Abe Vigoda (LA), WOMEN, Indiensoci
@ Beatroute 4th Anniversary Party
Artlife Gallery
July 23, 2008
It’s not too often that you get to see Los Angeles-based musicians in Calgary, unless at large arena venue or sought out nightclub. However, for their 4th Anniversary Party, Beatroute Magazine got the loud and fun Abe Vigoda to hit the stage for eager Calgary hipsters. Taking place at ArtLife Gallery, located on the construction-heavy 1st Street SW, founder Glenn Alderson recruited local favourites Indiensoci and Women to open up for the hyped-up musical guests. While Indiensoci and Women delivered expectedly crowd-pleasing performances, when Abe Vigoda suited up with their fun poppy rock sound they entirely stole the show. With hilarious commentary between songs, the members of this five-piece have a certain charm that warmed the cold hearts of the Calgarians standing before them. +++
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
CUFF & Crispin Hellion Glover Presents 'What is it?' Review
CUFF & Crispin Hellion Glover Presents ‘What is it?’
The Plaza Theatre
July 22, 2008
Presence. Crispin Glover has it. In any of the countless films you have seen him in, he’s just got something intriguing about him. Getting to see him in person is even more startling. I got the opportunity to see him perform live and present his latest film on tour, What Is It?, an experimental film using only actors with Down Syndrome. He started off the evening with a vaudeville-esque slideshow performance presenting each of his artist books that he has created. After an incredibly long speech (impeccably well –rehearsed) accompanying the slide-show he moved on to showcasing his new film. What Is It?, was a fascinating concept film revolving around the process of killing snails with salt, the idea of double lives, and a strange alternate world. The film was followed by question and answer session where Crispin gratefully answered each and every question. It was an amazing opportunity to get to know an actor/director who has been involved in both the Hollywood and independent film industries. +++
The Plaza Theatre
July 22, 2008
Presence. Crispin Glover has it. In any of the countless films you have seen him in, he’s just got something intriguing about him. Getting to see him in person is even more startling. I got the opportunity to see him perform live and present his latest film on tour, What Is It?, an experimental film using only actors with Down Syndrome. He started off the evening with a vaudeville-esque slideshow performance presenting each of his artist books that he has created. After an incredibly long speech (impeccably well –rehearsed) accompanying the slide-show he moved on to showcasing his new film. What Is It?, was a fascinating concept film revolving around the process of killing snails with salt, the idea of double lives, and a strange alternate world. The film was followed by question and answer session where Crispin gratefully answered each and every question. It was an amazing opportunity to get to know an actor/director who has been involved in both the Hollywood and independent film industries. +++
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Cobras Cobras Cobras/ MT ROYAL/ WOMEN Review
Cobras Cobras Cobras/ MT ROYAL/ WOMEN
No. 1 Royal Canadian Legion
July 14, 2008
Last night I went to the Royal Canadian Legion on 7th Avenue for a rock show. Located next to the questionable St. Regis Hotel and the EnCana pit of doom, people are always surprised that local young talent frequent the World War memorabilia-adorned building on a regular basis. While I have been there on previous occasions I too am always pleasantly surprised at what a great venue it is. Medicine Hat’s Cobras Cobras Cobras, MT ROYAL, and Calgary’s WOMEN were on the bill for the evening. The show was intimate, full of fantastic psychedelic noise rock, and had that paneled-wood-wall-basement-party atmosphere that makes every show at the Legion so much fun. As any music lover should at the end of any memorable show, I walked away with two CD’s and WOMEN’s new vinyl record. +++
No. 1 Royal Canadian Legion
July 14, 2008
Last night I went to the Royal Canadian Legion on 7th Avenue for a rock show. Located next to the questionable St. Regis Hotel and the EnCana pit of doom, people are always surprised that local young talent frequent the World War memorabilia-adorned building on a regular basis. While I have been there on previous occasions I too am always pleasantly surprised at what a great venue it is. Medicine Hat’s Cobras Cobras Cobras, MT ROYAL, and Calgary’s WOMEN were on the bill for the evening. The show was intimate, full of fantastic psychedelic noise rock, and had that paneled-wood-wall-basement-party atmosphere that makes every show at the Legion so much fun. As any music lover should at the end of any memorable show, I walked away with two CD’s and WOMEN’s new vinyl record. +++
Monday, July 14, 2008
Fuck the Stampede
Fuck the Stampede
Rock Show gives out more free stuff than the Stampede Parade
BY KAIT KUCY
July 12, 2008
Fuck the Stampede featuring: Hazard Lights / The Sub-Linguals / The Pine Tarts
@ Broken City JULY 11, 2008
The Calgary Stampede is not what it once was; the celebration of Western culture, cowboy music singalongs, and horseback riding. Now, on the complete flipside it is all about getting completely wasted for 10 days, seeing how short of a denim skirt you can get away with on the midway rides, and getting your wedding ring tan airbrushed away. Since there are many of us in this city who choose not to partake in the free-for-all of the Stampede, Broken City Social Club and Bar decided to run an anti-Stampede evening.
