Day 30: Regina

Location: Regina, SK

I woke up tired & cranky, wishing that booking shows didn't take so much work. Any artists who've booked their own tours, know what I'm talking about. After catching up on some work, Mike took me to downtown Regina for a walk about.

Regina has found ways to keep old historic pieces alive. For example, when the Canadian Bank of Commerce closed, the city ensured its pillars stayed alive in the downtown mall, although they seem a bit out of place.


Secondly, much like in Fredericton, the train station closed several years ago. Fredericton let the main station die a slow death, whereas Regina converted their train station into a casino:


Also of interest downtown (mostly for my friend Lise), was this Bison piece titled "oskana ka-asasteki" - this is the Cree name for the site known as Regina.


Then Mike took me to the University of Regina to explore the Student Centre. Here I was intimidated by this all red water fountain (I figured it was for burn victims or something like that). And I discovered that their doors have Bawls:



As we walked back to his car, I crossed chipmunks retreating to hide in their holes and geese contemplating road crossings:



We watched a bit of the hockey game and then I headed out to CJTR Regina Community Radio to meet up with DJ Rob on his weekly Saturday night hip-hop show 'Queen City’s Urban Mentality'.


I also met Moose Jaw's DJ Quartz:



For the first two hours we played only saskatchewan hip-hop. Stuff from Def3 (Regina), Factor (Saskatoon), Eekwol (Saskatoon), Bridge N ET (Regina), D Mann (Avonlea), Cappo (Regina), Philly 5 (Moose Jaw), Muneshine, Merky Waters, Freeforms (White City), Prairies Own, Lazy Four, Wiz 1, XL Crew (Regina) = Ajeah, The Remedy, Pimpton, Macbert, Playboy; . We also discussed how DJ Cracka Jack is the man behind the saskatchewan hip-hop resource www.saskhiphop.com.

From midnight to 1 am, we hijacked the 'Off Stream' show because host Ben was late due to the UFC fight. We spun lotsa canadian tracks, and chatted a bit.