Wow! What a weekend. My voice is gone, so I’ll type. Where to start?! All the bands, on every night and every level, killed it. They brought their absolute A game and were totally easy to work with. There were no divas, this helps alot. Jeff Waters and the rest of Annihilator, what can I say? You and crew were standup pros the whole time and your set at CMF was one for the ages! John, Dan and Allan of Exciter blew me away and were consummate pros. Thanks to Sean, Rob, Gus, Scott and Joe from Sacrifice. I’m glad we were FINALLY able to work together again and it was nice meeting your ladies too. To Dave, Bob, Mike and Rider of Razor: you guys sure know what thrash metal is, Calgary loves you. Thanks to Gatekrashor for doin the last call thing! You were great! Toxic Holocaust was the easiest band I have ever had the pleasure of working with and the greatest guys too. The Exalted Piledriver, Gord Kirchin, Mark, Steve and Ken killed on Thursday to the tune of one mic cord, my right hand and everyones melted faces. Can you be the house band now? Our crew is some of the best the world has seen. Ryan Boyko killed it drum teching, Dave Corpsey Mosimann bass teching, Doug Mckinnon guitar teching. I would like to thank Amanda Marie, Renee Jef Baratelli-Thorell, my wife, Eva Kovats Hachey, Monika Deviat, Casey Rogers did a whack of backroom magic that no one saw. You guys kept me sane, fed and alive, for this I am eternally in your gratitude. Jacquie was the ticketing master I thought she’d be on both Friday and Saturday. Jim Turner, Jim and Danny Gavin and Fred Boehli were the dream team (ala ’92 US mens Olympics baskeball team) of techs on Saturday, and Jake was the best choice I could’ve made for stagehand. It was a pleasure and honor to share this experience with the Rev Ross Ingall and with his help we were able to raise a ton of money for Make-A-Wish Southern Alberta (compiling today). Thanks to all that participated in the CMF Live Charity Auction, you will make a bunch of kids lives better who got the short end of the stick in the life lottery. Cheers to Darryn Slim B Ritchey for documenting the whole thing. Thanks to Josh, Randy and Tyson for nailing down all the ground transport, that musta sucked. Myles, Eddie, Jay and the rest of the staff at Flames Central were impeccable, looking forward to the future, I will have towels next time! Jon Asher and Cara Ashbey of Asher Media Relations for the awesome PR. Thanks to BeatRoute (AB), Absolute Underground TV, Metal Nation Radio, METALHEADS UNITED, Terrorizer Magazine, PureGrainAudio.com, Bravewords.com, Exclaim! for the excellent media partnership. Thank you Terese and Scarab Productions for what you did for this fest. HUGE!! The crazy b’s Asteroid M – Heroes & Villains, thank you for your support. Thanks to Mark and Boiling Oar Brewing Company for keepin me at the perfect dull roar I was lookin for. I hope you guys got some of that in ya, tasty as all hell. Creative Factor and SignCraft and Big Nate Productions donated all those huge posters, Thank you! The mighty MFL and staff at KLM Music provide the best backline in the city and also apparently are firefighters, or were this weekend anyways. I’d also like to thank Brian, Kyle and AXE Music Calgary for donating the drums for Thurs and Fri and the guitar setup for the Tony Iommi sig model guitar. You helped us raise a bunch of money for the kids! Man, huge props to Ginette and everyone at Spolumbo’s Fine Foods & Deli LTD for working with us for the catering. It was huge. It was delicious. If you haven’t been there, even if in the last little while, go. Thank them. You literally kept me going. The venues in this city are the best. Darren Ollinger and the Ship & Anchor Pub, Mark, Sean, Katie and Distortion – Live Music Venue, Chris, Ambor and Miles at Dickens Pub: You people are ninjas of the highest order, this town doesn’t know how bad they need you. I want to really thank all the support acts: Wednesday night got it happening perfect with the rock stylings of Outlets Band, Blackbird Electric and In/Vertigo capped off by the mighty W.M.D!!! Accostal, Sick Ritual, Savage Streets(RIP??!! WHAT??!!) and Crystal Mess ruled HARD on Thursday. I hope some new people saw how AWESOME you guys are. Concrete Funeral, Black Pestilence, FORNICATION, The Order of Chaos and Disciples of Power LIT UP Dickens on Friday to SOLD OUT proportions! Thank you, you made that happen. We had some bad boys on the streets pushing tickets, thanks to Harley, Dustin, Cale and Devin and crew for that. Big ups to Toryin for lendin me those guitar, woulda ground to a halt without those. Dan Neild, you’re not so bad either.