The Soo's Got Talent 2022 Finals Recap (Part 3!!)

We've put this off long enough, let's finally wrap up our finals coverage of this year's The Soo's Got Talent today! Of course, the finals took place at Soo Blaster on October 21st, with the final six performers (all singers with only one playing an instrument too) performing twice for the grand prize: once solo like in prior rounds, and once with local alternative hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich as their backing band! In our first two finals posts from last week, we looked at each finalist's first performance in this post (along with guests), before checking out the first three finalists' songs with Handsome Sandwich in this post. As before, Passion Video Productions filmed all of these videos for the T.S.G.T. Facebook page, and Handsome Sandwich performed without singer Taylor Emlaw as they had finalists singing instead for the competition, though she did sing with them in the intermission.

It is worth noting that Handsome Sandwich did in fact learn the songs they played with all six finalists, rather than offering their setlist only, which must have been a fun challenge. Thanks to guitarist Mitch Sirie for the confirmation! Following finalists Nanette Garcia (Patti Smith's "Because The Night"), Colin Gasparelli (Edguy's "When A Hero Cries"), and Xavier Pelletier LeBoeuf (Pink's "Raise Your Glass"), the fourth finalist to perform twice was Ali Nisbett, who joined Handsome Sandwich for a cover of Blondie's "X Offender". This is early Blondie when they were at their most punk, which works well! Ali has a great stage presence with the full band backing her up, but and she has good energy, but I'm not quite sure that it's the best pick for her vocal range. Still fun, so give it a look below!

The penultimate finalist was Amanda Phillips, whose cover with Handsome Sandwich was of "The Story" by Brandi Carlile (not Belinda Carlisle). Assuming that contestants picked these songs rather than the judges' choice angle of years past, Amanda picked a winner here, as she delivers a very strong vocal performance of this folk rock favourite, and she seems more confident than ever! Interesting change of pace for Handsome Sandwich too, so give their performance a watch below!

Last but not least for the finalists was Maharlika Joy Servillon, who went way off board like Colin did for a full band cover, this time doing "Faster" by the Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation. Rare when I can evoke Sharon den Adel on the SMS! M.J. sings this one strongly and hits some good high notes in the process, and the band are a good fit here too (Mitch must love getting to play something like this!) Solid closer to the competitive portion of T.S.G.T., so give it a look below!

Guest performances aside, the next video was the drawing of the winners of the door prize & 50/50 draw that night, before host/co-organizer Barbara Rajnovich announced the winners, as chosen by judges Darren MacDonald, Mike Severin, Valerie Powley, and guest Tim Murphy. As you can see in the reveal video embedded below, the winner was.... Amanda Phillips, and after her closing song, that makes a lot of sense! M.J. Servillon and Nanette Garcia took second and third place each, with both receiving gift baskets for placing on the podium. Amanda's first place prize includes $1,000 and recording time with Mike Severin at his studio Muzicare North. Amanda was quoted in this SooToday article by Darren Taylor about the finals, where she noted that she does hope to record an album, and she addressed her past band work (in the Niagara Falls rock cover band Summerfield, she later moved here).

Darren got photos of each finalist and Handsome Sandwich in the article also, so definitely check those out too! Other videos & photos can be seen on the T.S.G.T. Facebook page, but most importantly, $3,608 was raised for the Brain Injury Association of Sault Ste. Marie & Area, so the charitable aims of this event are alive and well, and hopefully another good organization benefits next year! Give the award presentations a watch below, and congratulations to Amanda on winning The Soo's Got Talent!

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

The Soo's Got Talent 2022 Finals Recap (Part 1!!)

At long last, let's begin looking at the final results of this year's Soo's Got Talent competition, which ended on Friday, October 21st with the final round at Soo Blaster as expected! I do apologize for the delays in this making the site, Passion Video Productions uploaded their videos from the event on October 25th, but life and other SMS posts got in the way over the past two weeks. Everything pertinent from the six finalists, guest performers, and announcements can be seen on the T.S.G.T. Facebook page, so if you weren't in attendance on the 21st, what went down? Enough material for at least two SMS posts, that's what! The first video features introduction of the judges from co-organizer Barbara Rajnovich, and out first guest performance of the evening, courtesy of judge/ex-Obsession frontwoman Valerie Powley covering The Motels' "Only The Lonely". Not as hard rocking as Obsession often got with her, but strongly sung as you'd expect!

The opening performance of each of the six finalists (all singers only unless otherwise stated) and their respective judges' remarks were held next, starting with Nanette Garcia covering Adele's "Rolling In The Deep", followed by singer/guitarist Colin Gasparelli playing an apparent original song, possibly named "It's Alright". Xavier Pelletier LeBeouf (who was also a finalist in 2019 under a different first name) covered Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" next, with Ali Nisbett covering "Rolling In The Deep" again as the fourth performer, but with a twist. Here, she's singing the song overtop an instrumental backing track of Survivor's "Eye Of The Tiger", a mash-up that has existed online since not long after the Adele song came out. At least this way, Nanette and Ali didn't verbatim do the same song, so hopefully there was no conflict, but the slower intro for Nanette's is also a variation.

"Eye of the Tiger" is a hard rock song, overplayed as it may be, so hearing a totally different song fit it so well is neat, and Ali sings this one very well! Remember that she did cover Journey in the semifinals too, so classic rock is not entirely unexpected from her. Give Ali's mashup cover a look below!

