It has been a long haul for Todd Lacharite, the mind behind Think Tank Events which celebrates five years of putting on unusual events in Lethbridge.
Their events have included several visits by Vancouver, Celtic punk band this Real McKenzies, established acts like successfuls show with Vancouver punk pop band Gob, 54 40, Matt Mays and up and coming bands starting to gain larger audiences like Monster Truck, who he had open for FUBAR’s the Deaner and his band Nightseeker plus the Glorious Sons who played Whoop Up Days this year and One Bad Son, who opened for Def Leppard in April. They have also put on events with rappers like Tech9 and Madchild, unusual acts like Hank and Lily as well as art shows and more off the wall events, which haven’t worked as well as Lacharite would have hoped, like Pac Man tag.
“ I guess it really started when I was at Henotic helping promote their events,” Lacharite said.
“ Then I teamed up with DJ Booda for about a year to do some bigger events and then decided to put on my own,” Lacharite said.
As with a lot of promoters, it can be a challenge to get people to come out to shows, so he lost money on a lot of events.
“I’ve tried to put on some events that are outside the box like Pac Man Tag and art shows and the Lebowski bash, which have been successful, though they haven’t been with the money and time I put into promoting them,” he said.
He will be taking a break from art shows after his cult film inspired art show “The Unusual Suspects,” which will run at the Owl Acoustic Lounge Sept. 18-Nov. 10.
“It will feature the art of Len Komenac, Will Woods, Russell Jensen, Leila Armstrong and Mockrabbit, but it will be open to all artists,” he said.
“They’re a great group who have opened the doors and have tried to support my ideas,” he said.
“I probably won’t be able to bring in One Bad Son for a bar show anymore. They’re great guys and Glorious Sons are great guys. Every song on their new album should be a single,” he said.
“ And I had Dear Rouge on June 9 for my first all ages gig. They’re going to be huge. I had a good turnout for that too,” he said.
He noted he is going to focus on acts that have been proven hits with his audiences.
“I’ll do unusual things. Hollerado was another great one. When they were doing their ‘Meet the Mayors’ tour, I called up mayor Rajko Dodic and he got up on stage and played with him. So I’ll do things like that, ” he said.
“ There needs to be more than just the concerts these days, but to do extra things will cost extra and people don't realize that,” he said.
He was involved with several events this summer including Bigwood 7 as well as an all ages targeted Food Truck Smackdown which was on Aug. 8 which was a free all ages fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club.
“ Food Truck Smackdown will take place Aug. 8 at Adams Park. It will combine food trucks, Pure Power Wrestling, a beer gardens, tug of war tournament, a hotdog eating contest and kids activities.
“Todd Carter from Bigwood 8 also contacted me. On Aug. 22 there will be seven bands playing.”
He also has some big Fall shows as well with rapper Madchild returning to Studio 54, Sept. 19 and classic rockers Platinum Blonde on Nov. 13 at Soundgarden.
