I was on my way to Carberry when I found this magnificent sight. I took a "not actually a road" road, and I could tell on account of the grass growing in the middle of the "not a road's" tracks. And 1 skunk. The skunk ran out of the ditch I was in shortly after I did. I felt so lucky right then and there. A beautiful old barn with a stormy sky, and NOT getting sprayed by a skunk. 

Who Are The Invisible Men? What do you get when you mix the Blue Man Group doing a mash up of Jimi Hendrix’s if 6 was 9, K-Tel’s 23 difficult to strip to hits and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon in reverse? I’m not sure but it might be very close to at least a part of what will happen on May Long Weekend at The 40. Yes folks, hang on to your brewskies, this could very well prove to be the most outlandish musical event to ever take place in B-Town.  If you’ve never been to a show or an event that left you incapable of describing or explaining, well, now is your chance. Origins of Monkeyhouse: “MHIII lends itself to be a great place for many a musician over the years to come and unwind and let it out! Our jams have been the talk of folklore. Sometimes till dawn. Go in the building at dark, exit at dawn, Squint eyed and confused!”   Lyall McDermid ~ MHIII Shenanigans Director   How bizarre is this thing going to be? Take John Byner’s old cast and crew and get them loaded. After those of you born after 1990 finish googling John Byner, take a boo at this event promo poster and let it sink in… An evening of The Invisible Men and their Zuperfriendz is the brainchild of music lover and local music scene supporter extraordinaire Lyall McDermid. Along with his band mates, McDermid cooked up the idea for this event at his jam space which is infamously known as Monkey House or MH3 for short. Anyone who has ever been in a band knows the importance of having a kick ass jam space. For McDermid, MH3 is the third incarnation of such a thing. His band preceded the Monkey House but the Monkey House was an eventual necessity for the band as they outgrew their original jam space. As McDermid recalls their humble beginings, his recollections read like a screenplay of a yet to be produced biopic, “The Invisible Men in its various forms have been around now for 18 years (WOW, there’s a crazy thought)!! If I can recall that far back, we cooked up this band idea in a small room on Princess Ave while sipping adult beverages! With cheap guitars and 60's retro drums (which I still have), we began jamming in dark , damp basement in the heart of the city! Flash Gordon ahead a couple years , I purchased the original Monkeyhouse. A tiny cabin style house that became jam central, our fortress of Rock and roll for Justice!” The band plays on…        They would eventually outgrow the confines of their original jam space, the same scenario would arise from MH1 as McDermid explains, ““After ten years plus and a serious guess of over 500 plus jams, the band and life had outgrown MH1. Then came MH2 after purchasing a larger home and reconditioning the basement as the new Jam Space. Eventually we would wind up building a new and improved spacious spot for which we could create tunes in. This jam space is now proudly referred to as MH3. MHIII lends itself to be a great place for many a musician over the years to come and unwind and let it out! Our jams have been the talk of folklore. Sometimes till dawn. Go in the building at dark, exit at dawn! Squint eyed and confused!” With the countless jams held in the various jam spaces over the years, the band’s list of acquaintances continued to grow. When you have open jam sessions the network of players multiplies as friends bring other friends and so on and so on until it becomes a sort of six degrees of separation scenario for everyone that has ever been involved. McDermid is thankful to have cultivated such a vast network of friends within Westman’s music scene, “Our Zuperfriendz that joined TIM over the years have made many live gigs at various venues about town. Always a superhero around to save the day! Not even sure I can name all TIM's Superfriends but here goes… Jason, Terry, Jessica, Saphira, Mike, Mike, Frank, Adrian, Paul, Chris, David, James... and literally dozens more jammers, singers, guitar players and movers and shakers!” McDermid’s appreciation for his myriad of musical mates is what spawned the idea for the May Long weekend Zuperfriends Jam, “Without all these Zuperfriendz and their superpowers TIM wouldn't be. The scope of talent that Monkeyhouse has heard over all these years is immeasurable. Many of these players have gone on or are in current working bands! Having many different players or sounds over the years has jumped around and been to many galaxy's.” The combination of players associated with MH3 has led to this event which McDermid will be appealing to music fans who have varying musical tastes, “Being in Monkeyhouse III, we have created a peaceful environment with many influences! The sound has developed in a mix of reggae, blues, funk, rock and a touch of psychedelic!” The same can be said for the sounds created by The Invisible Men as their formula always stems from their musical influences and as McDermid puts it, the song, “Our jams end up creating songs. That’s basically it. Always the song starts with a jam, a simple riff and some vocals for texture.” The guys say their approach always comes from their love of the music mixed with the fun they can have creating it, “We try not to take ourselves too seriously! If you have ever seen one of our 30 plus videos you would understand. Type in TIMFM into YouTube for the link. We are also on Facebook if anyone cares!” T.I.M. (L-R: Jason, Terrry and Lyall) captured during their live on the floor set at the 40 for Ridgefest 12. (Photo from the Ridgefest archives) Not Just Another Gig: The evening is designed as more of a reunion open to everyone with a love for locally created live music. It’s an event spawned from the Monkeyhouse and all the foggy memories that come with it, or as McDermid comments, “This gig encompasses all our Zuperfriendz over the years. We have a few old hits as well as a few surprises in store.” Major thanks go out to the 40, Brandon’s premiere night spot for live entertainment has always been a solid supporter of the local music scene exclaims McDermid, “The 40 (Heidi and staff) are such great supporters of live music. 35 years of being the best stage and sound system in Brandon!  We always look forward to playing the 40! They make us sound great. Please come join us for some fun May long Superhero theme! Dress up if ya feel like getting your geek on!” This just in... 100% of the door donations / cover will go to the Red Cross directly to those in need in Fort Mac! Rock beats Fire! Doors open at 6pm and the live music will start around 9:30pm Saturday night. MHIII has been home to hundreds of jams over the past 18 years. If you’ve ever been a part of any of those jams you might want to bring your instrument and join in on what will most likely turn into one of the most epic “MH Jams” ever!

