Archives
Who should fund the arts?
I emceed an event on June 5 that got me thinking about the ever-prickly question of funding for the arts. The event was the announcement of local recipients of grants from the Du Maurier Arts Council. I ended up emceeing because, well, someone had to do it, and they usually look for a local actor or performer of some stripe to do the honours. Apparently I was recommended. (Besides, it paid.) But I confess to certain moral qualms. Personally, nothing would make me happier than to see the habit of smoking vanish completely, along with all the tobacco companies that cater to it. Smoking is dangerous, nasty, unhealthy and antisocial. The mere sight of someone lighting up a cigarette causes me to ...Volunteers: vital to Canadian arts
When most people attend a performance of some kind, their attention is naturally focused on the performers--the people on stage singing or dancing or acting or reading from their novel or poetry collection. And that's all well and good--those people worked hard to get there--but there's another group of people that work just as hard behind the scenes for almost any type of performance you can name: volunteers. I've been thinking about the importance of volunteers to the arts for some time. Maybe it's because this year I've been serving on two boards of directors for two different arts organizations: the Regina Lyric Light Opera Society and the Saskatchewan Writers Guild. And as we discuss the ...The Saskatchewan Film Pool: bringing filmmakers together
It's not easy being an independent filmmaker. Of all the art forms, film is one of the most expensive, requiring specialized equipment and facilities. But filmmaking is like any other complicated endeavor: it gets easier when you pool resources with other individuals involved in the same pursuit. That's the philosophy behind the Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative. Much like the Neutral Ground Gallery, which I wrote about a few weeks ago, it's a non-profit, artist-run centre. It provides workshops, equipment and funding to independent filmmakers across Saskatchewan, and through its monthly bulletin, Infoshot, and its three-times-a-year magazine Splice, helps build a sense of community. Shane Eason, member services coordinator for the Filmpool, says the cooperative currently has ...In defense of sweetness and light
It's Christmas, a time many people claim to dread because of what they might call "sappy" music, or "sickly-sweet" sentiment, or "corny" expressions of goodwill and happiness. For some reason, there are critics--a majority of them, I sometimes think--who believe art is only worthwhile if it's "edgy" or "dark" or "explores the seamy underbelly of life." To which I reply, "Bah! Humbug!" Oh, I'll be the first to admit we need art and music and books and movies and television shows of the dark, edgy persuasion--but I refuse to discount the art and music and books and movies and television shows that show us a happier view of the universe in the bargain. People ...Surprised by joy
South of Saskatoon on Highway 11, just before you dip into the valley where Mt. Blackstrap rears its not-so-lofty peak, there's a bit of a rise. I've driven over it many times this summer, as I head back and forth to Rosthern to appear in the musical Tent Meeting at the Rosthern Station Arts Centre. I always enjoy the view from the top of that rise, but this last time was something special. Clouds cast dark gray shadows along the horizon and obscured most of the sky, but in places they were rent with tears edged silver by the sun. Between two clouds, a shaft of light slanted down onto the prairie, lighting a patch of ...The Harry Potter books: more than the sum of their hype
I'd be a pretty poor excuse for an arts columnist this week if I didn't say something about Harry Potter. Harry Potter, for those who have been living in an isolation tank for the past few months, is the young wizard protagonist of a series of children's books by J. K. Rowling, which are selling in unprecedented numbers. The enormous success of the series is, in my view, well-deserved. The fact that there are other books that deserve similar success and haven't gotten it doesn't detract from the fact that the Harry Potter books are very good books that I recommend whole-heartedly to everyone. Not all commentators feel the same. Among the more prominent dissenters ...Write what you know?
"Write what you know" is one of those tiresome bits of advice that beginning writers are forever having thrown at them. As a science fiction writer, I've always rejected this particular maxim out of hand, because, after all, I've never been a homeless street musician who ends up sharing a cheap hotel room with an eight-tentacled orange alien, but that's how my novel Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star begins. If I limited myself to writing what I know, I always figured, I'd be stuck writing about the life of a freelance writer and actor in Regina, Saskatchewan, which, while it is not without interest, is never going to win me that Hugo Award I'd so dearly ...Do It With Class Young People’s Theatre Co.
There are a lot of talented young people in Regina. Some of the most talented will be on stage this week and next, as Do It With Class Young People's Theatre Inc. presents two musicals, Two Gentlemen of Verona and Alice in Wonderland. Do It With Class, now in its seventh season, began with just 10 young people between the ages of 10 and 13. Now, artistic director Andorlie Hillstrom says, close to 100 kids are involved, divided into senior and junior musical theatre and dance companies. Musical theatre auditions are held in June and dance auditions in September of each year. Performances are held throughout the year--Do It With Class kids have performed for everything ...Composer David McIntyre
Regina composer David McIntyre, whose first symphony was premiered by the Regina Symphony Orchestra February 12, set his sights high from the moment he began writing tunes. David, who is originally from Calgary, started piano lessons with his uncle when he was four. "I heard my uncle talk about the big names, like Mozart and Beethoven, so I just pretended I was one of those people who wrote the music he played." He would make up a tune, then ask his mother if it was "Beethoven, Mozart or McIntyre." Throughout high school David wrote songs for his church choir and other groups of singers; then he went on to study at the University of Calgary and ...Alison Lohans
When Regina author Alison Lohans was four, she spent hours pretending to read to her little sister. At five, she discovered that just because you stop dreaming when you wake up, the dreams don't have to end: she'd lie awake continuing the dreams in her head. When she was seven, her father let her use the typewriter, and she began putting the stories that were in her head on paper. At eight, she started writing a book. And when she was nine, she began to think, "Wouldn't it be neat to be a writer?" Today, Alison continues to spin out her dreams and put them on paper, sharing them with readers of all ages. To date, ...
