Helluva Party

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It was awesome to see that the Edmonton Eskimos made it into the Grey Cup this year. For the five days preceding the game, Edmonton was nothing but one big party. The Spirit Of Edmonton Committee outdid itself this year. Its legendary Saturday breakfast had been a sellout since February, so they managed to add and sell out a Friday breakfast as well. The SOE’s headquarters, at the Crowne Plaza Chateau Lacombe, were packed solid every night within 5 minutes of opening the doors. For the duration of the Grey Cup week, the old Bay Building downtown was transformed into another party headquarters known as the "Igloo" and the word on the street was that they sold over 32,000 ‘beverages’ during the 5-day party...while approximately 70,000 were consumed at the Spirit of Edmonton.

Even though the Eskimos lost, Edmonton proved we were still able to throw one helluva party! The half time performance by the one and only Shania Twain was short and sweet. She appeared on stage wearing mukluks on her feet, tight black leggings, a big yellow parka and a white & red Canadian Bob & Doug Toque. She performed two songs off her new cd titled "Up" (which totaled about 8 minutes). The first song was her new single "I’m Gonna Get you Good" which warmed up the crowd. She introduced the next song "Up" (the title track) and ordered the fans out of their seats, as she jumped up and down belting out the vocals. Her enthusiasm seemed to get the crowd going, and once the Esks returned to the field they scored a touchdown soon after. There has been controversy as to whether or not she was lip-synching. I actually expected this, as I watched her performance on television, and right off the bat there were a few instances in which I thought that she was. I also found it strange how you could see her breath when she talked, but not sang. Ah well, the main thing is that I don’t think it mattered to the thousands of shivering fans in the audience. I think her jumping up and down and enthusiasm warmed everyone up, and lifted their spirits which was exactly what Shania was there to do!

Speaking of Shania Twain, I can’t say I’m a huge fan, but I must say I think her recent marketing scheme is brilliant. I saw an interview with her in which she explained that for her current cd "UP", she came up with an idea to encourage her fans to purchase her cd instead of downloading music from the Internet. She has released three versions of the cd that are color-coded. The green cd contains the ‘country’ version, the red cd contains the’ pop’ version and the obscure ‘blue’ cd contains the international version. I think it’s a Fantastic idea!

Season Two of the Osbournes premiered on MTV Canada. Before airing the first episode, they featured a "Making the Video” special, and showed a behind the scenes of Kelly Osbourne making her "Papa Don’t Preach" video. That was followed by an episode of "Becoming" Kelly Osbourne, which was really cool. Kelly showed up in person, and presented Veronica (the girl who became her) with a gift, which happened to be Kelly’s very own 1^st gold album along with a signed photo.

I couldn’t wait to see my favorite family swearing at each other. Even if it is bleeped out it’s not hard to figure out what the #*@$ they’re saying. The first episode shows Sharon & Ozzy attending a function for the President, along with many other celebrities and politicians. They also focus on Kelly’s performance on the MTV Movie awards and Jack’s slight obsession with Natalie Portman and how he steals the opportunity to hop onto her lap while watching Kelly perform. Some of the other highlights include Jack turning on the sprinklers to get tourists off their lawn, but instead a bunch of Ozzy fans start running through the sprinklers chanting "OZZY, OZZY". It’s also quite humorous to watch Jack and Kelly argue like children. Kelly grabs Jack’s spritzer bottle and sprays Jack until he screams at her for getting his "Prada" jacket wet! It sort of puts everything into perspective. The next episode is supposed to break the news of Sharon’s Colon Cancer and shows how each family member deals with the news. Although this is a difficult subject you have to hand it to the Osbournes for inviting us into their lives during this trying time. So stay tuned.

Coming this month: December 8^th Boney M at Reds, December 11 Snoop Dogg at The Joint, December 13,14 Painting Daisies at The Sidetrack, December 31^st (New Years Eve), April Wine at Nashville’s, The Bear Bash at the Shaw Conference Centre Featuring The Tea Party as well as Theory of a Deadman and Ten Inch Men, Have A Great Time, But Please Remember Not to Drink and Drive!

Happy Holidays! See you in 2003!