COVID-19 Updates For Local Concert Venues, Plus More Videos Of Mikey & His Uke!!

We're back with a news post on the site today, which goes in two paths, including proper updates on the early relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions in the Sault Ste. Marie area and what this means in the short term, plus some new videos from a prominent local musician who recently got a big media platform. Here's what you should know!

I wanted to begin today's post with the latest on the Ontario and Michigan shutdown orders and the status of concert venues in our area, specifically relating to Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's announcement yesterday that bars and restaurants in the Upper Peninsula and much of Northern Michigan can start re-opening with precautions on Friday. Click here or visit your preferred state news source for full details on the announcement. Chippewa County only has 2 confirmed COVID-19 cases and no deaths, so it's easy to see why the Soo is part of the first sections of Michigan to start re-opening. If bars and restaurants choose to re-open on Friday, they must limit capacity to 50% and enforce social distancing guidelines and safety precautions. However, social gatherings are still limited to 10 or fewer people, and municipal governments can enforce stricter rules if necessary. That all said, what does this mean for concerts going forward?

As of late, our Sault Michigan concert calendar had been primarily centered around the local Kewadin Casinos and Tarnished's weekly matinees at Biggby Coffee, with some exceptions. Between such businesses having to run at half capacity in the near term, and the social gathering limitations, I would be surprised to see either rush into concerts as we know them, and Biggby have not addressed their imminent plans on Facebook at press time. Before yesterday's announcement, Kewadin had announced (after multiple prior delays) that they would be re-opening on June 1st, and Governor Whitmer did not directly cite casinos in the first wave of business re-openings, so that may hold true yet. Stay tuned to Kewadin Casino's online pages for further details, especially with three touring out of town bands (The Lows, Peril, and Tripp 'N' Dixie) still scheduled to play in Sault Ste. Marie and St. Ignace's lounges over the June 12th weekend, though I'd be very surprised if they occur as normal.

Finally, there has been no comparable announcement from the Ontario government at press time regarding bars & nightclubs, though Premier Doug Ford had already announced that, as of today, stores with a street entrance can start re-opening with appropriate guidelines (source here.) As such, SMS-relevant retailers like The Rad Zone and Vintage Games N' Junque have started re-opening with a minimum capacity. If you choose to go out to a re-opened store this week, please use common sense to keep yourself and everyone else safe and coronavirus-free. We'll have more on the pandemic as it relates to bands and concerts when it rolls in!

Let's move into a happier topic to finish this post, specifically from Fairmounts frontman/Inner City Surfers drummer Mikey Hawdon, whose series of "Quarantunes" (a.k.a. "Mikey & His Uke" videos) are definitely gaining steam now that they are on YouTube! Yesterday, Mikey got some major attention on Global News at 5:30 PM, which you may have saw locally on channel 3 on Shaw Cable or 12.2 on an over-the-air antenna. The 2½ minute piece by long-time Global correspondent Susan Hay features Mikey talking about how he re-discovered his ukelele, the pandemic's impact on his day job, the spread of his quarantune videos, and their impact on him personally. No mention of his individual bands, but he does rep for home with a Greyhounds toque! This is a well done report that will hopefully get Mikey even more attention for this daily series, and while Global doesn't allow external embedding of their videos, click here to see the whole thing!

Since we last covered Mikey's quarantunes on Thursday, he had uploaded 5 more to YouTube and social media, all featuring special guests. These include covers of the WKRP In Cincinnati and Monkees theme songs, and three punk tracks, namely NOFX's "Eat The Meek", Screeching Weasel's "Hey Suburbia" (featuring ex-guitarist John "Jughead" Pierson), and as embedded below, the Joey Ramone version of Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World". Fittingly, this video's guest musicians are Lucas Stagg & Amy "Gabba" Zuccheto, who played with Mikey in his Toronto-based Ramones tribute bands The Gabba Heys and/or The Merves, and all three share vocals. This is a nice optimistic rendition of this Joey Ramone classic, and his other new quarantunes are fun escapist listens during this stressful time for punk and classic TV fans, so give all of Mikey's past and present videos with his uke a watch above and below, and stay tuned for video #66!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

Full Details On Mikey Hawdon's At-Home Quarantunes With His Ukelele!!