Fifth up was Amanda Phillips covering Andra Day's "Rise Up", and the first half of the finalist performances ended with Maharlika Joy (or M.J.) Servillon covering The Fugees' version of "Killing Me Softly". Next we got the intermission performance by local alternative hard rock quintet Handsome Sandwich, who played two original songs, namely "No Idea" (which is brand new unless it's only been played live) and their early, pre-Rafael original "Bitter". Very fun and lively performances from Handsome Sandwich, which will no doubt continue the good momentum towards the release of "Lettuce" (albeit allegedly not coming until May), and this gives Taylor a chance to sing before handing the mic off to the other finalists! We'll save those performances for our next post due to the amount, as I want to spotlight all six on the site, but give Handsome Sandwich's intermission songs a watch below!

To close today's post, let's jump ahead to the judges' deliberations, where 2019 Soo's Got Talent winner Adrian Sullivan returned for two guest songs! This mirrors that year's event, when then-reigning 2018 champion Daniella Brewer returned for a guest performance at the finals, so might this year's winner do the same next fall? At the time of his win in 2019, Adrian was working on his to-debut local band The Uncanny Valley, whose psychedelic-tinged hard rock has become a popular rising sight at local concerts, but neither of his songs here ("Carry On" & "Bleeding Soul") are familiar as Uncanny Valley originals. That said, you can hear "Carry On" and many other early solo songs of Adrian's on his Soundcloud page (under the name "Adrian Taylor"), which he updated through the spring of 2020. As acoustic performances, neither is overly heavy in this form, but both are well done!

Adrian has a good handle on 1970s singer-songwriter type music, and if these were adapted to The Uncanny Valley, they could easily be pumped up to match! Good stuff, so give Adrian's performance a look below! Full disclosure, returning guest judge Tim Murphy did not perform a song as advertised on the event posters (if he did, Passion Video didn't upload it).

Our next T.S.G.T. post(s?) will cover the second song from the finalists, where they all performed with the instrumentalists in Handsome Sandwich for a song each, so how do they do with a live band? Find out then, with other news and notes to follow on the site also! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Handsome Sandwich) & Our Soo's Got Talent 2022 Semifinal Recap!!

With less than a week to go before The Soo's Got Talent crowns its third winner, let's belatedly recap what went down at the semifinals at Soo Blaster on Saturday, October 1st! As before, remaining contestants were judged by judges Darren Robertson, Mike Severin, and Valerie Powley, with Passion Video Productions on hand once again to film everything for the T.S.G.T. Facebook page, with videos being posted on October 5th. All ten surviving contestants are singers (with two also featuring guitar), with finalists noted in italics, and like in past years, each contestant got two performances for making it this far. From how the videos are edited, each semifinalist performed once for the judges, were scored based on that song, and then returned after everyone else sang once to tackle one non-scored song each, some with wardrobe changes. First up was Greg McLeod, who tackled two classic rock songs.

He first covered Electric Light Orchestra's "Rock N' Roll Is King" for the judges, then wore a Team Canada jersey to cover The Tragically Hip's "Blow At High Dough". Second on the 1st was Wendy Hord, who brought in a friend named Jeff (not a prior competitor) to do an original song for the judges that may have been titled "Four Leaf Clover". Her second Jeff-less song was a cover of Kaye Ballard's "Fly Me To The Moon". Third was Christopher Halliday, whose for-scoring cover was of Ben E. King's "Stand By Me", following that by tackling Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn". Next we had Xavier Pelletier Leboeuf, who sang Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" before singing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", complete with a huge wardrobe change into Ann Wilson-ish attire. The first half concluded with singer/guitarist Colin Gasparelli with an original possibly named "Walk Away" before doing a cover(!) of Styx's  "Suite Madame Blue".

Semifinalist #6 is Nanette Garcia who covered the Whitney Houston version of "I Will Always Love You" and "Titanium" by David Guetta featuring Sia. She was followed by Amanda Phillips for covers of Lady Gaga's "You & I" and Gretchen Wilson's "Here For The Party", with Deuteronomy Nigas up next to cover Michael Bolton's "Go The Distance" and Mariah Carey's "Always Be My Baby". The penultimate contestant was Maharlika Joy Servillon, who covered Toni Braxton's "Un-Break My Heart" & Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)". The semifinals closed with Ali Nisbett, who covered Idina Menzel's "Let It Go" (complete with blue Elsa-style dress) and a plainclothes but enthusiastic cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'".  Not a whole lot here for hard rock/metal fans, with Greg's songs and Colin & Ali's AOR rock covers likely to pique SMS reader interest the most, so head there first if you're a "rock or bust" type.

As noted in italics and the reveal video from the 1st, Xavier, Colin, Nanette, Amanda, M.J., and Ali were sent through by the judges to the finals THIS FRIDAY at Soo Blaster, so consider this a SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, as all six will be performing with round 1 guest performers Handsome Sandwich as a backing band! Apologies for the short notice on only getting to the finals now, I wanted to cover all prior rounds on the SMS first so the timeline of events was maintained. Of course, Handsome Sandwich have been on the T.S.G.T. radar since the summer, and after rocking out with songs from their forthcoming debut album on September 9th, now they'll provide a full live backing track for the finalists. Not sure if this was always the plan given that not every contestant was a singer, and how this will work on FRIDAY isn't entirely clear (i.e. how many covers do they know/are willing to learn, how will Taylor be involved), but it'll be interesting to find out!

Also no word on if Handsome Sandwich will bring their own hard rock/alternative originals back for any portion of the night. Also advertised on FRIDAY is judge/ex-Obsession singer Valerie Powley for another guest performance, while prolific local stage actor/musician Tim Murphy will return as a guest judge and finals performer. The finals take place on FRIDAY at 5:00 PM, this is an all ages event, and admission is $15 at the door or $10 for kids 12 and under, with proceeds going to The Brain Injury Association of Sault Ste. Marie & District. Should be an exciting conclusion to The Soo's Got Talent III, so visit the above links for complete details, and stay tuned for more on the site next week! Thanks everyone!

