LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Peril And Rhythm & Brews), Plus The Last Of This Year's Rotaryfest Videos!!

Two topic post on this sunny Saturday, which is split in two via the last of the known videos from a major annual concert festival in Sault Ontario, and first, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (one on SHORT NOTICE with related apology) for Sault Michigan and area. Here's what you should know!

Local hard rock quartet Rhythm & Brews are playing at The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino TONIGHT, after previously playing there last night! I profusely apologize for the short notice and for missing yesterday's show in our weekend concert previews to date, as while the band has not plugged them on their Facebook page, they were listed via Kewadin's entertainment page for the St. Ignace branch as part of their August dates there. Between how busy the SMS has been this summer and the band's lack of promotion, this weekend fell through the cracks, so I apologize again, and hopefully last night's show was a hit! Notably, this weekend's shows mark Rhythm & Brews' first dates since the passing of guitarist Chris Hubbard's father (and ex-Splitshot/415E bandmate) Tony two weeks ago, and our continued thoughts are with Chris & his family at this difficult time. Hopefully rocking out on stage with friends all around helps a bit!

Rhythm & Brews were last seen three weeks ago at The Rapids Lounge in the Soo, shows that entirely slipped us by for coverage on the SMS, but alas, this band isn't known for plugging all of their shows on Facebook, let alone posting videos from their gigs (you have to be there, I guess!) They last knowingly played in St. Ignace back in March. TONIGHT (and yesterday's) shows are/were 21+ affairs with 9:00 PM start times and no cover charges, and hopefully TONIGHT'S show goes as well as last night's surely did. Apologies again, hopefully we'll be right on top of the next ones!

Next up, Traverse City, Michigan classic metal trio Peril have announced their next two Kewadin Casino concert weekends in the Eastern Upper Peninsula, as per this concert calendar for their August and September gigs that was shared onto their Facebook page last month! Their sister bands Scarkazm and Project 6 (no relation) are also addressed here, but Scarkazm are not scheduled to return to our area until November, and Project 6 rarely play concerts north of the Mackinac Bridge. Peril's next E.U.P. stops will come in two weeks when they rock the aforementioned Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on Friday, August 18th & Saturday, August 19th, before heading north to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino on Friday, September 15th & Saturday, September 16th. Fans of Jeff and crew's classic metal and hard rock covers won't want to miss out on these dates!

Kewadin's entertainment pages linked above only address August shows at press time, so stay tuned later in the month for the likely official confirmation of Peril's Soo shows next month (and more). Like with Rhythm & Brews TONIGHT (and last night, apologies again), these are 9:00 PM affairs with 21+ age limits and no cover charges. Visit the above links for more details on these and other upcoming Peril shows in Northern Michigan!

Now, let's finally close out our Rotaryfest fallout today, as I've stretched things into another month, so better wrap it up while July is still somewhat in the rear view mirror! Firstly, I slightly jumped the gun when noting last time that Sault Ontario classic/hard rock cover quintet That's Chester's complete festival-closing reunion set on Stage 1 on the Saturday was uploaded in video form to their Facebook page. Drummer Ric Datson said that they played 16 songs, and that is the amount uploaded as of the end of July, seemingly ending with a three song encore of two April Wine covers followed by ZZ Top's "La Grange". However, as they were getting ready to leave, fan response actually led to a real encore, for which they did Trooper's "Raise A Little Hell". I don't know this if this was the uncounted song or not... perhaps he skipped "La Grange" as it was unrehearsed?

In any event, this cover is well handled by this veteran five-some! While ostensibly a one-off reunion (That's Chester have only played live thrice since Eugene Orlando died in 2015, all at Rotaryfest), nothing I have seen or heard has implied that this was a farewell set, so hopefully this isn't the absolute last time that we see them on stage. Check out their Trooper cover below, and watch their entire Rotaryfest 2023 set across multiple cameras on their Facebook page linked above!

The last known public videos from Rotaryfest 2023 (as of this writing) come from the Friday Night Blues program on Stage 2 by the Art Gallery of Algoma from July 14th. The Sault Blues Society live-streamed 2+ minute-long videos of all five acts for their Facebook page that day, where you can see Rusty McCarthy play his original song "Detroit City", The Steeltown Playboys covering Son House's "Walkin' Blues", reunited prog/blues rock trio The Hyperion Effect playing a song named (I think) "Mustang Woman", Bill Priddle's indie rock cover band All The Tired Horses covering Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' "Candy", and Smokehouse playing an apparent original song, possibly named "Walk In The Light". All are well shot from a good angle on the grass, and while it'd have been nice to see more fans up front (let alone seeing/hearing each song in full), the clear video and audio quality across the board is nice!

Hyperion Effect frontman Keith Conway also uploaded a video from their set to his solo Facebook page, which features his ending guitar solo from their cover of Gary Clark Jr.'s "When My Train Pulls In", but the video is quite blurry. Nothing hard rock or metal to take in from what was knowingly filmed on the Second Stage on the Friday, but there's a lot of talent and familiar faces from that day, so definitely check them out if you are so inclined at the above links, and look for more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

Rotaryfest 2023 Fallout & Videos (Part 4!!)

