LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Scarkazm, Soundcheck, And Tym Morrison) & Weekend Concert Previews!!

Here is our first traditional news post of 2020, and it's devoted to the first batch of weekend concert previews in this new year! This does include LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, some on SHORT NOTICE, plus a few removals from our concert calendar. Things aren't as flashy as they could get over the holidays, but there's a lot of talent to see, so here's what you should know!

Local acoustic hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison will kick off yet another year in his long-term arrangement with Gliss Restaurant with more solo concert sets TOMORROW & SATURDAY, but that's not all, as he will also be back at The Roadhouse Bar & Grill on Trunk Road for traditional nighttime gigs TOMORROW NIGHT and also on Friday, January 31st! Apologies for the short notice on TOMORROW'S show, remember that we take his bookings a month at a time due to his prolific long-term scheduling. Of course, Tym's skilled & prolific roster of covers will surely entertain fans and Gliss patrons this weekend, as they did on New Year's Eve, but if you'd rather see him after supper in a less formal setting, TOMORROW'S Road House concert (his first there in almost a month) should do the trick, as well as at month's end!

As usual, the Gliss shows are 6:00 PM matinees with no age limits or cover charges announced, but remember that this is a formal sit-down restaurant, not a nightclub. Meanwhile, the Roadhouse gigs TOMORROW and on the 31st are both 10:00 PM affairs with no cover and 19+ age limits. Visit the official Facebook event pages linked here & here for more info, and here's Tym live!



Next up, local classic hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will get 2020 started with concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at Reggie's West! Again, apologies for the short notice, these dates were only announced via their Facebook event page yesterday, and time will tell if they post a 2020 concert calendar on social media like they did last year. This will be Soundcheck's first concert weekend at the Reggievelt in three weeks, and will be their second and third gigs in a five day span, following their Water Tower Pub show on New Year's Eve. With Cameron settling in by now in their lineup, Soundcheck should be even more polished and ready to go TOMORROW & SATURDAY, so don't miss their hard rocking covers there! As usual, expect 9:30 PM start times, no cover charges, and 19+ age limits. See above for more details, and here's Soundcheck live!



Also, I was planning to cover Sault Michigan hard rock band Tarnished's continuation of their "every Thursday" run of acoustic matinee concerts at Biggby Coffee next, but their official website's calendar does not list anything past December 19th there, in spite of listing 2020 concert dates, and neither band nor venue even plugged shows on the 19th or 26th on their Facebook pages. I could be wildly off base, but I am tentatively removing the Biggby dates in January from our concert calendar until/unless someone publically confirms that they are still on. However, the aforementioned website calendar does list five new 2020 dates that are definitely occurring, and they include four acoustic returns to The Signatures Lounge at the Sault's Kewadin Casino branch on January 16th & 29th, and then on June 18th & 24th! Those include two Thursday nighters and two Wednesday nighters, so plan accordingly. No word on whether Alex will be playing solo or with Josh/Nathan, but their unplugged mettle was well tested last year!

These are all 6:00 PM matinees with likely 21+ age limits and no cover charges. If you want to see Tarnished plugged in with drums, then head to their other new date, as they will return to Moloney's Alley on Thursday, January 30th as that venue's musical entertainment during the International 500 snowmobile race's annual pub crawl! Alex and his old group Banned used to enjoy playing I-500 weekend events, so expect another fun set as you frequent area nightclubs at month's end! Click here for more on the pub crawl itself, but attending just Moloney's Alley should mean a a 9:00 PM start time, no cover, and a 21+ age limit. Visit the above links for more details!

Finally, let's preview Traverse City metal trio Scarkazm's return to The Rapids Lounge at the aforementioned Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino, where they will play their first shows of the new year anywhere TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT, but that's not all for them in 2020! We knew about this weekend's and next month's St. Ignace shows already, but as part of Kewadin Casino's new concert listings on the Soo and St. Ignace branch's entertainment pages through July, we can confirm two extra concert weekends from the Peril side project for the spring, as they'll be back at The Rapids Lounge on March 13th & 14th, before playing at The Northern Pines Lounge at the St. Ignace Kewadin Casino on April 10th & 11th. One weekend a month for the first third of the year isn't a raw deal, so look for Adam, Dave, and Jeff at both regional Kewadin lounges through April! And yes, we will touch on the other new hard rock Kewadin lounge gigs soon.

For what it's worth, Scarkazm have not posted their traditional promotional image on social media for this weekend's gigs at press time, but the Facebook event pages (linked here and here) confirm that the shows are on, so don't bypass their hard rocking metal covers this weekend. Those, March's, and April's dates all have 9:00 PM start times, 21+ age limits, and no cover charges. See above for more details, and here's Scarkazm live!



That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post on the site next, in all likelihood! Thanks everyone!