Songwriters in the round shows are a lot if fun, because you get four different songwriting perspectives. The only problem is you never get to see enough of the people you really want to see.
 Unless they all add to each other’s music , like with Olds/Red Deer guitarist Tyler Allen, Edmonton’s  Kimberley MacGregor, and B.C musicians Nasti Weather and the Brain Porter who were playing as Rovers in the Round at the Owl Acoustic Lounge, April 5.

 Tyler Allen plays here with a lot of bands including Boots and the Hoots as well as solo.
 This time he was adding twanging Telecaster to  everybody’s songs.

He started off the first set  with one of his original country songs.

 Kimberley MacGregor, has a new CD coming out in the next year or so, so was eager to share brand new music,  beginning with a slow, mournful number featuring her huge, soulful, bluesy voice. Allen added some lead guitar while Nasti Weather added a  few subtle banjo licks.

 Nasti Weather was up next with her banjo and decided to out  do MacGregor on the sad song front. She told a few stories about breaking up and plucked banjo, singing a sad jazz tinged number with Brain Porter bowing his upright bass to make it sound a little more mournful.

He kept up the sad jazz feel on his own song, with Allen adding a little bit of chicken picking on guitar.
 He  turned the set more country on his own.

MacGregor sang another more upbeat, sultry jazz number after that with everyone chipping in.
For her next song, Nasti Weather explored a more exotic sound on her banjo, with Brain Porter bowing more upright bass.
 Brain Porter added some bluesy harp while thumping on his bass for his third song of the set.

Kimberley MacGregor picked up the tempo a lot with the quirky and appealing “ You Fill My Cup Up With So Much Love.”
 Nasti Weather  carried on with the more optimistic tone with a song about “ finding beauty out of sadness.”
 And Brain Porter finished the first set with  song, featuring mostly of  the lines  “ Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting the same results.”

Windsor, Ontario born ’90s rockers the Tea Party are enjoying a second life after taking a break in 2005 after scoring a string of exotic flavoured hard rock hits in the late ’90s including “the Bazaar,” “the Messenger,“ “Temptation” and “Heaven Coming Down.”
 But they came back with a vengeance with a live album Live From Australia in 2012, and released a full length  CD “The Ocean at the End” and are enjoying more success from their new single. “Black River,” which they named their tour after.

“It’s been on the charts for several months at number 5 and hasn’t really shifted. It’s a pretty nice accomplishment,“ noted drummer Jeff Burrows, who is excited excited to embark on a new tour with band mates, bassist Stuart Chatwood and frontman Jeff Martin, who now lives in Australia.
“He’s been there for awhile now. So when we want to work on new material, we book a tour there and arrive a couple of weeks in advance. We’re going to stay there for a couple of weeks after the next tour,” he observed, adding that will be in June.

“Not to compare ourselves to the Rolling Stones, but they don’t live anywhere near each other either,” he said. The tour comes to Lethbridge for a sold out show at the Yates Theatre/ Sterndale Theatre with Proud Sons, May 1.
“A lot of them are sold out, and a lot of the others are already 90 per cent sold out,” observed Burrows.
 A lot of the shows are in theatre like the Yates Sterndale Bennett Theatre.

“We’re playing a lot of bigger clubs and theatres. It’s great and it’s a lot of fun being able to play theatres we weren’t privy to when we were young. You just roll in and there’s this nice big stage for you. We’re used to playing cramped clubs were it’s really loud and you can feel the drums beating against your chest,” he said, adding they don’t change the style of the show for a theatre.

Pete isn’t dead or in jail, according to Hamilton funnyman B.A, Johnston, who  returns to the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Tuesday, April 23 with J Blissette in  support of his new CD “The Skid is Hot Tonight.”
“Pete loves that song,” chuckled Johnston of the first single from the CD “We’re All Going to Jail (Except Pete, He’s Gonna Die), which also inspired a frame by frame re-creation of Van Halen’s “Jump” video.

“It’s not as good, because they have more money and we‘re older. But we painstakingly re-created every frame, but cut most of it,” he said.

“ But it features they guy who does my beats and the guy who does my album artwork, so it is nice to feature them,” he said, adding the song is partially based on a true story.

“Pete took too many magic mushrooms and thought security was chasing him. We lost him for a half hour. And he still thought security was chasing him, though I don’t think  they were,” he said.

It is a follow up to his last CD Gremlins 3.
“ That was like two years ago. Time flies. I have like 12 CDs out now,” he said, adding they will  probably only be playing three songs from the CD.
“I have a lot of ‘hits’ and people want to hear them. I know when I go see Iron Maiden and they mostly  play their new album, I don’t really like that,” he said, adding he is always writing.

“It’s a long CD. It’s 12 songs and 42 minutes long. So it‘s like a Grateful Dead album,” Johnston chuckled.

This week is all about the ladies and a little bit of rock and roll for Easter weekend.
But first, New West Theatre veterans Jeff Carlson, Greg Paskuski, Scott Carpenter, Jordana Kohn, Arlene Bedster, Andre Royer, Kelly Roberts and Erica Hunt perform their annual ’50s, ’60s and ’70s music comedy revue fundraiser for the NordBridge Centre during Old Favourites 7 at the Yates Theatre, April 16-18. The show begins at 7:30 p.m.Tickets are $35.

 The Slice starts things off heavy on a Wednesday with Vancouver hard rock band/ thrash/ death metal band Dead Asylum plus local bands  Chernoff and Revanchist. The show begins at 9 p.m.. Admission is $10.

 Then it is all about ladies who rock.
 Edmonton folk/ R and B songwriter Billie Zizi returns to the Slice, April 18 with her power trio.
It will indeed be a good Friday with several shows competing for that holiday dollar.
 Toronto indie rock band Ace of Wands plays the Slice with country band the Orchard and punk band J Blissette and dark folk band Makiisma.
 A little further down the line, The Slice has another big hard rock metal show, Wednesday, April 24 featuring the Decibel Worship tour featuring Vancouver’ bands Heron and Bort, Calgary doom metal band Monolith and the Rainbow Patrol. Admission is $10.
 Down the road at the Owl Acoustic Lounge, April 19, FLIPfest presents Calgary punk band the Shiverettes, who are touring in support of their new CD “Real Shrill Bitches.” They will be joined by Mombod and Wares. Admission is by donation.

 If you want to relive the ’80s, a couple of excellent tribute acts  Live Wire: the Motley Crüe experience and and the debut of Live Wire: The Def Leppard Experience featuring Kitty Chevelle. The show begins at 9 p.m. There is a $15 cover charge.
 And Honker’s Pub is closed for  Good Friday, so they are moving their usual Friday open mic to Thursday, April 18 with host Paul Kype.
They are open again on Saturday, April 20 for one of several 4/20 parties happening around the city.
 The Trippy Hippys host the afternoon open mic and 4-20 party at Honker’s Pub.

 The Slice is going hip hop for their 4-20 party with  the DJ Restrickted’ Rated R tour 420 mash up featuring Live Hip-Hop performances by:
The Psychonauts, JPB, HayZe, Tokey & Kid Killit, xRGx & Cliche and DJ Disko, plus host  F-Bomb and headliner DJ Restrickted who spins  hip hop, trap, dubstep, future bass and more. It will be hosted by Hosted by F-Bomb. Admission is $15.
Bang your head all day long at the Smokehouse. There is a metal matinee at 2 p.m. with Vancouver bands Of Artistry and Hawking and Vancouver Island’s Tama Hills, plus Calgary’s Gutter King and Widmore.  Doors open at 2 p.m. with the metal madness beginning at 3 p.m. sharp. Admission is $10 for this all ages gig.