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