Crissi Cochrane at Ottawa Fringe Festival – S09E42 [Season Finale]

The wonderful folks at Ottawa Fringe Festival have been bringing the free live music programming. Last year, it was The Elwins and this year is Crissi Cochrane. To my own surprise, I didn’t expect her to be in Ottawa. I usually get into a semi-NXNE withdrawal and would need some live music to bring on the recovery.

For those who don’t know, Cochrane is originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia but is living in Windsor, Ontario since 2010. She has made a great 2014 as she released her second full-length album, Little Sway in January and was in the top 10 of CBC Music Searchlight contest.

It was my first time to see her perform live in Ottawa. I did see her perform at an unofficial fan picnic in Toronto’s Trinity-Bellwoods Park last year. It’s her first time playing in Ottawa.
The setting at Fringe Fest’s Downtown Rideau Stage was quite intimate. Cochrane played some tracks from her current album and played cover tracks from the likes of Billie Holliday, Amy Winehouse and The Bee Gees. Her style of music brought an influence of jazz, soul and R&B. It was definitely a nice Thursday night to go out and enjoy live music.

You can check out the photos posted over at Flickr.

There was lots happening in the downtown core. The TD Ottawa Jazz Festival had the legendary Earth, Wind and Fire while Mugshots had  the Rehab Pizza Party with Ottawa’s Silkken Laumann playing and a DJ set by Cadence Weapon. Exciting times in the Nation’s Capital with festivals going on.

Shooting With Impossible Photos at NXNE – S09E41

It started last year when I brought along the Fujifilm Instax and shot some instant photos. It became more a fun thing to do and to bring some nostalgia. Since digital photography is more prevalent, I decided to shoot with analog photographs to make things interesting. The response has been brought with surprise.

For the 2014 edition of NXNE, I decided to bring along the Polaroid camera and stacks of The Impossible Project films in various coloured frames. It was to provide shots to the artists, bands and friends as a way to cherish memories. I finally tried out the Black & White film for the SX-70 camera and it looked vibrant. I had been weary of using black & white because it didn’t interest but I found out that it develops faster than color. It has this artistic feel to it.
it was great to bring stacks as a few of the packs were made in late 2013 and best to use them as soon as possible.
Overall, it’s nice to bring some old-school flavour into photography.

I took photos at a couple of shows, at the CBC Radio 3 Fan Picnic and from Saturday’s MiO Squirtcar. Also in one of the photos, I got to meet one of The Strombo Show team during NXNE.
You can view the photos from below. There’s one photo that didn’t turn out too good due to the bright sunlight.

A Wrap-Up To NXNE 2014 Edition – S09E40

It was an exciting weekend being in Toronto and attending NXNE. What I forgot to mention in the previous entry that the festival celebrated its 20th anniversary this year and it’s a become a major hub for the Toronto music scene and abroad.

Onto the events I went to on Saturday. The first was attending the unofficial CBC Radio 3 Fan Picnic in Trinity-Bellwoods Park. This year, Grant Lawrence was unable to host it as he’s busy with the CBC Beetle Roadtrip Sessions. In his place was the lovely Lana Gay. The performers for this year were the Ottawa band, Loon Choir and Vancouver’s Skye Wallace. It was a fun time and good to see people that I know that were at the picnic.

After the picnic, I headed off to the Microsoft Surface Cafe. It’s a coffee shop where the company offered a first look of the Surface Pro 3. I was there for the Surface Harmony with the 2014 Polaris Music Prize Long List nominee, The Darcys. Jason Couse performed several tracks at the coffee shop and chatted along with bandmate, Wes Marksell about their musical upbringing and other things. It was quite an intimate setting and great to surprise them in showing up for the support.

Friday at NXNE 2014 Edition – S09E39

It was definitely a great time to be in Toronto for the 2014 edition of NXNE. The first event to check out was the Osheaga Rooftop party at Adelaide Hall. There, I got to meet the ever popular Christine McAvoy. Tagged along with her to several events at NXNE. The next stop was the Polaris Long List Salon as the 2014 edition of the Long List was announced. The panel had NOW’s Julia Leconte, Maclean’s/Radio Free Canuckistan’s Michael Barclay and CBC Radio 3’s Lana Gay. It was moderated by Exclaim’s James Keast. They ran down the 40 long listers and it’s safe to say all nominees seemed to have good choices.

