Saturday Afternoon at Springfest 2019

One of the bands that I really wanted to see at Springfest was Black Cherry Perry's Mississippi Medicine Show.  We missed these guys last year and heard that they put on a great show.  We got a seat right down in the front row and the band lived up to our expectations.  The lead guitarist was really good.  The bass player had an unusual six string bass.  The drummer was pretty bizarre and had the most unusual and disinterested facial expressions.  The lead singer, Black Cherry Perry, was very theatrical and a real showman.  Visually the show was pretty cool and it made for some great photographers.

The Springfest Guide described the band like this...
Conceived in 2003, Black Cherry Perry's Mississippi Medicine Show has been out supporting their all original contemporary blues album, "Where There's Smoke", throughout Western Canada.  In addition to being finalists for the Calgary Blues Music Association, "Road to Memphis Blues Challenge", Black Cherry Perry was voted CBMA 2016 Harmonica Player of the Year.

The show was quite loud, and our seats right down in front made it even more so.  By this time I was starting to feel the effects of the late night and early morning.  By the time the set ended I was beginning to get a migraine.  We ended up heading back over to the shop for a while and I had to lay down and have a bit of a nap.  I missed out on seeing a couple of the acts that I wanted to, but by late afternoon I was up and at it again, and we went back out to catch a few more bands in the evening.

More from Springfest 2019

On Friday evening, after we watched Devin Cooper wrap up the show, we all headed back to the shop.  It was snowing, and there was an inch or so on the ground.  We sat up in the shop and visited and had a few beers before eventually turning in.  We must have had way too much fun, as it was about 4:00AM before we finally crashed.  I would have been fine if I'd stuck to beer, but I mixed in a couple of shots of Crown Royal that Shawn passed over and that really did me in.

The next morning when we got up at about 10:00 I was pretty groggy but generally feeling not too bad, all things considered.  At noon when the bands started playing again, we wandered back over to the school and the hall.

The first band we saw was the Spitzee Post band, in the Green Room at the schoolhouse.  I've seen these guys a number of times before and they always put on a good show.  I think they have been to all of the Springfests for at least the past several years.  The lead guitarist plays a 1930's vintage steel guitar on some of the songs, which was really cool...!  The program describes them like this...

With the love of folk, bluegrass, old timey and killer new grass the "pied pipers" of High River, Alberta have been on a quest to put energy and fun in their music they like to call Bluesgrass!  From the Calgary Stampede to festivals all over the west, give them a listen.

After that a band called the Bungalows hit the stage.  We stayed to check them out, and they were pretty good, so we stayed for the entire set.  I wasn't familiar with these guys as I had not seen them before.  The write up in the program went like this...

The Bungalows take their name from the fact that they grew up playing music as parts of various combos in the basement rec rooms of their parents homes.  Now when they gig they still play fun, roots-pop inspired originals and covers.  And they still rehearse in the basement of a classic Calgary bungalow!

Once these guys wrapped up we wandered across the street to the Community Hall.  There was a band playing there at 3:00 that we were quite anxious to see.  Once we got the hall we caught the tail end of a show by the Kevin K band.  This old rocker dude played at the Springfest last year under a different name and with different band mates.  Their stuff was pretty loud and heavy.  According to the program The Kevin K Band has extensive live, touring and studio experience.  Song writing has been a main focus in genres that include Hard Rock, Pop and Country Rock.  Originally from Vancouver, Kevin moved to the Calgary area with his family and continued to write and record as a solo artist, band leader and session muscian.

The Elk are around

There is a small herd of elk that hang around the subdivision out in Nordegg, but you almost never see them.  One evening back in February I saw a herd of about a dozen of them, in the ditch at the front of my property.  They were mostly cows and calves but there was at least one young bull, with a small rack, among them.  Later that evening I heard something crashing around in the bush at the back of my property. At that point it was pitch dark and I couldn't see anything.  A couple of times over the winter I captured images of them on my game camera.  

Last time I was out I went to change the memory card on my camera and found that the batteries had died.  There was a stretch of two or three weeks where it missed capturing any activity.  I put fresh batteries in back in early May, and then checked the camera when I was out there on the May Long Weekend.

I thought that the elk headed for the high country once spring arrived and snow disappeared.  It gets so much busier out in the subdivision once the weather warms up and everyone starts coming back out to their cottages.  I thought this would have pushed them away too, as elk are always very shy and skittish.  But I was surprised when I checked my camera and found that the elk herd is still hanging around.  I got a number of images of them hanging around at the back of my property... including these two.

