Riffs For Remembrance Concert Review!!

Saturday night saw a special benefit concert at Soo Blaster named Riffs For Remembrance: A Memorial For Tori, held in honour of local music fan Victoria Childs, who suddenly passed away last month as just 34 years old. Victoria was my ex-girlfriend and a good friend of mine for far longer than that (we met at Oddfellows Hall punk shows in 2005), so I knew I had to come out for the occasion, one that she would have been so grateful to have had take place! I know there were some fears that this would become a de facto wake full of grieving and not celebrating, but rest assured, this was a concert. Admission ended up being free, but organizers took donations to the psychosocial/mental illness rehab program Hope House - Club 84, and Paul confirmed that a $250 donation was made, which is wonderful! Attendance wasn't bad early but things did thin out by night's end, possibly because many attendees and musicians brought young family.

At least the Blue Jays game ended early (and happily) to avoid being a distraction on the big screens, and Victoria did love going to Soo Blaster, so the locale was a great choice! The diverse performer lineup deserves credit for donating their time for the cause, and possibly thanks to the all ages nature with kids present, the show ended by 11:00 PM with artists only playing for about 20 minutes apiece. The day began with Blind River folk singer/guitarist Linsaey L.W., who I was completely unfamiliar with before being announced for Riffs For Remembrance, and she did a good job with her all-original set! Linsaey has a strong professional but melodic voice that she put to good use on songs like "My Biggest Fan", and while she was a little stiff (her entire set was performed while sitting down), she showed her talents well to the biggest audience of the day, and hopefully she keeps on her upward momentum!

Local acoustic folk musician Gimiiwan Ikwe (a family friend who I saw at last year's Pridefest Loud & Proud Family Fun Day) took the stage next, and they knocked out a series of covers of the likes of Tom Petty, Jason Mraz, The Animals alongside originals like "Gentle Days" and "Ambe". A few of the covers felt a little rushed to cram them into a solo/ukelele form factor, but Gimiiwan had a pleasant and melodic set that Victoria would have appreciated (they were friends), so kudos to Gimiiwan for coming for the show last night, and for bringing their family! Always nice to see Animal out and about! The solo trifecta capped off with veteran local country musician Leslie Cook, who was a bit of a sonic wildcard between the folk prior and the rock ahead, but Victoria did like country music, so she would have liked this! Leslie employed backing tracks to fill out his live sound beyond the acoustic guitar, a'la Tym Morrison's solo concerts.

While I was familiar with Leslie from his ample prior local gigs, he's never really crossed our radar beyond schedule notes, but he impressed fans with his skill set and familiar covers! He tackled the likes of Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Garth Brooks, and The Zac Brown Band during his set, and jokingly thanked everyone for not throwing tomatoes at him, so there was a sense of humour! I say this with the utmost respect, but Leslie's singing voice kinda reminded me of Geddy Lee from Rush, so if you ever wanted to picture Geddy covering country songs, go see Leslie live. Thanks to Leslie for agreeing to play here, and do check him out if you like classic country! The show moved into bands with the debuting Bards Waith Beards, who were indeed a new project from HeadF1rst/ex-Them drummer Anthony Boudreau, but you'd be remiss if you thought this was just a shorthanded HeadF1rst set, just with the beard-less Liam and Claire absent.

Anthony sang lead on most songs for Bards With Beards' set, but bassist Red Jettison did the honours on the opening and closing songs, and he and guitarist Rainey Rancourt provided backing vocals throughout. Red actually told me post-set that he and Rainey aren't intended to be full members of Bards With Beards and they're actually just temporary players who didn't get a lot of rehearsal time in, so we'll have to see what bearded bards come on board for the future. Classic/hard rock would be how I'd characterize the covers-only set, which saw the guys tackle a range from Neil Young & Jimi Hendrix to Radiohead & Sublime, and some really unexpected cuts, like Cab Calloway, Omar & The Howlers, and even the Newfoundland folk song "The Night Paddy Murphy Died". The guys had a loose and fun set for the most part (even if "Creep" is overplayed), and Anthony acquitted himself well to the simultaneous vocal/drum role!

Your headliners on Saturday night were local party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty, whose frontman Paul Stanghetta and drummer Amanda Stanghetta (his wife) put this show on in Victoria's memory, with Paul also doubling as the MC. All props to them for taking the initiative to host this event and donate proceeds to a wonderful cause! Co-bassist Mikhal Muto is a cousin of Victoria's and he did speak about her briefly between songs as well. While The A.A. have original songs, their set was (as best as I could tell) all covers from a diverse array of bands like MGMT, Foster The People, and Metric, all rocked up with no guitar and two bassists in a very high energy and punk-infused fashion. The Stanghettas and Mikhal don't play live super often, but they delivered a fun and in-your-face set to end the night. Victoria would have approved, as she saw Smeltzer and The Fury multiple times back in the day!

Overall, this was a fun night of live music that would appeal to many tastes, and I know Victoria would have been right there with everyone if at all possible! I would have made use of the screen behind the stage to show pictures of her between sets, but I cut Paul and Amanda a lot of slack here, as this was their first time promoting a concert themselves, and the fact that they wanted to help honour her memory is huge. Victoria's mom, sister, and many friends and extended family came out and had a good time, so I'm glad that things were done respectfully in a way that she and they would approve of! You can see my photos of the musicians at this link or at our Facebook page, and as for my videos, here's Linsaey L.W. playing "Tie These Strings", Gimiiwan Ikwe covering Pat The Bunny's "Song For A Chicken Named Jenny", Leslie Cook covering Merle Haggard's "Working Man Blues", ...

...Bards With Beards covering The Beastie Boys' "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)", and The Apocalypse Afterparty covering Say Anything's "Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too"!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week. Thanks everyone, and R.I.P. Victoria, we all miss you so much!