Hi Everyone,

A very easy Friday night opportunity has presented itself that will serve to reduce the Friday night workload for us (ie, the need to compile a list of suggested places for folks to go since planning an official event is looking like a no-go).  I had a chance to talk to the manager at the Good Will on Portage (http://thegoodwill.ca/), and he said they would be very pleased to welcome us for an official pub night there (5-9-ish).  It’s an easy walk from UW and, I believe, fully accessible. The have food and drink that would accommodate a wide range of dietary requirements. Our conference sessions end at five, and we could direct folks there then.

They will have some bands going on at 9, and our folks would either have to pay the $10 cover to stay for that (so the bands can be paid) or head out.  Interestingly, the gig they had planned for that night seems to have fallen through, and it sounds (but this is not confirmed) that they might be looking to do one of their “Bands as Bands” events.  For those of you who don’t know, this is where they get a few local bands to interpret the music of well-known artists.  This is definitely not confirmed, but when I raised it, the manager said it might be possible for them to try to shape this Bands as Bands around labour-flavoured acts like Springsteen or, GASP, Billy Bragg!

I gave Jason a heads-up on this possibility, since he was holding the WECC for us that night, and it looks like there’s a possibility that the WECC could cosponsor this with the GW. I guess they’ve done things like this before.  So that would be a nice bonus, which we’ll still need to explore. 

I’m waiting to hear back from the GW with more info on all this (but mostly that they can definitely accommodate us from 5-9 for the pub night portion).  Before this went any further with this, though, I wanted to bring this to y’all to make sure I should proceed. 

Rhonda