JAZZ
Jazz and pizza, together at last
Newly-renovated, the highway-side G and P Steakhouse and Pizza has branched out from its usual hearty fare, and now offers hearty fare with jazz. All weekend, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., catch local piano virtuoso Grant Simpson team up with bassists Anne Turner and Jon Heaton, providing a classy, relaxed respite from the unbridled madness of Rendezvous.
Reservations are recommended.
RENDEZVOUS
Buttermilk rivals
Your morning appetite will be actively sought by not one, but two rival Rendezvous pancake breakfasts. The Knights of Columbus promise “lots of sticky syrup,” while the Rotarians have simply advertised “Pancake Breakfast!!!”.
When men were men, and women couldn’t vote
A Sam has already been selected, but the reigning Yukon Queen is yet to be crowned. On Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Rendezvous Tent, seven contenders will walk in, but only one true Queen will emerge as the ultimate personification of girdled, restrained 19th-century femininity.
Deliverance
At 11 a.m. on Saturday outside the Rendezvous tent, catch the cryptically named Family Wilderness Survival Contest. Six families are given some wood, a kettle, a match and some water. The first family to bring their water to a boil wins.
Learning to boil water over a fire is important, especially as blackouts become increasingly au couture. Suspiciously sponsored by Yukon Energy.
Ol’ ball and chain
In Viking raids, a necessary skill was the ability to beat a quick retreat while hoisting a newly plundered wife over one’s shoulder. Thus the historical roots of Rendezvous’ newest event: the wife-carrying championships. Four different styles of wife carrying are typically used (including Estonian style, where the wife is dangled upside down on the carrier’s back.
In a nod to modernity, either men or women can be among the carried, provided they weigh at least 100 lbs.
Brass balls, brass bands
A good selection of flown-in military bands smatter Rendezvous events, including the Royal Canadian Artillery Band, the Naden Band and the Naden band’s various jazz and rock incarnations.
AVAILABLE LIGHT
Saturday morning cartoons
For only $3, pack the kids into the Yukon Arts Centre for a Saturday morning lineup of cartoons uniquely devoid of coyotes and rabbits making liberal use of high explosives.
Yukon director Daniel Janke’s How People Got Fire balances live action and animation, telling the story of a young girl’s journey, set against a traditional tale originally told by Kitty Smith of the Kwanlin Dun First Nation.
Wapos Bay follows three Cree children in Northern Saskatchewan balancing the demands of modern life with their traditional roots.
Leon in Wintertime, a Quebecois film, is a medieval tale of a runaway bear, charmingly brought to life through puppet animation.
Cartoons starts at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday at the Yukon Arts Centre.
Sacriligial-tastic
Brighten up your Saturday afternoon with a screening of Bill Maher’s Religulous, a humorous globetrotting indictment of all things holy. The Yukon Arts Centre at 1:30 p.m.
Generation gap
A 5 p.m. sunset gala on Saturday will kick off with a screening of Mother and Daughters, by Canadian director Carl Bessai. Filmed in a close, documentary style, the film follows three mother-daughter relationships and explores the subtle button pushing and emotional hang-ups true to any mother daughter encounter.
Bessai and actress Tantoo Cardinal will be in attendance.
(A complete listing of Available Light’s final days is available at yukonfilmsociety.com)
THEATRE
Five Holed
Like most Canadiana, the game of hockey is notably un-sexy, unless of course you’re into missing teeth and faux mullets.
Five Hole: Tales of Erotica, written by Rheostatics frontman Dave Bidini, is a musical exploration into the dark realm of hockey sexuality.
In skits performed by Calgary’s One Yellow Rabbit Theatre Company backed by live original songs from the Rheostatics, Five Hole examines the sexual tensions of co-ed play, the difficulties of high-sticking both on and off ice, and the inevitable homoeroticism of the dressing room.
While the title might set your mind awhirl on penetrable orifices, a five hole actually refers to the space between a goalie’s legs.
Tuesday at 8 p.m. at the Yukon Arts Centre.
After Five Hole, tune in for a Wednesday Rheostatics concert starting at 8 p.m.
When stabbings had more class
Once again bringing community theatre to epic heights, Moving Parts Theatre has brought William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar to the stage.
Despite the play being named after him, Caesar is stabbed to death only halfway through the play, sort of like a red-shirted guy in Star Trek. From there, the real focus is on the bloody factionalization of an un-Caesared Rome. Conspirators quickly turn against one another and the country descends into utter chaos. Of course, since it’s a tragedy, everybody dies at the end.
The play’s theme of political instability was particularly cathartic to Shakespearean audiences, who feared that their own country could descend into political chaos following the death of Queen Elizabeth I, who had failed to select an heir.
When, only 40 years later, the English found themselves embroiled in a brutal civil war, there’s no doubt the irony was laughable.
Fun fact: In an 1864 production of Julius Caesar, the role of Marc Antony was played by John Wilkes Booth. A year later, Booth would play a starring in the real life assassination of Abraham Lincoln. As an actor, it is unknown whether Booth followed the method.
Shows are held the 20, 21 and 24th at 8 p.m. at the Wood St. Centre.
Matinee shows are February 21 and 22 at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $15.
SPORTS
Out of the dingy curling club and into the “plein air”
Whitehorse may have Rendezvous, but Watson Lake has got Canada’s “longest consecutive-running outdoor curling bonspiel.” As if curling wasn’t exciting enough, some minus 25 weather ought to spice it up a bit more.
Friday afternoon through to Sunday at the Watson Lake Airport.
MILESTONES
Where are the sky highways at?
This week marks the incredible 72nd anniversary of the first successful flight of a flying car. Flown by inventor Waldo Waterman, the Arrowbile took flight on February 21st, 1937, and raised hopes worldwide that a flying car would soon fill every garage in North America.
As Yukoners tackle month five of skidding along unplowed backstreets, we can all share regret that Waterman’s dreams of democratizing three-dimensional travel never took root.
Contact Tristin Hopper at
tristinh@yukon-news.com
