Calgary Events Blog - Mr YYC

Gone fishin’

John Smiley — Tue, 07 May 2013 01:12:16 +0000

It is with a good deal of reconsideration and plenty of regret that I’m going to be taking a hiatus of undetermined length from my blogging here at MrYYC. Other priorities have simply taken hold of my time, and don’t appear all that amenable to letting go in the near future.

I thank you who are my readers for your attention and your interest. I thank all of the fabulous organizers of events and festivals and markets and hooplas that make this city such a fun a lively place to live. I thank WordPress for giving me such an easy platform upon which to publish my thoughts and findings unto the world, and I thank Google for helping those thoughts and findings get found.

You can probably still find me lurking about on Twitter. I hope to still do my best to push some of the best that Calgary has to offer out to the city’s denizens there.

I hope to be back. I don’t know when that will be.

Cirque du Soleil–Amaluna now in Calgary

John Smiley — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:30:37 +0000

I can’t even begin to tell you how many crushes I developed last night. So many! You know all of those gorgeous people in the new Destination Calgary video? Yeah, hot babes and dudes, to be sure. But they have nothing on the visitors we are hosting for the next few weeks, the cast of Cirque du Soleil’s show Amaluna.

It was a privilege to be invited to the opening night, and I brought my Ma along as my date. (Quick aside… you want rock star treatment? Bring along with you an old lady who needs a wheelchair over distances. Bam! That guy from that rock band—you know, the one that sings in the falsetto voice and all the girls love?—doesn’t get the treatment of his own personal usher.) This truly is an amazing show.

Now, I’m not going to be the guy who ruins it for you, but when you go, you’re in for some wicked fun and cool things. If I were to even describe them, you’d be all, “I don’t get it.” That’s because I’m not a real writer, and I can’t really explain things like I saw last night. I’ll leave that to real writers who get paid for it. But there’s water, and there’s fire, and there’s balancing of people and things, and other people walking on slackwire (I think it’s slackwire), and some dude who can climb up a 30 foot pole with his hands easier than I can walk across the street. And a lady named Lara Jacobs who taught me on Twitter how to do the spoon thing you see to the right (her rendition is decidedly more impressive…trust me, you’ll talk about it to the people at the office).

This next part is for the guys, so you girls just go on to the next paragraph. Dudes. Holy hot women, like, everywhere. See, so you take a date or your girlfriend or your wife to the show, and they’ll love it, because it’s amazing. And you’ll love it, because it’s amazing. But you also get to see some of the most unbearably athletic women you’ve ever seen in your life. From the bendy girl in the enormous soup bowl to the stunning woman in the white dress (who I caught some eye contact with, and I think we had a moment), they’re all just so fabulous. But hold your girl’s hand, so she knows you still really want her and not the women hanging onto tie downs and flying around the Grand Chapiteau at 20km/h.

Photo credit: Laurence Labat

Right! So we just talked some man talk up there. Engines and football and such. We can continue on now.

Attending Cirque isn’t cheap, but there’s just no question of value for the money. If you like to be amazed and entertained that is. If you don’t like that, I don’t know what to tell you. But for the rest, frankly, there isn’t a bad seat in the house. Some are better than others, of course, but there’s not one where you’d think “meh”. Not one.

Performances run pretty much every night from

Photo credit: Laurence Labat

now until May 19 (except Mondays). (You know what that means…hot athletic out-of-towners at the bars on Sunday nights, y’all!) Tickets start at about $60. I poked around the schedule, and there’s plenty of good seats left even for larger groups, but you’re going to want to get them quick before the reviews go goofy about how great the show is and they sell out and you’re stuck watching Tim Ferriss balance stuff on the side of a glass instead of watching Lara display her beautiful relationship with gravity. Oh, and you’ll miss the wet girl in the big goblet.

You’ll get all the deets you could possibly need by visiting Cirque Du Soleil’s website.

For those among you who are Twitterers, there’s at least a handful of Amaluna’s talented performers on there, so be sure to follow and make them feel welcome while they’re visiting our city. Check out Lara Jacobs, Viktor Kee, Amy McClendon, Rachael Wood, and Angela Johnson-Swan.

Disclosure: I was offered and accepted two complimentary tickets to the opening night of Cirque du Soleil’s Amaluna. I took my mom.