Now in its second year of celebration, what better way to say f*** you to the Stampede, than to skip the fairgrounds and hang out with some of Calgary’s homegrown garage rock bands? Hazard Lights, The Sub-Linguals, and The Pine Tarts all shared the spotlight of this Wrangler-deficient evening.
Hazard Lights, a 3-man garage/punk rock line-up took the stage first. They were anything but cowpokes in their skin-tight red pants and David Cassidy hair. They began their set with some catchy noisy tunes that are over as quick as they started. Hazard Lights plays typically fun punk rock but I think they have a couple years to go before their set becomes technically solid. They are already booked for this summer’s Wild Weekend Garage Rock Festival in Austin, Texas which isn’t too bad for three young guys from Calgary. My only criticism is yes, everyone loves a good punk rock cover but it is original material that sticks with fans. The Hazard Lights, essentially, just need to put out a record quick to sustain this popularity they have reached in Calgary right now.
The Sub-Linguals climbed the stage next; a noisy four piece featuring Calgary’s long past favourite El Camino’s frontman Johnny Torpedo, a.k.a. local outsider artist Kamil Krulis. Revival is what is all about with The Sub-Linguals. A solitary green light bulb hangs from a cord in the middle of the stage, everything else complete darkness. Johnny Torpedo takes to the stage with a black leather cape, smeared red lipstick, and loud and rough vocals. Meanwhile, maniac Ace-Tone organist Ryan Sadler pounds the keys wildly, while the rhythm sectioned backed by drummer Eric Sadler and garage rock-veteran Pete Roe plays bass. They don’t waste anytime delving right into the hard-core rock outs; with the green light swinging and Johnny Torpedo screaming into the mic, the whole crowd gets into it. A mix of 1970’s punk rock, 1960’s garage rock, and a little 1980’s powerpop thrown in there, The Sub-Linguals come up fairly triumphant for doing something new in music in Calgary. They finish their set with the organist lunging into the crowd, Ace-Tone in tow, glasses flying off, only to be rewarded with admirable support of their fans. Each person leans in to help keep the Ace-Tone supported off the ground, as Sadler still pounds away on it, while another reaches for his glasses and tucks them away safely.
Powerpopping sweethearts, The Pine Tarts finished up the evening with the most hype of all. Green tinsel wrapped around mic stands and later thrown to the crowd brought back memories of a previous Pine Tarts show which involved Ring-Pops for the whole bar. Most songs are fronted by Jesse Powell, the perpetually shirtless guitar player, but when keyboardist Laurie Fuhr took over vocals for one song it gave the set a completely different feel. Her sweet-as-pie vocals combined with the mellowness that overcomes both the stage and the audience, prove The Pine Tarts to be truly versatile musicians. Of course, they had to disturb that peaceful moment by tossing an ex-girlfriends old Casio keyboard to the crowd for destruction. After the keys were significantly destroyed to the approval of Powell, they continued their set with several other rock’n’roll melodies. To keep up with the theme of throwing stuff to the audience they also passed out several free copies of their lime-green 7” vinyl record. I left before the end of their set, but heard it went out like a bang.
Looking back on the rockstar-antic-filled evening, one can be wholly satisfied in saying that they did not have to deal with drunk yahoos during the evening, their sandle-d feet were not crushed by any cowboy boots, and their hunger for non-Nashville North tunes was fulfilled.
