The Interview With Casey Mecija of Ohbijou & Another Live 2 Hour Show – S07E07

It’s been quite a busy week. attending Ottawa Fashion Week on the weekend was fun. I got a lion dance performance for the Double Ten Day Celebration as Taiwan marks 100 years as it formed the Republic of China.

Wednesday’s radio show was a rare 2 hour live edition as the 10am host was under the weather. Due to the extra hour, there was a bit of wheeling and dealing as I planned to do a live phone interview Ohbijou’s Casey Mecija. It was originally for the live part of the radio show (at around 11:05am, Eastern time), the 10am slot was a blessing as I needed to accomodate my co-host as she’s not able to stay for the full show at 11am.
What were mentioned in the live phone interview were the creation of Metal Meets, Pop Montreal and the show at Ritual Nightclub for October 6th (Thursday). I was supposed to interview Ohbijou prior to going to Pop Montreal. In a way, it’s more of a wrapup to the music festival.
As usual, I posted the radio show and the interview for separate listening needs.

To check what was played on the show or when you’re listening (posted below), the playlist is at this link.
The Wild 10 Countdown summary is posted at this link.

Audio/Podcast
The October 5th radio show – press play to listen.

The interview with Casey Mecija of Ohbijou.

The Post Pop Montreal Edition and Tackling Album Reviews – S07E04

This week’s edition is a post Pop Montreal edition. I was suppose to have Lauren join me on the show but she’s under the weather. As much I try not to play a lot of Arcade Fire songs, I couldn’t help my own excitement because of the music festival, which celebrated its 10th year.
With the media pass, it was privilege to go to O Patro Vys as they had a good lineup from Friday and Saturday night. There were a lot of choices to go to but I stuck with O Patro Vys because Ohbijou has a new album and the opening acts have a connection to one another. The Evening Hymns and Forest City Lovers are friends with Ohibjou. It was quite a surprise to check out Tasseomancy. They seem to have an influence to Bjork. One thing I forgot was that Tasseomancy are the touring members of Austra. I had a chance to watch the Polaris Music Prize on MuchMusic HD and I didn’t realize they performed at the gala.
Saturday night was quite an interesting one, after attending the Pop Vs. Jock charity basketball game, I rushed to O Patro Vys to find out the 8pm performance never happened. Although, I didn’t know Silver Creek, who they performed at around 9pm, are from Ottawa. I noticed several CKCU-FM hosts are supporters of the band. This brings to Gianna Lauren, as I saw her on back to back nights. It was nice to see her perform in Montreal. The funny thing was saving a spot for her parents, who’s a great supporter of her music career. By Divine Right came up next and they totally rocked out. Then, came Allie Hughes as I haven’t seen her in a year. The worse part, I didn’t get a chance to say hi or bye to her. Finally, Sheezer packed O Patro Vys and for any Weezer fans, they didn’t disappoint. Overall, I had a great time in Montreal and I know I wouldn’t stop gushing over Arcade Fire. Kudos to Pop Montreal for the great music festival they organized. It was a fun time.
Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to play a track from Evening Hymns, Silver Creek and Sheezer as I was not able to find their albums to provide on the radio show.
Don’t forget to listen to the radio show from below.

Summer Special 2011 – Canada Day

Since it’s a summer entry as the blog won’t be updated regularly for the Summer months. It will be less writing and more visuals.
It was a nice and sunny day in the Nation’s Capital on July 1st, Canada Day. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to see the Royal couple, William and Kate and then the fireworks. Here are photos that I took at the Ottawa Jazz Festival in the afternoon.
Enjoy!

Ruby Jean and The Thoughtful Bees at Ottawa Jazz Festival on Canada Day. Surprise to see Jenocide join Ruby Jean on the tour they’re embarking.
  

Ohbijou at Ottawa Jazz Festival on Canada Day

Two Band Interviews Aired and a Guest Co-Host – S05E38

It’s an opportunity to try something a bit different on my radio show. I know it’s pulling a bit like CBC Radio One’s Bandwidth and the other CKCU Special Blend shows in airing two different audio interviews. It was also a unique show this week because I had a special guest co-host helping me, it’s Kara from Bands Undone. Originally, she wanted to come by to the station but was busy and got injured. Finally, her time to co-host on the radio happened!
I have been on-air for two hours for basically a month, it’s all in fun time.