Calgary Dollars Market–Mon Apr 8

John Smiley — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:10:52 +0000

Couldn’t find a goodly sized photo that represented Calgary Dollars well, nor a very big image of their logo, so please look at this funny platypus instead.

I wrote about Calgary Dollars previously and pretty much intimated at the time that I don’t know anything first-hand about this alternative currency. What I can tell you is that there are C$ markets once a month, and you’ll have a chance to learn more about this alt-currency, who is using it, how you can benefit from it if you sell services or stuff, and like that.

Markets are always held at the Spruce Cliff Community Centre at 608 Poplar Road SW (near Westbrook Mall). Check out the Calgary Dollars website for more information.

April’s market is tonight from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.

EPIC launches cowork space for social ventures

John Smiley — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 19:58:09 +0000

Two phrases that I find entering my sphere more and more in the last couple of years are “social enterprise” and “cowork space”. Today, the launch of a new not-for-profit facility marries the two. EPIC is a new social enterprise (A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in human and environmental well-being, rather than maximising profits for external shareholders.) that offers cowork space (Coworking is a style of work that involves a shared working environment, often an office, and independent activity.) to Calgary’s impact entrepreneurs.

Today is the official launch of EPIC. Funded in part by Suncor Energy and Calgary Economic Development, EPIC offers non-profits and for-profit social enterprise a space in which they can conduct and grow their businesses. In addition, entrepreneurs will also have access to programs and events of significant benefit to social venture leaders, not to mention all of the tremendous benefits that coworking allows.

EPIC focuses exclusively on supporting organisations that seek to provide a positive social and/ or environmental impact. EPIC members will represent both for-profit and not-for-profit organisations in many forms including, but not limited to, social enterprises, B Corporations, charities, and traditional for-profit enterprises with a social or environmental focus.

For as little as $99 per month, social business teams can square themselves away in EPIC’s space so that they won’t need to worry about where to conduct their businesses, where the next meeting will be, or who they can run an idea by. They’ll have the comfort of knowing that they can spend all of their time doing what it is that they want to do… making a difference.

Several social entrepreneurs are already working out of the EPIC space (located in a portion of Calgary Economic Development’s space along Stephen Avenue), and there is room for more. If you’re involved with a social venture and can benefit from all that EPIC provides, make sure to give them a ring. You can find all you need to know on EPIC’s website, and they’d love to have you in to chat about what comes next.

Congratulations to EPIC on today’s official launch! This is a greatly needed space that, I have no doubt, will be behind some incredible opportunities to change the world.

April 2013 preview of Calgary events, festivals, speakers, fundraisers, and more

John Smiley — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 14:52:48 +0000

I’ve been a busy fellow these last handful of months. And I was finding that my busy world was keeping me from blogging. In fact, I was toying with the idea that it’s time to hang up the skates on this project, as it is a pretty considerable demand on my time. Last night, I made the decision I was going to keep going for another couple of months and see if I could find some time efficiencies, as I do enjoy. So, here’s this month’s event preview…

Because I’m just one man trying to keep track of cool and unusual things going on in Calgary, and I’m not really quite able to capture all of the possible interests, activities, etc., please also see these fine sites for what’s going on in our city.

Yelp
Fast Forward Weekly
Avenue Magazine
FamilyFunCalgary.com
Calgary Community Events and PSAs
Calgary Stampede Event Calendar
University of Calgary Event Calendar
Calgary Public Library Programs and Classes
Clubzone Calgary
ThisCity

As always, there can be no doubt that I’ve missed a lot of things, and probably most things. Please feel free to add other events in the comments below.

World Storytelling Day 2013 events

John Smiley — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:05:00 +0000

Who doesn’t like to hear a good story? Nobody, that’s who. Humankind has a long, long, long tradition of oral storytelling—in fact, for

World Storytelling Day logo by Mats Rehnman

millennia that’s how our ancestors got their information. (This, frankly, is a bit crazy to me, as I can’t even really remember the time a mere 15 to 20 years ago when I couldn’t just search up the information I wanted via the Internets.) In honour of our long heritage of storytelling, there is a day upon which we can commemorate and celebrate this still very-much-alive art.