May Long Weekend

Margarit and Hailey travelled to Vienna on May 14th.  That left me and the two younger girls home alone.  It was a challenging week as I was busy at work, plus had to try to shuffle the girls to and from school.  On top of that I had made a commitment to a friend to move a bunch of darkroom equipment for him, plus I had a hockey game to play.  That game was really exhausting as it was a 10:45 ice time in the middle of the week.  To make matters worse, only eight or nine skaters showed up.  We played the entire game with only three defensemen, which meant I was on the ice for two-thirds of the game.  We ran out of gas in the third period, but hung on for a 7-6 victory.

Thursday evening was equally as exhausting.  I had a brief meeting with some of the Monochrome Guild members to assess the recently moved darkroom equipment.  As soon as that wrapped up then I rushed home to pick up the girls and we headed over to the grocery store to pick up supplies for the long weekend.  I got some take out food for the girls, dropped them off at home, and then spun out to pick up a used guitar amplifier that I bought from a private seller through Kijiji.

By Friday evening we were all spent.  I bailed out of work at 5:30 and headed home to pick up the girls.  We threw our stuff in the truck and loaded up all the pets... including the two dogs, three rabbits, two skinny pigs, and all of their supplies.
We rolled in to the cottage in Nordegg by about 10:00PM.  By the time we got unpacked and set up we were done and just crashed and went to bed.  On Saturday morning I just puttered around at the property.  I cut and split some firewood but mostly just relaxed and took it easy.  By afternoon, Anna's friend and neighbor Raquel had come out, and the three girls hung around together.  Raquel ended up staying at our place for a sleepover.  On Sunday morning we had a big breakfast and then I did a little work around the yard.  I loaded up two truckloads of construction waste and garbage and hauled it to the nearby dump.  This chore is always a bit of a challenge as the dump is only open for very limited hours... even further limited on long weekends.  After our second trip to the dump the girls and I took a drive up the Forestry Trunk Road to Blackstone Crossing.  Surprisingly there was hardly anyone there... just one group of campers back in the trees.  We wandered around on the riverbank for a while, looking for cool rocks.  I found what I was looking for... a stump that should work for a coffee table base...

Later when we got back to the cottage we went for a ride on the ATV trails.  We tried to go down to the waterfall on Shunda Creek but the trail was blocked by a fallen tree.  Later we made dinner and relaxed for a while.... and crashed fairly early.  Seems everyone was tired from all the fresh air and activity.

On Monday morning we made breakfast and then by mid day set out on another ATV ride.  This time we took a chain saw along so we could clear the trail.  Raquel's Mom and her older sister came along on their ATV.  We managed to clear the trail and got down to the falls.  The water level in the creek was moderately high and as a result it was difficult to cross... unlike later in the summer.  The girls managed to place a log across the narrows and got over to the other side with nothing worse than wet feet.  By mid afternoon when we got back to the cottage, the girls made pizza and macaroni for dinner.  Then it was getting to the time that we had to think about packing up.  It took a couple of hours to do all the dishes, sweep and mop the floors, put everything away, and load up all the pets.  We finally hit the road by about 6:30PM, and made it back to the city by 9:30PM.

On our way out on Friday evening we saw a black bear cross the road up on Saunders ridge.  We got a good look at him, but there was no time to stop the truck and grab the camera for a photo.  We also saw the wild horses up on the ridge both on the way out and on the way home.

I think I'm a little spoiled from all my time spent out there over the winter.  It is so nice and quiet and on many weekends in the off-season there were only a handful of other people around.  This weekend it was very busy with lots of people at their cottages, and lots of campers out as well.  The trails were really busy with lots of ATV's and dirt bikes....

Springfest 2019 - Late Friday

I'm still working on going through all the digital photographs that I took at the Springfest.  There will be a few more postings here on my blog over the next week or two as I get around to going through them all.  There were two artists that played later on Friday evening that we quite enjoyed.  The first was duo called Over the Moon.  They are a couple, from Longview, and were really entertaining, not only with their music, but also with their commentary and the rapport they had with the audience.  The guide described them as follows...

Canadian roots/swing duo Over the Moon's Suzanne Levesque and Craig Bignell are award winning multi-instrumentalists/vocalists whose music is a wild ride from 40's sounding swing and Appalachian old-time, to cowboy blues.  Simple and sweet, all of their material has a common thread that speaks of the Canadian west.

