Latest news with #Starlite
Edmonton Journal
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Edmonton Journal
Country songbird Mariel Buckley turns the liminal life into music of rare beauty
Article content Buckley's sweet Everywhere I Used to Be followed in '22 (unsurprisingly short-listed for the Polaris), and within its gorgeous folds lurks the standout Hate This Town — bearing one of the sharpest rebuttals to agro proselytizing ever heard around here … and yet so sweetly sung. Burned out from the magnificent weekend-long Starlite birthday street celebrations, I kept accusing bits of 34-year-old Buckley's music of being 'sad' when I called her down in Nashville early Monday, which she smartly sidestepped — because, fair enough, that's not really her vibe at all.
Vancouver Sun
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Vancouver Sun
Scenic Route to Alaska, Orcas at RAM, Hairspray and more to do this weekend
Scenic Route to Alaska : Hopefully you lassoed tickets to the sold-out Corb Lund mini-fest at Starlite Friday night and on the street Saturday afternoon — but that's the just beginning of a brilliant weekend at the 35-year-old, birthday-celebrating venue. Saturday night, the grunge-country vibe continues with Skinny Dyck and Bobby Tenderloin at 9:30 p.m., so no wardrobe change if you're knee-deep in Lund, y'all. Then, the marvellous and dreamy pop of 'Prairie Beatles' Scenic Route to Alaska has a 3:30 p.m. show Sunday, with the irresistible combo of Lucette and Billie Zizi opening the afternoon up — seriously, what a huge weekend! Details : 9:30 p.m. Sat./3:30 p.m. Sun. at Starlite Room (10030 102 St.), $20.80 Sat./ $31.08 Sun. at Orcas : Our Shared Future : Speaking of big things, Royal Alberta Museum's latest exhibition opening Friday swims through the world of 4000 kg., ocean-apex-predator orcas. Swirling together scientific research, pop-culture riffs and Indigenous art and beliefs, this killer whale of a show dives deep into the animals' complex social behaviour, intelligence and consequences of captivity. Free pins and posters for pass-holders are all yours opening day, with an appropriately free screening of Free Willy 3 p.m. Saturday at Churchill Square's Splash Day, then a lecture by marine mammal researcher Joshua McInnes 6 p.m. May 29. Details : 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. May 16 – Oct. 19 at Royal Alberta Museum (9810 103A Ave.), including museum admission $21 adults, $14 65+, $10 youth 7-17 at Friends and the Love of Art : While legendary sculptor Joe Fafard and meditative suburban landscape painter Wilf Perreault never shared a show together in the former's lifetime, Peter Robertson Gallery brings together the work of these two Saskatchewan abstract-representational artists to celebrate their long friendship. You probably recognize Fafard's work in his various horse, bull and bison sculptures around town, including on jasper Avenue, and Perrault's paintings feel utterly familiar to anyone who's ever walked a winter alley on the Prairies. Both artists capture a strong sense of western identity, nostalgia and home — most fitting as PRG celebrates its new-yet-familiar digs in the former Udell Gallery space. Details : reception 2 p.m. Sat., running through June 7 at Peter Robertson Gallery (10332 124 St.), no charge Vending Machines / Wake Up Sleepy Anna : Jumping back to Edmonton music, two of our city's most notable talents have released new videos. First up, it's sweet-voiced self-harmonizing Mariel Buckley's latest heart-scraper Vending Machines, shot on Super8 by Laura LaFrance. 'Ultimately this song is about choices,' says Buckley, 'accepting the snack that falls when we push the button. I'm partial to Hawkins Cheezies — a fine Canadian product — and exploiting collective/personal pain for sad songs. Enjoy!' Next, Joe Nolan's dreamy Wake Up Sleepy Anna was inspired by a fictional Russian princess, 'who symbolizes hope in a time of darkness and despair,' explains the singer. 'This song serves as a universal cry for the betterment of humankind. 'We all pray for love in the new world.' Details : Now streaming on the YouTube channels of Mariel Buckley and Joe Nolan , free Hairspray (2007) : This now-classic musical about a 1962 Baltimore TV dance show is so star-studded it practically bursts, featuring a heavily made up John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken and many more. Based on the Broadway musical, itself based on John Waters' 1988 cult classic, this has almost as many onion layers as Wicked with music as infectious. Part of Rainbow Visions Film festival running through Sunday, full program at . Details : noon Sat. at Metro Cinema (8712 109 St.), $10 fgriwkowsky@ @ Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don't miss the news you need to know — add and to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here. You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun.