9/10 Bonus marks for free goods.
Rock Show gives out more free stuff than the Stampede Parade
BY KAIT KUCY
July 12, 2008
Fuck the Stampede featuring: Hazard Lights / The Sub-Linguals / The Pine Tarts
@ Broken City JULY 11, 2008
The Calgary Stampede is not what it once was; the celebration of Western culture, cowboy music singalongs, and horseback riding. Now, on the complete flipside it is all about getting completely wasted for 10 days, seeing how short of a denim skirt you can get away with on the midway rides, and getting your wedding ring tan airbrushed away. Since there are many of us in this city who choose not to partake in the free-for-all of the Stampede, Broken City Social Club and Bar decided to run an anti-Stampede evening.
Now in its second year of celebration, what better way to say f*** you to the Stampede, than to skip the fairgrounds and hang out with some of Calgary’s homegrown garage rock bands? Hazard Lights, The Sub-Linguals, and The Pine Tarts all shared the spotlight of this Wrangler-deficient evening.
Hazard Lights, a 3-man garage/punk rock line-up took the stage first. They were anything but cowpokes in their skin-tight red pants and David Cassidy hair. They began their set with some catchy noisy tunes that are over as quick as they started. Hazard Lights plays typically fun punk rock but I think they have a couple years to go before their set becomes technically solid. They are already booked for this summer’s Wild Weekend Garage Rock Festival in Austin, Texas which isn’t too bad for three young guys from Calgary. My only criticism is yes, everyone loves a good punk rock cover but it is original material that sticks with fans. The Hazard Lights, essentially, just need to put out a record quick to sustain this popularity they have reached in Calgary right now.
The Sub-Linguals climbed the stage next; a noisy four piece featuring Calgary’s long past favourite El Camino’s frontman Johnny Torpedo, a.k.a. local outsider artist Kamil Krulis. Revival is what is all about with The Sub-Linguals. A solitary green light bulb hangs from a cord in the middle of the stage, everything else complete darkness. Johnny Torpedo takes to the stage with a black leather cape, smeared red lipstick, and loud and rough vocals. Meanwhile, maniac Ace-Tone organist Ryan Sadler pounds the keys wildly, while the rhythm sectioned backed by drummer Eric Sadler and garage rock-veteran Pete Roe plays bass. They don’t waste anytime delving right into the hard-core rock outs; with the green light swinging and Johnny Torpedo screaming into the mic, the whole crowd gets into it. A mix of 1970’s punk rock, 1960’s garage rock, and a little 1980’s powerpop thrown in there, The Sub-Linguals come up fairly triumphant for doing something new in music in Calgary. They finish their set with the organist lunging into the crowd, Ace-Tone in tow, glasses flying off, only to be rewarded with admirable support of their fans. Each person leans in to help keep the Ace-Tone supported off the ground, as Sadler still pounds away on it, while another reaches for his glasses and tucks them away safely.
Powerpopping sweethearts, The Pine Tarts finished up the evening with the most hype of all. Green tinsel wrapped around mic stands and later thrown to the crowd brought back memories of a previous Pine Tarts show which involved Ring-Pops for the whole bar. Most songs are fronted by Jesse Powell, the perpetually shirtless guitar player, but when keyboardist Laurie Fuhr took over vocals for one song it gave the set a completely different feel. Her sweet-as-pie vocals combined with the mellowness that overcomes both the stage and the audience, prove The Pine Tarts to be truly versatile musicians. Of course, they had to disturb that peaceful moment by tossing an ex-girlfriends old Casio keyboard to the crowd for destruction. After the keys were significantly destroyed to the approval of Powell, they continued their set with several other rock’n’roll melodies. To keep up with the theme of throwing stuff to the audience they also passed out several free copies of their lime-green 7” vinyl record. I left before the end of their set, but heard it went out like a bang.
Looking back on the rockstar-antic-filled evening, one can be wholly satisfied in saying that they did not have to deal with drunk yahoos during the evening, their sandle-d feet were not crushed by any cowboy boots, and their hunger for non-Nashville North tunes was fulfilled.
9/10 Bonus marks for free goods.
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