Mike's Bloggity Blog

I’ve been lucky enough to travel to lots of places around this great country.  Every city seems to have their big events that are known around the world, but beside the Calgary Stampede, no one is really ever talking about Calgary’s.

It seems it’s just easier to say that there is nothing to do here, then actually looking for something do to. And I’ll admit, I’m guilty of wishing bigger things for Calgary.

But in my new Metro column, I talk about how thanks to some really cool new-ish festivals, my perspective on this city’s coolness has really been changing!

Click here to read it!

Dear Charlie Sheen,

Hey, how’s it going? Actually, don’t answer that. I don’t really care. You may have noticed that I have pretty much stayed out of watching your train-wreck of a life. It’s messy, gross and truth be told, your hair is sorta freaking me out. But it’s your life, so who am I to say anything, right?

But then things changed. For the past few weeks, you’ve been keep your twelve-kinds of crazy online and you were shockingly easy to ignore. Now comes word that you will be touring all across North America and you’ll actually be bringing your sad little life to Vancouver and Toronto.

So, as a Calgarian, this is where I have step in and say something.

Please don’t come here. Yes, people have money here, money that probably can’t wait to get your short little fingers on, but please, don’t come. We don’t want you. Between Ralph Klein, The Wild Rose Party, The Calgary Stampede and neighborhoods that all have the same street name, we are all full up on crazy!

Calgarians are used to lunatics, insane ideas (you should meet these guys) and wacko leaders.  In a sense, we’ve already been winning for years.  If you came now, you would be the Zune to our screwy IPOD.  Like I said: we’re full.

But even if you did come here, I have a faith that Calgarians (hopefully) wouldn’t welcome you with open arms. Yes, we’re the place that practically threw parades for Sarah Palin and George Bush, but that was then. Now we have the power of Nenshi and our burgeoning group of Hipsters, artsy folk and cool Alder-peeps might be able keep you away. Just ask this guy.

It’s nice to see that Toronto and Vancouver seem so excited to greet you but let’s be honest, at the rate you’re going, you probably won’t make it there.  But don’t worry, I haven’t asked, but I’m sure Rob Ford would love to fill in for you love.

Lots of dislike,

Bloggity

I’ve always been told that no one likes a bragger.  (Not that I ever listened.)  So that’s why I’m happy that two very different programs in Calgary are looking for Calgarians to brag, shout, grandstand, showboat and if you will, blow one’s horn.

But they both have similar names, so I thought I’d take the time to break them down for you!  If you are reading this and you aren’t from Calgary, take note.  Maybe you can bring them to your city too!

Awesome Calgary is a brand new project that launched just a few weeks ago.  It’s a foundation that once a month gives a $1000 to the Calgarian  who is able to come up with an innovative idea that will in someway benefit the city!  The idea is originally from Boston, and the Toronto chapter launched a few months ago and just awarded it’s first $1000 to a lady who is going to play connect the dots with the Toronto skyline by painting dots on rooftops.  Yup.  It’s like a getting a scholarship, only you get to keep the money and you don’t have to pass high school physics. Past “Awesome” ideas from around the world include”: guitars for prisoners (LA), rooftop beekeeping (Melbourne), Farmers Market (DC) and Scarf A Day (San Francisco!)

Calgary’s first submission deadline is April 10th, so if you have idea, now would be the time!

Calgary’s Tourism’s The “Capture Wow” campaign just launched a few days ago and it’s already generating a lot of buzz. The city is hoping thousands of Calgarians will take to something called the internet and upload their biggest “wow” experiences in Calgary at CaptureWow.ca. The best photographs will be used in an advertising campaign called “Experience Wow” later this year.  While I initially dismissed the program as just a way of not have to pay sometimes expensive professional photographers, the way so many people have been talking about Capture Wow, that it’s sorta changed my mind.  Especially if it changes people’s perceptions of the city.  For example, everyone thinks we love the Stampede.  You who loves the Stampede?  People who’ve never left Calgary and tourists.  The rest of us are obsessed with The Calgary Folk Music Festival.  Now that’s something that makes me go wow!

The contest will run for the entire year, so if you have some photos, make sure you get your well deserved 15 minutes!

(Of note:  The social media aspect of this project will be run by a Vancouver-based company.  I guess that part of Calgary isn’t exactly WOW worthy.)

Sometimes I don’t know how I get myself into these situations.

Earlier this morning me and some of the crew from Breakfast Television got hypnotized live on television! The show had local hypnotist Faith Wood come on and put us under. A lot of the crew was nervous but I knew that I didn’t have anything to worry about.

