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Alberta

BUILDING A CAREER ON STRONGER BEER

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BUILDING A CAREER ON STRONGER BEER

How Tim Hicks Rose from Clubs to the Big Leagues

 

By Ilan Cooley

Canadian country star Tim Hicks picked up his first guitar at the age of three, and like the classic Bryan Adams song, he played it ‘til his fingers bled. “I’ll never forget that weekend,” he says. “It hurt to play, but I couldn’t stop.”

Niagara Falls born Hicks wrote his first song in seventh grade, then started performing for schoolgirls at recess. He now has three studio albums, two platinum selling singles, multiple Canadian Country Music Association awards, including 2014 Rising Star, and two Juno nominations to his credit, but success did not come easy. He spent 20 years in clubs singing other people’s hits.

“When you play cover gigs, you’re not allowed to play original songs,” he says. He knew his job was to pump up the crowd and keep them drinking.

Touring mate and songwriting partner Clayton Bellamy says Hicks is a “lifer” who built his craft from the ground up. “We came from the same school of rising from dirty clubs, to the big stage,” says Bellamy. “Tim is genuine, and that’s hard to find. He’s exactly who he says he is.”

Known for his upbeat party anthems and relatable lyrics, Hicks feels it is only natural that his material reflects bar culture. “I learned early on that when you involve people in a song, or in a show, there’s a better chance that they’ll have a good time. That’s the main goal.”

With a young family, and a steady stream of commitments, Hicks approaches his craft as a structured business. “Once you start hanging around in Nashville, songwriting becomes a very serious game,” he says.

When he started writing in the big leagues, Hicks says he was laughed at for writing his songs in leather-bound notebooks. “Every time I went into a write, they would say, that’s a funny looking laptop, but I didn’t have money for a laptop.” His old-school approach didn’t seem to hinder him though, Hicks has had seven top 10 singles on Canadian country radio.

Hicks admits he finds it hard to sit down and write a song by himself out of thin air. “I have the most fun when I’m in the room with two or three people, so you can bounce ideas off of one another.” He says he draws inspiration from personal experiences. “You might have an idea for a song and it comes out completely different, which really makes the process interesting.”

“He works really fast, which is good, because I get bored easy,” says Bellamy. “I have written a couple of songs with Tim, and both were great. The only problem is he hasn’t recorded them yet.”

His shows at clubs and small venues have been replaced with big festivals, corporate gigs and national tours, a level of success Hicks says is still surreal. There’s a moment in every show where I’m yelling over the music at my bandmates asking, “how did we get here?”

Things may look different now, but Hicks stays close to his roots. “The only difference between Tim Hicks now, and Tim Hicks four years ago, is that people are listening now and that’s a wonderful thing. I’ve had the same band the whole time, and we don’t take it for granted.”

Some of his success led to the opportunity to perform at One Horse Town, a Coors Banquet sponsored event in Lacombe, Alberta. It was only fitting he was able to perform his signature song ‘Stronger Beer’, which earned him one of his platinum records, at an event sponsored by a beer company.

“We knew he was the right guy for the job,” says Molson Coors event manager Kathleen Kennedy. “Not many artists can headline a show like that, but Tim has the right energy and personality. He is an amazing guy and a natural performer.”

Hicks also played to 35,000 people at the Boots and Hearts music festival near Toronto, the largest crowd of his career. He admits to tearing up when the audience started singing one of his songs. “I was glad I had my sunglasses on.”

Hicks is now a veteran of the Canadian country music scene, and he has some advice for new artists. “Put down your webcam and get out and play. Go play an open mic night, play at your grandmother’s barbeque, and learn covers.” He also says you have to write a lot of songs to create good ones. The old notebooks he used to write in are somewhere at his mother’s house collecting dust. “I know that all of those songs are bad songs,” he says. “They are not songs that people would want to hear. But that’s okay. I feel that was then, it is over, let’s keep drudging ahead.”

Hicks can afford a laptop now, but remembers someone once told him never to change, because his laptop would never end up in the country music hall of fame. “Then I went to the country music hall of fame and there’s Taylor Swift’s laptop, so there you go.”

Tim Hicks (centre) performs at One Horse Town with The Road Hammers.

Ilan Cooley is a writer and communications professional from Edmonton, Alberta.  She lives the dream handling the promotion, marketing and communications for some of the biggest country festivals in North America. 

 

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Alberta

Alberta court upholds conviction of Pastor Artur Pawlowski for preaching at Freedom Convoy protest

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From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

Lawyers argued that Pastor Artur Pawlowski’s sermon was intended to encourage protesters to find a peaceful solution to the blockade, but the statement was characterized as a call for mischief.

An Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that Calgary Pastor Artur Pawlowski is guilty of mischief for his sermon at the Freedom Convoy-related border protest blockade in February 2022 in Coutts, Alberta.

On October 29, Alberta Court of Appeal Justice Gordon Krinke sentenced the pro-freedom pastor to 60 days in jail for “counselling mischief” by encouraging protesters to continue blocking Highway 4 to protest COVID mandates.

“A reasonable person would understand the appellant’s speech to be an active inducement of the illegal activity that was ongoing and that the appellant intended for his speech to be so understood,” the decision reads.

Pawlowski addressed a group of truckers and protesters blocking entrance into the U.S. state of Montana on February 3, the fifth day of the Freedom Convoy-styled protest. He encouraged the protesters to “hold the line” after they had reportedly made a deal with Royal Canadian Mounted Police to leave the border crossing and travel to Edmonton.

