The rate of new updates is thankfully starting to slowly improve as we inch towards the end of the second lockdown in Ontario, so let's break our "one post every three days" trend with a new post tonight! This includes confirmation of a drummer change in a local band that was previously rumoured by said drummer's old band publically, but first, here's a surprise archive concert video discovery from almost 32 years ago!
A few weeks back, I covered a video of Toronto classic rock cover band Ground Zero's one-off Rotaryfest reunion set in 2013, courtesy of ex-Tripod The Dog/Screwge drummer Brian Egglesfield's YouTube channel, but that wasn't all for uploads of his with a hard rock tie, as in 2016, he posted a video there from the finals of a multi-night battle of the bands at the former Eastgate Hotel back in 1989! This is very much before my time (I was only born that year), and the VHS camcorder quality is obvious, so if I am lacking or incorrect on details obvious to other readers, I apologize in advance. I truly wasn't there! Brian's video captures two of the three bands competing in the finals (omitting Swing Shift, who played second), and the MC thanked bands who were eliminated in prior weeks, including Silence, Deciever, Silent Rage, Fallacy, Night Crawler, Anxiety, and Valhalla (again, I'm sorry if I misheard or misspelled any names here.)
After the MC introduced the judges, the battle finals proper began with Tommygun (also spelled as Tommy Gun on the poster), whose set included covers of The Scorpions' "Blackout", The Cult's "Rain" & "Love Removal Machine", The Pursuit Of Happiness' "Hard To Laugh", Aerosmith's version of The Beatles' "I'm Down", Free's "All Right Now", U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday" & "In The Name Of Love", Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love", and AC/DC's "Sin City". Really strong & varied set, and Tommygun's frontman had great stage presence to go along with his singing! Again, Swing Shift's set was not included here, if Brian(?) filmed them at all. Spy Vs. Spy's set begins after the MC's introduction, and this band has more literature online than Tommy Gun, so I can say a little more about them, largely thanks to drummer Glen Thomas discussing them online (thanks, Glen!)
As best as I can gather, Spy Vs. Spy's lineup here included Glen (now of Soundcheck) alongside singer Ken Luxton and future Bigsuit bandmates Brian Oja (recently of Griphook) on guitar and George Ravlich (from Crank Sound Distribution) on bass. Spy Vs. Spy actually disbanded later that same year in 1989 due to creative differences, so at least they had a high local platform before they went out! Their set includes covers of Judas Priest's "The Hellion/Electric Eye", Sammy Hagar's "Heavy Metal", Kingdom Come's "Do You Like It", Tesla's "Little Suzi", Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog", "Over The Hills & Far Away", and"Good Times, Bad Times", and Guns 'N Roses' "Rocket Queen", with Rush's "Tom Sawyer" only 35 seconds in before the video ends. If bands had equal time, then that was likely their last song.
Brian did not say in the description who won this battle, and I wouldn't feel comfortable saying who I'd have voted for without seeing Swing Shift's set, but my musical tastes do lean closer to Spy Vs. Spy, who had a strong handle on these covers, with Ken's singing a good match for contemporary metal, and the crowd was into both bands! Kudos to Brian for posting this video, especially with really nice quality given the age and hardware involved, and it wasn't a chore at all to identify the covered songs! Check out Tommy Gun & Spy Vs. Spy live at The Eastgate below!
Finally for today, let's head to Sault Michigan, as local blues/hard rock cover quartet Project 906 have indeed added Gary Croad to their lineup as their new drummer, replacing Tommy Korcal (incidentally, Gary's predecessor in Tarnished as well.) Tarnished already teased Gary's new gig on their Facebook page on February 4th, but Project 906 only confirmed the news on their own Facebook page
on Friday, where they noted that Tommy left due to his enlistment in
the United States Army. Tommy had drummed for Project 906 since
replacing Will Storey behind the kit in January 2018, and of course, we
do wish him him the best of luck in his new path! That said, it doesn't
sound like he just left the band, as Project 906 noted that frontman
Billy Bernier has been singing and drumming with them in the interim. With
no concerts to play for the past year, it looks like his double role may have
primarily been during rehearsals & their long gestating EP recording plans.
Project 906 still hope to
release said EP (let alone play proper concerts again) later this year,
and given Gary's experience and skill level, he should fit in just fine
with his new band! Stay tuned for updates from Project 906 (and
Tarnished) when they roll in, and for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!
