LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Soo's Got Talent Round 2) & First Round Footage!!

As promised, here's our second weekend concert preview post for this week, and it is 100% devoted to a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT concerning an ongoing local talent competition's next installment, and fallout from the opening night! Here's what you should know!

Local rap metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty have advanced to the second round of this year's Soo's Got Talent competition, and thusly will return to The Grand Gardens Verdi Ballroom at 455 Queen Street West TOMORROW NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, the one week-turnaround left me opting to hold our night #1 results for this weekend's previews. Last Friday's opening round saw the first cuts, with Des & M.J. Barry, Tyson Bastos & Jordan Palahnuk, Debbie Graham, Serge LeBlanc, and Leila Rabanez all not moving on to TOMORROW'S second round action, but The Apocalypse Afterparty will join the other 14 surviving acts as they continue their quest to win this city-wide contest, and 10 semifinalists will be chosen to return next Friday. Come on down to The Verdi Hall to see all of TOMORROW'S action from this talented roster of artists! Like last week, this is an ALL AGES event at 8:00 PM with a $10 cover charge for adults, $5 for kids 16 and under. With all of that said, what can we show you from last week's performances?

Unlike last year, The Soo's Got Talent has a television outlet, courtesy of ONNtv, SaultOnline's over-the-top subscription TV service, which is worth considering if you miss MCTV-era local television, and they aired night #1 of the competition on tape delay on Monday night, with future rounds scheduled for the following Monday at 6:30 PM save for a Wednesday, October 9th episode. This intentionally glitchy commercial hyped the ONNtv airings as well, but if you aren't an ONNtv subscriber, you're not left in the dark, as the 2+ hours long video was posted to SaultOnline's YouTube channel on Tuesday! Each performer is featured here and linked below, complete with judges remarks afterward, and all have singers doing a cover unless otherwise stated. In chronological order, we have Andrea Dantzer (the title track from "The Sound of Music"), Coulson Perri (Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love With You"), Des & M.J. Barry (PowerSource's "Dear Mr. Jesus")...

...Serge LeBlanc (Metallica's "Motorbreath"), Colin Gasparelli (Bob Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue"), The Dancing Divas (Katy Perry's "California Gurls"), Tyson Bastos & Jordan Palahnuk (an instrumental cover of The Beatles' "Come Together"), Lauren Kroll (Alanis Morrissette's "Hand In My Pocket"), Leila Rabanez (the hymn "Amazing Grace"), Juliana Regan (Etta James' "I'd Rather Go Blind"), Madison Blair (Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus' "Nothing Breaks Like A Heart"), Marilena Blair (Trisha Yearwood's "The Song Remembers When"), Cameron Oliver (Morgan Wallen's "Whiskey Glasses"), Ciara Pelletier LeBeouf (Rachel Platten's "Fight Song"), Bethany Pelletier LeBeouf (Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On"), Debbie Graham (Jo Stafford's "Make Love To Me"), Killabeatz doing an original beatboxing performance, Adrian Sullivan (The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood"), Greg McLeod (Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars"), and lastly, The Apocalypse Afterparty playing their inactive sister band The Noochin' Lanterns' song "Drop the Gloves".

Note that advertised performances by Madi Schomogyi, Michaela Skagen, and Marcie Tremblay are not featured here for unannounced reasons, but hopefully nothing bad happened with them to force their withdrawal! Regarding the two metal performances, I will say that I think Serge would be better accentuated with a live band and a stage setup more used to metal acts, but it's neat to see him bring that style to the table! As you can see at video's end, The Apocalypse Afterparty appear to have dropped wearing masks on stage for their return, and as such, I think it's safe to finally say that X and z are indeed "songwriters" Paul Stanghetta on vocals/bass and his wife Amanda (née Brown) on drums rather than the MPC, while Paul's ex-Keep It Lit bandmate Alice Rose (in full Tune Squad gear) has joined on the second bass.

I'll remain impartial regarding the competition here, but if you love Paul's old work as a frontman in The Fury, not to mention The A.A. and Noochin' Lanterns past runs, this should be right up your alley, and the judges give interesting feedback! Don't miss all of the action TOMORROW NIGHT at The Verdi Hall, and here's all 20 of last week's acts in action! Good luck!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and updates on the site soon! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Sault Band-O-Rama & Stiffler's Mom) And More!!

Before our review of last night's Halloween Party at The Algonquin Pub gets up on the site, here's our first news post of November, including a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT for TONIGHT, another new show for later this month, and some more assorted updates, so here's what you need to know!

