Before we begin today's post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of local rock guitar legend Bob Yeomans and veteran local news anchor Karl Sepkowski, who both passed away in the past week. Bob died on Saturday at the age of 74, and is survived by his wife, two children (one being former Ashes To Dust guitarist Liam Yeomans), a step-son, and a large extended family. Read Bob's SooToday obituary at this link. While not a hard rock/metal musician, Bob was a prominent mainstay of the local scene in bands like Zak's All-Stars, The Vendettas, and The Amen, as well as serving as an instructor at the Thomas Walls School of Music. Nationally, he and fellow Saultite Tim Ryan had success in the 1970s pop rock band Jackson Hawke, who first recorded hit songs like "You Can't Dance" & "Set Me Free", and Bob later worked musically in Nashville before returning home in 1985.
For Karl, he passed away on Monday at the age of 81 in Newmarket after a battle with lung cancer, and he is survived by his wife, three children, five grandkids, and his extended family. Read more on Karl's life & career at this link. While not a musician, Karl was "the authoritative news voice in Sault Ste. Marie" for decades, becoming CKCY's news director in 1963 after starting there in 1959, and he later worked on camera for CJIC and MCTV, returning to the radio in the 1990s with WSOO, and moving to Rock 101 as their news anchor in the fall of 2005. Karl's tenure at The Sault's Rock Station appears to have been relatively brief, as he disappeared from their website's staff page circa March 2006, as per Internet Archive Wayback Machine backups, but this is still a notable for being (as far as I can tell) his final stop as a local news anchor.
From what I've read about both Bob Yeomans and Karl Sepkowski, they were kind and honest men who loved their work and the Soo, and there's a lot of kind words being shared for the both of them online (if you're Facebook friends with Mikey Hawdon, he posted some nice remembrances about Bob as a music instructor). Bob and Karl definitely made their positive marks on the community, and they'll definitely be missed. R.I.P.!
Now, this post (possibly our last news post of the month) has a new video to check out, but first, here's a pair of concert previews for this weekend, as Manistique, Michigan hard rock duo Fyrbird will return to The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! As revealed on Kewadin's entertainment page, these will be Fyrbird's first E.U.P. stops of 2022, after making their casino debut last year, but now that event advertising has their name spelled correctly, we won't miss these ones for the SMS! If you want to learn more about Jamie & Rikk's music and live schedule, visit their Facebook group, which confirms that they will also be back in the E.U.P. for a show in Paradise (just outside of our coverage range) on February 4th. Fyrbird's hard rocking minimalist sound has won them a good following in the Upper Peninsula, so don't bypass them!
As usual for Rapids Lounge concerts, tomorrow and Saturday night's shows have 9:00 PM start times, no cover charges, and 21+ age limits. Of course, please respect and follow any posted or recommended public health measures at the lounge/casino to ensure everyone has a safe time. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Fyrbird live!
Finally, here's a new video from local hard rock/progressive guitarist Mike Cliffe's YouTube channel from last week! While the video does feature Mike playing on an acoustic guitar, it's primarily a product review for Tree Picks, a company that sells wooden guitar picks made out of real trees. For each order, the company will plant a real tree, and you can customize the picks with your own logo or label (Mike got the Audiofumes logo on his). A sustainable non-plastic pick that plays good may appeal to guitarists and bassists who see the video, and Mike's a fan, so check it out to see what you think! Hopefully Mike has some new performance videos to come!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's CD review on the site next! Thanks everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment