The End Of Foggy Notions, End Of Existence Videos, And More!!

So, how's everyone's Labour Day week going so far? To kick things off, we have some more assorted news today, including news from The Searchmont Music Festival, a band looking to play here, and End of Existence, but first, here's some surprising news on the future of a local concert venue!

21 months after it's re-opening, Foggy Notions as we know it is ending (for now.) Owner Taryn Bugyra announced on a Facebook note on Thursday that she's decided to sell the popular Queen Street bar to new owners and go back to school, as she can't maintain both commitments simultaneously. A tentative re-opening date isn't known, but the new ownership apparently has plans to change the bar's name, so Foggy's is ending, but the bar will be back. I have heard rumours about who's buying Foggy Notions, but nothing is concrete enough to announce on here yet. That said, Foggy's will have one last event TONIGHT, which will be a masquerade ball & karaoke night, so click here for details on it, and head out if you can to enjoy one last night of Foggy Notions! I'm sure this will be a bittersweet moment for many bar regulars and concertgoers, as Foggy's has been a well loved bar and concert spot in both it's pre-2008 and current incarnations. I wasn't old enough to go there originally, but in the almost 2 years that Taryn ran things, I enjoyed going there for concerts and I could see why locals enjoyed Foggy's so much!

I have a good feeling though about the new owners, I'll say that much, so just look at this as a new chapter waiting to have it's page turned! So for now, end Foggy Notions with a bang and head there TONIGHT at 10:00 PM for "The last Foggy event", and when details come out about what's happening there next, you'll hear it here!

Next up, here's some new videos from Sault Michigan/Grand Rapids epic metal quintet End of Existence! After their day long breakup ceased on Tuesday, news from them has been coming quickly, mostly in the form of new videos! On Thursday, the band uploaded two new rehearsal videos onto their YouTube channel for us to check out, though one is just 8 seconds long. Promising sounding, but very short, though is sounds similar to one or two of their already posted originals. The one we've embedded below is the longer of the two, and was shot at a jam session on Wednesday. The video's of the tail end of their yet-unreleased song named "The Elements", it features each band member except singer Bob Helsten (a.k.a. Orb Hearthstone), and it's also the first official E.O.E. footage we've seen featuring bassist Bryan Kindel. It's just 74 seconds long, but it sounds good, and I hope we'll hear the full song soon! The video quality is dark though, but that could be intentional. Good stuff, so check out the new videos above, the end of "The Elements" is below, and stay tuned for another new End of Existence video in our next news post!



Thirdly today, another out of town band is looking for a local concert booking! This past Sunday, I was notified that Montreal hard rock quintet Dance Laury Dance are hoping to play a concert in Sault Ontario on October 18th, as per their manager Karl-Emmanuel Picard on the SMS' Facebook page. I forwarded Karl-Emmanuel some contact information, but in the event nothing comes from that, I'll let you guys know about them and how to get them here! Their style reminds me of bands like Lion Ride & The Saigon Hookers, if a bit gruffer, and they have an interesting party hard rock style that would probably go over really well here if they found the right booking! It'd be cool to see Dance Laury Dance here, so if you're interested in booking, playing with, or helping them in their quest for a local booking, e-mail Karl-Emmanuel at district7prod@gmail.com! Hopefully Dance Laury Dance get a concert here for October 18th, and if I hear any updates, I'll of course let you guys know!

And finally for today, here's the latest Searchmont Music Festival updates! The lineup has seen some more adjustments, and first, a few acts have been removed from the official poster for the festival (as seen on your left), which are solo artists Cody McMillan, Deven Creagh, Britta Wolfert, Douglas Cousineau, and Rusty McCarthy. However, I think some or all of these artists are part of some of the bands playing here on September 10th, so all shouldn't be lost! Three acts have been added however, including a band named Borrowed Time (anyone know anything about them?) and solo artists Kylie Precepa & Niagara Falls singer Roger Marin. Note that Roger's not listed on the poster, but he's since been confirmed on the Searchmont Music Festival Facebook page, so he's definitely playing. That said, the schedule for the festival was posted on there as well, so here's what you should know! Now, all bands are playing inside Searchmont Resort, with just unplugged acts and solo performers on the outdoor stage. The festival starts at 12:00 PM on September 10th with folk band Green Cafe opening the outdoor stage, then heading inside for a second set at 1:00 PM to kick off that stage's lineup too.

