Brad Paisley bringing the hits and charm to Rogers Place Nov. 7
Country music superstar Brad Paisley is driving his hit machine up to Edmonton on Nov. 7 on his Truck Still Works World Tour.
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A thinking-person's hitmaker, some of the West Virginia-born singer-songwriter guitarist's 50-plus Billboard charters and No. 1 singles include She's Everything, Mud on the Tires, Whiskey Lullaby with Alison Krauss, Then and When I Get Where I'm going with Dolly Parton, which kicked off an impressive string of 10 peak chart-toppers.
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'No one can make the album they made 10 years ago with a straight face,' Paisley has said. 'There are two reasons: one is you change as a person. To be a true artist, I have to be true to who I am now and write that way. And the second thing is these are different times.'
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Besides the music, Paisley has written books about fishing and the ins and outs of his career, and has done voice work on King of the Hill and South Park.
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On the advocacy side, he promoted the COVID vaccines with Jill Biden, doing a cover of Jolene with the word 'vaccine' subbed into the chorus, and has been critical of the pharmaceutical industry for its role in the opioid crisis with his song The Medicine Will. He and his wife also founded The Store, helping low-income families around Nashville.
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General tickets for his nine Canadian dates including a Nov. 8 show in Lethbridge the day after the Friday-night Rogers Place gig go on sale 10 a.m. June 20 at bradpaisley.com.
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Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Epidemic of children being kidnapped in Nigeria focus of art exhibition by Nigerian-born, Winnipeg-based visual artist Habeeb Andu
In the spring of 2014, 276 girls were abducted from their school in Chibok, Nigeria, by the extremist group Boko Haram. It was a shocking story that made headlines all over the world and sparked the global #BringBackOurGirls movement. Many high-profile people, including American first lady Michelle Obama and actor/activist Angelina Jolie, raised awareness about the missing Nigerian girls. And then, they faded from view. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Artist Habeeb Andu doesn't want people to forget the children being kidnapped in Nigeria. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Artist Habeeb Andu doesn't want people to forget the children being kidnapped in Nigeria. Nigerian-born, Winnipeg-based visual artist Habeeb Andu doesn't want people to forget them, or the thousands of others who have been kidnapped in the 11 years since. Nor does he want people to ignore the fact that the mass kidnapping of school children continues to plague his home country. Theatre of War By Habeeb Andu 226 Main Street Gallery To Aug. 30 The powerful large-scale mixed-media works that comprise his first solo exhibition in Canada, Theatre of War — on view at 226 Main Street Gallery until Aug. 30 — force the viewer to look head-on at an epidemic from which the rest of the world has mostly turned away. On the gallery's walls are large canvases that evoke classroom blackboards, giving the sense of lessons interrupted by violence. Some of them have bullet holes. Others have splatters of paint that look disconcertingly like blood. A math problem is cut off by an urgent message, written in blue: 'Run! Run!! Run!!!' MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Theatre of War is open at 226 Main Street Gallery until Aug. 30. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Theatre of War is open at 226 Main Street Gallery until Aug. 30. Andu's art is not confined to the walls. On the floor below the canvases are mounds of clothing. A single shoe. A forgotten school cap. Left behind in the haste of escape, one hopes, though the reality is likely far more bleak. 'Anytime I'm painting, I try to put myself in the shoes of the victims. I should be able to express the way they feel. That's why, sitting down before I paint, I try to meditate and try to make use of the best symbol for me to portray the story,' says Andu, 37. One of the most visceral symbols in Theatre of War is also its most tangible: Andu's use of spent bullet casings. There are piles of them, littered all over the gallery floor. Seeing them scattered among the clothing, in particular, is a harrowing reminder of the terror these children have experienced in their young lives. Using spent casings to tell this particular story is an idea he's had for years, but would have been impossible in Nigeria. Andu picks up a single casing and turns it over between his fingers. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Bullets and casings litter the ground at the Theatre of War exhibition. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Bullets and casings litter the ground at the Theatre of War exhibition. 