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Everyone invited to snarl and rock out at Punk Rock Karaoke

Musicians from Circle Jerks, Dickies, Goldfinger and Adolescents are the backing band
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I'm with the band Steve Soto of The Adolescents, guitarist Greg Hetson of The Circle Jerks, Stan Lee of The Dickies, and Darrin Pfeiffer of Golderfinger are Punk Rock Karaoke. Photo submitted

Four musicians from five seminal punk bands are coming to Whistler to convince fans to sing their favourite punk rock songs.

In Punk Rock Karaoke the fans get to come on stage, pick a song from a list, and perform with bassist Steve Soto of The Adolescents, guitarist Greg Hetson of the Circle Jerks and Bad Religion, guitarist Stan Lee of The Dickies and drummer Darrin Pfeiffer of Goldfinger.

"Like regular karaoke, there's a list of songs and you sign up. But instead of coming up and singing with a machine, you're singing with a live band," says Hetson in a phone interview.

The song list includes "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash, "Blitzkrieg Bop" by The Ramones, and, of course, songs by Hetson and the other musicians."It's fun to play; we get to be in the Descendents or The Clash for a few minutes at a time. And people get to be a lead singer for a few minutes. Everybody's happy."

Hetson says the members still perform with their own bands, but get together as often as possible when their schedules work. He is working on his own solo project at the moment.

Punk Rock Karaoke has been going since 1996, but this is their first Whistler trip.

"It's back to the basics, four guys and a band. It's a lot of fun to get back to the roots and goof off," Hetson says.

Punk Rock Karaoke takes place at the Garibaldi Lift Company on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 to $20.

Beer festival back with music and art

The Whistler Village Beer Festival (WVBF) is hitting the right notes with music and art accompanying the annual event.

The festival — with dinners, tastings, and workshops — takes place from Wednesday, Sept. 16 to Sunday, Sept. 20.

Saturday's music line-up kicks off with Hot Knox of Kelowna (1 p.m.), The Whiskey Dicks of Vancouver (2:30 p.m.), and Whistler rockers The Hairfarmers (4 p.m.).

Sunday will see a continuation of great local talent with Neverland Nights (1 p.m.), rock and roll with Red Chair (2:30 p.m.) and Celtic rockers Ruckus Deluxe (4 p.m.).

The bands are on stage at Whistler Olympic Plaza to coincide with the festival's main tasting event days.

The festival is also showcasing local artistic talent in two ways this year.

Street artist Baz Carolan will paint a large live art piece during the main tasting events at Celebration Plaza on both Saturday and Sunday.

Last year's successful keg art gallery with new kegs from four more artists is also back.

Visit www.wvbf.ca for more information and to book tickets for events and dinners.

Pop-up Studio continues through fall

The Whistler Arts Council's 2015 Pop-up Studio is continuing into the fall, with spaces available for visual artists.

The studio has 10 individual spaces in a shared location in the Westin Resort. The 670-sq.-m studio opened on June 1, in an empty retail location with 12 artists signed up. It was also used as a venue during this summer's ArtWalk.

The studio is being offered at a special rate during October, November and December at $50 a month.

For more information or to apply visit the WAC website, www.artswhistler.com, or email apopma@artswhistler.com.