When it comes to your financial well-being, working with a professional may be the difference between achieving your financial goals and falling short. According to recent studies, Canadian households working with a financial advisor accumulate more than 1.5 times more assets than identical non-advised households over a period of only four to six years.[1] Having a financial plan and committing to regular saving yields results. But those who seek professional guidance recognize a financial advisor does more than just invest your money. Your financial advisor is an expert who can review your financial plan on a regular basis to help keep you on track through life’s twists and turns. Your relationship with your financial advisor is a two-way street that needs ongoing attention. Your financial circumstances and needs will change over time, and it’s important that you keep your financial advisor informed of your current situation. Here are some events you should make your financial advisor aware of: • You experience a major life event. Getting married, buying your first or a new home, or a baby on the way are exciting life changes that may require a shift in how you handle your finances. • You’re having a financial challenge. Perhaps you’ve experienced an unexpected event – like the loss of a job, a health concern or divorce – that has the potential to set you back financially. • Your finances are getting complicated. Managing multiple financial products across different portfolios can be both time-consuming and confusing. • You want to leave a legacy. You might want to leave an inheritance to your family or favourite charity. • You’ve decided on a retirement date. Retirement brings a fundamental shift from saving to spending. Whatever your situation, your financial advisor can help you review and revise your plans accordingly. Financial planning is not an event it is a process. [1] CIRANO – Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis in Organizations. An Econometric Analysis of Value of Advice in Canada.  

The Windows 10 free upgrade offer will be ending soon. Up until now, most of our clients have been running Windows 7 Pro because it is a good operating system and there was no compelling reason to switch to Windows 8. Most people did not want to learn the completely different interface that Windows 8 came with. However, users of Windows 7 will find that Windows 10 is a much more familiar interface, and there may be reasons to look at switching. Performance With Windows 10, the operating system has been optimized to boot more quickly and run most applications a little faster. Some of these performance improvements were included with Windows 8 and now it's even better in Windows 10. Longevity Microsoft has stated that they will stop supporting Windows 7 in 2020. At that point it will no longer be safe to run Windows 7 in a business environment. This is similar to how Windows XP is no longer supported. In contrast, Microsoft has stated that Windows 10 will be their last Windows operating system. The plan is that they will continue to update Windows 10 for the foreseeable future. If that is the case, then at some point we will all move from Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10. In addition to the performance increases and longer lifespan, Windows 10 also includes many security improvements and administrative features which make these systems easier to manage in a business environment. At this point, any Windows 7 or Windows 8 computer is eligible to receive a free upgrade to Windows 10. This offer is available until July 29, 2016. After that date, it will cost about $250 per computer for the upgrade license. We are recommending the following plan for businesses upgrading to Windows 10: 1) Identify about 10% of your computers to install the Windows 10 update on. This will be a trial to ensure Windows 10 works well in your environment and that your programs work as expected. If there are any issues, your IT support team should work with your software vendors to ensure things are working properly. 2) After 2-4 weeks of testing, install Windows 10 on the remainder of the computers.