To cap off the month of July, let's resume our fallout from this year's Rotaryfest at Clergue Park, so musically speaking, what else should you know from two weeks+ ago? We'll pick things back up with the one-off reunion set of local classic/hard rock cover veterans That's Chester, whose steady stream of multi-camera videos from that night has continued on a daily basis on their Facebook page! All edited together by drummer Ric Datson, the videos include covers of Doucette's "Mama Let Him Play", AC/DC's "Let There Be Rock", The Refreshments' "Banditos", Molly Hatchet's "Flirtin' With Disaster", Deep Purple's "Highway Star", this two song video featuring The Knack's "My Sharona" & Queen's "Tie Your Mother Down" (plus a guest appearance from late guitarist Eugene Orlando's grandson), Harlequin's "Thinking Of You", Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz", ZZ Top's "La Grange", and as embedded below, their first two encore songs.

Specifically, they covered April Wine's version of Hot Chocolate's "Could Have Been A Lady" and the April Wine original "Roller" back to back. Along with the first four songs that we addressed in this Rotaryfest fallout post, these videos constitute That's Chester's complete reunion set, and they sound very good across the board with a nice hard rock edge and some welcomed Canadian content for fans of 1970s and 1980s domestic rock acts! Hopefully this won't be the last that we'll see of That's Chester, but check out these well shot & edited videos from Rotaryfest above & below!

Next up, we'll leap from the very last act to play this year to the very first, but not via a video. As you're likely well aware, the Thursday opener on Stage 1 was local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith and his local backing band in a set cut short after just three songs due to Mike severely dislocating his right knee during his second song (he finished it while laying on his back, and managed to play the third while surrounded by paramedics before the ambulance took him to Sault Area Hospital). One week after all of that happened, Mike was a guest on the podcast Inside The Village (naturally a product of SooToday parent company Village Media) to talk about his abbreviated set with hosts Scott Sexsmith (membership director) and Michael "Frisco" Friscolanti (editor in chief), plus producer Derek Turner (yes, The Wyld Stallyns' drummer). You can hear the 34 minute episode at this link or on other major podcasting services.

After bantering about Michael Amadio bringing the Stanley Cup home to the Soo and discussing some local stories in Southern Ontario (as in, local to other markets served by Village Media news websites), the Mike Haggith portion of the episode begins 10 minutes in after a brief commercial break. Here, Scott asks Mike about the beginnings of his musical career and the planning for his Rotaryfest set this year before diving into the set proper, including how things went until he collapsed, the amusing initial reactions from his bandmates (who didn't immediately know that he wasn't just being theatrical), the quick response from on-site paramedics, the decision to play "I've Seen It Before" while laying on his back with a twisted knee, the crowd response to their set, his prognosis for the knee (as of the interview, 4-6 weeks on crutches with physio and ortho), how Sault Area Hospital staff responded to everything when he was first admitted, ...

...his surprisingly early (initial) exit from the hospital, reaction to his social media accounts afterwards, his hopes to get a Rotaryfest do-over in 2024, and his set at the Northern Vibe Festival next month (where he will be seated). The last six minutes of the episode feature more discussion about Mike's injury and similar stories about persevering through injury, with Derek's musical point of view coming up here, as he drummed with the Stallyns on Stage 1 that same Saturday. Informative interview with Mike getting more candid than ever about the events of July 13th, so I highly recommend checking out the interview above (and he dislocated his right knee, Jacob's live-stream was mirrored. My apologies!)

We'll close today with some fallout from Stage 2 near the Art Gallery of Algoma, as I've barely talked about that stage at this point! Granted, the two heavier bands to play this year haven't posted videos from their sets, but what is posted publically to check out? From the Saturday program of original-leaning bands, surprisingly not too much. Machines Dream posted a video on their Facebook page of them playing the first part of "Boundaries", so fans of this exceedingly talented progressive rock band will want to give that a look, especially as this was the last of this run of shows for their reunited original lineup! The other public video that I know was shot on Saturday was a "Shorts" video uploaded by YouTube user Owerri Chic TV, and it captures The Hollow Heads (I think), though the video is confusingly titled "End of Rotaryfest" (they were the third-to-last band on Saturday). Sounds good while it lasts!

The other known public videos to date are from the Friday Night Blues program on Stage 2, and I will touch on those in some form in an upcoming post, especially if any hard rock covers snuck into the sets/videos. Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Stage 1's Thursday headliners Abba Soo were photographed by The Sault Star in this article on the opening day's festivities. That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site next month! Thanks everyone!

Rotaryfest 2023 Fallout & Videos (Part 3!!)

We'll resume our Rotaryfest fallout today by heading back to the closing band one week ago today, namely the one-off reunion of local classic/hard rock cover quintet That's Chester! On that Thursday, the band posted a rehearsal video from the previous night onto their Facebook page, which actually starts with a photo montage set to Saliva's "Ladies & Gentlemen" before moving to live video. There, we see the guys toasting with tequila shots before jamming Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back In Town" (quite literally given their five years off.) Guitarist Gabe Tessaro even showed off a picture of late founding guitarist Eugene Orlando that he brought with him beforehand, which was a nice touch to ensure that he was present! In the description, the band noted that Dan Belanger (who serves as the sound tech for Stage 1 each year, if you didn't know) is officially Eugene's replacement for their reunion gigs, not just a recurring guest.

