I Heart Edmonton

Ever wondered who local singer Christian Hansen's man crush was, or perhaps what his guiltiest of guilty pleasures is? Me neither, but you're about to find out... BY EMIL TIEDEMANN Christian Hansen, who in 2009 won an award for  Support Worker of the Year from the Autism Society of Edmonton.  Hansen was selected for his work with and awareness for autism and other diseases " I 'M glad to see they responded to the obvious shortage by opening a donair shop where Megatunes used to be." That was the first Twitter update I read when I clicked the "Follow" button on Christian Hansen & the Autistics ' page. In those 20 words I got a pretty good sense of what kind of guy Hansen, smirk and all, is. Well, the 20 questions he answered for 'I ♥ E' below kinda helped, too. Hansen, frontman and one third of the local "dazzle of disco mixed with the immediacy of punk rock" musicianship, seems to have his nose to the ground when i...

Visionary independent musician festival shakes up Old Strathcona, exposing 150 of the most talented artists of our thriving music scene BY EMIL TIEDEMANN I N a town synonymous with a rich festival legacy, virgin events better have the chutzpah to garner any real recognition or relevance to stand out from the crowded surplus of summertime goings-on in Edmonton. By all accounts, the maiden SOS (Sounds of Old Strathcona) Music Festival did just that. Without a hitch, no! But the 3-day Whyte Avenue extravaganza was a definite triumph for its organizers, the artists, the venues, and the thousands of local and not-so-local patrons who took in the 150+ shows from July 9-11 . Last Friday (July 9) was the kickoff of the first-ever SOS Fest, when acts like Captain Tractor , Ann Vriend , Ten Second Epic , Mustard Smile , and Politic Live blistered huddled barrooms and cramped lounges with the best indie music this province has to offer. The following morning (July 10), I arrived on the infamou...

The Internet claims another victim, as low sales leads to the closure of the Megatunes indie record chain BY EMIL TIEDEMANN E VERY Thursday Vue Weekly publishes the twenty albums most popular with customers of the local Megatunes record shop. By the end of the summer season, this tradition will cease. Our province's solitary indie record chain announced earlier this week that it's closing both of its stores, one located on Calgary's 17th Street S.W., and the other here on Whyte Ave. According to Edmonton manager Dave Gawdunyk , the reasoning behind the closure doesn't fall back on the Whyte Avenue branch, which is apparently still "very viable," but rather due to slumping sales in the Calgary store. But, "If you're an independent business," said Gawdunyk, "you need both stores to do well--and in Calgary, there's been a drop-off in sales. It's like one hand clapping, right? You need both to coexist." Megatunes open...

"Edmonton" (2008) by The Rural Alberta Advantage A LTHOUGH the Rural Alberta Advantage are based out of Toronto you wouldn't know it by skimming the back of their (so far) only CD Hometowns , which is made up of titles like "The Dethbridge in Lethbridge," "Frank, AB," and of course, "Edmonton." In fact, there's no evidence of their Eastern residence anywhere on the CD, including in their own name. Singer-guitarist Nils Edenloff explained that "the majority of the songs tend to be based around my experiences and memories from growing up in Alberta. In a way I guess they are homesick love songs," he continued. "I moved to Toronto a couple of years ago, as did several of my close friends from high school, and it was funny how being from Alberta was something we really took pride in. It took being away from it to remember all the things that we loved about growing up there." Edenloff founded this grassroots trio of homes...