PHOTOS: Flemish Eye Ball (May 16, 2009)

Calgary’s premier indie label, Flemish Eye, put on a highly anticipated (and highly sold out) shindig at the Royal Canadian Legion #1 in the downtown core. It was a veritable who’s who of local musicians with a few very special guests from coast to coast added to the mix.

Two synched stages (upstairs and downstairs) offered back to back bands all night long. First off, I caught The Pale Air Singers. The supergroup Singers feature both members of Victoria's Run Chico Run and Calgary's The Cape May. To top it off, their self-titled debut album was released TODAY!

Next up was Ghostkeeper with special guests Jay Crocker and Scott Munro (Günther, etc.). The crowd was packed in very tightly, but I managed to get close enough to catch a few great shots.

Local road warriors WOMEN tore it up afterwards. Their sound crystallized by over 200 shows in the past year. Matt Flagel held it all down on bass, not the least bit tired from his earlier performance with the Pale Air Singers.

Trivia Moment: Mr. Matt Flagel, not to be confused with his brother Pat (WOMEN vocalist), is also in The Cape May AND plays with Chad Vangaalen from time to time.

(Yes, that is a small picture of Oprah on his pick guard)

Unfortunately, the crowd upstairs wasn’t as easily navigable this time around, so my shots of Azeda Booth were taken from a precarious perch atop a railing

The evening culminated with a fantastic double shot of Julie Doiron and Chad Vangaalen. First, we heard Julie doing a few solo songs. I was glad to hear “Spill Yer Lungs” among others from her great new album. Chad backed her up on drums.

Then, the musicians changed roles. Chad picked up his guitar and threw down lots of material from Soft Airplane. Here he is playing banjo while maintaining a steady Vrksasana (tree pose) throughout the song “Willow Tree”:

Two big thumbs up to Ian Russell (AKA Mr. Flemish Eye, AKA The Hardest Working Man in Calgary Music) and everyone at/on Flemish Eye for regaling us with such a rare event!

Check out more photos here.