FFWD REW

Kicking off music month

The proto-Blues Brothers plentiful buffalo and an Indie Rock Residency

Mayor Bronconnier has declared March Music Month and issued a challenge for Calgarians to take in as much music as possible. In that spirit what better time to introduce a column rounding up the best the week has to offer for live music?

You can start by taking in East Coast pop-rockers Two Hours Traffic who hit the Gateway on the SAIT campus this Thursday March 6. Their infectious rock (see “Jezebel” off 2007’s Little Jabs ) has made a fan of Can-rock mainstay Joel Plaskett which is as good a recommendation as you can ask for.

Also on Thursday Broken City’s monthly R.A.M.P. performance will feature avant-popsters Axis of Conversation . Joining them will be “collaborative communal live improvisation project” Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo (whose name is both a grammatically correct sentence and a pain in the ass to type) and singer-songwriter Knots one of Calgary’s most promising performers.

Friday sees R.A.M.P. masterminds The Summerlad join Medicine Hat’s Mt. Royal for an EP release at the Underground (be sure to check out our interview with the buzz-building out-of-towners in this issue). Also that night Winnipeg rockers Lives of Many will channel the spirit of Minus the Bear at the Stetson while the legendary Canadian blues musicians in the Downchild Blues Band (supposedly the inspiration behind the Blues Brothers) bring their testimonials to the Bowness Community Centre.

For music fans who are feeling mobile it’d be worthwhile to take a trip to Banff this Sunday. The Banff Centre for the Performing Arts is wrapping up its first-ever Indie Band Residency. The centre invited three groups from across Canada (Vancouver’s Gigi Toronto’s Ohbijou and The Adam Brown from Montreal) to spend two weeks working with industry insiders and each other. The result will be a performance at Wild Bill’s Saloon on March 9 along with a broadcast on CBC Radio Two.

On Monday March 10 roots-reggae rocker Scott Cook will return to A Bar Named Sue along with Saskatoonian Shayne Lazarowich . That show should give roots fans a chance to see someone other than Calgary’s Matt Masters who will be monopolizing the month of March including a set at Broken City that very night and 29 other gigs besides. That’s all just the first weekend of Music Month but no one said taking it all in would be easy.

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