After the salon was off to The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern for Hidden Pony Records‘ 5 year anniversary. I was there to see Rah Rah and to my own surprise, there were so many people that I bumped into. The usual CBC Radio 3 bloggers/fans, members of Fevers, The Elwins and some music bloggers from Celina Ip of heyilikeyourmusic and Alicia of A Music Blog, Yea?. It was definitely a fun time.

What A Way To End May With Kelp 20 – S09E38

May was definitely a fun month with Ottawa Comiccon, a fashion show, a bit of Chinatown Remixed and having to go to Niagara Falls and Toronto. Also, an interesting Creative Mornings Ottawa talk from the past week.

On the last day of May, Kelp Records held their 20th anniversary bash over at St. Albans Church in downtown Ottawa. The Ottawa-based record label has survived and thrived for very long ever since the emergence of digital music in recent times. Kelp helped bring musicians and bands from the likes of Jim Bryson, The Acorn, and various Ottawa artists to the forefront.
The concert from Saturday night consisted of Flecton Big Sky, Andy Swan, Banditas, Chris Page, Evening Hymns, Andrew Vincent, Jim Bryson, The Acorn and Recoilers.

At the show, it was great to see people that I know and you see a few instant photos from below. It was the last time to see the CBC’s Amanda Putz as she’s heading off to the Netherlands. The sad news for the past month was the job cuts and program cancellations to the CBC. It was a privilege to get to know Amanda as I did not know at the time that she was doing work at RTHK and connected to a radio host who I have been listening to. Prior to getting into Canadian indie music and listening to mostly Hong Kong radio, I had been listening to Bandwidth on and off when I was in the car going to places.
It’s definitely an end of an era and Amanda Putz will be missed as she championed Ontario music on the fine radio program on Saturday afternoons.

The photo above was used on the pre-release of Impossible Project’s Gen 2.0 600 Color Film.
You can view the photos from the show over at this link (via Flickr). Apologies on the quality as I’m still working out the kinks of the Fujifilm X-A1 camera.

Happy birthday to Kelp Records!
Lastly, since it’s June, I will be wrapping up for the season on the blog in the upcoming weeks.

Briefly Checking Out Chinatown Remixed 2014 – S09E37

After returning from Niagara Falls and Toronto, I rushed backed to Ottawa to check out Chinatown Remixed 2014. It’s located in Ottawa Chinatown on Somerset Street West. Chinatown Remixed is a month long event where artists promote their contemporary art to put at various businesses in Ottawa Chinatown. The event also provide live music and cultural performance to kick off the month long event.

For six years that Chinatown Remixed has been running, they got a major sponsor in the form of Porter Airlines and also promoting a contest as well. It’s great to see a small festival get good support from sponsors.
At Raw Sugar Cafe, there’s the #WeLoveOttCtown exhibit and one of my Instagram photos is on it.

I didn’t get a chance to check out all of the artists and there was some people I know who are participating. I was able to drop by one of the artists as I usually keep in touch on social media. It was Justyna Czujko aka Neon Lilith. She has unique photographs which she displayed at Chinatown Remixed.

Lastly, I finally got to take instant photos with her. The Impossible photos will be posted up later.
As usual, you can check the photos from my brief check out of Chinatown Remixed below.

Have a great Victoria Day weekend.

Stripes & Pins Fashion Show – S09E36

Following a hot sweaty mess at Ottawa Comiccon, I went to downtown for a fashion show by Marcelle Benedicte. It’s been awhile that I attended a fashion show. The event caught my interest because I have been hearing about Marcelle Benedicte for awhile. It’s due in part to The Weather Network’s Arda Ocal. He was the Ottawa correspondent back in late 2013 before moving to Vancouver not too long ago. Marcelle Benedicte was featured a few times on The Weather Network when Ocal was in Ottawa.

The event was at St. Brigid’s Centre for the Arts and it was quite an interesting event as they had proceeds going to Solidaire Jeunesse. The designers on hand were Aria Frances, L’Hexagone, Babes & Gents and Marcelle Benedicte. All are locally based, which is good to see at a fashion show and to show the growing diversity from the fashion designers in Ottawa.

