The folks of Smithers BC never cease to amaze me. What a great northern community with a love of live, original music. AA recently performed 2 shows, the Snowboot Ball at the Alpenhorn Bistro and Pub, and Whiskey Jack's lounge on Hudson Bay Mountain resort.
6th Annual Snowboot Ball - Ok the theme for the night was "CEOs and Corporate Hoes", and it was great to see how into the theme everybody dressed. Especially the ladies, you know who you are. Full house, so including staff in the proximity of 200, and every last person came to party. Snowboot Ball is an annual kick off party to the ski season, sponsored by Alexander Keith's, Rayz Boardshop, Hudson Bay Mountain, Valhalla outfitters, and Alpenhorn Bistro and Pub. The sponsors brought a ton of swag and prizes, and put on contests and games between sets to keep the crowd amped. Which totally worked, we were stoked to see people up and dancing to everything we threw at them. We were particularly pumped on how well received our original sets were, the crowd was dancing in larger number to our originals than anything else. At the end of Yesterday, Great To Live Here, Rock N Roll and Cheap Beer N Wine there were large numbers of folks singing along, which means we've got something good going on. The crowd erupted for Opinion, which is one of those magical moments in performances every musician lives for when audience and band are connected in some intrinsicly collective energy that feeds each others intensity. The great staff at Alpenhorn were outstanding, we were well taken care of with drinks, food, accomodations and the jam session after closing was awsome with all the cool people at Alpenhorn. Big thanks to Jeremy Roth for the booking, can't wait to come back to Alpenhorn again.
Whiskey Jack's - After meeting Crissy Driedger from Hudson Bay Mountain resort as MC for Snowboot Ball, Crissy said we had to play Whiskey Jack's and soon. After a few emails and phone calls it was all set for Dec 17th as apres-ski festivities Acoustics Anonymous would run through 3 sets of originals and covers. Once again the originals went over great. Such a surreal setting with a view over the valley and skiers and boarders zooming around the lodge, and starting at 3:30 in the afternoon. Normally we're just setting up for a late night set at that time but here we were starting our first set. Great people at Hudson Bay Mountain, especially the cool staff at Whiskey Jack's, Crissy and Julie kept us fed and always with a frosty pint on hand. The AA dancers that joined in were great, we had a lot of fun with hats and Todd's afro wig was fun. We had a great time. We'll be back at Whiskey Jack's for St Patties Day, which should prove to be a seriously good time, going to have to book a cabin on the mountain to chill after the show.
Like I say, members of Acoustics Anonymous has played Smithers with different bands over the years, Smithers remains one of the best supportive communities of local talent anywhere. Such an appreciative audience, with a ton of positive energy, can't wait to be back.