LCI students get ready to dance this week at the Yates Memorial Theatre. Even better the school’s tenth annual spring dance recital, Team HOPE!, running April 23-25 at the Yates Memorial Centre will be in tune to the music of Vancouver based pop band Jason and the Diatonics, which includes several former members of New West Theatre including frontman  and LCI  and New West Theatre alumni Jason Poulsen, who is the son of dance instructor Betty Poulsen. She has been trying to get her son’s band out to play for the production.
LCI does two major dance productions each year.

Poulsen has been involved with LCI’s annual production for the past 10 years.
“ The students have been working on it for about eight weeks,” Poulsen said.
“This year is really different and really exciting. It’s very exciting. There is this collaborative feel. There is a wide range of different programs and they love the music,” she continued.

 They will be performing to Jason and the Diatonics’ original music which is very much influenced by danceable pop music.

“It really helps them to be able to work with and have access to professionals,” she continued.
 Not only will they be performing with the band, but over the past two months, they have been training with hip hop dance specialist Tara Wilson and modern/ jazz dancer Joanne Baker,  two professional Calgary based dance choreographers. They are part of this year's program thanks to an Artists in Education grant from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. 

Poulsen and six of the students did a three day creation residency at the Banff Centre in the fall to prepare this show.

“There will be modern hip hop, some gymnastics and even some tap dancing,” she said.
She said it is a project that has been in the works for a while  though it has been difficult co-ordinating schedules especially with that of her son, who, in addition to fronting Jason and the Diatonics, is also a busy actor in the Vancouver area.

Approximately 70 students from Grade 9-12 will be involved in the event this year as well as approximately 15 parents.

“It’s a great thing for kids who are artistic, but it caters to everybody,” said proud parent Lisa Landry, whose daughter is part of the show.
They will be dancing a variety of dances  in the  genres of hip hop and jazz.

It is a big week for big name shows.
 Toronto based pop band Down With Webster return to Lethbridge to party with their fans at  Bully’s Entertainment Centre, April 26.
If you want to rock, however, Motley Crüe is in town April 30 with Canadian progressive rock band Big Wreck.
 Also in the vein of rock music, One Bad Son returns to tear the roof off of Average Joes, April 27. Admission is $10.

 If you are already looking forward to the South Country Fair,  then you won’t want to miss the finals for the South Country Fair Songwriting Competition, where a variety of performers will be performing their songs of a panel of judges to see who gets to play the main stage at this year’s Fair.
 Calgary bluegrass/ folk band the Bitterweed Draw will be closing off the evening which begins at 7 p.m. There is no cover charge for this event.

If you want something a little different from that, Snapback and Throwbacks  returns to the Slice, April  24. It will feature several of Lethbridge's hip hop artists Kojo Killem/ Lo G/Spartans / Pzeudo / Urban Voyce , Nikko,Van Damme , Heavy  Knowledge and Grey Area. Nickname and DJ Booda will be spinning the beats.
There is also a lot of roots music this week with Jack Marks and the Lost Wages playing the Owl Acoustic Lounge, April 26,  Karen Romanchuk returning to the Owl Acoustic Lounge, April 27 and Tin and the Toad returning to the Slice, April 28.

Juno award winning Toronto based pop band Down With Webster are all about having fun. So they will be having lots of it when they return to Lethbridge to play Bully’s, April 26.
“ The band is all about having fun and we’re all good friends,” said frontman, rapper/ vocalist Camm Hunter from Red Deer where the band is winding down a long tour with this year's Juno award winning, Vancouver based pop band Marianas Trench.
“It’s gone extremely well. They’re a great band and there’s been lots of partying,” Hunter said.

 After finishing their tour with Marianas Trench, they will be staying out west to do a couple solo shows including the one in Lethbridge.

“There are a lot of new songs, it is going to be big, high energy and loud,” he described.
 It will be an extension of  the 45 minute opening sets they have been playing with Marianas Trench.

“It will be an extension of that show, but bigger and beefier, then we’ve got to get back to Toronto and finish the new album,” he continued adding  the new CD should be released in the fall.

 The first single, the keyboard/ organ driven pop rocker “One In A Million” has already attracted a lot of attention.

“It‘s been great and radio has been really supportive. It’s great to see everybody enjoying it and we enjoy playing it which is most important because we have to play it every night,” he said.

The progressive rock  of Big Wreck might seem like an interesting choice to open for Motley Crüe, April 30 at the Enmax Centre, but frontman/ guitarist Ian Thornley is excited about it.
“I’ve never actually seen  Motley Crüe before, but I am looking forward to seeing how they do a show,” said Thornley, in the midst of Big Wreck’s own tour  on the northeastern United States.

“But I’ve done shows with KISS, so I imagine it will be a similar style of show,” he said.

 Big Wreck were popular in Canada in the ’90s with songs like “The Oaf” and “That Song,” but are touring in support of a brand new CD “Albatross,” and the hit singles “ A Million Days” and the title track.
After Big Wreck broke up, Thornley took some time to record and tour with a self titled solo project, Thornley to play a different style of music from Big Wreck.

 He noted Big Wreck got back together because he missed working with guitarist Brian Doherty.
“I missed that camaraderie when we were writing together. It was fun,” he said.
 They will be playing  between 45 minutes and a hour long set.