Good morning, Edmonton.

It’s almost always funny, in a sad kind of way, that when governments announce they are going to tackle a problem or get tough on something, it’s a problem that’s had previous attempts to do just that. Edmonton’s recent worries over violent crime is just one of those issues. So, hopefully this is the time everyone follows through on plans and recommendations.

Meanwhile…Edmonton Police are teaming up with other agencies for a new kind of patrol…an action team!

On the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, an Edmonton firefighter who went to New York with the Red Cross is trying to remember the triumph of the human spirit he saw in the days after the Word Trade Centre towers fell.

The City of Edmonton is trying to entice filmmakers to shoot here. Though, not with a grant or tax break, or deals if they are locals or use local crews. I don’t think it’s a great idea to move $5-million from the financial stabilization fund when you’re running a deficit.

“Are people supposed to park on the next block? It’s insanity.” Really? Parking one block away is the end of the world?

It’s interesting that talk about snow removal shows what a lot of people think about our transportation network. And that the car must be the central vehicle to get people around Edmonton. Too bad people feel that way.

Let’s contrast that with capital region leaders who want to spend $10-billion on LRT and transit connections.

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I joked yesterday about using a Hotmail address to communicate official Alberta government business, but I guess that kind of stuff just won’t fly with the Information and Privacy Commissioner.

Now, the Premier and others say they also have two email addresses for their government work. I’d be interested to know what those ones are. If it’s Premier.Stelmach@… I think Ted Morton’s run for PC leader/Premier just took a big hit. If it’s Steve Johnson@…I guess Morton’s OK.

The provincial government announced more money for affordable housing, with about $11-million coming Edmonton’s way.

There is an Amber Alert for a B.C. boy, though not issued in Alberta. Even though the disappearance happened very close to the Alberta border. Actually, when I saw the coverage of this on Twitter and in Edmonton news, I thought an Amber Alert HAD been issued in Alberta.

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Want to learn an old skill?

If you’ve got a poem, a sketch, a couple of artistic thoughts, you can add them to the “poem catcher” at City Hall. It’s an idea of our new Poet Laureate.

We never got to link to a story from MacEwan’s newly re-named The Griff. Good luck this year!

Thanks for all of your thoughtful takes on the news of the day the last couple of years. Let’s keep the discussion going on Twitter with hashtags like #yeg (Edmonton) #yegcc (City Council) #ableg (Alberta Legislature) #abgov (Alberta government) #yegtransit and #yegtraffic (Edmonton transit and traffic) and #yegarena (the downtown arena). I’m @journalistjeff on there.

Edmonton’s got a thriving music scene. It’s probably always had a good scene, but you don’t see too many stories about this band or that musician leaving town to make it big these days.

Maybe that means the days of huge rock stars are dwindling, but ironically the Internet probably helps people find an audience to at least sustain some of their music (ironic because of downloading and all the terrible stealing it brings).

And you won’t just find Edmonton bands and artists by hitting up sites that are popping up and flourishing to fill the void of MySpace, the Internet also provides a home for mixes, compilations, promotion, distribution, and discussion of music – from Edmonton and afar.

Let’s jump into some places we think you’re going to find plenty of music you’ll like.

One Time, At Bandcamp…

When we posted a thanks to the 57 Edmonton bands and musicians that formed the soundtrack to our TV show we mentioned that we discovered many though Bandcamp. It’s probably our favourite of the music sites you’ll find on the Internet. (What’s yours?)

By searching the Edmonton tag you’re going to find new songs, EPs, and albums from anybody from Edmonton (and sometimes music produced in Edmonton).

It’s a fairly simple site to navigate, with pretty good search capabilities. You can listen to anything a musician has posted for playing, often download it in multiple formats, and pay for anything that’s for sale.

Keep your eyes on those prices, a lot of musicians will put up albums and songs with a “pay what you can” label, allowing you to show your support. And once you get a chance to listen to an entire album from some of Edmonton’s great artists, you’ll probably feel pretty good about investing a few dollars in them.

And when you’re zooming around Bandcamp you’re going to come across compilations. One such mix you should check out is “Edmontonia.”

It’s “…mainly curated from the perspective of introducing the world outside Edmonton to the exhaustive wealth hiding within it.” And, baby, do we have some talent here.

Edmontonia’s got three volumes at this point: Vol. 1, Vol 2. Vol. 3 and all feature a variety of 10 Edmonton bands or musicians, across all genres. (We’re big fans of breaking through the genre wall. Expand those musical horizons!)

