Canadian Events
Happy Canada Day, Edmonton!
If you’re feeling patriotic today can get into the Canadiana all over the city. There’s the Silly Summer Parade down Whyte Avenue, Churchill Square is busy with The Works and City Hall has Canada Day activities, the Alberta Legislature is all about our country’s 143rd birthday, and Mill Woods always throws a huge party. For a complete listing of all of Edmonton’s Canada Day fun head to the City’s website.
And don’t forget about fireworks! Mill Woods has them tonight and the river valley will light up with the city’s main sky display. There are some traffic restrictions downtown, tonight, because of the fireworks, so, again, check the city’s website for Canada Day and fireworks details.
Now, because Canada Day is Thursday this year it’s going to throw the week totally off for some people. I’ll be be back at work Friday, but you might not be. So let’s just call this a long-weekend and see what’s going on Thursday-Sunday.
As I noted above, The Works continues in Churchill Square, and various installations around downtown.
The Edmonton International Jazz Festival continues. You should snap some photos and win our hat.
One more festival…feats – estival of dance, continues to move.
July is a new month, and a new month means new movies.
Tonight, the Summer Rooftop Patio Series is on at Latitude 53, and they’re open late for Canada Day.
Meanwhile…over at the “tentue” you’ve got Kim Mitchell and Sass Jordan Friday night. You can’t get more Can-con than that. Speaking of homegrown talent, Calgary’s Roman Danylo is going to be making people (maybe you) laugh over at The Comic Strip.
There’s some big news at the City Market. Eva Sweet Waffles is going to be at the downtown farmers’ market for the rest of the summer. Get some waffles.
It’s a pretty good sports weekend here in the City of Champions. The Edmonton Capitals are taking on Calgary, and you can get another fix of fireworks after Friday’s game. There’s more baseball with the Edmonton Prospects. And the Edmonton Eskimos kick off their 2010 CFL season Sunday, against the B.C. Lions.
Now it’s time to check in with ShareEdmonton and YEGLive.ca for important events and music.
Lil Kim is at Union Hall tonight. Lil Kim is at Union Hall tonight!
The Freewill Shakespeare Festival is back, and they start with my favourite of the Shakespears; Macbeth. They’re also doing Much ado about nothing.
Let me know if there’s anything else I’m missing. Last week I forgot to tell you about the Edmonton Turkish Festival and that’s one of my favourites.
UPDATE: How could I totally forget about the E-Ville “Declaration of Derby,” happening Saturday? I mean, we were giving away tickets and everything. It just proves you guys need to keep me on my toes.
Already the end of June
It seems like June has just flown right by this year. And since we are in the midst of the festival season it’s just going to keep zipping along.
Why, just look at this weekend. We’ve got the Edmonton International Jazz Festival (including the free Jazz in the Park event Saturday), The Works Art Design Festival,
the Serca Festival of Irish Theatre, Bikeology wraps up Bike Month with a dance party, Improvaganza is finishing, and feats – festival of dance is sure to get you moving. That’s a lot of festivals.
This afternoon, you’ve also got the Edmonton Oilers drafting their first-ever first overall NHL pick. The team is throwing together a party. Will it be Taylor or Tyler? (That sounds like the stunning conclusion on some teen drama.)
This weekend is Edmonton’s first Startup Weekend. I’d explain what that is but Mack will probably do a better job.
I’ll be closing out the month-long Edmonton Community Challenge by building a canned good sculpture at Churchill Square. So I’ll probably take in some of The Works while I’m there.
Now it’s time to check in on all that is happening in Edmonton with ShareEdmonton and YegLive.ca
The Edmonton Energy are taking on the Los Angeles Lightning, in IBL action, at NAIT’s downtown campus.
If you’re up for a little bit of a road trip, head out to Stony Plain (I said it would be a little road trip.) to catch The Swiftys at the Early Stage Saloon.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier Park will be overrun by little creatures since this Sunday is Pets in the Park 2010.
And on Monday you can celebrate Canada’s Olympic hockey glory at Commonwealth Stadium.
What else is going on this weekend?
Weekend 2.0
Welcome to weekend 2.0 Edmonton.
I really don’t know what that means, but everybody slaps 2.0 into their stuff and it just sounds so cool.
