Jodie Ponto Photography

Once upon the first Saturday of the 2012 Calgary Stampede we found ourselves on Mike Slater’s Kensington balcony for our third annual Stampede kick-off street party. Just like every year, the block was blocked off, Mike mixed vats of caipirinhas with his cricket bat, the crowd danced up a free-flowing keg frenzy, and after a set by Miss Quincy & The Showdown, Victoria’s The Party on High Street set the lawn a-boogie until the cops shut the party down.

To see photos from the 2011 party click here, to see photos from 2010 party click here.

Bird’s eye view.

Suburban dance circle, part 1.

Suburban dance circle, part 2.

Miss Quincy flying fancy free without her customary hat.

Once upon the first day of the 2011 Calgary Stampede we found ourselves on Mike Slater’s Kensington balcony for our second annual Stampede kick-off street party. The block was blocked off, the keg was free & flowing, Mike was mixing caipirinhas with his cricket bat, and after a set by Miss Quincy, Victoria’s The Party on High Street set the lawn a-boogie until the cops shut us down. To see photos from last year click here.

Last night Miss Quincy performed a house concert at one of my favorite houses in the galaxy. That favoritism could be due to the fact of up until a couple weeks ago Miss Q and I both lived upstairs. Thanks to Michael Graham and the new roommates for letting us back into the house.

Backstage (aka: Michael’s bedroom).

Shari Rae

Hannah Layhe

Joined on stage by ye olde left hand man Tyler Toews.

My month long music photo hiatus was broken last night when Scott Cook and Jesse Dee & Jacquie B rolled into Nelson for a house concert in support of the release of  Scott’s brand spankin’ new album Moonlit Rambles.

Deep in Hedley & Lynn Jones’ backyard in Wombwell, Barnsley lies an absolute one of a kind venue – their tiny & beautiful garden log cabin.

Holding a mere 35 people, The Wheelhouse has staged dozens of intimate house-concert-style performances by some of the best British & North American acoustic/folk/roots artists in the business. Anyone who knows me knows how big of a gushing heart-on I have for house concerts, and it’s a real treat to find folks doing this sort of thing across the Atlantic too.

This particular night is also notable for the fact that Miss Quincy was puking (car)sick all the way to the show but still managed to put on her boots & hat and blow the doors off the cabin.

Welcomed to The Wheelhouse by a Canadian flag flying overhead:

Miss Quincy:

The Wheelhouse by day:

Last weekend we were welcomed into a wonderful & quirky home in Milnsbridge, Huddersfield for a Better Than Telly house concert.

Jac & Bar (check out Bar’s music here) are the sort of fantastic folks I wish had a teleporter so they could attend all our potlucks, gatherings, costume parties, and house concerts at home in Canada. They have a knack for making you feel instantly comfortable and for bringing together eclectic people – I don’t know where else you could wile away an evening listening to live living room music, watching magic tricks, and drinking home-brewed beer with true modern day political songwriters, trapeze artists, musicians, children’s entertainers, puppeteers, and fox hunting saboteurs.

Dave

Blind Lemon Byron

Miss Quincy

Jac’s Magical Knitting Worlds

Last night I attended one of the finest house concerts I’ve ever been to. Edmonton’s Scott Cook is a world-travelling singer/songwriter who has the voice of a lonesome rambler and the pen of a master storyteller. In addition to possibly being one of the nicest men in the galaxy,  he has the power to make an audience laugh, cry, think, and become his back-up choir all in one show.  Lucky for all of you it seems like he’s perpetually on tour (he’s currently making his escape from the cold, cold Canadian winter in favour of a Southern USA tour), so check out his tour dates on his website and go see him next time he’s in your neighborhood.

Oh, do I ever have a heart-on for the Ymir Schoolhouse! It’s intimate like a house concert, but infused with a quirkiness that only small towns like Ymir can exude.

Speaking of quirky, I also have a heart-on for Toronto’s Bahamas, who coincidentally played at the schoolhouse last night. Bahamas is a moniker for the songs and music of Afie Jurvanen, and even more impressive than accolades such as a JUNO nomination is his ability to rock out in a wool Christmas sweater while simultaneously fending of an aggressively lusty front row girl-gang.

Friday, July 9th. It’s the first day of the 2010 Calgary Stampede. We’re being trampled by sweltering cement and cowboy chaos but it’s okay because the Quincy crew is set to play an intimate house concert in a heritage house in the lovely Kensington area … or at least that’s what we thought until our host Mike says, “How do you guys feel about playing on the balcony and turning this into a street party?”.

Slightly skeptical, the band set up on the balcony only to realize that one should never be skeptical of the suggestions of a dapper English chap who muddles street party sized pots full of caipirinhas (Brazil’s national drink) with a cricket bat. That said, both neighbours and random passerbyers began rolling by and Miss Quincy and co. rocked and rolled and folked and wanked on that balcony until the cops shut them down at 2am. The photos below are from the absolute beginning of the evening.

Miss Quincy took the plunge down The Rabbit Hole in Grande Prairie on Monday, June 28th … or as it’s better known on our calendar … the day the greatest upright bassist in the galaxy finally joined the Quincy caravan (Brin Porter, that is).

The Rabbit Hole – an absolute hamlet of books within Grande Prairie.

Miss Quincy didn’t lie when she said she was a Bad Luck Woman … it seems she’s coming down with a case of pigeon toes.

Quincy en route to harmonica high kick.

Quincypants basking in the afterglow of her very own Bassy McBass’s arrival.

Praising Jebus, or at the very least the God of Ceiling Tiles.

Brin Porter shooting Miss Quincy down with his Go-Go-Laser-Beam eyes.