Monday, September 18, 2006
Peg Ska City
It was a busy weekend on the Manitoba front.
Went to see local heroes, The Weakerthans, play a sold-out show at the 2,500 seat Burton Cummings Theater.
For any readers born after 1975, Burton Cummings was in "The Guess Who" and is a Winnipeg native. In a charming gesture he saved the Walker Theater (a delightful midsized venue that every market needs). Souring that charming move, he renamed the theater after himself.
The Weakerthans are hipster faves in the states but play 500 person clubs like TT the bear's in Boston and Down the Hill in SF. But in winnipeg they are voice of a generation and they embody a strain of hope for the kids with a bit hipster who are stranded in the prairies.
They made a point to play all their songs with winnipeg geographical references. and one of the encoures was, of course, "One Great City (I Hate Winnipeg)." Their stage presence could best be described as "silly rock stars." There was a lot of self-ironic knee-slide guitar playing, but it was all part of the self-effacing charm that is winnipeg. And it was clearly fun for them to play a show where they could do no wrong. I find it curious that two of my top five musical influences of the past year have been Neil Young and the Weakerthans. Do I listen to Winnipeg music by social reinforcement because I am in Winnipeg, or does the emotional tone of Winnipeg music resonate because I am here?
On Sunday I was lucky enough to see an exhibition NHL game between the Coyotes and the Oilers. (BTW the Phoenix Coyotes used to be the Winnipeg Jets until 1996 when they relocated. WInnipeggers have never gotten over the loss.) I asked upon entering the arena if having the team that left come back for exhibition was sortof like going on a date with your exgirlfriend. Apparently so because the Oilers (who were bitter rivals when the jets were in town) were clearly the crowd favorites. There was an undercurrent at the game which both cute and bizarre. It was "If we cheer loud enough, the NHL will give us a franchise again." The exhorations from the announcers made it pretty clear. But on top of that was a genuine love of hockey. The MTS center was sold out (15,015) at $50-100/ticket (we lucked into some comped tix) for an EXHIBITION game without full rosters. The fans gave a standing ovation to both teams when asked to thank them for coming. Can you imagine that in Carolina or Dallas or even Washington.
This display by the hockey faithful of winnipeg brings up an intersting question: Why did the NHL take hockey to the sunbelt? Does the corporate and economic strength in the US (Luxury Box revenue) really make teams financially successful in non-hockey markets? Or are those teams doing poorly and no one wants to admit their mistake. Globalization is brutal stuff. Especially when it is your recreation getting outsourced due to competitive advantages.
Went to see local heroes, The Weakerthans, play a sold-out show at the 2,500 seat Burton Cummings Theater.
For any readers born after 1975, Burton Cummings was in "The Guess Who" and is a Winnipeg native. In a charming gesture he saved the Walker Theater (a delightful midsized venue that every market needs). Souring that charming move, he renamed the theater after himself.
The Weakerthans are hipster faves in the states but play 500 person clubs like TT the bear's in Boston and Down the Hill in SF. But in winnipeg they are voice of a generation and they embody a strain of hope for the kids with a bit hipster who are stranded in the prairies.
They made a point to play all their songs with winnipeg geographical references. and one of the encoures was, of course, "One Great City (I Hate Winnipeg)." Their stage presence could best be described as "silly rock stars." There was a lot of self-ironic knee-slide guitar playing, but it was all part of the self-effacing charm that is winnipeg. And it was clearly fun for them to play a show where they could do no wrong. I find it curious that two of my top five musical influences of the past year have been Neil Young and the Weakerthans. Do I listen to Winnipeg music by social reinforcement because I am in Winnipeg, or does the emotional tone of Winnipeg music resonate because I am here?
On Sunday I was lucky enough to see an exhibition NHL game between the Coyotes and the Oilers. (BTW the Phoenix Coyotes used to be the Winnipeg Jets until 1996 when they relocated. WInnipeggers have never gotten over the loss.) I asked upon entering the arena if having the team that left come back for exhibition was sortof like going on a date with your exgirlfriend. Apparently so because the Oilers (who were bitter rivals when the jets were in town) were clearly the crowd favorites. There was an undercurrent at the game which both cute and bizarre. It was "If we cheer loud enough, the NHL will give us a franchise again." The exhorations from the announcers made it pretty clear. But on top of that was a genuine love of hockey. The MTS center was sold out (15,015) at $50-100/ticket (we lucked into some comped tix) for an EXHIBITION game without full rosters. The fans gave a standing ovation to both teams when asked to thank them for coming. Can you imagine that in Carolina or Dallas or even Washington.
This display by the hockey faithful of winnipeg brings up an intersting question: Why did the NHL take hockey to the sunbelt? Does the corporate and economic strength in the US (Luxury Box revenue) really make teams financially successful in non-hockey markets? Or are those teams doing poorly and no one wants to admit their mistake. Globalization is brutal stuff. Especially when it is your recreation getting outsourced due to competitive advantages.
# posted by 8yearoldsdude @ 11:34 AM 
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The word on the street was that the NHL expanded so rapidly because their economic system was fucked, but they didn't want to admit it, so the league took the expansion fees as a band-aid. It may have masked the problems and held off the lockout for a year or so, but that's it. For Winnipeg, it was probably too late. If the lockout happened before they lost their team, they'd probably still have it since with the salary cap, the formerly lower-budget Canadian teams are drawing more free agents. It's probably a better environment for real hardcore hockey players because it means so much more.
Unfortunately, it's really hard to predict the financial success of the southern teams. The past 2 seasons were won by Tampa and Carolina, 2 markets that were very weak. But at least for the time being, they've been energized by success. Tampa was consistantly drawing 20,000 last season and Carolina's attendence picked up quite a ton as well. The question is whether or not the extra fans become real hockey fans and keep coming or run away when they get crappy again as happened in DC.
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Unfortunately, it's really hard to predict the financial success of the southern teams. The past 2 seasons were won by Tampa and Carolina, 2 markets that were very weak. But at least for the time being, they've been energized by success. Tampa was consistantly drawing 20,000 last season and Carolina's attendence picked up quite a ton as well. The question is whether or not the extra fans become real hockey fans and keep coming or run away when they get crappy again as happened in DC.
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