Archive for August, 2010

For those of you who missed the first screening…. come down to HIFI club tomorrow night to see this independent skateboard feature.

Greetings Calgary, time for another beat the Box Office ticket giveaway!  Tickets will be going on sale this Friday for Rural Alberta Advantage playing at The Royal Canadian Legion on November 2.  You can beat everyone else in the city by sending your Name and Number to justin@calgaryisawesome.com as well as the answer to ‘Why do birds suddenly appear?’  You will then be entered into our giveaway draw for 2 amazing tickets to go see this band! (You must be 18+ to enter)

The Rural Alberta Advantage was born out of singer/songwriter Nils Edenloff’s exodus from the province that inspired the band’s name and many of the songs from their enthralling debut album, Hometowns.

Edenloff grappled with homesickness after his move from Edmonton, Alberta to Toronto, Ontario in 2003. To cope with his loneliness and isolation in the ‘big city’, the shy songwriter penned a series of odes to his former home, celebrating the country’s wild rose, the purple skies and the “dethbridge in Lethbridge.” On the urging of his fellow ex-pat musician friends, Edenloff took his songs to a struggling weekly Open Mic night in early 2005 to perform them for an audience. In a matter of weeks, he was handed the job (paid in beer and 2-for-1 pasta specials) of hosting the night alongside drummer Paul Banwatt. The two quickly formed a musical bond, with Edenloff’s plaintive folk songs backed by Banwatt’s raucous, razor-sharp percussion. As the Open Mic night faltered, the two found themselves playing hours’ worth of songs per night, and developed a solid “set list” for their weekly routine. (Union Press Release)

Chow Down in Cowtown is an (almost!) weekly account of Calgary’s most awesome eats from Ceci n’est pas un food blog.

I’d heard good things about Famoso, the Calgary offshoot of an Edmonton-based franchise that specializes in Neapolitan pizzas. The only other place where I’d had a Neapolitan-style pizza was at Pulcinella over a year and a half ago, and I didn’t really enjoy the charred, burnt-tasting crust. Since then, I’ve become more familiar with the idea of a Neapolitan-style pizza, and the fact that Famoso is the most “talked about” Calgary restaurant on Urbanspoon right now made me curious to give it a try.

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Rolling plains, growing mountains, and infinite skies engulf the amazing country side that we call home. A home that no matter where you go we have that “southern hospitality”. It seems that you could never really be alone in this country.

This all became evident in the making of this video, when the landowner found us on his property, and the only thing he asked of us, was not to make a mess. It seems that the heart and understanding of the prairies is what makes this country so profound.

Laura Halvorsen, a long time aspiring singer entered our song writing contest with a video performing this original song. The video felt as if she was playing to us as a friend, and not a stranger. Something that we all connect with, like the skies to plains…. seamless.

No matter how big the plains, how vast the skies, or how tall the mountain, Laura’s music will be moving farther than the eyes can see.

Please enjoy our newest episode with Laura Halvorsen:

To help celebrate Laura’s involvement with SHOT AT THE DARK, our friend, Brendan Klem captured the making of the episode from his point of view.

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Help out a good cause and take part in the 2nd Annual Sugar Bowl for the Amber Webb-Bowerman Memorial Foundation (AWBMF). The Sugar Bowl is a lawn bowling tournament fundraiser that will take place at the Calgary Lawn Bowling Club on Saturday, August 28.  Tickets include a full night of entertainment:  dinner, drinks, music, silent auction and lawn bowling fun. Bonus: the winner gets lawn bowling bragging rights and gets to lay claim to the Sugar Bowl trophy.

The foundation is a registered charity that honours the memory of Calgary journalist Amber Bowerman and provides scholarships and awards to students pursuing journalism and other artistic avenues.

Tickets are $100 per player and are going fast! Contact info@amberbowerman.ca to get yours today.

A one-night only exhibit at the Gallery on 17th Avenue.

Want to win a FREE admit-two pass to the advanced screening of Drew Barrymore’s latest comedy, Going the Distance? Of course you do! The screening is going down this Wednesday, August 25 at 7PM  at the Sunridge Spectrum.

If you wanna see this movie before everyone else (and for free!) let us know why you deserve to go see Drew Barrymore and the Mac Guy in this fun summer flick.

Big thanks to the WB for the passes! CIA will have more giveaways coming up exclusively for our readers, but if you want to double your chances of winning tickets and prize packs for more screenings, be sure to visit the Warner Bros Calgary Facebook group page.

UPDATE: Congratulations to Joel Hamilton, Amber-Celene Mercer, Klark Relleve and Sarah King as they each win an admit-two pass. Stay tuned for more contests and giveaways to come.