The Slice had an interesting act, not to mention a lot of people for a Wednesday night, July 28 with Vancouver based  roots/old time country/ jazz/rockabilly quartet, Maria In The Shower.

 The four came on stage dressed like old country gentlemen in old style hats, white shirts and suspenders holding up black pants.

Unusual as they looked, musically they combined an old time country look with an old time country sound, adding elements of jazz thanks to the trumpet and accordion, rockabilly thanks to a big stand-up bass with  ’60s-’70s R and B thanks to impressive vocal harmonies. They even added a touch of gospel thanks to a song about Jesus being their Valentine.

 They grinned ear to ear and were impossible not to like. I’ve never seen any band grin  that widely while singing about murdering their girlfriend.

 They put on a show. The stand up bassist stood on his bass, slapping out a rockabilly groove, even the trumpeter stood on the bass while blowing a fantastic solo during St. James Infirmary Blues.

Vancouver pop/rock band Said the Whale packed the Slice, Tuesday, July 27.
 Victoria’s Aidan Knight started things off with a hypnotic Radiohead groove which captivated an almost capacity crowd through the use of a variety of instruments.

A violin cut through the chatter coming through the back of the room and the keyboardist played some piercing French horn simultaneously while the violinist doubled on bass. Knight expressed surprise at the extended cheers his band received.

If Aidan Knight put any of the crowd to sleep,  the crazy keyboards of We Are The City woke them up with their own brand of upbeat pop which had most of the audience up dancing almost immediately.

The drummer was a wild blur of energy who channeled the Muppets’ drummer Animal.

 But everyone was there to see Said the Whale, who kept the crowd dancing through an intense set of  upbeat pop songs, mostly from their new Cd. They featured hair raising sugar sweet vocal harmonies, chiming guitars and addictive melodies.

They also displayed prowess on unusual instruments The keyboardist  added extra xylophone and they wound down their set by bringing out the ukulele, which left the audience screaming “Said The Whale” over and over again until they came back to play a couple encores.

Some people consider Galt Gardens to be their living room, so what better way to celebrate summer than with a ‘party in the park’ and fill  that ‘living room’ with music and art for an entire day.
That is the idea behind Shelter Me — Party in the Park, which takes place in Galt  Gardens from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Aug. 7.

“This is a way to fill Galt Gardens with something positive and erase that stigma of Galt Gardens,” said Deanna Vincent, who is helping organize Party In The Park with  Darrell Smith.

“Unfortunately Galt Gardens has become the living room for the homeless. They don’t have one, so this is the place they come to have friends over. Because they can’t do that at the shelter,” she continued taking a quick breather from  the non-stop hustle and bustle of being a mentor  and case worker at the Lethbridge Shelter Resource Centre. She said the shelter has approximately 100 residents, with another 300 who use the facility’s programming.

The event, which is the brainchild of Darrell Smith, was originally designed as a fundraiser for the shelter, but quickly evolved into something much bigger.

There is a main stage featuring  a variety of musicians  including the Ben Brown Trio, the Johnny Rains Band, Granite Force, Smokin’ Pistols, Trena Geall and louder acts like Chief Mountain, Kenzi Kill and Sevenday Sin as well as Vercitile  performing throughout the day on the main stage interspersed with dancers.

It’s another exceptional week for live music.
Tonight  the Owl Acoustic Lounge has an open mic. Plus local progressive rockers Lustre Creame along with the Illusive Mind Gypsy Crew will be hosting a jam at the Slice in between their sets.

The rest of the week has an outstanding line up as well including Australian based blues rockers  the Mason Rack Band who return to the Slice on Wednesday.

 Romi Mayes also returns  to Lethbridge, Friday, Aug. 6
Wax Mannequin is also back in Lethbridge, Aug, 9  at the Slice.

And a big show a lot of people are looking forward to takes place, Aug. 9 at Scores North where the Cancer Bats will be playing. The Living Luca are  also on the bill.

The Owl Acoustic Lounge has a couple interesting things this week in addition to  tonight’s open mic. They also have Tyson Wiebe and  Mickey Hayward  from Planet Telex will be performing an unplugged set on Friday, plus The David Harmon Experience is playing unplugged the next night.