If you recall That's Chester's use of "_____ Chester" as a jokey stage name for the whole band in the 2000s, then you'll like that Dan's stage name is Audio Chester, so now it is truly official! It'd be nice if the guys could re-post all of their stage names (including those of Eugene, Jim, and Greg), as I don't believe they're easily accessible in one place in 2023. No, they didn't give any context as to why Richard Fullerton replaced Greg Simpson for this gig, if you're wondering. Starting on Wednesday, drummer Ric Datson began sharing actual videos from their Stage 1 set at Clergue Park, and he noted that these were getting delayed from his ideal release because he had three cameras set up and was editing the videos to match. The videos are all pointing the same direction at the stage, with one at the corner of the stage, one near the audience, and one being a drumcam focusing on Ric. What can you see (so far) from That's Chester's reunion set?

 

The three videos so far include "The Boys Are Back In Town" (which fittingly opened their set), Judas Priest's "Breaking The Law", and as embedded below, two different songs, namely The Bottle Rockets' "Nancy Sinatra" and Collective Soul's "Heavy".  For production quality, these videos are great alone, and nicely edited, but That's Chester hold up just fine as musicians to match, and they have a strong handle on these songs across the board! I'd have centered one or two of the camera though, or at least moved one to the other side of the stage. Ric noted that he plans to release a video per day from this set, so watch out over the next two weeks, and give their Rotaryfest 2023 videos (so far) a look above & below!

This wasn't all for Ric Datson at Rotaryfest, as his current classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down also made their festival debut as the 8:00 band on Friday the 14th, and like with That's Chester, their full set was also filmed officially, this time for Ric's YouTube channel! Some apparent dead air between songs was edited out in post, for the record, and the corner-of-the-stage camera was used for the entire thing here, so prepare to see a lot of guitarist Adam King. Their 40 minute set features (in order) covers of Mack Rice's "Mustang Sally", Big Wreck's "That Song", Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Born On The Bayou", Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Let It Ride", The Beatles' "Day Tripper", Sugarloaf's "Green-Eyed Lady", The Stampeders' "Wild Eyes", and Collective Soul's "Shine". It turns out that Adam literally shares vocal duties 50/50 with Joel Syrette, with the two alternating songs for the entire set (Adam leads off on "Mustang Sally").

While Adam did lampshade how his voice got pitchy and flat while doing backing vocals on "Shine", everything sounds fine to me, aided by the high quality video, and it is nice to see Double Down covering some songs you don't see some of their contemporaries do, including some Canadian content! If fans miss the old Bone Yard lineup and/or Mojo, they should be in good hands with Double Down, so check out their whole set below!

We'll close today with an alternate angle of most of Double Down's set, courtesy of attendee Beej Syrette, who live-streamed this for his personal Facebook page and shared it publically on the band's Facebook page. The 26+ minute video captures the first five songs from a nice central angle that lets us get a better actual view of Double Down's set, and while the pure quality of the actual video is lower, it's not bad at all and the audio is pretty clear! You get to see what Ric edited out between some songs too, as anticlimactic as that may be. Check out Beej's Double Down video below!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

Rotaryfest 2023 Fallout & Videos (Part 1)!!

After managing to dodge most of the rain in the weather forecast, Rotaryfest is in the books for 2023, and there is a fair amount out about the Soo's summer festival from its music stages! We'll start with Stage 1 bands at Clergue Park on Saturday night, and while a featured touring band hasn't closed the main stage since 2016, it does make sense on paper to start with Winnipeg-based Bon Jovi tribute band Bed of Roses, who had pictures taken by an uncredited Sault Star photographer that you can see at this link, There are also photos by Ron Jokelainen from First Local News, which is the rebranded and relaunched SaultOnline, whose website was abruptly taken down on June 12th despite posting new articles just two days prior, as well as videos of new local cover band Bourbon Blue on their Facebook page. While site staff were vague on the reason for the change, issues with the prior domain host may have been a factor.

Losing years of site content is not ideal whatsoever, and a little transparency in that regard may have been ideal for SaultOnline readers, but First Local News has improved in the ensuing weeks, and hopefully they can pick things up reasonably well! New name's not especially "local" to the Soo though. As for Ron's Bed of Roses coverage, the photos are not on the same quality as The Sault Star's, but you do get more of a write-up of their set, so click here to see everything of his! The only other Rotaryfest coverage there to touch on the music was this article featuring a photo of The Wyld Stallyns' set on Saturday, coincidentally also the Stage 1 band performing in three photos from Alex Flood's coverage on SooToday (he also got one of Stage 2 performers Distich's set). One more news coverage note, as Renegade/Bed of Roses frontman Darryl Clayton was interviewed by The Sault Star!

