Ottawa = Winterfell – S08E28

We know, we know – there are enough jokes out there about Snowmageddon and Snowpocalypse and …Winterfell.

But seriously, this snow though…It would give even the Night’s Watch a run for its money.

Still, we did our darnedest to pull together a good show yesterday. This post is a little delayed, since Lenny and I were stuck shovelling our driveways all afternoon, but here it is – our recap of this week’s edition of WildWorks.

Some pretty exciting news to start things off – The RBC Royal Bank Bluesfest lineup was announced yesterday, and we were reaaaal keen when we saw some of our favourites on the list. Big acts include Björk, BB King, the Dixie Chicks, Rush and Wu-Tang Clan. Personally I’m excited to see Passion Pit, Mother Mother, Zeds Dead, Camera Obscura and Bahamas.

The Christmas Program Guide for 2012 – S08E16

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone.

It’s that festive time of the year where Christmas music is being played on the radio and television. The 2012 edition is a bit different as I try avoiding to play the usual Christmas pop tunes on the airwaves.
I shifted the modern and mainstream Christmas tunes for the blog part for the show (stay tuned for the update). I have noticed that a couple of CKCU shows have been playing tracks from the likes of Christmas In Hollis by Run DMC and countless versions of Fairytale of New York.
On the live radio show, what was played were more on the Canadian indie Christmas music and luckily got to play some of the tunes from the newly released Ho! Ho! Ho! Canada 4. There was also an extended edition as I tried to not play a lot of Christmas tunes but used more on the Ho! Ho! Ho! Canada 4 compilation as they were new. The local band, The Acorn are on the new holiday compilation.
The photo shown has the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, a Santa hat and a present as a prop.
As usual on Christmas day, the only thing I anticipate is the Doctor Who Christmas special. This year was pretty good and all I can say about the new companion just makes me melt my heart.

Ending The 2012 Interview Segment with Diamond Rings and Holiday Tunes – S08E15

To cap off another year with great Canadian indie music. Ending the interview segment for 2012 happened to be Diamond Rings. It was quite the last minute as I encountered a problem from last week’s radio show. It was the second time to interview John O. aka Diamond Rings as he’s currently touring to promote his second album, Free Dimensional. I forgot how laid back and easy-going when I chatted with Diamond Rings. He was in Ottawa on Friday, December 7th and heard the show at Ritual Nightclub was sold out. Aside from the funny photo shown on top, I got a lot of “likes” when I posted the photo.
The audio of the interview will be posted below.

JD & The Straight Shot Concert Review from November 8, 2012

On November 8th, I had the opportunity to check out the New York band, JD & The Straight Shot at the National Arts Centre. They were the opening act for ZZ Top. The Straight Shot is fronted by James Dolan, who owns the Madison Square Gardens company. Other members in the band consist of guitarists Marc Copely and Adam Levy, keyboardist Brian Mitchell, drummer Shawn Pelton, bassist Zev Katz, and violinist Lorenza Ponce. It’s definitely a powerhouse of a band as some tour with Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band. The Straight Shot aren’t no slouch as they toured with The Eagles, The Allman Brothers and others to name a few.
The band’s musical style and influence are a blend of classic rock and blues. The unique thing about the band is that they’re not signed to a major record label and Dolan understands the changing business of the music industry as anyone can make their own music using their computer.
When they were in Ottawa, they were promoting their current EP, Midnight Run. With their performance, it felt like I was at Ottawa Bluesfest in an in-door setting because of the slow styled beats and melodic sound. Their current EP also brought out a New Orleans theme and in a way, holding a glass of Bourbon while. Mind you, I am not a drinker.
One of the songs Dolan mentioned during his performance that it was considered for a movie called Lawless but it got passed off. Instead, they performed to the delight of the Ottawa crowd.
Overall, the crowd enjoyed The Straight Shot’s performance and even Dolan said that the Ottawa was great. No one left their seats during the performance.
Midnight Run is available on iTunes and at any music stores.

