Hip, Hip, Hooray for Day 1 of Christmas Vacation!

My first 30 hours of Christmas Vacation have been incredible. We are just arriving back in the city after a quick night in beautiful Banff, Alberta. Our first night back in Calgary we had a whirlwind evening. We arrived home just before supper and enjoyed a wonderful holiday family meal before jetting off to Flame Central for a kickass Christmas party that The Dudes were headlining. 

I had been jonesing to see The Dudes for years but I have barely been in Calgary since finishing school. “Dudes Christmas Special with Wet Secrets and Shotgun Jimmie” was an awesome, late night dance party that would get even the biggest grinch tapping their toes. I already loved The Dudes, now I am all pumped up about Wet Secrets. Boy, have I ever missed live local music! 

I’m keeping this post short and sweet, it is Christmas and there is just SO MUCH to do in Calgary! The Farmers Market, Zoo Lights, Flames games and sooooo much more!! 

Starting to get into the #Christmas spirit in #Banff! #mountains #Alberta #travel

A photo posted by Kate Bruce (@kategbruce) on Dec 20, 2015 at 4:01pm PST

#WetSecrets at Flames Central, getting pumped up for The Dudes! #Calgary #YYC #concert @thewetsecrets

A photo posted by Kate Bruce (@kategbruce) on Dec 19, 2015 at 10:54pm PST

We finally saw The Dudes last night, they are definitely one of those bands that are awesome on the radio but even better to listen to live! #YYC #Calgary #livemusic

A photo posted by Kate Bruce (@kategbruce) on Dec 20, 2015 at 9:14am PST

Kootenay Music Awards--- Voting Now Open

One of the elements I like most about my job is how involved I get to be in our amazing community here in the Kootenays. Over the past nine months living here in the Koots I have gotten to take part in amazing community events big and small, working with the Kootenay Music Awards has been a new experience for me working behind the scenes in a new way--- crafting a website.

Usually my involvement with the community involves chatting things up, attending, greeting and socializing with people. Building the website for the Kootenay Music Awards is a totally new thing for me because unlike the social and promotional aspect of events that I am used to the website has been all me. Lots of alone time and communication from the directors of the Kootenay Music Awards have led to the website you now see. I am very proud of it. Even though I did not code it and worked it all out with the power of Wix, I still absolutely love it.

After getting the basics going for the submission period in March the website had to go through another face lift to enable voting and linking up all the Soundcloud accounts. I can now happily tell you that voting is open for the KMAs until April 30th. I hope you have a chance to check it out and vote! While you are at it let me know what you think; I would love to hear your feedback.

I am a huge fan of Canadian Music. At this time last year I was totally inspired by working at the East Coast Music Awards with our Nova Scotia Community College’s Radio ECMA. It was a fabulous time! If you ever have the opportunity to volunteer with grass-roots level organizations do it! The experience is so rewarding. I love seeing people gain hype and fame from these events, it makes you feel like you have met famous people before they were big deals. You get to be super trendy and cool; it is like you are in the loop on the next big thing.

I hope I can post up some interviews in the coming weeks so you can hear from the people who made the tunes nominated this year for the 3^rd Annual Kootenay Music Awards! Until then, keep up with the KMAs by visiting www.kootenaymusicawards.biz! 

The Kootenay Music Awards will be presented May 9th at the Spirit Bar in Nelson!