Early Fallout From Rotaryfest's Music Stage In 2021, And More!!

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of former Cinderella guitarist Jeff LaBar, who suddenly passed away on Wednesday at the age of 58. At press time, a cause of death hadn't been revealed, but he is survived by his son, Tantric guitarist Sebastian LaBar. Visit your preferred rock music news sources for further details as they roll in. Local fans may recognize Jeff from his appearance with Cinderella at The Dreammakers Theatre at the Sault Michigan Kewadin Casino in April 2011, not to mention their Hair Scare-approved classics like "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)", "Nobody's Fool", and "Shake Me" that fans got to see singer Tom Keifer perform solo here just before the pandemic began. I'm not a diehard glam metal fan, but Jeff was a talented guitarist who supplied strong work where needed, and our best wishes go out to everyone affected by his loss. R.I.P. Jeff!

Now, today's post is otherwise all about Rotaryfest, which returned to in-person activities yesterday in drive-thru form in the parking lot outside of the former Lowe's, and you can see video from early in The Steeltown Playboys' opening set yesterday in this SooToday article, plus shots of Ribfest and some of the paths vehicles take. From what I have seen in Facebook photos, organizers opted to bring the Clergue Park-era Stage 2 set (or a close facsimile) to Lowe's Plaza for the bands, rather than cart the much larger Stage 1 set north. If you want to have your FM radio ready before arriving, the frequency carrying the music is 107.1 FM, which is interference free, as there are no proper local stations immediately around it. I can confirm that 107.1 FM does carry music before/between bands, presumably to keep the music going for everyone who attends if they choose, so you can leave the radio there for convenience.

A video of Blues Harvest's reunion set is floating around personal Facebook pages, and things seem to go smoothly, but I can't confirm if the audio is from a car radio or if it's the much quieter live sound. Chris Paci (who filmed a lot of major concert videos pre-pandemic) told me that attendees could get out of their vehicle to see the bands if they wore a mask and maintained social distance, and vehicle-less attendees were asked to watch in the grassy hill by Pennington's. The live music feed was loud enough to be audible without an FM radio, so while it's still quieter than normal, keep that in mind. Lastly from his report, there was a lot of honking in usual applause breaks, which seems to go with the territory (thanks again, Chris!) You can also read more about the 2021 Rotaryfest changes in these preview articles by SooToday's James Hopkin and via The Sault Star's Brian Kelly, plus new photo postings from the newspaper.

The Sault Star's article said that only every second parking space in the stage area would be allocated for attendees, with 50 cars estimated as a maximum attendance, and organizers saying that most attendees would likely only stay for two bands. Be advised that all of this came out while Ontario was in Stage 2 of re-opening, and specifically planned to abide by it's regulations. Despite the province entering Stage 3 yesterday, this follow-up article by Brian Kelly confirms that the already-planned format is not changing, as it's too late logistically and organizers are fine with how safe it is. Most of the articles otherwise are just going over the rules to enter and safely get ribs/see the bands, while optimistically talking up this year's format and the hope for a return to Clergue Park in 2022. Kudos to The Rotary Club for doing what they can to ensure that this year's festival takes place safely!

Finally, here's the debut single from Rotaryfest newcomers Jonesy Land... at least in name! While the band you'll be seeing at 7:00 PM tomorrow is a proper punk band paying tribute to frontman Dustin Jones' back catalog, the Tidal Records YouTube channel posted this video last month for their song "Sunshine Parades" which features a softer reggae-inspired sound and motivational lyrics about seeing better days and coming together, with suitable photos interspersed with videos of Dustin singing neck deep in water and while strumming the guitar on the beach. So far, this is the only Jonesy Land-branded song that has been released, but Dustin had been posting occasional new acoustic originals online during the pandemic that were never tied to one of his bands, so are they for Jonesy Land? In any event, the video does not feature any of the backing members of the live band you'll see tomorrow.

The song is fun and cheerful, and perfectly fits the lyrical content, so fans of Dustin's softer and folksier music won't jump too far to see where he's going with this! Time will tell if Jonesy Land is just a name for Dustin's truly solo exploits of if tomorrow's show is actually the debut of a proper full-time band (they don't truly have social media pages yet), but give "Sunshine Parades" a watch below, and maybe we'll hear it tomorrow?

That's all for today, but stay tuned for new news posts in the coming days, and don't miss day #2 of Rotaryfest tonight, with the final 7 bands playing tomorrow! Thanks everyone!