Alana Levandoski at the Ironwood Stage & Grill, Calgary

Alana Levandoski at the Ironwood Stage & Grill, Calgary
Gig review and show photos by Music Vice editor Brian Banks

After arriving in Calgary just five hours earlier, I made my way to the rather out-of-the-way location of the Ironwood Stage & Grill, along 9th Ave SE. This was my first time visiting Calgary so everything was unknown territory, but I'd been told the east side of downtown is a little sketchy. I saw some evidence of this, as I walked past some very visible crackheads, and even more visible was a giant new Drop-In shelter, which stands as a bright and gleaming landmark and houses 1,200 of the city's homeless. These are just observations, as every city has its problems. My first impressions of Calgary have been nothing but positive, and I've found the people here to be open, chilled and friendly.

There was nothing else going on in Calgary on this particularly Tuesday night, except for Manitoban singer-songwriter Alana Lowandoski's show, so this gig basically picked itself. As I got closer to the venue, the neighbourhood was looking very quiet - [I would dare to say desolate, but that'd be just a wee bit too dramatic] - and I was expecting to arrive to find myself in an empty bar. It was pleasing then to find the that this little bar venue actually had some people inside it. Among those at the tables & chairs were some members of Levandoski's family.

Levandoski took to the mic at sometime shortly after nine, at which point she introduced herself and her first song. This set the tone for the rest of the evening, as she would talk before nearly every song that she played. These intros would be include Alana talking about her life back in rural Manitoba, her song writing process and a few revealing personal ditty's such as a mention of work that she has done with young offenders. While some of the interlude natter just seemed completely irrelevant and random, ranging from something about a promiscuous squirrel, to talk about her experiences of Liverpool, and how everybody from Liverpool calls everything "dead" everything. What, not "totally boss"?

So yeah, Levandoski talked a lot. This seemed to have been a tactic to drag the gig out, and it worked as the set time ran to over two hours, including a half hour break in the middle. All the while I was propping up the bar and chatting to a new friend I'd just made in the short time I'd been in town. We were a pair of sarcastic half-cut cynics, and would take great pleasure in laughing about Levandoski's neverending pre-song banter. It was a fun way to pass the time between songs and keep up my enjoyment of the show.

I believe that Levandoski's entire set did not number much more than a dozen songs. The second song of the night, Lions And Werewolves, was the standout of the evening. It's the title track from a forthcoming album, due for release towards the end of June this year. A love song of heartache and the endeavour to overcome, that made this particular half-cut cynic switch into a mellow and introspective mood for a couple of minutes. Lions And Werewolves showed Levandoski at her strongest, both in terms of lyrical ability and delivery. The song has imagery of an affected love-lost girl who is something of a caged lion, who wants to come out fighting to overcome the demons in her life, those being the werewolves. As an artist, I feel Levandoski may be something of a caged animal herself.

For most of the evening Levandoski had been joined by a back-up guitar player called Ariel - yeah, you know, like the Little Mermaid, or the little Argentinean footballer. Or maybe it was Oriel. Ariel, Oriel, Oreo...whatever. The fact is I couldn't figure out why he was actually there - he wasn't adding anything to the show. I think the harsh truth is that he was there as a crutch, to cover-up mistakes. Anyway, that's just a side-note.

Most of the gig passed by without making much of an impression on me. There were a couple of covers, including Gram Parsons' Juanita and Neil Young's fantastic three chord trick Helpless, which came right at the end of the night. Of her own material, the rest of the best came towards the end of the evening. There was a song intro'd as "the clap song" called Levi, which is a fan favourite and apparently always gets a good reaction. I was more keen on a song called Cougars, which was a greater example of Levanodski's ability to write simple but effective lyrics. I'll paraphrase a couple of particular cool lines: "Hey blue eyes it's time to pull yourself up and walk across the floor, That's what I'd do, If I were you."

"But even an overplayed song about a son of a preacher getting laid did not dampen the vibe of the evening..."

The evening came to an end at sometime after 11 p.m., which is when my half-cut sidekick and I realised that we were the only ones left in the Ironwood, aside from the bar staff. So the lights came on, and they started playing the fourth Kings Of Leon album, which was a very effective way of booting us out of the bar by the power of . Especially when that song came on. You know, the song with Caleb's whiney pretentious howls about his sex being on fire. But even an overplayed song about a son of a preacher getting laid did not dampen the vibe of the evening, which was a laid-back one with some decent music, good company and all the immature-make-your-own-fun comedic relief that you could wish for in the form of Ariel and that aforementioned slutty squirrel.