdrop kind of looks like a rhythmic mythological storm as a hand reaches down to pick up an illu-

minated orb. At least, that’s one description. There could be several and it’s due to the way Loree paints large canvas pieces.

“I will lay down a colour and respond to that colour,” she says.

“It’s like putting a puzzle together, piece by piece. I don’t want it to be too predictable; it’s just my understanding of colour.”

Stephan Boissonneault stephan@vueweekly.com

Still, unless you do your research prior to viewing the exhibit (looking at the image list), you’re left wondering which painting was actually created first. And that’s the point. Loree has deliberately switched up the order of each set.

“I don’t want their personal beliefs to sort of colour their reading of the work,” she says. “Like, what do they place more value on? Intuition or planning? If they know one came second, it might change how they view it.”

Loree’s understanding of colour and material is updated with every one of her shows. For a past show, Shadow of a Hole, she only painted using monochromatic colour to see if she could conjure up an emotional response without the use of vibrant colours.

“So it became about the material that communicates meaning and not the colour,” she says.

Perhaps this is why in the pair VUEWEEKLY.com | OCT 4 - OCT 10, 2018

arts 11

IRISH MUSICAL

ONCE CAST DELIVERS VIGOROUSLY TALENTED PERFORMANCE The Citadel Theatre Launches Its Season with Romance, Music, and a Marvellous Performance

F

Emily Dallas and Lawrence Libor star in Once. // Ian Jackson, Epic Photography

rom the minute I entered the theatre, I knew Once was going go be different from other musicals I’d seen. The cast was already on stage, playing lively Irish tunes, a row of audience members sitting on stage behind them. Once the theatre had filled, audience members left the stage, there was a brief introduction, and then actor and musician Julien Arnold played down the lights with a song on the mandolin before Lawrence Libor took centre stage as Guy. Based on an Irish movie from 2007, Once tells the story of Guy and Girl, who meet on the streets of Dublin. Guy is heartbroken and wants to give up on his music, but Girl tries to convince him not to. As the story unfolds, it starts to sound like Guy might be singing the songs he wrote for his ex for Girl instead.

Libor is enthralling as Guy, combining an emotional performance with his stunning voice and excellent guitar playing. Even though most of the songs he sings are heavy with pathos, he still clearly conveys the emotions his character is feeling in the scenes that are

tangential to the music—from his anger when Girl first persuades him to play to his growing hope toward the end of the first act. Emily Dallas is just as compelling as Girl, and if her performance of “The Hill” in the second act doesn’t pluck at your heart strings, then I’m afraid you don’t have a soul.

While the spotlight is often on Libor and Dallas—literally—the entire cast is vigorously talented.

Whether the ensemble is performing synchronized movement or whirling about the stage in a choreographed set change, they are in step, and they almost always have instruments in hand. Throughout the show, the cast members who aren’t performing at centre stage are waiting in the shadows, often providing additional instrumentation and back up vocals; they are always on, and there is no hidden orchestra here—everything happens on stage.

If there’s one complaint it would be that Guy’s repertoire, which is a large portion of the music, is kind of a downer. The heartbroken set gets a little bland, though that’s

SEASON TICKET PACKAGES FROM $75 INCLUDES LA TRAVIATA, HANSEL & GRETEL, AND COUNT ORY

12 arts

VUEWEEKLY.com | OCT 4 - OCT 10, 2018

Until Oct. 14 Once Citadel Theatre Tickets start at $34.65 not to say that individually the songs aren’t good, or that the cast doesn’t offer an engaging performance—and as repetitive as the heart-broken melodies become, the song that closes the first act, “Gold,” stands alongside some of the great Act 1 finale songs.

Once also makes up for its more depressing numbers by injecting some humour in the dialogue and a few of the songs. It’s hard to pick standouts from the Citadel cast— because they were all excellent to watch—but special mention goes to Stephen Guy-McGrath, who played the boisterous Billy, and Karen Lizotte, who portrays the cello-playing bank manager. Both had excellent comedic timing, and their shared animosity was delightful.

If you enjoy musicals, romance, and just plain good entertainment, then you should go—at least once.

Chelsea Novak chelsea@vueweekly.com

Bustin’ makes them feel good. / Supplied

DIY

Friends and Family of Edmonton Man Band Together to Recreate Ghostbusters in One Day for Bachelor Party Yegbusters Directed by Bo Tarasenko Available on director’s YouTube channel

B

oris Tarasenko knew there was something weird in his neighbourhood the second his friends and family burst into his room and woke him up at the crack of dawn.

A few days away from marriage last summer, the Edmontonian figured there would be a big surprise in store for his bachelor party—but probably didn’t know it would take the form of re-shooting Ghostbusters with his loved ones over, more or less, a single day.

Boris’ brother, Bo Tarasenko, was one of the driving forces behind the production (and played Ray Stanz, a role previously filled by Dan Aykroyd), which saw around 40 of those closest to Boris come together and produce the homage/ piece of 1980s nostalgia porn. Boris—who starts off the video kind of dazed—plays Peter

Venkman, a character popularized

by Bill Murray in the film series.

“He had no idea what he was in for,” Tarasenko says. “We set out to give him the best bachelor party day ever ... When you call someone up for a bachelor party—it’s one of the few times people will drop everything and do anything.”

The production, which clocks in at over an hour in length, is tenderly named Yegbusters, and includes props and costumes all made by the friends of the brothers Tarasenko—some of the special effects scenes are taken directly from the film, occasionally with Yegbusters actors or props spliced in. For example, one of the penultimate scenes has one of the male members of the crew wrapped in plastic wrap and superimposed over Sigourney Weaver’s character, Dana who, in the film, is possessed by Zuul.

