Jon, Roy, and Alyssa?

By Eric Scharf

scha0120@algonquincollege.com

It was tough to find a seat at The Observatory Wednesday Oct. 22, as Jon and Roy took to the stage.

The British Columbia’s ensemble, who have toured with the likes of Buck 65, delivered a smooth laid back set to more than 50 people. 

“Hip-hop is a big influence of mine, I love Mos Deep,” said singer and guitarist Jon Middleton.  “But also pretty much anything good defined by me.”

The crowd was delighted by the band’s mix of hip-hop lyrics flowing through reggae beats with folk roots.

“They are a great band and make awesome music,” said Kyle Ostman a third-year business and finance student at Algonquin.

Jon and Roy played for almost two full hours, performing mostly their own music.  But near the half-way point of the concert, Middleton dedicated a Mason Jennings’ cover to Ken Macleod, the events programmer of the Algonquin Students' Association.

“This is where we have gotten the best hospitality of the entire tour,” said bass player Ryan Tonelli in an interview before the show.  “We were treated with five stars of luxury.”

The band is currently on a cross-Canada tour and are receiving some support from the government, but are worried about the damage the Conservative Party’s arts cuts will have.

“This tour we got support from the government,” said drummer and percussionist Roy Vizer.  “But a lot of bands will struggle now; this is a big country and it is really hard to go on with no support.  The Conservatives are hurting the music scene.”

Jon and Roy will be back at The Observatory on Feb. 11, 2009.

Alyssa Munaretto, from Sudbury Ontario, played before Jon and Roy and the crowd loved it.  She had the audience clapping and singing along to her beautiful voice as she sang very emotional songs.

“It was a lot of fun I have never played with a band before,” said Munaretto.

During her set, Munaretto announced “I have a pair of Sens’ tickets to give away to the best dancer.”

Only four people got up to dance, but they did it with much enthusiasm and in very comedic ways.  Jessica Borutski, an Algonquin animation graduate, went as far a sliding around on her knees.

It paid off.  Borustky won the tickets. “I won these for my dad’s birthday,” said Borustki.  “I normally wouldn’t do that because I hate hockey, but I love him.”

As Munaretto’s set winded to an end, the crowd started screaming for an encore.  A large smile appeared on Munaretto.  “Wow thanks guys,” she said from the stage.  “We did not practice any more songs so I guess I’ll play this one alone.”

She launched into “Waiting”, a song she had only written a month ago to finish her set.