Still summer, but it sounds like fall
Dave Chesney, Surrey Now
Published: Friday, August 08, 2008We may only be just into August, but someone is already thinking autumn.
The awards season is about get underway in Canada.
The sixth annual Western Canadian Music Awards will be held October 16 to 19 in Edmonton. The Canadian Country Music Awards are first out of the gate, though, on September 5 to 8 from downtown Winnipeg.
JESSIE FARRELL, who is nominated in the Fan's Choice, Single, Album, Video, Female and Top New Talent categories, leads British Columbia artists nominated in the Country Music Awards. Delta's THE HIGGINS are nominated in the Group category, while RIDLEY BENT gets his shot at the Roots Artist category. Surrey's LISA BROKOP, who will release her latest CD in a couple of weeks, is again nominated in the Female category. TERRI CLARK will host the television broadcast. Fans of Clark (myself included) are still wondering if her new album on BNA Records will ever see the light of day. Perhaps SONY Canada will get it out to tie in with the awards show.
The Western Canadian Music Awards are not televised. Vancouver's SPIRIT OF THE WEST join Edmonton's TOMMY BANKS as this year's entrants into the Western Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Interestingly enough, Jessie Farrell, is not nominated for anything in the Western Canadian Music Awards.
| Watch this musical phoenix rise, folks: teen brothers SAM & LUKE last week won the White Rock Blues Society Talent Search. They were in tough against seasoned veterans, but the young band came through and wowed the crowd and judges. August will be a busy month for the brotherly band; they perform at legendary blues club The Yale in Vancouver on August 12, the Blueberry Festival in Cloverdale on the 16th, and take part in the Star Discovery contest at the PNE August 18 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. |
JOHN BOTTOMLEY, who performed over the weekend at White Rock's Spirit of the Sea Festival, had to be creative to get from his home in Brackendale (outside Squamish) down to the Lower Mainland. Due to the slide on the Sea to Sky Highway, travel out of the top of Howe Sound was greatly limited. When Bottomley arrived at the wharf in Squamish, he was informed there was a water taxi available -- but he wouldn't be getting on it without a reservation. So Bottomley pulled a little creative aqua hitchhiking; the first boat ride he got was to Bowen Island, and from there he literally hitched on with another boater and got down to Horseshoe Bay. Going that extra distance.
Best of luck to JORDAN CARRIER tomorrow evening (Saturday) at the Commodore Ballroom. No, he is not going downtown to meet women, he will be performing alongside INCURA, INNOCENT BYSTANDER, COLD DRIVEN and VERSUS THE NOTHING in the CFOX SEEDS competition. The show has been sold out for weeks.
It's time for the Abbotsford Air Show this weekend. The roar of jet engines is music to my ears. The Snowbirds, who put on a wonderful show over Semiahmoo Bay last Wednesday, will be joined by the U.S. Thunderbirds flying team. Hundreds of other jets, vintage airplanes and flying displays will also be at Abbotsford Airport this weekend.
Canada Calling - Per capita, Winnipeg and Calgary drink the most Slurpees in the world.
Chesney's Chestnut - A police officer sees a man driving around with a pickup-truck full of penguins. He pulls the guy over and says, "You can't drive around with penguins in this town! Take them to the zoo immediately." The guy says OK and drives away. The next day, the officer sees the guy still driving around with the truck full of penguins -- and they're all wearing sunglasses. He pulls the guy over and demands, "I thought I told you to take these penguins to the zoo yesterday?" The guy replies, "I did. Today I'm taking them to the beach!"
chesneytheking@telus.net
