It was impossible. Even with unlimited resources it could not be done. It is simply a matter of not being able to be in more than one place at the same time. A case in point was Saturday, October 24th, 2009. This was the night of the "Gimme Shelter Benefit Concert" at the Key City in Cranbrook. On that same night there was a Kootenay Ice Game, a play at The Studio/Stage Door, a play at the Centre 64 in Kimberley and a substantial event out at Fort Steele. It was great that there was so much choice but, like I said, it was impossible be in more than one place at the same time. So if you opted for anything other than the "Gimme Shelter Benefit Concert" you probably had a great night of entertainment but you missed out on one of the best concerts of the year.

Now if you live in Vancouver and you have some obscure musical interests the chances are there are enough people in the city with a common interest to support a local scene. You like Opera? Jazz? What ever? Then the chances are that there is enough support for events and venues to keep you happy. If you only have obscure, minority interests then in small city like Cranbrook you would probably be out of luck. In most genres, even the popular ones, it can be pretty slim pickings. However, if your tastes are a little broader then there is a whole smorgasbord of concerts and events to keep you happy. In fact, as I suggested, it is impossible to get to see and hear everything.

As the line in the song goes "It was a very good year". Classical, jazz, rock, pop-opera, nostalgia, folk, concerts, jam sessions, recitals, festivals, theatre, dance, you name it and it was there at some time during the year. In looking at the past year one can't be objective, or at least I can't. In selecting the musicians and events the editing process always involves matters of personal taste, biases and simply not being able to see and review everything. My personal bias tends to be towards musicians and performers that are a little out of the mainstream, under the radar so to speak. The big events don't need to be spoken for; George Jones, The Mathew Good Band, the Symphony Concerts, Destino, they already have the attention of the press. Just down a notch or more, there were visiting and local performers who deserve notice. In the classical field THE OBERON CLASSICAL GUITAR TRIO and THE LILLY STRING QUARTET fall into that category. In both instances what was notable about their performances was they seemed to have escaped the overbearing romantic classical traditions and presented programs of distinctly modern mid-twentieth century music. Both concerts were small, intimate and very courageous. It is not often we get to hear "new" music in Cranbrook. The Oberon Trio performed as part of the College of the Rockies visiting lecture series and the Lily Quartet as one of the United Church Coffee House series. Kudos should go to both organizations for taking the leap of faith and presenting music that is well under the radar screen.

On the country music front the outstanding performance was not George Jones, although his fans will probably do me considerable damage for saying that, no, the most interesting performances in his entourage was his lead female singer BRITTANY ALLEN. She was easy on the eye and had a great voice. The opening act, The MIKE GOOCHIE TRIO, with Linda Kidder and Brent Shindell, also deserve special mention. However, for my money the best country band to perform in this area in the past year was the local group of musicians led by MARK KOENIG. The band played a small under-advertised concert in the spring at The Centre 64 in Kimberley and the well promoted Idlewild Festival in Cranbrook. In both instances, Mark's songwriting talents and those of Elena Yeung were well to the fore. This crack-a-jack band from Creston featured Gary Snow (bass), Michael Heiden (mandolin), John Cronin (guitar), Karl Sommerfeld (fiddle) and Elena Yeung on banjo and vocals.

The popular local band "As the Crow Flies" has faded from the scene but the sweet voice of Anie Hepher lives on in REDGIRL. Backed by her husband Mike on electric guitar, bass player Steve Jones and drummer Sven Hyde this band has performed often and well throughout the year. "The Crows" may be no longer flying but their legacy lives on in this wonderful new band. In a similar, but slightly different vein, James Neve's band 60 HERTZ has been reconfigured with the addition of Marty Musser on drums. This Folk/Rock band owes much to the British Invasion of the 60's and is a show case for the song writing talents of James Neve. James is probably one of the strongest song writers in the valley, if not in all of BC. The band, with Dave Birch (bass), James (guitar, vocals), Marty Musser (drums) and on lead guitar, the tastiest "strat" player in the area, Rob Young, is a really tight organization. They are four long time musical friends that have a deep musical connection that shines through in every performance. Their outstanding performance of the year was in the "Gimme Shelter Benefit Concert".

Life is full of surprises. Back in March of this year a chance visit to "The Edge" pub in Kimberley exposed me to the awesome talents of one of Canada's finest Blues/Rock guitarist's, TONY SPRINGER (a.k.a. Wild-T). Tony and his band "The Spirit" were "a tour de force" of what a power trio (guitar, bass and drums) is all about. There was lots of Blues, Funk, a little reggae and it was all served up in a blistering cauldron of creative energy. Even such well worn songs as "Hit the Road Jack" took on a whole new life in the hands of this trio. If they ever come back to the area they should not be missed.

A number of fine organizations continue to support and promote local musicians. THE HOME GROWN MUSIC SOCIETY and LOCALS are in there year after year with their winter series of coffee houses at Centre 64 in Kimberly and The Studio/Stage Door in Cranbrook. Locals had a banner year this year with the release of a CD of live music culled from two special concerts by the generous donated talents of John Seiga. Also new on the block this year was KAMP (Kootenay Association of Musical Performers). This very loosely organized group of musicians host regular sessions every Friday evening at Ali Baba's upstairs lounge in Finnegans pub in Cranbrook. There are quiet nights and rowdy nights and nights of off-the-wall and off-the-cuff musical collaborations that can only be described as startling.

The local festival season continues to grow. The beauty of the local festival scene is that the events are not too large. They cater, with the exception of the Old Time Accordion festival, to mostly local residents and local tourists. Musically THE IDLEWILD FESTIVAL in Cranbrook may have had their strongest lineup ever. The main act was the music and blues talents of KEN HAMM. The supporting acts included, REDGIRL, ASPEN SWITZER, THE MARK KOENIG BAND and ELENA YEUNG. The Music and Dance Festival (MAD) in Kimberley continued to support the more folkloric elements in music and dance with troupes of Bavarian and Romanian dancers. That being said the music of JOHN AND HOLLY and their supporting band and the band 60 HERTZ, while not exactly folkloric, were outstanding. By all accounts Kimberley's ARTS ON THE EDGE lived up to its well earned reputation. The all volunteer two day festival MUSIC ON THE MARY flirted with uncertain weather and show cased the local talents of THE BLARNEY PILGRIMS, TIM ROSS, ALEX CASIMA, 60 HERTZ, CHECKPOINT 5, ELK HUNT, SCARS and SLACKJAW.

The list of musicians deserving notice goes on and on and my apologies go out to the many local and visiting performers (including Joel Purdy, Van Redecopp, Dave Prinn, Tom Bungay, Heather Gemmel, the MBSS Jazz band and the McDADES) who, it may appear, I have overlooked. Not because they are undeserving but simply because it is impossible to get see and hear all performances. I have also neglected to mention a number of fine dancers, Natassja of Gypsy Salami, Jennifer Trillilem with the Adhim Shaikh Collective from Nelson and the Royal Stewart Highland Dancers from Cranbrook. I have also neglected the many fine theatre performance in Cranbrook and Kimberley. Once again my apologies to all the actors, promoters, directors, producers and stage personnel that work so hard to bring a theatre performance to life.

Not only is it impossible to attend all the performances in the area it almost impossible to even list the events. Be that as it may, we can only but try to continue to enjoy ourselves by attending as many as possible.