BLUEBIRD NORTH: Where Writers Sing and Tell – Friday, March 1st

The Songwriters Association of Canada presents

BLUEBIRD NORTH

Where Writers Sing and Tell

Live in the nation’s capital!

 

Friday, March 1^st 2013

Westboro Masonic Hall

430 Churchill Avenue N
7:00 pm

Tickets available at Ottawa Folklore Centre and at the door

($15 advance and/or SAC members, $20 at the door)

 

Featuring

 Roxanne Potvin

   James Keelaghan

John Carroll

  Lyndell Montgomery 

Bluebird North is an intimate, interactive musical showcase that brings together some of Canada’s most inspiring songwriters to share their songs and stories.  On March 1^st,Bluebird North is presenting a diverse group of Canadian songwriting and spoken word talent in the nation’s capital.  Ottawa is proud to present an amazing group of artists including: Juno award nominated Roxanne Potvin, masterful story teller and Juno award winner James Keelaghan, Ottawa-based folk/roots artist John Carroll, and multi-instrumentalist Lyndell Montgomery.  Be sure not to miss the Ottawa performance in this intimate setting.

 

 ABOUT THE PERFORMERS

For fans of Roxanne Potvin, the Juno award nominated Montreal based singer-songwriter, two years might seem like an unbearably long time between albums, but just one spin through the songs on “Play” will be more than enough to convince them that it’s been worth the wait.

Back in 2009, after wailing around the blues for her past three albums – a journey that saw her work with luminaries such as Colin Linden, John Hiatt and Bruce Cockburn and tour with Sue Foley and Deborah Coleman – Roxanne decided it was time to pull back and reassess what she’d been doing.  She explains, “I’d left Toronto, moved back to Montreal to be closer to my family and began to accept the fact that I had no clue what I was going to do.” At first, she felt boxed in by her own expectations, but once she managed to shake free of them and started to enjoy playing music for the simple joy of it again, magical things began to happen.  “When I started out, I was heavily influenced by blues, soul and R and B and that was reflected on my first two albums.  The third album started showing shifts in direction as I explored further. I love listening to that kind of music, but if I was still only writing blues based songs, I wouldn’t be honest with myself because that’s not exclusively where I’m at anymore. Writing for this album gave me confidence to do something different.”   http://roxannepotvin.com

 

 

Called Canada’s finest singer-songwriter by one of the most respected music journalists of the last 50 years, James Keelaghan is an artist who has proven to be a man for all seasons. 
As the calendar pages have turned, for almost a quarter of a century now, this poet laureate of the folk and roots music world has gone about his work with a combination of passion, curiosity intent and intensity. His masterful story telling has, over the course of nine recordings, been part of the bedrock of his success, earning Keelaghan nominations and awards – including a Juno (Canada’s Grammy) - and acclaim from Australia to Scandinavia. Possessed of an insatiable appetite for finding the next unique story line, Keelaghan forges his pieces with brilliant craftsmanship and monogrammed artistic vision, making him one of the most distinctive and readily identifiable voices on both the Canadian and international singer-songwriter scenes.   
  
His journey has attracted fans of literate and layered songwriting to join him on his artistic expeditions, some of which weave their way through marvelously etched historical stories with underlying universal themes, others of which mine the depths of the soul and the emotional trails of human relations.     http://www.keelaghan.com/Keeloweb/Main.html

 

 

John Carroll is an Ottawa-based singer, songwriter, performer and recording artist who has explored music as his mode of expression for over 25 years. John and his band, The Epic Proportions, released their new album, ‘EVERYBODY SMOKES IN HELL,’ this year in January to a sold out show at The Black Sheep Inn.  This album has received attention from campus radios across the country, charting in the Top TEN on EarShot’s Folk/Roots charts.  Canada’s Folk, Roots and World Music magazine PENGUIN EGGS stated:

“If Hades had a telephone line to Earth, a call from down there would sound like John Carroll’s voice on Everybody Smokes In Hell.”

John’s first two full length solo albums, “The True Confessions of an Infamous Liar,” (2003) and “Lost Radio” (2008) were well received and sold to audiences all over Canada, the U.S and parts of Europe. John’s albums fit “comfortably into a variety of genres and time-periods, all the while synthesizing the eclectic elements” of “his music into a coherent, contemporary and colorful sound” (indieAndie.ca).

Whether its performing for national broadcast on Canada Live with his band (CBC Radio One & Two, 2008), playing solo for the packed house of his weekly at The Chateau Lafayette, or traveling to the many music houses across Canada, John’s music treats his audiences to the vibrational equivalent of coming home.  http://www.johncarrollmusic.com

 

 

Lyndell Montgomery, aka: Captain Dirt is a multi-instrumentalist touring machine.  She has toured, composed, arranged, recorded, booked, publicized and tour managed with countless artists around the globe.  Her musical experiences have taken her from India to Australia, Europe, USA, Canada, and beyond.

