You stay jazzy, Edmonton
It’s that time of the year, Edmonton. Get your jazz hands ready.
Ready?
Show me…jazz hands!
I really, sincerely hope one of you is vigorously shaking your hands right now. That would totally make my day.
But it is in fact time for the Edmonton International Jazz Festival. See, I was going somewhere with all of this.
OK, so the festival officially begins tomorrow but they’ve got one of those pre-festival concerts, just like Folk Fest, with Chick Corea tonight. That’s this evening at The Winspear.
Other Jazz highlights include Nikki Yanofsky (she of the Olympic “I Believe” song), Jazz in the Park (which is free, and at Louise McKinney Park), and lots of performances at the Yardbird Suite and MacLab Theatre. Hey, you can even pick up a $99 pass to get in to any show at the Yardbird and MacLab (subject to some seat availability at the performance). And there are a lot of people playing between now and July 4. Even Kid Koala is playing.
Wait? Kid Koala?
And I thought Sally was teaching me everything I needed to know about jazz. Sally, you never told me Kid Koala could play turntables at a jazz festival!
So, anyway…the jazz fest is on. Enjoy.
What a weekend
This is going to be a good one, Edmonton.
Just worry about the weekend. Don't look at Tuesday.
The weather is hot and sunny, Conan O’Brien is here, NHL playoffs are on TV, and the Edmonton Rush are home tonight (7pm) and trying to secure some Rexall Place playoff action for the spring.
I’m always a sucker to mention Winnipeg bands coming through town. Nathan is one such band that is worthy of your ears.
Buddy Guy, the dude who calls Eric Clapton in that cell phone commercial, is playing the Jubilee.
I’m grooving to some We Are Wolves as I tell you they’re playing the Pawn Shop. What did we do before YouTube?
Ghostkeeper is at Brixx. The Old Wives are at New City.
And there’s more!
You won’t believe all the good stuff ShareEdmonton has for you.
It’s time for the Edmonton Women’s Show. Which I predict will, predictably, have some soap opera star in attendance. Yup.
Saturday offers the rare treat of seeing inside the Edmonton Law Courts, cells, courtrooms, and more. Without a summons to appear.
The Winspear Centre will be pop-y with A Chorus of Hits.
And Edmonton celebrates Earth Day this Sunday, April 18. It’s not in Hawrelak this year, it’s at the City Centre Airport. Fort Edmonton Park. (I have no idea why I thought this was at City Centre Airport. This is my bad, not ShareEdmonton’s.)
I’m already tired.
p.s. If you didn’t see it already, Nikki “I Believe” Yanofsky is returning to the Edmonton International Jazz Festival this June.
