Showing posts with label ski. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ski. Show all posts

Thursday, November 13, 2025

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Silent 9, Double Down, And Generations) & Weekend Concert Previews!!

This weekend is a tad busier for hard rock concerts in Sault Ste. Marie, so our preview of Saturday's Selias concert will be in tomorrow's post. With that said, today's focuses on covers-leaning bands, including LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS, some on SHORT NOTICE, so here's what you should know as we enter mid-November!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Double Down will return to Jay's Piston Broke Pub for concerts TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT! In a way, I apologize for the short notice, but these shows have been announced since August via their Facebook event page. I erroneously listed them for next weekend when we first covered them, despite knowing that they are playing at The Water Tower Pub next Friday. That's on me, I'm sorry, but at least I caught the error! TOMORROW & SATURDAY's shows will end a month-long break for this skilled veteran outfit, last playing at Jay's over the October 11th weekend, and they should have a good array of classic and hard rock covers in store for west end fans! As has been the case for all of their fall dates so far, bassist Dan Beaupre will be absent as he continues recovering from an undisclosed ailment, so his "stunt double" (Mid Life Crysis bassist Lori Reinholtz) will be back for both nights.

Lori has played all but one of Double Down's concert weekends so far since they ended their summer break, and she has fit in well with the Syrettes and Ric, so hopefully things go well again TOMORROW & SATURDAY, and that Dan gets better soon! These shows are at 9:30 PM with 19+ age limits and no cover charges as usual. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Double Down live!

Next up, fellow local classic/hard rock cover quartet Generations will return to the stage THIS SATURDAY NIGHT at Beck's Bar! Again, apologies for the short notice, drummer Tony Santoro only announced this show via the band's Facebook group on Monday. Last seen at The Water Tower Pub two weeks ago, this marks just their second show at the Goulais Avenue nightclub, last playing there in June. SATURDAY'S concert also marks the debut of their new guitarist, as veteran local musician Joe Miller has joined Generations, replacing the already-departed Tony Kajnar. Joe has been a presence in the scene dating back four decades, and while blatant credits for his band work aren't easy to find on social media, hopefully he fits in well with Valerie, Pierre, and Tony S. on SATURDAY! The matinee act that evening at Beck's is new local duo Silver Strings, who are not "opening" for Generations, and have their own full timeslot from 3:00-7:00 PM.

This is a one-nighter as usual for Beck's, but that's just as well for singer Valerie Powley, as she will be judging the finals of this year's The Soo's Got Talent tomorrow at Soo Blaster. We didn't cover it this year because it was full-on karaoke for 2025, partially thanks to it's The Voice-inspired audition rounds, but note that Convergence frontman Stephen Gagnon-Ruscio is one of this year's six finalists. Good luck to him and the other finalists tomorrow! Generations' Beck's concert on SATURDAY is at 9:00 PM with a 19+ age limit and no cover charge. Visit the above links for more details, and here's Generations live!

Also, local classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9 will rock The Esquire Club TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT, but that's not all for them in 2025! While their website's calendar only lists three private gigs for the rest of 2025 (making this weekend's shows their last traditional bar gigs of the year), one of them isn't as private as you may think. On Friday, December 5th, you can see Jess, Ryan, Paul, and Steve set up shop at The Rockstar Bar when they headline the Searchmont Ski Runners' holiday mixer! This may sound odd, but they did the honours for the S.S.R.'s fall social in October 2023, which also took place at The Rockstar Bar, which remains available to host special ticketed or private events, but has been closed as a standard nightclub since mid-2022. Despite the band claiming it's private, the Ski Runners' Facebook page is publically advertising the mixer, which is a fundraiser for the youth alpine skiing organization.

Sounds like a fun time for a worthy cause, so keep this in mind if you want to support the Ski Runners and/or enjoy an all-too rare Rockstar Bar concert! Tickets run for $35 but that also enters you into a contest to win passes to Searchmont, and you can buy tickets for this 19+ event at 7:30 PM at this link. Before then, they wrap up their normal nightclub slate for 2025 tomorrow & Saturday at The Esquire Club, so don't miss Silent 9's crowd and party-friendly mix of rocking covers this weekend! Both shows are at 9:30 PM with no cover charge and 19+ age limits. See above for more details, stay tuned for more on Silent 9's 2026 plans, and here they are live!

Finally for this preview post, veteran local classic/hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison is slated to rock The Fraternal Order of Eagles Club on Wellington Street West on SATURDAY NIGHT! Before we get too far, just a note that Tym was originally advertised to be playing the matinee timeslot at Beck's Bar on Saturday himself, but the venue is listing the aforementioned Silver Strings from 3:00-7:00 PM that day. A reason for Tym's withdrawal from the Beck's booking was not publically announced, but his batch Facebook event page for shows there still lists this Saturday's matinee. He is currently slated to return to the former Vibe Lounge as their matinee performer next Sunday, so I'll let you know if that goes on as planned! And no, Tym's not in Silver Strings, here's a video of them from earlier this year. While Tym has pulled double duty for his solo acoustic act in the past, he'll just be rocking Aerie #3991 on Saturday night.