Local hard/party rock trio Stiffler's Mom will apparently kick off November with a one night only gig at The Rockstar Bar TONIGHT! Apologies for the short notice, we only just heard about this show yesterday via SooToday's "Soo-To-BOO! List", and while it's also advertised at the venue's marquee board, note that neither the band nor venue's Facebook pages have made mention of it that I've seen. This should be a fun show though for Stiffler's Mom loyalists and anyone looking for a post-Halloween good time, so if you're still up for some live hard rock, you know where to be TONIGHT! Remember, this is a one-nighter due to Thin Ice's show at The Rockstar Bar last night (the Frightlight concert was downstairs.) A $5 cover charge is likely for TONIGHT's show, as is a 10:00 PM start time, and you must be 19 to attend. For more details, visit the above links, and here's Stiffler's Mom live at Rotaryfest!



Next up, here's a long overdue new concert announcement for later this month, as originally first asked about on the Musicians Wanted Facebook group on October 20th, but it's only just making the site now due to the Halloween crush and waiting for extra details.The event is called "Sault Band-O-Rama", and the intent is to be an all-day concert event where bands news and old (of any genre) can just play to a live audience, and I believe this sort of event has been held in other cities. The event is being promoted by Beaumont Avenue guitarist Steven Flint and Asylum Country guitarist Terry Eaton, both of which have been playing together recently in the local country rock cover band Mourning Wood, but none of their bands are playing at Band-O-Rama. Taking place on Friday, November 21st at The Primavera Banquet Hall on 256 Wellington Street West (a venue I've never heard of for local metal or punk shows), 12 acts are signed for 30-45 minute sets each that day, so who all is playing the first ever local Band-O-Rama?

The last act that day will be local alternative/hard rock trio The Pixo Control at 1:15 AM, with local grunge/alternative quartet Haggith on at 12:20 AM, and local funk/hard rock quartet The Elements rocking out at 11:25 PM. Local classic/hard rock veterans The Thrill Junkies will play their first public concert in 10 months at 10:30 PM that night (which will also mark new drummer Rick White's debut with the band), while Rick and bassist Justin Langlois's punk trio Redundant are on right before them at 9:35 PM. Former As It Stands drummer John Mignacca's techno solo project Dillinger is scheduled for 8:40 PM, preceded by Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison in a rare non-Harp appearance at 7:55 PM.  An act that I've never heard of named Infamous is scheduled for 7:00 PM (anyone have any info on him/them?), while students from Stiffler's Mom guitarist Michael Davies' Bocturoc Academy of Music will play a set at 6:25 PM, and a set at 5:50 PM belongs to Shit Creek Survivor, a new local acoustic solo project from singer/guitarist Jacob Quarrell.

The day will open with two young bands with Brutaly Fatal ties, including local goregind duo Rotopsy at 4:45 PM and local doom/punk trio The Revolution at 4:00 PM. This show goes down at The Primavera Hall on November 21st at 4:00 PM, and admission is ALL AGES and just $5, so for more details, visit the above links! This is an ambitious but intriguing concert to be sure, and it's full of local talent, much of it heavy for you hard rock and punk fans! I'm curious to see how Sault Band-O-Rama does, especially at an unfamiliar venue, but we'll keep you guys posted with updates!

Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by band name:

• Apologies for this being late, but local classic/hard rock quartet Havadder welcomed former drummer Scott McLurg (also of Turner Up fame) back to the band as a temporary fill-in for T.J. Case at their Studio 10 concert yesterday. T.J.'s missed a few of their recent gigs, so hopefully all's well, but Scott's a quality replacement, and hopefully Havadder had a great show last night! Our source is Scott's personal Facebook page.
• It's official: The Strange Coyotes are back! The members of the experimental hard rock trio got back together on Thursday at The Oddfellows Hall for bassist James Watterworth's solo set, and drummer Mike Haggith confirmed on his solo Facebook page earlier today that they "plan to resume activity". Great news, especially given how things ended in the spring, so stay tuned for updates, and they're back in our active band links!
• Speaking of bands featuring guitarist Chase Wigmore, his grind duo This Is Your Band On Drugs' self-titled demo (which is available for free online) was sold for $1 in physical copies at Thursday's Devil's Night concert, even though they were replaced that day by The North Shore. That does make it eligible for reviewing on the site in a month with no new CDs, so keep that in mind!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our review of last night's Halloween Party at The Algonquin Pub next! Thanks everyone!