Checked Out Pop-Up Gallery’s Opening Night Reception – S08E14

The concept of pop-up have become popular recently and on Thursday night, I had the opportunity to check Pop-Up Gallery in Ottawa. They had a grand opening and opening night reception as the gallery is located in the Hintonburg area of Ottawa. Who’s running Pop-Up Gallery? It consists of Ottawa’s three artists, Andrew King, Alison Fowler and Katherine Jeans.
The opening night was quite packed with guests as the blue house was not as big of a space to walk around. Also on hand were Liberal MPP, Yasir Naqvi and City of Ottawa Councillor, Katherine Hobbs.
I was able to look at some of the art and they were pretty interesting and unique to look at. What caught me by surprise was King’s Ottawapparel t-shirts as they have been getting a lot interest recently. What can you not like about Ottawa’s past signs and icons from former establishments. One missing was the Cathay Restaurant shirt as King said that the former owner bought the whole thing. The restaurant is no longer around as it’s replaced but an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant.
How could I not forget about food and refreshments. Food were provided by chef, Michael Blackie and it was deliciously awesome to try them out to go along with the art. There were mini Yorkshire Pudding, Oysters, chips and popcorn. The drinks were also provided by Pop Shoppe soda. Picture shown from above, I chose cream soda on the left. The photos of the event are be posted below.
It was a nice but cold Thursday night to experience Ottawa’s first pop-up art gallery. The Pop-Up Gallery runs from November 29 to December 23rd. They are located on 77 Holland Ave. Opening hours are Tuesday to Sunday but check the website for further info.

Wednesday’s Radio Show
Sorry for the delay in posting up the radio show as I didn’t have an idea to write this week. This week’s live show was mainly on cold & snowy songs and for the Chinese music, it was songs using the Saxophone.
This week’s Wild 10 Countdown has Crystal Castles staying on the top spot for the third week.
The playlist for this week’s show is over at this link.

What a Black Friday to Not Remember & Arts Nest – S08E13

Black Friday is usually a big deal in the United States but it has been catching on in Canada. Let’s say that it was a eventful day as I tried to get a new laptop at the Apple Store but they did not have the right model. In a way, Black Friday in Canada was a dud as I did not get anything that was worthy of a great sale.

To forget about the unfortunate event, I had the opportunity to go to Magpie Jewellery in Westboro for Arts Nest at night. It was organized by Creative Mornings and part of Support Local by Apartment 613. There were local designers, local musicians, and an artist.
There were free food in the form of tacos by Taco Lot and cupcakes! Plus, there was a free swag bag included at the event. All in all, being at Arts Nest certainly erased the frustration from shopping early this morning for Black Friday deals.
I did not to stay very long but got to take photos and a few are posted on my Instagram.
Hope you have a great weekend.

A Somewhat Lacklustre Wednesday – S08E12

This week’s radio show is a bit lacklustre because I had to host on my own and the co-host wasn’t able to come on the show. In a way, she went MIA for another week. On the live show at CKCU-FM, played were a new track by Feist called Fire In The Water from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 soundtrack and playing a track by Mother Mother as they will be in town on Friday night along with Hannah Georgas.
As 2012 is almost coming to an end, I decided to play some Cantopop songs from 1992 as it unbelievable that it’s 20 years has gone by so fast. It was definitely a trip down memory lane.
This week’s Wild 10 Countdown still has Crystal Castles on the top spot for the second week.
The music playlist for this week’s show is at this link.

