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Posts Tagged ‘Ken Voita’
Hot Night at The HoeDown Day 1
O-Town Hoedown 2010 begins Sept 24
Review by Lee Ann McLellan
This is my first ever experience attending the O-Town Hoedown. So I headed down to the Rainbow Bistro eager to catch the opening night of a week long string of shows with some of Ottawa’s finest bands. I was covering the event for Ottawa Tonite and was looking forward to a night of some down home music.
On the docket for the night was Ottawa’s own Ken Voita, from L.A., The Driftwood Singers and one Ottawa’s favorite county and western outfits, Lefty McRighty and The Shameless Bastards.
I was familiar with Ken Voita from previous shows and was looking forward to hearing him again, this was his first appearance at the Hoedown and like in previous shows I’ve seen it’s always a phenomenal show each time!!
While I was watching Ken’s performance, I started chatting to a lady I didn’t know previously who seemed very familiar with Ken’s music. We chatted about music and how we were enjoying Ken’s set. Turns out this lady was another musician, Missy Burgess and she was telling me that she had played with Ken recently as a duo and she and I exchanged stories about our own musical experiences about playing in bands.
Next up was the Driftwood Singers from Los Angeles. Now although the crowd was not huge, it made up for it by being super attentive and appreciative after each and every song the bluegrass duo did. I was quite captured by their stunning harmonies, and the genuine honesty emulating from each and every song. This was my first opportunity to see a harpsichord being played and I now have a curious fascination with it after seeing Pearl play it. During this time I had struck up a conversation with a couple out on their first date, I asked them how it is going so far. They both agreed things were
indeed going well. They bought me a drink and we chatted about how we were all from The Maritimes originally and how much we were all enjoying the show.
I love a good sense of humor and no one has a better sense of humor than Lefty McRighty. Tonight’s performance with filled with heartbreak, cheating and poutine. After the show I was really hungry with all that talk of poutine and cheese curds, I tried to scour the market looking for a chip truck but alas, none were around at 1:00 a.m.
Can’t wait to do it all over again at Irene’s with one of my favorite bands Evil Farm Children…till tonight
Spring Fling! Ottawa Tonite House Concert and 12for12k
This coming Friday night, a very special event will be taking place in Ottawa – two amazing local performers, Lindsay Ferguson and Ken Voita, will be playing a house concert in Ottawa’s west end.
As a special addition to the evening, we’ll also be raising some money and awareness for 12for12k.org‘s April Charity, Boundless. Adrian Meissner from Boundless will be on hand to talk to the audience about the great work they do, and I’ll be there too to share the message about 12for12k.
If you are in Ottawa, I hope you can make it! The show starts at 7pm ET, and you can purchase tickets here.
If you’re not in the Ottawa area, all is not lost! We’ll be live streaming the show on this site and also over at www.ottawatonite.com, the web site that is hosting the concert.
Special thanks to 12for12k’er Allan Isfan for putting on this terrific event!
Here’s a special sneak preview of what you can expect on Friday night!
Blown off my seat
Perhaps a little more than a year ago, I found a superstar playing music up in Quebec, just 3o minutes from Ottawa.
Lindsay Ferguson
On that beautiful Sunday afternoon, I shuffled into The Blacksheep Inn with my daughters to check out some live music after exploring the beautiful town of Wakefield, Quebec. There were three female singers on the stage taking turns singing their original songs and playing the guitar. They were all very good but when Lindsay Ferguson started singing I nearly fell off my chair – and my daughters, all of a sudden, started really paying attention.
I couldn’t believe the beautiful, velvety voice coming out the singer with the fiery red hair. It just took us all away on an amazing musical journey. My daughters fell in love with Lindsay Ferguson and her music. We purchased and listened to her CD all the way home and they even listened to it in their room at bedtime memorizing most of the songs. Since then, we’ve seen her play at the Ottawa Bluesfest, invited her to headline at Isfan Palooza (our yearly backyard music fest), had her open the TEDx Ottawa proceedings and try to catch her shows whenever possible. It seems the Ottawa Citizen had already discovered her, naming her 2007 album “SOUND” the second best Canadian album of the year.
When I was invited to host an Ottawa Tonite house concert there was no doubt Lindsay would be headlining. Our guests will be blown away as I was the first time I heard her sing. This time, it will be in a super intimate house concert where you get to be up close and personal with someone headed for stardom. We will also be joined by Ken Voita, himself an amazing singer/song writer that is the talk of the Ottawa Tonite community.
Event: Spring Fling House Concert with Lindsay Ferguson and Ken Voita
Cost: $20 in advance, $25 at the door (all $$ goes to the musicians)
Time: $ 7pm, Friday, April 9th
Location: Stittsville (those who manage to get a ticket will get detailed directions)
Contact: allan.isfan at gmail dot com
Tickets have already been on sale for a week so please contact me for availability.
If there are tickets left, I’ll provide you the info so you can purchase them online in advance!
Acoustic Afternoon Series
Come one and all to the first edition of the Acoustic Afternoon Concert Series, this Saturday, January 9th (4pm) at the Rainbow Bistro.
Presented by Ottawa Tonite contributor and local character, Maxim Cossette. This “pay what you can” series will run every Saturday afternoon from 4pm- 7pm (except the last Saturday of the month) until the end of April. The aim is to bring you the best established and unknown, traditional and contemporary acoustic musicians from the Ottawa area.
Over the next few months, you’ll see Ottawa mainstays like Lefty McRighty and Amanda Rheaume, breakthrough artists like L. Poushinsky and Ken Voita as well as underground heros and future folk stars like John Aaron Cockburn and Kara Askwith.
So come celebrate the first concert in this bound-to-be-stellar succession of passionate performances and unforgettable moments.
For more information and artists profiles go to http://acousticafternoon.wordpress.com/
See you at the party!
-Maxim
