YEGmonton

Musing on My City

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October Arrives (part 1)

Posted by Randy Talbot on 2016/10/09
Posted in: autumn, photo, River Valley. Tagged: autumn, cloud, color, cycling, Edmonton, fall, leaves, path, photography, rain, river valley, skyline. 3 Comments

Autumn in all its glory, has arrived in Edmonton. The colors may have peaked a week earlier but here is some of the beauty from the first weekend of October.

The Saturday (October 1st) was gloomy, cool and wet but the wetness brought out the color saturation and contrast in the river valley:

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Downtown Edmonton Under Low Cloud

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S-bend on Wet Path

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Rainbow of Autumn Leaves

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Bend in the North Saskatchewan

For more images of early October in Edmonton see part 2, taken on the very sunny day that followed the day of these images.

Jazz Fest 2016 (part 2)

Posted by Randy Talbot on 2016/07/14
Posted in: Events, Music, photo. Tagged: A.W. Cardinal, Berner Brothers, Blue Moon Marque, Bob Tildesley, Chris Andrew, Churchill Square, Don Berner, Doug Berner, Edmonton, Edmonton International Jazz Festival, Edmonton Jazz Orchestra, Festival, Jacques Kuba Seguin, Jasmine Colette, jazz, Jazz Fest, Jazz in the Park, Joel Gray, John Sweenie, Mike Rud, photo, photography, Steve Hoy, Yardbird Suite. 3 Comments

In part 1 I looked at the 2016 Edmonton International Jazz Festival as I experienced it through the first 5 days. In this post, I continue to share what I saw from Wednesday June 29th.

The noon hour performance at the Works with Jazz Stage in Churchill Square featured Blue Moon Marque. Blue Moon Marque is a duo featuring A.W. Cardinal on guitar and vocals, with Jasmine Colette on bass (while adding some drums using her feet). When I first saw and heard a bit of this duo I though it might not be for me but after listening to a couple of tunes I quickly grew to appreciate their unique style – gypsy jazz and blues?

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A.W. Cardinal

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Jasmine Colette

On Thursday at noon I was back in the Churchill Square as the Berner Brothers took to the stage and paid tribute to the other B-Brothers: The Brecker Brothers, most famous for their fusion jazz  sounds in the 70’s.

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The Berner Brothers

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Doug Berner

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Don Berner

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Steve Hoy

On the evening of June 30 I was back at the Yardbird Suite to hear some more innovative trumpet playing – this time from Jacques Kuba Seguin:

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Jacques Kuba Seguin

On Friday (Canada Day 2016) I was again sitting up front at the Yardbird suite for what might have been the high point of the festival – the Edmonton Jazz Orchestra featuring Bob Tildesley (trumpet) and Mike Rud (guitar).

The next morning I hiked across the river valley to attend Jazz in the Park (with a pancake breakfast. During the morning, Joel Gray’s Quintet played fine sets of great dixieland-style jazz.

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Joel Gray Quintet

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Joel Gray

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Don Berner

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The end of the 2016 Jazz Fest for me was back at the Works with Jazz stage on sunday July 3rd for the John Sweenie Quartet. Particularly strong this day were leadman Sweenie and keyboardist Chris Andrew.

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John Sweenie

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Chris Andrew

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It was a great end to a superb jazz festival.

 

Jazz Fest 2016 (part 1)

Posted by Randy Talbot on 2016/07/11
Posted in: Events, Music, photo, Summer. Tagged: bass, big band, Bob Tidesley, Brett Miles, Dave Morgan, drums, Edmonton, Edmonton International Jazz Festival, Eric Doucet, Festival, Ingrid Jensen, Jamie Philp, jazz, Jazz Fest, Jonny McCormack Sascha Liebrand, Josh McHan, Littlebirds, MacEwan, MacEwan Jazz Combo, Magilla Funk Conduit, Marc Beaudin, Marianne Trudel, Mo Lefever, OSPAC, Ryan Plishka, Sandro Dominelli, sax, trumpet, Yardbird Suite. 1 Comment

The 2016 Edmonton International Jazz Fest was a good one! I made a point to take in as many of the events as I could and between June 24th and July 3rd I attended 12 events and enjoyed 14 bands. As much as I enjoyed the varied jazz music I also enjoyed photographing the performers in action.

Ths first performance I took in was at noon on Friday June 24 on the Works with Jazz stage in Churchill Square. This show featured guitarist Marc Beaudin, with bassist Josh McHan and Sandro Dominelli on drums.