Also, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man appears in the film this way.

“We shot the whole thing in the early summer, and by the

end of summer-ish—because everyone was just doing it in their free time—we had a cut just for the cast, which was almost two hours,” Tarasenko says. “That was just for viewing for everyone involved. We kept picking away at it, and figured maybe one day we’ll let other people watch it.”

There was a lot of prep work involved, Tarasenko says. Filming the whole thing in one day—well, three: one for the sake of making a kind of trailer prior to the film’s release, and the other for a few pickup scenes—required a tight schedule for both the filming crew, and all the cast members. The venture took the filmmakers/wedding party across Edmonton.

“There were like schedules and spreadsheets,” he says. “What we really set out to do was—every part of the finished thing was homemade … Everything was to be made from scratch.”

Tarasenko only “kind of” had filmmaking experience prior to making

Yegbusters—he has a degree in drama, and has been involved in a few small films. Not that this was actually a filmmaking endeavour, per se, he says: It’s just for fun.

It was a lot of work, recreating a movie using only spare time, gumption, and tape, but Tarasenko would love to keep doing stuff like this.

“Everyone was really excited and put in a bunch of work,” he says. “I would do this all day long if I could.”

PRESENTS LITFEST

IN CONVERSATION WITH TANYA TAGAQ THUR @ 7:00 LIVE EVENT BUYBUST THUR @ 9:30 SKIER’S SPORTSHOP FILM FESTIVAL FRI @ 7:00 TICKETS AT SKIER’S SPORTSHOP

THE ROOM FRI @ 11:30 REEL FAMILY CINEMA

PARANORMAN SAT @ 1:00

FREE ADMISSION FOR KIDS 12 & UNDER

THE CULTURE HIGH SAT @ 3:30

When the Tarasenkos were younger, they only had a few VHS tapes in their house. Their parents signed up for a Columbia House-esque club for movies, giving the family access to a few titles. Their parents picked three, leaving one behind for the kids.

“We watched it all the time,” Tarasenko says.

Yegbusters is available for viewing on Tarasenko’s YouTube page.

Doug Johnson doug@vueweekly.com

OCT 4 - OCT 10

MANDY SAT @ 11:30PM

THE ARCHERS

THE RED SHOES SUN @ 1:00, MON @ 6:45 ANTIFA ITALIAN STYLE

THE CONFORMIST SUN @ 6:45

ITALIAN, FRENCH, & ENGLISH WITH SUBTITLES

HOMO-CIDAL DRAG SHOW

THE LOVE WITCH SUN @ 9:30

FEATURING A LIVE DRAG PERFORMANCE BY HOMO-CIDAL @ 9:30 BEFORE THE SCREENING.

CUBAN FOOD STORIES SAT @ 7:00

ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES MON @ 3:30 THE BABADOOK MON @ 9:30 SIMRIT: LIVE IN EDMONTON TUES @ 7:30 TICKETS AT BRIGHTSTAREVENTS.COM

EIGHTH GRADE SAT @ 9:30, SUN @ 4:00, MON @ 1:30

NIGHTS OF GRIEF & MYSTERY WED @ 7:00 TICKETS AT EVENTBRITE. LIVE EVENT

ANY EXCUSE FOR FOOD

LIVE EVENT

Metro Cinema at the Garneau: 8712-109 Street WWW.METROCINEMA.ORG

VUEWEEKLY.com | OCT 4 - OCT 10, 2018

film 13

PSYCHOLOGICAL TRIP

FRI, OCT 5– THUR, OCT 11

CRAZY RICH ASIANS

FRI & TUES TO THURS: 6:45PM SAT: 1:00 & 6:45PM SUN & MON: 12:45 & 6:15PM RATED: PG

BLACKKKLANSMAN

LIZZIE

FRI: 7:00 & 9:30PM SAT: 1:30, 3:45, 7:00 & 9:30PM SUN & MON: 1:30, 3:45, 6:00 & 8:15PM TUES TO THURS: 7:00 & 9:15PM RATED: 14A, N, V

FRI: 9:15PM SAT: 3:30 & 9:15PM SUN: 8:45PM MON: 3:30 & 8:45PM TUES TO THURS: 9:00PM RATED: 14A, CL

Jonah Hill and Emma Stone are in for a trip in Maniac. / Netflix

MIND GAMES

True Detective Alumni Cary Joji Fukunga Delivers Some of the Best Storytelling of the Year in the Netflix Mini Series Maniac

F

ilm and television has had an incredibly hit and miss relationship when it comes to the portrayal of reality, the human psyche, and the interconnectedness of people. Sometimes you get a subtle story of intrigue that stands the test of time, à la Memento—and sometimes you have a cluttered mess—lookin’ at you Cloud Atlas. Cary Joji Fukunaga’s Netflix outing Maniac avoids being lost in disarray, and earns itself a spot amid the greats of psychological storytelling.

Fukunaga has already earned himself a seat on the high council of contemporary directors,

world much like our own, save for a highly stylized, 1970s-influenced technology, and it follows the trials of two pharmaceutical test subjects—Owen (Jonah Hill), son of a New York business mogul, and a paranoid schizophrenic; and Annie (Emma Stone), an addict reeling from a past trauma. Upon agreeing to take part in a medical trial for a procedure that guarantees them a permanent remedy for their ailments, the two embark on a psychological journey of discovery and recovery.

