Set for another weekend of live tunes, CFUR's Music Department is packing up its festi
val attire (i.e. tie-dye scarves, cowboy boots and a Camelbak) and heading down to the 36th annual Calgary Folk Music Festival, which runs July 23-26.
If you've never been, Calgary's folk fest takes place on an island park in the downtown called Prince's Island. Festival-goers stay for the day and the keeners (called tarpies) line up bright and early each morning with their maximum 6' x 8' tarps to grab a much-desired spot in front of the mainstage.
As well as a mainstage (obviously), festival amenities include six workshop stages, food trucks (including mini-donuts), a beer garden serving Calgary's own Big Rock on tap, an artisan marketplace, a bike parking lot, and approximately 12,000 friends to party with.
The lineup is fabulous this year, taking a bluegrass/country/roots edge. Here is a list of CFUR's must-see artists. See if you can match them with the one-word descriptions on the right.
Artists
- 1. Petunia and the Vipers Legend
- 2. The Wooden Sky Plucking
- 3. Kid Koala Calgary's-own
- 4. Father John Misty Wacky
- 5. Pharis and Jason Romero Saxophone
- 6. Dragon Fli Empire Kazoo
- 7. Socalled Grammy
- 8. Colin Stetson Canadiana
- 9. Esperanza Spalding presents Emily's D+Evolution Scratch
- 10. Buffy Sainte-Marie Hazy
Workshops
1. Old-Fashioned, New-Fangled: Seems like a wild mix, but oh man, this workshop could be legendary. Dragon Fli Empire, Leftover Cuties, Petunia and the Vipers, Kid Koala.
2. Provincial Boundaries: I'm guessing this is because the artists are all from different provinces? EMBASSYLIGHTS, Hawksley Workman, Frazey Ford, Jenn Grant.
3. Strung Along: Strings of many shapes and sizes. Pharis and Jason Romero, EMBASSYLIGHTS, The Crooked Brothers, SÖNDÖRGO.
4. The Girls Next Door: Pretty self-explanatory, a girls-only jam :) Sera Cahoone, Jenn Grant, Leftover Cuties, Scarlett Jane.
Some friends are volunteering there this year, so if I'm lucky, I will tag along as their guest to the famed volunteer after-parties held every night after the site closes. One of my most memorable festival moments was seeing C.R. Avery's volunteer after-party back in 2011. In the "quiet" room, C.R. Avery had none of that and got everyone up dancing and crowd-surfing and rocking out into the wee hours while the sound guy slept, zonked out in his chair. Epic night. Time for a repeat.







CFUR's Music Department took the backroads through valleys and ranchlands down to Horsefly, BC last weekend for the 10th annual 

the Showdown
Headlining Friday night were fiesta band 






The evening continued with a bang, especially when Quesnel's own Bottoms Up Burlesque burst onto the stage, dotting it with layers and layers of shiny outfits and wearing the most creative pasties we've ever seen (i.e flower petals and bananas). To top it all off, they ended the show with a chainsaw spraying glitter. If you ever get a chance to see them, they rock.


The CFL came into the new season with a handful of new rules that were meant to inject some more excitement into an already exciting product on the field. The CFL is forever fighting the battle of legitimacy because of our neighbors to the south having a larger than life football entertainment. A new set of rules voted in by the CFL board of governors aim to do just that. If you are not up on the rules; here's a rundown:








Christmas comes early in late June and early July as the NHL Entry draft transitions into the Free Agent Frenzy that keeps hockey fans glued to their television, tablets, and phones to see how many changes that their favorite team makes. Fans of the the top teams are hoping that their GM can just keep the team together, while fans of bottom feeders hope that their team gets a shakeup to turn their fortunes around. Since the dust has settled a little bit from all the off-season action, it is my sworn duty to tell you which teams have gotten better and which have gotten worse. Here are the NHL's two biggest Winners of the the off-season so far:
