By Lindsey Rivait
Arts Editor
March 17, 2010

It may be hard to think of three classically-trained musicians as talented rock-pop musicians, but that’s exactly what Ottawa’s The Balconies are. The trio, playing Phog Lounge on March 18, have shared the stage with the likes of Mother Mother, Sister Suvi, Land of Talk, Dog Day, and the Bicycles, quite different than listening to Mozart.
All three members are classically trained musicians from the University of Ottawa. Liam Jaeger has his undergrad and masters in classical guitar while Jacquie Neville studied the viola and Stephen Neville studied the double bass.
“We’ve all gone through the whole program, the theory classes and history classes and all that stuff,” Jaeger said.
Their classical training has given the trio a great background in music, but that doesn’t necessarily dictate what their music sounds like. They were rock and pop musicians before beginning their classical music education. >>

By Josh Kolm
Lance Writer

March 17, 2010

Korda Artistic Productions once again shows their talent and range with their current production of James Goldman’s “The Lion in Winter.”
The play, first performed in 1966, shows a fictional meeting between the members of a historically vital family. Henry, King of England, has invited his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, to his palace along with their three sons: Richard the Lionheart, Geoffrey, and John. Eleanor, who has been imprisoned for leading revolts against Henry, has been brought out of the castle he keeps her in, so she can to make appearances with her husband who was famous for carrying on relationships with other women both before and after she was away.
The family reunion is quickly complicated by an impending deal with Phillip, King of France, involving the marriage of his sister, Ellie, to Henry’s successor to the throne in order to ensure peace between the two countries.
The fact that Ellie is the current love of Henry’s life becomes less important to the King. >>

By Stefanie Helbich
Lance Writer
March 17, 2010

Zachariah Wells’ new book of poetry, Track & Trace, is a whirlwind of exploration.
Wells takes us from coast to coast—north, east, and west—across our great Canadian nation and invites his readers to consider the nation in which they live.

His poems resonate with every Canadian and allow them to reflect upon the quintessential experience that we all share.
While his poems speak to unique experiences there is a quality of familiarity to each.
The collection of sonnets entitled “After the Blizzard” calls upon the reader to visualize a parking lot blanketed in snow, the snowplow’s amber strobe lights and the sight of a dog marking the snow.
The post-modern sonnets function as a conversation between the poet’s thoughts, inviting the reader’s insights on the snow in Halifax, a snow that is shared across the country—except, perhaps, in Vancouver.
Similarly, “Skunk” calls upon remembered experiences, evokes the reader to recall the pungent scent and then “make it bearable. When you live with a constant/scent in your nostrils, you can’t/stand it at first, then come to love it, then/it grows so faint you forget its existence.” >>