Venue Void

Nine years ago, I attended a Tragically Hip show at the Agridome (long before it became the Brandt center), and Gordo - the chicken-dancing and energetic lead singer - forever stole my heart and plunged it into the vat of live music. I was hooked. I finally understood my mom's hayday story about how "a pregnant lady crowd-surfing out of line at the Zep concert and the loud tunes cracking the roof in Seattle". It wasn't about the music. It was about the sweat. It was about the ringing ears. It was about the dancing and the crazed, tribal crowd mentality.

Now, I can say I've attended hundreds of shows. I've been to every venue in Regina: The Exchange (and the Club), McNally's, O'Hanlons, Riddel Centre Multipurpose Room, the Owl, Buffalo Lounge, every community centre and church basement, Centre of the Arts, the Distrikt (the State), Gas Light, and the Brandt Centre...forgive me if I've forgotten some!

I was also lucky enough to have lived in Saskatoon (Amigos, Lydia's, Connexus Arts Centre, etc.) and Toronto (the Phoenix, HorseShoe, Molson Place, etc.), and have learned something: There is a void in the Regina music community.

I believe we are now peaking at a population where a mid-sized concert venue would be an appropriate place for those entrepreneurs out there to make a profit. There is nothing sufficient in this city to house the margins between 700-1000 people, which absolutely urks me.

I mean, most bands that I really want to see completely skip over this province, and if they hit Saskatchewan, it's usually Saskatoon. Whenever I've made trips up to Toon Town to popular shows at small venues, it has been packed, and there's usually still people hanging outside in rage over the sold-out ticket.

So, here's my plea to Regina and Saskatoon: Rally forces and raid a quonset. We need a big room to dance and enjoy some flippity rock tunes.

A little country...and a little rock and roll. Dani out.

Good job, Jim. You finally figured out the equalization formula. The provinces now all hate you in a balanced manner.

Jim Flaherty was walking a thin line out of a half-day meeting this morning with his Ontario provincial counterparts when he began his statement condemning partisan bickering, before even introducing the idea of a new equalization formula.

CBC didn't have a clue what he was talking about. It wasn't until the questions began that the plan was deducted. Ontario - bashfully - admitted to being a have-not province, and would be receiving equalization payments for the first time in Canadian history. I'll pause for gasps...

Gone are the days of our fair Saskatchewan whining about bad football and money gouging Ottawa. We can now sit in amazement as Jimmy announces $307 million in equalization to Ontario, according to a new "nominal GDP" calculated formula. Under the old rules, they would have received even more, as John Ivison of the National Post notes:

"...if the system had not been reformed again, Ontario would have received closer to $1-billion, so it will be interesting to see if Mr. McGuinty is a glass half full kind of guy. Given that provincial premiers have the alimentary canal and big appetite for federal dollars of a hungry baby, the answer is probably no."

Either way, Ontario is in with less than expected and they're mad (Ont. Finance Minister Dwight Duncan already said that he was angry about the announcement), Quebec is going to be peeved (they're receiving $700 million less than if it they stuck with the regular formula), and B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland & Labrador are still on the outs.

Flaherty insists that equalization will continue to grow year after year, but said it cannot be sustained at the current 15 per cent growth annually.

"Dear Danny, that's a kick in the pants, hey? Love, Jim"

Danny Williams must be having a hissy fit. He may have painted his province red, but leave it to the incumbent government to do a few renos and repaint Ontario green - despite the size of the hand-out. He's not known for putting out fires. He's all about starting them.

Sound of Wrath: "Wowowowowowowo"