Rock The Block Concert Preview, Kewadin Casino Concert Updates, And A New Video!!

The slow stretch at the SMS continues today, but we do have some semblance of normalcy returning to our coverage today, as alongside a new live-streamed video and upcoming concert updates, we have a preview of an actual, real, honest-to-goodness local concert that is actually taking place on Saturday night! Here's what you should know!

Four months after the local concert calendar ground to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a hard rock concert will take place on SATURDAY NIGHT at Crooked Music at 540 Ashmun Street in Sault Michigan, where local hard rock quartet Tarnished will headline the Rock The Block concert event! Long planned and rumoured, this concert will take place inside of the downtown music store despite ongoing coronavirus measures, but as the state government is allowing for indoor gatherings of up to 50 people in Northern Michigan (source here), this presumably gives an all-clear for a concert with a small attendance if the proper steps are taken. As such, organizers are strongly recommending that attendees wear face masks and practice social distancing. As for the music, this will be Tarnished's first full-band electric concert of 2020, and their first non-acoustic gig since Gary Croad replaced Tommy Korcal on drums. How much of their upcoming debut CD will fans hear on Saturday night?

Detroit hard rock quartet Letters From Abel (featuring ex-Midnight Logic drummer Kade Desarmo) will make a surprise trip north as the co-headliners in their local concert debut, and their alternative throwback sound should leave a good impression on gathered fans! The other scheduled performers are local solo artists, including Rudyard Musicians Festival regular Kevin Blakeney (replacing Illinois blues project Concreteslim), who does have some heavier covers in his back pocket, while the opening act will be St. Ignace solo artist Austin Graham, performing under the handle Grayham Entertainment. Very intriguing lineup, and it will be interesting to hear how this concert goes! Assuming it's not cancelled, postponed, or moved on short notice, Rock The Block goes down Saturday at 6:00 PM, this looks to be an all ages event, and tickets run for $10 at the door and at this link, though remember that attendance will presumably be limited due to the 50 person restriction on indoor gatherings at this time.

While it is great to see a true hard rock concert taking place locally again, I hope this goes well as both a music event and as an example of what fun events can take place if social distancing measures are enforced. So far, the Eastern U.P. has been fortunate to not have many COVID-19 cases (just 30 in Chippewa & Mackinac County combined) and zero deaths as of this writing, but you can't assume it's completely gone. Fingers crossed all goes well Saturday night, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's Tarnished live!



Next up, we'll go from bad news to good in the Sault Michigan area, as Kewadin Casinos have announced that all remaining 2020 concerts (presumably referring to major ones at The Dreammakers Theater in the Soo and the St. Ignace Event Center) have been postponed into next year due to the pandemic. SMS-wise, this means that the rescheduled Black Label Society concert in Sault Ste. Marie will no longer take place on August 8th, as unlikely as that was looking. Tickets bought for any postponed Kewadin concert this year will be valid for the rescheduled dates, which will reportedly start being announced next month. Refunds are available on request by contacting kewadinboxoffice@saulttribe.net or presumably in-person at one of the casinos, though refunds will only be given until August 12th and the 2 weeks following the announcement of rescheduled dates, in case the new date doesn't work for your schedule.

Full refunds will be issued if a show is cancelled outright, and click here for more details on the above information. The above information does not appear to reflect the schedules at The Rapids and/or Northern Pines Lounges, which will allegedly resume hosting live entertainment next month, and those events largely don't need tickets anyway. Kudos to Kewadin for keeping everyone informed, and hopefully 2021's calendar goes off without a hitch, but stay tuned for rescheduling info when it rolls in!

We'll close today's post in Sault Ontario, where local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison hosted his 28th live-streamed concert on his YouTube channel yesterday! External embedding of this episode was turned off again for unannounced reasons. This video doesn't actually have much in the way of full covers, as Tym spends the majority of the video tuning his guitar, playing a lengthy soft instrumental, and working out the kinks of his new pedalboard, even acknowledging 20 minutes in that "not much is working right now". He does briefly attempt a cover of The Tragically Hip's "New Orleans Is Sinking" early, but you do get to see him do a full version of Collective Soul's "Shine" before he called the show off due to issues with his pedalboard and backing drum tracks. While not directly related to the abbreviated runtime, the video was getting laggy at points, leading to the dreaded slideshow effect at points of the live-stream.

Perhaps it's not a bad thing that this particular live-stream's embedding priviliges were removed, given the technical issues, but "Shine" and the instrumental were well done! You could hear more distortion on the percussion though, and Tym will know way better than I if his setup is having issues.  Time will tell if he does another live-stream tomorrow after skipping last Thursday, but give the whole show a watch above, and stay tuned for more from Tym's camp when it rolls in! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site soon! Thanks everyone!