At the end of the evening a young guy played solo.  I seem to recall that he was from Innisfail... or at least some town in that part of central Alberta.  He was an awesome guitarist and did a great job of playing despite the fact that he didn't have a band with him.  His write up in the guide went like this...

Devin Cooper is an award-winning Bluesy Rock 'N Country artist.  Cooper's sound creatively blends influences from country, blues and rock and roll.  His live shows are guaranteed to deliver with raw storytelling lyrics and killer guitar licks that provide a dynamic performance.

No More Mud

Scott of Shunda Creek Contracting has been busy out at our place in Nordegg this week.  He is the contractor that build the exterior of our cottage and garage for us last year.  This past week he hauled in several loads of gravel, and spread them all around the property.  All of the open areas of our lot were cleared of trees a couple of years ago so that we could build.  Needless to say those areas get very muddy whenever it rains, or when the snow melts in the spring.  We had some gravel on the driveway before but that was about it.  Now that construction is nearly complete Scott was able to do the final grading and spread gravel all over these areas.  Now when it rains it won't be a muddy mess.  Scott send me these smartphone snap shots after he finished up spreading the gravel.

Springfest 2019 - Friday Evening

After I saw the Dice Cubes last Friday at the SpringFest, Margarit finally arrived in town.   She was able to join in and see some of the bands.  Hailey checked out quite a few of the acts with us, over much of the weekend.  Anna made it out to a couple on Friday night, and Helena wasn't all that interested.  

The second act I saw was a solo act... Matt Blais.  The festival program describes him as follows...  Matt Blais is a rock 'n' roll troubadour who's career spans a decade of quality releases and dedicated touring.  Blais plays modern roots music with a foundation of candid songwriting.  His performances are Springsteen-esque in both stage presence and songwriting ability, his raspy vocals and powerful harmonica creating rich layers or excitement and social commentary.

I seem to recall that Margarit missed most or all of Matt's performance, but arrived in time to see the next guy.  Robert Burton Hubele is a steel guitar player that was playing as a duo, with a electric bassist accompanying him.  He was a great guitarist, and the show was good... but not quite as good as I had hoped.  The program described him as follows...

The Robert Burton Hubele Duo plays story driven blues/country/jazz/pop with a bit of humor, on electric guitar and slide dobro.  Robert's music is original jazzy blues and country.  His warm, deep dynamic voice and polished delivery of originals and standards entrall his audiences.  Robert's world view is of love and harmony are all.

At this point we left the community hall and headed back across the street to the Schoolhouse.  There was a duo coming up at 9:30 that we really wanted to see.  Once we got back to the Schoolhouse we caught the end of a set by Justine Vandergrift.  For some reason she didn't' make our checklist and we were disappointed that we missed most of her show.  We both liked her better than the steel guitar guy that was playing across the street.  She even threw me a bit of a smile when she saw that I was photographing her.  The program described her as follows...

Justine Vandergrift's clear, rich voice and finely tuned song-craft bespeak an affinity with the likes of Patty Griffin, Bonnie Raitt and Sarah Harmer, but her own brand of country soul has deeper roots than that, ones that dig into the hymns and folk songs of her central Alberta youth. [Lacombe I think...?]

Springfest 2019 - Dice Cubes

This year was the 25th Annual Springfest.  It is a fundraiser, held every year on the first weekend of May.  It raises money for the restoration and operation of the East Coulee School Museum.  Its a two day music festival and all the bands and the musicians donate their time.

I think the first one that I went to was in 2015, and I haven't missed one since.  So its' been at least five in a row.  I know that Margarit missed the first one or two as the weekend was in conflict with a dance competition that Anna was involved in.

This year there were 40 bands booked to play, starting on Friday May 3rd at 6:30PM.  They started up again on Saturday May 4th at noon, and played through until nearly midnight.  There were three stages set up... two in the school museum and one in the community hall.  At any given time there were two and sometimes three bands playing.  If you bought a day or a weekend pass you could just wander around, find something you liked, and hang out and enjoy it.
Of the Forty bands that played, I only managed to see 14 of them....!

I bailed out of work shortly after lunch on Friday so that we could catch the bands playing on Friday night.  Hailey rode with me....  Margarit drove down separately with the other two girls.  They got a bit of a late start, and missed the first band.

The first band was one that I really wanted to see... and we made it down just in time for Hailey and I to catch their set.  The official program describes them like this...