In the hands of anyone else this show would’ve been a passable experience with some

Maniac Directed by Cary Joji Fukunga Netflix  Annie trying to make sense of the experiment they’re subject to, and the next you’re plunged into their fantasies—ranging from 1980s romantic comedy, to a noir crime caper, and even to a Tolkien-esque fantasy.

The narrative is only aided by incredible supporting performances, with Justin Theroux playing the manic scientist in charge of the experiment, and

“Fukunaga’s knack for world building working seamlessly in tandem with character development is this narrative’s strength—and it doesn’t falter for a single minute.” as his most notable achievement is the first season of True Detective. His fingerprints are all over this mindfuck of a mini series, and his contributions from the director’s chair are where this show truly shines.

Fukunaga’s knack for world building working seamlessly in tandem with character development is this narrative’s strength—and it doesn’t falter for a single minute.

The story takes place in a 14 film

minor intrigue into the human mind and how society views healing. Yet, Fukunaga’s impeccable habit of never making a single shot static or boring, coupled with Hill and Stone’s performances, earn the viewer’s rapt attention.

As the two characters enter the rabbit holes of their individual traumas the show seamlessly moves from one genre to the other. One minute you’re following the drama of Owen and

VUEWEEKLY.com | OCT 4 - OCT 10, 2018

Sally Field playing his pseudoscientific mother.

Maniac is a slow burn, but that’s the point. Intrigue is never a fast moving train; rather it lets you linger from stop to stop. This is the perfect show to sit down to with a friend or partner, split a bottle of wine or a case of beer, and theorize about the plot in the five second gap before the next episode starts.

Jake Pesaruk

Destroyer’s been “working on the new Oliver Twist.” / Fabiola Carranza

INDIE ROCK

Destroyer, a.k.a. Dan Bejar, Has Been Beating the Same Drum for 22 Years and It Hasn’t Gotten Old Fri., Oct. 5 (8 pm) Up + Downtown Music Festival Presents Destroyer w/ nêhiyawak, and Perpetuals 9910 SOLD OUT

L

istening to a Destroyer song can be equated to watching a silent film accompanied by—if you had to generalize it—bedimmed indie rock. Dan Bejar, frontman of the project, sings the words and phrases, painting brief pictures that romanticize the decay of people, places, and time.

“I like the idea of randomly opening the book and reading a page. That’s kind of what a Destroyer song feels like to me,” Bejar says. “I write a lot in flash images. There might be set pieces or set hangups that might describe the same kind of world, which are like the backdrop for all the drama that’s going on in the song.”

However, you usually don’t know what the drama is. Bejar leaves it ambiguous.

“I think about it like trailers to movies that don’t exist,” he says.

A perfect example is with the song “Saw You at the Hospital”— on the 2017 release ken—a pretty bare bones song that starts with a few melancholic guitar chords while Bejar mutters about seeing random people at the hospital then sings about paranoia, insanity, and depression.

The song’s skeletal structure was written in an actual hospital in Switzerland when Bejar had a really bad case of pneumonia.

“I was really sick. Like the sickest I’ve ever been in my entire adult life … I was exhausted and went to go get what I thought would be an antibiotic prescription, but they told me I couldn’t leave and had to stay there for the next three days,” he says. “Being in Switzerland, the whole thing seemed quite ridiculous to me.”

The song could have taken a

more punk rock approach, joining the ranks of traditional hospital songs by bands like The Ramones.

Instead, the song lulls you into a sense of security under a dark, wistful melody. It’s very Destroyer.

“There are like OD-ing songs, maybe the Stones have a couple.

I wanted to throw my hat in and take a crack at it, but differently.

At some point, the hospital becomes more of an asylum.”

Another technique that separates Destroyer’s music from the mainstream is Bejar’s use of repetition. A certain word or phrase will be muttered sometimes without any context to the story of the song. It’s simply because Bejar gets stuck with the same line over and over again. Think of the person who has had a bit too much wine at a party and talks to themselves out loud while slowly stumbling in a circle.

“I like the idea of it [the phrase] meaning one thing and then when you keep singing it like 20 times, maybe then it means

something else,” he says. “I don’t know if that’s the philosophy behind mantras or chanting, but usually, I need to like the sound of the phrase or the words.”

It’s heard during the song “La Regle du Jeu”—a song you would only find in an opiate den disco hall—as Bejar sings the title over and over again, almost in a trance.

“It’s a phrase I knew well because of the film [Jean Renoir’s 1939 film which translates to The Rules of the Game], but I like what it implied and the more I said it, the more sinister it started to feel in my mouth y’know?” Bejar says.

It’s a characteristic that has followed Bejar since he first started making music under the Destroyer moniker more than 20 years ago. And while it has trickled into some of his earlier work with The New Pornographers—he’s still somewhat a peripheral figure in the band—he’s really started to latch onto it with his later work.

“I think as I get older [he’s in his

VUEWEEKLY.com | OCT 4 - OCT 10, 2018

mid-40s], it’s something I’m getting more and more into. Making songs simpler, but having more repetition, not with traditional choruses, but having refrains at the end of the song to create the illusion that you’re maybe trapped singing a certain phrase that will go on forever,” he says.

For his Edmonton performance, Bejar will be performing a solo acoustic act—a perfect breeding ground to test out some new material while jumping between some of his older, more obscure tunes.

“For ken, I performed a lot of those songs in front of an audience with an acoustic guitar before I recorded them,” he says.

