| Where do the real cowboys hang their hats? No, not the cattle ranch… Ranchman’s! It’s officially true. Ranchman’s just celebrated its 33rd anniversary and cattle ranches have only been around for, like, eight years or so. The nightclub wins. So if you have been a patron in the past 33 years, good going! If you haven’t, then you should go down and check out their amazing hat hangers.
In other hat related news, Calgary-born, Canada-based, adult-contemporary singer-songwriter James Keelaghan is coming home to play with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra on May 7 at The Jack Singer Concert Hall. It ought to be a good show. The CPO is a very large band – quite a bit larger than his usual band – and I’m betting that they’ll be able to somehow create a big "phat" sound. This is partially due to the fact that they are almost exclusively comprised of professional musicians and partially because there is a whole bunch of members in the orchestra, thereby making the sound thicker. Keelaghan has had an equally phat 18-year career, which includes eight albums, three Juno nominations, a Juno award, and my mom’s bi-annual "I love that song" award (for "Captain Tores"). He just got back from two phat tours of the United Kingdom and Australia, and he keeps getting bigger and bigger. Go see him before he’s so big that he can’t fit an orchestra onstage with him.
Hot Little Rocket aren’t quite having the same forward momentum. They have joined forces with local label Saved By Radio to re-release both their Laika EP (originally released in 1999) and Our Work and Why We Do It (2003). "Saved By Radio’s distribution will be a bit better for us I think," explains Rocket guitarist Aaron Smelski. "I think it will be easier to find in stores across the country now." Why not re-release 2001’s Danish Documentary? "You can get it through iTunes, but I think we’d rather that it fade away. It’s like the 13-year old middle child… geeky and awkward and tripping all over itself. A couple of the songs might be re-recorded for our next album." They should call it Our Work and Why We Redo it. Ah ha ha. Sorry.
The Lord Beaverbrook High School Wind Ensemble is getting ready for an exciting performance on May 13 at The Rozsa Centre. They are set to perform a commissioned piece by New York-based, Osaka-born jazz composer Yumiko Sunami. The composer has flown to Calgary to rehearse with the students (very phat of her) and will be in attendance at this world première of the piece. Come out and prepare to be reeded off your ass.
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