It was a weekend for fundraisers, Saturday, March 12.
 The Cheeky Pig Porketta studio grant got a $2,000 boost courtesy of sold out show at the Owl Acoustic Lounge featuring local psychedelic rock band Toques and Beards and Calgary seven piece indie-rock orchestra Dojo Workhorse, one of many Calgary bands featuring Dan Vacon.

 While Toques and Beards brought out  the rock— even more than usual, Dojo Workhorse let Vacon and company show off  their more mellow, introspective indie rock, pop and soulful sides of their musical personalities.

 I was glad to have caught several songs from Toques and Beards, as they haven’t played for a while.

The band including Tyler Bird on guitar, Brett Skauge on bass , Avery Friesen behind the kit and Taylor Ackerman on guitar and vocals played a more straight ahead  rock flavoured set along the lines of  CCR and Neil Young.

Tyler Bird and Taylor Ackerman took turns singing lead vocals as a crowd clustered in front of the stage crammed together elbow to elbow.
 After Toques and Beards wound up their set, Dojo Workhorse slowed things down a lot as they laid a multi-layered foundation of sound  with lap steel guitar, electric cello, keyboards and Vacon’s distinctive adenoidal vocals. They set down a mellow mood and stayed the course for the portion of the set I heard.