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The Good Will Social Club :: Pizza, beer, coffee and music

photo Sam Katz
photo Sam Katz

by Jillian Groening

Rising up from the ashes of venues past comes your new favourite hangout spot.

Sitting at the end of the über-cool Sherbrook strip, on the crossroads of West Broadway, the West End and the University of Winnipeg lies The Good Will Social Club. With those dreamy salvaged Lo Pub ceiling tiles above the bar and the city’s best sound guy manning the board, it was destined to be a Winnipeg institution well before the gender-neutral bathrooms were installed. The only thing missing is a pole in the middle of the stage. Continue reading “The Good Will Social Club :: Pizza, beer, coffee and music”

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Last Ditch on the Left :: Eyes & ears on the road ahead

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by Sheldon Birnie

Consider, for just a moment, Winnipeg’s music scene as something of a forest. You have gnarled old veterans and spry young saplings growing side-by-side, competing for light and resources, yet also dependent on each other for survival in the ecosystem web. With Last Ditch on the Left, a duo made up of Brent Warren and Kerri Stephens, you have a bit of both. Each are veterans in their own right. But the project is something new for each of them. A truly collaborative work, Last Ditch on the Left builds off of their previous musical lives while bringing something fresh and new into the world. Like when you see a budding young pine tree growing from the stump of an old oak or out of the a felled length of birch. With the release of their debut, self-titled record coming up this weekend, Brent and Kerri took the time recently to chat with Stylus about Last Ditch on the Left, and what it takes to make raw, honest music without regard to commercial success. Continue reading “Last Ditch on the Left :: Eyes & ears on the road ahead”

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Fear of Music :: Time’s Up for Creeps, Abusers and Sexist Jerks

 

illustration by Tiff Bartel
illustration by Tiff Bartel

by Jenny Henkelman

I started writing this piece on October 23, when things seemed so much simpler. Back then, I thought CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi was just a garden-variety creep, not a serial abuser. As Melissa Martin so brilliantly elucidated in her Nothing in Winnipeg post on the subject, those of us in music/CBC circles Knew About Jian, even if we didn’t know about the alleged punching, choking and rape.

If Jian seems like an outlier, a rare case of narcissism and misogyny enabled over decades with devastating results, I’m here to tell you you’re wrong. Rare is the man with the kind of fame and power Jian had, but abusers like Jian exist everywhere. And they definitely exist in our music scene. Continue reading “Fear of Music :: Time’s Up for Creeps, Abusers and Sexist Jerks”

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Mo Kenney :: Nova Scotia guitar slinger can’t stop, won’t stop

Mo Kenney

by Matt Williams

It’s a late October, rainy blue Monday afternoon and Mo Kenney is sipping butternut squash soup and a glass of Amsterdam Blonde in Toronto’s Kensington Market. It’s the first chance she’s had to catch her breath since landing late Sunday night, throwing some new strings on her beautiful old Hensel Parlor acoustic, and falling into bed. Since she woke up this morning, she’s been to Exclaim! Magazine, Global Toronto, Music Canada, and The Verge. In just a couple hours, she’ll fly back to Nova Scotia where she’s doing a hometown set for Halifax Pop Explosion the nextday, making her visit to the Big Smoke just less than 24 hours. It’s the type ofschedule sure to make the average person tired, flustered, irritable, or any number of unpleasant dispositions. But Mo Kenney is not the average person. Continue reading “Mo Kenney :: Nova Scotia guitar slinger can’t stop, won’t stop”

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Greek Riots :: Greeking Out About Their Band

greekriots

by Kaitlyn Emslie-Farrell

Greek Riots, not to be confused with the riots in Greece, are one of our very own local indie-rock bands of Winnipeg. Originally intending to start a solo project, Jacques Richer was chatting with his buddy Duncan Murta and well, it just happened. They threw together some rough demos and submitted to The Uniter Fiver. Upon hearing that they were in, they scrounged for some more dudes to play the other instruments typically found in a band and bam! Greek Riots now also includes Breandan Flynn, Mack Hatcher and Seamus Hamilton-Pattison. Continue reading “Greek Riots :: Greeking Out About Their Band”