“At the end of the day, a Destroyer album is always a thing in flux.

That being said, I think when you look at the bare bones of most of the songs, there’s a constant thread that runs through them over the last 22 years which I’m satisfied with.”

Stephan Boissonneault stephan@vueweekly.com

music 15

STONER ROCK

CONVERSATION WITH A STONER ROCK LEGEND Brant Bjork Talks About Mankind Woman and Why Kyuss Probably Won’t Reunite

Sun., Oct. 7 (8 pm) Up + Downtown Music Festival Presents Brant Bjork (Full Band) w/ Earthless, Gone Cosmic, and The Archaics (Visuals By Mad Alchemy) Starlite Room $34 via ticketfly.com

Brant Bjork looks stoned, ‘cause he probably is. / Aija Svensson

B

red in the California desert and baptized in bong water, Brant Bjork is considered by many to be one of the originators of stoner rock. Bjork is most notably known as the co-founder and drummer of Kyuss as well as his

work with Fu Manchu, but in the last two decades he has created an impressive solo career for himself as well.

Mankind Woman is Bjork’s 13th solo album to date. The album marks his first time—as an in-

UPCOMING

EVENTS

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BABY BOY BLUE EP RELEASE w/ GUESTS

OCT 6

UFC 299: KHABIB VS. MCGREGOR

OCT 10

UPSIDEDOWNTOWN VIDEO RELEASE

WEST EDMONTON MALL OCT 5

LIVE BAND KARAOKE w/ THE NERVOUS FLIRTS

OCT 6

NEEDLES TO VINYL

OCT 12

CARLING UNDERCOVER

Tickets and full listings TheRecRoom.com The Rec Room® is owned by Cineplex Entertainment L. P.

16 music

dividual artist—that Bjork has allowed someone else to completely handle the production side of things. Bjork’s longtime guitarist Bubba Dupree took on the roll of producer and helped write and arrange the record.

“Being a solo artist and handling a lot of my writing and production over the years—it felt good to get back to that real close collaboration,” Bjork says.

What came out of this was a fuzzed-out throwback of groovy guitar riffs and jamming drum lines that are very reminiscent of the 1960s and 1970s—with Bjork’s own personal touch, of course.

“That’s pretty much been my trip since day one,” Bjork says. “Growing up, I was listening to a lot of punk rock and skateboarding and I was discovering marijuana at a young age. My ears just really liked 60s and 70s music. I started researching and buying old records and listening to it then it started to come out in my own music.”

Despite his decades of playing music, Bjork is wary of calling himself a musician, preferring the term artist.

“I’ve never taken lessons. I’m a self-taught musician on all fronts,” he says. “Out of respect for

people who actually learn their instruments and learn and write and read music and study it from a level of what you’d see in jazz— Miles Davis was a musician.”

Also featured on Mankind Woman is long time friend and collaborator Nick Oliveri, a Kyuss alumni, as well as an early member of Queens of the Stone Age. “He happened to be in town in the desert when I was recording [‘Somebody’],” Bjork says. “I said ‘Hey man, jump on a track’ and he said ‘Sure, man.’ It’s very casual.

We’re just good buds.”

On top of playing shows with a live band, Bjork also plays DJ sets.

He began DJing in the 1990s between tours with Fu Manchu. Bjork would head down to the local bar and ask if he could spin some records for the hell of it—it was a fun hobby to do on the side—but since then, he’s kept it up.

Bjork’s DJ sets aren’t necessarily modern DJ sets, however. He’s not mixing tracks together or building up to a bass drop. Mostly, he’s just playing some of his favourite tunes from the 1960s and 1970s, with splashes of 80s punk or 50s jazz thrown in.

“I think of myself more as a selector,” Bjork says. “Someone who just selects the music while people

VUEWEEKLY.com | OCT 4 - OCT 10, 2018

are hanging out and mingling and socializing.”

Back in 1987, Bjork formed Kyuss with John Garcia, Josh Homme, and Chris Cockrell. Originally The Sons of Kyuss, the name comes from an undead being in Dungeons and Dragons. Though the band members didn’t actually play Dungeons and Dragons, Bjork had a close friend as a kid whose older brother played.

“Somehow we got ahold of a book on Dungeons and Dragons and we used to read it and look at the pictures and figure out how the game must be played. It was just too sophisticated for us,” he says.

When Bjork was looking for a band name a number of years later, he found the book in the back of his closet and flipped through it.

There he saw the name Kyuss.

As for the chance of ever seeing a full Kyuss reunion, Bjork has this to say: “It’s hard to say. I like to spend my time playing music with people I like to be around and I respect.

I just don’t have a tremendous amount of respect for Josh Homme and I don’t really respect Scott Reeder. Even though I made some really good music with them, that was years ago and people just grow apart.”

Alexander Sorochan

DEATH AND MUSIC

(L–R ) Gregory Hoskins and Stephen Jenkinson are bringing a show like no other. / Heather Pollock

10442 whyte ave 439.1273 10442 whyte ave 439.1273 CD / LP

CAT POWER

Wanderer Out Oct. 5

A DIFFERENT WAY TO LOOK AT DEATH

Author/Palliative Care Pro Stephen Jenkinson and Musician Gregory Hoskins Bring Nights of Grief & Mystery

D

eath, dying—it’s something we all deal with at some point in our lives, be it the death of a loved one or a pet, or our own inevitable mortality. It can be a frightening topic for some— the uncertainty and heartbreak it brings—but it’s something we must all face eventually.

