A Mayoral candidate was caught sneaking into the Weakerthans concert at the MacEwan Hall Ballroom Tue., Oct. 9.
“[Jenkins] was informed when he arrived that he wasn’t welcome to attend the show,” said Backstage Support Services security supervisor Scott Jones. “He had an interview at the Gauntlet, and then afterwards he would be leaving the venue. What happened was when he finished at the Gauntlet he proceeded to enter the venue and tried to attend the concert, but he hadn’t paid for it.”
Jones said Students’ Union event staff had approached BSS to keep an eye out for Jenkins, and if they found him to escort him out.
SU event staff at the event explained they were unable to comment because they were SU staff.
“He was removed from the concert,” said SU food, beverage and events director Greg Stephenson. “That would be my only comment. We had justified cause. He was asked to leave.”
The Gauntlet called Jenkins the next day to recall the chain of events.
“I was surprised it wasn’t in the big MacEwan Hall, the big venue,” said Jenkins. “I just assumed it would be in the big part. Even when I got to the second floor I was confused because it didn’t seem like the Weakerthans. I talked to the promoter, I had his name from my sources because I knew it was sold out and I knew I was in a tough spot. He told me the band overdid their guest list and he was over capacity, so he couldn’t let me in. So then I thought, ‘okay, I’ll just go to the Gauntlet as plan B, because Rob [my press manager] had booked me for the Calgary Sun editorial board this morning. I went to the elevator and it was locked off, so I went to the security guy and said I had an interview with the Gauntlet. He said ‘I’ll go check that out, and he went and talked to [news editor Katy Anderson]. [Anderson] said send him up, I know it wasn’t the time we scheduled but it was the only time I had available.”
Jenkins had an interview scheduled for 10 a.m. Wed., Oct. 10. He arrived at the Gauntlet office 8 p.m. Tue., Oct. 9.
“We did the interview and we went out for pictures,” he said. “Then I decided I would go in and try to buy a cd, because I don’t have that one, and it just came out, or a t-shirt or whatever and I listened to a few songs and, boom, I was strong-armed out of there. I mean, these guys grabbed me up like I was Hannibal Lector.”
Jenkins said he didn’t sneak-in, he walked in the front door.
“‘We’re going to take you up there and we’re going to take you back out,’ that’s what they said,” explained Jenkins. “So when the interview finished they weren’t there and, like I said, I’m a huge fan of that band.”
When security could not find Jenkins after the interview, they went into the concert looking for him.
“He was trying to get away from us when we approached him, so we took hold of his arm and gently led him towards the exit,” said Jones.
Jenkins disagreed.
“I actually had some friends at that gig and I was looking for them, I was not hiding from anyone.”
When asked if Jenkins regretted his decision Jenkins responded promptly.
“No,” he said. “I love the Weakerthans.”