Lyndell is currently the producer of Beau’s Oktoberfest, an annual three day music/culture/beer festival located in Vankleek Hill, Ontario.  She is also co-author of the widely acclaimed book Boys Like Her; Transfictions. Aside from composition, live performance, management and production gigs, Lyndell works with Ottawa Blues Festival as a music educator for the Blues In The Schools program and is a music teacher with the Alberta’s based Rocker Girl Camp.

 

 

Friday, March 1^st 2013

Westboro Masonic Hall

430 Churchill Avenue N, 7:00 pm

Tickets available at Ottawa Folklore Centre and at the door

($15 advance and/or SAC members, $20 at the door)

Bluebird North: Where Writers Sing and Tell is produced by Amanda Rheaume for the Songwriters Association of Canada.  

For more information on the S.A.C.’s mandate, activities and membership programs please visit www.songwriters.ca

Bluebird North is endorsed by the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville.

 

continue...

Ben Wilkins: 70s piano pop flashback

“Besides being incredibly musically inclined, he has a set of pipes on him that may just blow you out of the water.” – ThisBonusTrack

 “The amount of polish he brings to intricately arranged piano jams is impressive.” – Herohill

Montreal’s Ben Wilkins is in town performing on Wednesday night in support of his self-titled debut album. Ben’s music is a piano-driven pop sound that flashes back to the sounds of the early 70s (think Elton John, Burt Bacharach and Billy Joel vibe). He’s soaked up that era and it’s rhythm, textures and grooves and skillfully turned into something uniquely his own (OK maybe there’s a slight comparison to Ben Folds…just a little).

His lyrics are slightly quirky and that mixed in with a familiar pop piano sound…his is a music that draws you in and just makes you feel good. And happy.

If you qualify yourself as a music lover of any kind, you’ll want to check him out.

Ben was born and raised in Ontario and then moved to Montreal to study music at McGill and has composed string arrangements for several artists including Bran Van 3000 and Misstress Barbara.

Ben Wilkins

Wednesday, May 9th @ Zaphod’s

8pm, $7

continue...

A Compact Preview: Metal Band Mastodon

Fans of Mastodon will be ecstatic that they are playing Bluesfest.

They are a thinking’s man metal  band along the lines of  Sabbath or Black Mountain. They will rock the park and those with even the slightest interest in  hard rock should catch this act.

As one person said on Mastodon…..Good Call Bluesfest.

continue...

Spotlight: Marc Robert Nelson

Marc Robert Nelson is one of those folksy mellow singer/songwriters who hails from Gatineau.

He used to be the guy who did TV installs for Rogers TV.

One day he was installing a digital box in a young woman’s apartment. She was a recovering addict and who until very recently had been homeless.

On her wall she had written a poem on the wall an affirmation to be sure…and the title was Strong and Ready for Life.

Later that year Mark saw her on a street corner with very tall leather boots…and no he didn’t stop to say Hi.

That brief encounter was the inspiration for this track ‘Strong and Ready’.

I spent the entire afternoon listening to Marc’s musical offerings on his Soundcloud page and it was musical bliss.

His vibe reminds me of a cross between James Taylor meets David Gray meets John Mayer meets Marc Broussard…yet his vibe is uniquely his own.

I love his sound and all his songs were a treat to listen to.  He’s one local artist that I look forward to seeing live.

http://soundcloud.com/marc-robert-nelson/sets/strong-and-ready-ep/

Connie Bernardi plays the role of radio announcer on Majic 100 in Ottawa, full time music blogger and seeker of new music. Latest and greatest bragging right…I totally pinched Donnie Wahlberg’s ass. Try and contain your seething jealousy.

continue...

Get Ready Ottawa: Hanson’s Shout it Out Canada Tour

Brothers: Zac, Taylor, and Isaac Hanson

The Hanson brothers have been to Canada before, but not extensively and will be gracing Ottawa with a live show on February 8th*. In preparation for their tour through Canada, Zac, 1/3 of the band Hanson sat down for a quick phone interview with yours truly to touch base on the upcoming tour and more.

So this tour is going to be a launch of sorts, for the “Shout It Out” Album?

Zac: Yea, we’ve been to Canada before but not with as many stops. We’re excited to be coming to Ottawa, meeting new fans is a challenge we always enjoy and we hope to entertain.

You guys have a lot of songs, which song are you most looking forward to playing on this tour?

