Boxing Day Weekend Concert Previews!!

Merry Christmas to all of our readers, or Happy Holidays if you prefer! In our first of two posts on this Christmas day (auto-posted due to spending time with the family, of course!), we have the first of the Boxing Day weekend concert previews, and for the curious, we'll touch on the Highway 63 shows and the recent major Bon Soo concert announcement later today. Also, if you're curious, Tym Morrison is not playing at The Harp this weekend (at least, not according to his website), presumably for a holiday break, but we'll touch on his January shows soon! Now, here's what you should know regarding three different Boxing Day events TOMORROW NIGHT in Sault Ontario!

We'll begin our previews at The Rockstar Bar, who will host local/Toronto Celtic punk quartet Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide for one last time in 2014 TOMORROW NIGHT! Making their third local stop of the month (after sets at The Rankin Arena and at last week's Tidal Records Christmas show), this popular union of Inner City Surfers and Boot Hill Crooners alumni should be in fine form to deliver some post-Christmas original entertainment on Boxing Day, and perhaps some select covers? Speaking of which, Dustin's new local band The Cover-Up (featuring Lion Ride, Room 206, and Northwest alumni) have been named as late openers after numerous fan requests following their debut last weekend, so come early to take in their set! Also, I will note that a Rockstar Bar Facebook group post from Thin Ice frontman Nathan Albidone implies that the popular country cover band will be playing there on Friday, though it remains to be seen if that is incorrect, a matinee, or if both shows will occur simultaneously with one downstairs at The Algonquin Pub.

We'll let you guys know if we hear anything! In any event, this show will take place on Friday night at around 10:00 PM, you must be 19 to attend, and a $5 cover charge is likely. For more details, visit the above links! Dustin and the Tide's nicely blended mix of Celtic and folk rock with modern punk should be a holiday treat once again for punk fans, so be there TOMORROW, and here are the guys live a few years back!



Next up, we'll head to The Rednecks Saloon, where local hard rock quartet Beaumont Avenue will make their long awaited return to the stage TOMORROW NIGHT! The first of two shows over the holidays for the former Suicide Kings, we haven't seen Beaumont Avenue in concert since August due to drummer Ben Boudreau's out of town school commitments, and while fans could have seen the rest of the guys in the interim with Urawk, I know many miss their full original concert experience, so look for their own songs from their forthcoming debut CD and a solid cover base TOMORROW (and remember, they'll be at The Rockstar Bar next weekend too!) Their Boxing Day show tomorrow should start at around 10:00 PM, there is no cover charge, and you must be 19 to attend. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page! It's great to see Mike, Steven, Mitch, and Ben back in the saddle together (and Ben back home in general), so don't miss the return of Beaumont Avenue, and here they are at Rotaryfest!

Finally for today's preview post is the "Bloody Boxing Day Basement Jam" from Blood Shed Productions, which will be the local goregrind label's last concert of the year, and though it is located at a house, the address is public, so feel free to come down! Partly planned to make up for a shortened private Boxing Day event last year, there have been lineup adjustments since we last plugged this show, including a band replacement, so who all is playing now? The headliner is local experimental singer/guitarist Chase Wigmore in his first set since leaving The Strange Coyotes (he'll be on at 11:00 PM), while Blood Shed death metal acts Brutally Fatal and Rotopsy will take the stage at 10:15 & 9:30 PM each. The 9:00 PM-ish slot was originally slated for the local return of The Apocalypse Afterparty, but they were quietly replaced on the lineup by the newer local metal trio Them last week for unannounced reasons. Disappointing for A.A. fans, but hopefully we see them back soon!

Remember, Them (who currently lack an online page) feature Bring The Misery, Infamous, and Revolution alumni, and are also among the bands at next year's Tidal Records Battle, so don't bypass them tomorrow night! Rotopsy bassist Tyler Gibson's grind solo project Crucify The Whore will take the stage at 8:00 PM, following a trio of Blood Shed rappers (Mikey Thomas, Rotopsy's Dylan "Legitly Logic" Taylor, and Tomgrindy's J.P. "Phat Boii" Archambault) at 7:30, 7:00, and 6:30 PM respectively. A rap set from Miracle Man was once originally scheduled for the show, and while it was also removed from the lineup for unannounced reasons, his alter-ego (Brutally Fatal frontman Austin McCrae) will open the basement jam with an acoustic set at 6:00 PM, perhaps channeling his Re-Born work? To be held in the basement of a home at 11 Hearst Street (near Trelawne and Grosvenor), this ALL AGES event has no announced age limits. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

This should be an entertaining show for Blood Shed, goregrind, and rap fans, and hopefully things go off without a hitch tomorrow night! Stay tuned for potential fallout as it comes in, particularly concerning how Them sound, and as a preview, here's a new Brutally Fatal video uploaded to the Blood Shed YouTube channel on Saturday! A rehearsal video shot that day featuring some text plugs for the Boxing Day show, it's simplistic and doesn't tell us much about the new song, but it gets the job done to promote the jam, so give it a look below, and see above for more info!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for the rest of our weekend previews, the big news regarding a show at Bon Soo in February, and much more to end the year! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Strange Coyotes, Griphook, And Banned), And More!!