World Storytelling Day is celebrated every year on (or nearly on) the spring equinox (or autumnal equinox, for our friends on the bottom side of the globe). Each year a theme is chosen, and the theme for this year is Fortune and Fate.

(If you want to learn more about storytelling in Calgary, check out T.A.L.E.S.—The Alberta League Encouraging Storytelling—on their website for a schedule of their monthly get-togethers and other events.)

There are three World Storytelling Day events in Calgary that I’m aware of:

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

One World, Many Stories
When: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Village Square Library NE, 2623 56 ST NE

Children from the grade five classes at Monterey Park Elementary School will be performing stories in some of the 42 languages represented at their school. You may hear stories in Punjabi, Vietnamese, Spanish, Czech, Urdu, Arabic, Icelandic and even English! There will be folktales and fairytales, verses, songs and more.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

A Storytelling Carnival
When: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Where: Shelf Life Books, 1302 4 ST SW

Gather inside and outside Calgary’s newest and most beautiful independent bookstore for some magic, music and mystery. There will be magicians, tea cup readers, fortune tellers, tarot card mystics, string magic and more. Join this carnival of fate and fortune. This is a family event. Bring them all! Find the path of your life stories and listen to the unfoldings of others both strange and deeply true.

Featured storytellers include: Cassy Welburn, Maria Hopkins, Anne Cowling, Mary Hays, Karen Gummo and Patrick.

Surprise goodies and refreshments to tickle the palate too!

For more information call Cassy Welburn 403 -283-9489.

Story SLAM – Tell a Story, Hear a Story
When: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Where: Melrose Cafe & Bar, 730 17 AV SW
Register for free here

Do you have a story you can tell? Come and tell us a story.

We will listen. And then we will tell a story as well.

You are welcome. It’s free.

At least the event is free – you have to buy your own drinks.

First on deck is Eugene Stickland, playwright, columnist, poet, writer, storyteller.

Some simple guidelines for the evening:

Maximum of 10 minutes per story
Be creative and keep us enthralled
Avoid intimidation, threats, harassment, personal attacks, racism, or any other act perceived to be demeaning or damaging to others

International Festival of Animated Objects, Mar 9 to 17

John Smiley — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 13:29:06 +0000

Have you known someone whose birthday falls on February 29? If so, you may have noticed how super-exciting their birthday is when it actually rolls around once every four years. It could be for a very similar reason that I get a little giggity when Calgary’s International Festival of Animated Objects returns, since only happens on odd-numbered years.

If you’re just hearing about this for the first time here, I should warn you that I’m late on the draw and this, one of my favourite Calgary festivals, is already partly behind us. It began last weekend, though most performances continue through next weekend. (Though my favourite show every year, the Dolly Wiggler Cabaret, is as-yet upcoming!)

From film, to lecture, to workshop, and many great shows, this festival highlights all that is wonderful about puppetry. Rest assured, this ain’t no Muppet Show (not to say anything disparaging about that awesome show). While there are performances aimed towards families, many are for 14+ only.

Check out some of the offerings:

Potato Needs A Bath

Onion is practicing his guitar, Aubergine is wearing her new necklace and Peach is bouncing on the bed with excitement, but don’t wake the sleeping baby carrots. Potato needs a bath – but he has other ideas (because Potato loves mud!).

As fruits and vegetables come to life in exquisitely rendered detail, young ones will be captivated by an intricately crafted miniature world on stage. A gifted performer in her own right, Reppe engages imagination and creativity by creating a fully invested world where loveable edibles reveal private lives and detailed personalities. Sly puns and meticulous production values will be appreciated by adults in this light-hearted, visual show for 3 – 5 year olds.

Co-created with Andy Manley with original music by Dave Trouton.

Online listing

Duration: 35 min
Recommended Age: 3- 5 yrs + families
Price: $15 / $10

White Like Me: A Honky Dory Puppet Show

A satirical exploration of the archetypal Caucasian, White Like Me tells the tale of White-Man from the planet Caucazoid, who travels through space to enjoy many adventures on Earth; spreading his ‘civilizing’ across the United States and becoming the philanthropist Santa Claus. After joining the Tea Party, White-Man comes to the startling realization that, by 2042, he will be the minority in the U.S. What will White-Man do?