Nights of Grief & Mystery is a concert series presented by Stephen Jenkinson and Gregory Hoskins that looks to delve into exactly that—the mysteries and emotions surrounding death.

The show is more than a mere concert, however, with a description that reads “Part poetry, part lamentation, part book reading, part ribaldry, part concert, part lifting the mortal veil and learning the mysteries there.”

“We were, and we are, at a loss to try and describe the thing properly,” Hoskins says.

The simplest explanation of the show is that Jenkinson stands on stage sharing his insights on dying in a death-phobic culture while Hoskins plays rootsy, dark, droning music in the background—but there’s much more emotional connection to it than that.

“At the end of the day, [Jenkinson] wonders aloud about how the world you and I know got to be this way, and in that wonder-

ing, there’s an indictment of the way that we’ve done things,” Hoskins says. “Then there’s also something that looks like hope—it’s not hope because that’s a weird drug—what it is more is, that sanity that comes from seeing something the way that it is.”

Jenkinson is no stranger to death. He has spent over a decade of his life working in palliative care and has published a number of books including Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul. During his time working in palliative care, Jenkinson has learned a great deal about dying, and how we see and deal with it in our culture.

Hoskins originally met Jenkinson back in 2015 after reaching out to him for an interview. He had come across Jenkinson’s writing and felt a connection to it. At the end of the interview, Hoskins left a couple of his CDs with Jenkinson. A week later, Jenkinson contacted him asking if Hoskins would be interested in tagging along on his book tour of Die Wise in the United States and playing some songs.

“That was the weird thing. For a guy like me who’s been eking out a living as a song and dance man, I was on the road with this

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guy and there were line-ups down the street,” Hoskins says.

“It was quite something to be involved with something that had legs.”

From there, the two of them came up with the idea for Nights of Grief and Mystery and shortly after, it turned into a proper tour.

“Sometimes it’s good to hang yourself on the cross of what you don’t know, just for a couple of hours,” Hoskins says.

“You can always get down and get back into the world that you know everything about, but just for a couple of hours, to give yourself to what you don’t know, a way of thinking you haven’t come up with yourself—that’s invaluable.”

And that’s exactly what Nights of Grief and Mystery is—just a different way of looking at death.

“This is not an escape from reality, and it offers no answers, and it makes no promises—it’s just wondering aloud,” Hoskins says.

Alexander Sorochan

VUEWEEKLY.com | OCT 4 - OCT 10, 2018

music 17

INDIE ROCK

Major Love’s genesis began in London, England. / Matt Allen

OUR NEWEST INDIE ROCK SUPERGROUP Major Love’s Debut Album Looks to Affect Its Listeners

Thu., Oct. 11 (7:30 pm) Major Love Album Release w/ Guests The Aviary $20 at doors

M

ajor Love—an affirmation and affiliation for singersongwriter Colleen Brown, the boys from Scenic Route to Alaska (Trevor Mann, Murray Wood, and Shea Connor), multi-instrumentalist Elijah Abrams, and Jesse Northey from Jesse and the Dandelions is coming off a summer of love, ire, and music.

They’ve played shows on the East Coast of Canada, achieved regular CBC airplay, played Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival, and landed a First Play Live session for the CBC. Now, the band is inaugurating their self-titled album in Edmonton.

“Not every city has such a collection of talented and driven people, I’ve lived here long enough to feel established as a musician,” vocalist Colleen Brown says.

And to be fair, Brown is supported by plenty of talented local Edmonton musicians, though the project wasn’t started anywhere near Edmonton. Meeting in Shoreditch, London, at a musician showcase, Brown bumped into the boys from Scenic Route to Alaska at the same festival.

“More often than not, I find Edmonton ex-pats in the oddest places,” Brown says, “and when I ran into Scenic Route [To Alaska] it felt like perfect timing.

I always wanted to work with a band that already existed and they had such great chemistry, and then when [Elijah] came it was all very natural.”

Each musician is accomplished

October 13th Tickets $39.95 plus gst Some conditions may apply. Promotion subject to change without notice and AGLC approval.

cnty.com/edmonton

18 music

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in their own sense, which makes scheduling a little difficult for these hard-working musicians, but it’s the band’s chemistry that keeps them coming back.

For Brown, the project came along at a time when she was working towards a newfound song-writing process. She says she wanted to get away from the focus being on her and wanted to instead focus on “having a good time and having good energy between everyone,” a feat that’s ever-present on Major Love’s debut.

The self-titled album is a testament to the live-off-the-floor recording process; its space is hollow, giving the songs and album a sonic haunt to them, while Brown’s voice and the band bring a sense of optimism. Gus van Go (The Stills) mixed the single “So Good” and “pedal steel guru” Aaron Goldstein helped with mixes and co-production for the album.

Lead single “Tear it Down” and “So Good” are being played on CBC radio 2 and have landed in the Top 20.

When comparing this band to her solo stuff, Brown says “everyone contributed a sound, which created a feeling or texture to the sonic palette that I wanted for this band.”

Major Love is a project giving a face to warmth in an often cold world—the name itself an almost militant irony—with the overarching theme of togetherness. For Brown, music is an affect that she hopes to spread and cherish with Major Love. While the band finds success Brown still cherishes those sentimental moments music provides.

“Sometimes someone comes up to you and tells you a song you wrote made them cry. That’s amazing, to affect someone in such a way is moving.”