This was actually my second time getting hypnotized.  The first being a few years ago at the Calgary Stampede in front of thousands of people.  Just like the last time, I remember every minute of being under.  It’s sort of hard to explain except to say that it is like living in a world with no, “what ifs.”  You really do remember doing everything and sorta feel like you are awake the whole time but you are also feel so relaxed that you really don’t care what is going on.

Click here to watch the video.   If you watch the whole thing, you’ll notice that at the end we don’t really seem like we woke up.  I know I definitely didn’t.  So when the show went to commercial break, so put us back under for another minute or so and woke us up one time. It was like a hypnotic snooze button.

You’ll have to see the video, to see it for yourself.  Now that it is has happened to me twice, I am definitely a believer, at the very least for entertainment value.

Well, well, well look who is stepping into Mike’s side of the country.

It was announced today that Prince William and his wife-to-be Kate will soon be visiting Calgary on July 8th, also known as the first day of the Calgary Stampede! Guess even the future King and Queen couldn’t resist the draw of mini-donuts.  I know I can’t.

Other cross country stops include Ottawa on June 30 and Quebec, Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories and Alberta.  What?!  No New Brunswick?  I guess my home province is good enough for u2 but not Will and Kate.  Hopefully they’ll get their fill of McLobsters  in PEI.

Are you getting excited about the Royals visit?  I’m not going to lie, I think this whole trip is going to be a blast for the entire country!

Ugh.  I can’t believe I’m posting about this.

BUT….if you are vaguely interested in seeing the NKOTBSB concert this summer at The Calgary Stampede, then I got a special password for you.  There is going to be an exclusive pre-sale THIS Thursday from 10am-10pm.  Tickets for “regular, non-bloggity readers” go on sale at a later date, but if you to to Ticketmaster on Thursday and use the password: BOYBANDCS, you’ll be able to grab some tickets.

Tickets range from $73 to $117 including GST and applicable ticket fees. They also include admission to Stampede Park on the day of the concert.

New Kids on The Block and Backstreet Boys return to Calgary on July 13th, 2011!

Believe it or not, Calgarians are still in the midst of the High Performance Rodeo!  While this city maybe known for the Calgary Stampede, HPR is almost twice as long and yes, twice as confusing.  In case you don’t know, High Performance Rodeo has nothing to do with horses, cows or The Young Canadians.  Don’t feel bad if you actually didn’t know this, it literally took me four years to figure it out.  Now that I know that the festival is all about bringing the best (and weirdest) forms of art, music and theatre to Calgary, I’m starting to understand it a little bit more….but just a little.

When the festival launched a few weeks ago, I went to the opening night talk with Brian Eno. Click here to see how that went.  Here’s a hint:  I’m still confused.

But now that I’ve had a chance to catch a little more of HPR, it’s really is starting to grow on me like a feather on Natalie Portman’s back, meaning: I think I know why it’s there…but do I?

Smash Cut Freeze is one of the productions that is running the entire length of the festival.  Given the already confusing nature of the festival, I had no idea what to expect.  As I walked into the theatre, I mentioned to my friend, “You’re probably going to be super confused and have no idea what is going on.  Enjoy!”  Smash Cut Freeze stars Denise Clarke, Andy Curtis and Christopher Duthie, who, after you squeeze yourself into the intimate Big Secret Theatre, will captivate, confuse and mostly move you in ninety minutes of purely organic-feeling theatre.

Don’t get be mistaken, this isn’t your normal piece of theatre.  During the show’s first five minutes, I remember thinking: “Fuck, is this another confusing piece of ‘art’ that will leave me baffled and feeling lonely?”  But instead of looking for something more mainstream from Smash Cut Freeze, I decided to suck it up and let the weirdness take over.  It sorta felt like a roller coaster.  The first drop is the worst and most terrifying, after that there’s not much you can do about it, so you might as well enjoy the ride, right?

The play definitely has an Inception-y feel to it.  Space out for a moment and it will take you a few minutes to regain your footing but make sure you do, the last ten minutes resonate and they resonate deep.  I’m starting to figure out that it doesn’t always have to make sense, it just means you have to look a little closer.

Smash Cut Freeze runs until January 29th.

Holy crow is it time to talk about the 2011 Calgary Stampede already?!?

The Calgary Stampede just announced that pop star Katy Perry will be performing at the Greatest Show on Earth on July 16th!  She joins Kenny Chesney and the huge NKOTBSB tour as previously announced Stampede performers!