Zac: That’s a hard question actually! New music is always fun for me to play, but I also like older songs with a bit of history. This is really hard!  I’m excited to play “Thinkin’ ‘Bout Somethin’ ” among others. Fan reaction also plays a huge part for sure. We are lucky to have fans that are really engaged at our shows and make the performance energetic.

At many of your concerts you do The Walk before the event, to raise awareness for the HIV/AIDS Pandemic and poverty in Africa. Since it’s winter will there be an indoor walk?

Zac: (laughs) Yea, not on this tour! It is really cold, and the walk is a barefoot walk and it would probably be bad to send people to the hospital with their toes falling off from a Hanson walk. I know I need my toes! But also, the walk is about giving people a way to act, to make an impact. In fact, people could host their own walks, it isn’t something limited to just us. We want people to know that these walks stand for something, and it’s action that will help facilitate change.

What do you want fans to take away from this tour?

Zac: You know, we hope to create a unique experience for them, we want it to be memorable. This isn’t going to be one of those shows where everybody stands around with their arms folded, and looks somber. We want fans to feel a connection to our songs, we want them to be engaged.

*For official  tour dates and more info please visit Hanson.net

If you would like information on The Walk, please visit Take The Walk

Check back with us for the official Ottawa concert review!

**Special thanks to Zac for taking the time out,  and Catrina Jaricot from Strut Entertainment for setting this up!

continue...

PETS WITH PERSONALITIES: Exclusive!

The “Pets With Personlities 2012-2013 Calendar” presents: 

A SPECIAL PREVIEW HERE ON OTTAWA TONITE!

 The word is out.  A very special launch party is happening  for a great community project to raise funds for the Ottawa Humane Society.

Sunday, November 13th, 2011

D’Arcy McGees Pub

44 Sparks St, Ottawa

1 – 5pm

An afternoon of laughter, music, fundraising and prizes is planned with some of Ottawa’s well-known ‘personalities’ on hand performing and celebrating!

Join us, to help celebrate a great community project called “Pets With Personalities” and pick up your very own copy of this 2012-13 calendar before it SELLS OUT!

Calendars will be available at the door. ($25) A silent auction with some incredible items to bid on, will be setup. (all proceeds to benefit the OHS)

Here is a sneak-peek at some of the beautiful images captured by photographer Sean Sisk  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

continue...

Fevers

So when you think Ottawa – musically speaking – you don’t necessarily think haven for emerging electronic music.  But there’s a band here in town that wants to change that perception.

That’s where Fevers comes into play.  Fevers are an Ottawa-based five-piece unit that call refer to themselves as the purveyors of independent, electronic pop but with their own unique take on the genre. Their unique modern sound comes from combining indie rock and electronic music.

Fevers are Colin MacDougall, Jim Hopkins, Martin Charbonneau, Mike Stauffer and Sarah Bradley.

I recently had the chance to speak to Jim and Colin about the band, their musical influences and the electronic scene in the nation’s capital.

How did Fevers come together?

Jim: It’s kind of a long story! Colin and I met through mutual friends a couple of years ago – I was fresh off the boat from England and looking to play in a band. We started jamming together just to have some fun really. Colin was already in a band, so it was a side project of sorts. We started writing some songs together, and nearly had an album’s worth. We recorded everything on my laptop, adding electronic instrumentation here and there. We then met Martin, our sound genius – this was a pretty big turning point, as we started doing regular practices. Colin then left his old band, bringing Mike with him to play drums. The final piece of the puzzle was Sarah, an incredibly talented singer and keyboardist, who joined in early 2011. Since then we’ve been practicing, recording, and playing shows when we can.

Colin: Jim is being a bit modest.  I was completely over-steeped in “indie rock” music, having written & played a similar style of music since the age of 15.  Jim basically swept in and said “hey, why don’t you consider stepping out of your comfort zone”?  I couldn’t.  But thankfully he took my comfort zone, added wicked beats & loops to it, and made it into something a little less comfortable.

If you had to list music that has influenced your sound what artists/bands would appear on that list? 

J: That’s a tough question. Our song writing method varies a lot – sometimes it’s the traditional approach of writing a song on the acoustic guitar and building from there, and other times it’s simply a synth part that we create a song around. So the influences vary on who starts writing the song. Usually I end up mixing the final song, so I’d say my influences for our sound are contemporary electro/indie acts like M83, Passion Pit or LCD Soundsystem. 

C: I actually haven’t changed my music listening all that much in a number of years.  I try to keep up with the M83′s and Passion Pit’s, but often find myself coming back to the Pixies, Breeders, Radiohead, and perhaps The National (if I’m trying to feel ‘contemporary’).  But whether it’s Jim or I who has the first skeleton idea for a song we do, the end result usually does sound more like Neon Indian than Blonde Redhead.  Funny what beats & loops can do.

