Organizers are thrilled to be presenting the first-ever Red Deer Entertainment Awards – a terrific opportunity to honour several local artists, promoters and others committed to advancing the local music scene.
The event, slated for Jan. 14th at The Vat, is being presented by Green Goose Entertainment – a company that was founded by Jesse Roads. As he explained, the awards are a tremendous chance to recognize plenty of local talent and the folks that work so hard to bring it to the forefront for local fans, too.
Hosted by ‘That Don Cherry Guy’, the evening will also feature performances by Wiklund Vs. Wiklund, Damian La Grange, Ryan Marchant, Balaclava, Randi Boulton and Supertrucker.
There are a number of categories, from Promoter of the Year, a Venue Recognition Award, an Open Stage Award, Group of the Year, New Group of the Year, Cover Band of the Year, Singer/Songwriter of the Year and Achievement Award, the Red Deer Scene Award, the Comedy Achievement Award, the Comedy Recognition Award and the Social Contribution Award.
Examples of some of the nominees this year include Quan Diep and Justin Shadows for ‘Promoter of the Year’; Damian La Grange, Balaclava and Tigermilk for ‘New Group of the Year’; 89, The KlamDaggers and Sharkpuncher for ‘Cover Band of the Year’ and Randi Boulton, Ryan Carnduff, Bradley Abel, Curtis Phagoo and Shiv Shanks for ‘Singer/Songwriter of the Year’.
Roads said that over the years, he’s often heard bands touring through Red Deer comment on the camaraderie they witness among local groups. “Everyone kind of helps out whenever it’s necessary,” he explained.
That, along with the fact there is plenty of top-notch talent living and performing right here in the City and across Central Alberta were some of the reasons he started mulling the idea of staging an awards show specific to Red Deer awhile back.
“It’s been something I’ve thought about doing for a few years – doing some sort of recognition night. And away we went – we finally decided, let’s just do it!
“There has been great, great support so far,” he said, adding that the plan is to launch this event as an annual occasion.
It wasn’t easy narrowing down the lists of nominees for the inaugural event, but Roads said the basic route to getting there was selecting folks who are some of the most recognizable names in the business at this point in time on the local front.
Roads’ passion for music stretches back to his youth. “At a young age, my favourite stuff when I first got into music – from the time I was six until I was about 10 – I was obsessed with Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis. I just loved it.
“You take both of those performers right there – they are two of the most iconic frontmen in rock and roll history,” he said. “The way they would be onstage – I just kind of thought, wow, it was just captivating.”
So inspiration was sparked early.
One year, he landed a guitar for Christmas and yet another step in the journey was taken. He later ended up working with musician Carson Cole for a time, and calls him a key mentor for a time in Roads’ own musical development. “It just really went from there.
“From then on, it was just full-tilt music.”
Indeed. Over the years, Roads has enjoyed a prolific career as a musician.
Music in general provides a fantastic means of self-expression.
“You can take a creative liberty with something that happened to you this morning or 10 years ago and you can spill your guts – do whatever you want – it’s such a cathartic process when it comes down to performing it onstage 10 nights in a row.”
Eventually, he also established Green Goose Entertainment as a means to further explore opportunities in promotion and creativity. “Now, it’s not just music but entertainment as a whole,” he explained. “I’ve built this whole thing now where I’ve got this whole roster of entertainers,” he said, clearly excited to see the impact of networking and the opportunities that flow from that.
In the meantime, excitement for the Red Deer Entertainment Awards is rapidly building.
“There’s nothing like a little pat on the back – some encouragement from your peers,” he said. “This is our home scene – there’s nothing wrong with having everyone in Terry’s living room essentially (Terry Cave – owner of The Vat) having a couple of drinks – there’s something to be said about having your peer group say, ‘Hey, great job’.
“There deserves to be a pat on the back for the local entertainment scene as a whole,” he added. “Let’s recognize each other. Let’s get together and recognize the fact that we have this awesome scene.”
For more information, check out ‘Green Goose Entertainment’ on facebook.
mark.weber@reddeerexpress.com