“The eyes of the world are fixed right here on you guys. You are the heroes,” Pawlowski said. “Don’t you dare go breaking the line.”

After Pawlowski’s sermon, the protesters remained at the border crossing for two additional weeks. While his lawyers argued that his speech was made to encourage protesters to find a peaceful solution to the blockade, the statement is being characterized as a call for mischief.

Days later, on February 8, Pawlowski was arrested – for the fifth time – by an undercover SWAT team just before he was slated to speak again to the Coutts protesters.

He was subsequently jailed for nearly three months for what he said was for speaking out against COVID mandates, the subject of all the Freedom Convoy-related protests.

In Krinke’s decision, he argued that Pawlowski’s sermon incited the continuation of the protest, saying, “The Charter does not provide justification to anybody who incites a third party to commit such crimes.”

“While the appellant is correct that peaceful, lawful and nonviolent communication is entitled to protection, blockading a highway is an inherently aggressive and potentially violent form of conduct, designed to intimidate and impede the movement of third parties,” he wrote.

Pawlowski was released after the verdict. He has already spent 78 days in jail before the trial.

Pawlowski is the first Albertan to be charged for violating the province’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act (CIDA), which was put in place in 2020 under then-Premier Jason Kenney.

The CIDA, however, was not put in place due to COVID mandates but rather after anti-pipeline protesters blockaded key infrastructure points such as railway lines in Alberta a few years ago.

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Alberta

Heavy-duty truckers welcome new ‘natural gas highway’ in Alberta

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Clean Energy Fuels CEO Andrew Littlefair, Tourmaline CEO Mike Rose, and Mullen Group chairman Murray Mullen attend the opening of a new Clean Energy/Tourmaline compressed natural gas (CNG) fuelling station in Calgary on Oct. 22, 2024. Photo courtesy Tourmaline

From the Canadian Energy Centre

By Deborah Jaremko

New compressed natural gas fueling stations in Grande Prairie and Calgary join new stop in Edmonton

Heavy-duty truckers hauling everything from restaurant supplies to specialized oilfield services along one of Western Canada’s busiest corridors now have more access to a fuel that can help reduce emissions and save costs.

Two new fuelling stations serving compressed natural gas (CNG) rather than diesel in Grande Prairie and Calgary, along with a stop that opened in Edmonton last year, create the first phase of what proponents call a “natural gas highway”.

“Compressed natural gas is viable, it’s competitive and it’s good for the environment,” said Murray Mullen, chair of Mullen Group, which operates more than 4,300 trucks and thousands of pieces of equipment supporting Western Canada’s energy industry.

Right now, the company is running 19 CNG units and plans to deploy another 15 as they become available.

“They’re running the highways right now and they’re performing exceptionally well,” Mullen said on Oct. 22 during the ribbon-cutting ceremony opening the new station on the northern edge of Calgary along Highway 2.

“Our people love them, our customers love them and I think it’s going to be the way for the future to be honest,” he said.

Heavy-duty trucks at Tourmaline and Clean Energy’s new Calgary compressed natural gas fuelling station. Photo courtesy Tourmaline

According to Natural Resources Canada, natural gas burns more cleanly than gasoline or diesel fuel, producing fewer toxic pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

The two new CNG stops are part of a $70 million partnership announced last year between major Canadian natural gas producer Tourmaline and California-based Clean Energy Fuels.

Their deal would see up to 20 new CNG stations built in Western Canada over the next five years, daily filling up to 3,000 natural gas-fueled trucks.

One of North America’s biggest trucking suppliers to businesses including McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Subway and Popeye’s says the new stations will help as it expands its fleet of CNG-powered vehicles across Canada.

Amy Senter, global vice-president of sustainability with Illinois-based Martin Brower, said in a statement that using more CNG is critical to the company achieving its emissions reduction targets.

For Tourmaline, delivering CNG to heavy-duty truckers builds on its multi-year program to displace diesel in its operations, primarily by switching drilling equipment to run on natural gas.

Between 2018 and 2022, the company displaced the equivalent of 36 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of diesel that didn’t get used, or the equivalent emissions of about 58,000 passenger vehicles.

Tourmaline CEO Mike Rose speaks to reporters during the opening of a new Tourmaline/Clean Energy compressed natural gas fuelling station in Calgary on Oct. 22, 2024. Photo courtesy Tourmaline

Tourmaline CEO Mike Rose noted that the trucking sector switching fuel from diesel to natural gas is gaining momentum, notably in Asia.

A “small but growing” share of China’s trucking fleet moving to natural gas helped drive an 11 percent reduction in overall diesel consumption this June compared to the previous year, according to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“China’s talking about 30 percent of the trucks sold going forward are to be CNG trucks, and it’s all about reducing emissions,” Rose said.

“It’s one global atmosphere. We’re going to reduce them here; they’re going to reduce them there and everybody’s a net winner.”

Switching from diesel to CNG is “extremely cost competitive” for trucking fleets, said Clean Energy CEO Andrew Littlefair.

“It will really move the big rigs that we need in Western Canada for the long distance and heavy loads,” he said.

Tourmaline and Clean Energy aim to have seven CNG fuelling stations operating by the end of 2025. Construction is set to begin in Kamloops, B.C., followed by Fort McMurray and Fort St. John.

“You’ll have that Western Canadian corridor, and then we’ll grow it from there,” Littlefair said.

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