Regardless of venue or timeslot, Tym's prolific setlist and clear-as-day talents as a vocalist and guitar player will bode well for attendees at the Eagles Club on Saturday, so don't miss out! If you do however, he'll be back in two weeks. As usual there, this is an 8:00 PM start time, no cover, and no advertised age limit. See above for more details, and here he is live!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for our Selias preview and more next! Thanks everyone!

Saturday, October 7, 2023

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (The Wyld Stallyns & Soundcheck), Plus Silent 9 Updates!!

Today's post is mostly devoted to newly announced events at Shooters Downstairs Lounge, who unveiled announced a pile of upcoming concerts (primarily from cover bands) through early December via a series of Facebook event pages launched on Friday, so what should you know from these new dates, and a show missed from another band playing there? 

Not counting the Generations and Bone Yard shows on October 13th & 20th (which the bands in question already announced), the next new shows will see local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck return to the Dennis Street nightclub on Friday, October 27th & Saturday, October 28th! Yes, Shooters has been hosting DJs on Saturdays over the fall season, but it looks like they're pausing that experiment for one week, as two separate Facebook event pages (here and here) were posted for both nights. Based on the advertising, the split event pages appear to reflect a Halloween theme on Saturday the 28th, but this isn't the Halloween party at Shooters, details forthcoming. Last seen at Shooters a month ago, hopefully Soundcheck (one word) deliver the classic and hard rock goods to send out the month with, and one assumes that costumes are welcomed on the Saturday! That said, they're not done at Shooters for 2023 after that weekend.

The guys will return to the lounge for one night only on Friday, December 1st in the last of the new Shooters announcements. The holiday season will be in full swing by then, so consider warming up with Soundcheck's rocking covers then! All three shows are 9:00 PM affairs with 19+ age limits and no cover charges. Visit the above links and the December 1st Facebook event page for more details on their three upcoming Shooters dates!

Next up, the Halloween party at Shooters will take place on Tuesday, October 31st when they welcome local funk/hard rock sextet The Wyld Stallyns to the stage! After rocking The Whisky Barrel over Halloween weekend last year (albeit without publically promoted Halloween ties), The Stallyns will topline a legit Halloween party with a costume contest, drink specials, late hours for the on-site kitchen, and more. Fans may recall their old sister band The Elements playing multiple Halloween events (often in themed sets), but hopefully The Wyld Stallyns' wide-ranging and fan-friendly covers find a willing audience to cap off the spooky season! Just a shame that Halloween is a Tuesday this year given many attendees' work and school hours. Also, The Stallyns will return to Shooters on Friday, November 10th for a standard concert, so if the Halloween trappings do nothing for you, keep that in mind for a traditional night out!

Like with Soundcheck, expect a 19+ age limit and 9:00 PM start time for both dates, and there is no announced cover charge for either, but have cash on hand on Halloween just in case. Visit the official Facebook event pages linked here & here for more details!

The other upcoming shows at Shooters are either already announced by the band in question (i.e. Bone Yard) or not from hard rock leaning bands (Lime on November 3rd), but I did want to bring up newer classic/hard rock cover quartet Silent 9, who return to Shooters on November 17th. You may have seen Facebook "stories" and posts in the past day that show them performing at The Rockstar Bar, a venue that hasn't hosted a public concert since June of last year, so what's going on? Well, despite not posting on their Facebook page in over two weeks, this distinct new band did indeed play at The Algonquin Hotel's dormant upstairs nightclub last night, in a show that was advertised on their website but not elsewhere. This was the Searchmont Ski Runners' fall social, which served as a fundraiser for the alpine ski racing non-profit group. Yes, this was publically attendable with $35 tickets.

I profusely apologize for missing this show on the SMS, but alas, I never thought to look on Silent 9's website for shows that Facebook never listed. The Rockstar Bar proper did not acknowledge the event either, having not announced any events in well over a year, and a teased re-opening in the spring did not occur as planned. One would assume that Algonquin Hotel staff would have announced a formal re-opening, so was the fall social a one-off booking? It seems like it, but we'll let you know when/if they truly announce that they're back. As for Silent 9, they did share one non-story video that you can watch on Facebook, and it's a 51 seconds-long montage of clips from their sets last night. The vertical camera angle and hacked up nature of the covers isn't ideal, but everyone sounds good in the video, and it is nice seeing The Rockstar Bar open again with a good sized crowd!

Everything looks about normal from how the venue looked pre-pandemic and during their 2021-2022 return, if only for a night. Don't miss Silent 9 at The Esquire Club over Halloween weekend, give their SSR fall social video a watch below, and apologies again to Steve!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!