By Ian Tennant
The Eagle
A genuine country troubadour is on the last legs of his Alberta centennial tour of 100 shows, including a barn dance southwest of Cochrane on Aug. 26, but the real work begins after Sept. 1.
Matt Masters and The Gentlemen of the Rodeo had the top floor of Lindsay and Joy Eklund’s red barn hopping last Friday as couples two-stepped with as much grace, if not more, as Texas honky tonk veterans.
It was show number 92 for the Calgary singer/songwriter. Even though show 100 was set for a CBC centennial celebration in Edmonton Sept. 1, now up in the air because of the labour dispute, Masters will complete a quest that started on Boxing Day 2004.
While chatting with Jane McCullough, program director for CJSW, the University of Calgary (U of C) student radio station, about CJSW’s 20th anniversary, the 10th anniversary of Rock Central (a house Masters and his mates rented that became famous for its annual raucous Stampede breakfast), Masters said: “I should play 100 shows in Alberta this year.”
“Yes you should,” McCullough replied.
The plan was simple: play 100 shows and mine the province for songs — either written by an Albertan, performed by an Albertan or about Alberta.
Masters then set to planning his Alberta tour. He e-mailed every MLA, chambers of commerce, any one that might help.
His first show was Feb. 15 and one e-mail led to a Canada Day opening slot before Cochrane legend George Fox. But for the most part, official Alberta support was not there. Masters did receive a letter from Premier Ralph Klein wishing him good luck, and one from Minister of Community Development Gary Mar.
Masters had to turn to the federal government for funding to help honour Alberta’s 100th birthday.
With the assistance of CJSW, Masters will get a $15,000 grant, $5,000 of which will help with tour costs, while the remainder will go towards a book of scores of the Alberta songs he has gathered.
Two CDs will accompany the book. One will feature Masters’ versions of Alberta songs, including 50 per cent of them written by women, and some originally scored in French, Ukrainian and German.
The second CD will feature Native singers, which will require some research.
The U of C history graduate will lean on that institution’s history department, which also provided crucial support in securing the federal grant, to get the songbook published.
“I want to do a quality job,” said Masters before hitting the stage at LJ Ranch.
He’ll have his hands full picking 10 songs from 10 decades for the CD. “That’s the challenge of the songbook.”
And since his first show Feb. 15, whether solo or with his band — nifty guitarist Greg Cockerill, Dylan Sadlier-Brown on upright bass (since replaced), and drummer Daren Powell, a tall drink of water occasionally seen riding around Water Valley — Masters has had his “ear to the ground” for tunes.
At a rodeo in Edson, he overheard a Native woman, Pearl, singing one of her own creations.
“She sang a song of hers that was really, really pretty,” he said. “There are so many different people in this province.”
Masters has noticed that Alberta music created before Ian Tyson became a national treasure, or Gordon Lightfoot penned “Alberta Bound,” is not well known.
For example, an Irish song called “Little Sod Shanty”, of which there are various versions, became a pre-pioneer song when it was carried West. Another version emerged in the late-1910s that was known as “Mansion by the Bow”.
Wilf Carter got hold of the tune and turned it into “Calgary Roundup”, a song about the Stampede he recorded in 1935.
“In 30 years we went from nothing to something in one song.”
At a Calgary nightclub Aug. 29 (show 96) Masters played “Little Sod Shanty” to the delight of the young crowd that was exuberant but not as gifted with the dance moves as the LJ Ranch couples.
The affable 29-year-old has played shows in seniors’ homes, rodeos, radio stations, a casino, classrooms and bars.
“I really enjoyed playing elementary schools,” he said. “They are into it.”
But the main joy for Masters appears to be recording Alberta’s musical heritage for posterity.
“It’s a legacy thing.”
The tour is about reaching people, but the songbook, a copy of which will be sent to every Alberta school and library, will be there 100 years from now.
“The book is really what’s going to stick around.”

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By Shawn Logan
The Eagle

(more…)

