A decent  crowd was  all set for a night of rock and roll with Jonnor, Cold Water and Fawns, Friday, Oct. 8 at the Owl Acoustic Lounge.

 I arrived in the  middle of Calgary duo Jonnor’s set. They played a solid set of mid to late ’90s influenced rock and roll, with just a touch of grunge.

 They had a lot of energy and were having a lot of fun on stage.

 I didn’t want to miss Steve Keenan’s CD release party at the Slice, so I unfortunately missed Cold Water, but got back just in time for Fawns.

I’ve loved Fawns since the first time I saw them play. Mercedes Fawns has unforgettable impassioned  vocals and Richard Charlton has a way with a catchy guitar riff.

 However I couldn’t hear any of that, because this time the bassist drowned everybody else out in an excruciatingly loud set which is unusual for the Owl.

Unless you’re Flea or the ghost of Lemmy, the bassist should not be front and centre.

I think Steve Foord was debugging the sound system, but I could only stay for three or four songs before I had to leave because of the volume.

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor

Jr. Gone Wild  is excited to have a new CD “Still Got the Jacket,” coming out in November and about returning to Lethbridge to play the Owl Acoustic Lounge on Saturday.

“ We’re just excited to play anywhere, said frontman Mike McDonald.

“ We’re stoked to have a new album out that will bring us out of the  reunion band category and into the  more relevant category. So we’re excited to to do the work to support it,” McDonald continued.

 They sat down together in lead guitarist/ steel guitarist Steve Loree’s Nanton studio to record the new music in summer 2020.

 The Edmonton country punk pioneers emerged out of  Edmonton’s eclectic alternative rock  scene in the early ’80s which included the likes of SNFU.

 They were active from 1983-1995, but reunited about nine years ago. They released a single “Barricades,” which is on the new CD and recorded a countrified cover of SNFU’s “Cannibal Cafe’ for a still unreleased SNFU tribute CD.

“ It still hasn’t been released, so we weren’t sure whether to put it on this CD,” he said.

 The 16 track CD includes a note perfect of Chilliwack’s  “Fly at Night.” 

“I think it’s a little faster than the original. But I’m almost too afraid to listen to the original to check,” McDonald said.

“We had that idea back on “Too Dumb To Quit,” which Chilliwack’s Bill Henderson produced.  We talked about recording it but never recorded it, but we revisited the idea again for this album. We talked to Bill and sent to he track to him in his studio on Salt Springs Island. So he has this little guitar duet with Steve Loree at the end of the song,” he said.

Check out some live music to recover from Thanksgiving.

 Most of the week is dominated by tribute acts and open mics

 However the fun begins on Tuesday, Oct. 12 with a blues jam at the Slice hosted by  Keith Catfish Woodrow.

 Tuesdays are busy days now as the Owl Acoustic Lounge has their weekly open mic and  Good Times’ weekly comedy open mic is also on Tuesday.

 Scott Davidson and some of his talented music students are back at the Slice on Wednesday, Oct. 13 as he hosts another Alumni night at the Slice.  If you miss that show  There is another Scott Davidson alumni night at the Slice on Oct. 22.

 The Owl Acoustic Lounge welcomes back Tyler Allen and the Red Hot Hayseeds for a mid week show on Thursday, Oct. 14.

 There is more comedy at the Canadian Brewhouse  on Thursday for Comedy Club night.

As always the Slice has their weekly open mic on Thursdays.

A new group called JD including Danny Douglas, Jackie French  and Jasmine Mitchell host the open mic at Honker’s Pub on Friday.  They will begin at 7 p.m. with a 45 minute set and will open the stage to jammers after.Coda Lite hosts their Saturday afternoon jam.

The Lethbridge Girls Rock Camp’s family jam returns to the Owl Acoustic Lounge on Saturday afternoon, at 2 p.m.

Steel Cut rock Casino Lethbridge Friday and Saturday.

 Bridgette Yarwood and her new band including Yarwood on vocals, guitar and keyboards, bassist/vocalist Ian Morrice, guitarist/vocalist Mel Gaydos  and drummer Beau Sommerfeldt make a long awaited return to the Slice on Friday, Oct. 15. The Decadent Phase’s Doors tribute will open the show.

 The Decadent Phase will play their own show at the Slice on Saturday.

 Richard Inmann returns to the Owl Acoustic Lounge with his band, Friday, Oct. 15

 And Edmonton country punk pioneers Jr. Gone Wild return to the Owl Acoustic Lounge.

Their new CD “Still Got the Jacket” is due out  Nov. 12. Admission is $10.

Fall means Fundrive for  University of Lethbridge  based Community radio station CKXU 88.3 f.m. www.ckxu.com

 This year  FUNDrive smells like flowers. CKXU has set a goal of raising $20,000 worth of flower power, OCt. 15-22 though the usual on air pledge drive and a few online events which begin this week.

“The money will go towards a new website which will allow us podcast capabilities and more accessibility for listeners who want to read about their favourite shows and their playlists,” said Genna Bourchier, CKXU Executive director.

“We have a surprisingly large international following who tune in to their favourite shows. Podcasting is something our listeners have requested,” she continued, noting First Nations music show Universal languages has a big following in Australia and some of CKXU’s World music programming also attracts a lot of interest overseas.

“And Covid as pointed out some holes to us that need to be filled like recording equipment so our volunteers can record their shows from home,” added Volunteer Coordinator /operations director Imogen Pohl.

 The first event, Beer Survivor begins on Friday, Oct. 8.

 Beer survivor is an online draw. Participants can form teams of up to five. For $15 per person entry fee. You  enter your name in a draw. Each name will drawn, which you can see on  a live stream. The last person standing’s team  takes home 50 cans of craft beer, Second last gets 30 cans of beer and third last gets 20 cans of beer for their team. The draw will be Oct. 17 at 7 p.m.

There is also an online 50 50 draw and a poetry contest. Submissions are open now for poems. with a theme of  Flowers, Environmentalism and ‘Growing Anew,” to go along with the theme of this year’s FUNdrive.

Submissions are due on Oct. 13. The event itself is on Oct.18. Submissions will be judged between Oct. 14-17 

A panel of judges will rank the poems from their favourites to least favourites. Submit poems to https://ckxu.com/primrose-poetry-submissions

 CKXU has teamed with local apiary “Forever BEE!‚ to do Honeygrams. So participants can send honey flavoured treats to their “Bee” loved. Honeygrams include a four pack of  Beeswax candles, 10 Honeystix, Forever Bee lip balm, a 125 g jar of Clover Honey, a printed planet saver checklist, printed recipe card and a message from the sender. They are available online from Oct. 8-22 for $20.

“ We’re playing it safe this year. But we weren’t sure what was going to happen with Covid.  If there is another shut down, we ’d have had to cancel. So all of our events are online this year,” Pohl said.