Remember defunct local alt-hard rock trio The Din's "July 21th, 2018" teasers on their Facebook page? Well, the jig is up, as that Saturday will see them headline a one-off reunion concert at LopLops Lounge! Nine months removed from their farewell concert at the same venue, Mike Haggith is coming back home for this surprise reunion gig (affectionately dubbed "The Dinunion"), so fans who have missed The Din's high energy live concerts will want to check out this show in July! After all, who knows if there will be another, or when! Opening this show will be local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback, fresh off of their Rotaryfest Stage 2 set earlier that same day, and it's cool to see them rejoin The Din for another concert together, so don't be late for their set! As the date may suggest, this show is continuing LopLops' run of post-Rotaryfest concerts involving "redirected"-era Second Stage performers, and even though The Din are not playing Stage 2 proper this year, remember that they did play in each of the last two years, and remain festival supporters.This 19+ concert has a $5 cover charge, and doors are slated to open at 9:00 PM. It's great to see The Din back, if only for one night, but what will their set look like? Might they break out any of Mike's recent solo originals for a local concert debut? Time will tell, but visit the official Facebook event page for current details, and stay tuned for updates!
Next up, here's the latest from another project relating to a solo musician named Mike, namely Mike McCleary! First, I do want to apologize for missing a rare live concert appearance of his, as Mike reportedly played a set at this year's Relay For Life cancer fundraiser at the John Rhodes Community Center on June 15th, as per his Facebook page. Mike didn't acknowledge the venue in his plug, but hopefully his set received a solid response, and we'd have covered it here had we known about it! More recently, Mike has shared a handful of new videos on his Facebook page featuring recent music of his, including of two songs from his new album "What You've Done To Me" (the title track and "Get Out"), but embedded below is the song "What Am I Doing?", which features a graphic describing the warning signs of suicide, which goes hand in hand with Mike's recent work for mental health awareness. That said, he has been keeping things a little light with some other recent postings, which is fun to see in it's own way!Along with some humorous video shares (some with old school WWF wrestling references), one picture jokingly notes that, if the low money-per-Spotify stream royalties mean that he can only buy a sandwich, why not support sandwiches? Mike's prolific talents and charitable support continue to shine brightly, so be sure to give his new albums and material a listen above and below, whether you're supporting his music and/or sandwiches!
Finally for today, here's six assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual for these short-form story blocks, these are in alphabetical order by artist, venue, or website name:
- This has likely been inferred by fans for a long while already, but it's time we finally called it here: Jonas Gasperas appears to be The Elements' permanent drummer, replacing Alex Hagerman. Fans may recall Alex starting to miss some dates around the turn of 2016 after becoming a father, with Jonas joining his Winkstinger bandmate Jesse Cook in the band not long after, though The Elements' Facebook page still lists Alex as drummer over two years later. Jonas has been a solid addition with The Elements, so don't miss the guys at Rotaryfest later this month, and hopefully Alex resurfaces on stage down the road!
- As you may remember, The Gore Street Cafe permanently closed following their farewell concert on Wednesday, with SooToday's David Helwig covering the closure in this article, featuring remarks from cafe owner Nicole Dyble. Therein, Nicole noted that she wants to open a new venue in the next year or so that will serve many of the same goals for the local arts community. Nicole deserves a lot of credit for the varied events, "pay what you can" meals, and eclectic entertainment at 164 Gore for the past 3+ years, and hopefully her next projects in event promotion are a success while we await her teased new location!
- Local punk trio Redundant announced on Sunday that they were playing an outdoor concert that night to celebrate Canada Day, and would be releasing their first single from their forthcoming debut CD that same night. The concert appears to have been a private booking (as an inquiry to the location was responded to with "Page responded privately"), while the teased single release didn't occur at all due to "technical difficulties." Hopefully the album's still on track, this has been a long time coming for Redundant!
- SooToday have been confirmed as the official sponsors for this year's aforementioned Stage 2 at Rotaryfest, as per their website and related Facebook event pages. The local news website has long been a supporter of the Second Stage, and it's great to see them helping sponsor their biggest year yet, but will this mean ramped up coverage? We'll find out from July 19th-21st at Clergue Park!
- In their first Facebook posting in five months, "the original crash band" Sykotyk Rampage changed their Facebook page's profile photo to what appears to be the cover for an unreleased album called "Live At The Hilton". No details followed, but is a new studio album (free or otherwise) finally coming in conjunction with the end of their hiatus, or is this just an unused cover for a new profile picture? Stay tuned for updates when they roll in!
- Friday night's Whoop-Szo concert was moved from Outspoken Brewing to LopLops Lounge that very same day, as per updates on the Facebook event page. A reason or the relocation wasn't publically announced, but hopefully nothing bad happened at Outspoken! The move to LopLops saw the show essentially merge with that venue's previously scheduled concert from Ottawa folk solo musicians Catriona Sturton and Pat Maloney. Hopefully the expanded four act bill went over well on short notice!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for this weekend's concert previews next, in all likelihood! Thanks everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment