Happy Chinese New Year – The Year of the Sheep/Goat – S10E18

Gong Hei Fat Choy! This year’s lunar new year celebrations is quite late. This year’s animal is quite confusing as it’s either year of the sheep or goat. I’ll leave it either way.

As usual, it’s great to go out and lion dance at various places. The first stop was at a public school and kids were excited to see the lions and take part in it. What was surprising that some of the kids knew their animal that they’re born in. I was able to take some photos from the event. Then my lion dance troupe did five other events and they were at a bank and several retirement homes. It was great to see some of the guys again for the performances.

You can check the photos over at Flickr by clicking HERE.

Posted below are a few silly photos during the performances. I got several lion dance performances to go. Have a Happy Chinese New Year!

Pssst, February 20th is my birthday!

Photos from the February 22nd lion dance at T&T Supermarket. Click HERE.

An Evening with Leonard Youngfoot – S10E17

There were so many events happening on Thursday night. I decided to go to A Thing For Chocolate as Trish Murray, who’s a radio host at a station and also runs RedLeaf Music has created a series called Sounds Simple. It’s an acoustic music series held at an intimate place where they serve crepes and other sweets goods.

The series started in mid-January of 2015 and the February 5th edition had singer/songwriter, Derek Atkinson. At the Sounds Simple event, he went by Leonard Youngfoot. It’s an influence of the three famous Canadian singer/songwriters, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot. Atkinson also plays in the nine-member band, Loon Choir.

It was my first time being at A Thing For Chocolate, which is located in the Hintonburg area in Ottawa. It’s nice to support local businesses and try out unique food. I had a chance to try the pulled pork crepe. It had beets and it was definitely a delicious crepe.

The Launch of Megaphono – S10E16

A new music showcase festival has started in Ottawa and it’s called Megaphono. The showcase festival is give the Ottawa music scene a way to shine and show that the city is striving in the arts and cultural scene. It’s to give an opportunity for Ottawa musicians and music-related companies to build connections and the creativity of what Ottawa is. There are concerts, panels and networking at the music showcase.

I went to the Launch along with the tape cutting ceremony which had Ottawa mayor, Jim Watson. Watson spoke at the event launch and to show his support of the music scene in Ottawa.

Checked out the panel, Connecting Ottawa Music. The panelists were Andrew Vincent, Ian Swain, and Kwende Kefentse. The moderator of the panel was Alan Neal. The panel brought great insight on what the Ottawa music scene should do and there’s so many obstacles to go through in growing Ottawa as a musical hub.

The event runs from February 3-5th. It’s definitely a good initiative to check out great and interesting live music in the Nation’s Capital.
Congratulations goes out to the organizers of Megaphono for making this Wintery event happen.

You can check out the photos from the launch over at Flickr by clicking HERE.