The Soo's Got Talent 2022 Second Round Recap!!

After a few days looking at other topics, let's refocus on catching up with The Soo's Got Talent today, specifically the second round action at Soo Blaster on Friday, September 16th! As you may recall, the 15 highest voted competitors of the 24 qualified contestants the previous week were sent through the round 2 by judges Darren Robertson, Mike Severin, and Valerie Powley, with the videos from that night being shot once again by Passion Video Productions and uploaded to the T.S.G.T. Facebook page on September 22nd. In terms of videos strictly from the 16th, the first uploaded was erroneously included in our coverage of the first round performance, for which I apologize (there's a lot of videos to go through!), but it features introductions from MC/co-organizer Barbara Rajnovich and a guest cover of Aaron Lewis' "Tell It Like It Is" by Valerie. Now to the 15 quarterfinalists, who were whittled down to 10 at night's end, and like before, acts who advanced to the following round are noted with their name in italics.

From this point on, all performers are singers, but three featured guitar in their set. In performance order, the first artist up was Lori Vaidelis (Bruno Mars' "Locked Out Of Heaven"), diverting from her prior classic hard rock base here. Second was Sarah Vikken, who picked up where she left off the previous week with a pop punk/emo cover, this time Fall Out Boy's "Young Volcanoes". I admit, I'm not a Fall Out Boy fan, but she sings this one with good energy and enthusiasm, and you can tell she's a fan to go with a fourth single from a newer album of theirs. Give Sarah's round 2 performance a look below!

Singer/guitarist Colin Gasparelli (his own original song "The Message") follows, with Kat Long (Anna Nalick's "Breathe [2 AM]") enlisting fellow competitor Jason Morbin to play guitar for her performance. Fifth was Stan Fera (Grand Funk Railroad's "Some Kind Of Wonderful"), followed by Xavier Pelletier Leboeuf tackling Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life" next, and what a turnaround from Celine Dion the previous week, especially with that magnificent goth wardrobe! Xavier didn't do the Paul McCoy parts, FYI. Nice melodic voice, if not yet super aggressive, and a promising young talent to be sure, so give Xavier's cover a look below!

Ensuing perfomers included Christopher Halliday (Billie Eilish's "Happier Than Ever"), Nanette Garcia (Nicki Minaj's "Superbass"), singer/guitarist Jason Morbin (The Beatles' "Rocky Raccoon"), Wendy Hord (Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats"), Ali Nisbett (Idina Menzel & Kristin Chenoweth's "Defying Gravity"), and Deuteronomy Nigas (Edwin McCain's "I'll Be"), with lucky 13th being classic rock singer Greg McLeod, who returned to heavier waters here to cover Bad Company's "Feel Like Making Love". To an extent, I think Greg may have been forcing his voice here, but he gets the job done and has the look down, so don't bypass his second round song below!

The final two performers of round 2 were M.J. Servillon (Kevyn Letteau's "Sunlight") and Amanda Phillips (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Can't Hold Us"). You can see Darren reveal the 10 semifinalists (and Barbara conduct that night's 50/50 draw) in the video embedded below, and of course, the Terrific Ten returned for the semifinals at Soo Blaster on October 1st, which I hope to cover on the site this weekend. I will say that I'd like to have seen Lori and Sarah advance just based on genre preference for what they played in 2 of their 3 filmed songs, but hopefully everyone stays musically active in some form, and give the semifinalist reveal a watch below!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!

The Soo's Got Talent 2022 First Round Recap (Part 2!!)

Rather than put off our coverage of The Soo's Got Talent's first round performances any further, let's cover the last 12 opening round performers (and more) today! In case you don't look at yesterday's post on the first half of the Friday, September 9th event at Soo Blaster, just a reminder that judges Darren Robertson, Mike Severin, and Valerie Powley were on hand to help send the 15 highest scoring performers to the second round one week later. Passion Video Productions filmed all performers for the T.S.G.T. Facebook page (uploaded two weeks later), Mike Blair handled the sound with his 705Live Sound Co., and co-organizer Barbara Rajnovich was the MC. Of the final 12 first round performers, all are just singers unless otherwise stated, and those who advanced to round 2 have their name in italics. The second half began with singer/guitarist Steven Jensen (The Four Seasons' "December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)"), ...

...Christopher Halliday (A Great Big World's "Say Something"), the unfilmed-at-auditions Senta Saylor (Harry Styles' "Falling"), and Nanette Garcia (Loren Allred's "Never Enough"), before Colin Gasparelli returned with another apparent original song, possibly named "Get Used To It", this time singing and playing guitar rather than the keyboard from his audition. Young local dancer Yousef Al Islam next did a martial arts-inspired routine to Sean Paul's "Temperature", and we keep away from singers next with the fourth of five performers not filmed at the auditions, namely Brooke Coghill, a magician who performs under the name McSterious. My dad would approve of some new blood getting into the craft! Brooke did two tricks in round 1, with Colin Gasparelli returning as one of her assistants. The last five performers are all musicians, with the twentieth up being Wendy Hord (Rihanna's "Stay").