For the metal acts, you'll wanna be there early, as both Tym Morrison and The Bear Hunters follow Green Cafe on the outdoor and indoor stages at 12:30 PM & 1:30 PM respectively, with about 30 minutes each for their sets. The outdoor stage ends at 5:45 PM with Rick Charbonneau headlining, while the indoor entertainment continues until after 11:00 PM with Moondance headlining. The 1960s themed dance looks to still be on as the capper to the festival, though local burlesque troupe The Salty Mollies have been slotted in to that portion as well. I wonder if they'll go with a retro theme for their act to fit in with it? For the full lineup, check the above links! Remember to pick up your Searchmont Festival tickets A.S.A.P. for $10 at The Duke of Windsor Sport Shop on Queen Street East, Velorution on Old Garden River Road, The Rad Zone at The Wellington Square Mall, and two newly confirmed locations: The Thomas Walls School Of Music on Albert Street East & The Searchmont Trading Post on Whitman Dam Road in Searchmont! Sounds like this festival is shaping up nicely, so stay tuned for more updates as we get closer to it next week!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for some more news hopefully later this weekend! Enjoy the holidays, everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Sativa Rose), Stillbroke & Elipzis News, And More!!

Now, we get back to local metal news, and we have some good stories today to keep you guys in the know for the Labour Day weekend, and before we get that going, I wanted to let you guys know that today's LOCAL CONCERT ALERT will NOT be the lead story because I have three threaded stories, with that a part of the thread, so if I mentioned it first, everything would be out of whack. You'll see in a second, so first, we have a lineup change in a notable local band, and we'll go from there!

Sault Ontario hard rockers Stillbroke have announced the return of former bassist Nathan Bouliane to the band, replacing the departed Kyle McKey. Nathan was Stillbroke's original bassist upon their local debut in 2008, notably playing with them at that year's Case's Music Battle of the Bands, where they won first place in the high school division! Nathan will likely be a very familiar sight to local music fans, from his past bass and guitar work in bands like Lorax, The Outside Lights, Moncton, The Crossed, As It Stands, and in the pre-Stillbroke group known as The Jesters! The news was broken on the band's Facebook page, but their MySpace page and band photos have not been changed to reflect this yet. Nice to see Nathan back in a local band, especially a heavy and talented one like Stillbroke! He's a very good bassist, and here's hoping that Stillbroke are back on stage very soon, cause it's been almost six months since we've last seen them live! I've also heard an intriguing bit of news about Stillbroke as a band, but I'll wait for word from them before saying something here.

Now we thread the stories, as we discuss some big news from a local concert venue! You may know that Nathan Bouliane has a lot more under his belt in the local scene besides being a band member, as he's the owner of concert promotion group Bonology Lights & Sounds, and now, the event manager and P.R. man at GLOW Nightclub! Wait a minute, didn't GLOW become The Other Place, and then become Nite-Life Dance Club? Yes it did, but now, they're reverting back to the GLOW name, or "GLOW Re-Invented" as they've been referring to it! Looks like there's some dislike for the old names of this long running Gore Street bar and concert spot on the Facebook group, but if I remember correctly, the original GLOW period saw more success than the later names did. The bar's currently closed, presumably for renovations, with a September 17th re-opening under the GLOW name being hyped. So to get ready for the re-opening and to get details on goings on there for when it re-opens, click here!

Remember, this venue has a good recent history for bands and concerts, no matter the name, and though bookings weren't as frequent for heavier shows under the Nite-Life name, we did get Bring The Fallen and Out Of The Mouth Of Babes for Algoma Hope4Haiti there, and AC/DC tribute band Who Made Who, not to mention the bands who played there before under it's old names! So don't let appearances fool you, metal will be back...

