I hate Winnipeg...

Well I just got off the phone with a young man who tells me his sister is discouraged at the thought of moving out to Winnipeg. I think generally discouraged by the "advice" given by so many other Canadians...this is sad to me. Winnipeg is a great city.

TO quote Doug Mclean (The Paperbacks), "There's so much diversity and quality in bands here, it's an embarrassment of riches, and I figure we all take it for granted how much amazing creative stuff goes on here." (Speaking about the music scene in Winnipeg).

Independent bands in Vancouver are less fortunate, as Niko Friesen (Motion Soundtrack) says, “Club promoters are all over the map here, some support independent music, some…. not so much. I’d like to see more venues take a chance on original music.”

The music scene in Winnipeg (Which, let me tell you, is hectic. I can't even begin to adequately describe it) is only one of the many reasons why I love this town.

There are places like Osbourne Village, Market Square, City park, and the Forks. Each a pain in the neck to get to, each infinitely worth it. Individualism seems so highly regarded, and true individualism. Not the "damn the man" anti-conformist attitude which often pretends to be individualistic (it's just so freaking obvious), instead, the city breathes "live and let live" like the wind.

There are streets like Corydon, and Broadway and Wellington Cres. that are incomparible in their beauty. Streets filled with old houses being slowly rebuilt. Old, interesting, delightfully odd houses, the kind you'd never find in suburbia. So many old buildings. So many old stories.

Men like Tommy Douglas, Louis Riel, Burton Cummings, Niel Young, all raised on these steets. (Well not so much Louis Riel...I mean, probably not these streets, but I think the idea was similar.) Passion is bred in Winnipeg.

And let me just say this about the cold: For one thing, it's offset by the ridiculously hot summers. For another thing, it's just cold. Tough-the-hell-up. You get to use phrases like "colder than a witches tit" or "freeze the balls off a brass monkey". These are a great thing. Because even if you're freezing your ace off at the bus stop, you know you can laugh about it later at the good old Gord Downie Suite.

There are more reasons buuut I'm going to have to write about it later...there's news about evan that deserves it's own post.