Celebrate Easter long weekend with a generous helping of live music this week.
But the excitement starts early on Wednesday as Shaela Miller brings Calgary’s T Buckley Trio and local musician Jared Klok to play this month’s Windy City Opry to the Slice, Wednesday, April 12.
The T Buckley trio, including T Buckley, upright bassist Derek Pulliam and electric guitarist, mandolin and vocalist Tim Leacock, blend a little bit of country with a little bit of rock and roll, drawing inspiration from everyone from Bruce Springsteen and Guy Clark. As always, the Windy City Opry starts promptly at 8 p.m. There a $10 cover.
And Thursday will be a hard rocking night at the Slice as Cowpuncher returns to play one of their last shows before disbanding. Fellow Calgary rock band Bad Animal are also on the bill. The show begins around 9 p.m. Admission is $10 in advance $15 at the door.
And, because Honker’s Pub is closed foe Good Friday, their Friday open mic has been moved to Thursday this week. Their regular Saturday afternoon open mic is on Saturday as usual beginning at 3 p.m.
The Owl Acoustic Lounge brings back Winnipeg based singer songwriter Sean Burns on April 13 as well.
And Good Friday, April 14 will be a really good night for live music. Dale Ketcheson returns to the Mocha Cabana at 6 p.m. to play lovely classical guitar. Dueling pianos with Cal Toth returns to Average Joes on April 14 as well.
The Slice brings in a selection of Edmonton talent, April 14, with indie rock/folk/ blues/ country band Hewson Grey and country/ roots band the Tophie Davies band. There is a $10 cover for the show.
Calgary born, Vancouver raised and Salmon Arm based eclectic roots duo Chicken-Like Birds return to the Owl Acoustic Lounge on April 14 in support of their new EP “Moving On.”
Things rock on a Saturday night. Over at the Slice, local alternative rock bands the Bummer Club and Ghost Women play with Saskatoon band the Owners. Admission is five dollars.
The Owl Acoustic Lounge will be busy all day long beginning with the Lethbridge Public Library Family Jam at 1:30 p.m.
And City and Colour, aka Dallas Green play the Yates Theatre, Sunday, April 16, but unfortunately it sold out almost immediately. If you were lucky enough to get tickets, the show begins at 8 p.m.
There is a lot happening in the coming weeks. The following week, Hamilton slacker poet /musician and funnyman B.A. Johnston returns to the Owl Acoustic Lounge on Tuesday , April 18 with local bands Open Channels and Bubble Wrap.
There is also going to be a pretty cool event at the Moose Hall on April 22.
There will be a fairy tale themed murder mystery fundraiser for the Windy City Medieval Faire, which happens at Coyote Flats Pioneer Village south of Picture Butte, July 29-30.
The April 22 event will be one of several events planned in the coming months to raise funds for the faire.
“It’s not a play, it’s an interactive murder mystery,” said organizer Juanita Devos.
“Everyone who comes will be a character in the mystery,” she said adding people are encouraged to come dressed in costume. Tickets for the mystery and “roast beast” dinner are available at Kapow Comics downtown, where you can also choose your characters to for the night and develop your own costumes. Tickets are also available at Java The Hut outside the Moose Hall, though you still have to choose your character at Kapow Comics.
“Prince Charming’s Cinderella has gone missing and he’s holding another ball to find another Cinderella, which is suspicious,” DeVos described, adding there are a variety of fairy tale characters available including Aladdin and Jasmin, Beauty and the Beast, and both Cinderella and Snow Whites’ fairy godmothers. there will be certificates awarded for best costume, best guess as to who did it and several others.
“Children get to play all the time, so why not grown ups,” DeVos asked.
“It’s going to be lots of fun,” she said.
Dinner is at 6 p.m. including roast beast and dessert. The mystery begins at 7:30 p.m.. There are 80 tickets available, which are going fast.
“ I’m surprised at the amount of interest for it. I have people coming up to me and saying they want a table,” she enthused.
Tickets are $40 per ticket, $75 for couples and eight person tables for $250.
“80 is a good number to control the story and it’s a comfortable number of people in the Moose Hall,” she said.
And even a further down the line, the Lethbridge Jazz and Blues Festival introduced the outstanding line up for this year’s festival, June 9-16 at venues all over the city.
Colin James will be the highlight of the festival, playing the Enmax Centre, June 17. Other highlights include trumpet player Al Muirhead, who will be performing the Sterndale Bennett theatre with special guests Vern Dorge and Laila Bell, June 16. And Hiroshima, Japan born guitarist Nobuki Takamen performs at the Nikka Yuko Japanese Gardens, June 9.
Anna McBryan and the Sweet Inspiration Gospel Choir are performing the annual gospel concert at Southminster United Church, June 14.
There will also be plenty of free family friendly events including the Young Lions Concert at the Gate, June 9.
The Lethbridge Jazz Festival is also providing the soundtrack to the Food Truck Frenzy outside the Enmax Centre, Friday, June 16.
Music begins at noon with the Rocky Mountain Dixieland band followed by special events targeted at children — Calling All Princesses and Superheroes from 3-4 p.m.
Jazz at the park returns to Galt Gardens, June 17 with a plethora of local performers including Mwansa Mwansa, Sandwich, Papa King and Hippodrome, Edmonton’s Rooster Davis group will also be playing a preview of their show at the Owl Acoustic Lounge.
The Lethbridge Big Band is always a big part of the festival. This year they will be performing in the Enmax Centre Lounge. This year’s theme is Big Band Through the Ages. Robb said music director will lead the big band and the audience though a 100 year history lesson of jazz music spanning the early days of jazz including Duke Ellington and Tommy Dorsey to more contemporary jazz.While there are many free events, individual tickets are available for the bigger shows. Tickets for Nobuki Takamen are $30. Tickets for the Gospel Concert are $10. Tickets for the Lethbridge Big band show are $30 . Tickets for Al Muirhead’s concert are $40.
Tickets for local jazz combo Sandwich are $20 for their show at the owl acoustic lounge, June 16. Edmonton based New Orleans style piano powered jazz group Rooster Davies returns to Lethbridge for the festival to play Jazz at the park as well as a show at the Owl Acoustic lounge, June 17. Tickets for that show are $20.
And local bluesman Papa King performs at Coyote Joes, June 17 as well. Tickets for that show are $20. Tickets for Colin James are $39.50 and up.