... no sooner than September 18th, a day after the re-opening, as here is that LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!! New local hard rock trio Sativa Rose will play outside of Foggy Notions for the first time when they take the stage at GLOW on September 18th for a night of metal covers! You can tell by this poster that the booking was made before the name change announcement. The Facebook event page hypes a 10:00 PM start time, you must be 19 to enter, and there will be a $3 cover charge. Should be fun, I've enjoyed the YouTube videos I've seen so far, maybe I can squeeze in to see them that weekend! Depends what night I see Caveman Morrison. For more from Sativa Rose, check out their live jam night videos at this location, and I'll have more on them as I hear it!

There, those three threaded stories are now out for you guys to check out, now for something completely different, courtesy of Sault Michigan hard rockers Elipzis! While in Grand Rapids this weekend for shows in the area, they appeared on the TV show EightWest on area TV station WOOD TV 8, and the video is now online! It features hostesses Rachael Ruiz and Terri DeBoer talking with Elipzis frontwoman Rachel Kiger about the band, how they formed, and what they've done so far as a band! Aside from accidentally getting Chris Webster's name wrong (they said "Chris Weber"), it's a good interview, nothing mindblowingly shocking, but well handled! Afterwards, Elipzis played their original song "6 Shots", in what could be the first video footage of Elipzis online! Good stuff, I like this song and it's heavier qualities1 Great on them getting this exposure, and I like how they actually plugged their concerts on-air too! Check out Elipzis' appearance on EightWest immediately below!



And finally, I wanted to alert you guys to a local music forum that just launched this year, but isn't getting a lot of attention. Local news website SooNews.ca launched a local music scene section onto their official forum in February of this year, and I can see why it's flown under the radar compared to other local music forums and message boards. In the last 6 months or so that it's been active, it has only managed to gather 12 threads with 4 total replies. I know it can take time to get a solid userbase on a message board, but this could really stand to be punched up, don't you think? Getting a following like the 705 Video Magazine doesn't happen overnight, so I recommend registering and keeping this active! Forums are useful and can create some nice discussion if well handled, so if you want to help the SooNews.ca Local Music Scene forum, click here and post something! Note that you'll need an account to post, but it's free and asks nothing strange in order to get one.

That's all for today, but be on the lookout for more local metal news and updates very soon! Oh, and stay tuned by Tuesday for our latest local metal CD review, as we take a look at Sykotyk Rampage's newest album, "Bella Disgusta"! Thanks everyone!

Algoma Hope4Haiti At Nite-Life Review, Plus More From The Event!

Greetings everyone, hope you were all somewhere last night for Algoma Hope4Haiti! As you probably would figure, I was at Nite-Life last night for their portion of the event, so here's my review and what you need to know from there!

Firstly, I should discuss Nite-Life Dance Club, which hosted just it's second metal show last night, so it's not a venue a lot of metalheads have hit since The Other Place was remodeled under new ownership. This was my first time there under any case, and I was impressed by it! Come through the doors and there's an upper level right in front, and the bar's right there on your left! The walls are mostly lined with mirrors, which is interesting decor, though the flash on cameras doesn't mesh well with them. The floor has those cool colour changing lighted strips, however you refer to them! There's lots of tables and chairs and a pool table too! And that thing on the wall with the spinning Budweiser bottle is an eye grabber...yeah, I'm odd. I'm impressed with Nite-Life, they've put a lot of work into this, hopefully it succeeds where The Other Place and GLOW failed! (Oh, and they have a new Facebook page, click here to check it out!)

Opening the night's concert festivities was Out Of The Mouth Of Babes, in their live concert debut! However, you'll recognize 4/5ths of the band from the defunct local hardcore band As It Stands, and as a unit, those 4 have not performed live in over a year! As such, As It Stands comparisons will be inevitable, but this is an entirely new band, they didn't even cover any As It Stands songs last night! New frontman Matt Maccarone (who replaced Josh McNally behind the mic) shown off his very good hardcore singing last night! I hadn't heard from him in a long while, nice to see him in a heavier band than his older more screamo stuff! Also, his stage presence was excellent, he kept everyone moving! Compared to Justin Pregent (As It Stands' singer), I think his screaming is a bit higher pitched, and he seems more at ease with clean vocals, which is cool! Though I still miss Justin, Matt should prove to be a great addition! The rest of the band were solid, Garrett Masters surprised me with his guitar solo, he should play those more often!

