… Read More

Charles Smith is not your average winemaker. For one he’s Food & Wine’s 2009 winemaker of the year and scores in the high 90’s with Robert Parker (if you buy into that whole thing). His labels feature skulls, skeletons and kung fu kicking girls. He’s got a mop of hair that would make early Jon Bon Jovi jealous and, sometimes, he reveals more than the complexity of a wine at his tastings.

“Unfortunately not every event I’ve been able to keep my clothes on, but for the most part, it’s been pretty good,” says Smith from his winery in Walla Walla, Washington.

“I guess somebody flips a little switch in my head and says: ‘Now it’s time to pull my pants down.’”

His reasoning behind throwing a party rather than a stuffy tasting is that we all grew up with rock ‘n’ roll and … Read More

Does Calgary live up to its billing of Cowtown? Um, I guess today it does.

Driving home for lunch I watched as a bull bolted from it's makeshift pasture beside the Erlton LRT station across Macloed Trail. One shocked pedestrian wasn't quite sure what to do, smartly placing a streelight pole between himself and the large, confused beast. Imagine what was going through his head.

As one Stampede protective services staffer ran across Macloed and the bull made its way for the greener pastures of luxury condos bordering the river, police started to arrive.

The bull was last seen stuck while trying to climb onto the terrace of the condo buildings. The worst part, I left my camera at the office, damn it. Other pedestrians, perhaps a little … Read More

Dear CJSW,

Please turn 25 every year from now on and throw a big music party.

Love,

Drew

I looked around, a big, dorky smile on my face. As I panned over the crowd, I realized I wasn't the only one glowing from the sheer fun of what was going on at Olympic Plaza. Smiling faces were everywhere and everyone was dancing — teenagers, parents, hipsters, hippies and electro music freaks. Calgarians, hundreds of them, were dancing.

For those of you who missed Snowblower last night (part of the High Performance Rodeo), well, too bad for you. Olympic Plaza was almost full, in the middle of January, and under the gaze of city hall, in what felt like the start of better things to come in Cowtown.

In 1995 I packed my bags and left Calgary, vowing never to return. It took ten years, but I eventually made my way home and found a city that had grown … Read More