In advance of Rotaryfest's kickoff, this article by The Sault Star's Brian Kelly went up on Wednesday where Darryl talked about the differences in paying tribute to both Bon Jovi and Styx, what it was like playing live in front of Bon Jovi bassist Hugh McDonald, and how he first got into covering Styx, among other related topics. Good read for fans, and apologies for being late to the party in addressing it here! As far as videos go, we do have some public footage to check out of the closing bands on Saturday, as the ever-prolific Christopher Paci was back at Rotaryfest to film a few bands this year for his packed YouTube channel, including two clips of Bed of Roses' sister band Renegade in their headline set on Friday. I wouldn't say Styx are a "hard rock" band, but you can check out their faithful renditions of "Come Sail Away" and "Mr. Roboto" by clicking there or above, and they had a good turnout!

As for Bed of Roses, Chris filmed three videos of them tackling the Bon Jovi classics "Wanted Dead Or Alive", "It's My Life", and as embedded below, "Living On A Prayer". Chris was nowhere near the stage (a possible consequence of arriving for just the later sets), but he got a good central vantage point and made optimal use of the zoom function. Bed of Roses delivered a solid sound for Bon Jovi fans, especially compared to how the real thing sounded in concert last year, and the crowd was very receptive and eager to sing along, which you love to see! Check out Chris' videos above & below, and stay tuned for more from him soon!

We'll close today with the one-off headlining reunion of local classic/hard rock cover quintet That's Chester (yes, their recent Facebook rehearsal video is also coming soon), as Chris filmed them covering Judas Priest's "Breaking The Law" and as embedded below, AC/DC's "Let There Be Rock". Of course, this set was fronted by original singer Richard Fullerton rather than Greg Simpson, so mid-2000s That's Chester fans were definitely excited. Everyone performs strongly in both clips, and the Chesters get lots of time to rock out and show off during the AC/DC cover, with guitarist Gabe Tessaro (nice to see pause his retirement for a night) even pulling off some Angus Young moves and a nice extended guitar solo! Whether you prefer Ritch or Greg (or even Jim) is a matter of personal preference, but Ritch had strong enthuasiasm and vocals to match on these covers, so check everything for yourselves out above & below!

That's all for now, but look for more from Rotaryfest and elsewhere on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

Rotaryfest Stage 1 Concert Previews!!

The Sault's Summer Festival returns to Clergue Park this weekend, as Rotaryfest is (according to promotional material) "celebrating 100 years" this year! The first Community Day parade was held in 1922, and if you omit the parade-less 2020, this will be the 100th year since, so I think that's how they got to that milestone count. This year's Rotaryfest is even more a return to normalcy than last year (proof: the midway is back), so visit the official website or read the program that came in the mail last week for full non-musical details about this year's community events downtown! We'll start by looking at the covers-focused Stage 1, which returns to its usual outpost beside the Centennial Library, with Valerie Pluss as stage manager and Andrew Stuetz as the M.C. between bands. Band names below are linked to their Facebook event page from Rotaryfest, who made one up for (almost) each set once again.

Musically, things begin TOMORROW NIGHT when local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith returns home for the second straight Rotaryfest when he opens Stage 1 at 6:00 PM! Coinciding with the release of his brand new album "All The Best In All You Do" (more on that when able), expect to hear cuts from that and other recent albums during this full band set, with Mike joined by returning local bandmates Chris Nielsen (A Dire Setback) on guitar and Brandan Glew (ex-The Din) on drums. Now on bass is Sainte-Marie/Bad Chug alum Jacob Quarrell (replacing A Dire Setback's Matt Quinn), who ironically was supposed to be Mike's guitarist for his pandemic-cancelled album release show here in 2020. Should be a big way to kick off Rotaryfest, so don't miss out tomorrow! The other three bands include local Abba tribute band Abba Soo at 9:30 PM, ...

... blues/jazz sextet The Hustle Brothers at 8:00 PM (both in their festival debut), and The Northern Jazz Ensemble at 7:00 PM in their fourteenth Stage 1 set (and fifth straight) since the modern format was established in 2001. As always, Stage 1 entertainment is FREE and ALL AGES, and while 9&10 News is calling for a high temperature of 21° tomorrow with partly cloudy skies, they also have a 20% chance of rain in the forecast (yes, Stage 1 has a roof). There is a little something for everyone tomorrow at Rotaryfest, and Mike's high profile album release set will be quite a kickoff, so visit the above links for more details, and here's Mike live last year!

Six bands take on Stage 1 on FRIDAY NIGHT, with two newer bands that cross our genre radar playing Stage 1 that day, including punk/alternative cover quintet Bookclub at 9:00 PM and classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down at 8:00 PM. The former's unpredictable trumpet-infused covers and Surfers-majority lineup will definitely turn heads, while Double Down's talented & familiar lineup will be right at home on this big stage, so don't miss them on Friday! In a change from past norms, there will be a touring headliner on Friday AND Saturday, with Friday's being Renegade: The Ultimate Tribute To Styx, a Winnipeg-based tribute to the 1970s-80s classic rock/AOR icons, and if you like Styx, their 10:20 PM set will do them justice! The opening three bands on Friday include classic rock cover quartet RPM (in their third Stage 1 appearance) at 7:00 PM, new country/classic rock cover group The Way Backs at 6:00 PM, ...

