James Murdoch Band will be playing Live at The Ottoman Lounge tonight on Friday, July 3rd starting at 9:30pm.  Thank you to everyone for supporting the Live Music at The Ottoman Lounge.

Check out James Murdoch at www.myspace.com/jamesmurdoch

A little bit about James Murdoch:

Western Canadian Music Award winner and four time nominee, James Murdoch has performed across North America. His forthcoming CD, “Wondering Where The Rush Has Gone”, will be released June 9th, 2009. Murdoch’s previous release, “In Transit”, which was produced by Hawksley Workman, won Best Album Design and was nominated for Album of the Year and Video of the Year at the 2008 WCMA’s.

Kara Hurkens wrote in with:

Southern Alberta Summer Games Public Service Announcement

The deadlines have come and gone and the count down to the Southern Alberta Summer Games is on. Team Medicine Hat is taking 209 participants to the games this year (20 coaches and 189 athletes). Team Cypress County is taking a total of 37 athletes. These athletes are competing in athletics, badminton, beach volleyball, cycling, mountain biking, golf, gymnastics, indoor rock climbing, martial arts, mini soccer, photography, 5/10km run, canoe/kayak slalom, soccer and swimming!

Both regions are taking more athletes to the games than the last time the games were held in the Crowsnest Pass. We look forward to watching these athletes compete in the games during their stay in the Pass.

Athletes will be competing in the Crowsnest Pass between Wednesday, July 8th at 8:00am and Saturday, July 11th at 3:00pm. Results will be posted daily for those unable to attend the games.

Results from the games can be found daily at http://www.medicinehat.ca/sasg

Alex Goodman wrote in with:

Saxophonist Brent Mah (BC/Alberta) and guitarist Alex Goodman (Ontario) are teaming up to bring their original music to the west coast. Both musicians are beginning to make big waves in the Canadian and International jazz scenes and are joined by an all-star Canadian jazz group to tour the west between July 21st and August 12th.

Although both Goodman and Mah have already stacked up some major musical accomplishments, both are still in their early twenties (21 and 23). They have already played jazz on 4 continents and respected Canadian performance halls such as Toronto’s Massey Hall, CBC’s Glenn Gould Theater, Margaret Greenham Theater at the Banff Centre and the Francis Winspear Concert Hall in Edmonton.

Rolling Stones saxophonist Tim Ries has described Alex Goodman as “without question, one of the most gifted guitarists of his generation” and Brent Mah recently garnered recognition by CBC as a Canadian Rising Star. The band is completed by bassist Dan Fortin (Serena Ryder/Universal Records The Mike Ruby Quartet) and Karl Schwonik (“One of Canada’s hardest working and most creative jazz musicians” - the Calgary Jazz Association).

The Mah/Goodman Quartet has recently completed performances at both the Calgary and Medicine Hat Jazz Festivals and will be recording their debut CD at the end of the tour.

The Medicine Hat show will be on August 10 at The Ottoman Lounge. The time of the show is to be announced.

Tonight the Medicine Hat Mavericks are playing against the Weyburn Beavers at Athletic Park at 7:00 PM. There is a “Pack the Park” promotion going on tonight sponsored by the Medicine Hat News, which means they want to get as many people there as possible tonight. It’s a little short notice if you aren’t “in the known” or follow local Baseball. Athletic Park is located at 1 Birch Ave SE.

Free Tickets!
If you want to snag some tickets, please stop by the Medicine Hat News (before 5:00 PM) and ask the front desk for the tickets. There should be enough left for everybody that stops by. Too late!

Just a quick note here: Along with some internal shuffling, we have also decided on a full top nav bar to house all of our internal and external links. Hopefully this solution will remove some of the clutter from our previous system and help to remove some of the user confusion, as everything you need to click on is now at the top instead of scattered on the side.

I might not be completely satisfied with the design of it, so it may change in the future depending on feedback. On a side note, this will free up some room for our “Partner” spot which has also recently been added to accomodate all of our partners. If you wish to be a sponsor or partner, please email us with a 90×90 graphic for your site and make sure to add us to your site. You will also now find Medicine Hat Media graphics on the bottom of the right sidebar as well as a press-kit PDF including a vector version of our logo.

Canada Day is coming up and there will be a whole lot of events going on in and around the city.

The Canada Day celebration kicks off at 730AM at the Lion’s Club with a pancake breakfast and officially ends with Fireworks in Kin Coulee park.  I sure hope the hills in the coulee start on fire again, that is at least half the fireworks entertainment value!