The last of five qualifiers not filmed at the Wacky Wings auditions is next, that being Selena Oulette (The Hush Sound's "You Are The Moon"). Closing round 1 were Ali Nisbett (Keala Settle's "This Is Me"), singer/guitarist Jason Morbin (Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl"), and Maharlika Joy (M.J.) Servillon (Whitney Houston's "Miracle"). While a lot of pure talent was on display, no hard rock or punk songs were covered in the second half of the first round, but genre fans weren't completely left out in the lurch late, as local alternative/punk quartet Handsome Sandwich were tapped as a guest performer for round 1 at Soo Blaster! Once again, I profusely apologize for missing this, but neither The Soo's Got Talent nor the band promoted their involvement in advance (though this does explain why T.S.G.T. were plugging & taking pictures of Handsome Sandwich on Facebook this summer, seemingly apropos of nothing).

On September 9th, Handsome Sandwich played two mini-sets to break up the program, with Mitch Sirie oddly sitting out their two intermission songs, returning on guitar for the finale. On bass throughout was Rafael Medina, an Algoma University music student & 705Live staffer who I'm unfamiliar with from other local bands. However, Rafael has been pictured in some band materials since late August, including their Whisky Barrel concert last month and this picture of most of the band in post-production for their forthcoming debut album "Lettuce". This would heavily imply that Rafael has joined Handsome Sandwich, but they have not firmly put it in writing. Also, apologies for erroneously saying last month that the fifth person in this poster was Dunbar Thompson from The Whisky Barrel, Occam's Razor led me wrong there. In the intermission performance, Taylor only titled their first song ("Without You").

Their closing 14 minute set featured less stage banter, but a five-piece Sandwich played mostly originals, plus a surprise cover of Tones & I's "Dance Monkey" (remember, the band officially has "no genre"). When Barbara came back on stage after their intermission set, she noted that their album is scheduled to come out on May 5th, 2023. How oddly specific given that we're seven months out! The performances here are lively and add enough hard rock zest to keep genre fans happy, and assuming Rafael is 100% a new band member, he shows solid bass skill! Fun as you'd hope, so give Handsome Sandwich's guest spots on the 9th a look above & below!

The advancing contestants were revealed in this video and in post-show advertising, and we'll cover round 2 of The Soo's Got Talent III later this week, to see how the 15 surviving performers were whittled down to 10 before the October 1st semifinals. That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's Defunct Local Band Profile on the site next! Thanks everyone!

The Soo's Got Talent 2022 First Round Recap (Part 1!!)

Let's take a look at the first official round of the third annual The Soo's Got Talent competition today, and again, apologies for the delay in our coverage of this event! As you may know, The Soo's Got Talent returned to its 2019 home of Soo Blaster for the round of 24 on Friday, September 9th, with the 15 highest scoring competitors advancing to the second round one week later. Like in 2018 & 2019, the shows from this point on were publically attendable, and proceeds for T.S.G.T. are going to the Brain Injury Association of Sault Ste. Marie & District. Great cause! As covered on SooToday, this year's judges included local musician Darren Robertson (who judged both previous installments), Borderline radio host Mike Severin (a returnee from 2019), and ex-Obsession frontwoman Valerie Powley, replacing Lesley Walsh Tibbin, while 705Live have been manning the sound. With all of that said, what all went down during round #1 last month?

Local film company Passion Video Productions are taking care of all official video footage for the public rounds, and all were posted to the T.S.G.T. Facebook page on September 21st & 22nd, so let's look at the first half today. The first video uploaded from the first round is actually of introductions by co-organizer, theatre director, and my old librarian at Bawating, Barbara Rajnovich, followed by video of a guest song by Valerie Powley, namely a vocal cover of Aaron Neville's "Tell It Like It Is". Bit of a leap from what we're used to her singing live, but her performance is as strong as you'd expect! Like you saw in 2019, videos from round #1 feature each performer's full song or routine, followed by judges' remarks. As it turns out, the first 12 performers were all just singers, and if they advanced to the round of 15, their name is in italics. In order, the first performer that night was Stan Fera (Burton Cummings' "Break It To Them Gently").

Afterwards is the first of five qualifiers who did not get an audition video from Wacky Wings, namely Xavier Pelletier LeBeouf (Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On"). Further performers include Dave Delair (Toby Keith's "Should've Been A Cowboy") Katherine Long (Miranda Lambert's "Mama's Broken Heart"), Deuteornomy Niegas (Jimmy Bondoc's "Let Me Be The One"), Andrea "Butterfly Singer" Dantzer (Aubrey Woods' "The Candy Man"), and Greg McLeod (Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind"). Next is another performer unfilmed at the auditions, that being Elizabeth Budge (Adele's "Hello"), with Amanda Phillips up right after with another Adele song ("When We Were Young"). Tenth up was Sarah Vikken, and in a steep change from Tony Orlando at the auditions, she covered My Chemical Romance's "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" for her round #1 song!

Definitely wasn't expecting a cover of the pop punk/emo stalwarts here, and while M.C.R. may not be the first thought for a vocal showcase at a talent competition, but Sarah is more than okay here (I promise!) Kudos to her for getting up there and letting loose like this, she could do more punk & alternative music if she wanted, and give it a look for yourself below!

Next in the first round was Ricky Roy (Slander ft. Dylan Matthew's "Love Is Gone"), but we'll stop for today with the last performer of the first half of the first round, namely Lori Vaidelis, who covered Guns  N' Roses' "Sweet Child O Mine". After doing Aerosmith in the auditions, this does give a sense as to her musical preference, and her distinctive Cyndi Lauper-esque voice is on full display here. Her asides to the crowd and apparent sense of humour seem to come so easily to her also, which is great to see. Has she thought about getting into a band? Unfortunately, I can't embed Lori's round #1 video here, as Facebook content-matched the karaoke cover of "Sweet Child O Mine" used here, but give it a look at the link above! It's not my place to in-depth critique every aspect of the performers when many aren't established musicians already, but Darren, Mike, and Valerie offer kind and constructive criticism of each at the end.

