Review: Wildlives, by Monique Proulx

By Jessica Rose

Set against the landscape of the Laurentians, Monique Proulx’s latest novel, Wildlives, is called Champagne in French, simply meaning “countryside.” It’s a fitting title for a book that Proulx calls a “tribute” to nature.
“We owe a lot to those peaceful and healing places around us,” she told a crowd of about 100 earlier [...]

Review – Why We Tortured Him

Why We Tortured Him: A Meditation on the Nature of Human Violence by Sky Gilbert is well worth seeing. The acting is superb, the writing powerful, and the journey worthwhile.

Review: The Hood, the Bad and the Ugly

A review of the artist’s talk on “The Hood, the Bad and the Ugly” at you me gallery, August 20, 2009.

Review: Can the arts save Hamilton?

By Amy Kenny
Perhaps the tagline for April’s Thursday Night Talk at the Art Gallery of Hamilton should have been Can the Arts Save Hamilton…From Itself?
The April 23rd panel, moderated by Terry Cooke, consisted of Jeremy Freiburger (founder of the Imperial Cotton Centre for the Arts), Jacqueline Norton (Manager of the Hamilton Film & Television Office), [...]

Theatre review: Tobacco Troubadour

Tobacco Troubadour sampler
By Amy Kenny
The first time Ron Weihs heard J.P. Riemens play his brand of Canadian roots rock, he saw the stories of Riemens’ songs unfold in front of him like the acts of a play.
This spring, Weihs put those stories to the stage when he penned and directed Tobacco Troubadour. Based [...]

Lit review – Driven by Chris Pannell

By Jessica Rose
“I am driving a school bus/ through an Alex Colville painting,” Chris Pannell writes in the first sentence of Drive, his most recent poetry collection. “The moon is setting after a full night of wrecking sleep.”
This is just the first of many journeys Pannell takes us on. The book offers a candid look [...]

Lit review: Rebecca Rosenblum’s Once

By Jessica Rose
Having lived in Hamilton for almost a year now, listening to local music, eating local food, and viewing local art, I thought it was time to do something I’ve been meaning to do for quite awhile — read local authors. Rebecca Rosenblum’s 2008 debut, a collection of short stories titled Once (stories), seemed [...]

Food review: Tapestry Bistro

By Karen Burson
The dining space occupied by Tapestry Bistro is a refection of the rough n’ ready yet sweet character of the building’s inviting exterior. The details of the converted former hydro station make the space feel by turns romantic and utilitarian. Warm brick and wrought iron, soaring ceilings and curved lines all combine to [...]