'In my country, you can't have this. You can go to jail for this,' he says. You could be labelled an armed robber or worse, even if you just found a casing on the ground, he explains. It was too risky to make art with them. 'I still have a future to go.' But in Winnipeg, where he has lived with his wife for the past three years, Andu marvelled that he could just ask for them — hundreds of them — sourcing the spent casings from a local shooting range. 'Even if these empty cases don't come from my country, I was still able to portray my stories for the viewers to understand,' he says. With support from both the Winnipeg Art Council and the Manitoba Art Council, Andu created most of these works in the past few months. 'It takes a lot of sleepless nights,' he says. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Habeeb Andu's Eyewitness III MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Habeeb Andu's Eyewitness III But the work is important. He sees it as a document of a time and place, and what he wants viewers to understand most of all is that kidnapping is a current national security crisis in Nigeria. This isn't the past. It's now. And for the kidnappers, it's lucrative. 'Kidnapping is now a business, a business venture where you can make money, and the government is not ready to take it seriously,' he says. 'Anytime I'm painting, I try to put myself in the shoes of the victims. I should be able to express the way they feel.'– Habeeb Andu Bandits, as they are known, will kidnap people and demand high ransoms with few repercussions. 'Sometimes they kill some of them even after they receive the money,' Andu says. According to a BBC analysis from 2021, children are targeted by kidnappers because their abductions are more high-profile and the government is more likely to get involved, which could mean bigger random payouts. The Nigerian government insists it does not pay ransoms, but experts quoted in various international media outlets suggest that isn't true. That kidnapping so frequently happens to children at school, a place that is supposed to be a safe sanctuary for learning, adds a layer of violence. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Habeeb Andu's Missing Treasures II MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS Habeeb Andu's Missing Treasures II Andu points out that the spectre of kidnapping looms so large that kids are dropping out or are being withdrawn from schools — often dilapidated places with poor security — by their terrified parents. Per UNICEF, about 10.5 million of Nigeria's children aged five to 14 are not in school. Zooming out, one in every five of the world's out-of-school children is in Nigeria. 'The reason I titled it Theatre of War is that it is a fight between insurgents and our educational system. The bandits see our children as a target for the government to respond to — and the government doesn't take rapid action towards it,' Andu says. 'I believe through these works, my little impacts would make the government change and take its own security of the country more seriously.' Jen ZorattiColumnist Jen Zoratti is a columnist and feature writer working in the Arts & Life department, as well as the author of the weekly newsletter NEXT. A National Newspaper Award finalist for arts and entertainment writing, Jen is a graduate of the Creative Communications program at RRC Polytech and was a music writer before joining the Free Press in 2013. Read more about Jen. Every piece of reporting Jen produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print – part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Toronto Sun
2 days ago
- Toronto Sun
Devo's misunderstood art-rock legacy explored in new documentary
The new Netflix documentary debuts on the streaming service Tuesday Published Aug 18, 2025 • 4 minute read Bob Mothersbaugh, from left, Mark Mothersbaugh, Josh Hager, Gerald Casale from Devo attend the SNL50: The Homecoming Concert on Feb. 14, 2025, in New York. Photo by Evan Agostini / Evan Agostini/Invision/AP NEW YORK — You know the band Devo, right? The guys with the funny red plastic hats and jumpsuits? The New Wave musicians behind the silly 'Whip It' video? They had that odd, spiky '80s vibe? Well, it turns out you may not know as much as you think. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The new Netflix documentary 'Devo' is an eye-opening examination of an Ohio-born art-rock band that argues they were perhaps the most misunderstood band on the face of the planet. It debuts on the streaming service Tuesday. 'We were trivialized and pigeonholed,' co-founder Gerald Casale tells The Associated Press. 'This documentary allows us to talk about what we were thinking and what we are motivated by to create what we created.' Directed by Chris Smith, 'Devo' uses archival footage and interviews to trace the band's beginnings, rise and fall, with cameos from fans like David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Neil Young. 'What we saw was regression' Devo introduced themselves to the world in 1977 by making a frenetic version of the Rolling Stones' 'I Can't Get No) Satisfaction,' which earned them a crucial slot on 'Saturday Night Live.' On stages, they would wriggle like worms or dress like the guys from 'Ghostbusters.' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. They released their Brian Eno-produced debut, 'Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!,' in 1978 and reached platinum status with 1980's 'Freedom of Choice,' which featured 'Whip It,' a hit just as their label was getting ready to drop them. But behind the odd neck braces and knee pads were powerful art and literary ideas about where the country was going. They named themselves after the idea that modern society was entering a process of 'devolution.' 'We were seeing a world that was the antitheses of the idealized, promised future ginned up in the '50s and '60s.' Casale says in the movie. 'What we saw was regression.' Gerald Casale, from left, Josh Hager, Mark Mothersbaugh and Bob Mothersbaugh of Devo perform on Jan. 22, 2024, in Park City, Utah. Photo by Chris Pizzello / Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP The nucleus of the band was formed from tragedy: Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh met at Kent State University, where they lived through the 1970 killing of four unarmed anti-war student protesters by the National Guard. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. That tragedy forged in the pair an antiestablishment, anti-capitalist protest, mixing lofty art history with pop culture. They admired Dadaism and Andy Warhol. The factories of Akron inspired their gray overalls and clear plastic face masks _ portraying cogs in a machine like in the art movie 'Metropolis.' 'We had a meta-approach,' Casale tells the AP. 'It was a multimedia, big idea approach. Music was an element, a layer, a dimension, but it was connected to this big worldview.' 'Whip It' video Part of Devo's strength was its visual component and their videos were drenched with political commentary. The upbeat 'Beautiful World' featured footage of police violence, the KKK and bombings, while 'Freedom of Choice' warned against the dangers of conformity. The song 'Whip It' was written after reading Thomas Pynchon's 760-page postmodern sci-fi tome 'Gravity's Rainbow.' The video — featuring cowboys drinking beer, dangerous gunplay and assault — was actually mocking President Ronald Reagan and his macho brand of conservatism. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Members of Devo — which also included Mark's brother, Bob, Gerald's brother, Bob, and Alan Myers — performed on TV and chatted with talk show hosts like David Letterman but their satire never seemed never to break through. 'Nobody wanted to hear us talking about the duality of human nature and the dangers of groupthink and the atrophication of people being able to think logically and think critically,' Casale says. 'It was like, 'That's a bummer. Just tell us about drugs and sex.'' A counterculture legacy Rock has always needed bands like Devo, a corrective to the corporate machine. You can see an echo of Devo when M.I.A. raised her middle finger during the Super Bowl halftime show in 2012. The members of Devo cite such bands as Rage Against the Machine and System of a Down as keeping the flame alive. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'The only thing you can hope is that it will create an awareness and get rid of complacency, but it doesn't seem to have done that in the past,' Mothersbaugh tells the AP. 'I always tried to be optimistic that devolution was something that was going to be corrected and that our message would be not necessary at this point, but unfortunately it's more real than ever.' After Devo, Casale directed music videos and commercials, while Mothersbaugh scored movies and TV shows such as 'Pee-Wee's Playhouse,' 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,' 'Rugrats' and 'Hello Tomorrow!' There are signs of optimism when members of Devo play live these days. Mothersbaugh says he sees a lot of young people, who have used their smartphones to bypass media gatekeepers. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'We see a lot of people that look like us, with gray hair out there in the audience. But there's also, there's also a lot kids, which is kind of surprising to me, but I think it's only because they have this thing in their hand that they sometimes use to their advantage.' Devo are set to hit the road later this year in a co-headlining tour with the B-52's. The Cosmic De-Evolution Tour will kick off Sept. 24 in Toronto and wraps Nov. 2 in Houston. You may think of Devo as New Wave or early electronica or synth-pop. but they see themselves differently: 'We were true punk, meaning we questioned illegitimate authority and we stayed in our own lane and did our thing, remaining true to our vision,' says Casale. 'That's punk.' Columnists Canada World Sunshine Girls Relationships
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Devo's misunderstood art-rock legacy explored in new documentary