The set wasn't without problems though, as Angelo Huckson had some bass issues on two songs: It wasn't plugged in for one, and it came unplugged on another, but for a first show back after over a year, I'm more than forgiving! Even still, the band have really good chemistry, after playing together for so long, you'd expect that! They played mostly new songs (including an instrumental), along with (curiously) a Carrie Underwood cover, but their set ran short for me. I actually feel that they should cover some As It Stands songs, maybe some A Fall From Innocence songs too, it'd both fill in their set more, and draw in fans of both bands to see this new group if they heard old classics like "Bush Raids" and "Angles Of A Casket" were being played! Nice solid hardcore sound, you don't hear it much live anymore, so hopefully they'll be back soon to fill the void! Maybe we'll get an old school all ages show at The Oddfellows Hall? Those don't happen nearly enough. Thumbs up from me, and thanks for flipping me off Angelo, it makes a great picture!

Not long after, Bring The Fallen hit the stage, and they were awesome! This prominent death metal band brought the goods once again! They opened with their cover of All That Remains' "This Calling" before switching to a setlist full of their originals! Josh Stephney's vocals are still as brutal as ever, my throat hurts just watching him growl like that! Andrew Chiarello was awesome on guitar, his solos have always impressed me! Same for Dan Souliere, he was great on guitar and backing vocals, though I do miss his hair! Nolan Rainville has got to be the best on-stage headbanger among local musicians, and his bass work was solid as well, while Travis St. Amour kept up nicely on drums! Josh tried his best to get pits going, but for some reason, a decent sized crowd mostly stayed away from the floor. Are death metal and mosh pits that evil? Who doesn't want to mosh for a good cause?

Again, like with Out Of The Mouth Of Babes, I'd really have liked a longer set from Bring The Fallen, but for what I got, I enjoyed it immensely! Instead, the bands were done around 11:00 PM, with DJ Spruceau hitting the stage last. We all thought he was opening with the bands after, but hey, whatever works for Nite-Life! This has to be the earliest I've been done a local show since Three Days Grace, but for a great cause like Haiti, it was more than worth it! Hopefully both bands will be back real soon, I'll wanna see both live once again! As you can tell, I got photos from the whole concert, click here to check them out, or visit the SMS' Facebook page! And yes, I got video, so check these out! First, it's Out Of The Mouth Of Babes' cover of Carrie Underwood's "Last Name" (Personally, it's a vast improvement, even with technical difficulties!), and then, Bring The Fallen's awesome original, "Defiling Despondence"!





So that's what happened at Nite-Life last night! No word has emerged yet concerning how much money was raised, but I sincerely hope it's a nice amount, Haiti needs all the post-earthquake help it can get! FYI, the door prize at Nite-Life last night was dinner for two at Cafe Natura on Elgin Street. I don't know who won, but hopefully the winner enjoys their prize! I'm not sure when we'll get word on what happened at the other venues last night, but I'd expect that soon! As for Friday's Hope4Haiti festivities on Friday, I can tell you a bit about that, as there is an article on SooToday about what happened Friday night! Carol Martin from SooToday discussed the event, including the work Donna Hopper put into this event, and all that the locals did to donate for the cause! I can confirm that the silent art auction at LopLops went on as planned too. There's a photo album with the article too, including live shots of That's Chester & Kathy O'Neill, along with various photos of the fans and musicians that played, including Brian from Gates of Winter, and many more!

As for the ongoing saga of just what would happen at Coch's Corner, here's the timeline: At first, we didn't know who would be playing. Then we heard it'd be Sense of Truth and The Fury. Then Sense of Truth dropped out and were replaced by Caveman Morrison. Then The Fury were announced as not participating, after which Caveman Morrison cancelled. Then Coch's Corner announced it'd be a jam night, and that's what I last heard before the concert. Well, as it turns out, Coch's Corner instead played host to a Tym Morrison acoustic solo set! I bet that would have been fun! I likely would have swung by after Bring The Fallen wrapped up, had I known. The night was still young, after all! I guess I should apologize for missing the announcement of Tym playing there solo, but in all fairness, no one really knew he'd be playing a set until I was already at Nite-Life. Just figured you guys would wanna know. If you were there, I hope you had a great time!

