I Heart Edmonton

Citadel Theatre By Emil Tiedemann Bernard Engel , of the University of Alberta’s Drama Department, starred in and directed the premiere of Edward Albee ’s timeless Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? during opening night on November 10, 1965, back when the Citadel Theatre was located in the now defunct Salvation Army citadel.  “The 277 theatre patrons who flinched in their new soft seats 50 seasons ago while George and Martha hammered each other ferociously onstage,” wrote the Edmonton Journal ’s Liz Nicholls in 2015, “were in on the birth of something big: a city-changer; the country’s biggest, most secretive, most splendidly appointed, most idiosyncratic regional theatre; a national cultural institution.”    Outside of the Citadel Theatre in downtown Edmonton. Of course, the audience had no idea at the time, but Edmonton-born Citadel founder Joseph “Broadway Joe” Shoctor (1922-2001) probably did. Known for his all-consuming and excessive leadership of ever...

Christmas in Edmonton By Emil Tiedemann My dad would run out into the living room in his pajamas to tell us to turn on the radio to 630 CHED whenever Jerry Forbes was about to come on with his heartwarming Christmas story, And a Creature Was Stirring .  Forbes wrote and narrated the piece himself - complete with sound effects like the crunching of snow under our feet and the bellows of excited young children - about a young man with “shoulder-length hair” and “a shaggy beard” who delivers donated gifts to underprivileged families in Edmonton.  Maisie's Magical Christmas House at 144 Avenue & 97 Street. The local radio host was inspired to write the story based on experiences from another one of his cherished projects, Santa’s Anonymous, which would provide donated Christmas toys and games to children who were less fortunate.  “Wouldn’t it be great if there would be no needy kids...and every kid had a present...not a used present...but a brand new pres...

Edmonton has learned to embrace its winter months with arms wide op en! by emil tiedemann W E tend to panic just a little bit as soon as October hits Edmonton, because we are all aware that that means we're headed into the season of scraping ice off of our windshields as we let our vehicles warm up.  All we can think of is cold and snowy conditions, even though that's not always the case for those winter months. Sometimes we get lucky, and our Edmonton winter is mild compared to previous seasons , such as last winter's unseaso nabl y warm temperatures. Wintertime in Edmonton is picturesque! However, no matter the conditions, there are those folks who just HATE winter in Edmonton! And it's for those people that I wanted to put together a list of reasons why they should actually look forward to these upcoming months. There's always a silver lining, after all.  So, without further ado, here are 1 1 reasons to look forward to winter (and the months pr...

Let " I Heart " guide you through the upcoming weekend... W ELL Edmonton, it's Thursday, which means that a new weekend is just around the corner! For those of you who work for the weekend, you might want to listen up...or read on, in this case. Here's some of the things that are going on this upcoming weekend (December 11th-13th): -The Avenue Theatre (9030-118 Ave.) is hosting the one night-only play Nik & Stu's Shittiest Christmas Ever on Friday, December 11th, at 9:00PM. Tickets for the 18+ show, which will feature musical guest The Dark Sand , are $12, and are available at the door. Call 780-477-2149 for more information. - Vancouver designers and siblings Jenna & Chandler Herbut are bringing their popular art/ craft/ fashion show, " Make It! The Handmade Revolution ," to Edmonton's Alberta Aviation Museum (11410 Kingsway Ave.), from December 11th-13th. Tickets are only $5. Click the link for hours and more information. -TV actor and m...