The Deep Dark Woods are from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and could be considered as an alt-country band. Regardless, they have been carving out a fan base with their smooth sound and strong song writing. To date, they have released four albums and have contributed a song to CBC Radio 2‘s Great Canadian Song Quest. When we lived in Saskatoon we had occasion to see them a couple of times and enjoyed their music. Their most recent release “The Place I Left Behind” has just been released worldwide, a big step for the band. The video attached is from their previous album “Winter Hours” and is titled “All The Money I Had Is Gone”.
You wake up in the morning, open the shutters and look out on this……
Mt Vesuvius Across The Bay Of Naples
or you roll over and think to yourself, what shall I do today, maybe this..
Eiffel Tower in Paris
or maybe this…
The Rockies in Montana, USA
These are pictures, which, if you never go, is as close as you will get. You can only get so much out of a picture, but, you can’t smell the Mediterranean Sea from your window, you can’t see an 800 ft steel structure twinkle like a Christmas tree as the Eiffel Tower does at night and the picture of Montana above is absolutely nothing compared to actually standing there, impressed enough to take a picture that you know won’t be even close to the real thing. Yes, you say, but who can afford it (I will speak to that in my next post). To that statement I say, look out your back door. I don’t care where you live, you are only a few hours away from a whole bunch of amazing things to see and do.
When we first moved to Saskatchewan, we had an involuntary shudder. What on earth is there to do there. Surprise, within hours of our front door, we golfed some amazing golf courses, house-boating on Lac La Ronge, boating and hiking to Grey Owl‘s cabin in Prince Albert National Park, super-sliding down sand hills near Sceptre, Saskatchewan and lots of other things to numerous to mention. All in all, it was you make of what you have. The biggest issue most of us have is to stop watching The Travel Network, getting up off the couch, and doing it. Be a travel show instead of watching a travel show.
We spent 15 absolutely brilliant years in Saskatoon and Martensville, Saskatchewan. We made many, many friends in our time, including a whole bunch of the lifetime variety. We love heading back to “the scene of the crime” at every opportunity. Saskatchewan, and Saskatoon are among the best kept secrets in North America. I can, with startling accuracy, tell if a person is from Saskatchewan as they have a certain way about them, and I hope some of it rubbed off on us.
The tale I am telling here is a visit we made with our young cousin Lauren, from merry old Englandland. She was here for a 6 week visit and one of things we did with her was take a trip to Saskatoon to both show her where we had spent some time living and to visit the Sasktel Jazz Festival.
First treat for Lauren was the drive, 6 and a half hours from Calgary to Saskatoon. They just don’t understand these distances in England, or sitting in a car for that long. It turned out she enjoyed the drive and was surprised at how not boring it was.
Arriving in Saskatchewan
Once arrived we did some touring around. After all, I own this town.
I Own This Town
We took a walk up 21st St towards the Midtown Mall area. They take the Jazz Festival very seriously in Saskatoon. The downtown turns into one giant stage with music everywhere. The streets are even renamed for the duration. It was one of the best things about living in downtown Saskatoon when we lived there.
Jazz Street, Saskatoon, Sk
As we continue down 21st, we turn and look at one of the coolest hotels I have ever stayed in, or seen, the Bessborough Hotel. An old railroad hotel, it was built in the 1930’s and has a palatial air about it. The Jazz Festival main stage is in the Garden at the rear along the South Saskatchewan River. One of the best places I have ever been to listen to great live music. We have seen Divine Brown, Jacksoul, Little Richard, Carlos Del Junca, Colin James, Jack Semple, Kool and the Gang amongst others at this venue and loved every one of them.
Bessborough Hotel
We used to sit across the street from the hotel at the Spadina Free House, on their deck, on Saturday afternoons and count brides. Our record was 7. The hotel, the river park and the bandstand are favourite locations for wedding pictures. Nothing better that a cold brew on a hot day with that building as a backdrop. Its architecture is so unique that it actually cause a hazard at times during the year.
Heads Up
By this time in the day, the girls were getting kind of bored of shopping and found something interesting that they could do while doing that female bonding thing.
Lori and Lauren Look To Bond
And finally, the music. Not a great video, but hey it’s just a post. Kool and the gang performing live.
We completely enjoyed this trip and especially liked being tourists in our old home town. Great place, great summers, great music. If you have a chance, see Saskatoon during the Jazz Festival.
Regina band “Library Voices” released their new album on August 23. (Available on iTunes). The album is titled “Summer Lust”, which is what people in Western Canada definitely do for summer. The attached video is their first single released from the album “Generation Handclap”. The band hails from Regina, Saskatchewan and are following up a successful album “Denim on Denim” from 2010. If you like the video, and are interested in hearing more from this band, hit the link*. It will take you to CBC3 and has most of their songs.
Another artist that kind of snuck up on me. I bought her CD based on an appearance on Letterman. She seemed to be a very talented singer, player, songwriter, and we were in the mood for something like this in our collection. “Little Voice” is the name of this particular CD and the song we heard was “Love Song“. We listened to it a few times and put it away. Then, through the miracle of iPod, I uploaded the disc and her songs began to play oon a random basis. I kept thinking, who is this, and was rewarded each time with the name Sara Bareilles. This CD and her new one “Kaleidoscope Heart” are now staples in any mix we develop. I am thinking she is for real and look forward to more of her material.
This week is the week for The Saskatchewan Jazz Festival in Saskatoon. Not only does it bring in the name acts, it also showcases Saskatchewan talent. One of these talents is Jordan Cook. For some reason, the province has been blessed with many talented musicians who continue to impress. The list is long, but some of these are, Northern Pikes, Colin James, Jack Semple, Deep Dark Woods, Kyle Riabko the list is endless. There was a show last night in Saskatoon that I would have loved to have been at. It featured Jordan Cook and The Sheepdogs. I have already done a post on The Sheepdogs, which I have linked to below. The video attached is Jordan Cook playing live.