Sally mentioned The Joe’s big show, this Saturday at The Hydeaway, in her new feature “Welcome to the Beat Laboratory.” So, to reiterate, The Joe is playing a big show Saturday at The Hydeaway. With lots of other great rappers. At The Hydeaway. Saturday.
I hope they have bike-powered smoothies again.
Hey, this Saturday is Bikeology, and we’ve never missed a Bikeology festival yet, here at the edmontonian. Alright, we’ve only had one to cover. But I plan on being there tomorrow, so that will make us 2/2.
It’s happening in tandem with the City’s Park(ed) event on 102 Avenue. So, park the car, hop on the bicycle and take in our city at a slower, more enjoyable, pace. There’s also a rock show over at Churchill Square.
And they say our downtown is dead…
One event that Sally will be going on and on about is the release of Toy Story 3. Check with our resident sass-machine for other movies coming out.
Rent begins a run at La Cite, a theatre in Edmonton’s French district.
Improvaganza is still providing laughs. That’s two major festivals already mentioned today.
FC Edmonton is playing. While I initially thought it was something to do with a Coca-Cola sponsorship, it turns out they will be taking on one of Chile’s best soccer teams, Colo-Colo. This could be the cure for your World Cup fever.
Also in sporting news…the Edmonton Prospects are home (home being John Fry Park) to Swift Current and Okotoks this weekend.
The WhitSundays are playing the Pawn Shop tonight.
(I think this is the least amount of music I’ve ever mentioned for a weekend.)
National Aboriginal Day is Monday, but the events begin before that.
Our good friends at ShareEdmonton (and their friends at YegLive.ca) have some ideas of their own about this weekend. That makes it sound nefarious, but they’re actually just good ideas.
You know, it’s almost summer. The real summer. Which makes Summer Solstice sound like just the right kind of event.
At ShareEdmonton they always know when the Edmonton Energy are playing. The Energy are on the hardcourt this weekend, against the Yamhill Flyers. I did not make that up.
Luke and Tess Pretty are releasing a CD. If you don’t know who Luke and Tess Pretty are you haven’t spent a lot of time on Whyte Avenue in the summer.
Maybe you just want to watch Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog again? There’s an event for that.
Tim Allen is at the tent at River Cree.
Sunday is Father’s Day. Fort Edmonton Park has “Dad vs. Wild,” which disappoints me only because it’s nothing like Survivorman.
June’s first kick at the can
The first June weekend of the year is here and let’s see what’s in store for us.
You could see a movie. There are four new ones in theatre this weekend.
Nextfest has begun. It’s the annual celebration of young, youthful artists in Edmonton. There will be plays, dance, films, visual art, music and lots more. And it’s all from young, and up-and-coming Edmonton artists.
Pay attention, some of these names will be in arts and culture coverage for years to come. Plus, you can check things out right now and be able to say you saw so-and-so’s first show back in 2010.
This weekend also marks the beginning of the month-long Edmonton Community Challenge. 20 21 of Edmonton’s community leagues will be eating pancakes, cleaning neighbourhoods, fixing bikes, collecting food for the Food Bank and recyclables for YESS, and scavenging for photos, all to try and win $15,000 for a capital project in their community. I’ll be reporting more on this, from the front lines, as captain of the Strathcona Centre team.
Dreamspeakers Film Festival is still going on. So is the International Children’s Festival.
Tonight, at the Avenue Theatre, Christian Hansen & The Autistics will impress you with their musical talent. You’ll be there at 8pm.
Is that all I’ve got? Yes.
But that’s not all ShareEdmonton’s got:
The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (ESO) is going to the Oscars this weekend.
It’s Movies on the Square time again! Tonight you can watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs on a giant screen in Churchill Square. Tomorrow it’s Alvin and the Chipmunks 2.
If you head to Naked on Jasper, Saturday night, you can support aspiring musicians, including one of our favourites, Lyra Brown. Lyra is also going to be playing Nextfest on Tuesday. See what I said about the best and brightest young stars?
Eddie Vaan Shaw Jr. will be at the Yardbird. (This is one of those newfangled yeglive.ca tie-in events I mentioned last week.)
If you’re in the centre of the city this weekend you might want to check out the Heart of the City festival. It’s two days of music, music and music. All at Giovanni Cabot Park, and all free.
Edmonton Twitter music notables Erica Viegas and Lisa Nicole Grace play Saturday night.
Oh, the things you’ll do
I’m not messing around when I say there is a lot of stuff to do in Edmonton over the next three days.
There is A LOT of stuff to do in Edmonton over the next three days.
Tonight, I’m making it about music. And you could too.
I’ll be at the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (9:30), taking in a “Late Night” performance. Tonight is Late Night Paris. After the performance there’s live jazz in the Winspear.
(There’s more Parisien Charm Sunday afternoon.)
The Late Night series is another way the ESO is trying to reach new audiences. They’ve got the Symphony Under the Sky in Hawrelak Park for the Labour Day weekend, matinees, pops, Broadway, kids’ shows, and the classics. A performance at 9:30 on a Friday night makes it feel like a real night on the town.
As the season winds down (it’s over in mid-June) I applaud the ESO for their versatile lineup and can’t wait for 2010-2011 to kick-off in the park.
If you don’t want to spend the evening at the Winspear Centre you can still make tonight about music.
We mentioned earlier that One Way State is playing Friday night with Maurice. Too Slim and the Taildraggers are still at Blues on Whyte too.
Our old pal Jerrold Dubyk is playing this weekend. He’s got a show tonight, at 6:30, at Victoria School. Then The Jerrold Dubyk Quartet takes to the Haven Social Club stage Saturday night with Althea Cunningham and Dawn in the City.
Dance!
Back to Friday music…You could see The Neil Young Trunk Show over at Metro Cinema. Or catch punk legends The Buzzcocks at New City. The U of A’s Convocation Hall has Classic Broadway via Opera Nuova.
And Disney’s Beauty and the Beast finishes its Edmonton run this weekend.
Now…what about the rest of this busy weekend?
Did somebody ask for a Dance-a-Thon? Good. Because Mile Zero Dance is doing just that, Saturday night. It starts at 7:30 and while it says it ends at 1:30 am, I hope it goes until the last dancer drops.
It could be a weekend of shopping for new things. You can swing by Make-It Edmonton! and buy some cool, handmade goods. If you quickly find yourself with buyer’s remorse you can get over to the Winspear and trade that stuff away at the Over the Top Swap, which also happens to be a spa for the day.
You can celebrate videogames with local podcast User Created Content. They’re throwing a 2nd birthday party Saturday. It starts at HiTech Gaming (15219 Stony Plain Road) and finishes at Union Hall (Argyll and 99 Street).
If you’re still in the gaming mood, Sunday sees the monthly GamePub over at Original Joe’s Varsity.
Edmonton’s own Ann Vriend is playing the Myer Horowitz Theatre Saturday night. She’s kind of a big deal.
We are in the midst of summer movie blockbuster season. I think Sally is trying to drag Gregg Beever to Sex and the City 2. I feel bad for him.
Our event-loving friends over at Share Edmonton have something to say about the next few days too. Share has also teamed up with YEG Live.ca to keep us all updated on live music!
They’ve got details on all the running around you could be doing at the Little Big Run and the Subway Coronation Triathalon. I wonder if everyone eats a giant sub after the race?
Saturday sees a Highlands Street Festival over on 112 Avenue.
And don’t forget the Edmonton Energy play at the Butterdome tonight, they’re hosting the Bellingham Slam.
Don’t tell me you can’t find something to do.
Too Slim Tuesday
Quite often when I’m putting together a list of weekend events I think would be a good time I see something coming up the next week that I can’t mention.
Well, I can mention it!
Edmonton’s more than weekend events, there’s stuff happening all of the time. That may be surprising to those who think we need a downtown arena before we’ll have anything to do. But I digress…
So, I present to you the first, of what could be many, events happening around Edmonton on days that aren’t the weekend.
We begin this Tuesday with Too Slim and the Taildraggers.
They’re a blues-rock band out of Seattle, calling what they do “dirty rock.”
It sounds like straight-ahead bluesy rock to this guy, with fast fingers from Mr. Too Slim on lead guitar. And you know what, you need some of that every once and a while. It can’t all be screaming and metal and whatever the heck hipsters are listening to this week.
Tonight kicks off a week of shows at Blues on Whyte. And if you still need another reason to like them, they’re endorsed by a sauce.
For more Edmonton bands and music events you can always check YEGLive.ca, and you already know about our friends at ShareEdmonton and all the events they keep track of.