NEW YORK (AP) — You know the band Devo, right? The guys with the funny red plastic hats and jumpsuits? The New Wave musicians behind the silly 'Whip It' video? They had that odd, spiky '80s vibe? Well, it turns out you may not know as much as you think. The new Netflix documentary 'Devo' is an eye-opening examination of an Ohio-born art-rock band that argues they were perhaps the most misunderstood band on the face of the planet. It debuts on the streaming service Tuesday. 'We were trivialized and pigeonholed,' co-founder Gerald Casale tells The Associated Press. 'This documentary allows us to talk about what we were thinking and what we are motivated by to create what we created.' Directed by Chris Smith, 'Devo' uses archival footage and interviews to trace the band's beginnings, rise and fall, with cameos from fans like David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Neil Young. 'What we saw was regression' Devo introduced themselves to the world in 1977 by making a frenetic version of the Rolling Stones' 'I Can't Get No) Satisfaction,' which earned them a crucial slot on 'Saturday Night Live.' On stages, they would wriggle like worms or dress like the guys from 'Ghostbusters.' They released their Brian Eno-produced debut, 'Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!,' in 1978 and reached platinum status with 1980's 'Freedom of Choice,' which featured 'Whip It,' a hit just as their label was getting ready to drop them. But behind the odd neck braces and knee pads were powerful art and literary ideas about where the country was going. They named themselves after the idea that modern society was entering a process of 'devolution.' 'We were seeing a world that was the antitheses of the idealized, promised future ginned up in the '50s and '60s.' Casale says in the movie. 'What we saw was regression.' The nucleus of the band was formed from tragedy: Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh met at Kent State University, where they lived through the 1970 killing of four unarmed anti-war student protesters by the National Guard. That tragedy forged in the pair an antiestablishment, anti-capitalist protest, mixing lofty art history with pop culture. They admired Dadaism and Andy Warhol. The factories of Akron inspired their gray overalls and clear plastic face masks — portraying cogs in a machine like in the art movie 'Metropolis.' 'We had a meta-approach,' Casale tells the AP. 'It was a multimedia, big idea approach. Music was an element, a layer, a dimension, but it was connected to this big worldview.' 'Whip It' video Part of Devo's strength was its visual component and their videos were drenched with political commentary. The upbeat 'Beautiful World' featured footage of police violence, the KKK and bombings, while 'Freedom of Choice' warned against the dangers of conformity. The song 'Whip It' was written after reading Thomas Pynchon's 760-page postmodern sci-fi tome 'Gravity's Rainbow.' The video — featuring cowboys drinking beer, dangerous gunplay and assault — was actually mocking President Ronald Reagan and his macho brand of conservatism. Members of Devo — which also included Mark's brother, Bob, Gerald's brother, Bob, and Alan Myers — performed on TV and chatted with talk show hosts like David Letterman but their satire never seemed never to break through. 'Nobody wanted to hear us talking about the duality of human nature and the dangers of groupthink and the atrophication of people being able to think logically and think critically,' Casale says. 'It was like, 'That's a bummer. Just tell us about drugs and sex.'' A counterculture legacy Rock has always needed bands like Devo, a corrective to the corporate machine. You can see an echo of Devo when M.I.A. raised her middle finger during the Super Bowl halftime show in 2012. The members of Devo cite such bands as Rage Against the Machine and System of a Down as keeping the flame alive. 'The only thing you can hope is that it will create an awareness and get rid of complacency, but it doesn't seem to have done that in the past,' Mothersbaugh tells the AP. 'I always tried to be optimistic that devolution was something that was going to be corrected and that our message would be not necessary at this point, but unfortunately it's more real than ever.' After Devo, Casale directed music videos and commercials, while Mothersbaugh scored movies and TV shows such as 'Pee-Wee's Playhouse,' 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,' 'Rugrats' and 'Hello Tomorrow!' There are signs of optimism when members of Devo play live these days. Mothersbaugh says he sees a lot of young people, who have used their smartphones to bypass media gatekeepers. 'We see a lot of people that look like us, with gray hair out there in the audience. But there's also, there's also a lot kids, which is kind of surprising to me, but I think it's only because they have this thing in their hand that they sometimes use to their advantage.' Devo are set to hit the road later this year in a co-headlining tour with the B-52's. The Cosmic De-Evolution Tour will kick off Sept. 24 in Toronto and wraps Nov. 2 in Houston. You may think of Devo as New Wave or early electronica or synth-pop. but they see themselves differently: 'We were true punk, meaning we questioned illegitimate authority and we stayed in our own lane and did our thing, remaining true to our vision,' says Casale. 'That's punk.'
