Plenty of excitement planned for Coulee Blues Festival

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Everybody’s got the blues at the Lethbridge Jazz Society and Geomatic Attic. But it’s the good kind of blues, because the two local arts organizations are working together to bring the Coulee Blues Festival to Civic Field, Aug. 28.

“We’re very excited about this. On a scale of 1 to 10, I’m a 10.5,” enthused Lethbridge Jazz Society president Mike Prociw.

 

When the two groups started planning the event, they wanted to focus on western Canadian acts especially Lethbridge acts.

 

Paul Kype and Texas Flood open the Coulee Blues Festival. Photo by Richard Amery

“ When we started working 

on this we wanted to focus on local acts but we also wanted to look at touring acts. So we have acts from Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C.c,” Prociw summarized.

 

 

“There are two words to describe this lineup. Number one— excitement. They are such wonderful performers. And number two —variety. There is a wide variety of performers, so we  have a nice, special afternoon of live music,” noted  the Lethbridge Jazz Festival’s Don Robb.

 

The free festival begins at 1:30 p.m.  with local favourites Paul Kype and Texas Flood. Saskatchewan based bluesman Jack Semple follows at 2:30.

Semple plays an array of blues music and even dabbles in classical music as he recorded a classical music CD featuring his wife playing flute.

Satellite and the Harpoonist, a new project featuring Shawn Hall from Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer are playing at 3:30 p.m.

 

“They’re so popular we’ve put them right in the middle. Everyone is so talented, we hope people will stick around to see them all, ” noted Mike Spencer, handling the Geomatic Attic end of the festival.

Calgary R and B group the Rondell Roberts Band play at 4:45 p.m.

 They draw inspiration from everything from Motown to disco to synth driven ’80s pop.

Kat Danser closes off the Coulee Blues Festival, Aug. 28. Photo by Richard Amery

“They’re a Calgary based neo soul and funk band. They have a great ’60s soul sound,” Prociw described.

 

And Edmonton blues musician and researcher Kat Danser closes off the afternoon at 6 p.m.

“Kat has  been playing blues music for 20 years.  She has done  a lot of research into Mississippi and Delta  blues. But it’s not just from books. She’s actually gone down there. She’s got a lot of education about the blues,” Spencer said.

 

Jack Semple and Kat Danser have both performed at the Lethbridge Jazz and Blues Festival.  

 

 Prociw said there is no capacity limit for the festival, which will also feature food trucks and a beer garden.

“ We could have anywhere between 500 to 750 people,” he said, adding in addition to partnering with the Geomatic Attic, they have also learned a lot from the City of Lethbridge and New West Theatre’s  Arts In The Park outdoor summer festivals about holding big outdoor events safely, with proper social distancing as  Covid 19 is still a concern.

 

Prociw noted the Lethbridge Jazz festival would be interesting in collaborating with other arts groups.

 They would like to make  the Coulee Blues Festival an annual event.

“ But right now we’re focussed on making this event a success,” Prociw said.

 Spencer added the Geomatic Attic has already put on an outdoor even with Arts in the Park but are treading cautiously about booking indoor shows because of Covid.

 The Coulee Blues festival is at Civic Park next to the LSCO, Aug, 28 beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Admission is free.

Schedule 

1:00pm: Intro/ MC Andrew Legg
1:30pm: Paul Kype & Texas Flood
2:30pm: Jack Semple
3:30pm: Rondel Roberts Band
4:45pm: Satellite & The Harpoonist
6:00pm: Kat Danser & The Tall Tales


— by Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor

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Last Updated ( Saturday, 28 August 2021 08:25 )