In his book, “God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” Christopher Hitchens makes a compelling case against Christianity. His principal argument (which consumes two-thirds of his book), is that religion has caused more harm than good. In support of this position, he offers many...

The ears of the average music listener have been assaulted with every manner of sonic revivalism, as groups seek to strip mine the recent past. It seems everyone, from record executives to VJs, DJs, and reviewers, is quick to latch onto the notion that the best way to describe a contemporary band’s...

Being an indie listener, scoundrel and semi-music snob, I’ve always tried to find bands and sounds that identify the dynamic of the confused, the bereft and the penultimate confusion of this Youthful Canadian Independent Music generation. After a first listening to The Weakerthans first major release...

Burnsiders, First, I’m not sure why I’ve never called you ‘Burnsiders’ before…it just came to me. I’m slow like that. Anyway, thanks for being ‘Burnsiders’… Secondly, please ignore the strange image on this page. It’s disturbing on about...

When Canada’s finest indie collective take a well-earned break from being broken, social and gloriously prolific, their thoughts turn naturally towards introspection and solo projects. Taking into consideration the meteoric rise of one Leslie Feist, and the small-town successes of fellow BSS pals,...

If you’ve never heard of William P. Young’s first novel, “The Shack”, you’re certainly not alone. The book was passed on by every major publisher. Christian publishing companies, as they are wont to do, felt it was too controversial. Secular publishers felt it might be...

I first heard The Coral on the Conan O’Brien show, performing “Dreaming of You”. There was some indescribable quality about their clean, Britpop sound that resonated with me and I knew that this would be a band that I would stick with. Throughout my commitment, they have continually...

It was as if I had stepped into some strange alternate reality. Or better yet, it was as if I had been granted the opportunity to attend the Scenester Senior Prom. Everywhere I looked, as far as my eyes could see, stood the Hipster Elite draped in their finest garb. A vast majority of males present...

It’s that time of year–after I’ve shelved my story collections by Poe and Shirley Jackson, etc. (which seem so horrifically October-apropos), that I begin to immerse myself again in the poetry of Robert Frost. Though his poems cover a wide-range of subjects and seasons, it is the...