Cowtown

Calgary. It's GMA week. (Gospel Music Association)

Me and Steve Jones are hanging out with other radio people from SHINE-FM in Calgary and Edmonton for seminars and artist showcases. In the seminars we shared 75 ideas in 75 minutes of cool things we've done to make our stations buzz. It's a great list and we all have it.

Over lunch it was fun seeing old friends like Stephanie Israelson - our Karaoke Superstar winner in Season 3. She's since moved to New Brunswick so we haven't spoken much recently. She had lunch with us and we whined together about the stale bread and powdery lasagna.

New artist Chris Bray hung out as well and I'm really happy that our friendship is growing. He's a good performer and he understands about marketing his music and networking with other industry people. We connect well. His producer Andy Horrocks is always fun to hang out, mostly because he has great, crazy stories about recording sessions.

The highlight of the day was the performance of To Tell, featuring Zach Havens. Zach is my new discovery from London, introduced to me through Dale Elliott at GRACE-FM radio. Zach's songwriting is a pop-like, hit-based, Rocket Summer soundalike, which is unique because most rock performers don't rely on piano as the lead instrument.

I bailed on sticky lasagna to watch Zach showcase before judges in a private room. The pressure was on for him to muster up excitement for the one song on which he was being judged. He explained his vision for To Tell and the boys in the band. Then....BLAM! The music started. "Closer To You" kicked in - powerfully. It's hard to put into words what energy looks like but Zach has it, pounding the keyboard, groovin' and movin', laying down hooks and musical accents that feel soooo good I could barely stay in my seat. Then - it was over.

A good day at GMA.

And a better night at Bible Study. Just ask Ryan!