Moonshiners In Stony Plain Makes Massive Expansion!
-- A Sit Down With Jazz Matthews --
I have been conspicuous by my absence. It’s been a couple of months since I have done an article for the Edmonton Muse, so I’m not sure how the Boss Lady is going to react with this late and somewhat feeble attempt to get this included in January’s edition of The Muse. The issue for me is that I have a “real” job that takes so much time. I know, I know. Not really any different than anybody else that writes for The Muse, but my extracurricular activities seem to take up so much of my time. I know what you’re thinking, how hard can it really be to put something down on paper once a month and ship it off to the editor? Well, I can’t answer that for you. My company, Dog Rump Creek Music, seems to take up as much time as anything else does. And that’s part time. Now that doesn’t leave a whole lot of hours left. The family looks for me to do things with them and at some point I do have to sleep. But honestly, how hard can this be to do something so simple. Right now this is about 190 words and it’s 1:15 in the morning, on Deadline Day! Maybe I can write it off to writer’s block. Maybe not, so let’s find something to write about.
Live music is my favorite subject. On one hand that’s great, on the other hand it’s not so good. Live music venues are going by the wayside. That’s not to say you can’t find a pub or lounge where you have a guitar player that’s singing a little Jose Feliciano or maybe a couple of Eagle’s tunes, but try to find a place that's made for live music. In one of the first articles I wrote for this magazine, I talked about Moonshiners out in Stony Plain Alberta. They do live music. They have a dance floor. That was staged. They have a sound system and lights. Everything a venue needs to host a band, or bands to help you dance the night away. So why am I bringing this up? Well, they have actually gone and done what not a lot of places are doing. They have expanded the size of their venue. Where the former capacity of Moonshiners was approximately 120 people, in a standing room situation, they have more than doubled that to about 280. No they don’t stuff 280 souls in the room, so that body odor and sweat is everywhere, even if that does sound kind of cool. They have about a 125 actual chairs or stools, and the tables are a little more spread out. It really gives that feeling of space. Now in a concert style show, you could comfortably put 200 maybe 225 in the room. I know that us, as Dog Rump Creek Music, will definitely take advantage of this and bring in some acts that previously could not have played a room in Stony Plain. This will be our first time where we are able to bring in an American artist of some note from the country world. The ownership at Moonshiners have just celebrated their third anniversary in business. Now it usually takes two about your five until you can say you’re going to be safe, but these guys are doing it right. One partner is almost always behind the scenes. The other takes care of all the music, the sound, the entertainment and the bookings. They have left the day to day operations of Moonshiners to their new general manager, Shenna Couture. In that was a smart move. Well versed in the ways a bar should be run, the service has seen a vast improvement. Couture and her team are attentive and knowledgeable, friendly and always there, without being in your face. To help with that service, ownership has added a new satellite bar to the room. In the northwest corner, sits a little L-shaped, sit down and enjoy yourself kind of bar where you can get service of spirits and bottled beer.