On the show, I aired two interviews, one was The Belle Game, which was recorded this past Monday (Feb. 22) night at Canteen. The other interview by Nightwood (of Montreal) was done in January.
The Belle Game was at Canteen for Bands Undone and they literally played a great set.
Video and Reviews from the Bands Undone site is at this link. Check it out as I did the filming for their live in-session, minus the editing as Kara took care of that.
The location for this band is pretty bi-coastal as some are from Vancouver, some from Montreal and one from Maine. As for the interview, it’s a hoot to listen as it was funny. There were mentions of bands like Ottawa’s The Acorn, Toronto’s Ohbijou, and Vancouver’s Said The Whale.
The funny thing during the show was one of the members of The Belle Game was listening to the show LIVE while using Twitter.
During the show, we discussed on the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and what’s shows are coming up in Ottawa. Played new songs from Broken Social Scene and Jason Collett. Trying to be fresh in playing new tracks from Canadian indie artists.
As usual, I decided to be silly and play a theme from a CKCU show called Tread Lightly.
The video above is a video I shot and it’s a separate interview from The Belle Game.

Without further ado, you can listen to the show by pressing play.
The full show

Extra (Chatted more about the 2010 Vancouver Olympics before what would be “Wonderful Wednesday”)

Check out the playlist at this link.

Interviews

The Belle Game
Press play to listen or download it.

Nightwood
Press play to listen to download it.

The New Midnight Jamz on CKCU for February 27, 2010
I had the opportunity to hang out with the gang from that show. You can listen to the 2 hour show by pressing play.

The Ohbijou Interview and What’s Ahead for December – S05E26

I had to fill-in for the host of Audio Sensory Resuscitation on CKCU-FM for Wednesday. Luckily, I was prepared to play whatever songs and I started off with What’s Going On?, a cover from the classic Marvin Gaye song. Done by the All Star Tribute, it was for the fight against AIDS Worldwide in 2001, following the 9/11 attacks. It was the day after World AIDS Day, which takes place on December 1. It’s fitting that I played “What’s Going On” and the new song by Alicia Keys because I’ve been a supporter of the (Red) campaign. From the Hallmark cards to the iPod nano, it’s all for a good cause. What’s unique this year was having to participate via Twitter by using red texts and watching the Alicia Keys live concert through YouTube as part of World AIDS Day.
Aside from that, I finally aired the interview with two members of Ohbijou. Mind you, there were funny moments that I didn’t edit out in the interview. My segments throughout the show was a coast to coast starting from Joel Plaskett of Halifax all the way to British Columbia from bands like Said The Whale, You Say Party! We Say Die! and etc. Then I played this connecting theme from Silver Starling to Stars and Arcade Fire. There were some shoutouts to people I called out during the B.C. set.
You can listen to Wednesday’s show by pressing play. Slight apologies on the sound because it seems like it’s back to the mono-like sound quality.

The Ohibjou interview. Press play to listen or download it.

Don’t forget to check the playlist.
I can’t wait for the return of Corey & Erica on the airwaves because their presence has been missed. They will be on sometime next week. We also need Kristal of Kristal’s Method to return on the radio too. I also can’t wait to play some Christmas tunes.

What’s happening in December? I’m starting off by participating in the YouTube Battle at Babylon Nightclub this Friday. Presented by Artengine, Canteen and Disorganized.

As usual, I will be attending Bands Undone with Caledonia, Mother Mother and Laurent Bourque.

Wrapping Up November With Hey Ocean!, Leif Vollebekk and The Radio Show – S05E25

It’s a November to remember because I had been going to a lot of shows and on Monday’s radio show, I played the ones that I attended. Before I get to that, I will review the shows I attended on the final weekend of November. First, it was Hey Ocean! at Bands Undone. To my own amazement, they played a great acoustic and intimate set. Of all the previous Band Undones I have attended, this was so unique because they were missing their members and the setup was very simple. It was David Beckingham with his guitar and Ashleigh Ball on her voice. Overall, I was pleased to see Hey Ocean! as they are down to earth and nice performers. Again, thanks to Kara for always organizing a great show for the bloggers, photographers and media for this unique session.
You can check the photos by going to this link.
The review on Bands Undone is now available on this link.
Here’s the video taken by Brian. YouTube version also available.

