Rotaryfest 2023 Fallout & Videos (Part 4!!)

To cap off the month of July, let's resume our fallout from this year's Rotaryfest at Clergue Park, so musically speaking, what else should you know from two weeks+ ago? We'll pick things back up with the one-off reunion set of local classic/hard rock cover veterans That's Chester, whose steady stream of multi-camera videos from that night has continued on a daily basis on their Facebook page! All edited together by drummer Ric Datson, the videos include covers of Doucette's "Mama Let Him Play", AC/DC's "Let There Be Rock", The Refreshments' "Banditos", Molly Hatchet's "Flirtin' With Disaster", Deep Purple's "Highway Star", this two song video featuring The Knack's "My Sharona" & Queen's "Tie Your Mother Down" (plus a guest appearance from late guitarist Eugene Orlando's grandson), Harlequin's "Thinking Of You", Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz", ZZ Top's "La Grange", and as embedded below, their first two encore songs.

Specifically, they covered April Wine's version of Hot Chocolate's "Could Have Been A Lady" and the April Wine original "Roller" back to back. Along with the first four songs that we addressed in this Rotaryfest fallout post, these videos constitute That's Chester's complete reunion set, and they sound very good across the board with a nice hard rock edge and some welcomed Canadian content for fans of 1970s and 1980s domestic rock acts! Hopefully this won't be the last that we'll see of That's Chester, but check out these well shot & edited videos from Rotaryfest above & below!

Next up, we'll leap from the very last act to play this year to the very first, but not via a video. As you're likely well aware, the Thursday opener on Stage 1 was local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith and his local backing band in a set cut short after just three songs due to Mike severely dislocating his right knee during his second song (he finished it while laying on his back, and managed to play the third while surrounded by paramedics before the ambulance took him to Sault Area Hospital). One week after all of that happened, Mike was a guest on the podcast Inside The Village (naturally a product of SooToday parent company Village Media) to talk about his abbreviated set with hosts Scott Sexsmith (membership director) and Michael "Frisco" Friscolanti (editor in chief), plus producer Derek Turner (yes, The Wyld Stallyns' drummer). You can hear the 34 minute episode at this link or on other major podcasting services.

After bantering about Michael Amadio bringing the Stanley Cup home to the Soo and discussing some local stories in Southern Ontario (as in, local to other markets served by Village Media news websites), the Mike Haggith portion of the episode begins 10 minutes in after a brief commercial break. Here, Scott asks Mike about the beginnings of his musical career and the planning for his Rotaryfest set this year before diving into the set proper, including how things went until he collapsed, the amusing initial reactions from his bandmates (who didn't immediately know that he wasn't just being theatrical), the quick response from on-site paramedics, the decision to play "I've Seen It Before" while laying on his back with a twisted knee, the crowd response to their set, his prognosis for the knee (as of the interview, 4-6 weeks on crutches with physio and ortho), how Sault Area Hospital staff responded to everything when he was first admitted, ...

...his surprisingly early (initial) exit from the hospital, reaction to his social media accounts afterwards, his hopes to get a Rotaryfest do-over in 2024, and his set at the Northern Vibe Festival next month (where he will be seated). The last six minutes of the episode feature more discussion about Mike's injury and similar stories about persevering through injury, with Derek's musical point of view coming up here, as he drummed with the Stallyns on Stage 1 that same Saturday. Informative interview with Mike getting more candid than ever about the events of July 13th, so I highly recommend checking out the interview above (and he dislocated his right knee, Jacob's live-stream was mirrored. My apologies!)

We'll close today with some fallout from Stage 2 near the Art Gallery of Algoma, as I've barely talked about that stage at this point! Granted, the two heavier bands to play this year haven't posted videos from their sets, but what is posted publically to check out? From the Saturday program of original-leaning bands, surprisingly not too much. Machines Dream posted a video on their Facebook page of them playing the first part of "Boundaries", so fans of this exceedingly talented progressive rock band will want to give that a look, especially as this was the last of this run of shows for their reunited original lineup! The other public video that I know was shot on Saturday was a "Shorts" video uploaded by YouTube user Owerri Chic TV, and it captures The Hollow Heads (I think), though the video is confusingly titled "End of Rotaryfest" (they were the third-to-last band on Saturday). Sounds good while it lasts!

The other known public videos to date are from the Friday Night Blues program on Stage 2, and I will touch on those in some form in an upcoming post, especially if any hard rock covers snuck into the sets/videos. Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Stage 1's Thursday headliners Abba Soo were photographed by The Sault Star in this article on the opening day's festivities. That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site next month! Thanks everyone!