Deep Dark Woods at The Exchange March 6th

The Deep Dark Woods plays this Saturday, March 6th at the Exchange here in Regina should be an awesome show!

It also marks the release of their Charlies (is coming down) single which should be deadly!

Take care and we'll see you there!

-Craig

What do you know - we won!

Hey Gang,

I've been slacking - yes. However, the Plains Hotel/GTC's has emerged successful! The song by the Deep Dark Woods Charlie's (is coming down) is radical. Those guys did an awesome job and I think have come up with one of the best tunes on the whole Song Quest Album.

For other news, I'm in the process of trying to negotiate a possible appearance of the Deep Dark Woods at the Plains Hotel. Scheduling is looking grim for before it closes thanks to xmas and other commitments the band has, but I'm hoping to negotiate a one night only re-opening of the Good Time Charlie's Pub for a Deep Dark Woods show.

Thanks to everyone who voted and a big thanks from our community to the Deep Dark Woods for writing such a terrific song! Damn the man save the Plains!

I'll keep you posted on the show.

-Craig

In Vietnam we had rules Donny!

Hello All,

Well gang another blog post to give you an update! Forgive my recent absence of posts, but the long weekend and life in general have kept me preoccupied!

First thing first, we totally won a nomination! We are on to round two which is the voting round so get onto www.cbc.ca/radio2/sonquest and vote for Good Time Charlie's today! You can vote once a day! So please vote often and regularly.

They have also announced the Band parings which you can also vote for. I was hoping they wouldn't match province with bands from that province, but they did, so pick your favourite artist as well in case we win!

In the other news I was on CBC Radio 2 Drive last Thursday talking 'bout the Plains and why it is awesome. On Wednesday myself along with Marc Spooner, Vicki Nelson, Adam Smith and Charity Martin were also on a conference call with CBC talking about the Plains/GTC pub for a podcast related to the contest. The edited Podcast and an unedited version that you can stream are now available online at the following link. http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/podcasts/songquest.html

Also, in the above image is one of my favourite parts about Good Time Charlie's - The Rules. I find them both hilarious and true.

Thanks to everyone who has voted so far and please keep on voting! We can totally make this happen and that would be awesome!

Also, it's my B-day on Wednesday Oct. 14. I think we should really hit the Plains for some karaoke and good times. Come on down on Wednesday!

More news soon.

Take care,
-Craig

The Plains in Pictures

Hello again Gang. Just a quick Blog post to upload this video of the awesomeness that is the Plains Hotel/Good Time Charlie's beer machine. Bottled beer never tasted so good!

My good friend Chippies and I headed out to the Plains last night for a quick beer to take some photographs of the Plains. You can see most of those photos in the new slide show on the right menu bar. We also found out from the staff that Dec. 31/2009 will, in fact, be the last night that the Plains hotel is open. They also mentioned that there will be some kind of auction for most of the stuff in the Plains at some point, so keep your eyes open for that. Maybe we can win this CBC Radio 2 contest and then get whomever writes a song about the Plains to perform it there sometime before it closes! That would be pretty radical.

Also, there is now a facebook group I created regarding this little escapade. CBC Radio2 Great Canadian Song Quest -The Plains Hotel/Good Time Charlie's is the title of the group. Track it down and use it upload your favorite pictures/videos and stories about the Plains and Good Time Charlies or alternatively you can definitely comment on this post and leave your favorite Plains story. From what I can tell we've been getting lots o' nominations, so hopefully we can catch up to whoever is leading.

I'll regale you with one of my favorite stories from the Plains Hotel. A while ago, maybe 2 years, maybe a year ago - some friends and I were on our way home from The Bushwakker. It was mid-winter and delightfully f***ing freezing outside. On our walk home we decided for warmth and survival (and because the are conveniently open late every night)to stop in for a beer at the Plains, warm up and carry on. The place was dead, just our group of about 10 friends. There was a band playing. A familiar band, insomuch, as I definitely recognized the female lead singer and the male guitar player. (I should remember their names as we have met numerous times, but I don't. The important part is that I know them, not that I know their names). They played their last song and the lead guitar player proceeded to drop to one knee and propose to his babe singer girlfriend. Not really sure what to do about this on stage proposal and with no real other option, my friends and I stood and began to cheer loudly so as to consummate this new engagement. It was true love at the Plains. After a celebratory round of the great Saskatchewan cocktail (Old Vienna Beer)we made our way home.