Now I do have more news, but we'll let that be in my next post. All in all, I hope Algoma Hope4Haiti was a huge success, I wanna thank Donna Hopper and The Sault Youth Association immensely for putting all this work and effort in to help the Haitians out in their time of need, their hearts and minds were totally in the right place, and the work they put in should not be forgotten! If I hear anything else coming out of Algoma Hope4Haiti (especially concerning Turner Up or Tym Morrison), I'll have it right here for you guys! Thanks everyone, more news to come!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Algoma Hope4Haiti), Plus More Hope4Haiti Bands/Lineup Announcements!

It took a while, but we finally have updates on most of the lineups for the Algoma Hope4Haiti benefit concert event taking place on February 19th and 20th! As you're likely aware, this event is being set up by SooToday's Donna Hopper and The Sault Youth Association to raise money for The Canadian Red Cross towards relief in Haiti after last month's devastating earthquake. Eight local bars will host concerts on Saturday, February 20th (with some also hosting bands on the 19th), with all proceeds going to the Red Cross, and for just $10, you can get into all venues! Now I did say when reporting on this event in earlier weeks that metal bands were likely, and I was right! With that in mind, here is a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!!

Local death/thrash metal band Bring The Fallen will be headlining one of the Hope4Haiti concerts, this one at Nite-Life Dance & Comedy Club, marking their first ever performance at this venue! Nice to see Nite-Life involved, I hadn't heard they were in my earlier reports on all of this! They'll be rocking out for Haiti on February 20th, the Saturday of that weekend! But there will be support too, starting with, in their live debut, local hardcore band Out Of The Mouth Of Babes! Yes, the band featuring the instrumental members of As It Stands and Deter/The Fury's Josh McNally on vocals will finally play their first live concert at the Nite-Life Hope4Haiti concert! This sure has been a long time coming to see them live, huh? And though not metal, DJ Spruceau from The Level Vibe Sound Tribe will be performing as well. Hey, it never hurts to give a show some extra flavour, I'm sure he's a great DJ! I'll get to ticket and time information in a second when I go over all the shows, but check out each of the bands performing at Nite-Life on the 20th by clicking on their names! (Also, I love the poster! If it was black and white and photocopied, I'd swear it was a classic 1980s/90s local poster of some type!) Confirm your attendance for this part of Hope4Haiti at this location!

But as you may have guessed from earlier reports, this is far from all that is scheduled next weekend! Now the above show at Nite-Life is, as of 3:30 PM Friday, the only concert with metal bands confirmed for Hope4Haiti, but seeing as all the shows tie together in the same event, it'd be ignorant of me to leave any out. So here's what's confirmed so far at the other 6 bars, in alphabetical order by venue name!

(EDIT, FRIDAY AT 3:28 PM: I have updated the lineups for Hope4Haiti, including the acts playing Friday at Foggy's and The Rockstar Bar. Also, it looks like The Algonquin Pub & Sports Bar itself will NOT have bands. This will be edited if new updates come in prior to my next post. All band info comes from either the Facebook event page, SooToday's article about Hope4Haiti, or the official poster.)

The Bottoms Up Lounge: The bar above Vincenzo's Restaurant on Queen Street East will play host to local indie band The Pine Cones, with special guests Broken House on February 20th. I can't tell you much on either band, neither has an internet page, but they appear to be talented at their genre, and popular among indie circles! No concert on the 19th is scheduled.

The Canadian Nightclub: The only participating venue not downtown, The Canadian will be featuring local country act Thin Ice! You may recognize bassist Josh Donofrio from his work in inactive local metal band Garage Inc.! A frequent sight at venues like Docks and The Canadian, country music lovers should find a lot to like on February 20th, click on their name for more info! No concert on the 19th is scheduled.