The news keeps on rolling in for this Sunday! Today, we have news on the final end of a local concert venue, a Calgary band with local connections, some more cuts from our band listings, and some more assorted stories, but first, here's another LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!!
The 2010 Christmas season continues to get even more stacked, with another big concert now confirmed for Monday, December 27th! In what is being called "The Nightmare After Christmas", three local bands will hit Foggy Notions for a night full of punk and metal! Your headliners are local horror punk/metal quartet Frightlight, in their first gig since opening for Total Chaos last month! Expect a great set from these local veterans, who'll bring "Fright Night" to their fans over the holidays! Also on the bill are local hardcore metal band WinkStinger, making their first concert appearance since last month's Breaking The Fourth Wall show at The Rosie. These guys always impress, and will be sure to help with the cold northern winter by melting your face with their fast-paced and very heavy original tracks! Opening this concert will be, in their live return, The Scary Uncles! I don't believe they've played a live show since last year, so it's great to see this very talented punk trio back on-stage! Their classic lineup, minus ex-guitarist Matt Sibilo, is intact, and I'm sure they're hoping for a big return on the 27th! This concert will take place at 10:00 PM, with a $3 cover charge and a 19+ age limit. For more details and to check out the announced bands, visit the above links and the Facebook event page! This sounds like a great concert for the holidays, pencil me in to attend! Hope you guys can make it too, and stay tuned for updates if they come in!
Next up, here's a long overdue story I had meant to share for days now that might interest you guys! During recent Google searching for new and undiscovered local bands, I came across the MySpace page for Sault Ste. Marie native Paul Melanson, who now lives and plays music in the Calgary area. He has played guitar in a number of bands like Malediction, Gutwrench, Under The Gun, and Daemon Rage, that I'll likely research more on just in case there's something online to share! But one thing really caught my attention, and it's this: On his "About Me" section, Paul mentions that he recently had a stint with the Calgary bar band Igniter, formerly known as Caveman Morrison. Wait a minute, how does that work? Caveman Morrison are still very much active, what's going on with this "Igniter" band? Well, I came across this band photo of Igniter from April 2009, which features Paul with former Caveman Morrison bassist Corey Day & drummer Greg Sutherland, along with, I assume, frontman "L L Cool Dutch" (anyone know his real identity?) It looks like the remaining Calgary members of Caveman Morrison (minus Dean Duguay) regrouped as Igniter following Tym's return home, and played metal covers at area bars in recent years. They don't appear to currently be active, and they don't have an internet page that I know of, but this is still interesting to note! If I hear more on Igniter or Paul Melanson's various projects, I'll let you guys know!
Thirdly today, the end has came for one fondly remembered local concert venue. This picture shows what was left of The Eastgate Hotel during demolition of the former metal concert spot & hotel, as snapped by SooToday reader Jeff Russon. I believe Algoma Insurance will still be using the property as a parking lot, although things might have changed without me hearing. 11 photos from the demolition have been uploaded onto SooToday at this location. This must be sad for music lovers who remember attending metal shows at "The Gate" way back. Numerous touring and local bands played there over the years, including notables like Helix, Lee Aaron, Kim Mitchell, Slik Toxik, Nazareth, Bret Michaels, and numerous others. I was never old enough to attend concerts there when they still occured, but had I been around during The Eastgate's heyday, I would surely have many of the same emotions as many of you have. In recent years, it's appearance did deteriorate, and some will probably say that it's good to see it gone, but it all depends on who you ask. I thought it would have been nice to turn it into low income housing or something, but hey, things happen for a reason. R.I.P. Eastgate Hotel, I'm sure the memories will live on!
Fourthly, I'd like to mention five more band removals from our band listings. I continued crawling for bands yesterday that were lacking enough info or material to be worth keeping, or had dead links, and I came up with five more. These are probably our last band cuts until a local band deletes their page knowingly, so you won't have to worry about a paragraph like this again for a while! So these three defunct bands were removed from our band listings because they didn't have sufficient band information, audio/video material, or quality profile design elements to really add much to our band links: Sault Ontario hardcore quintet Orchestra of Wolves, and the Sault Michigan metal bands The Arch Angels of the Apocalypse and Burn the Day. No offense is meant to members or fans, but really, what could we say about these bands? Also, I deleted two other bands due to their links expiring. One was Gates of Winter frontman Lee Maines' Septicon solo project, which I honestly forgot to delete after GarageBand closed, as it was hosted there. The other deletion was for Kincheloe metal quartet Silent Despair, who quietly deleted their Facebook page at some point this year. So those are the last band removals from our band links, and hopefully things are more qualitative on our listings from here on out!
