Saturday, September 15, 2012

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Halloween Party), Frightlight News, And A New Video!!

Today's news post is mostly focused on Sault Ontario for a change, so if you've missed news on this side of the border, this might help! Along with a Sault Michigan video, we also have news on a local Halloween costume drive with a metal connection, and plenty of updates relating to a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for next month, including all of the current details on the latest edition of a popular annual Halloween concert event, and how it's changed from last year, so here's what you need to know!

For a seventh straight year, local concert promoter J.D. Pearce is hosting The Halloween Party on Saturday, October 27th, though at a new location! After six years at the old Coch's Corner on Bay Street, this long established & popular Halloween weekend event will not be moving along with the venue to the old Foggy Notions location. Instead, the seventh installment will be held at The Algonquin Pub & Sports Bar this year, which is downstairs from The Rockstar Bar at 864 Queen Street East. A reason for the move hasn't been announced, but given the relocated Coch's Corner's focus on acoustic bands, J.D. might not have been able to host the Halloween party as it once was if it stayed at Coch's this year. That said, while The Algonquin Pub itself isn't a frequent local metal/hard rock concert venue (not since the old Turner Up at Algoma Hope4Haiti in February 2010, I think), hopefully The Halloween Party can be another success and encourage further metal/hard rock shows there! So while the location has changed, the rest will be similar to what you've come to expect since 2006, including a great Halloween ambiance, a costume contest (nice to see that back), and three local bands, including local horror punk/metal quintet Frightlight for a fourth straight year!

This will likely be Frightlight's first local show in 3 months, following opening for Anvil in July, but it will come fresh off of their second Toronto gig on October 25th, where they will open for The Misfits once again! That's huge news in and of itself, so click here for more details on that show, and stay tuned in case I hear anything about tickets being sold locally for it! It'll be great to see Frightlight back for the seventh Halloween party, and you know their horror look and themes will fit perfectly, so don't miss them! One opening band has been confirmed at present, that being The Brews, who are a NOFX tribute band. I'm fairly certain that they are the same band who played one-off sets under differing genres & names such as Glamoween, The Mothermakers, and The 151s at the past Coch's Corner Halloween shows, so if you like them or NOFX, keep them in mind for October 27th! The third band has yet to be announced, but for reference, the last three Halloween shows featured Redundant, Winkstinger, and the recently inactive Half Past, so there's an idea of what we could expect. Like past years, admission will be $5 for this 19+ show, and a 10:00 PM start time is advertised. For more details, visit the official Facebook event page!

Though the change in scenery might take some getting used to, it's great to see J.D. bringing the Halloween party back for a 7th year, and hopefully I can make it out once again to revel in the Halloween insanity and entertaining local music! With the recent dry spell for metal/hard rock shows in Sault Ontario, you might wanna pay extra attention. Stay tuned for updates as they come in, but here's one more Frightlight-related note. Do you have new, unused, or gently used Halloween costumes, accessories, and/or makeup that could stand to be donated? Frightlight and local music store The Rad Zone are teaming up to accept donations for any of the above items from September 29th through October 15th, and each donation will give you an entry in a draw for a Frightlight prize package! I assume the draw will take place on or after October 15th, and after the collection period ends, The Rad Zone will set a couple of days for interested people to come by to see what's available to pick up for Halloween. This sounds like a great cause, and hopefully this benefits local families and Halloween celebrants who need or can't afford the right costumes and makeup, so click here for full details, kudos to Frightlight & The Rad Zone for jumping on board, and if you've got Halloween items to donate, swing them by The Rad Zone starting on the 29th!

Closing today's post is that second video I alluded to yesterday from Scofflaw/ex-River Witch drummer Ivan Schliska's YouTube channel! Uploaded in April, this is of Ivan, Hammerspace alum John Bergeron, and at least two other Sault Michigan-area musicians (I'm unsure of their identities) playing an original song during a jam session that John wrote. It sounds somewhat like a Soundgarden song, but the vocals are too low and monotone for my liking, and the angle of the camera is strange, with only Ivan being consistently visible or in frame. Couldn't it have been put further from the guys, or moved down even? It's still a nice quality jam session video, and you can check it out below! (Note that the video's title alludes to TV host Tom Bergeron, likely as a reference to the shared last name with John.)



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes soon, including our next poll and last month's poll results on Tuesday, and hopefully our review of "Yooper Bars" as well! Thanks everyone!

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