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Winnipeg Free Press
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Taking a shot
Romi Mayes wants to make live music an on-demand experience. Last month, the Winnipeg blues artist, event producer and booking agent launched Sure Shot Bookings, an online platform to help connect the public with musicians-for-hire across the country. 'It's kind of like SkipTheDishes, but for music,' Mayes says. SUPPLIED JD Edwards is one of the local musicians on the Sure Shot roster. Named after the Beastie Boys classic of the same name, Sure Shot currently has a roster of about 150 artists working in Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Customers looking to book an act for a public, private or corporate event can submit a request and Mayes — currently the company's sole employee — will get to work liaising with the musician or band. 'For any event there is, live music is an enhancement. You choose who you want, when you want it and I try to facilitate that,' she says. Mayes is a Juno-nominated, Western Canadian Music Award-winning singer-songwriter who released her seventh studio album, Small Victories, last year. Event planning and logistics have always been part of her decades-long music career. 'Even as a teenager I was doing things, putting on talent shows, volunteering to help out at the synagogue. I didn't realize it was going to be such an important skill set that was also going to be my passion,' she says. When Mayes became a professional musician, she hosted local songwriter events, booked tours for other artists and co-ordinated outdoor concerts during the pandemic. She's been nominated several times for agent of the year by the Canadian Live Music Association. Sure Shot is the culmination of that experience and an attempt to create more industry opportunities. 'The goal is to bring live music to music lovers and to add work for fellow musicians. I see how hard it is to get work, to maintain work as an independent Canadian musician without really being able to expand into the U.S. anymore,' Mayes said. Beyond the current political climate down south, getting a work visa to perform in the United States is a long and expensive process and the dollar discrepancy can cut into profits made on the road. 'I'm hoping to get some more work out of it,' says JD Edwards, one of the Manitoba musicians on Sure Shot's roster. 'I'm not doing as much international touring as I have in the past, but I do like to stay connected with my community and I still love to perform. SUPPLIED Winnipeg musician and booking agent Romi Mayes has launched her own cross-country live music platform. 'I think any help artists can get to get gigs is gonna be good.' Mayes has tried to enlist artists from a range of backgrounds and genres. Other locals include Mitchell Makoons, Bobby Dove, Joe Curtis, Amber Epp, Rodrigo Muñoz, Sol James and the Sturgeons. Edwards is also looking forward to playing for audiences outside of his usual stomping grounds. Every Second Friday The latest on food and drink in Winnipeg and beyond from arts writers Ben Sigurdson and Eva Wasney. 'People might not necessarily come out to the Times Change(d), they might not go out to other venues to see artists, so this will give more exposure,' he says. One such venue is the Bar Italia patio, where Edwards will be among several Sure Shot musicians performing in a new summer concert series beginning this weekend and running every Sunday from 6 to 8 p.m. until July 13. Sure Shot offers 45- or 60-minute performance slots for virtually every kind of event — birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, yard parties, corporate functions, community events and cultural holidays. Bookings include liability insurance and rates are discounted for non-profit organizations. The musicians supply their own sound equipment. Visit for more information. Eva WasneyReporter Eva Wasney has been a reporter with the Free Press Arts & Life department since 2019. Read more about Eva. Every piece of reporting Eva produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Boston Globe
08-04-2025
- Boston Globe
Alleged drunk driver in fatal South Boston crashed held on $100,000 bail
Romero wore a blue hooded sweatshirt as he stood in the dock listening to a Spanish translation of the proceedings on earphones. He occasionally shut his eyes as Assistant District Attorney Lynn Feigenbaum recited a brief statement of facts. Advertisement Around 9:20 a.m. on Jan. 12, Romero was driving on Southampton Street toward Dorchester Avenue, Feigenbaum said. He approached that intersection traveling 'at a high rate of speed' and 'veered across the double yellow [line] into the wrong side of the road,' Feigenbaum said. At that time, Noah Greany was 'walking home from Dunkin' Donuts across Southampton Street and was fatally struck by Mr. Romero,' Feigenbaum said. 'After striking Mr. Greany, the car driven by Mr. Romero crashed into the Small Victories restaurant located at 400 Dorchester Avenue.' Greany was taken to Boston Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead. Romero and his passenger were both taken to Tufts Medical Center. 'Mr. Romero was interviewed at the hospital, where he stated that while he was heading to work, he felt the car was giving gas on its own,' Feigenbaum said. 'He was asked if he had been drinking any alcohol or had any drugs, and he stated no, [shaking] his head in the negative.' Advertisement She said security video showed the vehicle initially heading toward Andrew Square at a proper rate of speed and in the correct lane. But then the car 'appears to accelerate through the intersection towards Andrew Square ... The motor vehicle strikes Mr. Greany with the front passenger side corner, throwing him into the intersection.' Romero's blood was drawn at the hospital with an alcohol level calculated at between .091 and .096, Feigenbaum said. The legal limit is .08. Feigenbaum said Romero has no previous convictions but was charged in 2019 with negligent use of a motor vehicle. That case was continued without a finding. Romero's lawyer, Virgen M. Palermo, requested that bail be set at a couple of thousand dollars, saying that $100,000 is 'too much' for her client. She said Romero has worked the same job at a seafood facility in South Boston for decades and lives with his romantic partner and their six children, two from her prior relationships. The couple has 5-year-old twins, and Romero was dropping his partner off at her restaurant job at the time of the crash, according to Palermo, who said her client voluntarily turned himself in to authorities. 'They were ... in the car talking about Chuck E. Cheese for the birthday for the twins when all of this stuff happens,' Palermo said. 'It appears that the car is going fine ... and then all of a sudden it doesn't, and that I think is consistent with something wrong' with the vehicle itself. Advertisement Palermo said Romero bought the used car for $2,500 and repeatedly brought it back to the seller for repairs. She said he indicated that the night before the crash, he drank about five beers and perhaps a glass of wine while he was cooking with his partner. 'So there are two questions here that need to be examined,' Palermo said. 'One is whether, what is the rate of metabolism of alcohol that he's drinking the night before, and it still shows up in the blood in his system, the question is to what extent that was affecting ... his ability to drive carefully.' And, she said, 'what is the condition of this car that he is in?' Greany's mother, Marie Lambalot Greany, said shortly after her son's death that he 'had so much left to give this world.' Greany grew up in Mattapoisett with his parents and younger sister, Grace. He went to high school at Tabor Academy in Marion. A high academic achiever, Greany set his mind to attending Northeastern University. He excelled there, receiving a bachelor's degree in cellular and molecular biology in 2021, followed by a master's degree in bioinformatics enterprise in 2022. He worked at the time of his death at Hayden Consulting Group, a Boston-based health care consulting firm. 'He was doing what he loved, researching and trying to make the world better,' his mother said. 'We had this family saying that with his brains and everything about him, he was meant to do great things in this world.' Advertisement At the time of the crash, Greany had left his girlfriend's home and was walking a few blocks to his apartment, where he planned to watch soccer with some friends, his mother said. He stopped at a coffee shop and was talking with a childhood friend about an upcoming soccer game, she said. When he didn't return home, his friends became concerned. After they saw a social media post about a car crash in Andrew Square, they checked his location app. His phone was in the same spot as the crash, his mother said. 'He didn't suffer,' his mother said. 'That's all we could have hoped for." She recalled that when her sometimes distracted son went to Northeastern, she and her husband worried about him crossing the Green Line tracks that run by the campus. 'You know, smart kids with no common sense? My husband and I, our nightmare was that he was going to cross those train tracks and not look. But he survived his years at Northeastern,' she said. 'It was just some freak accident on a Sunday that he died that way. Our worst nightmare. Crossing the street in Boston. In a crosswalk. Like we taught him." Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report. Travis Andersen can be reached at
