Lisa Poushinsky loves Bob Dylan, doesn’t love multiple sclerosis
The XO DYLAN concert, hosted by Lisa Poushinsky, raised a whack of dough for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.
It was a very full room until they ran out of beer. I don’t know what happened after that because I hit the road fast. No matter how good the music, a lack of beer equals a lack of me sticking around.
I’m talking about the Raw Sugar Cafe on Saturday, January 9th. I was lucky enough to get a seat near the front (thanks to Dusty Drifters) for the third installment of the XO Concert Series, organized and hosted by one of Ottawa’s most exciting up-and-comers, Lisa Poushinsky. More about that in a moment, let me set the mood by briefly describing the Raw Sugar Cafe – it was my first time there, and definitely not my last.
Located at 692 Somerset W, Raw Sugar is a retro-looking café that’s cozy as hell and has oodles of character. Quirky art on the walls, fully-stocked bookshelves, 1960′s formica tables with metal edges, three kinds of beer (which sold out around 11), paying for said beer at the cash register like it’s a pack of smokes… oddly enough, my favourite part was the bathrooms, complete with brightly coloured walls, chandeliers and fridge-magnet poetry (my favourite: “feline body, luscious rust, dark electric sunken trust” – I imagine this to be about Catwoman on the Titanic). As a whole, the place is so stereotypically “indie coffee shop”, and it was the perfect venue for this little coffee house performance.
Which brings me to the show itself – XO Dylan, a tribute to the songs of Bob Dylan. The all-star list of performers took to the stage in various combinations, singing Dylan’s best in support of the Ottawa Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Lisa, herself diagnosed with M.S., organized and hosted the show, while her friends and family passed around a yogurt containter to collect donations.
Highlights included Dusty Drifters putting together an impromptu band out of audience members when he was supposed to play solo, Lisa berating musicians for not tuning their guitars before they hit the stage, and Dave Norris‘s rendition of Subterranean Homesick Blues, complete with cue cards à la original music video – Dave ended up having to read off the cards towards the end of the song, which had the whole joint falling over with laughter as Adam Fogo kept dropping them. On my way to the show, I wondered how long it would take until someone busted out a unintelligible Dylan caricature voice, and Jay Todd certainly didn’t disappoint – thankfully he redeemed himself later by singing in his own voice, which is quite nice.
This is Lisa Poushinsky
The show had a really great togetherness feel to it – not to sound super cheesy or anything, but it was nice to see a whole bunch of people from the music community get together for a night of singing and jamming and laughs and helping out for a good cause. The out-of-tune guitars and making-it-up-as-we-go-along spirit only made everything more… genuine, I guess. This, plus the beers I was able to procure before they ran out, left me feeling very warm and fuzzy for the rest of the night.
This entire list of performers is pretty long, but worth mentioning, just to give you an idea of the scope of the show: A. James Brummel, Dave Edwards, Kader Blaine, Dusty Drifters, Brendan Allistone, Mark McHale, Dave Norris, Jay Todd, Joel Carlson, Adam Fogo, David Bosschaart, Ashley Newall, Jon Laurie-Beamont, Tara Holloway, and of course Lisa Poushinsky.
All told the show raised $500 for the M.S. Society, which uses donations to “provide hope for the future through the support of MS research into the cause, treatment and cure of the disease and hope for today through our many services that assist people with MS and their families”. I honestly couldn’t find a better way to write that so I stole it from their website, I’m sure they won’t mind.
Along those lines, Lisa told me that the next time she does an M.S. fundraiser, it’ll have to be at a venue that’s wheelchair accessible (Raw Sugar unfortunately isn’t). If any Ottawa Tonite readers have low-cost suggestions or are able to donate a venue, contact Lisa at her website to let her know how you can help.
Previous XO shows, also held at Raw Sugar, paid homage to Tom Waits and David Bowie. Lisa says there are more XO shows in the works, with rumours of XO Elvis and XO Neil Young in the near future. Don’t worry, I’ll call ahead and make sure they stock up on the beer.
-Greg Harris can be stalked at his website
Tags: Bob Dylan, Fundraiser, Lisa Poushinsky, Multiple Sclerosis, Music, Raw Sugar Cafe
