Jazz festival fever kicks in across Canada as musicians start to swing across the land. Sure, the music may be mellow, but it's a politically-charged time.

With DuMaurier hosting many of the festivals for what will be the final time, we all find ourselves talking about the complicity of getting out of bed with the tobacco companies. This is indeed a thorny Gordian knot. Without the smoke folks, will we still have the same wealth of cultural commodity? By the same token, as we kick these companies to the curb, who's going to come up to the plate? We can't count on the government. The feds appear to have turned their backs on anything cultural, and many of the more powerful provincial governments are conservative, elected in a land where art is a dirty word. Will big business throw us a rope or will we pedal backwards, to a less culturally charged environment? What's your take on this conundrum?

However, until the new tobacco law comes into effect later this year, we can all make hay and dance to the jazz and sing the blues. Here's a lineup of times and places for music festivals across the country. Check out their web pages for the incredible array of talent. Jane Bunnett, Taj Mahal & The Phantom Blues Band, Rickie Lee Jones, Holly Cole and The Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis are just a few of the names that will be appearing at some of these Canadian cities.

Toronto Downtown Jazz
23 to July 2
416-928-2033
Atlantic Jazz Festival
July 7 to 15
902-492-2225
Montreal International Jazz Festival
June 29 to July 9
1-888-515-0515
L'OFF Festival de Jazz
(Montreal)
June 29 to July 9
514-525-8786
Ottawa Jazz 2000
July 14 to 23
613-241-2633
JVC Jazz Festival
(Toronto)
June 23 to July 2
Jazz Winnipeg Festival
to June 24
204-989-4656
SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival (Saskatoon)
June 22 to July 2
306-652-1421
Jazz Festival Calgary
June 22 to July 2
403-249-1119
Jazz City International Music Festival
(Edmonton), June 23 to July 2
780-433-4000
Vancouver Jazz Festival
June 23 to July 2
604-872-5200
JazzFest International 2000
(Victoria)
June 23 to July 2
1-888-671-2112

Final Showing
Rembrandt: Masterpieces in Etching will be leaving the AGO this Sunday. The exhibition, which includes 83 etchings by the world famous artist, touches on "all the Dutch master's favourite themes - portraits and self-portraits, nudes, landscapes, biblical and mythological subjects. The exhibition explores Rembrandt's humanity - his intellectual enthusiasms, personal struggles and spiritual dilemmas." This is the exhibition's sole Canadian stop, so if you miss this show, you miss out on a real one-of-a-kind art opportunity.

Rembrandt: Masterpieces in Etching
Art Gallery of Ontario
Until June 25th
(416) 593-4142

Knock­Off
Now this sounds like a great way to drum up some cash, while pandering to the caper-loving criminal in people. The Or Gallery in Vancouver has decided to have a fundraising exhibition celebrating great plagiaries and knocked-off art works. Normally this kind of event would summon the coppers. Well this time the Or Gallery hopes it will help cough up some cash. Local and international artists have been invited to copy a work by another artist as a benefit for the Or Gallery. The pieces will be sold by silent auction. That's tonight between 8 and 10pm:

Or Gallery
103. 480 Smithe St.
Vancouver
Phone: 604 683-7395

Pride Productions
It's Gay Pride weekend across Canada and the CBC has caught the spirit. Saturday night it presents two amazing specials:

The first is k.d. lang live in Sydney, in which the Canadian diva sings some of her greatest hits, including Miss Chatelaine, Constant Craving, and Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray. That's at 8 p.m., for the PG audience.

A little later, 9 p.m., CBC-TV presents the television premiere The Hanging Garden. "This critically-acclaimed 1997 drama from Canadian filmmaker Thom Fitzgerald is about a gay man who returns home to Nova Scotia after a 10-year absence to attend his sister's wedding." The movie won international acclaim upon its release, and was the hit of film fests in Toronto, Halifax and Vancouver. Now you can see it without the lineups.

Drop me a line.