And finally for today, let's end on a positive note with three quick news stories! These are, as usual, in alphabetical order by band name:
Local hard rock trio Browbeat recently posted their cover setlist onto their official Facebook page! 14 covers are listed, including everyone from Metallica and Judas Priest to Green Day and The Cars, not counting their originals! Sounds good, click the above links for more from Browbeat!
Garden of Bedlam are hitting the road for their furthest show ever from town, as they rock The Sinton Tavern in Thessalon on December 17th! Full details are at the Facebook event page. Nice to see, hopefully Thessalon enjoys this metal onslaught! Stay tuned for more Garden of Bedlam updates, especially concerning that supposed Foggy's show on the 18th!
I apologize for missing this for so long, but two weeks ago, SooToday's "Friday Hot Shot" was from the Grady concert at The Grand Theater on November 16th! Taken by SooToday's own Donna Hopper, it features frontman Gordie Johnson with double guitar in tow! Great shot, hopefully Donna posts all her photos from the concert somewhere soon!
That's all for today, but I will have more news and notes very soon, so be on the lookout! And yes, our next CD review (be it an archived Sault Michigan album or something new) will be THIS WEEK! Stay tuned!
Well, I'm back from Detroit and I have some local metal stories to share today, including a preview of a concert tomorrow night and the latest news from Woods of Ypres and The Eastgate Hotel, but first, here's a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!
Fresh off their new lineup's live debut this past weekend at The Outback, Caveman Morrison have booked a brand new concert for this fall, as they'll be back at The Rockstar Bar for the first time in months on October 1st! Just one show to my knowledge, but if they do end up playing on October 2nd as well, I will let you know! This show will have a 10:00 PM start time, there is no announced cover charge, and you must be 19 to enter. For more information, visit the official Facebook event page! This should be another fun show from Caveman Morrison, who'll deliver another high energy night of heavy metal covers to patrons and fans at The Rockstar Bar to kick off October! But if you want your Caveman fix sooner, remember to check them out this coming Friday and Saturday when they play their first shows at Foggy Notions featuring new bassist Dutch Vanderploeg and drummer Johnny Belanger! I'll be there, and I'll have more on Caveman Morrison soon!
Next up, here's a preview of an upcoming concert, and though it is slightly short notice, it's a very promising show at a new venue, so at least consider going! Tomorrow night at The Vibe Lounge, two British Columbia bands will hit the stage for a concert that's sure to leave an impression! Your headliners are Prince George breakcore band Throat Kick, who have a heavy hardcore-style with a heavy electronic influence in many songs. Unique but moshable, they'll be sure to leave you wanting more tomorrow night! The other scheduled band is Vancouver groove metal quintet GFAP!, who have some nice breakdowns and throw in many different styles and sounds into their music, including some creative experimental touches! Hardcore fans will definitely want to be at The Vibe Lounge tomorrow night, this'll deliver some great stuff! This show will take place at 9:00 PM tomorrow night, there is a $5 cover, and you must be 19 to enter. Sure, it's short notice and in a venue far from most of the other concert spots, but you should have some good times at this concert tomorrow, so make it on out! For more information on this show and the bands scheduled tomorrow, visit the official Facebook event page and the links above! For a video preview, here's Throat Kick's music video for their song "Robot Attack"!
Thirdly today, here's the latest updates on Woods of Ypres! Nothing has came out about "Woods V" yet, but the first photo from what was hyped as their last photo shoot is now online! The shoot was conducted by Miguel Gauthier of Stereo Soul Studios, where the band recorded their last two albums, and the first of these photos can be seen on your right. Looks good, can't wait for the rest! Miguel's actually a very talented photographer, and he has dozens of great photos at his Flickr page to check out, including a couple featuring members of Garden of Bedlam! More on "Woods V" as I hear it! The other Woods note I had was about frontman David Gold's emigration from Canada. Some of you may still be wondering where exactly he went and why, but after clear statements failed to materialize prior to his flight overseas, the questions continued. Well, since arriving, David's shared many photos of his surroundings on his personal Facebook page, and though he never clearly says where he is (he lists his locations as "Brutalandiabad" & "so far from you") the photos all point to him being in Kuwait, an Arabic country near The Persian Gulf.