Just when you thought all the cool band names were taken along comes Kong Kong. The band name so cool they used it twice! Kong Kong is the creation of Cody Iwasiuk and Katlin Mathison. The two have been friends and band mates since high school. They formerly created music together in Brandon band Effect and Cause. Once their scholastic endeavours took over their lives, their band took a necessary break but their drive and desire to create music never took a back seat. As they’ve maintained their musical pursuits, the two former Brandonites chose to stay as busy as possible with their chosen profession. In fact as Iwasiuk puts it, that’s one of the reasons why Kong Kong was formed, “We formed the band Last winter when Katlin and I were looking for some extra work to fill out our calendars. It also gave us a great excuse to play together again as it had been awhile since the two of us shared in music making. I ended up getting us a house gig which had us playing every Thursday at a club name Le Garage in St. Boniface in Winnipeg.” Winnipeg has been their home base for nearly three years. Soon after graduating from the B.U. School of Music Cody moved there to teach and play as much as is humanly possible. As for Katlin, after graduating from Grant MacEwan University (Diploma in Popular Music - Composition) in 2012, he travelled across the pond to attend the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts where he graduated with an Honours Degree in Music - Production & Songwriting in 2014. He would eventually move in with Cody shortly after returning to Canada. The two have now happily achieved at least one goal and it may be the most important goal for any working musician according to Mathison it’s become a full time occupation, “I'm very fortunate in that music pays my bills. When I'm not touring out of town, I usually perform 5-6 nights per week, as well as writing, recording, and producing with other artists.” Iwasiuk is happy to report that his schedule is quite similar to Mathison’s, “I am lucky enough make music my full-time job. I play with a number of bands in Winnipeg which keeps me busy. I also do some mixing, recording, and mastering for people in the city.” Aside from their workload with Kong Kong the two master music makers have had varying levels of success with other projects. Their resumes continue to grow at remarkable rates and both are quite thankful to be doing what they love. Iwasiuk’s involvement in music has been seemingly nonstop as he’s kept at it through a variety of projects, “I have played with many incredible musicians over the past 3 years since moving from Brandon. Notably I have played with and or am currently playing with: The Bros. Landreth, Jess Moskaluke, Paul Brandt, Sierra Noble, JRDN, Kardinal Offishall, The Dirty Catfish Brass Band. There are many, many other incredible artists that are not listed here as well!” Aside from writing and performing Iwasiuk has maintained his love of mixing, recording and tracking as well, “I am currently mixing an EP for The Dirty Catfish Brass Band, and I recently tracked drums on an album for up and coming country singer Elsie Morden. I also played drums on indie band FINN's upcoming EP a few months back.” While Iwasiuk’s current calendar could be considered the more arduous of tasks to fulfill Mathison is just as dedicated with the many musical involvements he’s immersed himself in, “Right now I have a solo project called Okay Mann and also bass with Micah Visser and lead guitar in FINN. I recently released two songs with Okay Mann, and both Micah Visser and FINN have EP in the works. Through these projects I've been able to write and perform with a wide range of veteran performers from: Paul McCartney to Royal Canoe. ” Prior to moving back to Canada Mathison’s strong songwriting abilities earned him a taste of commercial success, “I'm lucky to have worked with artists across UK, Europe, and Canada. This has led to being a part of writing teams and bands in multiple countries, extensive touring, and radio play across Europe, and earning a certified Gold record in Norway.” Mathison (left) and Iwasiuk (right) rocking out back in the day with their old group Effect and Cause at Ridgefest 8 in the summer of 2011. (Photo submitted) The beat goes on for these extraordinary music makers and it’s like they haven’t missed a beat as they’ve come from Effect and Cause to Kong Kong.  The new band is comprised of: Cody Iwasiuk (drums), Brennan Wall (guitar), and Karl Shewchuk (bass), Katlin Mathison (lead vocals as well as guitar and keyboards) and as Katlin puts it, the group was created as a response of sorts to the Winnipeg music scene, “There is a never ending list of cool bands in Winnipeg, but we found that the cover scene was a little saturated with the same old tunes. Kong Kong was created for an audience of our peers - those who are looking for a more contemporary repertoire.” So what’s with the name of their new side project? Cody chooses to differ to Katlin for that one, “We were kind of playing around with the words King Kong. Katlin somehow came to the realization that Kong also means king in a different language. Not sure which language exactly. So it was Katlin's idea to name the band Kong Kong.” Unconventional band names aside, Katlin says it’s mostly about their love for the music and having their performances creating a cool vibe, “It's just really fun. It's the type of band I would like to go see if I just wanted to dance and have a good time with my friends.” Without giving too much away in regards to their repertoire Cody sums up the band’s sound, “Kong Kong is a mix of songs that are near and dear to mine and Katlin's heart. We play a good blend of indie rock, pop, and great songs you didn't know you loved!” Experience the KONG KONG dance craze before it sweeps the nation! They’ll be packing em’ in at the Decker this Friday and Saturday night! Doors open at 6pm, show starts at 10pm both nights. Come early to get a good spot or just cut out your part on the dance floor and boogie the night away!