Time: 8 p.m.

Cover: none

 This free show takes place in the Zoo  on the third show of  the Student]s union Buildng. So come and celebrate with community radio station CKXU 88.3 FM.

 C.R. Avery http://www.cravery.com/

what men do with their mouths
for C.R. Avery by P. Smith
cue the frenzied combo of molar and spit.
his tongue touches every chroma on its way to blue.
he’s been rinsing with gravel, flossing with wire
and chewing brick again, he’s been a bad, bad boy.
but he is crackerjack conjurer of washboards and
rubber, even suburb girls welcome the twinging. i
want to nibble yesterday’s corona from his chin, rub
my index finger along the surface of his laugh, pull
the maw open to check the slick road of his throat.
there’s something illegal going on down there, the
sweet keening of ancient instruments. the orchestra
is fidgety, click-hipped, steaming inside that skin.
the boy opens the beauteous and, in gut rendering,
words become both otherwise and everything.


Outlaw Hip-Hop Harmonica Player, Beatbox Poet, Punk Piano Player, String Quartet Raconteur, Rock & Roll Matador, Playwright

Whether performing to thousands at the Royal Albert Hall or the lucky few who made it inside the packed past capacity speakeasy, C.R. Avery is a unique, raw and dynamic performer. His genius lies in many genres - blues, hip-hop, spoken word and rock & roll. He is a one-man band, but one for this generation; with the rare ability to sing poetic verse while beatboxing simultaneously while pounding the piano and adding harmonica like a plot twist. A multi-talented front man for his Legal Tender String Quartet; a crazed lead singer/harp player for his rock & roll band The Special Interest Group; a lyrical dynamo & the musical backbone of the spoken word trio Tons of Fun University.

From musical beginnings in his late teens, C.R. Avery has recorded over fifteen albums as well as writing & directing six hip-hop operas, which were mounted and performed from New York’s Bowery to L.A.’s South Central.  He has toured throughout Canada (including almost every major folk festival) the USA and Europe (headlining or opening for Billy Bragg, Buck 65, and Sage Francis) and garnered the attention of music peers the likes of Tom Waits (“...he’s blowin’ my mind”); blues harp trail blazer Charlie Musselwhite (“...no one plays harmonica like him… no one…”); and folk legend Utah Phillips (“...raw talent”).

His incredible live performances have been described as Bob Dylan in the body of Iggy Pop; colliding with Little Walter, the Beastie Boys and Allen Ginsberg.  Every show is all or nothing and his fearless approach to all genres of music both on stage and in the studio proves the longevity of this talented, astonishing creator has so much more to come.

For more information – http://www.cravery.com

Jesse and the Dandelions http://jesseandthedandelions.com/

There are two sides to every story. Light and dark, good and evil, life and death. This inherent contrast of the world and the struggle for finding some balance in between shapes the emotional content of Jesse and the Dandelions’ touchingly personal yet widely relatable new album A Mutual Understanding.

With Jesse and the Dandelions’ production values maturing alongside the content, the new album A Mutual Understanding is enriched with classic synth and drum machine textures that pays respect to the past, while forging their own unique path forward. String sections and heavily layered vocal harmonies push accessible pop hooks into more psychedelically complex and intriguing harmonic territory that rewards repeat listeners by continuing to engage them fully with each spin.

Jesse and the Dandelions have recently showcased at Untapped Alberta, BreakOut West and South Country Fair, while also sharing stages at club dates with groups such as Hollerado, July Talk, Rah Rah and Hey Ocean! They have also hit #47 on the National Earshot charts and have released an auto-biographical comic book.

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COMIC BOOK VERSION- JESSE AND THE DANDELIONS ORIGIN STORY COMIC BOOK

The Long Version

Jesse Northey was a figure skater.  But not just any figure skater, he was the best. And at home in Fernie, BC, he was also the only boy who did such a thing. This made him a magnet for young girls who dreamt of being lifted and twirled into a long, healthy skating career.

That was until grade seven hit. Literally.

Jesse got beat up on a regular basis for his high-flying passion. He knew there was only one thing he could do to turn things around, and that was redemption…testosterone redemption.

Jesse knew he needed to get a guitar.

So off he went with his entire family, all the way to the bustling metropolis of Lethbridge, Alberta to buy his first electric. A shiny, blue, Stratocaster knockoff – “Yamaha Pacifica”. But Jesse also knew he couldn’t get by on the whiney acoustic stuff. He needed to learn the hardest and the fastest of songs, quickly.

Metallica. The answer was as hardcore as he was.

“If I can play those songs, I can play anything,” he thought to himself. So he practiced, and he practiced, and when the time was right he began to sing.

And so it began….

Meanwhile, in the same magical year that was seventh grade, Nick Vedres was at home in his mother’s basement playing acoustic shows for all the teddy bears he could find. By day, he was his bass-playing father’s prodigy, but by night, he was raring to become his own hero.

A rock star.

So after years of tampering on his papa’s old acoustic, Nick came up from the basement, arguably entered the same theoretical guitar shop as Jesse had, bought an electric, and joined the school band. He strummed his heart out in the back line, playing a whopping two chords per minute to such classic hits as ‘Silent Night’.

Sure, it wasn’t exactly what he had in mind, but Nick would settle his ambitions by reminding himself, “Oh yeah, I’m the coolest guy in the band.”

But something was about to change. . .

The two young men began to mingle with their ambitious guitars at hand and something magical happened – they began to play music.
Now Nick’s basement had not one aspiring rock icons, but two! Until one day when Vancouver progressive-rock band, Incura, tracked down the two men. “Hey, you play music right,” asked the band. “Yeaaaa,” replied Jesse and Nick, hesitantly.

This was it. The grand opportunity to play their first show.

They had two months to do the unthinkable… write their own music. And so they came up from the basement, out into the streets of Lethbridge and recruited a band. And before they knew it, that band had a slew of original songs.

But they still lacked one thing – a name.

“Jesse and the Broken Compasses?”

“No.”

“Jesse and the Ice Agents??”

“No.”

“Well this is ridiculous,” exclaimed Jesse. “If we don’t have a band name by the morning, we’re going to be… Jesse and the Dandelions!”

There it was…”the threat.”

The sun went down and the sun came back up again to shed its rays on a pile of band members who had passed out unnamed.

And so there they were…Jesse and the Dandelions.