Extra events
Normally I talk about stuff happening Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. But, of course, this is a long weekend and we get one more day to do stuff that isn’t work.
We are so lucky.
I believe I may have hinted in the Headlines this morning that I will be watching the Lost series finale this Sunday. Hey, even if you haven’t been a Lostie, there’s still enough time to grab the DVDs and watch enough key episodes to get in on the fun. Otherwise, good luck avoiding everything about the show while you spend weeks trying to catch up after the show ends.
I wonder if its DVD sales will be awful for a few years, until it’s been wiped pretty clear of pop culture?
Anyway…
You have to ride the streetcar at least once each summer.
It doesn’t look like it’s going to be a great weekend, weather-wise, so maybe you’ll ust hit the movie theatre. It’s totally a good couch weekend too.
If you are looking for some of your first taste of BBQ, maybe hit school board candidate Michael Janz’s campaign kick-off party, Saturday afternoon. It’s right by the McKernan-Belgravia LRT station.
Henry Rollins is at the Winspear tonight. Let Sally know how that goes.
Fort Edmonton Park opens its 2010 season this long weekend. Too bad they didn’t have time to put in the log flumes and historically accurate laser tag.
I’ve learned, through the power of the Internet, that Saturday is the International Day of Biodiversity. So, head on over to the courtyard behind the Stanley A. Milner library and learn about plants, bugs and stuff.
Victoria Day weekend means the High Level Bridge streetcar starts running!
Public Enemy playing the Edmonton Event Centre Sunday night. We should have ordered an edmontonian clock for Flavor. It really is a weekend of hip hop, since you’ve also got Hip Hop in the Park (Louise McKinney, that is) Saturday afternoon. Hip Hop in the Dark goes tonight.
The Uncas rock the Pawn Shop Saturday.
And thanks to our good friends at ShareEdmonton I can remember to mention that the Edmonton Energy are home tonight for IBL action.
No matter what you’re getting up to, if you’re leaving the house remember that there are LRT closures this weekend. The train won’t be running between Churchill and Clareview stations.
What to do, what to do
Yes indeed, we’ve made it through another week.
Martin Kerr was out at the Beverley Farmers' Market. Maybe you'll see him at the first Downtown market of the summer, this Saturday.
So, let’s find you something fun to do.
Not to brag, but I bet, maybe even as you’re reading this, I’m having the most weekend fun of all. The dentist is yanking one of my wisdom teeth out.
Have fun with your non-pain pill related events, suckers.
If you’re an Edmonton politics fan you may already know the Alberta Liberal Party is holding their convention and AGM this weekend.
The Tallest Man on Earth is playing a sold out show at Brixx. He’s not actually that tall.
Everybody’s favourite band (to say) is playing the Avenue Theatre tonight. It’s Fucked Up.
More local, Saturday will see the first Joe Bird Award. It’s a bit of a celebration over at the Empress Ale House.
#YegHelp is this Saturday night. That’s a big fundraiser for the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation. There’s a fashion show too. Plus, I’ll link to most anything with a #Yeg in it.
Almost a #Yeg, the public teachers are hosting a tweetup tonight.
Maybe this will be the weekend you finally check out lawn bowling. Maybe.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the E-Ville Roller Derby girls are having a championship this weekend. Have you seen roller derby in E-town yet?
Of course, the summer blockbuster movies just keep on coming!
There’s a 2010 Alberta Comedy Spectacular being recorded for the CBC in St. Albert.
Ooh, and the Found Footage Festival is on tonight!
Meanwhile…over at Share Edmonton…
The Edmonton Energy return to the basketball floor!
There will be plenty of running and walking this weekend with the Community Action Dash and Enerflex MS Walk.
Don’t forget, the ESO is always a good choice. This weekend, they’ve got a wonderful soprano in, to sing Schubert.
And, I don’t normally look beyond the weekend, but I fear I’ll forget to mention A Night of Highwire Films, which is happening Wednesday. There!
What the bleep is going on?
I’ll tell you what’s going on!
Right after I tell you what I’ll be up to this weekend.
I’ll be at MediaCamp Edmonton tomorrow. It should be a good time.
Being a “camp” it’s going to be one of those un-conference thingys. That’s where the participants (me and 200 of my friends) pitch OUR ideas. There are no set sessions, no planned speakers. We will dictate what the day is about.