Probably the most telling is a photo of David outside of The Kuwait Towers, but out of respect for personal privacy, I won't link or embed anything here. I'm assuming he's found work there, possibly as a teacher like when he lived in South Korea, but hopefully he's not done with music after the release of "Woods V"! There, maybe that helps answer a couple of questions!
Finally today, here's some updates concerning the fate of former local metal concert venue The Eastgate Hotel. The offers to buy the unused building are still out there, mostly, but the original offer from Tomasso Petrucci has been withdrawn. The offer from Anna Yurkevich and Walter Jakubsky was ruled to be unacceptable due to their aim to have the building rezoned as a residential building. Lindsay Myles informally offered $30,000 to turn it into low income housing for people on welfare via fax, but it's not being considered. If City Council are going to approve of an offer to save it in today's Council meeting, the only one they'll consider is Robert Berto Jr.'s $17,000 offer for it, though he hasn't announced his plans for it if he gets it. Council could also demolish The Eastgate and sell the vacant lot, or accept an $80,000 offer from Algoma Insurance, which would see them demolish the building for their own purposes. Note that newer offers could be re-evaluated today as well. Read Elaine Della-Mattia's Sault Star article on the topic at this location. Also, click here to read an interesting editorial article about the Eastgate situation from The Sault Star's Doug Millroy.
It seems to me like they could have solved this problem a lot sooner than now, and today may not even decide what will happen to The Eastgate. I'd like to see it stay up in some fashion, and I'm sure many concertgoers from the 1980s and 1990s would love to see it remain where it is for nostalgic reasons, but I wouldn't be surprised if it got torn down. Algoma Insurance have the best offer monetarily, and there's no strange conditions mentioned, so if I was betting, I'd have my chips on them to win The Eastgate. Still, this could go a few different directions, and I'll have more as I hear it!
That's all for today, but I already have some assorted stories lined up for my next update, so stay tuned for that in the next day or two! Thanks everyone!
Hey there everyone, I have some more news and updates to share on this Friday afternoon, including the newest songs from Mike Cliffe, The Eastgate's current status, a couple new Woods of Ypres notes, and to kick things off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!!!
Local classic hard rockers Turner Up have scheduled three more concert weekends at Foggy Notions throughout the remainder of 2010! As confirmed in a new posting on the band's Facebook group by guitarist Robert Brown, Turner Up will be at Foggy's on the weekends of September 10th-11th, October 22nd-23rd, and November 26th-27th, joining their already confirmed dates at The Vibe Lounge and The Nicolet Tavern. As is typical with concerts at Foggy's, the new dates will likely have $3 cover charges with 10:00 PM start times, and you must be 19 to get in. These should be fun concerts, and it's nice to see them back downtown for some shows as well! Also confirmed in Robert's post: Turner Up will be the opening band for tribute band Gunz N' FN' Rosez at their show at The Rockstar Bar on September 23rd! This isn't backed up on the event page for the GNFNR concert, but if a band member says it, it must have some truth! Nice addition to that show, and if you want more details on Turner Up's next dates, check the above links! Also, remember to see them at The Vibe Lounge TONIGHT and tomorrow night for their End Of Summer Bash!
Next up, local experimental hard rock guitarist Mike Cliffe posted some brand new songs onto his Reverbnation page! Three that I know of, here's what you should know about them! One is called "Hype-O-Derivative", and in case you didn't catch how the title sounds, this is an instrumental track inspired by Type O Negative! I was a huge fan of theirs, and Peter Steele's death bummed me out, so it's nice to see Mike pay tribute to them with this song! It's a heavy number, but it only really seems to sound like Type O in the slower sections. When it picks up in speed, it loses that, but again, it's inspired by Type O Negative, not a soundalike copy. Good song with a great basis! Also new is his new song "El Blues O De Jam O", which is a blues jam track, as the title suggests. It has a freewheeling spirit and has nice solo sections and a catchy melody! I thought it'd be slower and more downbeat, but I really like this one and it's energy! The blues can rock, and it does here! The other new song is "Bad Regime", a collaboration Mike did with fellow local musician Glen Thomas on drums and Swedish musician Karin Beckerus from the electronic/dance project Out Of Quebec. It's a bouncy softer track compared to the other new songs, with soft melodic vocals and an experimental quality. Not my favourite of the new songs, but it works on a musical level!