Zaloom employs the drawing room medium of toy theatre with his gigantic collection of knick-knacks, brica-a-brac, tiny toys, and other weird junk, plus his creepy Ventriloquist dummy sidekick, Butch Manly. White Like Me uses hi-def video projections so that the audience can clearly experience the tiny puppet mayhem. Created by Paul Zaloom, directed by Randee Trabitz, designed, rigged and co-written by Lynn Jeffries. (Butch Manly travels in the passenger section of the airplane, by the way).

Online listing

Duration: 65 min
Recommended Age: 14 +
Price: $30 / $25

UBU on the Table

Two armies of French baguettes face each other in a stand-off. Tomato bombs explode, an eggbeater hovers over fleeing troops and molasses-blood splatters on fork-soldiers charging Père Ubu. A small-scale fresco of grandiose buffoonery plays out in the hands of two skilled performers, with multiple film references to spice things up.

Based on Alfred Jarry’s infamous Ubu Roi, a work that inspired a riot and the theatre of the absurd, UBU on the Table is a frenetic retelling of antihero King Ubu, a vulgar and infantile man who inhabits a cowardly and cruel world. The ribald pace of the story is enhanced by the puppeteers, who, standing in full view, provide the expressions of agony and rage that the common object actors are unable to convey.

Online listing

Duration: 60 min
Recommended Age: 14 +
Price: $30 / $25

Dolly Wiggler Cabaret starring Phillip Huber

Book your tickets early. Fresh from touring the world with Cirque Du Soleil and La Soirée, grand compére Mooky Cornish returns to Calgary with her side-splitting physical comedy, playing hostess to stunning and hilarious work from Ingrid Hansen, Paul Zaloom, Théâtre de la Pire Espèce and local star Jamie Tea. Headliner Phillip Huber takes the stage with his jaw-dropping Suspended Animation marionettes to close the evening.

Online listing

Duration: 90 min
Recommended Age: 14 +
Price: $55 / $45

Don’t come looking for me…I’m fine

John Smiley — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 22:26:31 +0000

No, I haven’t been arrested. Really, Mom, I’m fine. I swear. As usually happens this time of year, workload at the day job gets a little overwhelming. You’re not going to hear much from me until after my ~~parole date~~ deadline has passed in early March.

Winefest February 22 and 23 (+ win 2 tickets!)

John Smiley — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:25:39 +0000

One of my favourite events of the year returns to Calgary this coming weekend. I don’t know if you’ll like it though. I mean, it’s only an all-included festival dedicated to the most sophisticated and intoxicating (figuratively and literally) beverages known to humankind. Yeah, you wouldn’t like that at all, would you?

Oh, of course you’re excited! You probably dig Winefest just as much as I do. You slap “fest” onto the backside of anything, and you know you’ve got yourself a good time. I’ll prove it… watch what happens here:

Moose droppings… BLECH!

Moose Dropping Festival! Woo-hoo!!

Hitting people with hammers… OW!

Hitting people with hammers festival! Woo-hoo!!

Renting frogs… what? WHY?

Renting frogs for a festival! Woo-hoo!!

You see where I’m going with all of this. But the point really is, wine is already amazing. You don’t even HAVE to add the “fest” to the end of it. But the good people at Winefest did exactly that, and the world is a better place for it.

This year, there will be 247 wines to sample from regions around the world. (Fun math / biology fact: if you have just one ounce of each of the wines represented you will be… hold on, doing the calculation… either a belligerent jerk, or weeping inconsolably in the washroom. The lesson is: don’t try them all.)

In addition to vino from the world over, you will also get to savour nibblies from Stampede Catering, Springbank Cheese Co., COBS Bread, Oh! Naturals, Cococo Chocolatiers, Nefiss Lezizz and Terra International Food Inc.

Here is what I really, really, really love about Winefest. When you buy your ticket, everything is included. You get as many wine samples as you want (provided you don’t drink enough to become an insufferable douche or start sobbing uncontrollably). You get access to all of the wonderful hors d’oeuvres. You get to chat knowledgeably about how this or that wine has perfect legs, and a blossomy bouquet, and a tender breeze that kisses your lips, and undertones of blackberry and currant and Nutella™ and aioli with a lawsonbauerite finish. (If you are unable to have such knowledgeable chats, you are also free to make it us like I just did.) And you get to do all of that with your always-so-awesome-but-especially-when-they’re-lightly-slurring friends.