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By Shawn Logan
The Eagle
An injunction being sought by the Stoney Nakoda First Nation that would allow work to proceed on a $27 million hotel and casino is on hold after a Calgary Court of Queen’s Bench judge Aug. 29 allowed lawyers representing three elderly sisters who oppose the project more time to prepare their case.
Doug Rae, a lawyer representing Mini Thni Land Management Ltd., a holding company owned by the first nation, told Justice Marsha Erb the band is only seeking the ability to use its road access permit that is set to expire on Sept. 30.
“We’re simply here today dealing with the access there,” Rae said. “The access is used not only for the casino site but other developments as well. It will be used regardless of whether the casino goes ahead.”
The three women, who along with a handful of supporters, thwarted a groundbreaking ceremony July 28 by blockading the site, claiming they weren’t properly consulted about plans for the land.
The sisters, Eliza Holloway, 75, Alice Twoyoungmen, 67, and Winnie Francis, 77, have said they don’t oppose the casino but reject it being built on land they say traditionally belongs to their family.
The nation claims the cancelled ceremony cost $30,000, but it is unclear whether the plaintiffs are seeking a return of those funds.
The sisters appeared in court with about a half dozen supporters, one of whom held an eagle feather while Justice Erb heard the case.
Robin Camp, the sisters’ co-counsel with Christine Goodwin, said he wasn’t clear why there was a rush to begin work on the road while a negotiated settlement is still possible.
“What they’re really wanting to do is get on with the development,” Camp said. “It’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. At the moment, we don’t know what their next step is. Are they going to be chopping down trees and moving people out?”
He argued a 2002 referendum the Stoneys say shows the nation’s members, 76 per cent, were in favour of the casino is flawed because it didn’t represent the majority of the nation’s eligible voters.
Both sides agreed to adjourn the matter until Sept. 12 to allow the defence to gather more information.
Outside the courtroom, supporters of the sisters expressed their displeasure towards Rae, saying as Stoneys, they are contributing to the case against themselves with no support in return.
“Us band members are paying you and we have to try to look for a lawyer,” Gerald Powderface said to Rae. “You’re suing the wrong people.”
Powderface, a former band councillor who acts as an interpreter for the sisters, called the nation’s three chiefs and council “corrupt” and they violated ancient traditions by not directly consulting with the sisters.
“To me, they make it sound like we’re trespassing in somebody’s backyard,” he said. “Our customs were totally ignored by them.”
Marty Wildman, son-in-law of Eliza Holloway, said the matter is before the courts because the nation’s chiefs and council failed to properly notify the women about the plans.
“If the chiefs and council sent someone to deal with them in the first place, this would have never happened,” Wildman said. “I think the casino is a good idea, but we’re just opposed to where they’re going to put it.”
He added a fundraising and awareness walk, from the Court of Queen’s Bench to the Three Sisters Mountain in Kananaskis, for the sisters is being planned prior to the Sept. 12 hearing.

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Oh joy, oh joy — I combed my hair last week.
Once, but I can see the frequency might increase.
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A tip of the toupee to the folks that plan and produce the annual Old Tyme Country Fair.
It’s an old country fair to be sure and last weekend was the 37th annual edition and once again it was a great success.
I never thought judging carrots and spuds could be so exciting.
Maureen Wills has judged pets at the show for 36 years so she must have started when she was about eight.
And I love the way she judges.
Scared kids and scared puppies are at ease because Maureen always takes the time to talk to each entrant and offer them advice on how to care for their pets.
When Maureen judges it’s always more educational than competitive.
Speaking of good community citizens, Alex Baum and Dan Kroffat deserve a medal for their work in publicizing the challenge of reopening the U.S. border to Canadian beef.
But they’ll be happy with a few thousand of their closest friends Labour Day at the Cochrane Dodge dealership for some great beef burgers and great entertainment with Tom Jackson.
This is a celebration of course, but it’s also gratitude to the ranching industry for its huge economic impact on our society and also for the courage to continue.
While many other industries may have given up in the face of such adversity, the beef industry stuck together and survived.
Labour Day at Cochrane Dodge is your opportunity to thank them.
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I realize there’s about a million things to see and do this Labour Day weekend but here’s one you won’t want to miss.
It’s the Nakoda Wesley First Nation Golden Leaf Classic Pow-Wow at the Chief Goodstoney Rodeo Centre on Highway 1A just west of Morley Sept. 2, 3 and 4.
The grand entry is 7 p.m. each day and it’s one of the most colourful events you’ll ever see.
It starts with officials and dignitaries slowly dancing around the arena followed by other dancers then women and kids — all in traditional costumes. It continues until every participant is on the arena floor in a sea of colour and movement, swaying to the beat of the drummers and singers.
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So much tradition, so much history and so close to town.
It’s a busy, busy weekend with the parade, Lions rodeo, outhouse races and of course the Sunday entertainment at Centennial Plaza.
I still like the name Chicken Lady Park, but oh well.
Sunday’s deal starts at noon and it’s very good entertainment and it’s totally free.
The quality of local talent is amazing and this is a great show case for it.
Sucking on a MacKay’s ice cream cone, listening to jazz at the Chicken Lady — it doesn’t get much better than that.
So enjoy the weekend and keep in mind the Calgary Flames haven’t lost a hockey game in more than a year.
Only in Canada?
Pity.

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By Shawn Logan
The Eagle
Organizers for the town’s annual Labour Day parade want the party to go on and have set aside the parking lot of Cochrane Towne Square for a post-parade bash Sept. 5.
According to Stu Bradley of the Labour Day parade committee, parade entrants will converge at the shopping centre’s parking lot following the event in a bid to draw in crowds who took in the parade.
Bradley said the event, along with a celebration toasting the opening of the U.S. border to live Canadian cattle at Cochrane Dodge, will make the town a popular spot on Labour Day.
“We want to build a whole nucleus,” Bradley said. “The idea is we’re going to bring everything down here en masse. Maybe we’ll even develop a post-parade parade if we can.”
The post-parade bash, Bradley said, is aimed at allowing people to have a closer look at the various antique cars, antique tractors, mounted horse troupes and floats that appear in the parade. Organizers are also planning to have a “kids’ corner” and the event will include music from groups that participated in the parade.
With over 100 entries in this year’s parade, the most ever according to Bradley, there will be plenty to see and do at Cochrane Towne Square.
Bradley added the event will also help spur interest in the local businesses as those stopping by will likely check out the local shops.
The post-parade party will begin immediately following the parade at around noon and will likely go to approximately 4 p.m.

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By Shawn Logan
The Eagle
Few new details have been released as Cochrane Mounties continue to investigate the killing of 40-year-old Samuel Gordon Pinsent of Calgary at a Waiparous campground last week.
Cochrane RCMP Sgt. Mike McTaggart said the “unofficial autopsy” indicates Pinsent died due to injuries suffered in an assault in the Waiparous area northwest of Cochrane in the early morning hours of Aug. 22.
“The investigation is doing some follow up and we’re still trying to see if there are more potential witnesses,” McTaggart said Aug. 29.
Police are still awaiting the results of a toxicology report and continue to withhold information regarding the murder weapon that was used.
Michael Wayne Vandale, 47, of Calgary, appeared in Cochrane provincial court Aug. 23 and was charged with the second-degree murder of Pinsent, a man police say was an acquaintance of the accused.
Cochrane Mounties were tipped off about the murder thanks to a phone call from someone who apparently witnessed the incident.
Vandale is set to return to Cochrane provincial court Sept. 20 to set a date for his preliminary hearing.

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By Warren Harbeck
If you thought Hurricane Katrina’s assault on the U.S. Gulf Coast this week was devastating, or that this summer’s storms in Asia, Europe, and Canada were appalling in their destruction of life and property, you haven’t seen anything yet.
For, at least these natural disasters brought the best out of folks, strangers helping strangers.
But there are other “storms” brewing which divide communities and peoples. Born in religious intolerance and fanaticism, these storms threaten to drown civilization in horror unimaginable. Mercy and love, the hallmarks of true religion, are washed away as weakness, while fear and hatred plunge the world into abysmal darkness.
Religion, the tidal rhythm of life, becomes instead the storm surge of death.
My simple response is to beg all peoples to cry out to God for a new heart.
But I am well aware that we live in a secular society where the mere hint of God-talk is dismissed as pathetic babblings.
Even from a secular perspective, however, there is at least one thing we all can do in the face of religious conflict: we can disempower the ignorance that drives it. We can take time to hear the other, to treasure the humanity in the other, to find points of commonality with the other that far outweigh the differences.
I was delighted, therefore, to learn that the University of Calgary (U of C) will be offering RELS 205, “The Nature of Religion,” this fall in Cochrane, to be taught by local coffee companion Prof. Tinu Ruparell.
Tinu is a specialist in the comparative philosophy of religion. Some of you may already have a copy of Encountering Religion: An Introduction to the Religions of the World, a book he co-edited with Ian S. Markham (although for this course, he will be using Joseph Runzo’s Global Philosophy of Religion).
According to the U of C announcement, the course will be an “academic study of religion through a consideration of themes and issues arising from the world’s major religious traditions. Using a mixture of contemporary and classical sources — including scriptures, essays, literature and film — (Dr. Ruparell) will lead the class in a consideration of such topics as suffering and evil, mysticism and religious experience, faith and reason in ‘post-modernity,’ interreligious dialogue and truth, and constructions of religious identities.”
Upon learning that Tinu would be teaching the course, I asked him why he thought studies like this are important in our religiously fractured world.
“Studying religion, whether it is one’s own tradition or those of others, does at least two essential things,” he said.
“Firstly, if done well — that is, with a sincere desire to learn and not merely defend — beginning and continuing a conversation with a religious tradition is revelatory and transformative. Through such study one has the opportunity to see the world and oneself differently.”
Tinu compares studying other religions to learning new languages.
“Through ‘speaking’ different religious traditions we learn to see the world through new concepts and practices, and because the nature of human beings is a central concern of the religions, we are also partly remade by these new ways and ideas,” he said.
The second thing such studies do “is map the real similarities and differences within and between religious traditions. There is a lot of muddled thinking when it comes to religion,” Tinu said, “and doing some serious, hard-headed study of what the traditions actually do say, exemplify, promote and disallow is now more important than ever.”
To carry out this kind of study “requires a grounding in the specifics of how religions have developed and been manifested,” Tinu added. “One needs to dig into the nitty-gritty details, the specifics of religion, if one is to avoid spouting inanities or parroting foolishness.
“Religion is simply too important for us not to be as fully informed and aware as we can be of its pivotal and ongoing role in human history.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Tinu will be teaching the course Wednesday evenings Sept. 14 to Dec. 7 at the Cochrane RancheHouse. For more information, phone the University of Calgary Religious Studies Department at 220-6988.
(c) 2005 Warren Harbeck
warren@harbeck.ca,
phone/fax 851-0174

