I Heart Edmonton

Downtown's Artery set the stage for a memorable night of indie melodies and torrid compositions by way of Sid York, et al BY EMIL TIEDEMANN The Artery T HERE were two curious bright red doors that seemed painted onto the back wall of The Artery , decal'd in what some might suspect is alleyway graffiti. I entered through the left one, enticed by what was on the other side. A pretty, young woman greeted me from behind some counter, and then put a checkmark beside my name on the guest list, confirming my arrival. But I had to wait for my cohort to show up before I could probe the rest of this rooted-yet-new-to-me venue I'd been invited to before, though had yet to accept. When he arrived we shuffled along some sort of plywood(ish) floor, making our way past a quasi-make-do bar with a limited option of hootch. But what mattered was that they served my option of hootch. We made our way into this comparably-spacious room with a ready-to-go stage, a booth for the lig...

MBF & the Loud Love Choir reminded me of just how much I love music...and they couldn't have come at a better time! BY EMIL TIEDEMANN T WO weeks ago I didn't even know who Michael Bernard Fitzgerald was. Fast forward to last Thursday night (Feb. 11) and I can tell you what kind of beer the man drinks (his concert-sponsored Big Rock , for the record), the names of at least three of his former loves ( Maxine , Suzie & Caroline ), and that he autographs his CDs with an accompanying heart. That's quite the transition! Now let's just rewind back again to a time when I lived in a world without Fitzgerald, MBF for short. All the regulars would take turns singing comparable melodies whenever I turned on the radio, so I stopped turning on the radio. And all the CDs in my car had overstayed their welcome. Then, about two weeks ago, I recieved an email about some "folksy" musician named Michael Bernard Fitzgerald, 23, and that the next stop on his 5-city tour o...