My radio show for Monday, November 30, 2009. I didn’t expect to go on half an hour early. Played some fillers like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Metric and Said The Whale. I aired the Immaculate Machine interview and then I played the bands and artists that I attended at their concerts throughout November. They were Elliott Brood, Silver Starling, Ohbijou, The Most Serene Republic, Think About Life, You Say Party! We Say Die!, Bravestation and Jill Zmud.
Without further ado, here’s Monday’s show. Press play to listen.

The interview with Brooke Gallupe of Immaculate Machine.
Press play to listen or download it.

3 Concerts in 3 Days on One Entry – S05E19

Part 3 – November 7, 2009
After two nights at Mavericks Bar, the third concert I went was at Babylon Nightclub. I went to see Ohbijou with Silver Starling and Giant Hand. Before I write about Ohbijou’s performance, I went to Canteen Art Shop + Gallery for another Bands Undone session and it was none other than Silver Starling. In a way, I got see them two times. Silver Starling is a Montreal indie pop/rock band. I got to say that their music style is similar to Arcade Fire and Young Galaxy. After the session, I did not know that some of the members are closely linked to Arcade Fire and one was formerly with Young Galaxy. Oddly enough that Young Galaxy was in town for a concert. As previously mentioned that there’s so many great concerts in November.
All I can say that it was great to see the two Brian’s at Canteen. I couldn’t have been happy to see people around and have fun chatting.
I had the chance to interview two members of Ohbijou for another future airing on my radio show at CKCU-FM. There were a few goof ups during the interview, which will be edited out. Onto their performance, as usual, the crowd was packed and it was even hot (temperture-wise) during their set. Their encore set was excellent as Howie and Rolf of The Acorn helped out.
Overall, great show but the lightning was tough to shoot and I usually don’t use flash a lot.
You can view the photo by clicking to this link.
Now, I can finally rest up after three days of craziness and taxi riding late in the night.
Here is the video I taped when they sang St.Francis.

The Acorn and Ohbijou at Barrymore’s Music Hall, The Final Live Act Played at the Venue? – S04E08

Due to a bus strike that started on December 10, 2008, I almost could not make it to The Acorn concert at Barrymore’s Music Hall. Luckily, I had a friend who gave my brother and myself a ride and enjoying the concert. The only part I panicked was thinking the tickets were sold out and my friend would miss out. Eventually, I was saved by extras tickets and the guys who guard the entrance of Barrymore’s were kind enough to remind me about my friend. It was funny how my friend told me the guys remembered when he returned. In a way, it was memorable to do something in a worrying way. Despite the on-going bus strike, I did not expect to see a big crowd at Barrymore’s. It was also great to see Amanda Putz as she is a big supporter of The Acorn. Almost a blast from the past was seeing a few people from high school.
On to the concert, Ohbijou gave an excellent performance as it was elegant to hear their music. The Acorn’s performance was by far the most important as they are the hometown band. They totally lit up Barrymore’s and the crowd. A slight change in the members of The Acorn as they added Mike Dubue of Hilotrons. It has been in the local media that Barrymore’s had a change in ownership and it’s been said that The Acorn concert was the last live act to be played as the music hall will hold ’70s and ’80s night dance music and cover bands. What I will like about Barrymore’s Music Hall is the interiors of the building and how it is bigger than Zaphod Beeblebrox and other venues in Ottawa. I love the bigger space and the early 1990s look of the building. Let’s hope that there will be live bands performing for 2009. The photo on top is the final act of The Acorn with Ohbijou helping them out.
Here’s the link to view the photos, http://www.flickr.com/photos/lenny-wu/sets/72157611134555189/.
Enjoy and I haven’t had the feeling of Christmas yet. I haven’t seen any Christmas music videos but have been hearing some of the songs on the radio via the Internet.