Over the past two months, friends of veteran local punk musician Mikey Hawdon will have seen his (mostly) daily series of "quarantunes" on his personal Facebook page, where he does video covers on vocals and ukelele. We addressed his publically shared Monty Python cover on the site last month, but the floodgates are now open for the Inner City Surfers drummer's quarantune videos, as Mikey has slowly been uploading them to his YouTube channel over the past week! All 60 videos (to date) can now be watched there, and you do get a sense of the series' progression, starting with spare solo performances and increasingly featuring special guests filmed remotely. Each video is bite-sized, with most running for under 2 minutes, and none exceed 3 minutes, so it won't take much time at all to see all of these. The first episode of Mikey and his uke saw him cover Bad Religion's "Infected", but there is a lot more to see than just that cover!

Punk, hard rock, and metal fans will be interested in seeing Mikey's acoustic take on songs by The Beastie Boys, Blind Melon, The Clash, The Dickies, Green Day, The Misfits, Motley Crue, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, No Doubt, The Offspring, Queen, Rancid, The Salads, and even his own current Toronto punk band The Fairmounts, but songs in our genre range are not the majority. If you peruse Mikey's channel, you'll find pop, comedy, indie, classic rock, reggae, and country tunes, and even TV show themes, so there's something for every taste! A number of name musicians do turn up in the quarantunes from #23 onward, including many of his past and present bandmates, and while many are not from the Soo (Mikey lives in Toronto), there are lots of familiar faces. For example, look for Tidal Records colleagues like Jay Case, Frank Deresti, and Sheldon Jaaskelainen in guest spots, among others. Given Mikey's vast music connections, there are some huge gets along the way as well!

His cover of The Offspring's 'The Kids Aren't Alright" features that band's guitarist Noodles, members of The Salads factor on multiple videos (particularly "Get Loose"), and arguably the most notable of all sees Mikey and friends covering The Penguins' "Earth Angel" in a throwback to Mikey's favourite movie, Back To The Future (if you know him well, you know how much he loves that franchise.) This cover just so happens to feature lead vocals from Harry Waters Jr., who played Marvin Berry, the frontman of The Starlighters during the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance in 1955 Hill Valley, where they played "Earth Angel" with Marty McFly. I'm sure most of you know the scene, but just in case some readers needed context! Mikey outlines how this cover came together in this SooToday article from Chris Belsito earlier today, and it's a great read if you're curious about the quarantunes series, it's growth during the pandemic, and it's future!

Mikey does plan to continue posting quarantune videos with his uke as long as the pandemic continues, and I hope to cover them more regularly now that they have a public outlet on his YouTube channel (including 5 proto-installments recorded in Hawaii two years ago.) Mikey's a good punk singer, and while his chosen cover songs vary in suitability to the ukelele, most work in fun and/or poignant ways, and it's great to see collaborations that wouldn't be readily possible if it weren't for the internet! To feature in this post, I wanted to pick the most relevant cover for the local punk scene given Mikey's deep local roots, and I settled on last week's quarantune cover of The Misfits' "Some Kinda Hate", which features Mikey on ukelele alongside Anti-Queens frontwoman Valerie Knox on lead vocals, Mikey's ex-Lion Ride bandmate Mark Rand on bass, his wife/Cross Dog bandmate Tracy on backing vocals, and Mikey & Mark's old Taliband bandmate Aaron Mooney on percussion (not really drums.)

In this format, the cover has a very indie/pop rock vibe, and it's a fun (if short) listen! I like how the musicians pop into frame in separate windows, though I'd have oriented them more like Black Flag's logo. I don't know if this will make up for this month's cancelled Anti-Queens concert in the Soo, but it's nice to see Valerie grace a virtual stage with Saultites, at least! Give this cover a watch below, see much more at the above links, and kudos to Mikey for giving everyone something to look forward to every day during this nonsense! I hope to feature more of these videos on the SMS soon, but look for a new news post tomorrow! Thanks everyone!