The Owl Acoustic lounge didn’t  have a lot of people for Chin Music, Friday, April 7. But the local R and B/ jazz trio were solid as they should be as they feature keyboard whiz TJ Waltho backed by two thirds of funk trio Adequate— drummer/vocalist Keenan Pezderic and bassist Scott Mezei.

 They showed off  their more soulful , R and B side and Waltho’s keyboard prowess.

 he was alternating  between playing the Owl Acoustic Lounge’s piano and his own keyboard.

 They played something that sounded like Govt Mule’s  groovier side and shone on  Bill Withers “ Use Me.”

Their cover of Childish Gambino’s “Redbone- Stay Woke” was a-okay with Pezderic showing off his falsetto, hitting funky high notes.

— By Richard Amery, L.A. beat Editor

The rock/pop metal side of the ’80s returned to the Place for Easter weekend to entertain, people looking to relive the ’80s and a lot of younger people who wished they were there for the real thing. But Dave Chomiak’s popular second annual ’80s weekend brought them pretty close.

 I was in time on Friday, April 7 for  an awesome Dokken Tribute : Breaking the Chains.

 And despite the holiday weekend, they had  good sized crowds for the three day event at The Place .

 I missed Thursday night, April 6, which featured tributes to Bon Jovi, Heart and  the Police.

 I also wasn’t in time for a double dose of a great new Iron Maiden tribute, who played the Slice before Christmas., and rocked the Place. April 7 and 8.

 Dokken Tribute “ Breaking the Chains” were in full force by the time I arrived.

 As expected, they played plenty of anthemic arena ready anthems  with big riffs, gang vocals and hot guitar solos and Dokken’s hits including  the band’s namesake “Breaking the Chains.”

 They vocals were on points and the songs sounded like the records.

 One of Chomiak’s  tributes, Stage Fright Tribute to Def Leppard was in a similar vein, but with Def Leppard hits.

Frontman Chomiak and a slightly different line-up including Sheldon Arvay on guitar played note perfect versions of Def Leppard’s many hits including plenty from the album  “Pyromania.”, which turns 40 this year.

  “Foolin” was prominent in the set.

They played the hits including “Hysteria,” and “ Armageddon It.”

 Chomiak's were spot on as were the solos.

 On Saturday, April 9, I missed the Iron Maiden tribute again but caught the Zoo the Scorpions Tribute, who were a highlight of the first annual ’80s  weekend last year. I couldn’t stick around for Live Wire Tribute to Motley Cruë .

 The Scorpions tribute the Zoo were a highlight of last year’s ’80s tribute weekend and were a highlight again.

 They played their greatest hits including “Blackout,” the band’s namesake “ The Zoo” featuring a talk box effect, “ No One Like You” and even added their cover of the Scorpions cover of the Who’s “I Can’t Explain.”

They dug deeper for “ Bad Boys Running Wild” and “ Money And Fame”  then  played a celebratory “ Big City Nights.”

 Of course they added the power ballads like   Dreamers” and “ Winds of Change.”

 I left for another gig, so missed “Rock you Like a Hurricane.”

Their vocals were also perfect, they played a few duelling  guitar leads and rocked in spite a a few technical difficulties with one of the amp stacks, showed why the Scorpions are one of the best bands in the world who deserve a tribute and. that the Zoo are the perfect band to do it.

— by Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor

 Kitty and the Rooster put on a night of weird, wild, sexually charged fun at the Slice with Jack Garton and Sammy Volkov, Wednesday, April 12.

 They had a great crowd for a Wednesday night, likely as people know Jack Garton and Kitty and the Rooster always mean a good good time in Lethbridge.

I missed opening act Sammy Volkov and Jack Garton’s set, but they joined Kitty and the Rooster for a couple songs at the end.

 Kitty and the Rooster had taken off their rubber cat and rooster masks by the time I arrived. It was great to see them as I also missed the mask portion of the show when they played South Country Fair last summer.

That left drummer/ vocalist/ keyboardist Jodie Ponto and guitarist / vocalist Noah Walker to entertain with beaming smiles and  their unique, quirky brand of  pop, rockabilly, surf, punk and psychedelic music, reminiscent of a weirder, more stripped down Southern Culture On the Skids.

 They played several cuts from their “One Gig Hard Drive” but also had a couple new songs to  test out.

 “Good Guys, Bad Band” was hilarious highlight, which touched on the blues and which had a few of the dancers singing along. They had everyone clapping along with “The Clap.”

 “Pay A Million Dollars  to Live Like You’re Poor,” from ‘One Gig Hard Drive,’ was the perfect blend of humour and social commentary , which  Kitty and the Rooster do extremely well.

Ponto sang a song about underbutt” from behind her drum kit ad keyboards. Another new highlight was a song abut dicks, for which they got the audience to sing along.

 The duo saved crowd favourite “Sexercise” for near the end of the set before Ponto, glittering in her silver sequinned dress, took centre stage to lead a jam with Jack Garton and Sammy Volkov on a song about mansplaining, for which Garton broke out his trumpet and accordion.

— By Richard Amery, LA, Beat Editor 

It has been a bit of a “long haul,” but local folk/ roots musician John Wort Hannam won two of the three Canadian Folk Music Awards he was nominated for, April 2,  for his most recent album “Long Haul.”

 And they couldn’t have come at a better time, when Hannam has been going a few rounds with writer’s block.

 He went to  write at the Banff centre Jan. 7-21 to write some new songs but wasn’t able to come up with anything.

“ I went to the Banff Centre to write, but it was pointless. I was over thinking things, he said.

  Hannam took home awards for solo artist of the year and contemporary folk album of the year, but lost the English songwriter of the year to  Abigail Lapell.

“She deserved to win,” Hannam said, adding he didn’t expect to win  the awards he did.

“I won one before in 2010, I think for “Queen’s Hotel’ and I’ve been nominated a bunch of times,” Hannam continued.

“I never expected to win, but it is nice to get the recognition. I’m grateful for it,” he said.

“This is the album I recorded all online with Steve Dawson producing. It was in Pat Ackerman’s studio and we had players from Toronto, Vancouver and Nashville,” he said.