It’s a little early to tell but it looks like this year’s Stampede is going to be a ton of fun!  Let’s just hope that Perry remembers to wear more than just a cowboy hat…or not.

UPDATE:
Well what do you know, it looks like Mrs. Brand will be bringing her boobs/fireworks across the entire country. Virgin Mobile just announced a slew of more Katy Perry shows across the country!  Here’s what you need to know:

·         Toronto, June 30 at the Air Canada Centre

·         Montréal, July 1 at the Bell Centre

·         Ottawa, July 2 at Scotiabank Place

·         Regina, July 13 at Brandt Centre at Evraz Place

·         Winnipeg, July 14 at MTS Centre

·         Calgary, July 16 at Scotiabank Saddledome

·         Edmonton, July 17 at Rexall Place

·         Vancouver, July 19 at Rogers Arena

Yeehaw?

Tonight one of the most poorly named* festivals in Calgary kicks off. But don’t let the weird name fool you, The High Performance Rodeo is also one of this city’s coolest. While tourists flock to the city for The Calgary Stampede, Calgarians pack theatres, concert halls and Art Galleries to get a taste of the nearly month long arts festival.

If you are in and/or around the Calgary area, you have both my permission and strong recommendation to check out this diverse festival. While there a tons of shows to choice from, here are some of the ones I’m looking forward to the most.

Freak Show
“While you sit and enjoy a night at the theatre, what lurks in the dark tunnels beneath your chair? What creatures are hidden in the stairwells, or peering down at you from the rooftop?
Step into the shadows with Freak Show, a tour that explores the deepest recesses of the EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts. Find yourself swept up in a boiler room sideshow, or encounter bizarre dancers in a freight elevator. Following in the steps of maniacal tour guides, you’ll witness outrageous performances in spaces you never imagined existed.”

Nevermore
“For nearly two hundred years, the gothic tales of Edgar Allan Poe have fuelled our nightmares – but the life behind those stories is yet more fantastical. In this bizarrely beautiful production, Edmonton’s Catalyst Theatre uses haunting song and poetic storytelling to explore the events that shaped Poe’s career and ignited his lifelong battle with “visions dark and sinister”.

A whimsical and chilling musical fairytale for adults, Nevermore is an irreverent homage to the iconic misfit whose haunting, darkly comic writings resonate in each of our tell-tale hearts. Coming on the heels of productions in London’s West End and New York City, this is Nevermore’s Calgary debut!”

Bash’d: A Gay Rap Opera
“Does “gay rapper” sound like an oxymoron? Brace yourself, breeder – Feminem and T-Bag are bringing the heat to homophobia with queer-loving rhymes. They spin the story of Dylan and Jack, a small-town fag and an urban queen who find big-city matrimonial bliss. It’s all “happily ever after” until a brutal gay-bashing turns true love to tragedy… and they decide to bash back.

Since its Rodeo appearance in 2008, BASH’d has raised the roof Off-Broadway, appeared on FOX News and garnered a stack of awards across North America. Now the BASH’d boys are back, putting the “homo” in homie with their trash-talkin’ tale of star-crossed Romeos.”

For more details on this year’s High Performance Rodeo, please visit their website.

*Seriously, we need to discuss the name of the festival. This city is known world-wide for it’s actual rodeo, anything bearing any resemblance is simply confusing. When I first moved here, I thought it meant people were doing stunts on cows. I’m hoping you can imagine my confusion after seeing the first show dressed in my usual Stampede attire.

Do you know what?  I love Taylor Swift.  I don’t care if you just rolled your eyes all the way to back to your neck. I think she’s an awesome example for teenagers and gosh darnit, she writes catchy freakin’ songs!  It’s been two years since I saw her in concert at the Calgary Stampede and I still talk about the show as one of the most enjoyable concerts I’ve ever seen.  Is she technically perfect?  Probably not.  Does she have a ton of fun, write relatable songs and still manages to not become a Hollywood mess?  Yup.  So far so good.

Taylor Swift appeared at MuchMusic on Thursday night to talk about her new album and as always, she took time to chill out with her fans.  The above picture is the one that MuchMusic sent out to media and it definitely gave me a chuckle.  I saw it and immediately thought, “Was it also a Taylor Swift lookalike contest?”

I love the girl immediately behind Taylor on her left. Seriously, when was the last time you were THAT happy?  I love it.  I need to do something this weekend that will make me that happy.  Any suggestions?