This weekend, I finally got around to organising my CD collection. I'm hardly a connoisseur; my iTunes list adds up to a meager 2.4 days. I'm heavily embedded into the local theatre and literary scenes, but local music has only recently blipped on my radar, so I was quite surprised to discover that a good chunk of my collection is homegrown. I was further surprised - though I shouldn't have been - to discover the extent to which my theatre/literary life has influenced my CD library!

To show you what I mean, here's a rundown of my Calgary-related albums.

the boygirls - "but aren't we all?"
My first exposure to these activist hip-hoppers was... well, at a knitting party. A good friend of mine (and a damn fine poet) had a bunch of us over to "stitch 'n bitch", which is when I first met Lana Bentley. My inability to knit made me shy, so I listened meekly from the couch as she did some impromptu rap and mentioned that she was getting together with some kids to start a band.

I was delighted, several months later, to find Lana rocking out on stage with the boygirls (Cameron May and Lara White). They've got a great energy, bringing social conscience to their rhymes. I haven't seen their name in a while, but I hope they're still around!

Calvin Johnson - "Before The Dream Faded..."
I guess Calvin Johnson is, like, a big deal? He hangs out down in Olympia, Washington, where he founded K Records (and did a whole pile of other stuff), but the first I heard of him was from Eric Moschopedis when I was working on the 2006 Mutton Busting Festival, where Mr. Johnson was performing. Eric told me he was awesome; I shrugged and kept coordinating volunteers.

Mr. Johnson was, indeed, awesome, and packed out the Mac Hall Ballroom with his deep drone/guitar combo. He was wickedly funny on stage, and very polite when I drove him to the airport the next day. I did my best not to gush about how much I'd enjoyed his set, so we talked a lot about the mountains.

Danielle French - "Piece" and "Shadows"
I first encountered Danielle at the One Yellow Rabbit box office, where she's sold me many last-minute tickets as I dash up the stairs moments before the theatre doors close. I guess I assumed she lived in the box office, because I was rather stunned when she mentioned, oh yeah, she's a professional musician and this whole ticket-selling thing was a side gig.

I just had the pleasure of interviewing Danielle, so if you've still got your January 26 issue of Swerve lying around, check us out. She's got a delicious, Tom Waits-y vibe in her music, and she's going to be performing a song about literature (hooray!) alongside Kris Demeanor and Crystal Plamondon next week at McNally Robinson (120 8th Ave SW, Thursday February 8, 7:00 pm). Check 'em out!

Gordon is a Mime - "Oedipus Loves You"
The High Performance Rodeo has been musically good to me. That's where I discovered the Bell Orchestre, the Flaming Lips, the Rheostatics, Alejandro Escovedo, Rufus Cappadocia, Tanya Tagaq, etc, etc.

This year, they brought in Ireland's Pan Pan Theatre for a stunning re-interpretation of the Oedipus legend. The show opens with a thudding club beat, and the curtain opens on a naked man, his penis saran-wrapped between his legs to mimic androgyny. It was brilliant. I saw the show twice, and was so impressed with the original music that I snapped up their CD in the lobby and have been devouring it since.

Onalea Gilbertson - "Spider and the Fly"
Onalea is a member of the One Yellow Rabbit performing ensemble and, like all those wacky Rabbits, she's multitalented. This album's a series of covers, running the gamut from Radiohead to Portishead. I'm absolutely in love with her take on David Bowie's "Space Oddity". She's performing in this year's playRites Festival, in a musical show that really excites me: Why Freud Fainted.

Peter Moller - "The Shrine of Impossible Love"
Well before I knew who Peter was, I performed in a university theatre production with his daughter. They've apparently got artistically vibrant genes.

I keep running into Peter pretty much everywhere. He's got a design business going, Egg Press, which seems to do graphic design for a third of the arts organisations in town (sharing the burden with Ty Semaka and Janine Vangool). He also tours with Kris Demeanor and his Crack Band, and these days he's running around with with Theatre Junction as part of their performing ensemble. He's a busy busy man.

The Summerlad - "City of Noise"
Just like Calvin Johnson, I first met the Summerlad at the Mutton Busting Festival, when I helped lug their equipment in and out of elevators. They performed a live score to the silent movie, The Passion of Joan of Arc, and even though I was exhausted after hauling speakers, I was entranced. They played their latest experiment, City of Noise, at this year's Rodeo, and lately they've been keeping busy with the RAMP series at Broken City.

(No matter how many times I meet Dean Martin, I always forget his name. Sorry Dean.)

WADE - "(parenthesis)"
Cody Harper, Anton deGroot, Michael Petersen and Joel Goundry. These boys were all doing drama degrees at the University of Calgary while I was across campus studying English. I met them at dozens of drama parties, because actors tended to share my penchant for social drinking more than writers. Most recently, Cody wiped his sweaty brow with my shirt at their Plaza Theatre gig on New Year's Eve; sadly, I've laundered the memory.

They've got a new album out, which unfortunately I can't tell you anything about because the rats haven't given me a copy yet, and I also understand that they're soon releasing an honest-to-goodness music video. Keep an eye on these cats, because they're going to be big.

Woodpigeon - "Songbook"

Apparently Woodpigeon already *is* big, but I didn't know that. They've been hovering just outside my consciousness for years. A friend used to live with lead singer Mark Hamilton, so I saw him at parties. Local poet ryan fitzpatrick kept enthusing about Woodpigeon shows I hadn't seen. I drank beer with Kenna Burima at WordFest. And so on.

When I finally caught one of their shows, I started excitedly telling friends, "Hey, there's this great band called...!" and found out that, yes, I was the last person in the city to hear about Woodpigeon.

I've now managed to completely exhaust my musical knowledge, so enough from me. If you know any other local bands who should join my CD shelf, drop me a reply!