Local actor Ashley Thomson takes a third shot at Elise Forier Edie’s 2011 one woman show “The Pink Unicorn,” Nov. 15 ad 16 at Didi’s Playhaus for a special Theatre Outré presentation.
 “Jay Whitehead was gracious enough to offer me the chance  to  perform at Didi’s Playhaus,” said Thomson, who performed the play during  Pride fest, June 9 and in September at the Allied arts Council SOAR cabarets.

“ It is about a really conservative Texan mother in a small town  and her daughter, Tricia, who comes out as  LGTBQ and sets up a gay-straight alliance in her school, which is blocked. So her mother supports her as she tries to make the gay straight alliance a reality,” said Thomson, noting she plays several different characters including the mother, the daughter Tricia, her friend, her grandmother, the bigoted school principal and several others.

After 20 some years in the business, two Juno awards, a couple theatre soundtracks and 17 albums including his latest –“Median Age Wasteland” and another on the way, you’d think  Hawksley Workman might have come down with a case of writers block somewhere  along the way.
 It s not the case, now that  he has resigned himself to never becoming rich and famous.

“Bob Dylan has a quote like being rich is having the freedom to do whatever you want. And I’ve been lucky enough to carve out a living doing just that, which is difficult in Canada. And Im really grateful for that,” said Workman, looking a at a grey, dreary London day, looking forward to a sold out show  in London Ontario, one of several shows which are already sold out on this tour.
 He brings his long time band the Wolves including keyboardist Todd Lumley aka Mr. Lonely, bassist Derrick Brady and  drummer Brad Kilpatrick, to the University Theatre to play  a special show for  the Geomatic Attic, Nov. 23.

“There was a time, when I was in Sweden, spending time in studios where the sound of American radio was born, when I still thought I could get rich. I thought I could write hits for other people, but that’s not how I work. My creativity dried up because I wasn’t giving it the respect it deserved,” he said.

“I was never meant for mass consumption I guess, I was meant for a small, select group of people. I think I’m playing stuff people like,” he observed.
 he has had a “banger of a Year” full of touring, recording his own music, recording music with folks like Sarah Slean, and theatre.
He composed a soundtrack for a musical version of ’80s movie “Never-Ending Story.”

“I spent three and a half months working on the soundtrack. It was an important part of my youth. it was the only VHS tape my small rural school had, so I must have seen it hundreds of times.. One time in the early ’80s, there was a solar eclipse, so they put as all in the gym and  showed us that movie,” he recalled.
 “For the soundtrack, we didn’t have access to original elements of the movie, so I went for a nostalgic feel to celebrate the movie,” he said, adding he enjoyed working with a director.

There is a whole lot of blues happening during a relatively slow Remembrance Day week. The Week opens on Tuesday with Keith  Catfish Woodrow’s Slice of blues jam, Nov. 12.
But things begin on a country note as Saskatchewan born Orillia, Ontario based folk/ roots musician returns to Lethbridge to play the Windy City Opry, Nov. 13.
 The Slice also brings back Kirkland Lake born, Montreal based pop punk tinged rock band Dany Laj and the Looks, Nov. 14. They will be playing with local blues rock band Taylor Ackerman’s Global Acid Reset and local rap duo Bomb Hugg.

 Things cook on the weekend.
 The Lethbridge Folk Club’s monthly open mic is at Casa, on Friday at 7 p.m.
 The Slice welcomes back Edmonton folk/ pop duo,  The Orchard, Friday, Nov. 15. The Orchard aka Kasha Anne and Mitchell Smith also cite  the Chris Robinson brotherhood, Grateful Dead and Tedeschi Trucks band as influences. They will be joined by local  alternative  rock trio Mombod plus Calgary Celtic punks the River Jacks and the Hockey moms. Admission is $10.

Papa King and the Boogiemen have a couple “Bootleg” CD release shows coming up. Calgary’s Eric Braun and bassist Doug Freeman will be joining him at the Owl Acoustic lounge, Friday, Nov. 15. Steve Keenan will be joining them at the Slice, Nov. 23.

 Keenan and Papa King play a stripped down show at the Mocha Cabana , Nov. 16 at 8 p.m.

 Steve Keenan and his band will also be hosting the open mic at Honker’s Pub on Friday, Nov. 15.