Also, my good friend Stacy Martin posted the following comment after reading yesterday's Blog entry regarding Marc Spooner's letter to the Leader-Post.

Damn the man, save the Plains!

I know that's an impossibility now, since the enlightened folks at City Council have already sealed the fate of the Plains and Good Time Charlie's, but even if the good times end at least we can maybe immortalize GTC's in song and story.. Please CBC, do me this one favour, just this once.. "Estevan" is not an interesting song subject any more than just "Regina" or "Saskatoon" are. Good Time Charlie's embodies not just Regina, but generations of Regina citizens co-existing and growing beside each other. As you of course know, the Cree name for Regina is Oskana ka-asasteki, and it means more or less "many bones piled together." The city was literally built on the bones of a lost way of life with the continued arrival of European settlers, and the near extinction of the great herds of bison that were the lifeblood of Native and Metis hunters. This past is displayed in the pictures behind and above the bar at Good Time Charlie's, and is part of the shared history of every Regina citizen. Of course we're moving on, of course we all "Heart Regina" and can't wait to see a big glass and steel monstrosity built on the bones of a local institution of cultural diversity and tolerance. (that last bit was ironic, by the way) But just as the ghosts of the great plains bison still roam the fields out past the city line, the ghost of Good Time Charlie might still live in song, and remind us all where we really came from: the great plains

Keep the nominations coming http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/songquest/ then in the top right hand corner under 'Nominate your own unique location' type in The Plains/Good Time Charlie's - Regina. Thanks to everyone that keeps nominating! Remember you can do it everyday.

In the words of Garrison Keillor from the Writer's Almanac (whom has actually trademarked this phrase) "Be Well, Do Good Work and Keep in Touch"

and in the words of Bob Dylan:
"Half of the people can be part right all of the time,
Some of the people can be all right part of the time.
But all the people can't be all right all the time
I think Abraham Lincoln said that.
'I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours,'
I said that."

Good Luck,
-Craig

Marc Spooner's Letter to the Leader-Post regarding the announcement of The Plains/Good Time Charlie's Closing

Hi All,

So the Plains saga continues! We are listed on the CBC Radio 2 website as a "Dark Horse" to win the nomination for Saskatchewan. Thanks to everyone that has voted and keep it up.

Also, I forgot to point out, for those who don't know the Neon tower above the Plains is totally a barometer. It changes colour depending on the air pressure! Awesome!

Here is a link and instructions on how to vote:
http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/programs/r2drive/2009/10/01/sq_stats.html
check it out! The Plains/Good Time Charlie's is listed as a Dark horse for the CBC radio2 music quest page. You guys have to go nominate it! Here's how to nominate:

1.) Goto the above link.

2.) In red text on that page you will see Great Canadian SongQuest at the end of the first paragraph of text. Click the link.

3.) From there click on get started or whatever.

4.) Pick Saskatchewan

5.) It will list a bunch of cities in town in Saskatchewan

6.) In the top right hand corner there is a box that says Nominate your Own Unique Location.

7.) In that Box type The Plains Hotel - Regina
You can vote once per day every day until Oct. 9.
It would be awesome if we could have a Canadian Songwriter write a song about the Plains.

Also, Marc Spooner wrote an inspirational letter to the Leader-Post voicing some of the community's concerns about the Plains. With his permission I am reprinting it here:

RE: New hotel/condo complex may replace Plains in Regina (August 12, 2009).