How would you describe the Ottawa electronic scene?

J: I actually don’t think there are a lot of bands doing what we’re doing here – there’s definitely a healthy indie, punk and metal scene in Ottawa, but as far as an electro-scene I don’t know! Maybe we don’t get out enough!?

C: Agreed.  If there are other bands doing this kind of thing in Ottawa, please write us!  We feel guilty booking shows as the only band with the ridiculous rig including 3 synths & 2 samplers!  (Also agreed that we don’t get out enough…)

Any story behind the single ‘Passion Is Dead [Long Live Fashion]‘? 

J: I’ll leave that one to Colin.

C: Ooooh… thanks for throwing me the hot potato, Jim. Well, I will perhaps simply say that all of the songs that I have recently written usually fall into 2 categories: cynical love songs or songs about a Zombie Apocalypse (pilfered from my ongoing but mainly-failed attempt to write a Zombie rock opera.). PIDLLF falls primarily into category 1 (with a touch of “lamenting the Hipster Apocalypse” thrown in for good measure). 

As a band what music are you listening to now that you can’t get enough of?

 C: I’ll leave that one to Jim.  I’m just getting through listen #6,929 of High Violet…

J: Our music tastes really vary across the band, but right now I’m listening to a lot of Hooray For Earth, Of Monsters and Men, Youth Lagoon, Neon Indian, James Blake… I listen to this awesome Seattle radio station called KEXP – I find a lot of my music that way.

Favourite spots to source out new music in Ottawa?

J: There’s some really cool venues in Ottawa – Raw Sugar Cafe, Mavericks, Babylon, Zaphods, Cafe Dekcuf – they get some good acts playing there. I guess I’d say you just need take a chance every now and you’ll see something unexpected!

 C: Club Saw is also a pretty awesome place. Nothing like listening to interesting music surrounded by interesting art.

So the single that I’ve had on repeat all week long on my shiny red iPod is ‘Passion Is Dead [Long Live Fashion]…check it out here. Love it x 1000.

You can catch Fevers live on Friday, December 2nd with Distractor (MTL) and Dreamphone (Ottawa) at Café Decuf (221 Rideau Street). Licenced 19+ event. Doors swing open at 8PM and it $6 at the door.

The Fevers latest EP, Passion Is Dead,  is available for free at BandCamp.

continue...

Watch the Zombie Apocalypse HERE! Ottawa Zombiewalk 2011

Zombies Start Walking From MacDonald Gardens Park.

Zombies Arrive at the Parliament Hill.

You can watch the rest of the videos here.

continue...

Collected Works presents: A Celebration of Children’s Books

Feature by Rachel Eugster

Video By Kevin Burton

SCBWI Canada East invites the public to a celebration of children’s books on Friday, October 14, from 6-9 p.m. at Collected Works Bookstore (1242 Wellington St. W., 613-722-1265; http://collected-works.com/). Adults and kids are invited to come meet the people who are creating the latest books for young adults, tweens, and children; to hear about new releases directly from the authors; and to have them autographed on the spot.
 
RACHEL EUGSTER chats with author Rachna Gilmore and illustrator Ben Hodson about the art and business of creating books for kids, the party at Collected Works, and the writers’ and illustrators’ conference to follow (“The Courage to Create,” October 15-16, the Sheraton Hotel: www.scbwicanada.org/east/ .)

 
Authors appearing at the October 14 party include:
 
R.J. Anderson* (Ultraviolet, Spell Hunter, Wayfarer)
Catherine Austen (My Cat Isis, 26 Tips for Surviving Grade 6, All Good Children)
Lizann Flatt (Let’s Go! The Story of Getting from There to Here)
Alma Fullerton (Burn, Libertad)
Rachna Gilmore (That Boy Red, The Flute)
Ben Hodson* (Richard Was a Picker, Jeffrey and Sloth, Hear My Roar)
Deborah Jackson (Time Meddlers, Time Meddlers: Undercover)
Kate Jaimet (Dunces Anonymous, Slam Dunk)
Caroline Pignat (Greener Grass, Wild Geese, Timber Wolf)
Marsha Skrypuch (Stolen Child, Daughter of War)
 
 *featured speaker at the October 15-16 conference

continue...

Upcoming Film Screening: With Glowing Hearts – The #van2010 Social Media Story

A documentary about social media for social change that is showing at the Mayfair in Ottawa on the 25th of September:

‘With Glowing Hearts – The #van2010 Social Media Story’

continue...