Having been a young adult in the 80's and early 90's I was there back when Calgary had a kick ass live music scene..you could see live bands seven nights a week at various venues throughout our city. Amazing bands played on a regular basis..Electric ( later known as Age of Electric) Smash LA , Young Gun, Misbehavin (Later known a Specula Black) X-Rated , Raw Trixx and a whole host of others travelled the bar circuit playing partying and entertaining the masses. Bars such as Frankie & Johnny's North and South, The Live Wire and the Skyroom all featured live entertainment 6 days week and most hosted jams on a Sunday. I remember one night at F&J's North (The Beacon) my friends and I were dancing and having a great time watching one of our friends perform, must have been Rainbow Warrior (Tim Cambridge, Jaret Hunchak), when the power went out to the entire hotel. After a few minutes of futile waiting we soon realized the power was not coming back anytime soon. Someone drove their car up to the doors of the bar and shone their headlights in and cranked the radio up..I think eventually someone brought in an acoustic guitar...everyone stayed and everyone had a blast . It was my friend Danny Gavin's birthday that night and the entire bar sang him happy birthday in the dark. Nights like that one and many others make up what my friends and I affectionately call "back in the day" As the 90's progressed I got married , had kids, ok ok maybe not in that exact order but you get the idea. I left the scene and focused on raising my family. Over the next 15 years we would go out occasionally but less and less could you find a live band venue...the new thing was the DJ bar and dance music, every once in a while a new bar would open and attempt to bring back the live music scene but it never caught on the way it was, eventaully I gave up and lost touch ..Fast forward to 2011 ..kids are grown and more independent and I have the ability to have a social life of my own, but what to do? I knew there was a few of my old friends still kicking around..Playground Zone featuring Greg Cox and Tim Cambridge, Curious George featuring Greg Gesha and Jaret Hunchak (who has now moved on to Glow), reconnecting with some old friends through facebook I started going out again. What I found will be the basis for this blog, Calgary's live music scene is not only alive but is actually flourishing. You can find live entertainment in a variety of genre's almost every night of the week. Not only are my old friends out there performing nightly there is a whole new crop of amazing talent dedicating their evenings and weekends to entertaining us. I have met the most amazingly generous and talented people in the last 6 months, all of them involved in bringing the live music scene back to full life in our great city. These people welcome me and any and all comers with open arms. It is my goal to entice you to attend some of the upcoming events and shows . My next post will be from a previous event Rock the Cure - Mardi Gras in May Breast Cancer fund raiser held at the Kings Head Pub May 29, 2011 6 amazing bands donated their time and energy to provide an awesome night of entertainment for an excellent cause. As well I will always end my new postings with info regarding important upcoming events. The first of which would have to be Calgary Bands for Slave Lake to be held Thursday June 2, 2011 at Viper Room 302 - 3rd Avenue SW Calgary 7pm - 2am featuring 14 local bands $10 donation at the door all proceeds to the Canadian Red Cross Slave Lake Relief effort. Come on down and check it out. Our last event Calgary Bands for Japan held in March at the Kings Head Pub raised $12000 for Japan relief efforts. Calgary Bands for Cause is a charity in the making that is the brain child of my good friend Terry- Lee Bharti and organized and run by him and a few amazing local musicians, crew, wives and friends. I look forward to telling and showing you all about the events and the people.
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