Ryan Hook

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The Mariachi Ghost is gonna get ya. / Supplied

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Centennial Gala Concert o Convocation Hall, University of Alberta o Saturday, October 13th, 7:30pm o International musicians celebrate 100 years since the founding of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland o Admission by monetary donations in support of the Campus Food Bank.

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known—latest two-song release Just Enough could be more comparable to Bjork than your standard DJ fair. This is saying something, considering Mija came into recognition after playing with the dubstep lord himself, Skrillex. (The Chvrch of John, General Admission)

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UNRESERVED 2-DAY AUCTION SALE: Friday Night October 5th Coin/Currency 5:30 pm. Saturday, October 6 Gun/ Sportsman 11 am. Scribner Auction 121-15 Avenue, Wainwright, Alberta. 780-842-5666. Details: www.scribnernet.com.

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music 19

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SAVAGELOVE AN INTIMATE DRY SPELL

Is it even possible for a couple that stopped having sex to start back up again? My girlfriend and I (we’re both women) have been together for four years, and we haven’t had sex for two. I thought the sex was good before it stopped, but apparently she was going through the motions. She’s a sex worker, and it took her a while to figure out she was not being present, and she wanted to stop having sex with me until she could figure out how to change that. I get that and respect it. We have an open relationship, so I started having more sex with other people. And while it’s fun, I do find myself wishing I could have sex with someone I actually care about—and I only care about her. She says she wants to start having sex with me again, but we don’t really know how to do that.

Everything is kind of terrifying and awkward. She said it’s hard to go from sex with zero intimacy into sex with the intimacy turned up to 11. We’re very romantic with each other, and there are other forms of physical affection like kisses and snuggling, but no making out or humping. I love her more than I knew I could love a person, and if we never do figure out how to have sex together, I’ll still stay with her.

But for two people who are both highly sexual and want to have sex with each other, we sure are perplexed at how to make this work.

SEX OR ROMANCE DILEMMA “Let’s cut to the chase: Yes, it is possible for a couple that has stopped having sex to start having it again,” said Dr. Lori Brotto, a clinical psychologist and a sex researcher at the University of British Columbia.

You ended on a note of despair, SORD, but Brotto sees two good reasons for hope: You and your girlfriend are completely open and honest with each other, and you’re committed to staying together whether or not the sex resumes.

Your communication skills and that rock-solid commitment—neither of you are going anywhere—are the bedrock on which you can rebuild your sex life.

“There are two aspects of SORD’s question that jump out at me: One, the reference to wanting to be present for sex, and two, the description of the situation as terrifying and awkward,” Brotto said.

“SORD’s girlfriend likely perfected the practice of ‘going elsewhere’ during sex while at work, which meant that it became almost automatic for her to do this while having sex in her relationship. This is classic mindlessness, and it is why mindfulness—the state of full awareness to the present moment in a kind and compassionate way— may be a tool for her to consider implementing.”

Mindfulness is the subject of Brotto’s new book, Better Sex Through Mindfulness: How Women Can Cultivate Desire.

“Mindfulness has a long history in Buddhist meditation, and it allowed

Dan Savage

monks to sit with their present experience, including pain and suffering, for hours or days—or sometimes weeks and months,” said Dr. Brotto. “In more recent years, mindfulness has been reconceptualized as a tool that anyone can use and benefit from. It doesn’t rely on having a Buddhist orientation or a cave to retreat to.”

So how does this ancient mindfulness stuff work where modern girlon-girl sex is concerned?

“The practice is simple,” said Brotto.

“It involves deliberately paying attention to sensations, sounds, and thoughts in the present moment— and noticing when the mind gets pulled elsewhere and then gently but firmly guiding it back. Mindfulness is also about not berating yourself for finding it challenging or judging yourself for the thoughts you have.”

In her practice, Dr. Brotto has seen research subjects successfully use mindfulness to cultivate and/or reignite sexual desire, calm anxiety, and relieve the awkwardness and fear that some people experience with sex.

“Suffice it to say,” she said, “there is an impressive body of research that supports the practice of mindful sex, and people who otherwise may believe that their minds are incapable of staying still can effectively learn to fully engage their attention to sex and the person(s) with whom they are having sex. It doesn’t matter if you are skeptical about whether mindfulness works or not—if you are willing to learn the skills and apply it to sex, you’re likely to benefit.”

And if you’re nervous or scared that it won’t work or that you’ll never reconnect sexually with your girlfriend, SORD, Brotto wants you to know that those feelings are perfectly normal.

“The uncertainty surrounding what will happen when they try to reintegrate sex can be terrifying for some couples,” said Brotto. “What if it doesn’t work? What if neither of them has desire? What if the sex is just plain bad? If SORD and her partner are worrying about the anticipated sex, or even catastrophizing over it—a jargony term meaning they imagine it ending in disaster—that can make it damn near impossible to remain in the present.

The good news is that mindfulness can help with the tendency to get lost on the thought train.”

So here’s what you’re going to do, SORD: Order a copy of Dr. Brotto’s new book and read it with your girlfriend. And while you wait for the book to arrive, you’re going to try a mindful touching exercise called “sensate focus.”

“She will invite her girlfriend to touch her from head to toe, minus the genitals, for 15 minutes—without the goal of triggering arousal or desire,” said Brotto. “SORD’s role is to pay attention to the sensations emerging, and curtail any thoughts by redirecting attention to the here and now. And relax. After 15 minutes, they switch roles

so SORD becomes the giver and her girlfriend is the receiver. This is not foreplay. It is not manual sexual stimulation. It is a mindfulness exercise designed to teach a person to remain in the present while receiving sensual touch.”

