The Stones, A New Venture, Same As The Old Venture
By John Swartz
Calvin and Cheryl Stone have not lived in Orillia for several years, but the former owners of the Sundial Inn keep coming back; mostly to see their grandchildren. Maybe to escape the heat of Arizona summers.
They have been living in suburban Phoenix, specifically Apache Junction. The greater Phoenix area is the land of gated communities and homeowners associations (HOA). They have a home in one of those communities. There are a lot of Canadians living in the Phoenix area, mostly former prairie dwellers in the area.
Cheryl was injured at work and recovery was going slow. She found being in Arizona helped, and in the early 2012 they decided vacationing in Arizona should be turned into residing there.
“I was pretty much crippled,” Cheryl said.
Calvin said Cheryl’s recovery, the climate and finding what Cheryl said was a great physiotherapist, is remarkable. She’s back to her old self.
Calvin had been an executive for Loblaws post the Sundial, and then a consultant for other food service companies, which landed him in Chicago for two years, and then for a while in London, England (working for Mitt Romney).
“I lived 8 doors down from Buckingham Palace,” Calvin said.
Consulting work dried up with the pandemic and Calvin finally retired. But, as we’ll see that didn’t last long.
About four years ago Calvin was approached to produce a show for the HOA he lives in. He said each community has its own facilities, which could be pools, tennis courts, gyms and community halls. Some of those community halls can seat 400 or more people – and most HOA’s have one of those.
Why Calvin? The Stones owned the Sundial from 1994 to 1998. One of the things he most enjoyed about the Sundial was bringing in entertainment. He brought Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass, the Downchild Blues Band, comedians, and small scale theatrical revues to the stage in the Galaxy Room.
Setting up a one-off concert was something he could do and he brought in a tribute act. It was a success and sold out.
Then he got an Elvis tribute artist from the Maritimes, which turned into 6 shows over two weeks in 2022. In 2023 he brought the same act back and kept it busy for 3 months. Well, it was a success. So much, he was asked to do it again, and again, and other HOA’s got wind of what he was doing and soon he was booking concerts within a 100 mile radius of Phoenix.
That put him in touch with managers and booking agents who were asking him to produce concerts based on feedback from the acts they handled which Calvin had produced and promoted.
Calvin found he liked being busy again as a concert producer/promoter. He’s brought tribute acts like those performing music by Paul Simon, Chicago, Carole King and many others to the Phoenix area.
“If you don’t have friends and something to do, what do you have?” said Calvin. “Cheryl said why not get back into dinner theatre.”
So he decided to hang up the social calendar and set up CStone Show Productions. The concert business is so good, Calvin has 100 concerts booked for 2026 with 50 different acts. One of the things he said he does is pay the bands well, and he has his own sound operator who works with all the acts. He also invested in a PA so he doesn’t have to rely on whatever equipment there might be at a venue (which one can imagine the HOA venues he books don’t have very good gear).
One of the venues, specifically asked Calvin to get a band called Eagle Eyes. If you guessed they are an Eagles tribute band, go to the head of the bus. The band also covers Joe Walsh’s own tunes.
“I looked at Eagle Eyes last year and they never had as many shows as we get them,” said Calvin.
Their ticket sales were so successful, “they had to add shows.” Calvin has the band set up for 20 shows over a month in 2026.
“People come back from The Sphere in Las Vegas where they pay to see The Eagles and other great artists and say, “if The Eagles are a 10 your boys are a 9 for musicianship and harmonies.”
Through some partnerships with band managers and booking agents, Calvin sent info about the band to the folks at Casino Rama. It worked. The band is playing the casino December 13 (tickets online).
The band members all have decades of experience playing and recording with bands and projects on the West Coast. They are: Jack Gunderson on bass, Jason Dunajski on guitar (both worked together on the Canadian TV series The Froome Room), Ray Harvey on guitar (Kick Axe, and Rock and Hyde), and Kenneth Ermter on drums (Deborah Pitre). You can hear a sample of their renditions here.
Calvin said getting the Casino Rama booking might be their entry into the casino circuit. Casinos are finding the type of acts they relied on ten years ago to fill up their theaters have aging members who do not tour anymore, so they are starting to fill the gaps with tribute acts.
Where does he find worthwhile tribute acts? It’s no secret some tribute acts are not the same as others. Finding the good ones is Cheryl’s job. Any prospective act they will produce and promote has to pass her ear test and performance assessment. She’s the first and last word and then Calvin takes care of all the business aspects.
Cheryl decided she needed to do something in addition to being the talent wrangler for their production company. After the experience running the Sundial, the Stones got a Quizno’s franchise (on Memorial Avenue) where anyone would find Cheryl at any time.
“It was really her business,” Calvin said.
So when Cheryl had trouble finding skin care products she liked, she found a chemist in Arizona to make something, which she then decided to sell under the band name The Caring Stone. She set up manufacturing with a Canadian company and has distribution in the United States, but the logistics were difficult so her products are now manufactured in the U.S. Her next step is to sell her creams and gels in Canada.
The Stones will be in town for the concert and Christmas with the family.
(Images Supplied) Main: Calvin and Cheryl Stone
