In brief: Real Love lineup, Sobey award nominees, old-school thrash night, Mark Normand and local musicians raising money for Palestinians

Real Love lineup international affair

Real Love Winnipeg announced the lineup for its annual Summer Fest on Wednesday, with 33 acts set to play the campground in Teulon in July.

The three-day festival has among its headliners Montreal post-punk trio Cola, formed by members of Ought; Catskills indie folk group Babehoven; and Chicago rapper Serengeti, a frequent collaborator of both Sufjan Stevens and Jenny Lewis.

Other outside acts making the trek to Manitoba for the festival’s ninth edition include Discovery Zone, the worldwide webby pop project of Berlin’s JJ Weihl; the slick suburban rock of L.A.’s Goon; and the out-of-time folk music of Toronto’s Jennifer Castle. Friday night closer Haha Laughing, an act out of Austin, Texas, describes itself as “three screaming slugs.”

Local artists on the main bill include Winnipeg-raised, Nashville-based songwriter Taylor Janzen; indie pop group Neighbour Andy; Boniface, the ever-evolving pop project of Michele Visser; House of Wonders label stalwarts Jamboree and Virgo Rising; soundscape artists Slow Spirit; poppy singer-songwriter Cassidy Mann; throwback country rockers the Land League; and psych rockers Hut Hut.

Tickets for the festival go on sale on Monday at reallovesummerfest.com, with full weekend camping passes available for $135 plus fees. Festival-goers can also purchase tickets in person at Chips Vintage on Sherbrook Street or at Planet Pantry, located in the Johnston Terminal at The Forks.

Manitoba artists up for Sobey award

Two Manitoba artists are in contention for the Sobey Art Award, the richest visual arts prize in Canada.

Rhayne Vermette, from Notre Dame de Lourdes, and Winnipeg’s Aikaterini Zegeye-Gebrehiwot earned spots on the 30-artist long list representing the Prairies region, with a chance to earn a share of the $465,000 should they be selected to the five-artist short list in June.

Vermette, an experimental Métis filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist, earned critical acclaim for Ste. Anne, her award-winning 2021 feature film debut, but has been active in the local arts community for over a decade, with her films screening at venues from Barcelona to Melbourne.

Zegeye-Gebrehiwot, born in Ethiopia, moved to the Prairies in the 1980s, with a multi-disciplinary practice including portraiture, ceramics, animation and analog film.

The other three artists representing the Prairies region on the long list are Regina’s Audie Murray, Calgary’s Marigold Santos and Calgary’s Erica Eyres, whose show Dancing for Dummies ran at Winnipeg’s Centre for Cultural and Artistic Practices last fall.

In 2022, Winnipeg’s Divya Mehra was named the winner of the Sobey Award, earning a $100,000 prize. In 2020, 25 artists from across the country were awarded $25,000 each, including Manitobans Luther Konadu and Freya Björg Olafson. Other past winners with local roots include Daniel Barrow, who won in 2010.

After the short list is announced in June, the artists selected will exhibit their work at the National Gallery of Canada from October to March, with the winner announced on Nov. 9 in Ottawa.

The Sobey Art Prize was created in 2002 with funding from the Sobey Art Foundation, founded in 1981 by collector Frank H. Sobey, the founder of the eponymous grocery store chain.

The Burt hosts night of old-school thrash

The Burton Cummings Theatre is hosting a night of old-school thrash metal.

California’s Testament will headline the three-band bill on Sept. 24 with Germany’s Kreator and California death metal band Possessed.

Testament has been around since 1983 when they originally formed as Legacy, Kreator started its run in 1982, while Possessed formed in 1983 and are often credited as the first ever death metal band. Each group has experienced various lineup changes over the years.

Tickets for the show go on sale today at 10 a.m. for $43-$78 at Ticketmaster.

Mark Normand to play Club Regent

New Orleans standup comic Mark Normand is bringing his Ya Don’t Say Tour to Club Regent Event Centre on Oct. 18.

The 40-year-old comedian will perform two shows at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale now for $59 and $70 at Ticketmaster.

Normand has been performing and touring since 2006, released his latest special, Soup to Nuts, on Netflix last July and hosts the podcast Tuesdays With Stories.

Local musicians raising money for Palestinians

Local musicians are banding together to raise money for Palestinians affected by the war in Gaza.

Band Together, Music & Solidarity Humanitarian Aid Fundraiser for the Citizens of Palestine features Propagandhi (performing as a trio), Op-Ed, Death Cassette, Mariachi Ghost, Nicky Mehta with Daniel Roy and Vvonder May 21 at the Park Theatre.

Special addresses will be made by Ramsey Zeid of the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba and Harold Schuster of Independent Jewish Voices Canada.

Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. for $20 plus fees at Ticketweb.ca.

All profits will be donated to International Development and Relief Foundation Canada, which provides humanitarian aid around the world.

— staff