The Dice Cubes play an original 50's inspired rock and roll with a modern twist.  Their influences range from Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Gene Vincent to the Stray Cats, Chris Isaak and Big Sandy and his Fly-Rite Boys.
The notes on their 2018 album "Got Lucky" provides the following information.
James Harapiak - vocals
Dawson Walker - guitars
Tim Resaul - drums
Sean Gristwood - bass
There is also a link to their website...   www.thedicecubes.ca
Not sure if the bass player for Springfest was the same guy that played on the album... or a new guy that was just announced on the website...?

Margarit didn't make it down in time to catch them, but we picked up their CD.  Turns out these guys are from Edmonton so we'll keep an eye on their website and maybe we can catch them playing in town at some point.

Summer Hockey

Not much time to rest....  I don't think my gear is even fully dry from the playoffs.... and I certainly didn't have time to wash it.  The Renegades played the first game of the Summer regular season tonight.  Game two is coming up on Friday.  We won the first one.... against Riverfolk 2.  It was a close game.  We had the lead several time during the game, but never by more than 2 goals.  It ended up tied in regulation... nothing was decided in over time.... and it took a 10 round shootout before we finally won it.  Great start to the season.... though not much rest for an old timer like me.....!!

For Vince

The Renegades Hockey Team dedicated this recent playoff run to our team mate Vince.  Vince is the only other player besides me that has been on the team right from the very beginning.  We started out as the "Blues", an expansion team of players thrown together by the league from the free agent list.  It wasn't a very good team or a very good season as we lost all of our games that summer but the last one.  Moving forward, I wanted to keep playing, but it wasn't going to happen unless someone took over running the team.... so I did... and I've been running the team every since.  Most of the guys from that expansion team bailed out but a few joined the new Renegades team at that point, and we moved forward.  I can't remember exactly when that was, but it has to be 15 or 16 years ago now.  We have played every season since, both summer and winter.  Vince was one of the guys on that expansion team and has been there year after year, ever since.  There are 30 games in the winter season, and 18 in the summer, plus playoff games.  I'll bet I've played hockey with Vince at least 500 times over all these years.  There have been many other players come and go since then.  Some of the guys currently on the team have been with the Renegades for quite a while, but none longer than Vince and me.

Vince was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor and has not been able to play since late in this past regular season.  He has since undergone some chemo therapy and radiation treatment.  The team dedicated our playoff run to him, and we were thrilled to be able to win the championship in his honor.  Last night a bunch of the guys from the team took him out to Boston Pizza.  We gave him one of the championship hats, and showed him the trophies.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well Vince is doing and it was great to see him again.  I'm optimistic that he can make a full recovery and maybe one day, play with the team again.

In the mean time the team will push on into the 2019 summer season.  The league captains meeting was earlier this week.  The regular season starts next Wednesday.

Superstitions

I am not at all superstitious in everyday life.... but when it comes to hockey, particularly playoff hockey, then I have a bunch of quirky good luck superstitions.  The big one, that I've adhered to for years, is that it is unlucky to wash your hockey gear during the season.  So, I start out the season with nice clean gear and as it wears on, my stuff gets stinkier, and crustier.  For those that don't play hockey, there are several pieces of protective equipment that can not be washed....  helmet, gloves, elbow pads, skates, to a name a few.  But jerseys and socks, along with under shirts, shin pad liners, and a few other items do see the wash once and a while.  This past season ran so long with 30 regular season games and then a 12 game run through the playoffs.  My stuff is pretty disgusting now...!  I have to make a point of remembering to wash it before the summer season starts in a week or so.

Then there is the playoff beard.  When the playoffs start, the shaving stops....  This is a common tradition and superstition that a lot of players, even professionals follow.  With the long playoff run my beard got pretty scruffy looking after over a month of not shaving.  I couldn't wait to get rid of the itchy thing as soon as we won the championship.

A day before the playoffs started Margarit and I went to see Matthew Good at the Starlite Room.  They put on one of those hospital like wrist bands when we entered the venue.  The next day the playoffs started, and I noticed that I still had the wrist band.  I left that thing on for the entire playoff run, to much teasing and jabbing by my teammates.  By the time we won the championship it was just a tattered mess and almost fell off.  But I kept it on until the very last game, thinking it brought us luck.

Finally, there was the Old Number Seven ritual during the championship round.  I brought a mickey sized bottle of Jack Daniels Old Number Seven to the first game of that round.  I passed it around to all the guys before the game, and we won, and then we finished it off in the dressing room after.  So, I repeated the process in the second game, and we won again.  I brought yet another to the third, and we lost, but I've convinced myself that this was more to due with the poor officials, than the bourbon.  So I brought one more to the what would be our last playoff game, and the rest is history.