Of course, most round #1 performers would return the following week, so you know that there's a lot of talent on display, which is readily obvious when you watch these videos. Plus, this is just the first half of The Soo's Got Talent III, so check out the opening round so far linked above, and we'll be back with the second half next week! Thanks everyone!

The Soo's Got Talent At Bon Soo, An Inactive Band Note, And Much More!!

Here's a new news post to check out on this Tuesday night, and it includes some assorted shorter notes, a surprising band dissolution, and leading off, here is lots of fallout from a recent young artist showcase!

As you may recall, this year's Bon Soo Winter Carnival kicked off this past Friday at The Machine Shop, with finalists from last year's Soo's Got Talent competition performing before the fireworks, and we have fallout from that to touch on here! Five of last year's seven finalists hit the big stage, and both SooToday's Darren Taylor and SaultOnline's Megan Pounder were on hand to take photos of the performers, so click on each website's link to see their pictures! Darren only posted seven pictures from this concert, including 2 each of The Apocalypse Afterparty and Adrian Sullivan, while Megan uploaded eight pictures, albeit omitting The Dancing Diva. Keep the above notes in mind, but they are all solid! SaultOnline's YouTube channel also posted this 27 minute video featuring the opening song each from all 5 acts, though it curiously calls them "the final five" from The Soo's Got Talent, despite the absence of fourth place finisher Coulson Perri. Maybe that refers to the 5 finalists who were able to perform?

The first act performing here was local rap/metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty in their 2020 debut, and their first show since their advertised temporary bassist search in December to fill in for the absent Alice Rose. The bassist was unveiled at Bon Soo, and while he does look familiar, I don't have his name off hand. The A.A. are seen here playing their original song about being on an island, and it's a lively rendition that shows why they turned heads last fall! The other performances (in order) include reigning Soo's Got Talent champion (and Uncanny Valley frontman) Adrian Sullivan playing his song "Something To Believe In", runner-up Juliana Regan covering Melody Gardot's "Your Heart Is As Black As Night", Killabeatz delivering a trademark beatbox performance, and 1/3rd of The Dancing Divas (no word on where the other girls are) covering Katy Perry's "California Gurls" with edited lyrics to reflect our northern locale. Note the on-stage branding for The Soo's Got Talent 2020, though formal details on year #3 are to be announced.

Everyone performs well and showed why they deserved their deep runs into this competition last year, though things did seem a little rushed in the back half, and much like in the actual competition, everyone was capped at two songs or less (even the video is structured identically to what aired on ONNtv.) Give everything a look below, and watch for details on T.S.G.T. 3!



Next up, I have a surprising band to delete from our active band links, that being local Tool tribute band Parabol, whose Facebook (and only online) page was quietly taken down at some point in the past month. A reason for the band's apparent demise was not announced, but they had not issued a public statement of consequence or played live since their headlining concert at Soo Blaster in October. Despite that, their year-long run (kickstarted at J.D. Pearce's annual Halloween party in 2018) went above and beyond the life-span and activity level of most locally-originated tribute bands, which saw them headline a number of notable local concerts, as well as perform at the Shelby Kerns benefit show last June. I have no idea what happened to Parabol, but they had an extremely talented lineup who could tackle Tool classics with ease, and they were always welcomed on stage. Best of luck to John, Steve, Al, and Anthony in the future!

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

• In their first updates since November, local extreme metal solo project Awokest revealed on their Facebook page today that their new album is "halfway done", while also sharing a cryptic Facebook event page for an apparent Sudbury event in May called "The Secret Rites of Stray Dogs & Raccoon Gods". Is that a concert, or is it to mark an album release of the same name? Will this be a proper paid album, or a free posting a'la the 12 EPs of Christmas? Stay tuned!
• The Music City Sault Ste. Marie organization launched their own Facebook page last fall, as part of their efforts to encourage further musical development and promotion locally. The page has mostly devoted it's activity since to sharing links to news articles on local musicians  and upcoming concerts, but hopefully this is just the next step for their lofty goals! Become a fan above, and Music City SSM is now in our "Other Local Metal Links"!
• Local record/book/skate/etc. store The Rad Zone closed it's doors at The Wellington Square Mall on January 28th, following two months of close-out sales in advance of their move to the former Foch Cleaners at 721 Queen Street East. That said, their Facebook page has revealed that the store will re-open there on Friday, February 14th, so circle that date on your calendars to you can check out the new digs! I know I'm excited to see how things look there!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and weekend concert previews on the site shortly! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (Acoustic Heartstrings), The Tripod The Dog Concert Preview, And More!!

As promised, we'll wrap up this weekend's hard rock concert previews today with one more Saturday nighter, but to fill things out, I've cobbled together some more stories to make this a full news post, including some assorted shorter topics, a new cover video, and leading off, a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT!

A special all-unplugged Valentine's Day concert at Room 21 will go down on Friday, February 14th featuring some familiar faces! The event is entitled "Acoustic Heartstrings", and despite the private Facebook event page, this is absolutely a public concert. Three bands will rock the stage with acoustic sets, including alternative/punk trio Handsome Sandwich, who should adapt their diverse and amusing sound well in this setting, so don't miss Johnny, Jesse, and James then! Also, this night will see the live debut of new local acoustic cover band Big Mistake, whose lineup features ex-Re:Born singer Robert Nevitt, Jack Spades guitarist Daniel Horton, guitarist Rick Atkins (who played with Robert at The Soo's Got Talent in 2018), and singer Taylor Emlaw (who guested on a couple of songs from Daniel's old band Haggith.) As best as I can gather from online postings and teasers, Big Mistake will be much softer in tone compared to Robert & Daniel's past local band work.

