Just because you can’t go out, it doesn’t mean the music has to stop.

 Quite the opposite, with everyone  being told to stay home and any gatherings of more than 50 people being effectively banned including the local live music venues to prevent the spread of the COVID virus, local musicians are performing their shows online.

And listening to music and supporting artistic pursuits is all the more important, if only to prevent going insane from cabin fever. George Arsene has been performing online as has Keenan Pezderic, however local musician Gabe Thaine (Gabriel Olsen)  has decided to perform two shows live online every day — a 45 minute long 2 p.m. show for kids and  an hour and 15 minute long show of his own material plus covers at 9 p.m. every night as well.

“I miss playing open mics and going out to see shows,” said Gabriel Olsen, whose live shows be seen on his Gabe Thaine Facebook page.
“ For the kids show I play songs by Raffi and Sharon Lois and Bram and some of my kids songs. The kids shows I was doing with the band were so much fun and now we can’t do them,” he said.

Lethbridge based singer songwriter Tyson Ray Borsboom was excited to release his first full length  CD “Will” and is looking forward to a tour once the Covid 19 panic blows over.

“It’s my first full length CD,” said Borsboom, who officially released “Will” at the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Feb. 22.
 He recorded the 10 track CD last  July with Matthew Rederburg at the Farm outside of Lethbridge with band mates Kevin Giron, Eric West and Brock Boot.
“I’m just super excited to release this CD. It’s my first full length band CD. The other was more of a singer songwriter CD (Sinner in 2018)and I also  released a CD of covers,” he observed, adding he took a few  guitar lessons as a teen, then gave up the guitar for a while before picking it up again and starting to write songs.

“This CD is about self help and about some of the things I’ve experienced over the past two years,” he said, adding he had been playing most of the songs live before recording them. He has been a prominent face at local venues like Owl Acoustic Lounge and The Slice.

“Steve at the Owl and Derek at the Slice have been really kind to me. I’ve played a lot of open mics. I called them a lot, more than most bands. They’ve let me open for a lot of acts and have given me a couple headlining shows,” he said, adding it is important to maintain positive relationships with fans, club owners and everybody else.

This week is  not so much about what is going on, but what has been cancelled due to coronavirus fears.
 The provincial government has prohibited any gathering with more than 250 people, which has lead to a lot of fallout in the community.
 The Galt Museum, Casa, Lethbridge Public Library, SAAG, Multicultural Centre, Helen Schuler Nature Centre, all arenas, Cor Van Ray YMCA and ATB Centre and  Fritz Sick, Stan Siwik and Nicholas Sheran swimming pools have all been temporarily closed.

The Lethbridge And District Music and Speech arts festival , which was to take place March 23-April 4 all over the city, has been cancelled.
 So have all events at  the Enmax Centre and Exhibition park including the Home and Garden show.
All CKXU Fundrive events, from March 13-21 have been cancelled including the Shiverettes show that was to be at the Lethbridge Rugby Club, March 21 to  wind up the University of Lethbridge based community radio station’s annual fundraiser.
The Glorious Sons’ March 17 concert at the Enmax Centre has also been postponed as has Matthew Good’s upcoming April 4 concert. It has been rescheduled to a date to be determined. Tickets  for the shows will still be honoured.

Smaller shows have also been affected. Vancouver Celtic punks the Real McKenzies show  which was to take place, march 16 has been postponed. Advance tickets will be refunded.
 Blues harp master Carlos Del Junco has also cancelled his tour including his  March 21  Lethbridge Folk Club show at The Lethbridge College Cave. The Folk Cub  will honour tickets to this show at  their future  performances.
The Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra has also cancelled their “Striking Rhythms” concert at Southminster united Church, March 16.
 For theatre, the last four shows of New West Theatre’s production of Ken Cameron’s Dear Johnny Deere were cancelled last week.
 Theatre Outre is also postponing their  March 26-29 production of the Sissy Duckling, They hope to remount it when the  situation settles.
The University of Lethbridge is also exploring options for their  production of In Tongues. They may stream it or postpone it until the Fall.

Comedy  club Good Times has also closed for two weeks.
 So what’s left? Music is a beautiful way to escape the news and pandemic panic. It should be common sense, but  don’t go out if you are feeling sick and remember to wash your hands throughly and regularly with soap and water.

Quite a few things are happening, though smaller venues are taking shows day by day, there are still a few shows happening.
 The Lethbridge Firefighters Pipes and Drums annual St Patrick Day Pub Crawl begins at 3 p.m. at  Backstreet West, followed by  visits to the Kingsman  Alehouse, Mojos West, Backstreet South, Spectrum Ale Works, Hudson’s Pub and ending at Average Joes at 9 p.m.. Unfortunately that event was cancelled late Monday.

Divas are making opera more accessible at Casa, March 14.
 When mezzo soprano Barbara King and soprano Kathleen Morrison met during a production of Mozart’s the Magic Flute they connected on a personal and professional level and decided to bring their new show Divas Opera to venues all over Alberta.

““It’s not just park and bark. So we’re not just standing there singing,” said Kathleen Morrison, who has performed all over the world after graduating from the University of Lethbridge in 2005. She connected with Barbara King, who has been singing for 20 years and singing professionally all over Canada for the past six years.

“We got along well together and our voices worked together seamlessly,” King said.
 They developed their Divas Opera: A Night At the Opera show over a year ago, performing their first show in May. They have performed 20 shows together since then and have several others planned around the Lethbridge show including High River the night after, Waterton Park and of course, Calgary.

 The show comes to Casa, March 14 at 7:30 p.m., which will feature accompanist Bente Hansen and special guests, Megan Wittig and Lisa Mulgrew of the Little Lethbridge Opera Company, who will be performing “Three Little Maids from the Mikado.”