It was great to see a few people I know from the likes of Grace of 613 Style, Nick Bachusky of Lunch Out Loud Ottawa and a photographer at the event.
Overall, it was a hectic Saturday with a comic book convention and a fashion show all in one boot. 🙂

Instead of posting the photos, you can check the photos at this link (via Flickr).

Wandering Around Ottawa Comiccon – S09E35

The second day of Ottawa Comiccon was crazy busy and very packed. I was in a hot sweaty mess having to wander around to see people in costumes and try to recognize people that I may know.

On Saturday’s agenda, I had the opportunity to check out a few Q&As (from Summer Glau and Sean Astin) and a panel on cosplay harassment.
The panel was hosted by Hollaback! Ottawa and it was to explore how people are being harassed in their costumes. Since conventions have become popular over time, there’s become a sense of negativity from online as people posts photos over on blogs and social media. Mentioned in the panel is that if you make a crappy costume, you still make an effort to be part of the fun. Cosplay have really stepped up the notch from fans being very creative and dedicated their time making their costumes.

It’s Hollaback! Ottawa’s first time being at the convention and I would give kudos to the group and the organizers of Ottawa Comiccon for stepping it up and bring awareness to the subject. Their slogan was Cosplay =/= Consent, meaning cosplays is not consent.
The reason for checking the panel was that I know a friend who was part of the discussion. Unfortunately, she was late due to car trouble. I was able to meet with her later. The photos from the group is posted below.

As usual, I took several photos of the cosplayers and there are a few I remember from last convention, Ottawa Pop Expo. At least I was able to get a few Sailor Moon related photos and there seems to be a lot of cosplayers who dressed up as Poison Ivy. I didn’t take any photos of cosplayers dressing up from the Doctor Who characters.

After attending Ottawa Comiccon for two days, I’m feeling pretty sore from all the walking and there was another event I went after Comiccon, that will be on the next entry.
You can view the photos below.

Thanks to Ottawa Comiccon for making a fun jam-packed event in its third year.
Note: I noticed some of the quality from the photos didn’t turn out great. Late night editing can get to you. I apologize for the mistakes I made. To the cosplayers I photographed, I have the non-watermarked version if you want it.

Ottawa Comiccon 2014 – S09E34

Fans of comic books, Sci-Fi, Anime and horror unite for Ottawa Comiccon at EY Centre. It’s the third year that it’s running and as usual, fans flocked down to EY Centre on a Friday afternoon to be dressed up in cosplay or to wait in line getting an celebrity autograph and photo-op.
This year sees celebrities from Summer Glau, Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), Bruce Campbell (Army of Darkness), Sean Astin (The Goonies), Edward James Elmos and a bunch of others. While comic book creators attending this year are Bob Layton (Iron Man), Tony Moore (The Walking Dead), Glenn Fabry (Preacher) and Neal Adams (Batman).

It’s my second year covering the event and I’m going around taking photos of cosplayers in their unique and very creative costumes that they spent time in designing. Friday was just a glimpse on how the setup was like and it’s good so far. I will expect to see a lot more for Saturday and will check out some panels.
For now, you can check the photos from Friday’s start of the convention.

Jessy Lanza at Mercury Lounge – S09E33

What a way to end April on a soggy note. Things weren’t too bad as I went to Mercury Lounge on Wednesday night for Jessy Lanza. On a previous entry, Lanza’s opener was suppose to be Ricky Eat Acid but due to a change, it was local DJ, Jas Nasty who helped spin groovy tunes on a rainy Wednesday night. Overall, it was a great show and there was a good turnout as the crowd enjoyed and danced to the electro-R&B tunes from Lanza. I was checking on Instagram and someone said that she sounded like the late Aaliyah’s secret love child.
It was also good to see people from the likes of Eventful Capital and a few members of Fevers attend the event.

As usual, you can view some photos below. There’s two black & white instant photos that I shot and it was used by The Impossible Project.

Kudos goes out to Pop Montreal (pennant shown on the photo) and Arboretum Festival for holding an awesome show.