Good starts to 2012: Snowblower 3, and REALLY good coffee arrives at U of C

SNOWBLOWER took place for the third time since its inauguration in 2010. Snowblower is a sort of outdoor dance party to mark the start of Calgary’s outstanding High Performance Rodeo, which I’ve blogged about on here many times; it’s one of the world’s most important performance art festivals and this year its artist-in-residence is one of heroes, Laurie Anderson. We’re going to see her show next Saturday at the Grand (I’m chagrined to say it’ll be my first time there) and I’m sure it’ll be… grand. Can hardly wait. But as to Snowblower: I don’t remember even hearing about it in 2010, but I do recall seeing photos of the crowds that braved -30 to catch it last year, and it looked like a blast. Yesterday was a mild day and we’re in the midst of what has absolutely been the mildest winter we’ve experienced in our 12 years in Calgary (+10c as I write this, this during what’s normally the coldest week of the year here), so I had no excuse but to check it out.

Absolutely amazing event. The stage was braced by screens that showed not only the DJs but also all sorts of fascinating abstract images and occasional crowd shots. The DJs were themselves superb; I had only heard of two of them (Calgary’s own Cary Chang and Montreal’s world-famous Kid Koala, whom we’d wept over at the Calgary Folk Fest two summers ago) but am now an An-Ten-Nae devotee, though they all were quite amazing. I spent almost 4 hours there, helped by the fact that the entire Epcor Centre lobby was a “warming station” with music, beer, and bathrooms; as well, one of my most beloved coffeehouses, Insomnia, which is right on plaza in the Burns Building, was open right until 11 as well. The crowd was MASSIVE and, until 9 or so at least, was very mutigenerational, which was great to see. I took me leave around 10:30 and by then it was a narrower demographic (mostly 20-somethings, I’d guess) but they were very mellow. Festive, but mellow.

I really enjoyed it- I loved every minute of it. I am especially happy to see the High Performance Rodeo attempting something that’s served the Edmonton Fringe Festival so well, which is to have the festival comprise a street party. But this is January- BUT they’ve still pulled it off beautifully. Yesterday was one of those nights when I am button-bursting proud to be Calgarian.

Here’s a video of Kid Koala doing what was his closer at Folk Fest in 2009: His rendition of Moon River. It sort of fizzled here (difference crowd from Folk Fest and different expectations), but it’s still beautiful.

On coffee: A couple of years ago, the powers that be at the MacEwan Hall Student Centre, aka “Mac Hall,” at the U of C announced plans to renovate huge swaths of the building to accommodate, among other things, a revamped food court. I get lunch here almost every day that I teach in the fall and winter terms and was not the only person disappointed by the results. After more than a year of waiting, we ended up with many of the same outlets that had been there already and a tiny handful- three- of new ones, among which one was pretty decent (umi sushi express), one was mostly poor (Korean BBQ, a “Korean” place that doesn’t even STOCK gochujang never mind have squeeze bottles of it) and what must be the singular worst “Indian” food kiosk in Western Canada. But things are looking up, because while I’ve been away on sabbatical a fourth new edition has opened. It’s called “Fuel For Gold,” a silly name to be sure but it’s intended to offer healthier options for athletes who train at the U of C (and there are many, many of them, from all over the world), so, they’re fueling for gold- medals. Branding notwithstanding, the food I tasted when I was prepping my office for the new term on Friday (two days ago) was really good; in particular, I had a quinoa salad that had explosive flavour with perfectly cooked quinoa. They sell turkey and roast beef baguettes with meat that they actually roast in-house. But the brightest aspect for me is the coffee: Phil & Sebastian coffees- from their top shelf, not from their restaurant and office coffee division (it’s called 15 kilo coffee roasters) but with the same beans on offer at their own cafes and at Caffe Rosso. I got an espresso prepared expertly on a beautiful blue three-group La Marzocco FB 80 and it was as good as any in the city. I’m thrilled.

The new Taylor Family Library at U of C is completed too after a false start in Fall 2010 and then an HVAC disaster that saw the entire brand-new building gutted and the HVAC replaced. With its re-opening, there’s a brand-new Good Earth inside as well. So we have several good to great options for coffee at the university now, with two Good Earth locations, the very good Fratello-supplied Brew and Blendz in Scurfield Hall,  and of course this absolutely first-rate new Fuel For Gold, I might start spending more time on campus.

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