| Cutline: Back in town – violin-playing jazz-man Karl Roth is back in Calgary for a series of shows in the month of November
Let’s talk world events (as they pertain to Calgary). Remember that guy Aaron Booth? He played in that pretentious local art-pop band Shecky Forme. Well, he moved to Toronto a few years ago to start a solo career and his new album Our Last Escape seems to be doing the Dew. He has recently returned from a trip around the world, playing England, Finland, Stockholm and Japan. What is the first thing that Booth noticed about places outside of Canada? "They're quiet," says Booth. "In London I played this bar called The Windmill. I would compare it to the Ship and Anchor in Calgary except for that before the show the audience was loud and drinking, but as soon as the show started, there was complete attentive silence." The same apparently went for all the other countries Booth played in. "People call (Canadians) quiet, but we're not quiet. People should be quiet!" I can see Booth’s point of view. Some of his songs are barely audible in clubs due to their sparse, subtle, mellow arrangements.
Latest local album? Freshly released on Halloween was The Neckers' The Neckers. The Neckers have a song on their album The Neckers called "The Neckers." And as if that's not incentive enough, they're definitely one of the best bands in town, pulling off the British invasion-garage rock thing with style. Pick it up at Sloth or Megatunes; both stores have a special "local section" for your regional enjoyment.
Guess who’s moving back to Calgary? That jazz-violin guy Karl Roth. He was everywhere a few years ago singing his cat songs until one day he just disappeared. It turns out that he had gone to Montreal for a while to study at McGill University. He's returned to play a whole shwack of shows in Calgary this November, reuniting with his Karl Roth Trio players, Jeff Drummond and Dave Hamilton. For these and other jazz listings check out www.calgaryjazz.com.
CJSW 90.9 FM raised $173,000 during its annual funding drive in October, but the fun isn’t over. If you pay your pledge, you get your Friends of CJSW card, which entitles you to free admission to the station’s wrap-up party at the Liberty Lounge on Friday, November 5. The theme this year: Summer of ’69. Scheduled to perform are The Means (doing the Elvis ’69 Comeback Special), Lorrie Matheson (doing CCR), The Beverly D'Angelos (doing a medley) and the A-Team (doing Simon and Garfunkel). Also scheduled to play are The Summerlad (doing Abbey Road), and this will be their first show with their new keyboard player. Who is she? Geez I don't know... this is her first rock band. Her name is Megan Kelln and apparently she’s got mad skills. The Summerlad have other shows this month when they'll be playing their original songs; November 18 at Broken City, opening for Shikasta, and November 20 at The Night Gallery, opening for the Cape May CD release party. So, there'll be plenty of opportunities to sit, listen, watch and, most importantly, judge.
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