Queen Street Block Party Review!!

An impromptu decision with a friend led us to the block party on Queen Street East yesterday to see the last two bands, so here's a surprise review of what I was able to catch! Hosted by downtown artisinal soap store Wood, Resin, and Lye, everything looked well organized and maintained on the blocked off Heritage Block of Queen Street (Pim Street-East Street) with lots of vendors and a decent crowd despite this being later in the day. Bands performed on a stage set up in front of Precious Blood Cathedral, so just about halfway into the block party zone, and 705Live Sound Co. made sure everyone sounded good yesterday. I guess the block party proper was delayed to a 2:00 PM start but we only arrived at around 4:30 (again, going at all was decided late). As such, I apologize for missing the opening acts, but there was indeed a Soo's Got Talent alumni set to kick off the day, albeit not strictly "last year's finalists", rather half of them.

Last year's winner Amanda Phillips, fellow finalists Ali Nisbett & Xavier Pelletier LeBeouf, and non-finalist Greg McLeod (all singers) represented the annual local talent show here, and if you want to see videos of their performances, then head over to The Soo's Got Talent's Facebook page! None of their videos feature metal, hard rock, or punk covers, but at least as far as the video goes, Amanda & Ali joined forces for at least two songs. T.S.G.T. judge Darren Robertson also served as the on-stage MC yesterday. Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations were second up yesterday, where they revealed that Dorian Grey/Flat Stanley guitarist Tony Kajnar is the newest addition to the band, replacing Brandon Ruch. Tony was one of two guest guitarists that Generations have played with in the past month+, and clearly his gig with them at The Water Tower Pub went well for him to get the fill-time position!

For a first look at Generations with Tony Kajnar as a full band member, drummer Tony Santoro's wife Dawn did film a video of them covering Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle" with Tony K. on lead vocals, though it's easy to miss, as it was tucked at the end of a batch post of her photos from the day on their Facebook group. The 2:33 clip is sadly shot vertically, but at least she zoomed, and it sounds good while it lasts, with both Tonys handling this more modern power pop song well! Give it a watch below!

Arriving downtown (as in, to park my vehicle), we heard pop rock cover quartet Lime covering Joan Jett, while they were doing a Beatles song while walking to the stage. As such, I only saw them perform two songs live, including a cover of The Georgia Satellites' "Keep Your Hands To Yourself" with guitarist/Rising Tide alum Liam Seymour on vocals, and the song that I filmed, as embedded below. Though Lime never plugged their involvement at the block party on their Facebook page, a sideways live-streamed video of them covering Linda Ronstadt's "When Will I Be Loved?" can be seen there. Liam, frontwoman Madi Schomogyi (a 2018 Soo's Got Talent finalist), and bassist Dan Linklater (ex-Id Iota) did show good chemistry and musicianship in what I saw, and Madi's voice is quite distinct! I couldn't immediately confirm the identity of their guest drummer though (normal drummer Braiden Bryant was unavailable).

The headliners of the block party were online page-less punk/alternative cover quintet Bookclub, who feature 3/4ths of The Inner City Surfers in mostly shuffled roles alongside guitarist Dave Bahun's old Room 206 bandmate Allan Watson on drums, and trumpet player Erin Antonello (who also plays tambourine and sings backup as song needs dictate). This was my first time seeing Bookclub live, and their set honestly hews closer to Mikey & His Uke than The Surfers, if with a more commercial range, but still with punk themes given that Mikey Hawdon is fronting this band. Though jokingly referencing their set as all-original, they only played covers from such acts as The Greg Kihn Band, The Travelling Wilburys, Lindsay Buckingham, Huey Lewis & The News, and John Fogerty, among others. With this group of musicians, talent and chemistry is no issue whatsoever, and the crowd was definitely into it!

You could tell that they were trying to move things along quick for time reasons, but Bookclub impressed in playing a diverse array of all ages-friendly songs (they knew their audience), and while I do lean more to their earlier collaborative bands for my musical preferences, their adaptability is commended! Erin's backing vocals were almost inaudible, but I don't know if that was an issue with the sound setup or not. Fun set for fans of Mikey's frontman work and The Surfers, and you can see our photos from Bookclub and Lime's sets at this link or at our Facebook page! Apologies again for the small number of Lime photos, I was lucky to arrive when they still had a full song to play at set's end, and good thing that I filmed it, as that was my last shot! As for our videos, here's Lime covering The Tragically Hip's "New Orleans Is Sinking" to end their set, and Bookclub covering Doug & The Slugs' "Making It Work"!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post of some kind on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!