So, if the day is terrible it’s our own fault.
It’s about collaboration, basically. The room will be full of traditional media (newspaper, radio and TV folks, my old peeps), new media (bloggers, podcasters, online journalists, my new peeps) public and media relations (the corporate, organizational, and government “spin-doctors” and storytellers) and developers (people who know what the heck is actually inside our computers and how to use that to create new software, new forms of storytelling, new things).
It’s a free event, so if you fall into any of those categories you can come on down to the Shaw Conference Centre tomorrow.
By working together, for at least one day, we should be able to figure out some new ways to tell stories, new ways to use the Internet, mobile technologies, emerging tech, new software, and each other, to build better communities. My definition of a better community, here, is one that knows more about itself, more about what’s going on and how it all works
I’m also hoping to talk my way into some of that sweet Journal moola The Unknown Studio guys are always flashing around town.
You can follow our shenanigans through the Twitter hashtag #yegmediacamp. You should also be able to search”yegmediacamp” after Saturday, to find blog posts, photos and videos of what we talked about.
The Edmonton Journal will also be streaming the opening panel, live at 10am.
But, enough about me. Let’s talk about what you could get up to this weekend. (Unless you’re also going to MediaCamp. Then, you should come over and say “Hi.”)
Tanner Gordon is playing, and releasing a CD, tonight at NAIT’s Shaw Theatre.
You could always see a movie.
The Edmonton Symphony for kids has “Mozart, Boy Genius.”
The City of Edmonton has a couple of events. The Muttart Conservatory is holding its annual bedding plant sale. That should get you in the spring mood. And the Valley Zoo is celebrating mothers.
By the way, it’s Mother’s Day on Sunday.
The Edmonton Rush continue their first-ever playoff run. They’re in Washington for the National Lacrosse League Western Final. Follow the action at the Rush or NLL website.
Now, this feels a little light. Let’s see if ShareEdmonton can’t help us out.
Ah yes, before the big event next week you can help #YegHelp with a few bucks tonight. CityTV’s Ryan Jespersen (ask him about fantasy hockey) and his wife, Capital FM’s Kari Skelton will be doing the guest bartender thing over at Lux. Drop some money into the tip jar to help Royal Le Page’s Shelter Foundation. I went last year, but tonight I’ll be hanging with newsy and PR friends.
There’s the Women + Health Conference at the Radisson south.
The Twitter crowd will be singing Saturday night. Singing!
Sunday sees an important, and kind of cool, event at the Shaw. It’s Homeless Connect 4. This is when homeless people can get connected (see what I did there?) to services available. Plus, they can get a haircut and really simple stuff we would take for granted.
See ya!
Bring on May!
This is going to be one hell of a weekend, Edmonton.
Just you wait until you see all the goodness I have found. There’s so much stuff happening this weekend, and so much fun stuff, that if you go back to work on Monday and don’t have an awesome story to tell, well… I don’t know… it would mean you didn’t partake in any of the following amazingness.
Should be a good fantastic show over at the Starlite Room tonight, with Said the Whale opening for Plants and Animals. If you haven’t got tickets you’re out of luck, since it’s sold out.
Since it’s the end of the month that means Sonic 102.9 will be rolling out their Band of the Month (BOTM) at the Pawn Shop. April’s BOTM is the Michael James Band. Sticking with the Pawn Shop, tomorrow night is The Besnard Lakes.
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast starts its run at the Citadel, Saturday. I wish Linda Hamilton was playing Belle.
Saturday is Free Comic Book Day. So hit up any of the number of comic shops in Edmonton for fun and shenanigans. And free stuff, obviously.
And now, as always, we see what ShareEdmonton has to say about this thing we’ve been calling a weekend. Or, “weekend,” I don’t know, the j may be silent.
You have all kinds of chances to get your arts and crafts on. The Butterdome Spring Craft Sale is happening at, well, the Butterdome. And this weekend is also the Royal Bison Craft & Art Fair. You know they’re for different audiences because one of them highlights arts in their name.
The Royal Bison after-party is going to be kickin’, brought to you by our friends at Weird Canada, and Sled Island and Mammoth Cave, over at The ARTery. The first 99 people with advanced tickets are also landing themselves a sweet 7″. That means vinyl. Then, the Wyrd crew heads out on the road.
