I'm pretty much smack dab in the the middle of downtown Edmonton. Unlike Vancouver, being downtown is a bad thing. There's not much going on but that's not really a big deal for me.
First thing I did was research what kind of events were going on that night. Vue magazine is Edmonton's "Georgia Straight" and within minutes I found exactly was I was going to do that night. Hot Little Rocket were playing at the Velvet Underground and the venue is only 2 blocks away from the hotel!
After a quick shower I made my way to the venue. I needed food bad but there wasn't much around so I got a quick bite to eat at the Tim Hortons on Jasper Ave. The venue was a pleasant surprise. It was about the size of the Media Club but it didn't feel as tight as the Media Club can feel. Before the concert started there was book readings by a couple members of the bands. The first band to play was called The Ways. They were a power pop band that were extremely tight. I chatted with Wayne (guitar player) and Wayne (drummer) about getting their music on the Radio 3 website. The next band on was called This Civil Twilight. They completely blew me away. Be sure to give their music a listen to. I chatted with Mark (bass/vocals) and his girlfriend for much of the night. Lastly was Hot Little Rocket who put on a brilliant show for the extreme sparse crowd that came out. It's Saturday night and this is the only show going on and only about 30-40 people were there.
Before The Ways went on I spotted Andrew of Hot Little Rocket and introduced myself. Definitely a very cool guy, but I think I may have been a bit overly social. I think he got a bit more Muc than he could handle and tactfully excused himself from my presence. At least we got in some good Mark MacArthur bashing in... just kidding Mark, we only had good things to say about you except when the topics moved onto poker and 8-ball.
As great as all the bands were, the highlight of the night for me was the group of cowboys that came to the concert. One of them was a tall lanky character wearing jeans that are 2 sizes to small and a white shirt that balloons up and is about 2 sizes too large. Every time he walked by I couldn't help but smirk. In the corner of my eye I glimpsed one of the cowboys buddies who didn't seem to like my smirking at his buddy. That's when I joined Mark (from the 2nd band) and his girlfriend to watch the rest of the show. Safety in numbers they always say. I couldn't figure out a way to get a picture of the Lanky Cowboy so I got Mark's girlfriend to take a picture of me and the cowboy. Here it is for your viewing pleasure.
After a few too many Pilsners I decided to call it a night. Said farewell to the bands and went back to the hotel and crashed.
Sunday was a relax day. That's when I updated the website and uploaded some images. Had breakfast at a greasy spoon called the Commodore Restaurant.
At about 4:30 I decided to make my way down to Whyte Ave to watch the hockey game. Of course it starts to rain. It wasn't too long of a walk and eventually found a bar called the Elephant & Castle. It was fun to see people cheering for Vancouver. It's interesting how Canadians are willing to cheer for any Canadian team if their home team is out. After the disappointing loss I heard music to my ears... the sound of balls being broken on a pool table! I went upstairs and found a table to play on. The solo play didn't last long as I challenged the people on the table next to me. Max and Shannon and I ended up partying together for the rest of the night. They are from 100 Mile House and are in the log home business. They were in Edmonton for a log home trade show.
Max is a person much like myself, so that automatically makes him cool, right? He's methodical, orderly, logical which are all pluses in my book. Shannon is the exact opposite. Care free, out going, and a pretty good pool player! Some cocky dudes challenged us to a game. One of them went by the nickname "Noodles". Another one of them (who reminded us of Stiffler from American Pie) told Noodles it was time to go to which his reply was "Wait man, I'm hitting on this Shannon chick". Shannon was standing right beside him as he said this. Classy Noodles, very classy. The Stiffler dude left his phone and charger in the bar and Shannon decided to pick it up and call random people in the address list. Who charges there phone at a bar anyways?
We eventually stumbled into the Hudson across the street. Like any club it played really bad music. I actually danced (which has become a frequent event lately) with Shannon for a bit. We probably would have stayed but the horrible music eventually took its toll on our constitution and decided to call it a night. We split a cab back to our respective hotels and called it a night. Here's a picture of us in the cab.
Which leads me to today. I stayed in bed as long as I could before checking out. The weather is much nicer out so I decided to walk down to Whyte Ave again. I took a different route that last night and was able to get some good pictures out of the walk. Had some buffalo sausage at a little diner and just wandered about for a bit. My shoulders started to ache like crazy so I decided to kill the rest of the afternoon in Chapters connected to a wireless hotspot. Soon I'll be taking a cab to the train station and make my way on to my next destination. Biggar Saskatchewan!