February 25, 2015 - Lethbridge Sun Times - page 10 THE ARTS I


It’s a good week for country and roots music the buzz


f you like country music, this is the perfect week for you with a couple of excellent country and roots acts coming through Lethbridge.


For real, authentic cowboy music, check


out a special show at the Lethbridge Folk Club Wolf’s Den, March 1, with New Mexico-based musician/college professor/actor and cowboy Steve Cormier, who comes back to Canada for the first time in almost 30 years. He will be playing with Peter Paul Van Camp. The other big country show is Regina


musician Blake Berglund, who will be bringing his band plus Manitoba musician Quinton Blair to the Slice, Feb. 26. The Owl Acoustic Lounge also has some excellent roots acts as they welcome back Kampukasing-born musician Al Lukas on Feb. 28. The night before, the Owl Acoustic Lounge welcomes Warspite, Alberta musician Jake Ian to the stage, Feb. 27. You can laugh out February with


Toronto-based, Cape Breton-raised comedian Ron James who performs the at the Yates Theatre, Feb. 28. The show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $55. If you are in the mood for some blues,


local blues rockers Paul Kype and Texas Flood return to the Slice, Feb. 28. But March will truly and completely


rock with a couple great punk shows lined up for March 4 (Calgary’s Citizen Rage at Inferno) and March 6 (The Real McKenzies and the Isotopes at Bo Diddly’s). But the Slice is first out the gate with an


early week show from the Ruby Plumes and Winnipeg “space freaks” Moon Tan on Monday, March 2. There is $5 cover for that show. Casino Lethbridge also rocks in March


with the dual bagpipe-powered Celtic rock band the Mudmen, Feb. 28. The Casino features DC Top, a variety act on Feb. 27


LIVE MUSIC Richard Amery


Sun Times columnist


who don’t have anything to do with ZZ Top or AC DC. The other big thing happening this


week, mostly at Club Didi is Pretty Witty and Gay. The annual event opened on Feb. 21 and


carries on through to Feb. 28 with the Pretty, Witty and Gay Cabaret at the Sterndale Bennett Theatre. The variety show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20. Pretty, Witty and Gay also features an original opera, “Drinks with Maria,” at Club Didi featuring Vancouver performer Maria Toilette. It begins at 10 p.m. There is a $10 cover. Throughout the week, Liam Monaghan’s play “How To Leave” runs Feb. 24-27 at 8 p.m. at Club Didi. It features Graham Mothersill and Jay Whitehead. New Mexico-based cowboy singer Steve


Cormier has seen and done it all. He grew up in Minnesota, has competed


in rodeos as a bareback rider, played hockey, has acted in movies and TV shows like “Breaking Bad,” toured as a musician, retired from that to become a college history professor and is back on the road to play a couple of Lethbridge shows, March 1 at the Lethbridge Folk Club Wolf’s den and a week later for a Home Routes Concert at Valerie McQuaid’s house, March 7.


“People tell me I’ve had an interesting life, but it’s not over yet,” Cormier


observed from his New Mexico home, adding he is looking forward to coming back to Canada, especially with Peter Van Camp. “I’ll be playing the Folk Club with Peter


Paul Van Camp. We’ll each do a set. Then I’ll be back in a week to do a whole show.” “I’ve got 10 concerts for Home Routes in


Edmonton, Evansburg, High River, Lethbridge, Eastend, Saskatchewan, Medicine Hat, Rocky Mountain House, Olds and Okotoks,” he observed. “This is the first time I’ll have played


Canada since the ’80s,” he said, adding he used to hit the summer festival circuit including Winnipeg Folk Festival, Edmonton Folk Festival and Toronto Folk Festival. “I don’t think I’ve ever played a bad


show in Canada. I haven’t toured Canada since 1987. I took off 22 years to become an academic to be a college history professor,” he said. He is excited to play Alberta because of


the cowboy history. “I play working cowboy songs, not


Hollywood cowboy songs; there is a difference,” Cormier said. “Alberta has an amazing cowboy history.


There was Pete Knight and John Ware, a black man who came up to Canada from the United States to become a rancher. I’m a huge Wilf Carter fan, so I sing a song about Pete Knight. He was a saddle bronc rider. He won the big three — Calgary, Cheyenne and Pendleton,” he said. “I rodeoed myself, though it wasn’t on a


professional level, so I’m interested in people like Pete Knight,” he said. He noted New Mexico doesn’t have folk


clubs like in Canada; however, he is part of the chautauqua circuit — travelling variety shows combining lectures, concerts and plays. “There aren’t a lot of folk clubs here but


there are a lot of house concerts,” he observed. He is also an actor who has appeared in


“Wyatt Earp,” “The Astronaut Farmer,” the TV movie “Desperado: Avalanche at Devil’s Ridge” and in an episode of the TV show “Breaking Bad.” “I was in one episode of ‘Breaking Bad’


called ‘One Minute.’ I played an OPR — Officer of Professional Response — a position which actually exists,” he said. “It’s an episode where Jesse gets beaten


up pretty badly,” he said. “And even though it is only one episode,


people still recognize me in the street for it,” he added. “I was also in ‘Astronaut Farmer’ with


Billy Bob Thornton,” he said. Turning his attention to his concert


companion, Cormier noted, “I don’t think there is a better MC than Peter Paul Van Camp. I’m picking him up at the bus station.” Cormier and Van Camp play the


Lethbridge Folk Club Wolf’s Den (MJ’s Cycle, 1502 2 Ave. S.), March 1 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 for members and $30 for invited guests. Saskatchewan country musician Blake


Berglund may have started his music career playing grunge-inspired rock music, until he discovered a love for ’60s and ’70s country music. “I listen to a lot of Kris Kristofferson. I


listen to everything from Roger Miller to Willie Nelson and of course Kris Kristofferson,” he said from his home in Regina. He comes to the Slice with his band and


Manitoba country musician Quinton Blair, Feb. 26. “We’ve been on the road for 10 years,” he


said. CONTINUED ON PAGE 11


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