...and classic rock trio The Sidekicks (debuting at Rotaryfest here after dropping out of Stage 1 last year) opening at 6:00 PM. Once again FREE & ALL AGES, 9&10 News is calling for warmer and cloudier weather with a high of 23° on Friday, but the chance of rain (including thunderstorms) moves up to 50%. Hopefully the weather cooperates for the bands this weekend, including new and familiar faces alike on Friday, so visit the above links for more on that day's bands, and here's Bookclub live!

As usual, the SATURDAY lineup is the longest of all, and the closing band this year will be a one-off reunion of local classic/hard rock cover quartet That's Chester! Making their eleventh Rotaryfest appearance, we haven't seen That's Chester (who oddly didn't get a Facebook event page from Rotaryfest) since playing this festival in 2018. For this year, Gabe, Aubrey, and Ric will be joined by original singer Richard Fullerton rather than Greg Simpson for the whole set, while Dan Belanger will return in place of late guitarist Eugene Orlando once again. The program erroneously says that their last show was their involvement in The Who's Tommy in 2015 despite playing two Rotaryfests since, but it will be neat to see them back again, especially if you were a fan of mid-2000s That's Chester with Ritch on the mic! Their set is at 10:30 PM on Saturday, ahead of the featured touring headliners, as usual for Rotaryfest.

This year's touring Saturday attraction is Winnipeg's Bed Of Roses: The World's Best Bon Jovi Tribute, whose lineup is made up of the members of Renegade from Friday night, hence why two are playing this year. 11 years removed from hybrid Bon Jovi/Journey tribute band Bon Journey's Stage 1 set, Bed Of Roses will bring just Bon Jovi classics (their hair metal era chief among them) back to Rotaryfest on Saturday at 8:30 PM, so don't miss out then! Classic rock veterans Mustang Heart are scheduled for 7:15 PM in their record eighteenth Stage 1 set under the modern format, while hard rock fans can check out new classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations at 6:15 PM in their festival debut, preceded by local funk/hard rock sextet The Wyld Stallyns in their third straight Stage 1 set at 5:15 PM before their Shooters gig that night. The opening bands on Saturday include country musician Brendan Hodgson (also back for a third year) at 4:15 PM, ...

...classic rock veterans Dorian Grey in their Stage 1 debut at 3:15 PM, new local bluegrass.country band Lands & Forest at 2:15 PM, classic rock sextet Ladies Sing The Blues in their second Rotaryfest set (third if you count Lady Sings The Blues) at 1:15 PM, and classic/party rock cover band Encore in their third Stage 1 set to kick things off at 12:00 PM. Expect FREE & ALL AGES entertainment to cap off Rotaryfest with on Saturday, and 9&10 News is calling for similar weather as on Friday, but the chance of rain drops slightly to 40%. If you are at all concerned about the weather forecast, keep tabs on your preferred local forecast in the leadup. It is worth noting that one more touring tribute band is playing at Rotaryfest this year, namely the Toronto-based Abraxas: The Ultimate Santana Tribute, who will be performing on Friday outside of The Machine Shop (no idea if they'll be at The Rink) as part of this year's Wheels On The Water car show.

How's that for an extra pull to come down to Mill Square? Click here for more details on that event, and as for Saturday, there's a stacked lineup of local bands plus some Bon Jovi classics to take in, with familiar faces and new bands alike for your delectation, hopefully with no weather-induced complications! It will be weird not seeing Bone Yard, Mid Life Crysis, and the now-defunct Obsession playing this year though, the first in-person Stage 1 that they have all missed since 2018. Visit the above links for much more on Rotaryfest's Stage 1 lineup for 2023, stay tuned for our Stage 2 preview and more next, and here's That's Chester live!

That's all for today, but more weekend concert previews are on the way tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Poutine Feast), New Videos, And More!!

Happy Father's Day to all of our dad readers! Today's post is half devoted to LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS regarding a popular downtown festival in a couple of weeks, while we also have some recent concert videos and assorted updates to touch on, so here's what you should know!

Live music will return to the Sault Ste. Marie Poutine Feast over the Canada Day long weekend, and while a full performer schedule across all four days (Thursday, June 29th-Sunday, July 2nd) is not yet out, two SMS-leaning bands are confirmed for this year's itinerary, starting with funk/hard rock cover sextet The Wyld Stallyns outside of the Ermatinger Clergue National Historic Site at 800 Bay Street on Thursday the 29th! The Stallyns played last year's festivities as the Thursday morning openers, but they have been bumped way up to evening headliners at 6:00 PM, which is a change from last year, where only the Friday and Saturday programs had bands that late. It's worth noting that singer Christina Speers' new disco tribute band The Saturday Nights will also be playing at the Poutine Feast this year, but they have not publically stated the day or timeslot. We'll let you know when/if organizers release the full schedule (they did last year, in any event!)

The Stallyns confirmed their involvement via this Facebook page, as did the other known band playing at the Poutine Feast this year, namely local alt-hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich! About one year after members of the two bands joined forces for early July gigs under the Stallyns banner (The Wyld Sandwych?), Handsome Sandwich will make their standalone Poutine Feast debut as the headliners on Sunday, July 2nd at 4:00 PM! Be advised that the band gave their timeslot as 4:00-7:00 PM, but the Poutine Feast's own advertising says that the festival ends that day at 6:00 PM. One of them is right! This will be Handsome Sandwich's first show since the Soo Soundcheck event earlier this month, and hopefully they prove to be a fitting soundtrack to cap off the Poutine Feast! No word on other bands playing this year, but the timeslot spacing would imply three bands daily except for two on the shorter Sunday program.

