Graffiti Art Remix Photos Hand Wave Gallery Features Vancouver Artist Gail Jansen The City and the Sea by Nisha Rocamora (Photo: Nisha Rocamora) Saskatoon, SK — Vancouver artist Nisha Rocamora's latest photography exhibit City and the Sea was inspired by evening strolls along the beach in her newly adopted home city, which brought to her attention the underappreciated work of local graffiti artists. The exhibit, which opens at the Hand Wave Gallery about an hour east of Saskatoon, features a series of hand-manipulated photographs that uses weather-worn graffiti from Vancouver's famous seawall as its basis. In remixing the work of other artists, Rocamora says that she incorporates photographs of very small portions of each piece of graffiti into larger, original works. The artist explains that her aim is to capture the 'essence' of each piece of graffiti — including both the texture of the wall behind it and the colours in which it is painted — to create an original work that still retains the graffiti's original beauty. The daughter of an artist and University-trained in drawing and painting herself, Rocamora says photo manipulation allows her to use her trained artistic eye with her photography while still having a hands-on feeling. "I need to feel what I'm working on," explains Rocamora. "A lot of people do computer manipulation using Photoshop, and that's fine and great and you can make some beautiful stuff, but for myself I need to feel what I am working on, and by actually manipulating the prints by hand it really gives me a sense of what I'm doing. If I make a mistake I can't just hit 'Ctrl-Z' to undo it, I have to either make it work for me or learn from that mistake." City and the Sea Where: Hand Wave Gallery When: Aug 13 - Sep 30 Cost: Free! The Sheepdogs Reflect Local Rockers Discuss Influences, Songwriting Gail Jansen (Photo: The Sheepdogs) Saskatoon, SK — Reflecting on their past in advance of their upcoming gig at Amigos, local rockers The Sheepdogs say they have come a long way from their humble beginnings as "three dudes who really liked being in a band and really liked music," who had "no competence" in their musical instruments. After integrating a fourth member and mastering their instruments, the band now sports a classic rock sound influenced by groups like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Police. "We always try to play our own version of that stuff," says lead singer Ewan Currie. "We didn't necessarily want to be a cover band, we just wanted to play original music with old-school inspiration." The songwriter for the group, Currie says that for him the songwriting process usually starts out with the music and the melody, followed by some vocalizing until the song starts to take shape. "Sometimes a certain flavour or subject kind of comes out, other times it's a stream of consciousness thing – it's sort of all over the place to be honest." Though The Sheepdogs have long been a favourite among locals, the band says they often discover they have surprise fan followings thanks to exposure from their long touring schedule and the Internet "Often we'll be playing in someplace we didn't expect anyone to have heard of us, like New York or Ottawa or Montreal, and people will come up to us and tell us they just drove three hours to see us," says Currie. "It kind of blows us away." The Sheepdogs Where: Amigos When: Aug 7, 10PM Cost: $10-$15 (652-4912) Danko Jones Playing At The Ex Gail Jansen Saskatoon, SK — While classic rock may be experiencing a resurgence thanks in part to video games like the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, Danko Jones — one of three artists who will take the stage at the Saskatoon Exhibition on August 10th, along with Three Days Grace and Hinder — says his love of rock music comes mostly from within. Jones, who for the past fifteen years has been somewhat insulated from greater trends in the music world due to a heavy schedule and a deep focus on creating his own music, says his upcoming gig at the Ex will offer fans rock as it was originally intended: raw, hard and unencumbered by theatrics. "We wrote [our most recent album Below the Belt] last summer, recorded it in the fall and then put it out last May," explains Jones. "It's just another hard rock album 'cause that's pretty much what we do." Though Jones' busy touring schedule includes numerous trips to Europe, video shoots and only a few short trips home for breaks, he says he enjoys playing the summer circuit for the good friends and musicians with whom he gets to connect. The Toronto rocker says he still remembers a new-to-the-music-scene Three Days Grace opening for his band ten years ago, and says he's looking forward to playing with them again at the Exhibition Grandstand. "When we play festivals, they're always a lot of fun and there are often other bands on the bill that we're friends with or fans of, or find out that they're fans of ours," says Jones. "Over ten years of playing festivals I've made a lot of friends with people in bands and met a lot of my childhood heroes, and that's one of the great things about them," Jones continues. "This year is a year of festivals for us. We've been doing it now for three months and it's been great." Danko Jones Where: Saskatoon Exhibition When: Aug 10, 6PM Cost: $56 (Ticketmaster) 5 Q's: Burlesque Wonderland Gail Jansen (Photo: Rosebud Burlesque Club) For this year's Saskatoon Fringe Theatre Festival, Rosebud Burlesque Club has created Alice In Burlesqueland, a Lewis Carroll-inspired variety show that gives Carroll's classic characters a racy makeover. I spoke with burlesquer Jackie Latendresse about burlesque humour, the types of acts included in the show and the compatibility between striptease and feminism. Gail Jansen: What are some of the characters in this year's show? Jackie Latendresse: Instead of the White Rabbit, we have the Playboy Bunny, and we have Tweedle Double D and Tweedle Bum, the Queen of Tarts and the Bad Hatter, Hump "D" Dumpty, as well as Alice herself of course played by Helena Handbasket. It should be a lot of fun – and it's definitely adult humour that's not for kids. GJ: What kind of show can audience members expect? JL: Our traditional Rosebud style is very humourous, very "tongue-in-cheek," very clever and of course very sexy as well! We try to make the show traditional burlesque which combines comedy and different kinds of acts along with the dancing girls. GJ: So what exactly is burlesque? JL: It's a spectacle with glamour just like old-time burlesque, integrated with up-to-date and relevant social commentary and humour. The whole show includes striptease acts, crazy costumes, bawdy senses of humour, cabaret-styled acts and a variety show aspect. GJ: What makes a good burlesquer? JL: You need to have a good sense of humour and a good sense of fun. The main thing that people love about burlesque and our club is that they totally break down all of the societal dictations of what beauty is. We have dancers of all shapes and sizes, and all ages. We're a feminist but inclusive group and even have some "boy-lesquers." GJ: How do you reconcile feminism with striptease? JL: That's the ongoing debate in the burlesque world. We are about empowerment of women, owning your body and being the one that decides what to do with it. We promote finding pride in your physical appearance and increasing your confidence level, [which are] all things that can be found in feminism. Alice in Burlesqueland Where: The Refinery When: Jul 30 - Aug 7, 10PM Cost: $15 (653-5191)