It is a great week for music leading up to the August long weekend.
There are phenomenal shows this week beginning tonight at the Slice with Maria in the Shower, an unusual roots band from Vancouver that features horns and harmonica and a variety of influences in their music. They were at the Slice July 19 and are back July 28.
Another cool roots band, the Sunparlour Players are also back at the Slice July 29.
There are a couple great shows July 30. The Slice is going rockabilly with Hurricane Felix and the Southern Twisters, with special guests, Bent 8, while around the corner, the Mocha Cabana has a special show with Whitehorse-based singer/songwriter Jude Waldeman, who had one of his songs recorded by Ronnie Hawkins. He will be playing from 6-9 p.m.
Five Alarm Funk returns to the Slice Saturday, July 31.
On the other side of the city, Mississauga-based reggae/rock band Ill Scarlett will be playing with special guests Sleeping With Tuesday July 30 at Scores North. It was supposed to be at the Blarney Stone, but the venue has been changed. “We’ve been out to Alberta a bunch of times; we’ve been to Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer but never had the privilege of going to Lethbridge. We hear it’s very beautiful. If it is as beautiful as the rest of Alberta, then we’re looking forward to it,” said Ill Scarlett guitarist/singer Alex Norman.
“We just love playing for people. We have a lot of fun . . . During the live show, we give ’er. As much as we come to entertain people, the first thing we want to do is entertain ourselves because if we can entertain ourselves, then the rest will follow,” he added.
“It is difficult for any artist to describe their music. Because your description of your music may not match somebody else‘s. We do rock-reggae with pop sensibilities.”
It has been over a year since they released their last CD “1Up” but since then they have done a cross-Canada tour as well as a couple tours in the United States, plus they just returned from China as part of the Transmissions program with five other Canadian bands including Toronto bands Ohbijou and Flash Lightnin’, who they were touring with.
“It was an opportunity to go an learn about marketing opportunities in China. There were two separate tours following each other,” he said, adding they played about eight different cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. “We don’t have any new material. We’ve never played Lethbridge before, so we’ll play the old material everyone wants to hear,” he said.
The past week also had some great shows.
I only caught the last couple songs of England-born, Edmonton-based singer songwriter Matthew Kerr, July 23.
He had an almost full house mesmerized by his melodies and the low-key mellow cello backing him. The Canadian Idol contestant didn’t say a lot during his set but maintained an acoustic Radiohead feel to his music.
Hippodrome returned to the Slice July 23 to keep a typically strong crowd dancing the night away.
In addition to a plethora of R and B and disco hits, they introduced a new , bluesy original called “Hook, Line and Sinker,” which the audience enjoyed.
The entire band, especially Erica Hunt got a chance to shine on their version of Tina Turner’s cover of “Proud Mary” during which guitarist James Oldenburg added a few bars of the Star Wars theme to his solo. The rowdy crowd was ready to dance through the night, but the band called it quits with an extended jam of “Dance to The Music.”
They came back for an encore of “I Will Survive.”
Edmonton stoner rock/’70s-style shoegaze trio Red Ram returned to the Slice July 24. They entertained the audience of approximately 50 people with big riffs and Cars meets the Smalls vocals on original music from their two CDs, including several selections from their latest CD “Slip Away.”
Even through frontman Mark Feduk broke a string on the first song, they kept the energy and intensity up while displaying a wide variety of sonic excitement from funk to rockabilly to grunge.
 Feduk even dedicated a song, “I Don’t Believe in Luck,” to local singer-songwriter Shaela Miller after telling the story about travelling down to L.A. with her for recording several years ago.
I was hoping for a longer set from them. However, a trimmed-down trio of the New Weather Machine were up next. Featuring Jon Martin on guitar and vocals, Brad Brouwer on drums and Jesse Northey on bass, they played through a variety of Martin’s David Bowie/Mott The Hoople/Pink Floyd ’70s-style originals before being called back for an encore of Bowie’s “Young Americans.”
For a list of upcoming shows, visit www.lethsuntimes.com

Meanwhile, at the Owl Acoustic Lounge, local singer songwriter Matt Robinson had a solid set of original acoustic folk and blues. They featured superb melodies and some pretty fabulous fingerpicking. Jared Klok and friends were up next with an excellent set of more bluegrass style country music.


July 28
Bar One — Ben Brown hosts open mic
Slice — Maria In the Shower
July 29
Slice — Sunparlour Players
Good Earth Coffee House — open mic
Beaches Pub — open mic
Coyote Joe’s — live karaoke and open jam with Paul Kype
Owl Acoustic Lounge — open mic
July 30
MOcha Cabana — Jude Waldman
Casino Lethbridge — Dusty Boot band
Slice — Hurricane Felix and the Southern Twisters with Bent 8
Scores North — Ill Scarlett and guests $20
July 31
Casino Lethbridge — Dusty Boot Band
 Slice — Five Alarm Funk
Mocha cabana — O’Reely
August 2
1010 Pub — open Mic
Owl Acoustic Lounge — open mic
August 3
Slice — Ilusive Mind gypsy crew with Lustre Creame
August 4
Bar One — open mic with Ben Brown
Slice — Mason Rack band roots
August 5
Good Earth Coffee House — open mic
Beaches Pub — open mic
Coyote Joe’s— live karaoke and open jam with Paul Kype
Blarney Stone— Mahoney
Owl Acoustic Lounge— open mic
August 6
Mocha Cabana— Herb Hicks Jazz Quartet
Slice — Romi Mayes
August 7
Mocha Cabana— Herb Hicks Jazz Quartet
Slice— Paul Kype and Texas Flood
Aug. 8
Slice— Tom Fun Orchestra
Aug. 9
Slice— Wax Mannequin
Scores North— Cancer Bats with the Living Luca
Owl Acoustic Lounge— open mic
1010 Pub— open mic
Aug. 10
Slice— open mic
Aug 11
Bar One Lounge— open mic with Ben Brown
August 12
Mocha Cabana— Sean Ashby (Sarah McLachlan’s guitarist)
Slice— Willy Blizzard
Good Earth Coffee House— open mic
Beaches Pub— open mic
Coyote Joes— live karaoke and open jam with Paul Kype
Owl Acoustic Lounge— open mic
August 13
Wolf’s Den— open Mic
Mocha Cabana— James Oldenburg
Front Row Oub— Alyssa mcQuaid
Slice— Johnnie Ninety Nine with Matt Robinson