The Pulse: March 28, 2023

It's a Thursday night in late December, and 9910 is packed with fans eager to sing along with Twain Gretzky Overdrive, a party band self-described as "Edmonton's only Shania Twain rock 'n' roll tribute act."

The cowboy-hat-wearing musicians on stage in the basement venue beneath The Common aren't exactly impersonators, nor are they wannabes. They belong to some of Edmonton's most well-known indie acts: The Wet Secrets, The Bobby Tenderloin Universe, the now-defunct Shout Out Out Out Out, and others. But sometimes it pays to sing songs that everyone knows, get dressed up, and surrender to the party.

For Clint Frazier and his cohorts, these cover shows are a way to achieve the ends of both art and commerce. They'll do it again on April 6 with YO ABBA ABBA!, a tribute to Swedish disco icons ABBA.

"I've always had to wear multiple hats, even in more successful projects," Frazier told Taproot. He plays drums for the cover band in addition to Home Front, which plays original music.

The cover band shows are meant to feel like full-fledged events, complete with costumes and cabaret performances by drag artists, Frazier said. "We don't really view it as a traditional cover band project. It's more of like a tribute that's done in like a really tasteful way, with as well the cabaret and drag thing."

Frazier is also the talent buyer and events manager for The Common and 9910, meaning he booked himself for the upcoming YO ABBA ABBA! gig.

"(It) speaks to the state of music," he said. "You can't just be a musician, or you can't just be a music venue. You have to do other things to supplement, to make it viable, and to make money doing it," he said.

Frazier plays in the band alongside his sister Emma Frazier (who also works at 9910 and The Common as a shift manager), Emma's husband Christian Maslyk, singer and vocal coach Kayla Enns, and others.

• Family members and colleagues of Const. Travis Jordan and Const. Brett Ryan gathered to remember the two fallen Edmonton Police Service officers at a regimental funeral on March 27. Thousands of police, military members, and first responders from across Canada attended the event, which was preceded by a procession from the Alberta legislature to Rogers Place. Both Jordan and Ryan were posthumously awarded five medals, including the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Medal and the EPS Medal of Honour. Postmedia published a photo collection documenting the procession.
• The Transit App, a popular app that helps people plan bus and LRT routes, may no longer provide all its services for free to Edmontonians later this year. The third-party company behind the app has made updates that will require a subscription to access detailed information about trips that are long distances or far in the future. Subscriptions cost $5 per month or $25 per year. The city has not yet decided to purchase a bulk subscription for residents, which would cost $75,000 per year. A spokesperson for the Edmonton Transit Service, which specifically recommends using the app because it has access to real-time transit data, said "core functionality" is still available without a subscription. Transit's chief operating officer Jake Sion, speaking on Edmonton AM on March 27, said his company estimates that around 20% of Edmontonians boarding a bus or LRT use the app. He added that people in need of the subscription features who are unable to pay can get free access by request.
• The University of Alberta is the only institution in Canada with more than one recipient of the Dorothy Killam Research Fellowship, a two-year research prize worth $80,000 annually. The winners are Temitope Oriola with the Centre for Criminological Research, who is known by many Edmontonians for providing an academic perspective on policing issues, and Kisha Supernant, director of the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology. Oriola will use the funding to hire graduate students for a research project about the perspectives of BIPOC individuals working in the criminal justice system. Supernant will continue her work on Indigenous data sovereignty and heritage management and hopes to advance the national conversation on aligning Canadian legislation with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
• The Ukrainian Newcomer Furniture Warehouse is looking for donations of dressers, dining tables and chairs, living room furniture, and mattresses. Jamie Hanlon, a volunteer, said the warehouse has about 400 families coming through each month and expects demand to remain high. A separate organization, the Free Store For Ukrainian Newcomers, is accepting donations to help newcomers access household items and necessities and is also partnering with local organizations to hold educational events. The province says more than 26,000 Ukrainians have settled in Alberta as temporary residents since Russia invaded their county.
• Breast Friends, a dragon boat racing team of 23 Edmonton women who have survived breast cancer, is going to New Zealand to represent Edmonton in an international competition. The team was formed in 1998 to be part of the Pink Paddling movement, which saw many breast cancer survivors take up dragon boating following a clinical study in British Columbia that proved exercise during and after treatment is more beneficial than harmful. The 2023 IBCPC Participatory Dragon Boat Festival is running April 10-16.
• Following the March 27 game against the Arizona Coyotes, Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid has eight games left to reach 70 goals in one season, which would make him the first player to do so in 30 years. McDavid is already one of only four players to get more than 60 goals in one season since 1996/1997.