If you like the arts , then the next couple of weeks are for you to celebrate all kinds of arts  during the last part of September— the Month of the Artist.

 Arts Days 2023 opens with the AAC Arts Days Cabaret at casa, Friday, Sept. 22 from 7-9 p.m. with local musicians the Decadent Phase and Peace For Bombs.

Kelaine Devine, Eric Dyck and  Luka de Haan with be  creating art inspired by the performances.

It is also the  launch of Trap/Door Artist Run Collective’s new exhibit  “Carrying Baggage”  featuring works by Seema Karchoo, Heather Kehoe, Harley Morman, Kalina Nedelcheva, Arianna Richardson, Noble Seggie.

 And artists  Solange Roy and Kylie FineDay will be answering questions about their art in the casa square kiosks.

“Art is not a passive thing, we are all part of  the art scene. Arts Days is about engaging in the ares in a new way,” said Kelaine Devine, Allied Arts council communications coordinator.

One of the cornerstone events of ArtsDays is Word on the Street which happens on Saturday , Sept. 23 outside the Lethbridge Public Library featuring food trucks, workshops and live music and plenty of authirs and playwrights  exploring fiction, non fiction,  teen and youth literature and much more. 

 There is no art walk again this year, instead 19 artists will begin creating  murals on the windows of downtown businesses beginning today ( Sept. 21) as part of the Downtown Lens: Window Mural Gallery running Sept. 21-24.

“ That will allow you to ask the artists questions about their work and watch them  creating,” Devine said.

It’s like it’s May all over again, though it is the end of September.

 This week a couple of bands who last played Lethbridge in May, return this week.

 Winnipeg based jazz rock instrumental band Apollo Suns begin another  tour in Lethbridge on Wednesday, Sept. 27 at the Slice. Apollo Suns kicked off their last tour at the Slice in May. This time they return in support of their brand new album “Departures” which was released on Sept. 22.

A little later Edmonton based progressive metal band Fall of Earth return to Lethbridge to play the Slice in support of their new album “From the Ashes.” They played the Studio last time, but return to Lethbridge in the midst of a massive eight week tour. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Medicine Hat punk band Total Wolf and  Lethbridge’s Switched off will be sharing the bill with them.

 Friday will be a big night for rock and roll and metal fans as hardcore surf punk icons Ten Foot Pole will be playing the Owl Acoustic lounge with Vancouver based melodic hardcore band Selfist,  Alec Arms and Berserker. Tickets are $18 through Eventbrite.

There is an all ages punk rock gig at the Polish Canadian Association (745 13 St N Lethbridge, AB, Canada T1H 2T2 ) on Thursday, Sept. 28 with street punk band Reifer Madness opening their album release tour in Lethbridge with local punk bands Sessions and the Hockey Moms, plus Bob Scallywag and Northern Flicker. There will even be a children’s Halloween costume contest with prizes to be announced throughout the show.

 Admission is $15. The show begins at 4 p.m.

But first, Luke James Bruce returns to Mojos to host an open mic on Monday, Sept. 25. He also hosts Honkers Pub’s open mic on  Friday, Sept. 29. Scott Davidson is Honkers host on Saturday, Sept. 30.

 Prophet Gabriel hosts a blues jam at the Slice on Tuesday, Sept. 26, while down the street, the Owl Acoustic lounge features their weekly open mic.

 Juno award winning singer songwriter Dan Mangan kicks off a busy fall for the Geomatic Attic as he returns to Lethbridge to play the Yates Theatre on Wednesday, Sept. 27. The show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $48.50.

Winnipeg based instrumental jazz rock band Apollo Sons never stop.

The band, Ed Durocher - guitars ; Bryn Herperger - bass ; Anatol Rennie - piano, keyboards and synths ; Aaron Bartel - bari sax, alto sax ; Benjamin James Hill - trombone ; Garrett Malenko - trumpet ; Niall Cade - tenor sax ; Erika Einarson - percussion ; drummer Glenn Radley,  finished a tour that began in Lethbridge in May, released their first full length album “ Departures,”  Friday, Sept. 22 and are getting ready to depart on another tour that begins in Lethbridge on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at the Slice with blues rock band The Static Shift.

“We’ll go to Calgary and Edmonton and Lethbridge with them,” said guitarist Ed Durocher, who is already planning Apollo Suns’ next album for a tentative release in 2025.

“We’ve been back for five weeks, but we’re beginning the next tour in Lethbridge. Lethbridge has  always been good to us. We’ll play a nice mid-week show that will get you through to the weekend,” Durocher continued, adding the next tour will include  35 or 36 tour dates that will take them into December.

 They enjoyed their foray into  the United States.

“It was good. We we’re playing the Pacific Northwest. Sacramento was sold out and we finished the tour with some festivals,” he said.

“The volunteers were great and the crew were great and we had a couple thousand people,” he said.

Durocher is pleased with how ‘Departures’ turned out, especially because they didn’t have a chance to road test the new songs like they usually do and because they wrote it over the  pandemic over Zoom.

“We wrote it over Zoom. We had to use instrumental patches. We were  sending each other ideas. Then we recorded 12 songs over 10 days straight in 2022 with Ben Kaplan ( who has produced Mother Mother, Five Alarm Funk, Brass Camel and Snoop Dogg) The process was so much fun,” he said adding they got feedback from trusted friends and  people in the music business before recording.