Thursday, June 22nd, 2023 was the day that I performed karaoke in front of my largest crowd yet (estimated to be about 300 people) at the Lions Club Bandshell, in Lameroux Park, Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. For those new to the blog I am a singer/songwriter called James Hardiment, who has been performing karaoke regularly in town now for months, to practice for my upcoming original live performances this summer 2023. The event was hosted by both the Lions Club, and Rockstar Party, which is a live entertainment company based in the city owned by Rodney Rivette, who amongst other things is also a musician as well, and a darned good one at that! It was part of the larger “Arts in the Park’ festival taking place over the coming months.
The team behind the scenes was large enough, the ones I knew from the bar karaoke scene were; Christopher Chalette, and Brittany Robinson. Not to mention the various stage hands, and also the camera man filming the event onto the projector behind us as we sang. Really cool set-up, Rodney knows how to put on a great show as usual! Brittany sang an Abba song too which was great, Chris got up too, and Rodney. I sang 2 songs, “Pop Musik” by M, followed by, “I’m in a Hurry”, by Alabama. It was a whole different experience for myself, I hadn’t performed on a big stage since my high school days, it was probably my biggest gathering to date. I was surprised at how composed I kept myself, not going to lie though, my leg did start to shake a little bit.
When the show began it was a little too bright with the sun, but by the time I performed it had set significantly which helped to see the lyrics on the screen in front of me. The audience seemed to be pleased, there was much applause, which I am grateful for, it always nice to see people happy. I really want to help support the arts in the community, and get as many people involved as I can. It’s fun to let loose and sing sometimes, takes away the pain, or sorrow that a person might feel, deep in their heart…not talking about anyone in particular, just in general of course! Rockstar Party offers a wide variety of genres to perform, and Rodney makes that extra effort to use really cool tricks to make you sound as great as possible, no auto-tune though sorry!
My friend and fellow performer Jonny Yumang took some pictures of me on stage as I sang, which I have since cleaned up in my editor program to show the people who missed the show. Check the website regularly for upcoming live shows this summer, I will be posting them soon! It will be at the top in the menu section, all goes well. There are plenty of great musicians, film screenings, etc which are coming to the park this summer, so be sure to check the Arts in the Park schedule:
https://www.cornwall.ca/en/play-here/arts-in-the-park.aspx
Don’t forget Rockstar Party will return with more Karaoke in the park soon with the Rib Fest Idol competition. Check their official page for more updates:
https://cornwallribfest.com/ribfestidol/
You can find all of us around town performing karaoke in the meantime, Rockstar Party hosts at Rendezvous Restaurant at 1213 Pitt St. Cornwall, Ontario, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 8pm-12pm or later on the weekends. Be sure to join their group on Facebook for event updates too, they also do sound for many different live acts as well.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2244363646
So if you are looking for some things to do in Cornwall this summer 2023, it looks like the events are starting to kick off, which is always my favourite time of the year. Things are open again, let’s get out there and have an amazing warm season together as a community. I’m loving the music scene here in town, I knew very little about it in all honesty, I seem to recall helping to sell merchandise for a local band called Graham Greer (I believe they are going to be at Arts in the Park this year also!) with an old high school friend called Josh back in the day as they performed one night in Ottawa, and some of my friends have had various projects, but now I’m at the bars I’m meeting more and more cool musicians. You can also check out the “Cornwall Ontario Area Musicians”, page if you are looking to meet or collaborate with fellow artists:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/187277234633703
Until I write again…
James