For a second straight day, we have a short notice second post on the site, as like yesterday, there's a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for tonight that is linked to a public show from yesterday and is getting a fair amount of Facebook advertising! Also read on for full public LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for next weekend and some more assorted notes, so here's what you need to know, and check out lots of VM Radio updates (and the new Tuned episode) in the post below this one! (Updated at 9:24 PM)

Remember how Blood Shed Productions & Heavy North Entertainment hosted a publically advertised house party concert last night on Weldon Avenue? Well, that show was reportedly cut short due to a Foggy's-esque noise complaint and police visit, which cancelled plans for a Strange Coyotes headlining set and forced Rotopsy to only play one song. With that in mind, promoters are giving a short notice second try at this show TONIGHT at a different location, though still centrally located! Once scheduled to be held at an Oakbine Avenue location, the show was moved back to it's original 110 Pentagon Boulevard location for unannounced reasons on very short notice. Hopefully things go smoother for everyone tonight, despite the location jumbling! All performers except Telephone & Address and Mikey Thomas are back for tonight, which will definitely see The Strange Coyotes headlining in their first announced show since confirming their reunion, with Rotopsy, Crucify The Whore, Brutaly Fatal, and a "surprise special guest appearance" also teased.

The Facebook event page has current details for this show, which is ALL AGES, will start at 8:00 PM tonight, and will have no announced cover. Don't miss out if you love the Blood Shed, and hopefully they don't have similar issues tonight! For a preview, here's The Strange Coyotes live in January!

Next up, Kinross, Michigan hard/classic rock trio Banned have announced a surprise show for this Thursday, as they'll make their first ever advertised appearance at The Raber Bay Bar 'N Restaurant in nearby Goetzville! Our source is Banned's Facebook page yesterday, which added the show to their existing fall calendar. We've never plugged a show in Goetzville before, so in case you didn't know, Goetzville is a small Chippewa County community that's roughly an hour southeast of the Soo and 24 minutes east of Cedarville, and was among the areas of the E.U.P. added when we expanded our coverage range on the site two years ago. Given the Thursday setting, I'm unsure on if there's a special occasion to cause the booking, but it adds to a busy weekend for them, as Banned will be at The Runway Bar in Hessel (a half hour west of Goetzville) over the next two nights. A 9:00 PM start time is in effect on Thursday, you must be 21 to attend, and there's no announced cover charge. See above for more info, and stay tuned for updates on their Raber Bay Bar show!

Also in new show announcements, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Griphook will apparently return to the stage this Friday at The Rednecks Saloon! Though the band has yet to confirm this show online, the marquee board outside of the former Nicolet Tavern has advertised it for at least the last few days, and that has proven to be a reliable source for accurate show dates in the past. If this booking is still on, this will be Griphook's first concert set of the fall, and their first outside of Rotaryfest since playing at Rednecks in April, so if you've been missing Joel, Brian, Dan, and Tony in recent months, you'll want to mark this Friday's show down for a night of entertaining and often heavy covers! No word on why they're not playing on Saturday though, but the marquee at the saloon didn't list that day's entertainment. There's no announced cover charge on Friday, you must be 19 to attend, and there's a likely 10:00 PM start time in effect. For more details, visit the above links, and if we hear any changes, we'll let you know!

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter items from the last little while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist name:

• A new instrumental song by the aforementioned Crucify The Whore was uploaded to their new Bandcamp page earlier this week, which fans will want to check out, but due to a name that some readers may find offensive, we won't post it here. Give it a listen if you want, and note that their other demos can also be streamed there!
• I've removed The Guitar Studio from our "Other Sault Michigan Links" section due to the expiry of their website and only substantial online page. Featuring prolific local guitarist Joey Beairl among it's staff, The Guitar Studio was notable for providing both music lessons and a summer rock camp that spawned real youth rock bands such as Tantrym Tyme, but online updates have been slow in recent years. If a new link turns up, we'll re-add them to our listings!
• Our congratulations go out to Sailor's Tongue frontman Kyle McKey, who will be inducted into the Great Northern Opry of the Northern Ontario Country Music Association tonight during their annual awards ceremony! Kyle joins fellow hard rock alum Ric Datson (That's Chester) among the dozens of regional country notables in the opry. If you've followed all of Kyle's music work in the area, you'll know this is very deserving, so congratulations once again, and click here for more info!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates in the next few days! Thanks everyone!