Bandcamp would also be a great way to explore sounds from other cities. Instead of searching the Edmonton tag, you could try Saskatoon, or Winnipeg. You could discover the next best thing(s). With the Internet, you don’t have to wait for a radio station to tell you what the next great band is. You can have 20 of your own.

Home of the Best Music Website

We mentioned it in the fifth episode of our TV show (yes, that again) but Edmonton is home to Canada’s Best Music Website.

Weird Canada has been around for just over two years, filling the Internet with the small, independent, unheard, weirdest music you can find. It’s also helping to bring notice to Edmonton’s music scene through both the website and Wyrd Fest, its summer caravan of music.

We’ll let Weird Canada explain what it is they do:

It’s worth noting Weird Canada’s competition in the Best Music Website contest is home to more new music and discussion. You might even see an Edmonton band or two pop up. (We know you will at Hamilton’s Southern Souls. It was runner-up to Weird Canada. The MusicNerdChronicles rounded out the top 3.)

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I hinted that the Internet was great for not just finding Edmonton music, but promoting and distributing music from Edmonton. So howsabout an example of that?

Hi54LOFI Records runs out of an apartment near Whyte Avenue. Jeremy Sroka says it’s something that “…grew out of the musical camaraderie and opportunity/excitement that once existed on Myspace. The death of Myspace sort of went hand in hand with the discovery of all these other amazing sites and happenings on the web (Bandcamp, Twitter, Tumblr, Soundcloud, Tunecore, and an almost endless amount of others that exist already or will come out tomorrow) that started making it more possible than ever for somebody in their bedroom to get their music out of their bedroom.”

As a great example of what you can do on the Internet, you’ll find the actual HI54LOFI website, a Tumblr, Twitter account, and more at Mixcloud and 8tracks.

Jeremy thinks most people should be able to find something they like on the site.

“There is also a lot of free music to be had on the site and everybody likes that.”

He’s right. The Internet loves free!

Essentially, HI54LOFI acts as a hub for musicians. Jeremy helps promote music, and also helps with releases any way he can.

And, like a lot of things that start on the Internet, things jump off the computer screen and into the real world. When he moves to the UK next month, Jeremy is going to go on a small tour with some of the musicians he’s met, worked with, collaborated with, and helped through HI54LOFI.

Check out a new EP out this week from Black Coffee Stephee Pie and a “Pay what you want” HI54LOFI sampler.

Live Shows

It’s always important to listen to someone’s music. Letting them know you like it, it inspired you, it found a place in your life, and buying their music is also great.

Buying their swag and seeing them live is another way to support Edmonton music, keep it thriving and growing, enjoy new bars and venues, and meet other local music fans. (Both local fans, and fans of local.) And it means you can put your money right into the hands of the band members or musicians (who you will sometimes find working the door at small shows).

Edmonton’s got a great way to see what’s going on in live music. Neat how that works out.

YEG Live(.ca) is a local online ticket and concert listings site. Run by a couple of guys who knew each smaller venue in Edmonton had a different way of ticketing, it’s starting to make things a little simpler for the venues, bands, and you and me.

It’s also a great way to check what’s up at clubs and bars this week and in the near future. I use it as a resource when talking about weekend events, and you’ll often find it linked to Edmonton’s online events site ShareEdmonton.

Plus, Chris and Cameron, the guys behind YEG Live, are really smart.

Last But Not Least

Don’t forget about CJSR and CKUA. Edmonton’s got two great options for new, local, eclectic, and independent music in those stations. And search #yegmusic on Twitter to find out who’s talking about music in Edmonton.

Now on with the news!

We were talking yesterday about a push to lock up your car.

All that rain slowed down road construction. Thanks a lot, rain.

My guess is that plan B to find $100-million for the downtown arena involves a whole lot of busking by Mayor Mandel. Meanwhile…at our current arena…new seats may or may not happen…

David Staples makes a good point in his latest column in favour of government money for a downtown arena. The Alberta government shouldn’t put so much money into horse racing. (I’m pretty sure that was his point, anyway.)

Ethan Allen is moving downtown. Wait. After a downtown arena is built, right?

No more downtown arena after the jump. I promise.

Yesterday we were talking about developers and lawn-care representatives who didn’t want any mention of science or environment to slow them down. Even the Edmonton Sun thinks it’s a good idea. The Edmonton Sun!

History is in the news this week (which makes us feel like super-geniuses for doing a show on history) and I think the real story coming out of the demolition of the Bank of Montreal building at Jasper and 101 Street (BMO63) is that Edmonton’s heritage preservation needs some freshened-up rules and regulations.