Chefs in the City sounds like a cross between Iron Chef and those competition shows on the Food Network where chefs have just a few hours to create something crazy and amazing. Yum.
Edmonton Youth Week starts Saturday. One event that caught my eye was the Grafitti Wall.
You can also give back to your community this weekend (Don’t groan, it’snice to do such things.) because Capital City Clean Up is back and the River Valley is the first big target. I’m actually considering getting out of bed early on Sunday for this.
Thanks, ShareEdmonton. Now back to me…
Could these two be those kids that are always playing on Whyte in the summer, over by Fat Franks and at the Farmerss Market?!?!?!?!
p.s. Don’t forget to see how the Rush do against the Roughnecks. It’s NLL playoffs!
Do it
Although the “it” in my headline is really left up to you. But whatever “it” is that you choose for this weekend, make it fun.
Of course, some of you may be heading down the highway to the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo. Say “Hi” to Spock for us.
It’s cool and rainy, so maybe something inside is just right for this weekend. How about something with lots of beer?
Also inside is the Edmonton Opera’s season-ending show, “Otelleo.” It’s Shakespeare’s Othello, but Opera-style.
Los Lonely Boys are over at the Winspear. But if that’s not your speed, how about a DJ set from TV’s Degrassi’s Caitlin and Spike?!
Now, let’s see what ShareEdmonton has to say about this weekend.
Of course, the Edmonton Poetry Festival is on. Poetry doesn’t have to be boring, check out some of the events they’ve got going. (I’m a terrible poet.)
Over at the Edmonton Expo Centre (at Northlands) you’ve got the Edmonton Ink Festival: The Tattoo & Body Modification Show.
I was talking about this in the Headlines this morning; the Edmonton Public Library is trying out an MP3 Experiment at Churchill Square. You download the audio file, head to the square, then everyone starts listening at the same time. I bet it tells you to do some wacky stuff that will appear odd to passersby. The EPL follows that up with an audience participation viewing of The Princess Bride.
Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Now prepare to die. (That I typed this from memory is impressive. Or the opposite of that.)
Saturday is Astronomy Day! Celebrate at the Telus World of Science with, uh, astronomy.
And if you like transit (And who doesn’t?) then you’ll already know the Edmonton Transit Service is hosting a Community Fair at Southgate and Century Park LRT stations. Those stations also officially open to the public. Finally, I have a reason (and a way) to get down to Century Park.
Transit nerds unite!
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.
Edmonton Events
Yes, Edmonton, we’ve made it through that short week. Well, shorter for some. If this was a 5-day week for you, you’ve really earned a weekend.
So…here you go.
I don’t know if you know this, but Edmonton has a good sports team playing right now. I know, the Oilers still grab a lot of newspaper ink, but let’s forget about drafting 1st or 2nd for a minute and focus on the Edmonton Rush. They could be the best team in their conference, maybe the entire National Lacrosse League, when the season ends. They’re home to the Colorado Mammoth tonight. Boo-ya.
Hey, some of our YegSwap music buddies are playing tonight. Lyra Brown is at a songwriter’s showcase over at The Hydeaway. The Joe is part of a big show happening at the Avenue Theatre.
Some new friends, The Party Martyrs, are playing DV8 Tavern over on 99 Street. They will punk you. Tonight.
Also tonight, Matthew Barber is at the Haven Social Club.
Sally’s already been over the Spring Fling. That’s happening Saturday.
Now…for the best part, I head over to ShareEdmonton and raid their events listings, because I am lazy. And not too proud to hide that.
It’s the Northlands Farm & Ranch Show. Which is not news to you if you’re connected to the farm and/or ranch scene. Northlands also has the Canadian National College Finals Rodeo. Yee-haw!
What about the Edmonton Mini World Cup. Maybe you’re into that?
Oh, and the Century Grill is turning 10-years-old. I bet they’ll celebrate with food.
An Edmonton Weekend
There's also some big-time roller derby action this weekend. It's Edmonton vs. Calgary, baby.
Whatever you do this weekend, Edmonton, if the weather pans out as predicted you’re going to want to get outside. Especially if you’ve been running from your car to various buildings for the last four months.
Mayhaps you’ll be swinging over to the Shaw Conference Centre for the Edmonton Collectible Toy and Comic Show?
This weekend also sees a movie we’ve been waiting for to open; Hot Tub Time Machine. We really, really like it already.
