The WestFest II & Rock N' Roll Ave Concert Previews!!

As promised, here's part #2 of this weekend's hard rock concert previews! Due to how long the WestFest preview ran, I'm bumping our Generations and Bone Yard 225 previews to our next post alongside Curtis McKenzie, so this post only has two write-ups for weekend shows, though one eats up 3/4ths of the post. We'll start in Sault Michigan today, as this involves a show tomorrow where the other Canadian ones don't, so here's what else you should know on this Thursday evening!

While fans in St. Ignace can check out the EUP debuts of Nolium this weekend at their Kewadin Casino branch, fans an hour north will instead bear witness to the first regional appearances of Mount Pleasant classic/hard rock cover band Rock N' Roll Ave TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT at The Rapids Lounge at the Sault Ste. Marie Kewadin Casino! A spin-off/side project from the metalcore band Black Out, this weekend's shows aren't just Rock N' Roll Ave(nue)'s first in the Soo, but their first anywhere since relaunching earlier this year. Rehearsal videos and pre-comeback live videos point to a good hard rocking cover range, though be careful, as their Facebook page also hosts Black Out videos, and they're just a tad more extreme! This weekend's shows are 9:00 PM affairs tomorrow and Saturday night with 21+ age limits and no cover charges. See above for more details, and here's a recent Rock N' Roll Ave jam video!

Now let's head to Sault Ontario with the second annual WestFest, which returns to Anna Marinelli Park in Jamestown on SATURDAY! This "block party meets music festival" is part of the West Village Revitilization Project's ongoing efforts to improve and rehabilitate the Jamestown and Steelton areas of downtown Sault Ste. Marie, and there will be food and craft vendors, family activities, and more at this outdoor event, so be sure to visit the West Village Renewed Facebook page for full non-musical details! Musically speaking, we are down from seven acts last year and five in initial marketing to just four tomorrow, with the only hard rock-leaning band being new local alternative hard rock band Riverside Stasis in their fifth public concert and first since the departure of guitarist Liam Dinsmore. Frontwoman Tea Emlaw headlined last year's WestFest in her prior band Handsome Sandwich's final Sault Ste. Marie concert set, but this band is opening WestFest II at 5:00 PM.

Riverside Stasis were strongly hinted as being signed up for the talent show/battle of the bands to find the opening act, only for that to be cancelled due to "unforeseen circumstances", so they were acclaimed as the openers on Saturday. Hopefully things go well for Tea and the guys tomorrow! The rest of Saturday's lineup includes local/Collingwood folk supergroup The Ontarians (featuring the Soo's own Frank Deresti and Chris Johns) as headliners, alongside folk/country quartet The Golden Scoundrels (the only returning band from last year's WestFest) and Treble Charger frontman Greig Nori's daughter Ava Nori in the first public concert appearance by her as a lead performer that I can recall. Marketing up to last month also had BookcluB/ex-Hails guitarist Carmen Muto playing a rare solo set (a video of him shredding an electric guitar was even shared to the West Village Renewed Facebook page).

Unfortunately, it appears that Carmen has dropped out of WestFest and has not been replaced, and any promotion directly referencing him/his set was taken down. I have not heard a reason why Carmen isn't playing on Saturday, but hopefully nothing too serious happened, and don't miss him with BookcluB at the next Downtown Street Party in two weeks! Other set times haven't been announced, but WestFest II takes place from 4:00-11:00 PM on Saturday, it is absolutely all ages, and admission at 169 James Street will be via donation (last year was free). Weather-wise, 9&10 News is calling for a high of 20° on Saturday and a low of 13° with sunny skies and no likely rain, but this is two days out, so keep tabs on your preferred forecast just in case. Despite the smaller lineup, WestFest sounds like a good time and with agreeable weather, so visit the above links for full details, and here's Riverside Stasis live!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for the rest of this weekend's hard rock concert previews next! Thanks everyone!

The Latest From A Dire Setback & Tarnished, And More!!

