Yes We Mystic and Sounds of Stories at Pressed – S11E29

Yes We Mystic and Sounds of Stories played at Pressed on Thursday. It’s been awhile I have stepped foot at Pressed and didn’t realize an expanded space in the back.

Starting with Sounds of Stories, they’re an Ottawa band which is now a 6 member piece. Their genre is on the indie folk and rock side. They started off Thursday’s show at Pressed and made a great impression with their performance. The Voyage is their current album released and possibly a new album to be out in the Fall. You can check their album on Bandcamp.

Yes We Mystic is a Winnipeg indie rock band. They recently returned from Europe and back in Canada. Ottawa being the first on their Canadian tour. The band recently released their album, Forgiver. I was able to catch some of their performance and they were pretty rocking and full of melodic sounds.

Overall, a fine Thursday night to be out and about in the Nation’s Capital. June has a lot of events happening right now. Summer is in full form.

The photos are posted below.

The 2016 Polaris Music Prize Long List – S11E28

© Polaris Music Prize

This year’s unveiling of the Polaris Music Prize 2016 Long List had glitches as it was live streaming through their Facebook. You can’t blame the organizers for the technical difficulties. The long list is quite intriguing with surprises and as usual, excellent Canadian albums. There’s several unknowns to check out from the list.

This year’s long list announcement was held in Yellowknife, NWT and unfortunately didn’t watch of the all live streaming from earlier today.

The Polaris Music 2016 Long List;

Saw Gallery Summer Opening and Party – S11E27

 

Saw Gallery held their Summer Opening and Party on Thursday night. There was a new exhibit displayed along with live music outdoors. The event was in collaboration with CHUO FM, Ottawa Explosion Weekend, National Campus and Community Radio Conference, and the Embassy of Finland in Ottawa

With the opening and party, there were food served by Friday Lunch Project. It was a healthy menu of sandwiches provided.

The live music consisted of Scary Bear Soundtrack, Crabe and Telecomo. Unfortunately, I only checked out Scary Bear Soundtrack as I’m dealing with a cold.

You can check out the photos below.

It Has To Be a YOW mini – S11E26

Tuesday night at Stoneface Dolly’s, there was an event called YOW mini. It was hosted by YOW City Style and Maria Saracino. This exhibit combined the fashionable people of Ottawa and mixed it with sculptures in a miniaturized form.

It’s the who’s who of Ottawa from bloggers, fashionistas, musicians and the local business people.

The sculptures were based on photos shot by the creator of YOW City Style. It’s also to celebrate the blog’s one year anniversary.

At the event, there were bite sized apps by Stoneface Dolly’s, some treats by Little Jo Berry and cocktail drinks by Renew Cold Press.

It was a privilege to meet with Katie of Yow City Style as she’s pretty active on social media with the postings.

Don’t forget to check out the photos from the event.

Some Expired Impossible Photos While in Toronto – S11E25

Returned from Toronto after a four day excursion. I had the chance to check out live music on Saturday and the Field Trip Music and Arts Festival on Sunday. The festival was held at Fort York and Garrison Common.

I didn’t take much photos as I didn’t bring the Sony a7 camera. I only used the iPhone and the Polaroid SX-70 camera. I’m currently using expired instant film from The Impossible Project. My initial worry from the expired film would be the image looking very washed out. It’s been good so far with the outcome. It was great to see a friend and former co-host, Lauren in Toronto as she’s doing her Masters at Ryerson.

In one of the photos, I was able to get one with Lennon and Maisy, the sisters who were on recently cancelled TV show, Nashville. They were suppose to perform at Field Trip but there was a severe storm which impacted the festival and had music fans evacuate the area. Fortunately, they didn’t disappoint fans with the meet and greet.

From Sunday’s Field Trip, I also got to see Basia Bulat perform and she did not disappoint. Hope she will be back in Ottawa for a concert.

I was staying in the Lakeshore area of Toronto and surprised how revitalized it has been with all the condos and lofts being situated.

You can check out the Impossible photos from below. There’s photos from Wes of Darcys to The Kents playing at The Horseshoe Tavern.

Sunday Morning at Canadian Tulip Festival – S11E24

On a cold Sunday morning, I went to Aberdeen Pavilion in Lansdowne Park for the Canadian Tulip Festival. The festival runs from May 12th to the 23rd.

