Last night I took my daughter to her first rock n' roll show. It was part of the
CJSW Outdoor Summer Concert Series at Olympic Plaza and featured
The Stables,
Gunther,
Jay Crocker,
Hot Little Rocket, and
Dojo Workhorse. She was very excited about going to the show and didn't want to miss a single song, even though she could barely keep her eyes open during Dojo Workhorse's set. One of the reasons I thought about taking her to this particular concert was the opportunity to introduce her to Andrew Wedderburn of Hot Little Rocket who I knew well from our days together at CJSW. The other reason I brought her was that I want her to grow up thinking that music, regardless of whether it's rock n' roll or whatever, is made by regular people, singing about stuff that happens to them in their daily lives. It's not made by fantastical celebrities who live in mythical modern castles, but normal people like Andrew Wedderburn, Dojo Workhorse's Dan Vacon who I went to high school with, or
Woodpigeon's Mark Hamilton who lives down my street.
One of the odd moments of the evening came between sets. Those of you not from Calgary may not be aware that the Olympic Plaza is made from bricks, and people could pay to have their names engraved on the bricks as part of the project's attempts to raise funds. Looking around, I saw that my daughter and I were standing on this particular brick:
While I have no idea if this brick actually belongs to
Kara Keith, ex-of Calgary's
Falconhawk, Earthquake Pills, and many other local bands I grew up on in the 1990s, but it was certainly fun to think that maybe, ten years from now, my daughter will feel comfortable being the next Kara Keith (if she feels like it).
(For the record, Kara Keith is now living in Montreal and her latest project Your Dignity was recently listed on the
Polaris Prize's Extra-Long List).
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