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Marc Beaudin

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Dominelli and McHan

On Saturday afternoon I was at the Community Big Band Bash. Three big bands associated with MacEwan University performed on the OSPAC (Old Strathcona Performing Arts Centre) stage.

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Littlebirds All-Star Big Band

The Littlebirds opened, followed by the MacEwan Outreach Big Band and finally the MacEwan University Big Band. All three groups  were solid and very enjoyable.

On Monday at noon it was Brett Miles with his Magilla Funk Conduit  taking the Churchill Square stage for a couple of sets starting at noon. Their form of jazz was wonderfully funky and energetic.

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Magilla Funk Conduit leader/vocalist/saxophonist Brett Miles

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Magilla Funk Conduit

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Jamie Philp

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Mo Lefever

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Magilla Funk Conduit

Later that afternoon, I was at the Yardbird Suite (somehow, it was my first visit ever to the venue but it would be there three more times that week). The afternoon I observed  a Master Class with Marianne Trudel and Ingrid Jensen. They listened to and gave good feedback on performance and composition to three student combos – quite interesting.

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That evening, Trudel (piano) and Jensen (trumpet), with Remi-Jean LeBlanc (bass) and Rich Irwin (drums) put on an innovative/experimental sometimes atmospheric/moody and always captivating, performance.

On Tuesday at noon, I was back in Churchill Square to enjoy another free performance on the Works stage. This day is was the MacEwan Jazz Combo – a sextet performing a fairly standard jazz combo fare with impressive improvised solos.

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MacEwan Jazz Combo (2016 June 28)

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Eric Doucet

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Ryan Plishka, drums

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Dave Morgan

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Jonny McCormack & Sascha Liebrand

Well that was the first half of the 2016 festival and of course only touching on those performances that I was able to get to – there was something like 27 events over those first 5 days!

See more of the Edmonton International Jazz Festival in Part 2.

 

 

May Day on the River

Posted by Randy Talbot on 2016/05/02
Posted in: parks, photo, River Valley, spring, Uncategorized. Tagged: canoe, Dawson Bridge, Edmonton, island, kayak, May, motorboat, North Saskatchewan, photography, river, river valley, spring. Leave a comment

It was only May 1st, in this year of early spring (and even earlier summer-like weather), but there was already a bit of activity on the North Saskatchewan River in central Edmonton on a lovely Sunday afternoon:

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Coming Around the Bend

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Wavemaker

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Yellow Canoe Under Dawson Bridge

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Little Island

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Kayaks

Three of Big Miller

Posted by Randy Talbot on 2016/04/19
Posted in: Music. Tagged: big head, Big Miller, blues, bronze, Danek Mozdzenski, Edmonton, jazz, photo, sculpture, singing, statue, Yardbird Suite. 1 Comment

Last Saturday, my wanderings took me into Old Strathcona and by the Yardbird Suite. There in front of the iconic jazz venue is a statue commemorating the legendary blues singer Big Miller. I’ve seen the statue from a distance many times but finally decided to check it out up close:

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The wonderfully emotive statue, created by world class Edmonton sculptor Danek Mozdzenski is BIG – but just a big head and big hand!

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Miller was born in Sioux City, Iowa but settled in Edmonton in the early 70’s and lived here until his death in 1992. The statue was unveiled in September 2009.

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Pyramids in the Valley

Posted by Randy Talbot on 2016/04/18
Posted in: architecture, photo, River Valley, spring. Tagged: Edmonton, greenhouse, Muttart, pyramid. Leave a comment

The Muttart Conservatory  with its 4 striking glass pyramids is one of my favorite Edmonton landmarks. It is wonderful to be inside the pyramids, each of which is a greenhouse featuring a different eco-system. I don’t get inside as often as I would like but I still enjoy  the pyramids from  the outside. They frequently appear in my photos of the river valley. Here are a few recent (April 2016) images:

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Edmonton’s Muttart Conservatory

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Three in Formation

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Muttart greenhouse (foreground) where plants are prepped for show and sale.

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A peek inside the greenhouse

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Pyramids on the prairie

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Power Pyramid

and as a bonus, here is an image from a couple of months earlier (late-February) showing the pyramids set against the nearby Edmonton Ski Club, on the riverbank.

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Another Side of Main Street

Posted by Randy Talbot on 2016/04/09
Posted in: architecture, downtown, photo, Uncategorized. Tagged: 97th Street, architecture, boarded, Brighton Block, doorway, Edmonton, Ernest Brown Block, Goodridge Building, Hardware Grill, historic, homeless, Jasper Avenue, Lodge Hotel, main street, photography, posters, seedy, tavern, UCAMA, Ukrainian Canadian, W. W. Arcade, yellow. Leave a comment
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The Goodridge Building (with the Hardware Grill on the ground floor)

In recent posts I’ve featured images of various parts of downtown Edmonton – Jasper Avenue, Churchill Square, the convention center and Canada Place, all with their own beauty and architectural beauty.

In this post, we will look at another side of Edmonton, another part of downtown Jasper Avenue. This part is much less modern, classy and comfortable, but perhaps with a beauty of its own (if you will allow your mind to see things in that light).

I’m talking about a part of downtown that is across the street from Canada Place, kitty-corner from the convention center and right on the mighty and historic Jasper Avenue, but the block east of 97th street is in another world. The actual northeast corner of 97th Street and Jasper Avenue is home of one of Edmonton’s most renowned restaurants, the Hardware Grill (the name coming from the fact that the building was once home to the bustling old-time W.W. Arcade hardware store).

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The attractive brick and yellow trim of the Hardware Grill

At the top right of the above photo is Jasper Avenue; turning the corner you enter another world:

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The old tavern

This old bar, just east of the Goodridge Building is the last of the seedy old bars in Edmonton’s east end. Next to it, a vacant lot:

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An empty lot on Jasper Avenue in downtown Edmonton

It has long bewildered me why  this section of Jasper Avenue, with its proximity to the central core and with great views over the river valley, has not been redeveloped. It does however still retain some historic old buildings so I’d not like to see them lost.

Next to the east, is one of those historic old buildings, the Brighton (Ernest Brown) Block. This three story brick building and the one next to it are beautiful but have definitely seen better days. Fortunately, this property has been recognized as a Municipal Historic Resource:

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The building seems to have been vacant for many years now – the doors and many windows boarded up:

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A “home” on Jasper Avenue

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Don’t Give Up

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Boarded-up and Postered

Next to (east of) the Brighton Block is the old Lodge Hotel. This building has been undergoing some exciting renovation to turn it into the Ukrainian Canadian Archives and Museum (UCAMA). Unfortunately,the project ran out of money so is currently on hold.

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Historic Doorway

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An edge of renewal (steelwork for the UCAMA renovation at top)

A stark contrast between the two ends of this half block of Jasper Avenue but coincidentally both bookends feature yellow.

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Yellow Brick

 

Addendum: After posting this blog I took a photo (below) from across the river showing the Brighton (Ernest Brown) Block and Lodge Hotel / UCAMA renovation – quite a different look from the shots that were all taken from the sidewalk next to the buildings.

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Canada Place

Posted by Randy Talbot on 2016/04/06
Posted in: architecture, downtown, photo. Tagged: Canada Place, Edmonton, https://www.google.ca/maps/@53.5426496,-113.4861455,346m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en, photo. Leave a comment
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Canada Place Edmonton, south facade

The same day that I took the photos of the last two blog posts in Churchill Square and the Convention Centre,  I also passed by Edmonton’s Canada Place and a few interesting angles caught my attention.

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Looking Up

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Down on the Patio

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Straight Up

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Reflection on the Curve

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Canada Place Edmonton, north facade

 

In and Around the Convention Centre

Posted by Randy Talbot on 2016/04/05
Posted in: architecture, downtown, Planning, River Valley, spring. Tagged: black and white, Conference Centre, Convention Centre, Edmonton, Grierson Hill, photography, rail, river valley. Leave a comment
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Greierson Hill beside the convention centre

Built into the bank of the North Saskatchewan river valley, the Edmonton’s convention center (or Shaw Conference Centre) is a landmark and architecturally interesting inside an out. Last Saturday as I made my way from the river valley to downtown I passed up by the building and stopped to capture a view things and views that caught my eye:

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Looking Up

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Yellow Rails

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Railing

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Reflected Wall

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Curve Wall of Hall D

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Up the Steps

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Down the Steps

In the Square

Posted by Randy Talbot on 2016/04/04
Posted in: architecture, downtown, photo, spring. Tagged: April, Cafe, chairs, Churchill Square, City Hall, clock tower, Edmonton, Louise McKinney, paint, photography, skylight, spring, tables, Tix, Tix on the Square. Leave a comment

In Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton last Saturday (that would be 2016 April 2nd):

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Empty

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Tix on the Square

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Edmonton’s Cafe

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Pyramidal Skylights

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Painted Square and City Hall

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