There’s talk of trying to put food and shops on the (old) current Walterdale Bridge when we build a new one. That little square block in Louise McKinney is now a store. And as much as some actual shops and food in the river valley might be fun, might entice folks to check out North America’s largest urban park, we also can’t plan for a new Ikea down there. (All things in moderation.)

Even without proper permission, the urban chicken farming has begun!

The Eskimos lost. To the mosquitoes.

Edmonton Police are out with a second missing person alert this week. (The earlier alert came from Alberta Hospital.)

The allegations kind of make you shake your head; two soldiers charged with trying to pawn and sell items belonging to two other soldiers in Afghanistan and another hurt in the war.

The Canadian Country Music Awards love Edmonton.

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Albertans drink the second-most in Canada. Only the Yukon consumers more Jagrbombs.

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If you spotted a Vue Weekly newspaper box you might already know this week is the beer issue. It’s all about Edmonton beer!

Everyone talks about the Sugar Bowl and Sherbrooke Liquor (as they should) but ever since we saw what the boys at Wunderbar we’re doing with their taps (all local) and fridge (dozens of microbrews and craft beers) we knew Edmonton (or, at least Whyte Avenue) was heading into a new age of beer.

Vue’s got profiles of our breweries; Alley Kat – home of Brewberry and Aprikat, Amber’s – for your Mountain Pepper Berry and Lunch Pail Ale, Yellowhead – just a fine lager at this point, and the Calmar brewery Roughneck.

We’ve also got a new group, Edmonton Beer Geeks Anonymous, that meets monthly at Wunderbar.

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We love a parade as much as the next blog, but perhaps the Capital Ex parade could get kicked-up a notch or two.

Canadians are into social media. And one in five people are on Twitter.

Five years ago most of us probably didn’t even know about Twitter. Heck, some of us might not have known about Facebook yet. But Mack was one of the first people – in the world – to be on Twitter.

From the use of #yeg as an Edmonton identifier to talking up all of our technology, a lot of the Twitter conversation has been shaped by Mack. That he helps raise money through events like Twestival and organized What The Truck?! are just two more feathers for his digital cap.

So, today, we tip our Internet hats to Mr. Male, and will include the hashtag #MackAttack in all of our tweets in the hope of making him a nation-wide trending topic. It’s the least we can do. (It really is, we didn’t even get him a cake.)

While we’re talking about Mack’s accomplishments, you might be interested to know:

Mack was a world-class bodybuilder until he and Chuck Norris teamed up to invent social media.

Mack carries each fail whale to safety. With his mind.

Mack invented sleeping.

In some parts of Eastern Europe, the Internet is known simply as “Mack.”

Hey gang, I know how much you like helping local charities.

That’s right, Twestival’s back! Twitter’s been asking tweeters in cities around the world to hold the (now) annual events for years. Last time out, Twestival was for a Twitter-chosen charity (charity: water) and was held in conjunction with Guru Digital Arts College’s Gala Guru. The time before that it was a local Twestival and we raised money for the Youth Emergency Shelter Society (YESS).

Edmonton’s Twitter King, Mack D. Male, was at the helm for those events. Now I’m in charge.

Actually, I’m one of a handful of people in charge, which means you’re actually going to like this and it’s not just going to be some last-minute pizza party in my basement.

Edmonton Twestival is a tweet-up AND fundraiser.

We’re going to be raising money for the Edmonton Public Schools Foundation next Thursday, March 24.  The Edmonton Public Schools Foundation is just a year old, and raises money for early learning and full-day kindergarten, focusing on some of the cities more vulnerable children.

You can buy tickets right now! You can also donate to the Edmonton Public Schools Foundation right now (in case you can’t make it out to Red Star next Thursday).

Buying tickets and donating are two ways to help us help the Foundation. But once you come out on Thursday there are more ways to help (and win).

We’ll be handing some door prizes (there’s a little more incentive to buy tickets to Red Star next Thursday) and raising money through generously donated silent auction items. You’re going to like what we’ve got.

• Coffee prizes from Transcend and Elm Cafe
• $50/month for a year at Hudsons
• A free exterior window cleaning package and a gutter cleaning package from Clear Skies
• Tickets and passes to the Winspear, Edmonton Rush, Riverdance, Pure Speculation Festival
• A full “cradle to stage” Marty Chan gift pack, with a visit from the Edmonton author if the bid goes over $250
• Way more stuff

Keep up with the lastest door prizes and silent auction items by following Twestival’s Twitter account.

See you next Thursday, Edmonton!

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Edmonton Twestival 2011 is Thursday, March 24 at Red Star pub