Audio/Radio Show
The November 21st Radio Show – Press play to listen.
[audio http://archive.org/download/WildworksOnCkcu-fmForNovember212012/WildworksNovember212012.ogg]

From Animals to an Art Carnival on Sunday – S08E11

It’s been awhile that I have wrote an entry that’s not radio show related as the blog has been updated on a weekly basis. On Sunday, I had an opportunity to attend two events. The first was the Exposure Photo & Imaging Expo at the CE Centre (soon to be called (Ernst & Young Centre). It’s the first time to go to the building after taking a painful hour long bus ride. It was a good expo for Photo enthusiasts and junkies. The major players, Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm and etc were there showing the current models of cameras and lenses. There were a few animals to shoot photos with and it will be posted on this entry. There were some good deals on photo accessories and being impulse buyer, I was tempted to get a tripod but resisted the urge. Overall, it was a fine event to check out for anyone enjoys taking photography.
The other event to attend was at Art Carnival 2012 at Fall Down Gallery. It was an event done by Dream.Love.Grow (D.L.G) along with Da Industry and Kamp Operations. The event was raise cancer awareness and also the importance to keep creativity strong in the arts community.
It was styled in the form of a carnival with games, photos and live DJing. There were also art, painting and clothing on display at the event. It was great to see CKCU-FM colleagues, DJ 2 Creamz and Jewne (co-host of Fundamentally Sound) at the event. I was able to take some unique photos at the event. There are some photos from the event being posted below.
It was definitely a great Sunday to enjoy going to the events.

For The Fun of Growing a Moustache – S08E10

For the past few years, Movember has become a big and month long event in November since men are growing moustache for thirty days. The event is to raise awareness for Prostate cancer.
As for myself, I am not in any team for fundraising but I am growing it for the fun of it as you see from the photo above. I had some silly chatter from Nat & Marie through Twitter and Instagram that I should grow a Fu Manchu look. I am not sure if I will get to it by the end of the month.
Today’s radio show at CKCU-FM mentioned a bit of the event as a local band is participating in Movember and raising awareness in prostate cancer. Jack Pine and The Fire released a song called Moustache Is King and so far, several radio shows have been playing the track for the cause and support.
Also played on the radio show were classic Cantopop/Mandopop tracks. I had this Sandy Lam song in my head since August as I briefly listened to Hong Kong’s Commercial Radio [official link]. It’s considered a by-week as I didn’t have any interviews to air and my co-host was absent due to illness.
This week’s Wild 10 Countdown is Crystal Castles as their third studio album got released this week.
I had the opportunity to come out to the CKCU Wrap Up Party at Irene’s Pub last Sunday. It was great to see various hosts and other volunteers.
The playlist for this week’s show is at this link.
Have a great week!

Audio/Radio Show
The November 14th Radio Show – Press play to listen.
[audio http://archive.org/download/WildworksOnCkcu-fmForNovember142012/WildworksNovember142012.ogg]

It’s Support Local Month in Ottawa – S08E09

November is Support Local Month. For anyone who doesn’t know, it’s presented by the excellent Ottawa arts and culture blog, Apt613. Aside the fact that I didn’t have an interesting entry to write this week, I might as well write about this because I had the opportunity to go to the launch party at the Raw Sugar Cafe on November 1st. Another reason is that it’s mentioned in the video (below) for the trending topics. It’s good to give a local event some support.

The November 7th Radio Show
There was no interviews on this edition but good Canadian music being played. There’s a couple of bands and musicians who will be performing in Ottawa this week. The Darcys, The Luyas and Orit Shimoni  (Little Birdie) were played because they got shows for Friday night. There’s a lot of great acts coming to Ottawa in the next couple of weeks. Lauren came on the show for the live portion as she and other people are having trouble waking up due to the time chang.
On the Wild 10 Countdown, Diamond Rings is still number one for the second week. Apologies on not getting the entries posted up sooner.
The playlist for the show is over at this link.

WildWorks TV is back after a week’s absence. The filming was done after the radio show as it’s filmed at a different location and using a different camera. Trending topics for this week’s edition are Obama being re-elected for another 4 years, the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, Movember and Support Local Month.
Hope you enjoy the audio and the video.

Audio/Radio Show
The November 7, 2012 Radio Show – Press play to listen.
[audio http://archive.org/download/WildworksOnCkcu-fmForNovember72012/WildworksNovember72012.ogg]