Of course, the main portion of the Poutine Feast is the poutine, with many kinds on sale from a bunch of food trucks all weekend long, so if you love fries drenched in gravy & cheese curds (or anything else), head down to the Old Stone House for all of that, with music to match! The daily programs begin at 11:00 AM across all four days, this is absolutely all ages, and admission is free assuming you don't buy any food. Visit the official Facebook event page and the above links for continuing updates on this year's Poutine Feast as they roll in!

Next up, here's our long-awaited write-up on videos from the Queen: It's A Kinda Magic tribute concert at The Sault Community Theatre Centre on May 21st, courtesy of Christopher Paci's great YouTube channel! Again, apologies for the nearly month-long delay in these making the site, but now we're caught up for his heavier concert videos (assuming he wasn't filming at something this weekend!). Chris shot eight videos of the Australian Queen tribute band playing the classic songs "We Will Rock You", "We Are The Champions", "Under Pressure", "I Want To Break Free" (featuring singer Dominic Warren heading out into the crowd), "Bicycle Race", "Another One Bites The Dust", "Radio Ga Ga", and as embedded below, "Bohemian Rhapsody". Always impressive seeing a band tackle the entire version of that song, even the "scaramouche" part, which the real Queen used a pre-recorded track of because it was hard to replicate.

Chris has gotten clearer videos compared to these, and the audio can be soft at times and scratchy at others, but he has a good view from the right of the stage to capture It's A Kinda Magic's very professional stage set-up and high attention to detail! You can tell that this tribute had the Queen look and sound down pat, so fans of the British hard rock legends will have been right at home, and you can tell by the audience reception! Give Chris' videos from last month a look above and below!

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

 

• Former Rising Tide/Lake Effect drummer Chris Johns filled in for Tony Santoro behind the kit when Generations played at Jay's Piston Broke Pub last night due to unspecified "prior commitments", according to the band's Facebook group. Fan-shot photos have already made their way there, and hopefully Chris fit in well with Generations for the night!
• The one-off reunion of local classic/hard rock cover band That's Chester at Rotaryfest on July 15th will feature original singer Richard Fullerton as their lead singer for the evening, according to the band's Facebook page! Ritch had made guest appearances with That's Chester in their last two Rotaryfest gigs in 2016 & 2018, but he appears to have fully replaced Greg Simpson for this show, making this the first Rotaryfest without Greg fronting a band since 2009. No reason was given for the switch, but fans of mid-2000s That's Chester will be glad to see Ritch back from Ottawa for the night! Dan Belanger will return as rhythm guitarist in lieu of the late Eugene Orlando.
• To promote last night's Soo Blaster concert, local punk trio Vanity First and rap/party metal duo The Apocalypse Afterparty were spotlighted in this SooToday news release! No big scoops here unless you weren't familiar with The A.A.'s fluidity for inviting guest musicians on stage (never guitarists, the band has never had them), but we do learn here that Vanity First were originally a quintet named Five Angry Women before eventually changing their name to Vanity (First) and paring their lineup down. One ex-band member is bassist Nick McClelland, but I don't know who the other one was. Good promotion for the concert, so check it out above!
  

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Rotaryfest Stage 1!!)

Single topic post today, as the full lineup for Rotaryfest's music stages was announced via their official website and this SooToday press release earlier today, so what should you know there? This year's festival is considered to be "the 100th year" of Rotaryfest, which evolved from the first Community Day parade in 1922, and while I think you have to omit a year (likely the parade-less 2020) to get to the milestone number, this is still a neat accomplishment! Everything is the status quo from last year music-wise, with the covers-leaning Stage 1 at its usual spot at Clergue Park beside the Centennial Library, while the originals-focused Stage 2 returns for its 16th installment and second post-pandemic year beside the Art Gallery of Algoma. We'll discuss the Stage 2 lineup in an upcoming post, but click here for the details if you want to jump the gun. Sponsored by the Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corporation once again, who can you expect to see on Stage 1 in July?

As usual, there are three days of live music starting on Thursday, July 14th, and the very first act this year will be that night's only hard rock performer, namely local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith! Making his second local appearance of 2023 (following tonight's Face To Face event at The Art Hub on Spring), this will presumably be a repeat of his Stage 1 set last year, featuring Mike and a band of locals doing his original material (including cuts from "All The Best In All You Do"), so be there nice and early to see Mike in full form to kick off this year's music at 6:00 PM! The Thursday headliners at 9:30 PM will be local Abba tribute band Abba Soo in their Rotaryfest debut, while local roots rock band The Hustle Brothers will also hit Stage 1 for the first time at 8:00 PM. Festival regulars The Northern Jazz Ensemble have the 7:00 PM slot in their fifth straight Stage 1 appearance and 14th since the current format was introduced.