The Get Down and The Old Wives are going to blow the roof off The Pawn Shop tonight, for the Sonic Band of the Month show. Now THAT’S Edmonton rock. The Old Wives are the BOTM.
Let’s go see what ShareEdmonton has to say about this weekend:
The Home and Garden show is on. That’s timely.
Maybe you want to talk about what Canada will look like at 150 years old.
Moms can Shop the Block, Sunday.
The Rush and Oilers are also playing here in Edmonton this weekend.
And don’t forget that Saturday night, at 8:30, it’s Earth Hour. So turn off stuff that’s sucking precious power.
Enjoy the weekend, my little peahens.
Yeg Swap and other events
Here's how the swap meet portion of #Yeg Swap will go down. The music and fun will just happen naturally.
If you didn’t know what I was going to open this week’s events listing with, you just haven’t been paying attention.
March 20 means #YegSwap over at The ARTery. 7pm. Until the fun ends.
We’ve got you bringing some cool stuff, that for some reason you just don’t want anymore (don’t tell me who did what on top of it). You’ll be trading that with other people in our super-efficient swap dome* and all the while you will be entertained by amazing Edmonton musicians Lyra Brown, The Mystery Ponies and The Joe.
And all for $2.
We’re basically paying you to come and have a great Saturday night.
One other thing worth mentioning, those musical acts are from three different genres. You don’t see a lot of that, outside of your iPod, so that could be worth the price of admission right there.
Alright, self-promotion aside, I’ll head over to ShareEdmonton and see if there’s anything else going on. But it probably won’t be as good as #Yeg Swap.
A neat event happening Saturday night (See, I’m not so biased I won’t mention other Saturday events.) is also a fundraiser. Out of Sight: A Sensory Experience is a “dining in the dark” meal, where a mask or sunglasses will limit your vision during the meal.
The Bounce is having a birthday party, their 5th.
Tonight (Friday) there’s an “Eeeeeeee…” inducing event at Best Buy Edmonton South, it’s a Twilight New Moon Launch Party.
It’s Randy Couture night at the Edmonton Rush game.
Here’s an interesting one from the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues; Green Projects to Empower your Community. It comes with wine and cheese.
The Edmonton Boat & Sportsmen’s Show is a sign of spring, right?
There’s a rally for public services at the Alberta Legislature Saturday. After that, you should come to #YegSwap.
Naked on Jasper (it’s a cybercafe you pervs) is hosting the Busker’s Ball tonight. It’s got a great lineup of people you’ve probably seen at other venues and actually busking.
There’s some Postdata happening at Brixx Friday night.
The Pawn Shop has a great show Sunday, with Jay Malinowski of Bedouin Soundclash, Kinnie Starr and Michael Rault.
I mentioned the coming latin passion in my review of an Edmonton Symphony Orchestra show back here, but this weekend is “Musica Latina.” Which is sure to set your hips a-swaying.
Oh, and The Fashion Event is back, for your spring shopping needs, over at the Mayfield Inn & Suites.
And tickets are now on sale for St. Albert’s International Children’s Festival.
Whew!
p.s. #Yeg Swap is being put on by The League of Extraordinary Media, which is our new group of Edmonton super-hero bloggers and podcasters. In the battle between good and evil, choose local.
*There’s no swap dome. I only said that to increase your interest.
Weekend Fun
Rocket sleds eh?
Looks like WinterLight is going out with a bang. It’s been a fun way to embrace our long, dark season.
Actually, looking at this weekend there are quite a few fun things happening. And you know I’m turning to ShareEdmonton to load us up with the good stuff.
Ooh, there’s the Grilled Cheese Olympics! That’s happening Sunday.
If you’ve got kids you might be checking out the Mom, Pop & Tots Fair, over at the Edmonton Expo Centre.
The circus is in Edmonton.
Edmonton gets to shine on the TED stage this Saturday, with TEDxEdmonton. It’s happening over at the TransAlta Arts Barns. Tickets were highly sought-after and are likely out of your hands, but there is an after-party. Plus, you can watch all the TEDx action online.
The 2010 Edmonton Golf Show clearly has to mean it’s almost, really spring.
If you’ve got the spirit why not check out the Alberta Cheerleading Association’s Total Spirit Championship over at West Edmonton Mall.
That dog is a better painter than me.