Check out all of Mike's new songs at this location, and stay tuned for more, cause he always has some new songs in the works, and you're bound to like at least one of them!
Thirdly, here's the latest on the fate of The Eastgate Hotel, the former hotel and local metal concert venue beside The Rockstar Bar on Queen Street East. Carol Martin, Elaine Della-Mattia, and Craig Huckerby all reported on this story earlier in the week for SooToday, The Sault Star, and SooNews.ca, click on the site names to read each individual article. The gist of it is, there was NO decision made as to it's fate at Monday's City Council meeting, and two new buyers turned up with interest in buying the Eastgate. As such, a decision on if any offers will be accepted has been pushed back to September 13th. The three offers on the table include two with the intent to make the building into low income housing. Belleville's Tomasso Petrucci (who was the original interested buyer) has a $5,000 offer for it, while Anna Yurkevich and Walter Jakubsky have a $25,000 offer on the table. The third offer, from Robert Berto Jr., is for $17,000 with no announced intent for what he'd do if he bought it. The Eastgate itself is structurally sound and has a value of around $250,000, but would need extensive renovations if saved, and unless Robert Berto's plans are to restore it to it's old use, it won't be a concert spot again. I'll keep you up to date as news goes on about what will happen to The Eastgate Hotel!
Finally today, here's some new Woods of Ypres updates, and firstly, yes, David Gold is no longer in Canada. But where exactly is he now? I'm not 100% sure, he hasn't openly said, but I've heard a few theories. A comment on my post on Tuesday said that he's teaching in the United Kingdom, which would make sense given his past overseas work as a teacher in South Korea, but I can't 100% prove that to be true. I've also heard scattered rumours that he was everywhere from back in South Korea to Kuwait! I think many of us were expecting a clear statement about where he was going and why Woods of Ypres were ending yesterday, which we didn't get. However, I'm starting to think that David DOESN'T want people to know clear answers, at least not yet. It might just add to the mystery of it all. Of course, if official word comes out about what David Gold's newest steps are, I'll have it here, but I'm honestly not holding my breath. What we did get yesterday was a new thread on Woods of Ypres' official forum where David thanked his fans for the support and wished us the very best in the future, so even if it's not the answers we hoped for, it's a nice closing statement!
I contemplated writing a little retrospective paragraph about Woods of Ypres around now like I did for Nixxon Dixxon's end, but you know something? Woods of Ypres' story isn't finished. There's still a whole album left to come out, what point would there be to post my final thoughts when the band's final work isn't out yet? But believe me, when I do discuss the band's end, I won't have anything bad to say! I do have two more notes to share on Woods of Ypres today, my first one being another ambient slowed down version of a Woods song! This was also posted by anomaly88 onto SoundCloud, and it's an almost-25 minute long version of "Move On!" Interesting work once again, amazing what you can do to mp3s nowadays! Check it out at this location! And finally for today, we have one more Woods of Ypres "drum cam" live video from drummer Evan Madden's YouTube channel! Like yesterday's video of the band playing "The Shams of Optimism" & "Crossing The 45th Parallel", this comes from their Austin, Texas show in July, and it's of their version of "By The Time You Read This (I Will Already Be Dead)"! Good quality, but David's vocals are hard to pick out amongst the heavy instrumentation. Check it out below!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for my review of TOMORROW'S SBD show (yes, I'm going!), my next CD review, and more assorted local metal news and updates! Thanks everyone!
Hey guys, I have some more local metal news to share with you all today, including a new concert video, the possible fate of a classic concert venue, and a local drummer's contest entry, but first, here are three LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS!!
Phatstick are coming back to Sault Ste. Marie... again! Just a month after they last rocked Foggy Notions, the St. Catharines hard rock band featuring Saultites Jason Taillefer and Joe LaVergne will be back there for two shows THIS WEEKEND! Both concerts have scheduled start times of 10:30 PM, with a likely $3 cover charge and a 19+ age limit. Sorry for the short notice, they were only just announced a couple of days ago. If you want to hear some very good covers of songs from all genres (and metal, of course), head on out to Foggy's this weekend! Phatstick deliver the goods musically, but I really wish they'd play their own originals in their recent concerts, cause they have some great stuff on their albums! Still, go see them this weekend if you can! Confirm your attendance for the Friday concert at this location, and the Saturday concert by clicking here!