As always, the music on Thursday the 14th is FREE & ALL AGES, as will be the case on Friday, July 15th, which has six bands this year, equal to 2022. Two of them are hard rock/punk acts, including online page-less alt-punk cover quintet Bookclub in their festival debut at 9:00 PM and classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down at 8:00 PM. Good to see some newer acts on tap this year, and with lots of familiar faces, so don't miss their sets on the Friday! Befitting a 100th anniversary, organizers are going big with a touring tribute band on Friday and Saturday, the first time that they've ever booked a Friday headliner of this scale since the modern format's launch. The band in question is Renegade: The Ultimate Tribute To Styx, a Winnipeg-based tribute to the classic rock/AOR staples of the 1970s and 1980s. Styx could dip into heavier waters at times, and from what I've heard, Styx fans will be impressed!

Renegade are scheduled at the oddly specific time of 10:20 PM. Thursday's opening three bands are classic rock cover quartet RPM (in their third Stage 1 set) at 7:00 PM, newer local country trio The Way Backs (fronted by local musician Jeffrey Wright) at 6:00 PM, and local classic rock trio The Sidekicks (featuring ex-Griphook bassist Dan Beaupre) at 5:00 PM, one year after dropping out of their planned Stage 1 debut. Good to see them get a second chance! Not a bad lineup for classic rock fans in particular, so see above for more details on all six Friday acts!

As for the Saturday, July 15th lineup, that day is the biggest and longest as ever, and in one of this year's biggest surprises, defunct local classic/hard rock cover quintet That's Chester will close Rotaryfest in a one-off set at 10:30 PM! This will be their eleventh Stage 1 appearance (a number that only four other bands have hit since 2001), and their first since reuniting for the Rotaryfest Rewind theme year in 2018. Assuming Gabe Tessaro's retirement from live music will be paused for one night, it'll be good to see him, Greg, Aubrey, and Ric (and Dan?) back, so don't miss them on the Saturday night! As has been routine since 2015, the featured touring band is the second-to-last band (counting 2023, a Greg Simpson-fronted band has had the closing honours in five of the last six installments), and this year, the honours go to Bed of Roses: The World's Best Bon Jovi Tribute out of Winnipeg!

Rotaryfest is not new to having a Bon Jovi tribute here (the hybrid Bon Jovi/Journey tribute Bon Journey headlined in 2012), but Bed of Roses are solely tackling Bon Jovi... at least on Saturday. Members of this band also perform in Renegade, the Styx tribute on Friday, so why not make use of both guises on a big stage like this on the same weekend! Hair metal fans will surely get a kick out of Bed of Roses on July 16th, especially compared to how Jon Bon Jovi himself sounded on tour last year! Their set is at 8:30 PM, with classic rock veterans Mustang Heart playing their eighteenth Stage 1 set beforehand at 7:15 PM, a record in the post-2000 format of the festival. New local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will make their festival debut at 6:15 PM (surprisingly, Jus' Chillin never played Stage 1 previously), while local funk/hard rock cover sextet The Wyld Stallyns will play the main stage for a third straight year at 5:15 PM, surely one of many summer gigs from them.

Solid block of classic and hard rock to close the Saturday program via the above bands, so keep them in mind for your schedule planning! In the first half of the day, the 4:15 performer is local country musician Brendan Hodgson (also playing Stage 1 for the third consecutive year), while veteran classic rock band Dorian Grey will play at 3:15 in their own Rotaryfest debut. A mystery band named Land & Forest are scheduled at 2:15 PM, and with the schedule going live without Facebook event pages for each individual band (at least not yet), I truly know nothing about them at press time. We'll let you know when more comes out! Generations frontwoman Valerie Powley's classic rock/R&B side hustle Ladies Sing The Blues will return for a second year at 1:15 PM, and party rock cover quintet Encore will play Stage 1 for the third time as the 12:00 PM openers. Once again, the Saturday lineup is FREE & ALL AGES!

This is a strong lineup of covers-leaning bands, especially for classic rock fans, and while complaints about the lineup are common annually, note that half of the 18 local bands this year are Stage 1 newcomers, and only three of them have played more than thrice previously. Three bands who played the last three years are absent too (Bone Yard, Mid Life Crysis, and the now-defunct Obsession), though of course, Greg from Bone Yard is instead focusing on the That's Chester reunion set this year. Be sure to visit the above links for much more on Stage 1 at the Soo's summer festival in 2023, and stay tuned for the Stage 2 lineup reveal soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Rotaryfest Stage 1!!)

For our first news post of June 2018, we have a stacked and extended news post regarding a major concert event this summer, so let's not waste any more time, here's what you need to know!

The full lineup for this year's Rotaryfest Stage 1 has been announced, far earlier than usual, so what is there to say regarding this year's music lineup at Clergue Park next month? Oddly, each act was announced via individual Facebook event pages on the local summer festival's Facebook page in recent days, and if you piece them all together, you'll find a full lineup that is very different from the recent norm. With this year marking the 100th anniversary of the Rotary Club of Sault Ste. Marie (and the 20th installment of the modern Rotaryfest), organizers have largely dropped their usual pool of active artists for 2018, in favour of a special "Rotaryfest Rewind" lineup, mostly comprised of reunited local bands! In fact, of the announced bands, only five have played Rotaryfest at all since 2006, so if you've ever wanted the covers-centric main stage to have more variety, this is absolutely your year! No idea if they're waiving the covers only rule this year, but with certain bands, you'd have to hope they would!

