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Music all winter at Monk's, Zeuski's

Live entertainment is on the rise this winter in Whistler, as a couple of restaurants will be featuring solo acoustic musicians and standard four-piece bands.

Live entertainment is on the rise this winter in Whistler, as a couple of restaurants will be featuring solo acoustic musicians and standard four-piece bands.

Zeuski’s Taverna in Village North has managed to do just that and not have to hire outside its regular staff. For the last few weeks, classical Spanish guitar music has been added for the latter part of the evenings. General manager Cyril Hayes says he went for the real thing after he became frustrated with the lack of Spanish-flavoured guitar on satellite feed music radio stations.

"One of our servers told me he was developing some Spanish, flamenco type music, and that he might be interested," Hayes said. "So not long after that he said he was ready and now we’ve got him in there. It’s aimed at the people who come in for our last dinner group of the night. That way they can eat their meal and have a few drinks after dinner, and listen to live music."

Guitar player Brian Lyster, a guitar instructor connected with Whistler Music and a former member of a Rush cover band, says his music is best described as instrumental acoustic guitar, covering a wide range of artists and genres. Music should begin no later than 9 p.m.

Hayes says after the new year, Zeuski’s will add a late night menu similar to the apres menu, and Lyster is expected to lengthen his performances to suit the audience.

And beginning later this month, Monk’s Grill in the Upper Village at the base of Blackcomb will begin a full-on live music program that starts with Cease & Desist, a group co-led by Whistler’s Mick Dalla-Vee. Cease & Desist are scheduled from Dec. 27 through New Year’s Eve, and remain as the weekly act each Saturday until Jan. 13.

Most live music at Monk’s will be Saturday evenings only until April 14 and include performances from local groups such as rock ’n’ roll cover band Still Smokin’ and Celtic duo Leanne & Kyla.