A third act is to be announced, which appears to involve Daniel's long-time musical colleague Curtis McKenzie, based on a comment on the event page, while their Project 421/Eclipse bandmate Chris Thompson and fellow Haggith alum Caleb Cachagee are also credited as event hosts. Is a new/relaunched band from these artists playing too, or are we being thrown a curveball? This 19+ concert has a $5 cover charge, and doors open at 9:00 PM. Very unique concert that will set the mood well for Valentine's Day celebrants, so visit the above links for more details, and stay tuned for updates!

Next up, here's our last known local hard rock concert preview for this weekend, as veteran ska punk/hard rock trio Tripod The Dog will return to The Rockstar Bar for one night only TONIGHT! Allegedly "back by popular demand", this show will be the first for Mark Oliverio, and John & Jonny Amendola since playing a full weekend at the same venue four weeks ago. 2019 was a good year for Tripod the Dog in their return to the live scene, and hopefully tonight's concert is another smash hit as they enter this new decade! This 19+ concert has no cover charge and a 9:00 PM start time, as usual. It's always good to see Tripod the Dog back at it, so visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and for a preview, here's their song from "Local Steel"! We await videos (and a newly updated online page), which would help keep our coverage up to date.



Also today, here's a new video from ex-Sense of Truth/Skeyes of Seven frontman Cory Murchison's YouTube channel last week, and it's a cover of.... Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself?! The surprise rendition was compiled for a friend as a birthday present, and the video is humorous in tone, featuring appearances from his fiancee Shelby Kerns (of the benefit concert in June), their daughter Lyric, and their dog Mayan. This isn't the first time that Cory has featured his family so heavily in a YouTube song upload, and while I'm not high on the original song, his well-done cover has a pleasant honesty and appeal in it's own right. Give it a look 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:

• Local beatboxer Robert "Killabeatz" Drolet has been added to next week's Bon Soo opening night concert at The Machine Shop, joining four other Soo's Got Talent finalists on the bill (The Apocalypse Afterparty among them), as per the official Facebook event page. Fitting addition given the theme, so don't miss him there on Friday night! However, note that the previously announced Lock Cities Chorus of The Sweet Adelines are not advertised there.
• Mustang Sally guitarist Mikhal Muto (the son of Issues/Band Camp Rejects alum Michael Muto) is looking for a singer and drummer for a punk/metal band he's currently working on. Guitars and bass are already filled, an age range of 14-19 is specified, and they cover bands like The Foo Fighters, Green Day, and Megadeth, among others, while also incorporating original songs. If you're interested in trying out, message Mikhal at this link or via his Musicians Wanted Facebook group post from January 12th!
• This will be old news if you saw them live last year, but local punk trio Redundant have finally confirmed online that Andrew MacDonald is their new bassist, replacing James White. The reveal was made on their biography for their upcoming Bout at the Hideout set in Toronto in March. Andrew is an extremely logical choice, given that he and his new bandmates were all in Fitswitch at one point, while he was also a bandmate of Justin's in their immediate predecessors The Scary Uncles, so things should continue to work out fine!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile on the site tomorrow! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERT (The Apocalypse Afterparty), Punk Rock Xmas Preview, And More!!

Before we get this month's YouTube Channel Profile on the site, let's wrap up this weekend's concert previews, with a LOCAL CONCERT ALERT, a solo project's new updates, and some local news articles to round things out. Just as a heads-up, our New Year's Eve concert previews will hit the site on Sunday or Monday. Now, here's what you should know!

Local party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty will play their first public show of 2020 on Friday, January 31st when they join other competitors in this year's The Soo's Got Talent competition at The Machine Shop to help kick off the Bon Soo Winter Carnival! Quietly announced via this image on relevant Facebook pages on Sunday, this special concert will not take place on the official opening night (which is on February 1st), but this will be a fine appetizer before all of the action fully begins. Four of this year's finalists will take the stage, including all three podium finishers, they being singer/guitarist Adrian Sullivan, vocalist Juliana Regan, and The A.A. themselves, while fellow finalists The Dancing Divas will get their own encore on this night too. While not credited in the image, a comment from The Soo's Got Talent's own Facebook page indicates that the women's vocal group The Lock Cities Chorus of the Sweet Adelines will also perform on the 31st.

They weren't in the competition, but they are a talented veteran ensemble! Note as well that The Apocalypse Afterparty did launch a search via the Musicians Wanted Facebook group earlier this month to find a temporary fill-in for either Paul or Alice (the member wasn't specified) on bass due to apparent health problems. I have no idea if they found a replacement yet, let alone if they'd still be needed by January 31st, but message the band above if you want more details! A start time and cover charge are to be confirmed, but I assume this will be all ages. Visit the above links for more details on this talented musician showcase as they roll in!

Next up, here's this weekend's last remaining hard rock or (in this case) punk concert preview, as online page-less punk quartet The Cover-Up will return to the stage TOMORROW NIGHT when they headline the "Punk Rock Xmas" show at LopLops Lounge! Last seen at this venue a year ago, this will be this supergroup's first show anywhere since Go Skate Day, and it sees them take on the moniker You First & The Givee Givees for the night. I still hope that's a temporary name to reflect the punk covers theme tomorrow, but regardless, the music will be top notch for genre fans! New local punk cover quartet The Sick Sons will play their second LopLops date of the holidays with an opening set here, and with their own stacked lineup of prominent local punk musicians, you know they'll set the tone nicely! A $7 cover is in effect for this 19+ show, which has a 10:00 PM start time. Visit the official Facebook event page for more details, and here's The (former?) Cover-Up live!