Thursday's lineup on July 19th remains hard rock free, as is usual for Rotaryfest, but who's playing that day? In descending order, the headliners are 1970s-1980s local country band George Pinder & Patches at 10:00 PM, and they'll be joined by 1960s classic rock sextet The Dark Side at 9:00 PM, 1960s-1970s classic rock quartet The Polisi Basson at 8:00 PM, 1980s jazz/blues rock quartet Zak's All-Stars at 7:00 PM, and the return of long-time Rotaryfest regulars The Northern Jazz Ensemble for the first time since 2009 as the 6:00 openers. Most of these acts are before my time, but it'll be a thrill for many to see these acts back on stage next month! The Friday, July 20th lineup already made our concert listings via the already announced 10:00 PM headlining slot by local/Toronto indie/punk quartet Treble Charger in their first Rotaryfest appearance on record, whish is huge enough alone, but who all's opening for them?

At 9:20 PM, there will be a special tribute set to local musicians and bands of the past, which will be emceed by Adrian Vilaca, and is partially brought together by Ric Datson of the Sault Ste. Marie Museum and many local bands. This set should be intriguing, we'll be curious see who plays what then! The 8:30 PM slot belongs to Rotaryfest's iron men (and woman), classic rock quintet Mustang Heart, who will tackle a Bon Jovi and Journey tribute set for the occasion. How will this compare to Bon Journey's headlining set of 2012? Be there to find out next month! 2009-2012 classic/hard rock cover band Turner Up will also return on July 20th, marking their first Rotaryfest appearance since their sole 2011 turn under their brief Full Circle moniker. No particular lineup is reuniting for the show, with members from across their run taking part, but as best as I can tell, they'll be featuring Travis Sharpe on vocals, guitarists Robert Brown & Len Ward, bassist Jeff Brown, and drummer Scott McLurg next month.

I don't believe Turner Up ever played with Travis as their lead singer (he was previously their bassist), but it's great to see Turner Up back on stage in any form, they were a fun band! 1980s country/bluegrass quartet Road Fever (featuring Mojo and Flat Stanley alumni) will reunite for a set at 6:30 PM, while the Friday lineup will be opened at 5:30 PM by the long awaited return of local hard rock/funk band Tripod the Dog, with longtime frontman Mark Oliverio joined next month by his former Glitch bandmate Sean Berlinguette on bass, plus drummer Brian Egglesfield. I have memories of Tripod the Dog from early in my following of local music, and it's cool to see Mark bring them back after too long! As for Saturday, July 21st's lineup, we already knew that Juno winning Calgary classic rock trio The Stampeders would be that day's featured attraction, but who else can we find on that day's extended bill?

The Stampeders actually aren't playing last (they have the 8:30 PM slot), as local classic/hard rock cover veterans That's Chester will reunite after a two year hiatus to close Rotaryfest at 10:30 PM! Their advertised lineup for this year is as a four piece with Greg, Gabe, Aubrey, and Ric back (there's no stated second guitarist), but original singer Richard Fullerton will come back home to guest on a few songs. Hopefully the guys have a blast in their 10th Stage 1 set, and honour Eugene's memory once again! Another musicians tribute (described identically to Friday's) will take place at 7:50 PM, while local/Toronto punk/Celtic favourites Dustin Jones & The Rising Tide will surprisingly make their Rotaryfest debut at 7:00 PM.  Their event page indicates that Chris Johns will be back on drums for this set, but it also notes that Marshall Jaaskelainen's Barn Board Trio bandmate Liam Seymour will join them next month. I can't confirm if Liam is now in The Tide or if he's just a guest performer, but it's great to see them on stage again!

1970s Chicago-influenced soft rock collective Pegasus will reunite for a set at 6:00 PM, while the classic lineup of 2012-2015 hard rock quartet The Suicide Kings will come back after three years away on July 21st at 5:00 PM! Visibly resurrecting their original and more prominent name rather than their Beaumont Avenue moniker, it's awesome to see Mike, Steven, Mitch, and Ben back for one more go-around in their fourth Rotaryfest appearance, so don't miss them either! Fan favourite jam rock sextet Odd Man Out will make their festival debut at 4:00 PM, while an apparent one-off quartet named The Sun Dogs will play a set of 1960s summer-themed classic covers at 3:00 PM. Wailing Aztecs alumni Kelly McGillivray, Sue Martinelli and Sue Roy will play a set of folk and pop covers under their own names at 2:00 PM, while the Saturday lineup will kick off with the current incarnation of Korah Collegiate's school band Mustang Sally at 1:00 PM.

As usual, this year's Stage 1 entertainment is FREE and for ALL AGES, so visit the above links for all of the current details! While it is surprising to not find such recent regulars as Obsession, The Reptiles, and Crossroad on the bill this year, the exceedingly nostalgic and possibly original-embracing lineup is more than welcomed, and I know the buzz is already high for this year's Stage 1 roster! Stay tuned for continued updates when and if they roll in, including the Stage 2 lineup to be announced, and look for our Dumpster Mummy preview and more tomorrow! Thanks everyone!