Concert: Simple Minds
Sure, everyone knows that song from that movie. But there’s a lot more to Simple Minds than meets the eye, beginning with their fantastic early albums, on which they merged David Bowie’s flash with the Velvet Underground’s verve and Kraftwerk’s Euro-cool grooves. And in a live setting, the band, featuring original members Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill, are simply thrilling and uplifting. They’re bound to play a few deep cuts along with their latter-day stadium fillers at Budweiser Stage on Wednesday night. Opening are two equally credible one-hit new wave wonders: Soft Cell and Modern English. John Hughes would definitely approve. —Doug Brod
Book: “In Too Deep”
Sam Sutherland’s 2012 book “Perfect Youth: The Birth of Canadian Punk” traced the rise of such genre pioneers as D.O.A. and Teenage Head and placed them in a broader cultural context. With “In Too Deep” (House of Anansi), authors Matt Bobkin and Adam Feibel grab the baton to showcase the next generation. Subtitled “When Canadian Punks Took Over the World,” the book offers well-told origin stories of Sum 41, Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan, Billy Talent and others, while not neglecting the contributions of lesser known, but still significant bands like Boys Night Out and Moneen. —David McPherson
TV: “Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster”
The CBC co-commissioned this documentary about the 2023 Titan disaster, in which the submersible, on its way to the remains of the Titanic, imploded and killed five people. While many details are not new, there’s a grim fascination in hearing the story told by multiple sources in one doc, which includes video footage of that final dive. A rival offering, “Titan: The OceanGate Disaster,” is streaming on Netflix. “Implosion” debuts on CBC’s “The Nature of Things” Wednesday. —Debra Yeo
Music: Big Thief, “Incomprehensible”
Big Thief, one of the most lauded indie-folk acts of the past decade, have returned with their first new music since 2023. “Incomprehensible” is another hazy, atmospheric trip with Adrienne Lenker’s unmistakable voice as our guide. And once again Lenker is pondering the peculiarity of being human — in particular, what it’s like to age as a woman surrounded by impossible esthetic standards. “How can beauty that is living be anything but true?” Lenker asks, as clattering percussion and woozy strings swirl around her. Oh, and the song also happens to be about road tripping in Ontario (“Pine trees are narrow, a billion broken arrows…”) with references to both Thunder Bay and Old Woman Bay. It’s fitting, too. After hours driving through large tracts of Ontario forest, it can all start to feel a tad incomprehensible. —Ben Mussett
