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For a musical group that put out its own brand of hot sauce, hearing that Hollerado wanted to meet the mayor of every tour spot wasn’t all that surprising.
Until it turned out they were only kidding.
“It started as a joke really,” said Dean Baxter, bassist of the Manotick, Ont.-based rock band.
Hollerado plays Average Joe’s on Sept. 19 with Wildlife and Young Rivals.
News of the Meet the Mayor tour went out and to the band’s surprise, about a dozen mayors came forward. Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenski was the first to jump on board for a meeting.
So, the band that also consists of guitarist Nixon Boyd, vocalist Menno Versteeg and drummer Jake Boyd, decided to proceed with meeting as many local leaders as possible. Plus, the mayors are invited to the show and encouraged to bring along their friends.
The band has drafted up a list of five questions to ask the mayors:
1. What is the most fun thing you have ever got to do as mayor?;
2. If you could have lunch with another mayor of any city in the world, living or dead, who would it be?;
3. Mayor Quimby or Mayor West? Why?;
4. How do you get to work every day?; and
5. Who is your favourite local band?.
To ensure the questions aren’t all generic, the band has put out a call to fans in each city for city-specific questions about the local arts scene and other important issues to the residents.
The mayors’ answers to the questions will be posted on the band’s blog.
“We’re hoping to get some audience participation so we ask the right questions, the questions that aren’t too generic,” Baxter said.
Fans are asked to submit questions through Twitter and Facebook.
“We haven’t had a lot of response to that yet,” he continued. “We’ve been so busy just organizing things for the tour but we’ll contact people we know in the cities for questions.”
City of Lethbridge Mayor Rajko Dodic was one of the community leaders who responded to the band‘s request for an interview.
“It should be fun,” Baxter said. “We hope he’ll come to the show. We want to bring him up on stage.”
In response, Dodic, who plays guitar, said if the band puts him in the spotlight, he might surprise them.
“I get tons of invitations for events, but I’ve never got one from a band who wants to meet the mayor, so I said,‘What the heck; it might be fun.’ I just hope they don’t punk me,” Dodic said.
Dodic said he didn’t receive the list of questions in advance as of press time, so at the risk of spoiling Hollerado’s fun . . .
“For the most fun event I’ve done, I’ll probably say this one,” Dodic said.
“As for the mayor I’d most like to have lunch with, I’ll be more serious and say Mayor Nenshi, because he really sounds like an interesting guy.”
Dodic had to think about the Mayor Quimby or West question.
“Mayor West, he’s from the “Family Guy” (TV show), isn’t he? I’d say Adam West because Adam West played the Batman character, who I always liked. And Mayor Quimby (from “The Simpsons”) is too smarmy,” he said.
He’ll have some fun with the question, “How do you get to work every day?”
“If I said private jet, they probably won’t buy it, so car,” he laughed.
While Dodic wasn’t familiar with the band, he checked out the link that was sent to him and he was impressed.
“I’ll be interested to see how many mayors respond,” Dodic said.
As far as the local music scene goes, Dodic confessed he is out of the loop.
“I’ve heard local bands play, but I don’t know their names, so I’ll probably say something like Metallica and pretend they’re from here. I remember a band during the early ’70s called Moser because some of my friends were in it. In the early ’70s, we had places like the El Rancho and there were a lot of bands playing,” he said.
He admits he is more familiar with the visual and performing arts scene.
“Lethbridge has a pretty good performing arts and visual arts scene. We have the SAAG (Southern Alberta Art Gallery), which is an international facility and the Bowman Arts Centre which has a lot of local artists, including sculptors and painters,” he said.
Dodic added he is looking forward to the new arts centre, which will replace the Bowman and is on schedule to be completed in 2012. He’s also excited it will be attached to the University of Lethbridge conservatory program.
“It’s a move in the right direction. It will continue to revitalize the downtown,” Dodic said.
He is also looking forward to Hollerado’s show.
“It’s a Monday. I told them it’s a council day. I’m hoping for a short agenda. But if it’s a late show, I’ll probably stick around for it.”
As for getting on stage and playing “Eruption?”
Maybe.
“That‘s Van Halen isn’t it? I’d have to practise a lot, but maybe I can play ‘Smoke on the Water,’” Dodic laughed.
If you have any specific questions you want Hollerado to ask the mayor, email them to
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The show, featuring Young Rival and Wildlife, is scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 19. Tickets are $15 in advance.
The band released its last CD, “Record in a Bag,” two years ago. Work will begin on the next one once this tour wraps up.
“For the most part, response has been pretty positive,” he said of the Meet the Mayor tour. “We haven’t received any big bags of hate mail.
“We always try to do something different on each tour. We did a nacho tour, where we brought a toaster oven on stage and cooked nachos. This is a joke that got out of hand so it’s hard to equate them.”
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