The Heart of Punk City!

Heart of the City Music and Arts Festival is a free event held in Central Edmonton every June. 2017 is the 14th year of the festival, happening June 3rd and 4th in Giovanni Caboto Park (95 street and 109A avenue in McCauley).

Ahead of the event celebrating grassroots creativity in Edmonton’s urban core, two acts at this year’s festival joined us on the show. Ben Freeland Writes is a historian and punk poet, and Quasar is a punk band formed in high school that’s participated in Edmonton’s punk scene ever since. This edition of The History of Punk covers punk culture far and wide, and why a grassroots festival in Edmonton is so important in a time of downtown gentrification.

Here’s the playlist!
Alien Boys (Vancouver) – “Gentrification”
Galaxy Express (Seoul) – “Jungle the Black”
Superman Is Dead 日本語 (Bali) – “Poppies Dog Anthem”
Quasar (Edmonton) – “Everybody”
Switches Band (Edmonton) – “Sauerkraut”
Propagandhi (Portage La Prairie) – “…And we thought that Nation States were a bad idea”
Quasar (Edmonton) – “Kydd”

Find out more about Heart of the City Music Festival:
www.heartcityfest.com

Ben Freeland:
www.benfreeland.ca

Quasar:
www.innerquasar.bandcamp.com

And here’s the show!

HEART OF THE CITY 2016!!!!!

CJSR Playlist 11

Here’s my 11th playlist on CJSR, from Monday 9 June!

1. Wolf Parade (Montreal) – “I’ll Believe in Anything”
2. Hooded Fang (Toronto)- “Thrasher”
3. Reverend Horton Heat (Dallas) – “Spooky Boots”
4. Bombproof the Horses (Edmonton) – “Like I do”
5. The Skips (Edmonton) – “Wide Horse”
6. Ken Stead (Edmonton) – “Better Days”
7. Jennifer Jane (Edmonton) – Not Small at All”
8. Must be Tuesday (Edmonton) – “My Favourite Bribe”
9. Rellik (Edmonton) – “Back on the Map”
10. We are Scientists (Berkeley) – “Make it Easy”
11. Viet Cong (Calgary) – Select Your Drone”
12. Scenic Route to Alaska (Edmonton) – “For Dot”
13. Joel Plaskett Emergency (Halifax) – “Extraordinary”

Acts in green performed at Heart of the City Music Festival!

CJSR Playlist 10

Here’s my tenth playlist on CJSR, from Monday 2 June!

1. Wolf Parade (Montreal) – “It’s a Curse”
2. The Frolics (Edmonton) – “Screw’d Up Me”
3. Hooded Fang (Toronto) – “Never Minding”
4. Dana Wylie (Edmonton) – “Everything is Fine”
5. The Skips (Edmonton) – “Souvenirs”
6. Bombproof the Horses (Edmonton) – “Wide Angles”
7. Rellik (Edmonton) – “Thank You”
8. Kimberley MacGregor (Edmonton) – “Hope Displaced”
9. Ken Stead (Edmonton) – “Believe it to be so”
10. Jennifer Jane (Edmonton) – “Economical”
11. Tyler Butler (Edmonton) – “Ben”
12. Gord Downie & the Sadies (Toronto) – “One Good Fast Job”
13. Wool on Wolves (Edmonton) – “Unsuspecting Ways”

Acts in green are performing at Heart of the City Music Festival!

CJSR Playlist 9

Here’s my ninth playlist on CJSR, from Monday 26 May!

1. Cat Empire (Melbourne) – “Sly”
2. The Secretaries (Edmonton) – “Hey Girl”
3. Wool on Wolves (Edmonton) – “Cocaine and Bellows”
4. Wool on Wolves (Edmonton) – “A’int Seen Mississippi”
5. Tera (Perth) – “Ready or Not”
6. The Liberators (Edmonton) – “Electrifyin'”
7. Brothers Grim (Edmonton) – “Love Thy Brother”
8. Bombproof the Horses (Edmonton) – “Springtime in my Hometown”
9. Locution Revolution (Edmonton) – “Do you Mind”
10. Kimberley MacGregor (Edmonton) – “True”
11. Tragically Hip (Kingston) – “50 Mission Cap”
12. Scenic Route to Alaska (Edmonton) – “Paris”

Acts in blue are performing at Hip Hop in the Park and/or Dark.

Acts in green are performing at Heart of the City Music Festival.

Acts in red are performing at the Scenic Route to Alaska album release!

In the Heart of the City

In case you didn’t  notice, it’s 2013. This means 2 things:

1)   The film 2012, starring John Cusack, WAS NOT A DOCUMENTARY. 

2)  This year will be the 10th Anniversary of Edmonton’s Heart of the City Festival.

This 2nd item is so important, they didn’t even wait until this year to start the celebration. Last December, the Heart of the City Festival Society held the first of several open mics to get folks excited about 2013’s festival. The event was a hit, and featured a diverse section of the Edmonton music scene – the Big Sky Gliders, Erasmo Coco, Locution Revolution, Sebastian Barrera, and Patrick Marchand-Smith all performed. As organizer David Prodan attested: “it was a fantastic evening that sets a standard for our community.”

The next open mic will be this Saturday, January 26th. The shows are in partnership with E4C McCauley Apartments, and held in the city’s urban core, at Pacific Cafe, 10876 97st NW. The show will feature Paula Kirman, and you, if you’re interested.

To sign up for the open mic please call 780 424 2870. Find all the details on the Facebook event page here.

And, just like Cusack’s film kept going, that’s not all!

The Heart of the City Festival Society is also partnering with CJSR to put together a 10th anniversary compilation album. It’s set to be released on the 1st day of the festival, which will be held June 1 and 2, 2013!

If you’re interested in submitting a song, the deadline is the last day in February of this non-leap year, also known as the 28th. All the info you need can be found here.