Windsor Musicians Rise to the Occasion for Television Program

Windsor’s Bigpappanutt digs deep into his emotions for a song at the RiseUp TV filming at Rockstar Music Hall on Monday.

Windsor talent rose to the occasion at Rockstar Music Hall last night. A touring television production called RiseUp TV was in town filming a Windsor-themed episode for a new music-based program. They selected 13 local artists to perform for the cameras to accompany a select group of touring bands and singers.

Our local #YQG entertainers brought the house down – a hard thing to do on a Monday night. Acts included young solo singers Madelyn Stein, Malia Afonso and Ava May, solo acts Melissa Scott, Ritt Theme and Bigpoppanutt; as well as full bands like The Rick Labonté Band, Dead River Kings, Kildare Trio, Disaster Strike, Ignore the Evidence, The Feedbacks and Löve Razër. Several of the local musicians had the opportunity to perform original music from new CDs and EPs, including Bigpoppanutt, Love Razer and Ignore The Evidence, among others.

It was a night where local music became international, sharing the same stage, lights and sound as touring acts from around the world. One touring act, the incredible hard rockers Maplerun, came all the way from Athens, Greece to rock the crowd, while artists like BC’s Tiffany Desrosiers captivated everyone with her huge voice.

Television host and Illusionist Roger Boucher did his best to entertain between set changes, but after more than four hours of amusing the crowd with funny jokes, feats of magic and sleight of hand tricks, he realized the show was being streamed live on the Internet and broke down in tears when he thought of his family back home in Saskatchewan. Boucher was a great host and gave the show a friendly Saskatchewan vibe while keeping it moving along at a brisk pace.

With more than 20 different bands and solo musicians performing throughout the night, the gang at Rockstar should be commended for keeping the show moving on time. Set changes were quick and each artist was mixed properly. It was one of the few shows I’ve ever witnessed where there were no mixing problems for any of the bands, especially with so many changeovers – everyone was given the same big and bold production, without feedback, mic or amp problems during any of the performances.

Windsor is quickly becoming the go-to city for arts and entertainment and if this RiseUp TV filming was any indication, those television editors are going to have a hard time fitting all that talent into a single episode.

For more on RiseUp TV, visit their Facebook page and for more on these great local artists, please visit the links we’ve selected for each of them:

Madelyn Stein
Malia Afonso
Ava May
Melissa Scott
Ritt Theme
Bigpoppanutt
Rick Labonté
Dead River Kings
Kildare Trio
Disaster Strike
Ignore the Evidence
The Feedbacks
Löve Razër