So almost everyone seems excited about the newly proposed Westgate Plaza project that
will see the Plains replaced with a 19 storey condo and 8 story hotel. Some commentators even suggest such a project will bring culture to the area. I, for one, will mourn the cultural loss that the destruction of Good Time Charlie’s will herald. The Plains hotel is one of the few locations in this city where Settler and First Nations people actually co-exist and manage to acknowledge each other, intermingle, and miraculously breakthrough the Regina de facto apartheid.

When we see the Plains for what it really is, it becomes clear that it is already a unique hotspot of culture, diversity, and shared human experience. Even the friction that is sometimes observed when various cultures come together is measurably better than the prevailing “no see, no speak, no contact'' behaviours that typify the relations between the two communities.

I have nothing against the developers—just the glee with which many Reginians are so
eager to exchange a diamond in the rough for a shiny new glass bauble.

By all means save the old weather tower, as a beacon of colour. The bland corporate
homogeneity that often characterises this type of development will need all the help it can get. It's just too bad that soon that vintage neon pinnacle could be looking over just another city with “other city envy”, when it should be standing proud over an institution that fosters the diversity and equity at the heart of the truly urban experience and a just society.

Is there no other suitable location for condo and hotel development? Am I alone in seeing the important community function the Plains plays by bringing our groups together, rather than farther apart?

By Dr. Marc Spooner.

and no Marc you're not alone!
More pics and good times soon! Hey anyone want to go for beer tonight? Elliot Brood show, then Plains Hotel, see you there!

-Craig

A Regina Legend - The Plains Hotel

The Plains Hotel and the attached pub Good Time Charlie's has been a staple of the Regina nightlife scene for decades. Located in the heart of Regina downtown, on the corner of Victoria Ave and Albert Street the Plains has real history in Regina. Present day it's a dirty dusty old hotel (that would be smokey too if not for the bans) frequented on Sunday nights for their Kareokee. The kind of place that mothers get nervous when their kids mention they've been hanging around there. Every city has a place like this one - like the Albion Hotel in Guelph or that old hotel on Whyte Ave in Edmonton. The place bleeds character and you'd be hard pressed to find a person in Regina between the ages of 20 and 35 who's parents didn't drink there back in the 60's/70's.

Every night is live music or kareokee and the crowd these days is so diverse. It's the only pub in Regina that truly reflects the demographic population of Saskatchewan. Any night of the week you can find a diverse mix of people from the downtown community, aboriginal people, young people, old people, all kinds of people mixing in a working class atmosphere. It's the only place you will find the entire racial demographic of Saskatchewan represented and that is important. For all the trendy wine bars and tapas bodegas all vying to be the trendy new hotspot the Plains Hotel has remained true to the prolitariet. It's a place for common Saskatchewan folks.

As a culturally significant part of the City of Regina, my friends and I have often took vistors to the Plains. Including celebrity visitors. Once we met Canada's own Rick Mercer at a different bar in town and we took him to the Plains hotel for Sunday night Kareokee so he could experience the diverse culture that is Regina. Once when playing a show in town my friends ended up running into the Barenaked Ladies in Regina. We took them to the Plains hotel and I think they had a good time. It's the kind of place that's loaded with history and you can tell just by stopping in for a beer.

Speaking of which the Plains caries the best selection of bottled beer in the city. All the Saskatchewan favourites are available here - in bottles only. OV, Pilsner, Bohemian, Extra Old Stock and Molson Dry are all available at the Plains and all served out of the most outrageous beer bottle dispenser you've ever seen. The beer machine alone is worth a song - you've got to see it to believe it.

Here is the kicker. Recently in the name of development the City of Regina has approved a redevelopment plan for the property. The Plains hotel is to be closed and in it's place a Hilton hotel and a 19 storey condo complex are to be built with construction to begin next summer.

This place has enough cultural significance that a song about it would write itself. Rumour has it that The Plains was even featured in a documentary about kareokee produced by the CBC (although details from memory are vague). It's a place where people - not images, not careers, not social status' meet. People. And it's definately the last pub left in Saskatchewan that might actually represent our people, our population, our past and our indominiable spirit.

More to come on the history and greatness of this truly character location in Regina.