Here’s the bad news… if you don’t yet have a ticket for Friday or Saturday night, they’re all sold out. Here’s the awesome news… tickets for the Saturday afternoon tasting are still available as of this writing, and they can be yours for only $75 each. As many tastings as you like, delightful things to eat, and all of the making-eyes-at-people-you-find-attractive as you can possibly bear. Don’t even tell me that’s not a deal. Fest, indeed!

UPDATE: The winner of the draw for the two tickets, by random draw, is StephanieW, via a blog comment. Congratulations, and thanks to everyone for entering, and for your wicked ideas for fests in the comments!

The wonderful people who tacked “fest” onto the backside of “wine” have given me the distinct honour of ensuring that one of you (plus a friend!) gets hooked up with tickets. I have one pair of tickets to Saturday afternoon’s Winefest, and you get to try to win them. You can do so by completing the following tasks:

Leave a comment on this blog telling me what you think, if “FEST” were tacked onto the end, would take it from weird to wonderful (1 entry)
Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)

I entered to win two tickets to #Winefest from @Winefest and @MisterYYC http://bit.ly/W1tTkK

You can get a maximum of two entries into the draw, one via each of the methods above. One winner of the two tickets will be drawn on Thursday, February 23 at approximately 4:00 p.m. and the results posted here and on Twitter. The complimentary tickets are for the Saturday afternoon (February 23, 2013) session, from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm, and are not transferable to a different session. Entrants to this draw and attendees of the event must be legal drinking age. Minors (including infants) are not permitted to attend.

Celebrate ‘88 at the Olympic Oval

John Smiley — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 15:03:05 +0000

The legacy of the Calgary Winter Olympics of 1988 continues to pulse through this city. There is so much that we can continue to point to that was born out of those legendary games. Whether you lived here at the time or not (or, for that matter, whether you were even alive then, or not), you can join other Calgarians to celebrate the 25th anniversary.

There will be a few things happening around town on Wednesday, February 13.

Reignite the Spirit

Wednesday morning, the doors to the Olympic Oval will be opened and the public invited to a mini torch relay, cauldron lighting, and free public skating. The relay will begin at 11:30 am, and there will be a short press conference at noon with Mayor Nenshi, Olympic medalist Catriona Le May Doan, and other dignitaries. From 12:10 to 1:00, the public will be invited to go for a skate on the world’s fastest ice. Word is that ‘88 mascots Hidy and Howdy will be thawed from their cryogenic sleep to make an appearance. Admission is free.

Celebrate ‘88 Legacy Skate

Later that same day, the festivities will continue at the Olympic Oval. You can take in the public skating, hot chocolate, athlete autograph session, pin trading, and much more. You’re invited to tease up your hair and wear your neon-coloured Sun Ice jackets to bring the 1980s properly back to life. DJ Rob Faust will be spinning classic 80s music. Admission to this is also free, and this even includes free parking at the University. The Oval will be open from 6:30 pm until 10:00 pm, so there’s plenty of time to accommodate everyone’s schedule.

You can get more information about what’s going on at The Oval on their website.

Calgary Events Blog - Mr YYC

Gone fishin’

Cirque du Soleil–Amaluna now in Calgary

Calgary Dollars Market–Mon Apr 8

EPIC launches cowork space for social ventures

April 2013 preview of Calgary events, festivals, speakers, fundraisers, and more

Wednesday, April 3

Thursday, April 4

Friday, April 5

Saturday, April 6

Sunday, April 7

Monday, April 8

Tuesday, April 9

Wednesday, April 10

Thursday, April 11

Friday, April 12

Saturday, April 13

Sunday, April 14

Monday, April 15

Tuesday, April 16

Wednesday, April 17

Thursday, April 18

Friday, April 19

Saturday, April 20

Sunday, April 21

Monday, April 22

Tuesday, April 23

Wednesday, April 24

Thursday, April 25

Friday, April 26

Saturday, April 27

Sunday, April 28

Monday, April 29

Tuesday, April 30

World Storytelling Day 2013 events

International Festival of Animated Objects, Mar 9 to 17

Don’t come looking for me…I’m fine

Winefest February 22 and 23 (+ win 2 tickets!)

Celebrate ‘88 at the Olympic Oval