With the songwriters done it was quick change time for the Kick Off Party and Industry Awards at Billy Bob’s in the Sheraton. Two young ACMA members, Garrett Gregory and Aaron Pollock but on great, if not too short, sets for the gathered. The rest of the evening saw four Industry Awards handed out. The previously mentioned Carly Klassen won the Industry Person of the Year, while Talent Buyer went to the Calgary Stampede. Two new Awards up were for Venue and Radio Station of the Year. The Venue went to Ranchman's Cookhouse & Dancehall, while Red Deer country station Real Country 95.5 took the Radio honor. The rest of the night depended on your agenda. Yours truly felt that he had passed by enough beverages and did enjoy the rest of the evening. To be fair though, I did touch base with many of the Directors and some of the influential that were floating around.
Day 2
Day two kicked off with the Annual General Meeting. To a person, the Directors all said that it was the best attended meeting ever. It could have to do with the large number of the membership that hand concerns about stagnation and the direction the Association was taking and where it was going. As the business wrapped up, there was an election for three vacant seats. Chard Morrison and Dave Temple were re-elected, joined by new comer Ryan Langlois.
No rest for the weary as we grabbed a burger to go and hit Fan Fest at one of the local malls. I was surprised at the lack of participation by the mall and on that note, the Sheraton as well. You wouldn’t have known anything was going on if you just happened to be in either spot. Fab Fest had a ton of talent, kicked off by local artist Krissy Feniak. She was followed by Andrea Nixon who is now headed across the country playing music on VIA Rail to Toronto, Michela Sheedy, Drew Gregory, The Midnight Lights, Tanya Ryan, Trevor Panczak and The Dirt Road Angels. All the artists are incredibly talented. A couple of the highlights, out side of Panczak’s shirt, were the Johnny Cash cover by the Midnight Lights and the last song of the day by the Dirt Road Angels as they covered the Eagles’ Seven Bridges Road. It was a great version and it sounds like it may be on their next CD. They event was barely over, a few hellos and back to the Sheraton to get ready for the Red Carpet.
Photo Credits to Trina Poole on behalf of the ACMA