Joel Plaskett and his band, Emergency (Halifax, N.S.), are playing at The GRAND tonight in Calgary. I would go except it’s been sold out for weeks. Instead I took a Monday night road trip to Wild Bill’s Legendary Saloon in Banff. With songs from their recent release of Ashtray Rock and more, they put on a fun show. Peter Elkas from Toronto opened for them.

Plaskett brought a warm, friendly east coast music feel to the small Rocky Mountain town. Of course, most of the people in the bar were Maratimers living in Banff and a few of us stragglers from Calgary. I’m all over the Canadiana lyrics, especially the east coast associations as I spent my childhood out there. Four of the songs on this new album refer to snow or winter. It doesn’t get much more Canadian than that. I’m so darn proud to be from this expansive small world of a country: Canada. Joel Plaskett reminded me last night.

- Excerpt from the song, LIGHT OF THE MOON