A deafening show at the Slice, Feb. 27 saw Lustre Creame tearing up the place with a typically strong set of finger bleeding progressive rock. Calgary power metal band  Kobra and the Lotus brought back the spirit of the ’80s  by starting their second set with a very cool version of Christmas carol, ‘ Silver Bells.’ as well as some Metallica and a few of their high energy, riff heavy originals.
 Singer Brittany Paige is a pint sized powerhouse  who constantly  had me wondering how this classically trained vocalist could emit such a huge voice from such a tiny frame.  She had the crowd banging their heads in front of the stage as the guitarists kept the metal riffs coming.

— By Richard Amery, L.A Beat Editor

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 Even I can’t make it to every gig going on in Lethbridge. I usually try to take a night or two off, but I couldn’t pass up a chance to see Fredericton, New Brunswick bluesman Keith Hallett, March 1 at the Slice.
 I was one of about  three who caught a wicked show on Monday.
Looking like John Popper from Blues Traveller, Hallett’s voice was similar to  the JW Jones  of the JW Jones Blues Band and popper, while his slide playing was reminiscent of Sonny Landreth. He was picking every note with his fingers, nary a pick was to be found.  He displayed superb feel and control for his instrument, making his guitar, shriek, moan and whisper. He even proved to be an adept swing player on a couple upbeat instrumentals and dabbled in a little finger picked  rockabilly.

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A fundraiser for Haiti at the Slice Feb. 26, raised over $2,000 which will be donated to Partners in Health and the Humanitarian Coalition which are dedicated to providing earthquake relief and medical care in Haiti. A couple of new blues bands with lots of familiar faces were on the bill beginning with Blues Sen Sa Shun featuring Pat Ackerman on bass as well as University of Lethbridge Anthropology professor Dr. Steve Ferzacca. They played a variety of familiar songs, beginning with a laid back version of ‘Voodoo Chile,’ as well as  ‘Can’t You See,’ and ‘the Sky is Crying,’ and displayed  excellent musicanship throughout their tight set.
The Shawna Romillowa  band were a highlight as well.Shawna is usually singing back up with local funk/disco band Hippodrome. Her band plays a similar style of R and B. They performed exceptional versions of ‘Hound Dog,’ and ‘I Can Change For You.’ They added a touch of reggae which had much of the full house cheering and dancing. The Dave Renter Quartet finished off the night with some upbeat jazz.

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Calgary acoustic blues duo Bill Hills and Ray Lemelin returned to the Slice to play for another sparse audience, Feb. 24.
 Bill Hills blew an upbeat harp solo to kick off the show, while Ray Lemelin added some sweet acoustic guitar, then launched into the blues classic ‘Easy Rider,” which sounded like it was being sung by Elvis.
Hills was a bundle of energy throughout, slapping his knees, snapping his fingers, dancing in his seat while stomping his feet.
 what the audience lacked in numbers, they made up for in enthusiasm. They played a lot of their latest CD ‘Neither Here nor There,’  blues standards including a really laid back version of ‘Bring it on Home,’ and a really cool song about the music business called ‘Frogs to Snakes.’
They will be beginning work on a new CD  this summer including four or five songs in French.
“The first side will be in English and the second side will be in French. We’ll see how it goes,” said Hills adding  they are planning this project because Lemelin is from Quebec and also they home to get more exposure in Quebec from it. Tim Williams is set to produce this CD , as he did the previous CD.
“The last one came out in March, so it’s about time for another one,” he continued adding they are taking part  in Calgary’s winter blues festival, where they were opening a show for slide guitar master Sonny Landreth.

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor

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