Meanwhile, Caveman Morrison frontman Tym Morrison has scheduled another solo concert, this time back at The Bottoms Up Lounge! Come rock out and mellow out at the same time on the long weekend, as Tym plays acoustic renditions of your favourite metal songs, and more! According to the Facebook event page, Tym's voice is stronger than ever, which is great news for the show! A 10:00 PM start time is listed, there's NO cover charge, and you must be 19 to enter. Tym always delivers a great might of music when he plays his acoustic solo shows, so consider making it out, especially if you can't go see him THIS WEEKEND at The Roosevelt Hotel! Get more details at the above links!
Next up, a new concert video has popped up online from a recent show! No, it's not from the Kewadin Festival (I'm really surprised at the lack of videos from there), but it is from one of the bands that played it! This video is of Detroit hard rockers Fifth Way from their June concert at The Dreammakers Theater at Kewadin Casino, when they backed up Tesla! Now you've definitely seen the first video from their set already on the SMS (their performance of "Rock N' Roll"), but we have another! This was uploaded onto Fifth Way's YouTube channel on Sunday, and it's a performance of a brand new song, "Burn Like You"! Good stuff, but the guitars really overpower the vocals. It's from the same footage shot that gave us the video of "Rock N' Roll", so it's got a nice view from above of the stage! Check it out below!
Also, as a side note, I found out last month that Fifth Way have more of a local connection than I realized! Did you know that guitarist Zak Stelmaszek is a graduate of Lake Superior State University, and lived here while he was going there? Yeah, he told me that through e-mail correspondence, and through some back checking, I can confirm that he earned an electrical engineering degree there in 2000! I think we have another subject for our out of town bands profile series! And of course, check out the new video!
Fourthly today, one of the more notable young musicians in the area has entered a major online contest, and he needs YOUR help! Nixxon Dixxon drummer Jake LaLonde has entered the Full Ride Scholarship Contest that's being run through Hollywood California's Musicians Institute, a major American music college that has tons of famous alumni to have graduated from there, including (among many others), notable metal drummers like Judas Priest's Scott Travis and Primus' Bryan Mantia. The Full Ride Scholarship Contest will give one lucky young musician a full complete scholarship, no strings attached, at The Musicians Institute along with $10,000 cash. For Jake to make it to the live finals in Hollywood, he needs tons of votes to get the attention of the MI judges, so this is where YOU come in! You have until August 15th (ONE WEEK FROM SUNDAY) to vote for Jake at this location! The more votes he gets, the better the odds! Note that YOU MUST REGISTER TO VOTE, but it is completely free and has similar criteria to other sites you register for, so don't be scared off.
On his page on the Musicians Institute site, you can hear a drum solo track named "Grooving", and if you click "Visit Backstage", you'll get a bio about Jake and a video of him playing Godsmack's "Bad Religion"! Best of luck to Jake, it'd be awesome to see him win, though I don't know what would happen to the drum position in Nixxon Dixxon if he did. He's a great drummer, and one can only imagine how much better he'd get with Musicians Institute support! VOTE FOR JAKE TODAY!!!
Finally, this is a story that I haven't followed in depth on the SMS because it doesn't have much relevance to the local metal scene nowadays, but really, I should have talked about it before for it's past connections. A lot of discussions have come up this summer over what should happen to The Eastgate Hotel on Queen Street East. Local music lovers will no doubt recognize The Eastgate as a very popular venue for concerts in the 1980s, especially metal ones! Concerts continued through the mid-2000s, but they noticeably slowed down into the new millennium. More recent notable metal/hard rock concerts there included headlining bands like Nazareth, Econoline Crush, and probably the last show of note there, Bret Michaels in October 2005. Now a vacant unused building, the city is hoping to gain control of the building and have it demolished. A decision on that could be made at a City Council meeting on August 23rd. According to SooToday articles, word is that the building is structurally sound (doesn't really look it though), and there is at least one buyer interested in saving it. If you were hoping for it to become a concert spot again, don't hold your breath, as the prospective owners want to turn it into a retirement home, but that proposal was already rejected once by City Council. Discussions about the fate of The Eastgate Hotel are expected at the August 23rd City Council meeting. Keep up to date with this situation at this link, this link, and this link, and if something of note comes up later on, I'll let you guys know!
That's all for today, but I have much more news in the coming days, so keep an eye out!