Coch's Corner: No bands have been announced as of 3:30 PM Friday. They will only be featuring bands on February 20th. If I was a betting man, I'd put money on Coch's Corner as being likely to get a heavier act, though we'll have to see. I shall keep you guys posted!

Foggy Notions: On February 19th, Foggy's will be headlined DJ Seith, who'll mix some cool tracks for you dance music lovers! He'll be joined by two other local DJs, Aries and DJ Damaging D! Then on the 20th, Foggy's will feature The Tenagens and local punk band The Scary Uncles (featuring Justin Langlois from SIGHdEFECT & Andrew McDonald from Fitswitch), with a band to be named later. Both shows sound promising as well, I'm a fan of The Scary Uncles especially!

LopLops Lounge: The local art gallery/concert spot will host bands on both days of Hope4Haiti. As previously announced on here, Kalle Mattson (featuring ex-Gates drummer Jimmie Chiverelli) will headline the February 19th show with special guests Craig West & Kathy O'Neil. The next night, local funk band Big Wheel & The Spokes will headline at LopLops, with special guests Shannon Moan and Mark Kuntsi from Honeythroat. A silent art auction was also in the works for this location, but updates on it have not came recently.

The Rockstar Bar: Local classic rock band That's Chester (who have been known to cover some AC/DC and Iron Maiden along with INXS and The Kinks-kind of stuff) will be playing at The Rockstar Bar on February 19th AND 20th! You may recognize frontman Greg Simpson from his work in Stiffler's Mom & Sin Stereo! One of the better local cover bands, though not metal enough for the SMS, I do enjoy their metal covers when they throw them into their sets! Definitely worth hitting!

So there's what we know so far bandwise! Start times for each venue's shows will vary by location, I can tell you that the Bring The Fallen concert is scheduled to begin at around 9:00 PM, but I don't know general start times for the rest of them. There will be door prizes at all seven venues! And if you were wondering what happened to Top Hat Billiards, they are just hosting the free pool for ticketholders, there's no concert there. Speaking of ticketholders, tickets are now on sale at these locations: All of the participating venues (including Top Hat), MP Tony Martin's office on Queen Street, the Sault Youth Association office at Station Tower, and at the local Red Cross office on Allard Street! Call 946-1299 or contact organizers on the Facebook event page for more details, and to confirm your attendance! Remember, tickers are $10, but they're good at all venues next weekend, and will give you free pool at Top Hat all night! Of course, I will keep you guys posted as I hear more on Algoma Hope4Haiti! Looks like I might be at Nite-Life on that Saturday, though we'll have to see how the other lineups look first!

News and updates and everything else worth discussing are in the near future! Stay tuned, one and all!

Weekend Concert Previews, Plus 97.9 The Bear & Radio Shakeup Updates

Hey guys, time to update the local metal universe once again! There's three metal concerts this weekend, and more local radio-related news, fans of The Bear and supporters of the fired 99.5 DJs might wanna check that out. But first, here are your local concert previews for this weekend!

We'll start in Sault Michigan for something NOT related to the radio stations: There's two concerts this weekend! Local hard rockers Riot! By Night are back this weekend for a pair of shows at Dondee Lanes! Nice to see them somewhere other than The Frog! No cover charge has been announced, both shows (tomorrow night and Saturday night) have a listed start time of 8:00 PM. If you like some modern rock with feeling, Riot! By Night should fit the bill, they have a bunch of really good musicians, and though we still don't have audio to share, they've played live enough times to pretty much guarantee a good show! Check out more from Riot! By Night at their official MySpace page! If I had more to say on these two shows, I would!

And finally, back in Sault Ontario, a popular tribute band are returning to the area! Who Made Who, The Ultimate Tribute To AC/DC will be playing the Soo for the first time since May of last year when they rocked The Canadian Nightclub! This time, they'll be at Nite-Life Dance & Comedy Club, which you may remember under it's prior monikers GLOW and The Other Place! Actually, this might be the first metal show at what is now Nite-Life since Lion Ride played there in December 2008, but don't quote me on that. But now it's all fixed up and different, so look out for some new stuff if you go! And really, who doesn't love a hard hitting night of AC/DC classics? Tickets are a touch pricey as far as bar shows go, $10 in advance or $15 at the door, but considering their show last year, it'll be worth it! A start time of 9:00 PM is listed on the Facebook event page (confirm your attendance there!), but I'd expect they wouldn't play until later.

