BC Business
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One of the past quarter-century’s most influential bands, Letterman’s heir apparent, and the ?marriage of two dysfunctional families. Music // The Pixies
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it doesn’t pay the bills. And for most of their on-and-off 25-year existence, Boston-based alt-rockers the Pixies have been only a modest commercial success. Led by the enigmatic Black Francis (alternately known as Frank Black – don’t ask), the band’s hits include “Where is My Mind?” and “Here Comes Your Man.” But it’s the Pixies’ impact on the alt-rock movement of the 1990s and 2000s that is their lasting legacy. Radiohead, U2 and Nirvana have all credited the band as being a key influence, with Kurt Cobain admitting Nirvana’s signature song, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” was a conscious effort to co-opt their sound. This tour features songs from the Pixies’ seminal 1989 album Doolittle. The Orpheum, Vancouver, May 3 and 4; Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, Victoria, May 5; ticketmaster.ca
In 2004, then Vancouver Playhouse artistic director Glynis Leyshon made the decision to focus her company on contemporary plays. Out with the Shakespeare and the classics – unless it was to retell one of those standards in a fresh and modern way. MacHomer, a one-man tour-de-force by Canadian actor and playwright Rick Miller, certainly qualifies. The play, which debuted at the Montreal Fringe Festival in 1995, is, according to Miller, “85 per cent Shakespeare” and largely follows the Macbeth plot, but includes an assortment of voices and dialogue from TV’s The Simpsons. The improbable pairing, in Miller’s mind, makes perfect sense: “The Simpsons and Macbeth are both about dysfunctional families.” Vancouver Playhouse, May 14 and 15, vancouverplayhouse.com
With all the attention paid in the past year to the Conan O’Brien-Jay Leno drama, a rather unassuming Scot has quietly stolen the mantle, in many people’s eyes, of funniest man on late-night television. Since January 2005, Craig Ferguson has followed David Letterman on CBS’s schedule, hosting the idiosyncratic Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. He initially made the immigrant experience – an outsider’s take on the weird and wacky U.S.A. – part of his shtick, but in 2008 Ferguson became a U.S. citizen, broadcasting the citizenship test and swearing-in ceremony live on air. He remains arguably the most trenchant observer of American society among the late-night hosts, while his stand-up tours regularly draw sold-out crowds. River Rock Show Theatre, Richmond, May 27; Red Robinson Show Theatre, Coquitlam, May 28; ticketmaster.ca