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By Sarah Junkin
A weird thing happens when you’re travelling west on the Trans-Canada Highway towards Vancouver.
First of all, you pass through all those amazing mountains of ours, and then you get beyond Lake Louise and that’s very pretty too.
Then you have all those impressive winding canyons around the Rogers Pass which are interesting as well. But the minute you pass through Revelstoke, the landscape changes dramatically.
All of a sudden the roadsides are strewn with go cart tracks, mini golf courses, an enchanted forest (that I notice now houses the world’s tallest treehouse, for goodness sake), a whole miniature town, and even a big giant house boat proclaiming that Sicamous to be house boat capital of the world!
It’s as though British Columbia doesn’t have faith in the fact that its natural landscape is quite beautiful enough to make tourists want to stay.
I have yet to meet anyone who has actually stopped their vehicle in the middle of the most spectacular scenery in the world in order to wander through a magic forest full of gnome ornaments tacked onto the side of a busy highway.
My destination was Kamloops where I actually had a bit of an adventure.
Though it’s something that has happened to most of us in one way or another at some point in our lives, it still amazes me when it happens, and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
This is what happened:
I am in the parking lot at Aberdeen Mall in Kamloops, and I’m about to get back in my car and drive to my friend’s house. I’m putting my key in the lock, when all of a sudden I’m startled because a man comes flying out of nowhere, gesticulating wildly and shouting that I mustn’t drive my vehicle.
I look around anxiously, hoping he’s addressing someone else, but of course, he’s not. It’s me he wants, because he’s trying to tell me one of my tires has blown and really, there’s no way I’m going anywhere for quite some time.
Tires never blow out in your own driveway, or in your own hometown, come to think of it.
Anyway, this man, with no persuasion at all from me — okay maybe I shed just one or two small tears — quickly rolled up his sleeves, discovered where my spare was located, and within 15 minutes had sent me safely on my way to the local Canadian Tire. He was all dirty and had scraped his arm helping me, but was much more concerned with my safety than his own personal comfort.
This good Samaritan, it turns out, is Jack Miller, a doctor and assistant professor at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops. He’s also an avid marathon runner and has promised to come to Cochrane to run in the Footstock 2006 event which is great news because it means we’ll have the opportunity to pay back some of that warm Kamloops hospitality.
I sometimes think there’s nothing that draws us together more than the kindness of strangers. And it’s funny how a small, seemingly insignificant experience like this can shape your attitude towards a city.
It’s even made me decide to forgive an entire province for its tacky roadside attractions.
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Bill Dawson is one of Cochrane’s most prolific artists, and he’s reminded me that the Foothills Art Club is hosting its show and sale on Sept. 5 from noon until 6 p.m.
Not to be confused with the Cochrane Art Club, which is one of the oldest clubs of its kind in the province, the Foothills group has only been around for a couple of years.
But it’s filled an important gap for local artists who sometimes had to wait for years before being admitted into the older, more traditional club. The Foothills Club welcomes everyone of every art medium and level of experience, and they’ve already developed an excellent reputation.
The show is set to take place at the Cochrane Curling Club, and it’s a great way to peruse local talent and support local artists. Nip over right after the Labour Day parade, and don’t forget to look out for Dawson’s paintings.
sarah@cochraneeagle.com.

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By Ian Tennant
The Eagle
The federal Liberal government has been challenged to send a representative to the opentheborder.com beef bash to be held after the Cochrane Labour Day parade on Sept. 5. (more…)

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