Alberta Rapid Train shelved or not, it was a great couple weeks of concerts if you had the will to flip between Edmonton and Calgary. This week’s legendmaker was easily Alejandro Escovedo. Up from the States for numerous spots at Calgary’s Folk Fest, he had the best flow going on the main stage with Glen Campbell, also switching off leads with Tom Wilson’s LeE HARVeY OsMOND, Jolie Holland, and an apparently phlegmy Chad VanGaalen, whom Wilson made fun of for being such a weirdo at their buffet workshop.

Escovedo also blew the walls off The Starlite Monday night with encore Stones and Iggy Pop aimed at the twirling former Café Mosaics proprietors. Though some geriatrics complained about sound levels and seating, the view from the easily accessible hilltop floor was brilliant, chipmunk-y Escovedo still joking about being on King Bush’s iPod and being uncle to Sheila E. Undying rock and roll, pure and passionate.

The Calgary Folk Fest setting was perfect as always, and the music — with the exception of the odd Barenaked Lady — compelling and diverse. But holy shit, is Calgary’s volunteer staff peppered with badge addicts. Like, they actually put our Hill-land Security Department to shame. Simply having an SLR apparently in the wrong place, I was jostled and bullied a few times. (No worries, I have a secret weapon Vulcan salute ready at all times.)

But things darkened. One woman, who sneaked off to change a diaper, was told by security that she had to go to the back of the line, till the crowd turned on the fuckers. Carolyn Mark, who emceed the first two nights, got poked and sent offstage for taking pictures of Glen Campbell. And truly exceptional musician Tolan McNeil, admittedly drunk and swimming naked in the Bow River at night, was apprehended, yelled at, held, and punched in the face — then kicked — by security after he got lippy when they just kept yelling the rules and wouldn’t help him find his clothes! I saw the bruises. The summoned cops, half of them Aussies in cowboy hats, were actually way nicer, and McNeil made his way back to the hotel wearing a garbage bag for a souvenir.

Well, we’re on a roll now. Corb Lund guitarist Grant Siemens had an awesome thing happen at customs: “Those fuckin’ jerks! I flew down to Montana last Thursday to do a couple of shows. I always fly with an amp. I got a nice case for it — you know, the ones that keep them safe unless some asshole opens them up and starts physically fucking with shit. Anyways, the first show my amp’s reverb sounds like ass — and let me tell you, that reverb tank is the best-sounding reverb I have ever heard. I would go as far as saying it is my sound.

“Anyways, after the show, I looked into the back of my amp and my reverb tank was ripped out. That is a hard thing to rip out. It is strapped down and screwed into the amp — they didn’t think of unscrewing the screws. No, they just pulled as hard as they could, ripping the strap in half and pulling out the wires along with it. Then they must have proceeded to open my reverb tank and swab it or whatever they do, but the springs are all fucked. They’ve devalued my prized Princeton Reverb that was given to me by the late, great Willie P. Bennett. I feel sick to my stomach about it, ’cause what the fuck can you do? I want to punch the asshole in the nose who did this.

“Thanks for making the U.S.A. so safe by pissing off another visitor. You guys do your job so well. Fuck Homeland Security.”

In happier news, Holger Petersen’s 40th anniversary on CKUA we talked about at the beginning of the year has arrived. Colin Linden is honouring Petersen this weekend at the Canmore Folk Fest, and between 6 and 7 p.m. Monday, Roy Forbes’ Roy’s Record Room will have a special show on CKUA talking with the lovely and amicable Petersen, who always manages to dig up something interesting in his quest for total knowledge of the origins of modern music.

Congratulations, and we all hope you keep going till at least 2049.