I'm not sure if I'll be at this concert, but all signs point to a really fun show! They are quite a solid cover band, the guitarist pulls off Angus' look and mannerisms really well, the band sound enough like the real thing, and they'll get a crowd moving! I saw them in May, I felt really young amongst the older crowd, but meh, I had fun! Hopefully a big crowd turns out! Check Who Made Who out at their official website, and for a preview, here's a live clip of Who Made Who playing "Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap)" at a Toronto show in 2008!



Just as a side note, I will likely be pulling two local concert venues: The Grand Theater and The Verdi Hall, from the venue contact info on the left of the page and moving them to the "Other Local Metal Links" soon unless bookings pop up for either venue in the next few months. The Verdi hasn't hosted a local metal show since Stillbroke's big show there last April, and The Grand (much to my puzzlement) hasn't had a metal band playing there to my knowledge since Sense of Truth played that free Skate4Cancer show last May. Hopefully both get back in the swing of things, they're very nice venues!

Now, radio time! The uproar among Yes FM fans has been stealing most of the thunder, but I fear that the fate of 97.9 Classic Rock: The Bear is getting lost in the shuffle, so I'd like to bring that to everyone's attention again, plus some new stuff I've seen. Now when Sovereign Communications (Rock 101's parent company) bought Yes FM and the 10 other Sault/Iron Mountain/Marquette stations from Northern Star Broadcasting, they didn't pick up one, and it was The Bear. Apparently if Sovereign bought The Bear from Northern Star, they'd violate FCC laws about regional radio monopolies. According to David Helwig's story on SooToday, Northern Star wants out of local radio, but we haven't seen any official statements confirming that.

Here's what else we know about The Bear's fate so far: Northern Star Broadcasting fired 16 employees, including The Bear/Yes FM DJs Jason Mapes (Bad Side's guitarist) and John Gilbert, just before the sale. When Sovereign hired on 10 of those 16 employees, John got his job at 99.5 back, Jason did not. Because The Bear wasn't part of the deal, neither are affiliated with The Bear anymore. Jason changed the name of what was previously The Bear's Facebook group to simply "Classic Rock", with any vestiges of 97.9 removed. John Gilbert posted this on his Facebook page as his job description as on-air DJ with The Bear, ending February 2010: RIP Bear . . . you were a good friend . . . today was my last day, will miss you, Alice, but I hated those bats. No wonder I have no hair . . . Sounds kinda grim for The Bear, doesn't it? Last I heard, The Bear was still broadcasting with Bob and Tom and Alice Cooper still running as scheduled, but I don't know how long that will last. The optimistic side of me hopes a buyer picks it up and saves it, cause even if the reception was patchy, it was still a very good station! But the realistic side of me isn't so sure. If I hear anything more on 97.9 The Bear's future, you'll hear it here! Just in case, listen to it as much as you can now while you can!

Just as a personal comment, it's stuff like this that makes me wish Sault Ontario had it's own FM rock station. If The Bear does die out, we'll just be left with Rock 101 and, IF it's the right block/show, WLSO, as the only full area rock stations. Both are great, but sometimes you like to change the station if a song comes on you don't like, or something. There is Energy Rock Radio, which is awesome, but you need a computer to listen to it. The twin Saults both have country, adult contemporary, oldies, and Christian stations, why can't we both have a rock station each? The Canadian content regulations don't bother me at all, it'd just be nice to have options, and there'll be less for us rock lovers and metalheads if The Bear leaves us. Who's with me on that? (And before someone suggests Sirius XM satellite radio, what local connection does THAT have?)