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Magebane
“Spectacular” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Evil wizards, multi-level conspiracies, hidden kingdoms…Lee Arthur Chane…has done a marvelous job…Magebane is a very entertaining book and well worth the time.” – A.M. Donovan, Night Owl Reviews
I happily recommend Magebane and I’ll certainly give Chane’s next novel a try based on this one.” —Bill Capossere, Fantasy Literature
“…an original and delightful tale of epic fantasy and magic, steampunk science, adventure, tragedy, and love…” – Errant Dreams Reviews
Eight centuries ago, the world changed. A devastating war swept the lands, and the MageLords, who had long ruled by virtue of their spell powers, were driven to a distant place, separated from those they had ruled by a magical Barrier. With magic banished from the rest of the world, the MageLords became mere legend and people turned to science to improve their lives. But if one man has his way, all that is about to change….
Written as Lee Arthur Chane (the middle names of my older brothers, Jimmy Lee and Dwight Arthur, and myself, Edward Chane Willett).
Marseguro
Winner of the 2009 Prix Aurora Award for Best Long-Form Work in English
Water world Marseguro is home to the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from human DNA. When an unmodified human seeks revenge on a Selkie by activating a distress beacon taken from the remains of the original colony ship, a strikeforce is sent from Earth to eradicate the genetic abomination. Yet Marseguro will not prove as easy to conquer as the Earth force anticipates…
Terra Insegura
Finalist for the 2010 Prix Aurora Award for Best Novel in English
Marseguro, a water world far from Earth, is home to a colony of humans and the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from modified human DNA. For seventy years the colony has lived in peace. Then Earth discovers Marseguro, and a strike force is sent to eradicate this “abomination.” But Marseguro has created a genetically tailored plague to use against Earth’s Holy Warriors. With the enemy defeated, the people of Marseguro feel they are safe. But Chris Keating, the traitor who signaled Marseguro’s location to the Holy Warriors, has fled to Earth, unknowingly carrying the deadly plague within him. The people of Marseguro feel they must send a ship to Earth with a life-saving vaccine. Only time will tell what awaits them when they reach their destination.
Lost in Translation
Kathryn was a human empath whose world and life had been destroyed when the alien S’sinn slaughtered her parents before her very eyes. Jarrikk was a young S’sinn, an unproven warrior who’d seen his flight mates slaughtered by the humans who’d sought to colonize his world.
As humans and S’sinn found themselves on the brink of war, these two Translators had to work together to find a common ground and avert catastrophe. But whether their Translators’ oath and training could overcome the enemies leagued against them was very much in doubt…
Archives
Song of the Sword
My new YA fantasy novel from Lobster Press
Before the Lady called her, Ariane’s life was a mess. Two years ago, her mother disappeared. She bounced around different foster homes until her aunt finally took her in. The meanest clique at her new high school has decided to make Ariane their prime target. And to top it all off, she is having frightening premonitions, and they are becoming more intense. The moment water touches her skin, she sees visions of a lake, a lady, and a sword. When a staircase opens up in the middle of Wascana Lake and the water begins singing to her, she has no choice but to answer the call….
Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw
Ten walks to points of historic and architectural interest in the cities of Regina and Moose Jaw (eight walks for Regina, two for Moose Jaw).
Johnny Cash: The Man in Black
When country music legend Johnny Cash took the stage at Folsom State Prison in 1968, he solidified the public’s perception of him as a rebel who followed his own path. Born in Arkansas during the Great Depression, Cash endured poverty, the death of his older brother, and a difficult relationship with his father. He turned to gospel and country music to express the pain, and after many years of struggling, his songs of hardship and hope would finally reach the ears of those waiting for an artist who represented them, ordinary people fighting to survive.
Andy Warhol: Everyone Will Be Famous for 15 Minutes
“Paintings are too hard. Machines have less problems…” In the 1960s, Andy Warhol became the most famous creator of a new style of art called pop art, which transformed mass-produced items of popular culture into fine works of art. From Campbell’s Soup cans to photographs of Marilyn Monroe, Warhol’s willingness to use anything and everything from the mass media in his work expanded the range of subject matter available to artists. His avant-garde films, artistic usage of American icons, and unconventional social life made him a controversial figure, both greatly admired and deeply reviled. A trendsetter rather than a trend-follower, a dispassionate observer of both the seamy and celebrity sides of life, Warhol was a true American rebel.
Disease-Hunting Scientist
The true stories of six real disease hunters. Epidemiologists travel the world trying to keep us safe from deadly diseases—from high-tech labs in Canada to remote villages in Africa. Learn how these “disease detectives” are coming up with new ways to fight disease, and find out if you have what it takes to become an epidemiologist, too!
The Bounty Mutiny
The Bounty was a British ship visiting Tahiti in 1789 when some of the crew overthrew the captain, William Bligh, and set him adrift in a tiny boat with sailors loyal to him. The mutiny resulted in a number of trials–both of the men who mutinied and of Bligh for losing command of his ship. These fascinating events have been the source for numerous Hollywood movies, most recently The Bounty. The Bounty Mutiny: From the Court Case to the Movie explores the famous case and the movies it inspired.
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