At the venue, there are a lot of activities happening and there’s the International Friendship Pavilion showcasing various music and dance performances. The best thing about the venue is that it’s indoors. There’s no worrying over rain. The last time I checked out an event for Tulip Festival, it was outdoors and to support a friend who was MCing.

Taiwan is one of the countries taking part at Tulip Festival and that two of the members of the lion dance troupe took part in it. They were the dancing gods. I found the info over on Wikipedia, which you can read.

The weather should get warmer later this week and it’s best to check out the tulips come Victoria Day weekend.

Aside from the performance, I took photos of the indoor Tulip and Sculpture Garden.

The photos can viewed below.

The Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival & Foundation Launch Party – S11E23

On Thursday night, the Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival held a launch party at the Royal Oak on Centrepointe to celebrate the 23rd edition of the festival. The event will be held from June 23rd to the 26th.

At the launch party, they had a menu using the dragon theme named. There were two bite sized sliders and sandwiches, they were Angry Dragon Sliders and Spicy Dragon Sandwich. The Angry Dragon Sliders consisted of beef sliders with some bacon, pineapple and jalapeno. The Spicey Dragon Sandwich had chicken, jalapeno and guacamole.

With the launch party, they festival mentioned the amazing dragon boat race and teams competing as well as plans for next year to coincide with Canada’s 150th birthday. Exciting times floating ahead.

As usual, the concert lineup will be stellar and totally Canadian. This year will have July Talk, Mother Mother, Alvvays and Ottawa’s A Tribe Called Red.

Lastly, you can check out the photos over at Flickr by clicking HERE.

Celebrating Ottawa Music with Heart My City – S11E21

CBC Ottawa hosted a concert at the Horticulture Building at Lansdowne Park on Monday night. It was originally for Winterlude back in February but due to extreme cold temperatures, it was cancelled. What better way to kick off Spring with the event than in the Winter.

The event dubbed #heartmyYOW had Ottawa musicians perform in a sold out crowd. The performers Yaa-Hemaa, Jeremy Fisher, Jim Bryson, Amanda Rheaume and Kalle Mattson. DJ Memetic DJing before the event started. All of the performers were great and had funny and unique stories about living in Ottawa. There were some freebies and refreshments at the event, which was nice to enjoy.

The hosts of the event were Adrian Harewood and Teri Loretto with Alan Neal, Robyn Bresnahan, and Omar Dabaghi-Pacheco as they brought their experience of how great Ottawa is.
Got to hand to CBC Ottawa for holding a great event.

You can check the photos below.

Canada Reads, Ottawa Event on Friday – S11E20

On Friday night, I had the opportunity to attend CBC Canada Reads public event and hosted by All In A Day‘s Alan Neal. The 2016 edition of Canada Reads is nearing and this event had one of the finalists, Saleema Nawaz for her book, Bone and Bread. She’s originally from Ottawa and now residing in Montreal.

Nawaz’s defender, Farah Mohamed was there for the event and telling the audience why’s she defending the book and hoping it wins Canada Reads.
Aside from the conversations, there were performances from Mehdi Cayenne Club and Casey Mecija (formerly of Ohbijou and host of CBC’s The Doc Project).

A Discussion on Food Security in an Era of Climate Change and Conflict – S11E19

The discussion on food has always been an important topic in the developing and developed world. On Friday, I had the opportunity to check an event hosted by the University of Ottawa’s Centre for International Policy Studies. CBC Radio 2 and Hockey Night In Canada’s George Stroumboulopoulos was in conversation with the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Ertharin Cousin.

The discussion on food security ranged from how the WFP helps give aid to countries in dire need. Developed nations like Canada try to assist in giving aid to war-torn countries or countries devastated by natural disasters. People like us get affected and try help out as possible to give aid and support.

Aside from his hosting duties and a love of music, Strombo is a WFP ambassador and a huge advocate for food security. It’s good to show the importance of food security as developing countries don’t have the opportunity of getting resources and getting people healthy.

Ms. Ertharin was amazing and explained the packed crowd about what the WFP does and giving insight about the need to fight the hunger from countries in crisis.
If you’re interested to know more about the WFP, here’s their mission statement.

It was an informative event and learning about organizations like the World Food Programme can make the difference to help save lives from countries in need.

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