Rob Hudec Live at the Silver Buckle - Photo via MySpace

Rob Hudec will be playing live tomorrow night, July 10th at 9:30. You can check out Rob at his MySpace or his official site, www.robhudec.com.

Some of his influences include: Stevie Ray Vaughn, BB King, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, Sue Foley, Blue Rodeo, Bruce Springsteen, Bruce Cockburn, Gordon Lightfoot, The Eagles, Steve Miller, and Tom Waits to name a few. Rob Hudec is a local blues and rock musician that constantly plays at various bars, pubs and lounges around town including The Ottoman Lounge, My Office Pub, Jigger’s Pub and many others. You can see his full upcoming shows via MySpace.

Thank you everyone for supporting The Live Music at The Ottoman Lounge!!

In a deflated economy we’re still seeing a lot of business activity and expansion in the ‘Hat’. To name a couple examples, the Northlands strip mall and positive suggestions from City Council that the Events Centre is still in the works.

In my opinion, it’s great to see that our region hasn’t folded up the tents to wait out the storm. Long live our entrepreneurs!

Medicine Hat’s 2008 Alberta Summer Games will make an impact on ‘Hatters’ lives for decades to come as a result of a donation made today to the Community Foundation of Medicine Hat and Southeastern Alberta.

The Summer Games Society presented a cheque for nearly $142,000 to the Community Foundation today at the Family Leisure Centre to create the “Medicine Hat 2008 Alberta Summer Games Fund.” The money will be used to support sports and cultural activities within Southeastern Alberta.

Games Society vice chair Dr. Ken Sauer said he was thrilled to be forwarding this legacy onto the Foundation.

“We are very thankful that an organization like the Community Foundation is available to carry forward the legacy left by the 2008 Summer Games,” he said. THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »

Terra Rogowski wrote in with:

The Esplanade Museum opened a new exhibition yesterday that features a century of classic toys from 1880 to 1980.

Playful Revelations uncovers the stories behind a century of classic toys, like Teddy Bears, Meccano®, and Mr. Potato Head, as well as some toys that are unique to Medicine Hat. The accompanying text helps visitors explore what these toys say about the social conditions during which they were made, and how they contributed to the social development of our society.

“Toys are a child’s ‘tools of the trade’ in learning how the world works, so we wanted to pay homage to their contribution in shaping our society into what you see today,” says Tim McShane, Curatorial Assistant with the Esplanade Museum.

Most of the toys featured in the exhibition are selected from the Esplanade Museum’s collection of more than 25,000 artefacts. Curatorial Assistant Tim McShane spent the past two years selecting and researching the toys for the exhibition. This included interviewing artefact donors and toy collectors, and even studying a bit of sociology to understand the toys’ impact. THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »

The Gas City? - Original Photo by Mitch Woods via Flickr

To those of you who haven’t been following this, several weeks ago, Mayor Norm Boucher told the Medicine Hat News’ Amanda Stephenson that he was thinking of trying to re-brand Medicine Hat; he described that the current slogan and marketing might not be giving us much credit in terms of recognition. He also brings up the point about how Medicine Hat is ranked 82nd out of 157 best places to live in Canada which he postulates might be a matter of “how we sell ourselves”.

There’s been a huge uproar over this in both the comments section and in the Ticked Off & Tickled Pink sections on the Medicine Hat News. The majority of which are personal assaults against Norm Boucher – real mature, guys/gals.

Released today in a Medicine Hat News story by Amanda Stephenson, the slogan will officially stay “The Gas City” after the much criticism against the change. The votes against the change was unanimous by the Medicine Hat Aldermen who meet last night to settle the fate of the slogan.

While I understand the heritage and long standing culture behind the slogan, does it really represent what Medicine Hat is now or where it is going in the future? If we are keeping it for the sake of tradition then what’s the point of a slogan that doesn’t describe the place that you live accurately. I originally moved here from Regina, “The Queen City” and even though I am attached to the slogan and heritage behind it, It doesn’t represent it anymore – its slogan, like Medicine Hat’s becomes functionless nostalgia. I’m a little bit torn on the whole thing.

Rebranding the Gas City – Medicine Hat News
Gas City slogan to stay – Medicine Hat News
Mitch Woods’s Photostream @ Flickr

It’s been over a week now since East Side Mario’s closed its doors for good here in Medicine Hat. I’m posting because I wanted to ask our visitors if they know why? I haven’t been able to find out personally, but I have made a couple speculations based on our global economy.

East Side Mario’s was busy every time I’ve went there, and even when I visited on obscure times of the day, like between lunch and dinner there was still quite a few people. I wouldn’t recommend anybody to go on a Saturday night because it seemed like a madhouse with all the people there. So with all these people, why did it close? Was it the food? Was there health problems? I found the food good every time I visited and I tried a lot of the menu over the years of going there, although it could be a bit pricey the soup and non-stop french bread (YUM!) more than made up for it. The Alberta Health Services site no longer lists East Side Mario’s so I can’t confirm any health problems.

Like I stated above, the only reason I could think of is with all these chains (like Starbucks) closing and shutting down their locations across the globe due to the recession, it could just very well be that this one was targetted for whatever reason. Anybody know?

In an effort to continue its community leadership and bolster local charitable organizations, the Community Foundation of Medicine Hat and Southeastern Alberta announced today that it will resume its community grant giving for the fall 2009 cycle in limited amounts.

Applications will be accepted from today until the close of business on September 15, 2009. Qualified donees or organizations must hold a charitable registration number from the Canada Revenue Agency. The Community Foundation awards grants for charitable activities in the arts, education, social services, the environment, health, culture and recreation, or any project that will maintain or improve the quality of life in Southeastern Alberta.

The Community Foundation temporarily suspended its granting process in fall 2008 after the initial downturn of the economy. Because the foundation awards grants based on the earnings of its investment portfolio, it was unable to fund the last two biannual grant cycles. The Foundation has continued to fund its biannual designated grants, which include various scholarships.

THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »

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

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!