Tonight, if you’re feeling adventurous/nostalgiac, the West End Cultural Centre is presenting the 100 Mile Musical Diet, including Magnum K.I. covering the Weakerthans’ Reconstruction Site in entirety and Paper Moon playing Red Fisher’s War Wagon in full. Homage or blasphemy? You decide. Starts at 8, and the West End don’t wait.

Also, at the Garrick tonight, powerpop powerhouses the New Pornographers are playing with the Mountain Goats. Seriously? Seriously.

This Friday, if you prefer to have your concept of music constantly rearranged, if you choose to get out of your dank humid basement (which we know is plastered with posters of esoteric bands and filled with shelves of complete Brian Eno discographies), you’ll find a couple of rad shows.

First up, a band that we covered in the newest Stylus, the experimental trio Radian from Vienna. send + receive and CKUW are bringing them to the WECC, where they’ll rumble off stuff from their latest record Chimeric, which, as Stylus writer Curran Faris put it, “deals with the fundamentals of rock music: energy, dynamics, and sheer volume.” They’re playing with the awe-inspiring Tim Hecker and Didi Bruckmayr. The show starts at 8, and FYI, the WECC won’t wait up for you, so don’t be late.

If, however, you are of the night owl variety, you could see new local noise outfit White Dog play with Blind Squab,and touring Spirit Abuse. Chris Jacques of White Dog sent us an email about it (including a video of one of Spirit Abuse’s solo escapades), so we’re assuming that he’s pretty excited, and if he’s excited, then it’s something to get excited about. That’s happening at the Plug-In I.C.A. at 10 p.m. for $5.

And lastly, two gentle Toronto bands of the indie pop variety will be slaying the Rudolf Rocker this Sunday. The Phonemes and Metal Kites are going to be supported by Ingrid Gatin, and it’s going to be a big good old fuzzy pop time.

By Jenny Henkelman

The West End Cultural Centre is putting all of its new space to good use. The new building has plenty of space for, say, visual art as well as the beautiful tunes we’re accustomed to hearing at Winnipeg’s best listening room. This spring, the Melodies on Mercredi series is bringing the two together and providing a showcase for emerging artists all at the same time. And also pudding cups.
Maybe you saw the first edition in February, with Kipp Kocay and a display of work by the photography collective f/action. April 7 will bring a new version with music by Del Barber and Carly Dow. For the visual component, art students at Daniel MacIntyre Collegiate are creating works inspired by the singer-songwriters’ music. “It is very exciting and honoring to be part of the Melodies on Mercredi series,” says Carly Dow. “The WECC is one of my favourite venues in the city. I love the idea of combining visual art with music, and I am glad to see so much support for upcoming artists!”

The fact that high school-age artists will be creating visual art to go with her folky songs is pretty appropriate for Dow, given that she herself picked up the guitar in grade ten. “I was extremely inspired after hearing a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’ at a Remembrance Day service.  A lot of my close friends were also very involved in music at the time, and they had a huge influence on my songwriting and performing.”

High school wasn’t the only place Dow found a supportive community for making music; like a growing roster of Winnipeg folkies (from Cara Luft to the Fo!ps), she participated in the Winnipeg Folk Festival’s Young Performers program. “I learned a lot and made many personal connections through those experiences,” she says. “Each of my mentors have been amazing (Luke Doucet, Carolyn Mark, Cara Luft, Amelia Curran), and I would definitely recommend the program to any young artists who are interested in getting exposure. Winnipeg has a fantastic folk music community, and I’ve seen a passion and love for music here like nowhere else.”

Visit the West End Cultural Centre on Friday, January 22nd for a collaboration between a rocker (John K. Samson) a folker (Christine Fellows), a composer (Robert Honstein), a violinist (Cristina Zacharias), a percussionist (Ed Reifel) and a mastermind (Leanne Zacharias).

L. Zacharias, a cellist, curator and music prof (you might recall she appeared on C. Fellows’ brilliant latest album, Nevertheless), has spearheaded this event, called Arc: Six Musicians Map the Current, which is described as:

a musical conversation between these diverse musicians from different genres and backgrounds—a baroque violinist, a symphony percussionist, a contemporary composer, a cross-disciplinary classical cellist, and two popular songwriters—performing onstage as one ensemble.

The evening promises new repertoire from Honstein and new arrangements of songs by Samson and Fellows.

WHERE: West End Cultural Centre
WHEN: Friday, Jan. 22, doors 7:15, show 8
TICKETS: $15 ahead at Ticketmaster and the WECC

www.christinefellows.com
www.wecc.ca

By Jenny Henkelman

As the weather starts pushing Winnipeggers back indoors for the winter, a new televised concert series is set to bring live, local music to your home television set. Live at the West End captures six performances by Manitoba-based acts and is the brainchild of Johnny Marlow. He’s been a record store owner and an indie label rep. Now he’s working in a new venue: on-demand TV.

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