Other entertainment will include bands, lotteries, food and snack stands, and of course, merchandise.

A compilation of the events can be found on the events section of the Canada Day Medicine Hat website, check it out.

Monarch Theatre Media Release

The Monarch Theatre is holding a series of film showings entitled “Films Al Fresco” as part of the Monarch Theatre Revitalization Project.

The films will be shown every Saturday in July and August (except July 11th), at the Kin Coulee Park band shell and start at approximately 9:00pm.

Please bring a blanket or a chair as there is no fixed seating, so get there early for the best view. A small concession with some of your favorite movie snacks will be available on site during the events.

For those who are unaware, the Monarch Theatre is a theater downtown that was closed a couple years ago but is now re-opening and will run as a not-for-profit movie theatre and performance space for five days out of the week. It was purchased by the City Centre Development Agency (CCDA).

For more information check out The Monarch Theatre Website.

Re-Design Tyme has launched their new website, which had its makeover from their older website that was designed by the late Mynista Studios. The redesigned site, which was designed and developed at Memory Lane Computers by myself, now features a more floral and vibrant design.

Re-Design Tyme Header

Local interior designer Leah Ebelher is the brains behind Re-Design Tyme. Ever wonder about redesigning your house? She definitely has the answers for you and can undoubtedly offer you many ideas to suit your desire. If you are skeptical, Re-Design Tyme has the mission to make their clients completely thrilled and they offer a guarantee that allows you to live in the redesigned space for up to 14 days. If you are not thrilled at the end of that time, they will return and keep working away until you are satisfied with no extra charge.

Even if you are not interested in a redesign yourself, but know someone who might be, Re-Design Tyme offers gift certificates.

Re-Design Tyme Website

Over the weekend I had the immense pleasure of visiting DeVine Grill, one of the fine dining restaurants in Medicine Hat. After a friendly greeting by the hostess, Sean and I were comfortably seated in a secluded area of the beautiful patio, surrounded by flowers, lamps, and a picturesque fountain. Although we arrived too early to order right away (the kitchen doesn’t open until 5 p.m.) our waitress, Jen, met us almost immediately to get us drinks while we waited.

Although the menu is relatively limited, and a little pricey, the choices are diverse, with a variety complete enough to please anyone. The wine list in itself was quite expansive and I believe even the most experienced Wino would be able to easily find something they liked. Our food arrived promptly and didn’t disappoint. With frequent visits from Jen to assure our meal was satisfactory, the dining experience was excellent.

I have only one small critique, however, the proximity of the tables on the patio could be quite uncomfortable if the restaurant was busy. As we were leaving, the table closest to us became occupied and it felt a little crowded, like the previous intimacy would be nearly impossible.

All in all the experience was both exceptional and memorable and I’ll be sure to revisit many times in the future.

www.devinegrill.com

Medicine Hat JazzFest 2009 Logo

This year’s Medicine Hat’s own Jazz festival, “Medicine Hat JazzFest” will be taking place from June 19th to the 28th with events happening every day in between. I would first love to congratulate the team that brought together the graphics and design direction for the program booklet, the website, posters, and even the t-shirts - it is really well done and beautifully executed. If anybody knows who did it, I would love to find out.

Anyways, moving right a long, This year’s JazzFest has a crazy amount of events, musicians and gatherings throughout the full 9 days. I was at first going to list them verbatim from the program booklet, but alas, they were really organized and even have an online PDF for your viewing and reading pleasure. I will tell you though that it features more than 30 different events with almost as many different bands or performers.

You can also grab yourself a ticket pass which costs $139, but this allows you to get into every show without a cover charge, so it’s well worth it even if you plan on going to half the events. There’s a couple restrictions though, make sure you read the fine print on the ticket page. If you are really into it, make sure you read through the full program because there is some other events happening not listed in the schedule including events happening at places like Twist, The Ottoman Lounge and Devine to name a very few.

If you are broke, looking for free shows or just don’t like supporting local and national music for some reason (for shame!), there is also plenty of no charge events going on as well. More notably in this category, is the Vespa Youth Stage which will be a free BBQ as well as feature music by plenty of local young talents in the city including Jess Dollimont. This one will take place at Riverside Bandshell First St. S.E. (across from City Hall) starting at noon Thursday, June 25th.

Event Schedule PDF
Full Program PDF
Medicine Hat JazzFest Website

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