Tomb

When Calgary’s historic King Edward Hotel opened in 1905 on Atlantic Avenue (now Ninth Ave. S.E.), it was the east end ying to the Palliser’s west end yang. While the Palliser was and still is for a more upscale crowd, the Eddy was a place for the working poor to hang their hats and tip their beer. It naturally became one of the most celebrated blues bars on the continent in the 1980s.

Whether it was hot, sultry August with the old doors propped open — beer sweating, waitresses shining, band and crowd soaked but still dancing and jiving — or the infamous Saturday afternoon jams in January when it was so cold it seemed the frost would freeze the doors shut and capture crowd and music alike, the Eddy was a destination, not just another show. Its stage was graced by legends like Paul Butterfield, BB King, Otis Rush and Pinetop Perkins.

The Eddy was condemned in 2004 when mould was discovered in the building, but, earlier this year, Cantos Music Foundation won a bid to refurbish the building to house their musical collection, which includes the piano upon which Elton John and Bernie Taupin composed songs. There are informal plans to create two performing spaces and two recording studios in the building.

Gerry Garvey, who bought the hotel’s name and blues bar business in January 2002 and ran the room until August 2004, says several factors made the Eddy great. “The No. 1 thing about it was the sound. I don’t know if it was the wood panelling or the smoke saturated in the walls or what, but if you talked to any musicians, they say the room had a great, gritty sound.” That remarkable sound was captured in a live recording called Look on Yonder Wall: Live at the King Edward Hotel by Bill Dowey and the Blues Devils for Ruby Moon Records in 2004.

“No. 2 would be the eclecticism,” Garvey continues. “You’d have Hell’s Angels, students, university professors all together, and never any problems. You’d have more fights at Cowboys, where at the Eddy everybody got along. You had Buddy Guy walking outside, playing on the street. It had a je ne c'ais quoi you can’t re-create.

Calgary blues musician Tim Williams agrees. “Blues bars in general are the great mixing places,” he says. “I can’t think of another gig in Calgary specifically where on a Friday night you play to an audience with university kids, workers from city hall and a biker gang all sitting next to each other and all having a good time. I don’t see that anywhere else.”

Williams says the opportunities the Eddy presented for local musicians were priceless. “I think some of the best fun I had there was sitting in with other people like Sonny Rhodes and Mark Hummel, the great harmonica player. Good times, there were too many to count.”

On Thursday afternoon at 5 p.m., Cantos is celebrating the hotel’s escape from the wrecking ball with a free block party outside the hotel, located at 438 Ninth Ave. S.E. The Highwater Jugband will kick it off, and the final band to perform will be longtime house-band leader Johnny V.