The Blue Chair

What would a trip to Alberta be without a stop at CKUA- Canada's finest radio station. They've recently moved to new quarters on Jasper Ave., and our friend Holger Petersen, broadcaster, author, historian, producer, etc., gave us the tour of the new facility. The gear wasn't quite ready for live music, but we did have a wonderful visit on his afternoon show. Above, Morgan and Holger record a little segment about Canadian guitar players.

On our way out we run into Jack Semple, one of everybody's favourite guitar players in western Canada. Jack's got a brand new CD out and he's working it hard. Google him up if you don't know him already.

Leaving CKUA we are off to The Blue Chair to get a bite, load in, and set up for tonight's show. The club has made some significant changes to its stage area since either of us has visited- now definitely a top notch acoustic concert room. We are quite impressed. Owner/operator Harold has our sound up and running very quickly. Back to the hotel now for a little pre-show rest...

The show is nearly sold out, and we are hoping that our CKUA spot may make the difference. Peter Karp and Sue Foley- also on tour in the west- got what little blues coverage the Vue weekly offered. The Edmonton Blues Society's local IBC contest was also ignored. For a city this size, it has always been difficult to do media here. Peter and Sue got our Hinton and Jasper dates, too! Small towns can only put so many bums in seats at a time. As much as we would of liked to play these, the two down days in Edmonton will provide some much needed virtual office time- and we do have a fairly brutal schedule ahead of us.

Showtime and we do have a capacity crowd. The wine is good, the crowd is fine, the sets go by easily.

Here's our lucky tour jacket winner this evening! Congrats, and thanks for supporting live music in your town! It would of been nice to see somebody from the Blues Society, or the Edmonton Folk Festival, or the Edmonton Intl Blues Festival. I don't think either Morgan or myself have ever been booked, or apparently viewed, by any of these organizations in spite of our long performance histories here. C'mon, folks, we're friendly!!!