Calgary Herald
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
Scenic Route to Alaska, Orcas at RAM, Hairspray and more to do this weekend
Article content Scenic Route to Alaska: Hopefully you lassoed tickets to the sold-out Corb Lund mini-fest at Starlite Friday night and on the street Saturday afternoon — but that's the just beginning of a brilliant weekend at the 35-year-old, birthday-celebrating venue. Article content Saturday night, the grunge-country vibe continues with Skinny Dyck and Bobby Tenderloin at 9:30 p.m., so no wardrobe change if you're knee-deep in Lund, y'all. Article content Article content Then, the marvellous and dreamy pop of 'Prairie Beatles' Scenic Route to Alaska has a 3:30 p.m. show Sunday, with the irresistible combo of Lucette and Billie Zizi opening the afternoon up — seriously, what a huge weekend! Article content Article content Article content Swirling together scientific research, pop-culture riffs and Indigenous art and beliefs, this killer whale of a show dives deep into the animals' complex social behaviour, intelligence and consequences of captivity. Article content Free pins and posters for pass-holders are all yours opening day, with an appropriately free screening of Free Willy 3 p.m. Saturday at Churchill Square's Splash Day, then a lecture by marine mammal researcher Joshua McInnes 6 p.m. May 29.
San Francisco Chronicle
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Martinis are getting downright filthy in the Bay Area
The Filthy Martini at San Francisco bar Causwells is so full of olives it's practically a liquid tapenade. The house-made brine contains three kinds of olives. The vermouth includes both olive brine and an olive infusion. And the drink is garnished with an olive that, like a Russian doll, is stuffed with another olive that's stuffed with a third olive. 'We wanted to really lean on this olive thing,' said partner and beverage director Elmer Mejicanos. 'If we're going to make a dirty martini we're going to make it the dirtiest we can.' Mejicanos is one of many Bay Area bartenders finding creative ways to up the olive quotient in martinis lately. They're addressing a couple of different trends when doing so. The first is the all-consuming thirst that younger drinkers seem to have recently developed for the dirty martini, that classic concoction of spirit, vermouth and olive brine (the 'dirty' part). The second is more of a bartender-initiated push toward super savory, food-inspired cocktails. 'Trend-wise, it's felt recently like these swings have become really extreme,' said Nora Furst, one of three partners in cocktail consulting firm West Bev. 'We get really crazy into savory and then we get really into low and no (alcohol), and then we get really into high-proof bitter flavors,' Furst went on. 'And then we swing back and find some kind of middle ground where we can exist peacefully for a little while.' Furst's middle ground might be found in the Olive Leaf Martini her team developed for the Italian restaurant Corzetti off Union Square. It contains an olive leaf tincture made by her business partner Stephanie Gonnet, with olive leaves foraged from street trees in nearby Boeddeker Park. The tincture goes into the martini along with gin and two types of vermouth. Then the entire cocktail is 'olive oil-washed' — infused with olive oil that's later strained out through a freezing process, leaving behind a bit of flavor and a soft, unctuous texture. It's finally served ice cold with olives and a lemon twist. 'What we really wanted to do was to pay homage to the whole olive,' said Furst. Other bartenders like Scott Baird, who developed the menu for the top-floor Starlite in the Beacon Grand Hotel, olive oil wash individual components of the drink rather than the whole. His Dirty '90s Martini contains Grey Goose vodka washed with extra-virgin olive oil he called mild and buttery, and a mix of vermouth, sherry and brine. To keep things era-appropriate, the drink is shaken hard so that ice shards float on top, and it comes accompanied by a blue-cheese-stuffed olive on a bed of ice. Left Door, a Cow Hollow lounge in a former apartment upstairs from Bus Stop Saloon, is also highly committed to martinis. About half the menu is martini variations, including classics like the Vesper and Gibson. Their dirty version is made with vodka, a large portion of Castelvetrano olive brine, and an extra bump of seaweed-saline solution. They also offer an extra savory martini, with Belvedere 10 vodka washed with Meyer lemon olive oil, vermouth, fino sherry, and Hog Island Sea Salt solution. It's served with a caviar set-up on the side to help justify its $45 price tag. Apparently unsatisfied with the amount of olives, Left Door's bar manager Rachel Azhadi said they're working on another martini to go on a future menu made with an olive foam on top, plus an anchovy-infused vermouth made by local brand Veso. Veso, based on Treasure Island, is a common denominator in much of this recent martini revolution. Its olive vermouth contains Castelvetrano olives infused into the fortifying brandy, and the brine from those olives is mixed into the wine before bottling. It's used everywhere from Causwells' Filthy Martini to the Blind and Dirty cocktail at Menlo Park's Bar Loretta (created by Furst from West Bev) and the House Martini at Outerlands. There, Outerlands bar manager Andi Miller mixes it with Four Pillars Olive Leaf Gin, relieving her of the need to make infusions or olive oil wash anything for the drink. The gin is made with olive leaf tea and cold-pressed olive oil, among other Mediterranean-inspired botanicals. Meanwhile, the Anatolian martini at Dalida quadruples the olives, with your choice of Grecian gin or vodka washed with fresh olive oil; the vodka itself contains some olive distillate. That's mixed with Veso Olive Vermouth, another dry vermouth and what bar director Evan Williams describes as 'a whisper' of potent house olive brine featuring Aleppo pepper. The drink is then garnished with a house-marinated olive and a strip of lemon. But Causwells martini is still the filthiest of the bunch. The team also makes their own brine: Champagne vinegar, white balsamic vinegar, lemon peel, dry herbs and other ingredients are blended with pulverized Kalamata, manzanilla, and Castelvetrano olives. Then the brine is run through a centrifuge to clarify it. Unlike most dirty martinis that have a recognizable seawater haze, the Filthy Martini at Causwells is clear. Nobody would know your dirty secret, if not for the garnish. The drink is topped with Mejicanos' 'olive turducken,' which is a sliced Kalamata olive stuffed into a Castelvetrano olive, which in turn is stuffed into a manzanilla olive. 'We thought, what if an olive didn't have a pit and it was all flesh? ' Mejicanos mused. 'When you're eating an olive without a pit there's such an opportunity there to fill that hole with flavor.'
Fox News
08-04-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Hot dog towers are a budget-friendly replacement for seafood towers
Summer is just up ahead — and while the warmer months may be enticing for those looking to go out to eat, menu prices have risen 3.7% since last year, according to the Consumer Price Index. Some restaurants across the country have a unique approach: hot dog towers. A spin on the classic seafood tower, the multi-tiered wiener celebration has been showing up on the menus of sporting clubs, diners and seafood establishments. One restaurant – Lamar's Sporting Club in Charleston, South Carolina – partners with Sir Wieners to bring patrons a $60 hot dog tower. The menu boasts "all five of our specialty wieners, served on a tower with truffle fries and dipping sauces." Sir Wieners claims on Instagram to be the home of the "OG" hot dog tower. "The response has been incredible," owner TJ Dinch told Fox News Digital. "People love the over-the-top presentation, and it's become a must-try item for anyone stopping by Lamar's." Dinch said the hot dog tower is "one of the top sellers." Another restaurant – Trina's Starlight Lounge in Somerville, Massachusetts – starts its tower at $35. It comes complete with "classic dogs, tofu pups, Starlite style, chili cheese or dog of the day, served with fries and all the dipping sauces," according to a post on the establishment's Instagram page. While foods like oysters may have their time and place, mainstays of American comfort food such as the hot dog can evoke memories of childhood and patriotism. "It's the perfect mix of ridiculous and delicious." The hot dog is a longstanding American tradition – as patriotic as a baseball game, where it became standard fare in 1893, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council's website. "This tradition is believed to have been started by a St. Louis bar owner, Chris Von de Ahe, a German immigrant who also owned the St. Louis Browns major league baseball team," the site says. As far as how the dogs stand out beyond their more digestible price tag, it's just fun, Dinch said. "We wanted to create something that was more than just a meal. It's an experience," Dinch said. "The idea came from the classic American love for hot dogs but with an added layer of fun and indulgence. We took inspiration from over-the-top food trends and thought, 'Why not stack hot dogs into a tower and throw in some truffle fries and sparklers?' It's the perfect mix of ridiculous and delicious." In Newport, Rhode Island, Wally's Wieners serves a hot dog tower but doesn't stop there. Wally's also has an espresso martini tree, tying in to the novelty of towering, plentiful and playful menu items. There's also the possibility that a hot dog tower can serve more people for less money per person. Ghostburger in Washington, D.C., has a hot dog tower option that doesn't stop at serving two to four people. The restaurant's "Glorious Weenie Tower Of Power" includes four dogs, four orders of sliders, a cheesesteak cut to share, ghost fries, onion rings and "all the sauces, all the glory," according to its online menu. And it still comes in at under $100. "It's the perfect storm of taste, nostalgia and shareability," Dinch told Fox News Digital. "Hot dogs are already a classic American favorite, and the tower adds an eye-catching, larger-than-life element that people want to experience."