Before we begin today's post, I wanted to offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Canadian Motor Hotel founder Carmen Marrelli, who passed away on Monday at the age of 85. You can read his SooToday obituary at this link, and he is survived by his wife Yolanda, sons Albert, Joe, and Rick, three sisters, four granchildren, and many others in his extended family. An emigrant from Italy, Carmen's resume as a local business owner is extensive, but many will be most familiar with him for his original ownership and familiar presence at The Canadian Motor Hotel and it's related businesses (such as the downstairs nightclub), and many friends and past employees have shared their remembrances of him this week. Public services will take place tomorrow at 10:00 AM at Northwood Funeral Home, albeit with COVID-19 restrictions, and a tribute is planned in The Canadian's parking lot at 2:00 PM during the procession. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to the Kidney Foundation.

I have never met Carmen, but I have heard many great things about him as a businessman, boss, and person, and he deserves much credit for founding The Canadian and helping grow it into a successful hotel, nightclub, restaurant, and concert venue (in spite of the occasional flood or pandemic), and his son Albert has followed nicely in his footsteps there. R.I.P. Carmen!

Now, this is our first proper news post of November 2020, as news remains exceedingly slow at this relatively late stage of the pandemic. As such, our overall post count remains low as of late, and that is why Facebook is starting to remind me to update our Facebook page! If there's not much to say or report on by Saturday, I may bump this month's Defunct Local Band Profile up a few days, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. We'll start with the latest from Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Tarnished, including an apology, as they played an admittedly late notice gig this past Friday (Halloween night) at the Pickford Township Park! It came out afterwards that the show was tied in with a wedding, but it was publically announced just minutes before the set began. Apologies for missing it, but hopefully the show was a blast for the happy couple and attendees alike! Beyond that, Tarnished have been staying busy making their first ever music video!

The guys have been working with Jay London Photography on the video for their song "Metalyn", which will star Malia Lefebre in an acting role (pictured with Alex, Josh, and Gary above). This teaser video was shared on their Facebook page yesterday featuring clips of the band setting up for a performance on a rooftop which will be featured in the video, and while it doesn't show us much about how the actual video will look, we will allegedly see the final product "by mid-December." Unfortunately, the teaser video cannot be embedded here due to it's privacy settings, but give it a look at this link or above, and stay tuned for more from Tarnished's camp!

Next up, here's an 11 minutes-long new video from Sault Ontario punk trio A Dire Setback's Facebook page, so what can be seen and heard there? Shot by bassist Matt Quinn at a bonfire this past Friday, he tells viewers that they are about to record and release "some stuff" now that they can work together safely again, and they will "do something together on the internet", while also acknowledging that they're putting their family's health and safety ahead of playing concerts where available. Matt ended by teasing other big news, perhaps a new band member, but a lot of the reveals here were teasers that didn't give a lot away. More of the video is spent observing the bonfire while Matt talks abou a variety of colourful subjects with others present, including bandmates and their family members. Nice to get some updates from A Dire Setback's camp, and hopefully their plans hold up in the near term, but check the video out for yourself below! 

 

 

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

• The Buckcherry-headlined concert at Soo Blaster has finally been rescheduled, and it will now take place on Tuesday, May 11th, which is six months to the day of the original date, which was obviously cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. No changes are listed on the Facebook event page re: local openers or ticket prices, but I presume anything bought for the November 11th date will be usable in May or refundable at point of purchase. There's a long ways to go before May 11th, but hopefully things level out by then!
• Local punk/metal quintet Jack Spades are indeed featured on Toronto independent label Cursed Blessings Records' new double-length compilation album "Reinventing The Safety Pin", as released on Friday! Despite the label's advertising that the album is made up of "previously unreleased songs", Jack Spades' contribution ("Motorwolf") was released on the 2015 split "Fed Up!" with The Ripcordz (who are also on this compilation) and fellow locals Destroilet (who are not). Maybe the label meant the songs were previously unreleased by them? Either way, buy or stream "Reinventing The Safety Pin" above for loads of entertaining Canadian punk rock from dozens of talented bands!
• This probably goes without saying now, but I have removed the rescheduled Mike Haggith CD release concert at LopLops Lounge on Friday from our concert calendar. Mike hasn't verbally called the show off at press time, but LopLops is not among the few local nightclubs hosting concerts right now, and the odds this one will magically happen in two days are extremely slight. Hopefully Mike returns to the Soo next year, assuming the climate improves!
  

That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new post of some kind by Saturday! Thanks everyone!