Thursday, January 24
Dean Brody, Small Town Pistols
McPherson Playhouse, $29.50, 8 pm
We live near a gun range. The family likes to go for walks through the forest trails, one of which puts us directly behind any number of different weapons banging and powing at targets behind a fenced perimeter. A week ago we managed to hear a woodpecker amidst all the shots. It was amazing to see this beautiful bird so close to us, completely oblivious to the kerfuffle happening some 30 feet away.
Saturday, January 26
DJ TechCows, DJ Miami Nights 1984
Castle Video Bar (at Paul’s Motor Inn), $10, 9 pm
My second car was a front-wheel drive 1979 Oldsmobile Tornado with a V8 engine that my dad decided to get painted black. Somehow it got the nickname “Death” from one of my friends and it just happened to stick. In the winter I’d pack the car full of buddies to go cause some sort of ruckus. More than a few times we ended up just finding an empty parking lot and doing donuts. I always liked to practice what I called “The Miami Vice.” Pin it in reverse, spin around 180 degrees, and slam it into drive. Maybe that’s why that car caught fire a few months later.
Saturday, January 26
AK-47, Alcoholic White Trash, Car 87, Orange Krush
Logan’s Pub, $10, 9:30 pm
I was always more of a C-Plus guy. Not my grades, those were mostly above average, but I liked the fact that C-Plus tasted more like fizzy juice than actual pop. Grape Crush, on the other hand, was great! Once, one of my friends thought it would be a good idea to try snorting a Slurpee. It might have been grape. He said something about experiencing “true brain freeze” before screaming in excruciating pain.
Sunday, January 27
Whitehorse, Daniel Romano
Upstairs Cabaret, $25, 7 pm
Growing up in the Yukon was a blessing. It’s amazing how wide open and free the wilderness was to explore. You really had to enjoy winter though. If you don’t like cold, snow, darkness, or any combination of those things, then most of the time the Yukon is not for you. It’s funny what becomes normal when you really don’t know anything else. Going to school when it’s dark as night and coming out in the afternoon to the same amount of light could really mess with some folks.
Friday, February 1
Blackalicious, DJ Anger, The Cold Residents, Skulastic
Sugar Nightclub, $24, 9 pm
What is it about some flavours that just make people cringe? I am not a fan of black licorice, in any form. I think I might’ve tried a flaming Ouzo shot once, but that pretty much shut the door on any other attempts to try anything even remotely related to black licorice flavouring. Give me a regular cherry Twizzler any day. Hell, I love almost any of those ludicrous flavours of licorice: blue, pink, yellow, but if you try to sneak black in there, forget about it.
Friday and Saturday, February 1 and 2
The Gettin’ Higher Choir, Holly Arntzen and Kevin Wright
Alix Goolden Hall, $20, 7 pm
One of the older skateboarders in Whitehorse had a VW van that we’d pile into for random missions into the bush. I think it was one day on the way home with another older kid that I had my first cigarette. It was an Export ‘A’ that used to come in the green package. They were “green death” for a reason. After the unbelievable head rush that I experienced, I probably should have just left well enough alone. It took me 10 years and three attempts to quit. I was dumber than I thought back then.
Tuesday, February 5
Built To Spill, Finn Riggins
Sugar Nightclub, $26, 8 pm
Pushing mongo sucks. Don’t do it. Friends don’t let friends push mongo. If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, you probably push mongo. Heal yourself. Fix it. Google what I’m talking about and then never again allow it to happen. It’s a terrible epidemic that has taken over many forms of skateboarding in the past dozen years. But it is preventable. Only you can prevent mongo pushing. Give a hoot! Don’t push mongo!