Lögberg-Heimskringla - 09.04.2004, Blaðsíða 10

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RF/VIKK
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Dianne
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Icelandic-Canadian editors steer course
of long-running music magazine
Viking blood runs strong in
the staff of Stylus, Winnipeg’s
idependent music magazine.
Both the Editor, Ben MacPhee-
Sigurdson, and Assistant Edi-
tor, Kari Dykes, are of Ice-
landic descent.
Stylus is públished
bimonthly by the University of
Winnipeg Students Associa-
tion, with a circulation of
3,000.
Ben, 28, has been involved
since he enrolled at the U of W
in 1994. While volunteering for
campus radio station CKUW,
he was encouraged to write for
Stylus.
“I started off just doing CD
reviews,” he says, “and then
fínally they coaxed me — or
goaded me or prodded me —
into actually talking to some-
one.”
In December 2001, he
became Assistant Editor, a
position he held until August
last year, when he took the
reins as Editor.
A musician himself, Ben
also credits his mother’s influ-
ence. Bom Gail Sigurdson, she
wrote under that name for the
Winnipeg Sun, and as Gail
Cabana-Coldwell for the Win-
nipeg Free Press. Ben’s grand-
parents are Dora and the late
Franklin Sigurdson, originally
from Oak Point, MB.
Ben recently added the
“MacPhee” to his name when
he incorporated his wife
Melanie’s last name into his
own.
Despite the pressures of
publishing, he has nothing but
good memories of the years
spent covering musicians both
local and out of town. In all the
interviews, he says, “I’ve never
had a sour encounter.”
Kari, on the other hand, got
into music writing thanks to a
disaster. “I was tortured!” she
says of Winnipeg’s 1998 Edge-
fest, a dayölong music event.
“I went to Edgefest for the
PHOTO: DAVID JÓN FULLER
Assistant Editor Kari Dykes (left) and Editor Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson put together the Iatest issue of Stylus.
day,” says Kari, “and I packed
all my worldly belongings into
this .backpack, with my little
sixteen-year-old heart, and
treaded out into the masses.”
She included band photos she
hoped to have autographed, and
other one-of-a-kind keepsakes.
“I muscled my way to the
front of the stage
to see my
favourite band
play, and the sec-
ond they took to
the stage, the
crowd just
swelled up
around me. There
were people
coming up from
all directions and
it was completely
overwhelming.”
She pusheu her way to the back
rows, eventually getting free.
“I realized my back felt a
bit light,” she says. “I looked
and my backpack had been
ripped open and all my stuff
was gone. So I spent the rest of
the day trying to recover any-
thing I could.”
The pressing crowd made
this all but impossible. When
she did locate her camera, full
of pictures, it was too late.
“I don’t want to label him,
but I saw a very punk-ish look-
ing young man with a blue
mohawk—”
“I don’t think that’s an
unfair label,” says Ben.
“—and I was reaching over
to get my film and this boot just
came down in
front of my face,
and stomped on
my film. I saw
the fílm rip out of
the canister, and
it all got exposed,
and violins start-
ed playing...”
Though she
looks back and
laughs now, the
experience
spurred her to
write an article and send it to
various music media. It was
picked up and published by
Chart Magazine, and later by
CBC’s Radio Sonic. Thus
began her heady career of rock
journalist.
Kari went on to write for
national and local media,
including CBC, Uptown, and of
course, Stylus. She started writ-
ing for Stylus in 2000, and
became Assitant Editor when
Ben left the position last year.
Kari, 22, was born and
rasied in Winnipeg. Both her
parents, Margaret
(nee Hill) and
Richard Dykes,
are of Icelandic
descent.
Looking back
on his nearly ten
years at Stylus,
Ben says, “I think
the content of the
magazine has
always been first
and foremost to
do with artists
whb don’t get represented
much in commercial media.”
He admits his own tastes
lean to rock, and the magazine
has shifted more in that direc-
tion.
More signifícantly, he says,
“as a nerdy English student,
I’m really into books, and so
I’ve started to solicit music-ori-
ented books for writers to
review and talk about.
“That’s something I’m
really excited about, because if
I can get people to read more,
then that’s just great.”
Lately, with the advent of
music DVDs, Stylus includés
reviews of those as well.
Both Ben and Kari divide
their time between writing,
school, and part-
time jobs. Ben
completed a B.A.
in English at the
U of W last year,
and is currently
pursuing an M.A.
in English (Cre-
ative Writing) at
the University of
Manitoba. Next
year, Kari will
complete a
degree in Com-
munications, a joint program
between the U of W and Red
River College.
Both plan to co'ntinue at
Slylus, which celebrates its fíf-
teenth anniversary this year.
“It’s just a good place to get
your bearings in terms of writ-
ing and editing,” says Ben. “I
love working here, and I love
contributing to the magazine,
and independent media.”
Kari agrees. “Right now,
I’m happy where I am. Barring
any move-to-Tahiti, make $3-
million a year opportunity com-
ing my way, I will be here.”
One of the very flrst
issues of Stylus.
The April/May
2004 issue.
David Jón Fuller
WlNNIPEG, MB
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