Three Weekends of Awesome

The most wonderful days of the year are coming up! It is a tragedy, but I have to work on two of these days and might be missing out on them completely.

First is Record Store Day. Independent stores and musicians come together for this really awesome day that celebrates music. Stores often host live performances and meet & greets AND, many, many amazing artists are supporting the cause, including some of my favourites: Neil Young, Modest Mouse, Phoenix, Great Lake Swimmers, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Iver, Wilco, Drive-by Truckers, and on & on. My favourite stores in Calgary are the Inner Sleeve in Marda Loop, Sloth Records on 17th Avenue, and Melodiya, which is also on 17th Ave but much further west. Also, if you're having your own record store day, be sure to go to Recordland in Inglewood. I don't think it's participating, but it would be a shame to leave Recordland out of your RSD.

http://www.recordstoreday.com/Home

Two weeks after Record Store Day, is Free Comic Book Day. Comic book shops across North America participate in this glorious day, in which you can get a free comic by JUST SHOWING UP. Five (and maybe more) stores in Calgary are participating, including my fave Another Dimension comics in Kensington. I'll be sneaking over during my lunch break to Great White Entertainment in South Centre Mall to see what they've got going on.

http://www.freecomicbookday.com/

Sandwiched in between those weekends on April 24 & 25th is the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo, which is basically Calgary's "Comic Con," and this is the one that I'll get to go to (YES!) It's located in one of the Round-up Centre buildings, on the Stampede grounds. Really, it has something for every kind of nerd out there, from the young "Twilight" kids, to fans of the original Star Trek series (Leonard Nimoy is going to be there!) The child in me is excited about seeing the Olympic mascots. And I am most excited about Jeffrey Brown. I've slowly found all of Jeffrey Brown's comics in stores here and there, and love them all. He'll be at some sort of Panel Spotlight on Sunday at 11:00 am. Now I just have to decide which of Brown's books I'll take for him to sign.

http://www.calgaryexpo.com/
http://www.jeffreybrowncomics.com/