There are solo mindfulness exercises, SORD, and some good, commercially available apps out there that can walk you through them. But if your goal is reconnecting with your girlfriend, Brotto strongly recommends that you two work on mindfulness together.

“My view is that a couple-based mindfulness exercise like sensate focus will get them to their goal of mind-blowing, mind-knowing sex,” said Brotto.

Follow Dr. Brotto on Twitter @ DrLoriBrotto.

CONFIDENTIAL TO AMERICAN CITIZENS EVERYWHERE: Furious about Brett Kavanaugh? Me, too.

That’s why I donated to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Our only hope of protecting a woman’s right to choose, voting rights, LGBTQ rights, the environment, organized labor—our only hope for blocking Trump’s anti-everyone-and-everything agenda—is to take back the US House and Senate this November. If the Democrats control the House come January (which looks likely), they can impeach Kavanaugh; if they control the Senate come January (a longer shot but within reach), they can put Kavanaugh on trial—and that means a full investigation into all the allegations against him, including the numerous ways in which he perjured himself during his confirmation hearings. It would take a two-thirds majority in the Senate to convict and remove Kavanaugh, and Dems likely won’t take that many seats—but if a trial uncovers proof that Kavanaugh committed the crimes he’s been accused of and lied to Congress, perhaps enough Republicans can be shamed into voting to remove him. (Republicans feeling shame? That may be the longest of long shots.) Go to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee website (dscc.org), click “contribute,” and give what you can.

CONFIDENTIAL TO CANADIAN STUDENTS IN ONTARIO: Thank you for walking out of your classrooms to protest the scrapping of Ontario’s sex-ed curriculum

by Doug Ford, your newish (and thuggish) premier. Every student deserves an up-to-date sexual education that covers reproduction, pleasure, consent, tech, sexting, sexual abuse, and LGBTQ issues.

Watching students stand up against Ford’s reactionary, bigoted, sexnegative assholery has been truly inspiring. Keep it up!

If you or your organization would like to receive five or more copies of the print version of VUEWEEKLY call us at 780.426.1996 and we’ll deliver them to you every Thursday.

On the Lovecast, are sugar babies sex workers?: savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage on Twitter ITFMA.org

VUEWEEKLY.com | OCT 4 - OCT 10, 2018

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JONESIN’ CROSSWORD

Matt Jones

“Gimme One Vowel”--and the rest, consonants.

Across

1 Beetle variety 5 Did some community theater, say 10 “Ben-Hur” novelist Wallace 13 Its state song is the creatively titled “The Song of [that state]” 14 Potato often used for fries 16 Spot in la mer 17 Starting at the beginning 19 Element #50 20 “For rent,” in other, shorter words 21 Want ad palindrome 22 Tater ___ 23 1920s mobster who mainly worked in bootlegging and numbers rackets 28 Aries symbol 31 Tie type 32 Voicemail sound 33 All excited 35 What the “J” in TMJ doesn’t stand for 36 German submarine 39 Find a way to make things happen 43 Doctor’s directive 44 Traveling through 45 Like, making your mind blown 46 Obnoxious kid 48 Full pairing?

50 Some NCAA players 51 With “The,” fantasy video game series including “Oblivion” and “Skyrim” 55 Actress Whitman of “Parenthood” 56 Shepherd’s pie tidbit 57 Topple 61 The O. Henry ___-Off 62 “Yeah, pretty unlikely” 66 Jay Presson Allen play about Capote 67 Will’s concern 68 Ireland, in Ireland 69 Thanksgiving dinner item 70 Industrial city of the Ruhr Valley 71 Kit piece

Down

1 Prepare flour for baking 2 Bull, in Bilbao 3 Gone wrong?

22 at the back

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Electra is an action-packed story written by ancient Greek playwright Sophocles. It features epic characters taking drastic action in response to extreme events. In contrast to that text is Marcel Proust’s novel In Search of Lost Time, which draws from the sensitive author’s experiences growing up, coming of age, and falling in love, all the while in quest for meaning and beauty. Author Virginia Woolfe compared the two works, writing, “In six pages of Proust we can find more complicated and varied emotions than in the whole of the Electra.” In accordance with astrological omens, I recommend that you specialize in the Proustian mode rather than the Sophoclean. Your feelings in the next five weeks could be as rich and interesting and educational as they have been in a long time. Honour them.

4 Played in Las Vegas 5 Trajectory influenced by gravity 6 Dog, unkindly 7 Gatekeeping org.?

8 “Melrose Place” actor Rob 9 Boil down 10 Kiddos 11 Playwright T.S. 12 Fall Out Boy bassist Pete 15 Words after “on” or “by” 18 Ticket remainder 24 Japanese general of WWII 25 Casino delicacy?

26 In any way 27 Without being asked 28 Does 2 Chainz’s job 29 Freebie at a Mexican restaurant 30 Element #42 (which for some reason isn’t in as many puzzles as, say, 19-Across) 34 Fierce look 37 Antiquing material 38 Cocoa amts.

40 Permanent marker brand 41 Grain-storage building 42 Like Boban Marjanovic 47 Blood-sucking African fly 49 Musical ligature 51 Like new vacuum bags 52 Michelle’s predecessor 53 Throws, as dice 54 1994 movie mainly set on a bus 58 Start to awaken 59 Hosiery shade 60 The other side 63 Small batteries 64 Sault ___ Marie, Mich.