Also today, here's the latest (and admittedly overdue) updates from local extreme metal solo project Awokest, who have largely taken a public back seat to project leader Chase Wigmore's eponymous music in recent months, but what's new under this name? Well, in late July, Chase said that he was planning to include Awokest material in an unidentified 7 inch vinyl split release, though as the image reveals, his contribution was way longer than the alotted space. We haven't heard any public follow-through on that since, but on October 17th, Awokest released a free "album" to their label Blood Shed Productions' YouTube channel, entitled "With Focused Psychosis I Wrote This". The 80 minute collection of songs does not feature any credited song names or a track order, but this 4:27 preview video from August features the first two songs, and his half hour long track "Anima Sola" is on the final product. The music on offer has a heavy dose of death metal, techno influences, samples, and noise rock, so fans of Chase's heavier output will be right at home. Give the free album a listen below!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items, all related to recent SooToday articles with an SMS relevance to the topics, which are all courtesy of newer contributor and veteran local musician Chris Belsito. As usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or business name:

• Cover-Up/Rising Tide frontman Dustin Jones is featured in this new article (posted yesterday), which heavily focuses on his personal struggles and rehabilitation in recent years, with the musical talk largely revolving around his Toronto punk supergroup The Conspirators, who have a new album nearing a release. Very informative look at Dustin's life and evolution as of late, so definitely give it a look above, and give The Conspirators a listen too!
• Last month, Chris also spotlighted local concert promoter Elise Nelson of Girl Friday Productions for this article on her work putting on shows and what she's done in the community in the late 2010s. Girl Friday have put on a handful of shows featuring SMS-covered acts, including this year's B.A. Johnston show and prior concerts headlined by Dany Laj & The Looks, FYI. Elise is doing great work locally, and the article is effective at outlining all of the relevant bullet points, so check it out above as well!
• In October, Chris posted this article about the local music store Mister Disc and the popular Facebook group it spawned, which features reminiscences by store/group owner Todd Gordon about his time as a local business owner and music aficionado, which carried into the group, which Todd has expanded far beyond a meeting place for store regulars into a group where music fans can interact and discuss the music they love. The Mister Disc group is a great spot to hear new songs and meet like-minded fans in a safe space, so give it and Chris' article a look above!

That's all for now, but stay tuned for this month's YouTube Channel Profile on the site next! Thanks everyone!

Theatre Of Night & Soo's Got Talent Videos, Mike McCleary Updates, And More!!

Before we begin this post, I have to apologize for missing a concert to cover on here, as Sault Michigan classic/hard rock cover quintet Highway 63 played at The Brickyard Bar & Grill in nearby Rudyard this past Friday for that venue's Halloween party. This event was only announced earlier that same day on Highway 63's Facebook page, which left us little time to cover it, but it had a week's notice on the venue's Facebook page. Alas, we've missed previewing the last three Highway 63 concerts on here, which I profusely apologize for, but there wasn't much I could have done about Friday's show. That said, you may already be familiar with The Brickyard, as it was previously known as Dan's Place, and occasionally hosted hard rock concerts through at least 2014. The 18794 South Tilson Road nightclub relaunched under it's new name in June, and has hosted occasional live music since at least July. It's good to see Dan's is back up and running with a new identity, and hopefully there's more live music to come at this Rudyard favourite!

Now, today's news post otherwise looks at some new video postings from the last while, and some long awaited updates from a prolific local solo musician, so here's what you should know! We'll stay in Michigan's Eastern Upper Peninsula to start, via local classical metal band Theatre of Night's last un-addressed videos shared to their Facebook group in the lead-up to their third Christmas tour, which began tonight in Jackson. Best of luck to everyone in the kick-off show, hopefully it's a huge hit! One video from October 13th is of keyboardist Craig Harrison recording at the computer once again, this time tracking choir and string parts for their studio tracks for the tour. Short but a nice teaser to their more orchestral and grandiose elements! Embedded below is this video of Steve, Scott, and Erik jamming a cover of Black Sabbath's "Symptom of the Universe", wnich may not be seasonal, but it showcases the guys having fun and tackling a metal classic, so give it a look below!



Also today, remember how I mentioned that Miranda Siegrist's YouTube channel feature more Soo's Got Talent footage that we didn't know about, including of third place finishing Sault Ontario party metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty? Well, let's tackle those here! Miranda posted four videos from the finals at Soo Blaster on October 11th, both of songs not featured in SaultOnline's full video of the final round. Finalist Coulson Perri's hair and clothing line up in both videos, especially as he shed his jacket and tie during "Hungry Like The Wolf", hence my certainty of the date. Perhaps these were bonus performances after the judges' verdict? One is of Coulson covering Frank Sinatra's "My Way", and the other is of folk singer/guitarist Colin Gasparelli (who was eliminated in the semifinal round) playing an original song with drum accompaniment from Apocalypse Afterparty frontman Paul Stanghetta.  Both are solidly done for genre fans, so give them a look above!

As for The A.A.'s videos proper, they are of their songs from the actual final round competition, namely their cover of R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", and as embedded below, their own original song "Island." Filmed from a distant camera angle in the crowd, the solid audio quality salvages the perspective, and while the SaultOnline/ONNtv footage of each song (linked here & here) is obviously higher quality, I'd never complain about an alternate angle from a fan like this. Give these videos a look above and below!



