Rankin Inlet rocks with Elvis, Rolling Stones and throat singing
Jammin’ on the Bay music festival returns after 23 years
Left to right: Alan Montsion as Neil Young, Craig Wallace as Keith Richards from The Rolling Stones and Corny Rempel as Elvis Presley. They all flew on the same flight from Winnipeg to Rankin Inlet on Aug. 3 and were performing at the Jammin’ on the Bay Tribute Fest in different roles all weekend. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
Ozzy Osbourne, John Lennon and Elvis Presley were flying on the same plane.
What could have been a good start for a bad joke was reality on Aug. 2 in Rankin Inlet.
Well, almost.
The Jammin’ on the Bay music festival returned to the Kivalliq hamlet after 23 years last week, running from Aug. 2 to 5.
The event kicked off at the Agnico Eagle Arena with tributes to classic rock bands like AC/DC and KISS along with a British heavy metal tribute to “Prince of Darkness” Ozzy Osbourne, who performed alongside a death-like figure decked out with black fingernails carrying a giant shiny cross on the stage.
There was also a tribute performance to a band whose members once proclaimed they were more popular than Jesus.
“I once welcomed Queen Elizabeth,” said Lorne Kusugak, MLA for Rankin Inlet South, at the opening ceremony of the festival. “I never thought I would welcome the Beatles.”
Lorne Kusugak, left, MLA from Rankin Inlet South, and Al Simmons, the host of the festival, take the stage during the opening ceremony of the Jammin’ on the Bay tribute fest on Aug. 2 in Rankin Inlet (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
But it all started with a prayer, which former Rankin Inlet mayor Levinia Brown read out in Inuktitut.
“I’m proud of who I am. Everybody here should be proud as well,” she concluded.
The festival spanned the long weekend with 25 performances by southern tribute bands, along with Inuit performers and throat singing. The event was hosted by a famed children’s entertainer Al Simmons.
“They sound almost exactly the same,” Simmons often said between the performances of the tribute bands. “But some of them look a bit older than the original.”
Some performers transformed into different tribute characters during the weekend.
For instance, Winnipeg band Free Ride put on a Liverpool accent and did their Beatles performance on Aug. 3. The next day, they were the Rolling Stones.
“Where else can you see all that in one festival?” said Corny Rempel, who was Johnny Cash on Aug. 3 and Elvis on Aug 4.
About 200 people attended the festival each day. The crowd was a little quiet at first, but soon started dancing to Cash’s Ring of Fire and singing along with Elvis’s rendition of Unchained Melody. Some ran up to Rempel to receive an Elvis-like kiss on the cheek.
The concert took up about half of the hockey arena. The other half was used as space for the kids to run around and enjoy the festival in their own way.
Jim Ramsay, left, and Ashleigh Still, right, are the main organizers of the Jammin’ on the Bay tribute festival in Rankin Inlet. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
There was also a free event at the Community Culture and Recreation Hall on Aug. 3 with bouncy castles, mascots and close to 700 free hot dogs.
This was the second Jammin’ on the Bay festival in Rankin Inlet. The first one was in 2001.
Both were organized by the Ramsay family who own Arctic Connections, which provides shipments all across the North and also runs several convenience stores.
“I think it was a success,” said Ashleigh Still, the daughter of Jim Ramsay and one of the main faces behind this festival.
“The best part was people up in the audience dancing and having a good time. Everyone coming together.”
Most of the performers flew home on Monday evening. This time, they were dressed like themselves. They might come back one day when there is another Jammin’ on the Bay fest — and there will certainly be another one at some point, Still said.
Winnipeg band Free Ride performs a tribute to the Beatles on Aug. 3 in Rankin Inlet. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
It was a Great weekend with the ALL the performers in Rankin Inlet!
Biggest Thank You! to the organizers’!
I enjoyed Jammin on the Bay Tribute Festival. My family and I made the trip to Rankin Inlet from Arviat to attend this well organized Festival. I enjoyed the Tribute Bands and also the Up-coming Inuit artist such as Gustin Adjun, Calvin Pameolik, Joey & Denise Nauyuk, Agaaqtuq and the amazing throat singers Iva & Alexia. This was a very well organized concert each day. Hat’s off to the Ramsay Family for organizing this.
Let me say first off, the shows where fantastic and was a lot of fun. Now the reality…. 2 points, and I’m sure everyone will get all offended but here it goes……
1. This was a “family event”, meaning everyone including kids could go, but truthfully 95% of the shows were attended by adults (18+) MOSTLY, I didn’t get my kids tickets as they weren’t overly excited to attend anyway – just like most other young people I talked too and was $200 for something that we weren’t “sure” about. This was fine for the afternoon and some performances but made it feel like a kid’s carnival with the children playing around. And as a fact most of the “kids” that attended the rock bands (ie AC/DC, Kiss, Guns & Roses) were the organizer kids and the staff relatives that didn’t have to pay anyway. This was fine for the afternoon and some performances but made it feel like a kid’s carnival with the children playing around.
2. Honestly, the show lost out because there was no beer tent (yeah yeah… waaaah waaaah), but in reality, it is true. The legion had almost as many people there, as the events and there was a lineup longer than some of the shows, cost $10 and had the same music playing on the stereo, and they didn’t have any real issues problems. (Booo the Rankin Hamlet for not allowing a license to be issued; council is sooo anti-alcohol these days, but that’s another post lol). People where just going out their vehicles or close friends houses and chugging the stash that they brought anyway between sets, and instead of controlling it, it was whatever.
***Again yeah yeah blah blah waah waah all you (10 people who yell loudest) anti alcohol people start your ranting!!
The Hamlet council keeps bending to the few instead of listening to the majority who voted them in. We WANT beer venues, bring back beer dances. You think that the organizers would have asked to get licensed if the community as a whole doesn’t want these types of avenues to socially drink? What kind of impression do you think the youth get if all they see is behind the closed door LEGAL drinking? Why is it such a shame that there are public events with controlled alcohol?
You think just because you denied the license people weren’t (like the post above says) just going out to their vehicles and having a few? And the community wonders why we don’t have events for adults only anymore. Where are the beer dances that minor Hockey would put on? Where are the Fire Department social events?
Hamlet council reduces amounts at B&W, reduces the number of social events, what’s next petition to get the legion shut down? Prohibition does not work and send the wrong message to our youth. We voted AGAINST a prohibition and that is why the B&W opened in the first place.
This event would have been twice as successful if there had been a beer venue. The bands would not have kept trying to get the crowd to get up and make some noise and dance. Probably the first event that almost everyone stayed sitting (well until Elvis gave out his scarves then all the ladies rushed the stage lol).
Go to:
https://www.nunavutnews.com/home/councillor-explains-denial-of-beer-garden-for-music-festival-7468429
You’ll see the attitude of all 11 council.
The council is NOT doing their jobs. There is a council position open right now but there are to many anti-alcohol people in right now that it would suck to be for alcohol lol.
Council STOP-IT!
Nice Rant