LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (415E), Fringe North Festival Videos, And Much More!!

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to apologize for a missed concert, as local funk/hard rock quartet The Elements played a solo headlining gig at The Rockstar Bar last night. This was a hybrid of their own live show plus the venue's recent Christmas Cheer karaoke events on Fridays, with that taking place between the band's sets. I profusely apologize for this show slipping us by after it's short notice announcement earlier this week, but hopefully it went well yesterday, and don't miss Rob & Jesse with The Wyld Stallyns TONIGHT at The Harp! Now, here's some assorted updates, new video discoveries, and leading off, LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS for next year!

In our first Sault Michigan hard rock concert announcements of 2019, local hard rock cover quartet 415E will reunite to kick off the year at The Rapids Lounge at the Soo's Kewadin Casino branch on January 5th & 6th! This surprise announcement ends an 18 month-long hiatus dating back to their last public concerts at the St. Ignace Kewadin in June 2017, which were termed as their last gigs there "for a while", with guitarist Chris Hubbard commencing work on his own solo project in the interim. I'm not sure what happened to 415E, but it's great to have them back after far too long, and they are back in our active band links! In their Facebook page post announcing the gigs, 415E noted that they'll have "a lot of new songs" as well as a "new rhythm section", which seems to imply that bassist Mitch Goetz and drummer Tony Hubbard (Chris' dad) aren't in the revived band. If accurate, reasons for their departures weren't announced, and we await confirmation of their replacements, but hopefully nothing bad happened!

For what it's worth, Kewadin Casino's entertainment page does not yet list 2019 gigs at their lounges, we will let you know when hard rock shows for early next year are announced there. As usual for Kewadin lounge concert weekends, these shows have 9:00 PM start times, 21+ age limits, and no cover charges. Hopefully Chris and Dave(?) can shake off the rust and pick up where 415E left off last summer, so visit the above links for continuing information on their return in four weeks!

Next up, we have some very belated videos from the live musical entertainment at this year's Fringe North Festival (and/or Art In The Park) in Sault Ontario to share on here! Over two dozen clips were uploaded to the Arts Council of Algoma's Facebook page in August from the live musicians who played at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion during the festival, and I do apologize for these being so late to make the site, The Arts Council page hadn't previously been a haven for live concert videos. A wide array of talented local musicians can be seen in these clips, such as Great Chamberlain, Circular Vibrations, Guy Smith, ex-Griphook frontman Jim O'Leary, The Algo Rhythms, The Barn Board Trio, Sasa Jurko, Mustang Sally, and Colin Gasparelli, among others, so click the above links for the non metal/hard rock performances that were filmed! As far as I can tell, just two of these videos feature a hard rock performer or cover, and one is of local acoustic hard rock trio The Wyld Stallyns, so what should you know there?

A surprising cover of Elle King's "Ex's & Oh's", this rendition puts Christina Speers' vocals to nice use, and look for Rob & Jesse's Elements bandmate Jonas Gasperas on guest hand drums too! The biggest issue with the video is it's vertical camera angle, as while everyone's in frame, the camera placement isn't optimal for the resolution, as almost half of the video is of the stage & floor rather than who's performing on it. Give The Stallyns' Fringe North video a look below, and apologies again for missing The Elements' Rockstar Bar show last night, I hope it won't happen again!



The other hard rock cover comes from local blues trio The Paul DellaVedova Band's Fringe North Festival set in August, as they covered Bad Company's "Rock 'n Roll Fantasy"! Though best known for their blues originals and renditions, Paul and company can go heavy when need be, and they put in a strong performance of this 1970s hard rock favourite here! Again, the vertical camera angle doesn't help for similar reasons, but poor Rick is not in a good spot given the lighting placement and camera angle. Still, fans of Paul's prolific blues rock should appreciate this rendition, so give it a look!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last few days, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by company, band, or event name:

• Former Boxcar Junction drummer Mike Blair has launched a new live event sound company named 705Live! They are not to be confused with A Dire Setback's promotion company Live705, who also provide sound at concerts, but it'll be interesting to see if the similarly named companies can coexist! 705Live were recently seen manning the controls for Toystock VII, among other concerts hinted on their Facebook page, and they also provide lighting for events. Mike has a professional setup with lots of experience, so definitely consider 705Live at the above links, and they're now linked on the SMS!
• I have removed Sault Michigan classic/hard rock cover quartet (and Highway 63 side project) Cousin Eddie from our active band links due to the quiet deletion of their Facebook page earlier this year. Oddly, this news comes following learning of two scheduled concert weekends at regional Kewadin Casino branches this month, but with their page deleted and no obvious social media hints that they are still alive, I am hesitant to list these shows here. If they are still on, we'll let you know, but best of luck to Chris, Greg, Nathan, and Ron in the future either way, they were a promising band!
• The Soo's Got Talent will return in 2019! As per photos on their Facebook page (and a URL name edit), the Sault Ontario talent contest will be back for a second go-around, presumably next fall at The Tech if nothing changes, and they are looking for a wide variety of performers once again, which does include musicians. Remember that Tym Morrison and ex-Re:Born frontman Robert Nevitt were among the dozens of competitors in year #1, which was won by singer Daniella Brewer. See above for more details!

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