For most of us, square dancing brings back uncomfortable recollections of gym classes, where, clad in gym shorts and T-shirts, we would stand awkwardly and worry about sweaty palms, waiting for the P.E. teacher to press play on the cassette player.
Old-time string duet Sheesham and Lotus are looking to change that by holding the first of what they hope to be a series of square dances this Saturday night on Wolfe Island.

When orchestrating the details of a group exhibit, a curator will often find him or herself overwhelmed with the endless possibilities of creative show-naming. An imaginative title could be evocative of substance, medium, and art form, or a vague connection between underlying themes intent on reiterating a not-so-subtle concept. Or it could just be catchy.

The 2007 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival is now officially over. Paris Hilton is safely out of the country and the most exciting thing going on in the Canadian film world is once again Ryan Reynolds. There’s nothing more left for me to do but wrap up my coverage of the festival and also my career at the Journal. Bad news for me, because I’ll have no one left to publish my rants about movies, but good news for you because you’ll never again have to read them. Stay classy, Queen’s.

I guess I would be considered an installation artist. I use a lot of paper-based materials, and text, video and sound. I really like wood and fabric too but I haven’t been using that lately which is based on the fact that I don’t currently have a studio.

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) kicked off last week, bringing some of the best and worst films of 2007 to Canada for a paparazzi-saturated celebration of cinema. This is the first entry in a two-part series of reviews of some of the films featured in this year’s fest. I saw them so that you didn’t have to suffer through the misery of doing so and, man, was it ever tough.

A few blocks north of Princess, on a street with no sidewalks and cracked pavement, a massive brick building stands in a romantic state of decay. It’s a space where it’s easy to imagine the ghosts of the past standing near, in a somehow more authentic way than Kingston’s history usually delivers.

Fresh off the stages of this year’s Hillside, Virgin Fest and Osheaga, Dragonette roar into Kingston on Saturday.
The pop-electronica band is the love-child of musicians and married couple Martina Sorbara and Dan Kurtz, who play alongside friends Joel Stouffer on guitar and Will Stapleton on drums.

A nation doesn’t need UN approval to be recognized as a country or to recruit citizens. Nomadsland and The State of Sabotage, two micro-nations, loosely defined as multidisciplinary art projects, have been recruiting citizens since 2003 and have come to Kingston to find more open-minded participants.

The lead character in Eagle vs. Shark works at a fast food chain that boasts a “crazy burger”—bun in the middle, sandwiched between two hamburger patties. The film itself is a something of a crazy burger.

The saddest part about Clark Hall Pub’s indefinite closure on June 29 is the sudden loss of one of the few on-campus venues for musicians to play, said Andrew Pasco, Sci ’06 and Clark’s former marketing and entertainment director. Former mangers and staff of Clark Hall Pub aren’t the only ones left high and dry. Pasco said that, after initial EngSoc e-mail dismissing staff, he could no longer access the Clark e-mail account and was therefore unable to contact bands and artists who he’d set up shows with.

For those who feel Kingston is missing out on Canada’s independent music boom, the organizers behind the Apple Crisp music series have a remedy: create a space where musicians of all ages can play and listen to Kingston-based and national bands, enlist an army of the community’s music-lovers with website, promotional and writing skills, top it off with organic and local desserts like apple crisp and repeat every Tuesday.

When the New Pornographers announced they were releasing a new album, I expected, and hoped for, another Twin Cinema. Upon first listen, Challengers left me cold—it was too distant, too sad, too aged.

An intimate story about five women in Calgary during World War II may seem local in scope, but John Murrel’s play, Waiting for the Parade, speaks about survival and human relationships on many levels, although it’s not until the end of the play that its full depth sinks in.

Ideas about how humans self-identify and interact with each other are far from new, but changes in technology, travel and economies have drawn new attention to these questions.
An exhibit on display at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre aims to contribute to the conversation through a group show called “Crowd Conscious.”

Metric wants university students to sit up and take notice, or so it would seem. The indie-rock darlings are playing the annual Queen’s Frosh Week concert as part of a string of seven university Orientation Week concerts in less than two weeks.

Music From Regions Beyond is an appropriate title for Tiger Army’s new album. With Music, Tiger Army realize their desire to dabble in the world of rock outside of psychobilly, an experiment only hinted at in their last album’s flirtation with blues and country.

The worst-kept secret of Kingston music events will be taking place next weekend, as the Wolfe Island Music Festi rolls into its ninth year.
The music festival started as an informal concert and party between friends on the docks of Wolfe Island, founded by island resident Sarah McDermott.