Live, original music at a venue that embraces it? Can't beat that on a Friday night in Langley, where the intimate, eclectic hosts concerts, dance shows, dance parties, comedy, plays and much more.
With open arms, operators Sandy and Russ Rosen welcome bands like , who performed two sets of country-tinged rock and blues on Jan. 24 in a return engagement at the artist-friendly warehouse space on 64 Avenue, just east of 200 Street.
The Bez has become a go-to concert venue for Matlen Starsley, a pro six-piece with two albums recorded since 2018 and a third in the works.
It's a moonlighting gig for Saskatchewan-raised singer Dennis "Dollar" Matechuk, a longtime online teacher in 性视界传媒 with the school district's SAIL program (性视界传媒 Academy of Innovative Learning). Some former students of his were in the crowd of around 100 at the Bez 鈥� Grade 6 kids turned 38-year-old adults, Matechuk marvelled later.
"We write as a collective," said Matechuk, referring to bandmates Kevin "Bubba" Star (guitar), Don Lennox (bass), Jim Wesley (drums), Darryl Hebert (keys, guitar, more) and DL (Donna) Car (acoustic guitar, background vocals). "If we like the songs, we play them, and if we don't, we trash them, and it doesn't matter what genre it is."
The band name is a puzzle of "pieces of our last names when we started out as a foursome," before Hebert and Car (both of whom are in Barracuda, the powerhouse Heart tribute) were in the mix.
"We've played Blue Frog, it's great, and some other local places," Matechuk noted in a phone call. "But It's a challenge as an independent original band to secure venues, even for younger original acts, of course. For us, most of the people in the band are 65-plus, too. There aren't a lot of venues like the Bez."
Before Matlen Starsley hit the stage, Sandy Rosen told the audience diverse coming events at the Bez, now eight years in operation, "or four in COVID years," she joked. features an all-ages community dance party called My Cousin's Wedding (Feb. 7, with swing music), Tresspass Storytelling (Feb. 8), Very Very Valentines improv comedy (Feb. 15), Krystle Dos Santos Quartet in concert (Feb. 21) and The Routine, Joylyn Secunda鈥檚 solo physical comedy (Feb. 22).
