Ken Bolton is the former Co-Editor for What's Up Yukon. Ken is a passionate, hardworking, and dedicated freelance writer before and after his editor position. Currently Ken telecommutes from New Brunswick. Columns Include: A Little Off The Top and Behind The Curtain
Our goal at What's Up Yukon has always been to be a true reflection of Yukon's living culture. Before we started this little magazine, our family knew there was way more happening here than we could keep track of. more
Issue: 2018-03-28, PHOTO: Pixabay
A few days from now, I will undergo a frightening transition from this life to another. Please don’t misunderstand. As far as I know, I’m not about to kick the bucket, cash in my chips, turn toes-up, shuffle off the coil, turn in my Bingo dabbers... more
Issue: 2018-03-28, PHOTO: Rick Massie Photography
Mary Sloan was only vaguely aware of the 2005 smash Broadway musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, when she learned that the Guild Theatre’s artistic director, Brian Fidler, had picked it as this year’s season finale... more
Issue: 2018-02-28, PHOTO: courtesy of Peripheral Vision
When a band calls itself Peripheral Vision, you might be excused for thinking it’s a rock group, or possibly a folk/roots, or even bluegrass ensemble. But you’d be wrong. What the Toronto-based quartet serves up is a musical bouillabaisse with... more
Issue: 2018-02-28, PHOTO: Robert Couse-Baker on Foter.com
I need a little help here, folks. Valentine’s Day has already come and gone, but it’s left me in a bit of a quandary. This isn’t an event Herself and I normally celebrate with a lot of folderol and fiddle-dee-dee. A nice card, a special hug, a... more
Issue: 2018-02-21, PHOTO: Don Schmid
If he hadn’t been so exhausted from a 23-hour train ride, Kevin Kane might have joined forces with fellow singer/guitarist Bryan Potvin 30 years sooner than he did. Back in 1984 (or possibly ’85), The Grapes of Wrath, a pop-rock group Kane fronted... more
Issue: 2018-02-07, PHOTO: Pixaby
We all know nostalgia ain’t what it used to be. My concern is that the noble art of the insult is also on the skids these days. When I was a kid, one of the worst taunts you could throw at someone was, “Ah, your mother wears army boots.” Stupid... more
Issue: 2018-01-17, PHOTO: Pixabay
In the hyper-sensitive world of childhood, an ill-chosen word can sometimes have a devastating impact, even if no harm is intended. I’m not talking about the kind of taunting, bullying talk that was unfortunately common on the playgrounds of my... more
Issue: 2018-01-17, PHOTO: Erik Pinkerton Photography
Lust, grief, denial and repression (not to mention demonic possession) in the bible-belt town of Cypress, Texas. Oh, yes. Don’t forget the puppets. These are all elements of the Guild Theatre’s upcoming production of Hand to God, a dark comedy by... more
Issue: 2018-01-17, PHOTO: Wink Richardson
Jen Hodge had just spent five hectic days in Asheville, North Carolina, rehearsing every day and performing late into every night as part of the massive celebration of swing music known as Lindy Focus XVI. more
Issue: 2017-12-06, PHOTO: Rina Pitucci/Flickr
I could be wrong, but I’ve never bought into the notion of predestination – that the cosmic fix is in, and our ultimate fate is set by forces beyond our control. By the same token, I don’t subscribe to the idea of karma – the Hindu-Buddhist belief... more
Issue: 2017-11-29, PHOTO: Rick Massie
Is it character, circumstance, or the choices we make that determines our lot in life? This is the conundrum that lies at the heart of Good People, the 2011 play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire. Director Clinton Walker... more
Issue: 2017-11-22, PHOTO: Ken Bolton
Anyone who has attended a Kim Beggs concert, or listened to one of her CDs, knows that the subject of death often shows up in her lyrics. It certainly did on October 12, during the sixth of 41 stops on her current two-month marathon tour... more
Issue: 2017-11-22, PHOTO: courtesy of Jeremy Pelt
The email said Jeremy Pelt was between engagements in Europe and China, with just a “sliver of time” of time for a phone interview from his New York City home. For the first few minutes, the answers were terse, non-committal, perhaps a bit... more
Issue: 2017-11-01, PHOTO: Pixabay
Just for the heck of it, let’s take a look at three English words that, on the surface of things, appear to have a lot in common. Before we start, I want to mention once again my amazement that anyone can actually understand the English language... more
Issue: 2017-11-01, PHOTO: Brian Craig
Cathy Stubington doesn’t mind being in the shadows when she does a show. In fact, she prefers it. “My main interest has always come more from the making side, and the conceptual side, but I’m a puppeteer, as well. As a performer, I prefer to be... more
Issue: 2017-10-25, PHOTO: courtesy of Karin Plato
Have you heard the one about the farmer’s daughter, the music teacher, the composer and the jazz singer? It’s not a joke. They’re all the same person: Karin Plato. Although she has called Vancouver home since 1985, Plato grew up on a grain farm... more
Issue: 2017-10-25, PHOTO: courtesy Yukon Archives
With the exception of sports figures, Max Fraser contends, Canadian heroes seldom get the respect they deserve. The Whitehorse filmmaker and military history buff wants to help change that, especially when it comes to a larger-than-life former... more
Issue: 2017-10-18, PHOTO: foter.com
The first week of September, the mice fled the fields and snuck indoors, as mice are wont to do. It happened in the quiet hours of one night. The day before, the kitchen drawers and cupboards were spotless. The next, they were festooned with... more
Issue: 2017-10-11, PHOTO: courtesy of This Is That
They met as teenagers at an improv comedy club called Lucifer’s in Calgary, Alberta. Now, more than two decades later, they’ve just launched their seventh season performing together weekly for a coast-to-coast-to-coast audience. more
Issue: 2017-10-04, PHOTO: Erik Pinkerton Photography
Ann-Marie MacDonald’s award-winning comedy Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) has been around for almost 30 years, but Brian Fidler and Clare Preuss are convinced it will still play well to contemporary Whitehorse audiences. “I think it... more