65 Bill of Rights count ©2018 Jonesin’ Crosswords

FREEWILL ASTROLOGY

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Researchers in Maryland have created a new building material with a strength-to-weight ratio that’s eight times better than steel. It’s an effective insulator, and in some forms can be bent and folded. Best of all, it’s biodegradable and cost-effective.

The stuff is called nanowood, and is derived from lightweight, fast-growing trees like balsa. I propose that we make it your main metaphor for the foreseeable future. Why? Because I think you’re primed to locate or create your own version of a flexible, durable, robust building block.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The U.S. Secretary of Defense paid an official visit to Indonesia early this year. The government arranged for him to observe soldiers as they demonstrated how tough and well-trained they were. Some of the troops shimmied through broken glass, demolished bricks with their heads, walked through fire, and bit heads off snakes. I hope you won’t try stunts like that in the coming weeks, Gemini. It will be a favourable time for you to show off your skills and make strong impressions. You’ll be wise to impress important people with how creative and resourceful you are.

But there’s no need to try too hard or resort to exaggeration.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): i confess that i have a fuzzy self-image. With odd regularity, i don’t seem to know exactly what or who i am. For example, i sometimes think i’m so nice and polite that i need to toughen up.

But on other occasions i feel my views are so outrageous and controversial that i should tone myself down. Which is true?

Often, i even neglect to capitalize the word “i.” You have probably experienced some of this fuzziness, my fellow Cancerian.

But you’re now in a favourable phase to cultivate a more defini-

VUEWEEKLY.com | OCT 4 - OCT 10, 2018

tive self-image. Here’s a helpful tip: We Cancerians have a natural talent for inspiring people to love us. This ability will come in especially handy as we work on making an enduring upgrade from i to I. Our allies’ support and feedback will fuel our inner efforts to clarify our identity.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “I am a little afraid of love, it makes me rather stupid.” So said author Simone de Beauvoir in a letter she wrote to her lover, Nelson Algren. I’m happy to let you know, Leo, that during the next 12 months, love is likely to have the opposite effect on you. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, it will tend to make you smarter and more perceptive. To the degree that you expand your capacity for love, you will become more resilient and a better decision-maker. As you get the chance to express love with utmost skill and artistry, you will awaken dormant potentials, and boost your personal power.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Your theme in the coming weeks is the art of attending to details. But wait! I said “the art.” That means attending to details with panache, not with overly meticulous fussing. For inspiration, meditate on St. Francis Xavier’s advice, “Be great in little things.” And let’s take his thought a step further with a quote from author Richard Shivers: “Be great in little things, and you will be given opportunity to do big things.” Novelist Tom Robbins provides us with one more nuance: “When we accept small wonders, we qualify ourselves to imagine great wonders.”

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson offers this observation: “When you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. [But] the most successful people in life recognize that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation.” I think Tyson’s simple wisdom is exactly what you need to hear right now, Libra. You’re primed for a breakthrough in your ability to create your own fate.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Japanese entrepreneur Hiroki Terai has created a business that offers crying therapy. His clients watch short videos specially formulated to make them weep.

A professional helper is on hand to gently wipe their tears away and provide comforting words.

“Tears have relaxing and healing effects,” says an Okinawan musician who works as one of the helpers. Hiroki Terai adds, “It has been said that one drop of tear has the effect of relieving stress for a week.” I wish there were a

Rob Brezsny

service like this near where you live, Scorpio. The next two weeks will be a perfect time to relieve pent-up worry and sadness and anxiety through cathartic rituals like crying. What other strategies might work for you?

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Fling out friendly feelers. Sling out interesting invitations. Figure out how to get noticed for all the right reasons. Make yourself so interesting that no one can resist your proposals. Use your spunky riddle-solving powers to help ease your tribe’s anxieties. Risk looking odd if that will make you smarter. Plunk yourself down in pivotal places where vitality is welling up. Send out telepathic beams that say, “I’m ready for sweet adventure. I’m ready for invigorating transformation.”

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “Someone spoke to me last night, told me the truth,” writes poet Doeianne Laux. “I knew I should make myself get up, write it down, but it was late, and I was exhausted from working. Now I remember only the flavour.” I offer these thoughts, Capricorn, in the hope that they’ll help you avoid Laux’s mistake. I’m quite sure that crucial insights and revelations will be coming your way, and I want you to do whatever’s necessary to completely capture them so you can study and meditate on them at length.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): As a young man, Aquarian poet Louis Dudek struck up a correspondence with renowned poet Ezra Pound, who was 32 years older.

Dudek “admired him immensely,” and “loved him for the joy and the luminosity” of his poetry, but also resented him “for being so magnificent.” With a mix of mischief and adulation, Dudek wrote a poem to his hero. It included these lines: “For Christ’s sake, you didn’t invent sunlight. There was sun dazzle before you. But you talk as if you made light or discovered it.” I hope his frisky tone might inspire you to try something similar with your own idols. It would be healthy to be more playful and lighthearted about anything or anyone you take too seriously or give enormous power to.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In his book Till We Have Faces, C. S. Lewis writes, “Holy places are dark places. It is life and strength, not knowledge and words, that we get in them. Holy wisdom is not clear and thin like water, but thick and dark like blood.” In that spirit, and in accordance with astrological omens, I suggest you seek out dark holy places that evoke wonder and reverence, even awe. Hopefully, you will be inspired thereby to bring new beauty into your life. You’ll be purged of trivial concerns and become receptive to a fresh promise from your future life.

CURTIS HAUSER

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