I’ve seen quirky Hamilton funnyman and performer BA Johnston so many times, I can pretty much predict his set, jokes and performance, but I can 
always be guaranteed to laugh. Johnston is also the first one to poke fun at himself as he did at the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Tuesday, June 19.
As usual he entered, entering through the appreciative audience waving sparklers fed people their own drinks, cracked several jokes about Medicine Hat, and pretended to read the Lethbridge off his hand as well as pretended to read some of his lyrics off his other hand. He brandished a baton, slowly stripped off identical ‘What are you looking at dickhead’ sweatshirts and chortled “ I’ll bet you didn’t see that coming,” as he slowly stripped down to his bare chest and belly.
He jumped off a chair on the stage, wandered off the stage and rolled around in the floor, laughing it was cleaner than expected, and jumped on the tables to sing, almost strangling himself with his own mic cord in the process, which was tangled among chairs and tables.
This time, he grabbed my notebook and pencil and wrote ‘BA Rules,’ in it during one of his many forays into the audience and behind the bar.
He jumped between two keyboards, a guitar and a Discman, and opened with a newer song on guitar “Drinking in a Bar With Aliens.”
He then played familiar standards like “ Deep Fryer in My Basement” which he had smiling audience members singing along with. They also joined in on “Jesus Lives in Hamilton,” “How many T Bone Steaks Can I Fit in my Pants (Can’t Stop Stealing From Work) ” and other chestnuts like “McDonald’s Coupon Day,” “My Roommate is a Couche-tard” and “GST Cheques, ”which prompted the audience to sing along with the rousing “Give Me My Treats” chorus.
Even though he joked he never wrote new material, he played a couple songs from his most recent CD ‘Gremlins 3’ including the always popular “A Day Off Is A Day off.”
He even premiered a new song about having a hangover that was running away from him from another new CD to be released in October.
He ended his set well before midnight, by bringing the audience into the ladies washroom, for one last encore about a zombie attack.
A couple solid local acts opened for him.
The full band experience of Biloxi Parish,” is always a highlight. They played, loud, boisterous roots rock along the lines of CCR and Neil Young and Crazy Horse. It is always fun to hear a fully developed Biloxi Parish, as Zach Passey and drummer Cole Howg have been playing a lot of duo shows.
They ended their set with “Odessa.”
Open Channels played right before Johnson with another strong set of catchy ’80s style new wave and synth pop music with bassist Tony Zucco and guitarist Jeff King taking turns singing lead vocals for a decent sized Tuesday night crowd.
— by Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
