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Let's Party! - Wednesday Edition

Written by Lindsay Douglas Wednesday, 21 March 2012 07:38

It's Wednesday, you're half way through the week and oh my god could you use a drink. You consider swinging by your neighborhood pub for a pint to calm your nerves, but then you think, no, I don't want a pint. I want many pints. I want to party. I want to dress up and dance, and pick up dudes/ladies and get fairly intoxicated.

But where can this be done on a night like Wednesday? Where can I get embarrassingly drunk without judgment?

Have no fear! I've got you covered. There are many establishments that are fully supportive of your mid-week party needs.

_{The Back Alley has their ladies night each Wednesday.
Photo: Lindsay Douglas/Calgary20}

The Back Alley: This one is pretty obvious. Everyone knows about ladies night at the Back Alley. And that is because for some reason fresh 18s always think of the Back Alley first when they are first being introduced to Calgary's bar scene. I find you need to get pretty drunk to enjoy this place, but it's not hard to do with $4 drinks, and no cover for ladies, but only if you're in before 10pm. It's also on Macleod trail, which is slightly more convenient than downtown for those of us who live in the south.

Hifi: For those who aren't a big fan of Top 40 music and who are a big fan of the new craze that's sweeping the nation, dubstep, Hifi might be your place of party on a fine Wednesday night. Slim Pickins and Piranha Piranha, both local DJs, are spinning beats to help you dance out that mid-week stress. A bit more of a laid back feel; less stumbling drunk girls in short dresses gyrating on speakers (although that doesn't sound too bad either).

Desperados: A fairly new bar, and another one located in the south, this bar boasts $3.50 drinks and no cover for industry staff and students on Wednesdays. Not bad at all. It's called Wednesday Night Recess, which I'm guess is some sort of play on school being out.

Twisted Element Night Club and both host karaoke on Wednesday nights. Ducky's actually hosts it seven days a week so you can get your karaoke fix any night. With the closing of Club Sapien, Twisted is now Calgary's only gay club, and on its website it says to enter through the rear entrance, so I'm guessing it's much more of an intimate setting than their rowdy weekend nights.

If clubs and loud music isn't your thing, and you are considering that quiet night at the pub, I found a list of wing nights for Wednesday at hotwings.ca.

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Let's Party! - St. Patrick's Day

Calgary20 Blog - Miscellaneous

Written by Lindsay Douglas Saturday, 17 March 2012 00:48

How excited are you for St. Patrick's Day? I know I always get stoked for the holidays that demand drinking, causing even our most hermit-like friends to leave their basements for a bit of fun. And St. Patrick's Day lands on a Saturday this year, so even those Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 friends can get good and silly. Here are some places to get that drinking done:

^{Ceili's is sure to be a busy place for St. Patrick's Day.
Photo: Lindsay Douglas/Calgary20}

Republik: The Real McKenzies are a Celtic punk band, hailing from Vancouver, who often hit up Calgary on St. Patrick's Day. If St. Patrick's Day to you is listening to some crazy folk punk while moshing and chugging beers, this is definitely the place to be. Might make up for the fact that you can't afford to fly to Boston to see punk-rock Gods, Dropkick Murphys, do up their favourite holiday.

Flames Central: DJ Arnej will be hitting up Flames Central if you want to rave it out for the night. This is certainly a good option for the trance fans that want to dance the night away. Flames Central doesn't have the best layout I find, though many would disagree, and their shows and drinks are expensive. However, they put on fairly big acts, and as the acts get bigger so does the price. Unless a DJ is big enough for the Big Four, expect to see them at Flames Central if they're decently famous.

The Distillery Pub: Although known as more of a punk/metal bar, The Distillery has been known to host a few electronic shows in its day, and St. Patrick's Day is included. Dubbed "Lucky Breaks" the mostly funk dubstep lineup (funkstep?) includes Stickybuds and Neon Steve, among others. If you've been caught up in dubstep mania this is probably your best bet to get your fill of wubwubwubs.

The Back Alley: The Back Alley is having a glow party, which I'm told has something to do with glow sticks, which is pretty sweet. Tickets are $10, no word on drink specials. It appears as though they have a glow party every Sunday, so I'm not sure if this one is any different, but at the very least it should pull a decent crowd, since it is St. Patrick's Day and it is a Saturday.

Of course, every pub in the city will be hosting some sort of St. Patrick's Day shenanigans. Limericks, and Ceili's are perhaps the most notable. Limericks hosts live bands and drink specials, and Ceili's downtown location boasts a club crawl, though only the most expensive tickets are not yet sold out. I waited in line to get into the newly made Southland location at a time, which was fairly strange, probably the last time I'll ever wait in line to get into a pub. The Ship & Anchor is also sure to host a variety of more "Irish feeling" events, and they start their festivities at 10am, if you're wanting to go all day and all night.

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Let's Party! - Tuesday Edition

Calgary20 Blog - Miscellaneous

Written by Lindsay Douglas Wednesday, 07 March 2012 01:28

^{Many prizes are available to be won at Wingo at Broken City.}

^{Photo: Lindsay Douglas/Calgary20}

It's Tuesday and you want to party! Maybe you work weekends and have Wednesday mornings off, or maybe the effort of getting through yet another week has already bested you and you need to get rowdy. Hey, who am I to judge? Whatever your reasons for wanting to get stupid drunk are, I'm here to help you out, with the best places to party on a Tuesday.

• Broken City: Possibly my favourite thing to do ever, Broken City hosts Wingo (also known as Punk Rock Bingo) every Tuesday. Dobber Dave hosts the bingo games while DJ Dildo spins varying genres of tunes. If you win, you get delightfully wacky prizes. If you cheat, you get paddled in front of everyone... not kidding. They also have wings on special at $4 a pound, and $7.25 double hiballs (though I'd honestly rather be drinking beer in this sort of setting. They do have cans of Lucky Lager for $4). Prepare to wake up covered in bingo dobber.

I think it's also worth mentioning that The Ship and Anchor Pub also does a Punk Rock Bingo night, if you have a preference of one bar or the other. I haven't been to a bingo night at the Ship but it originated there so I imagine it'd be a good time.

• The Drum & Monkey Public House: If you want to get your dance on to some reggae and drum 'n bass, the Drum is where it's at on a Tuesday. You can chill in their main room and drink $10.50 Black Label jugs (maybe share one lest you look like a complete alcoholic) or $4.75 for Red Stripe, while listening to some reggae. Or you can hit up the attached Bamboo Tiki Lounge, where it's fairly packed with sweaty dancers grooving to the aforementioned drum 'n bass. A very good time either way.

• I can't find much for just straight up dance clubs that have something going for Tuesday. Hifi and Ranchmans Cookhouse and Dancehall were the only clubs I could find that seem to have any sort of dancing going on. Ranchmans is a country bar, if you're into that sort of thing. Hifi is more electro, but I have no idea if it gets busy at all on Tuesdays. I've heard more about their Wednesday night, so I'm guessing no, but check it out anyway, maybe it'll become your new Tuesday night spot.

Of course, if these places aren't appealing to you, you can always surrender to the quieter option of a wing night.