Finally for today, here's the latest from local solo hard rock musician Mike McCleary, who is back at (public) work on his own music! As you may know, Mike took a hiatus from most social media accounts in mid-late 2019 while his wife Sara ran in the local MP elections, but he reactivated his Facebook page in August and expressed a hope to "return to normal" last month. In August, he revealed that he is in the process of re-recording and revising some of his old original songs, including material that he previously took down (perhaps meaning "The Party Album" & "Propaganda Model".) To that end, he has posted nine new tracks onto his Soundcloud page in the past 3 months, including a new instrumental named "Cyclone", a remake of his 2018 album track "End of Days", and a number of new versions of songs from "Weight of the Truth." However, we haven't heard any updates from his camp since October 22nd, so time will tell what he has up his sleeves next.

Mike's a solid musician who's used his solo platform to express political and mental health beliefs to good effect, even if some of the opinions may be somewhat polarizing, so it'll be interesting to see what form the new versions of these songs take. Luckily, the songs he's re-posted so far retain his musical gifts, but will his existing albums be formally re-released or edited to reflect the new versions and perhaps additions/removals therein? Follow along at the above links to find out, and stay tuned for more news and updates on the site this week! Thanks everyone!

The Soo's Got Talent Finals Results & Video!!

Before we preview tomorrow's Black Mastiff concert and cover some more recent updates, here's our long awaited fallout/results post from the finale of a major local entertainment competition (and ARCH fundraiser) that wrapped up over a week ago, so here's what you should know!

After four weeks of exciting performances, the second annual Soo's Got Talent competition ended at Soo Blaster on Friday, October 11th, with singer/guitarist Adrian Sullivan being named as the winner! Apologies for the delay, we were waiting for video from the finals to turn up online before making a full wrte-up. As outlined in this SooToday article by Darren Taylor, Adrian narrowly edged out vocalist Juliana Regan for the top spot, as determined by judges Darren Robertson, Mike Severin, Lesley Walsh Tibben, and guest Tim Murphy. Adrian picked up $1,000 for the top prize, and judges actually announced everyone's final ranking publically, including a strong third place showing for resurgent rap/metal trio The Apocalypse Afterparty, which is supremely encouraging given their long layoff and outlier status! Their finish was better than at the VM Radio Battle finals run in 2015, if you want to compare the events.

Also, kudos to Coulson Perri (a wild card finalist, mind you) placing in fourth! Adrian is briefly interviewed in the above article (which includes photos of all seven finalist acts), where he notes that he has solo music on Soundcloud, he's currently in an up & coming local band named The Uncanny Valley, and he is primarily inspired by classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin & The Who. We didn't see Adrian tackle any heavier bands in his covers during The Soo's Got Talent, but he is a very talented musician with a bright future ahead of him, and it'll be very interesting to see what he has in store down the line! As for the final round video, SaultOnline and ONNtv outdid themselves to cover the last round, as partly due to each finalist playing two songs, the last episode runs for over two and a half hours! As aired on ONNtv on Wednesday and posted on their YouTube channel on Friday, what all can you see in the final round?

The video starts with Tim Murphy covering "This Is The Moment" from the Jekyll & Hyde musical,  before moving into the finalists, who are each starting with a song picked by the judges. Robert "Killabeatz" Drolet (5th place) opens with an interpolation of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", which includes pre-recorded vocals of his and live beatboxing. Interesting approach, and he worked with what he was given, but I think his regular repertoire suits him better. Other "judges pick" covers include Bethany Pelletier LeBeouf (7th place) singing Alessia Cara's "Scars To Your Beautiful" & The Dancing Divas (6th place) performing Jessie J's "Price Tag", followed by the impeccably dressed Apocalypse Afterparty covering R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", and the rapid fire vocals and lyrical content suits their sound really well! Coulson Perri is next singing Alice Cooper's "Only Women Bleed", and he plays the part nicely, complete with Alice-esque costuming and makeup!

Juliana Regan is next doing Sinead O'Connor's version of "Nothing Compares 2 U", with Adrian Sullivan rounding out the first half by covering George Michael's "Faith". In between halves, the "surprise celebrity tribute artist" was actually local Elvis Presley impersonator Jimmy Fiore covering "Burning Love" & "Can't Help Falling In Love". I'm not a big Elvis fan, so judge for yourselves how he compares! The second half performance order is identical to the first, and it features Killabeatz doing a parody of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin leading into a beatboxing performance, Bethany covering Sarah MacLachlan's "Angel", and The Dancing Divas covering Wilson Phillips' "Hold On", before The Apocalypse Afterparty played a laid back yet hard-edged original song that suits their approach! We also get Coulson (sans makeup) covering Duran Duran's "Hungry Like The Wolf" and Juliana tackling Postmodern Jukebox's jazz cover of The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army".

Adrian closed the competition with his own original song "Something To Believe In", before 2018 Soo's Got Talent winner Daniella Brewer returned to update everyone on what she's done in the past year, and to sing her cover of Lewis Capaldi's "Bruises". Afterwards, we got an unadvertised guest song from the rapper who performed with Killabeatz in earlier rounds, accompanied by Apocalypse Afterparty frontman Paul Stanghetta on drums. The video ends with the judges announcing the winners and their closing remarks. I will say, the video proper started going out of sync with the audio track after a while, but there's a lot to take in here, hence why this post is only devoted to the finals. A lot of promising young talent took the stage for year #2 of The Soo's Got Talent, and it will be very interesting to see how everyone's careers progress as a result, but congratulations again to Adrian on his big win, and be sure to watch the video below and the above links for much more from this event!



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