Our friends over at Tailz passed along an interesting event; HART’s “Pawsitively Painted,” which is a dog art auction. That’s art BY the dogs. Really.
And you’d be helping out other dogs in need. Aww…
Over at our new favourite venue, The ARTery, you’ve got Kate Maki playing Sunday.
Gee…I wonder why The ARTery would be our new favourite…could it be because we’ll be part of #yegswap next weekend? Probably.
Actually, it’s shaping up to be quite a fun night.
You will bring some cool stuff that you just got bored with, or don’t have space for, and I will do the same. We will throw it all onto a giant table and pick up some new things. So, not only are you going to get some of your spring cleaning done, you’re going to get sweet new stuff to play with, and for almost free.
Oh, and next Saturday, while you’re hanging out with some of your favourite Edmonton bloggers and podcasters, you can listen to great local music from Lyra Brown, The Mystery Ponies and The Joe.
Have a great weekend.
See you next weekend. (Wow, I’m getting pushy.)
It’s the weekend so let your hair down
Oh, and I don't want to brag or anything, but you should probably put this little baby in your calendar right now. I'll see you there in 2 weeks.
Let your hair down? What?! Who event talks like that?
I’ll try and up my hipster-era lingo throughout the rest of this post.
You can haz events.
Actually there are a few cool things going down this weekend in the Y-E-G.
First things first, let’s dig into the ShareEdmonton goody bag and see what we pull out.
Ooh…an Oilers game. Do people still go to those? For fun?
ShareEdmonton’s got a lot of Edmonton Public Library events, and I keep seeing this one, about gaming for teens. It’s cool that the library isn’t just about books anymore, and kids have a place to go do something fun instead of joining a gang.
You don’t hve much time left to RSVP for the Open City Workshop, but it’s a neat idea bringing developers, city staff and other people together to talk about what kinds of government information should be open and available, and what could be done with it (like build an iPhone app, or write an in-depth news story).
MacEwan University is hosting an open house, Saturday. Just don’t ask them about the pool.
If you want to drive out to Elk Island National Park there’s a Star Party. Take in the night sky without all of the city’s light pollution.
Then, you’ve got Pre/Post, The Consonance and The Madhatters playing Saturday night at the Pawnshop.
A band you might have heard of is playing the Shaw Conference Centre Sunday.
Or perhaps you want to check out the Newfoundland Screech Comedy from the Rock Tour, at the Kingsway Ramada? Yeah, I thought you might.
Let’s do it
Actually, there’s a lot of “it” we could do.
This is Hale Hale. They are good.
It will all depend on what we define as the it thing to do.
Wow, I’m getting confused.
Onto weekend fun!
The Wheat Pool is returning to the Pawnshop, as Sonic’s band of the month. That will make tonight special.
Also, a win by Team Canada would make tonight special. Where are you watching the game? I’ve got to get home and find something red to wear.
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Yes, of course, I’ve been checking ShareEdmonton for event ideas. Why wouldn’t I?
They’ve reminded me that Winefest Edmonton is this weekend.
And WinterLight continues (what a great weekend of weather we’ll have for getting outside) with The Big Winter. Sounds fun. And big.
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Now, back to my rambling selections.
Nobody leaves this place without singing the blues.
Over at the Haven Social Club (A place which I have not yet had the pleasure of seeing.) Hale Hale is going to melt some faces with rock.
I will never get tired of mentioning the babysitter blues.
Go Canada!
Some stuff going on in some places
I really thought my photo was going to make the poster.
And a good day to you, fair Edmonton.
All excited for the weekend, are we? Well, other than sleeping in, perhaps you’d like to try one of these out…
Again, I’m peering into the goody bag of ShareEdmonton this week. They’ve got one of the biggies of winter; The Silver Skate Festival goes this weekend in Hawrelak Park. And it’s not even freezing cold.
Speaking of skating, the revamped Bill Hunter arena opens this weekend and the city is offering some free (free!) skating.
Carey Hart is signing autographs at the West49 in WEM. That’s pretty cool.
Also cool is the Royal Winnipeg Ballet doing “Moulin Rouge,” at the Jube.
Seeing that The Hat has a brunch on Saturdays. Anyone been? Is it just breakfast burgers?
The Fray could show you how to save a life (*groan*) at the Winspear Centre on Sunday.
I’m out.