As for the Yes FM fiasco (which does have a metal connection, as two of the fired DJs are Melissa and Jason from Bad Side), the Facebook group dedicated to boycotting Yes FM until they and the other fired DJs get brought back now has a grand total of.....1,154 members!!! The 99.5 lovers are pissed now, and rightfully so! There's now talk of boycotting everything from 99.5 sponsors to EVERY station that Sovereign owns until they're brought back. Also, most local news outlets have picked up on this story, including SooToday, SooNews.ca, The Soo Evening News, and The Sault Star, click on each to read the articles! Most notable though is an interview that Craig Huckerby of SooNews.ca conducted with one of the laid-off employees (identity hidden), which you can read here! If anything else major comes up, I'll let you guys know! But just as a final note, I've seen some people ignorantly blaming Rock 101 for this mess, like they went in themselves and took over 99.5. No they didn't, their bosses did. Don't drag Scott & Brian and all them into this, blame the higher-ups!

That's all for now, I hope to have lots more news and updates real soon, keep your eyes peeled! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Who Made Who) And The Ultraviolence Concert Preview!!

Shorter post today, but it's important! We have a concert tomorrow night to preview, and a new local concert venue to talk about, but first, we have a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!!

Nine months after they last played locally, Ontario's own Who Made Who: The Ultimate Tribute To AC/DC are coming back here for another concert! However, unlike their May 2009 show at The Canadian Nightclub, they'll instead be at Nite-Life Dance & Comedy Club! They'll hit the stage for their Sault return on Saturday, February 13th, with 9:00 PM as the estimated start time. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door, which is higher than their concert last year, but hey, it's not an obscene amount! This should be a good show, I've never been to Nite-Life since it "opened", and Who Made Who were really good last year! Bit of an older-skewing crowd, but hey, it was fun! Confirm your attendance at the official Facebook event page! As I hear more about this concert, you'll be sure to find it here!

While I'm at it, now that it's finally hosting a metal/hard rock concert, let's talk about Nite-Life! It's located at 119 Gore Street, and in case you're wondering, yes, this is the same spot that The Other Place and GLOW used to call home. Currently, Nite-Life is primarily known for comedians, karaoke, and dance parties, but they've also gotten into booking bands, and now they've got Who Made Who coming! Hopefully this opens the floodgates to even more metal bands, and of course, it's great seeing the former GLOW back in the concert game! Call 945-6483 for more details and to book your band too, and visit their official Facebook group to see what's coming up there!

And finally, it's time to preview a big concert tomorrow night! Here's what you need to know!

Toronto "drunk n' rollers" Ultraviolence are returning to Coch's Corner! Last seen there on September 3rd, they will bring their AC/DC-like style of hard rock to Sault Ontario once again! Very solid band, but this concert may be even better than their last one! Why? Because this time, they have locals Sense of Truth as openers! This will be Sense of Truth's first full local show since the Foggy Notions grand opening last month, and their last concert before they hit the studio to record their debut album! They're promising to debut a new original, and will likely play a mix of their very solid originals and some covers! Also to note: Guitarist Steve Myers won't be present at the show because he's currently on vacation in Cuba, so they'll be a four piece tomorrow night (no word on if frontman Cory Murchison will be on rhythm guitar and vocals like in their older concerts.) The concert is likely going to start at around 10:30 PM tomorrow, with NO COVER! Just make sure you bring drink money and your ID!

Should be an awesome concert, I've missed Sense of Truth way too much in the second half of 2009, it'll be nice to see a full set of theirs for a change! Great band, I know their CD will be awesome when it comes out, check out more from Sense of Truth at their official Facebook group! As for Ultraviolence, also a very entertaining group, any AC/DC fan will find something to like from these guys! Great drinking band too, if you want some high energy Canadian hard rock, these guys should fit the bell very nicely! Check out more of their original material at their official MySpace page, and for a preview of what to expect, here's a live clip of Ultraviolence performing the songs "Jump Motherfucker Jump" and "Trouble Tonight" from a concert last year in (I think) Thunder Bay (Thanks to YouTube user cvaillan for the upload!)



As I said, this is a short post, so that's all I have for now, my next post will either have my review of the Ultraviolence concert, more news and updates, or both! Stay tuned for more!