| When's the last time a Calgary band put together a Christmas album for their fans? It probably never happened. That's why it's so exciting that Calgary's beloved Helvis started recording a Christmas EP earlier this month. The mysterious Elvis cover band (well, sort of...) has penned a few holiday treats such as "I'll Be Homo For Christmas" and "Satan Bring Back My Baby." Something that's not so mysterious about this band? The bass player's cawk ’n' baws. Yup, that's right. I was at Broken City at the end of their CD release party and, among the carnage of the lobster dinner that Helvis' singer ate while performing, and through the crowd of drunk patrons still reeling from the encore a cappella version of "Amazing Grace" with ad-libbed lyrics, I saw his full package through the jumpsuit. Hey, I didn't want to see "it" (them), but I couldn't not. I actually had to ask the person I was talking with to switch spots with me so that I didn't have to.
In other bass-player news: Fake Cops have just recruited Andrew MacDonald to replace Brooker Buckingham as the four-string slinger, but not as singer – John Hopkins will become the primary vocalist. The split between Buckingham and the Fake Cops was apparently amicable, and they all still go out for ice cream together every Tuesday afternoon, Buckingham replacing MacDonald (who is lactose intolerant) for those occasions only. You can catch them at Broken City on October 28.
That same night, local cross-over metal act Caveat will be opening for King's X at the Warehouse. They recently added a second guitar shredder – Joe Sikorski, of the now-defunct metal band Thorazine. If you ask me, our city needs both more "shredders" and "cross-over metal acts." As well as over-cross-shredders.
Anyhoo, speaking of shredding, Lana Henchell (recent graduate of the U of C with a bachelor of music degree and master of music degree) is returning to Calgary to perform a piano recital as part of the Eckhardt-Gramattè National Music Competition Winner's Tour 2004 on Monday, October 25, 2004 at the Rozsa Centre. She got first prize (which means she's filthy rich now) and she is pleased to perform for your listening pleasure a bunch of good stuff! I'm planning to bob my head while listening in a "Um hmm…" type motion, as if to say "I like what she's done with the piece." I'm serious... look for me!
Last, but not least, Falconhawk had to find somebody to fill in for bass player Mark Rudd when he couldn't get the time off work to go and tour with fellow bandmates drummer Dave Alcock (also of Chixdiggit) and vocalist-keyboardist Kara Keith. So they called on ol' Steve Elaschuk, Keith's former bandmate from the Earthquake Pills. Everybody knows who Elaschuk is – he used to play with local legends Wagbeard and now he plays in Field Day and The Neckers. I asked Elaschuk if this is a permanent thing and he said that he'll be on the new album for sure and then it's up to Alcock and his "little sister" Keith to decide.
In the October 7 instalment of The 411, it was noted that Fully Extended, the latest album by Starewell, was produced by Hugh McMillan. However, that information came from an outdated website and in fact Calgary’s Dave Alcock is the rightful producer. The 411 apologizes for any confusion this may have caused.
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