Saturday at Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival and the Percy Station Opening – S11E33

There were a lot of events happening in Ottawa. From the Ottawa International Jazz Festival to Escapade to House Of Paint’s Community Jam and the Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival.

My afternoon started in Chinatown as there was a popup structure on Somerset and Percy. There was a fire that destroyed businesses in 2015 and the city decided to create a pilot project to transform the streetside parking to space of activity and renewing the urban space. Local businesses from Jackpine and Atelier Ruderal help made the creation possible. On hand at the opening were Somerset Ward Councillor, Catherine McKenney, the Somerset BIA and Awesome Ottawa. Photos from the event are posted below.

After that was off to Mooney’s Bay Park for Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival again. I never had a chance to take photos of the actual race, I have participated in dragon boat race back in the mid/late 1990s but it was the first time to hop on the boat and just have fun shooting the races.

The concert lineup for Saturday night was a good one. It started with Ottawa’s Pony Girl, then Halifax’s Nap Eyes (they’re on the 2016 Polaris Music Prize Long List) and topping it off was Alvvays. All three bands were excellent. I originally planned to leave after the third song of Alvvays but I saw a few friends I know that were in the crowd. I decided to dropped by for a bit. The crowd was quite the spontaneity with the crazy jumping, dancing and bumping around.

You can view the photos below.

The 2015 Polaris Music Prize Gala – S11E01 (Season Premiere)

The 2015 edition of the Polaris Music Prize unveiled their winner for best album of the year and it went to Buffy Sainte-Marie for her album, Power In The Blood. Quite fitting that it’s back to back years for an Aboriginal artist to winning the prize.

To start season 11 of the blog, it was fitting to attend the Polaris Music Prize Gala for the second. This year is no exception for the prize as it’s now ten years old. The Polaris Music Prize has garnered a lot of attention in the Canadian media due in part of the 200 writers, journalist, DJs and personalities from across Canada to show the passion of Canadian music.
This year’s prize got upped to $50,000 with the sponsors and supporters of Canadian music.

Out of the ten shortlisted nominees, the ones performed were Buffy Sainte-Marie, Alvvays, Braids, Jennifer Castle, Viet Cong (who will be changing their band name). As well as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra accompanying on some of the performers and bands.
There’s other points that I left out due to the time of writing this entry.

This year’s host was Fred Penner and he sure entertained the crowd and show his love of Canadian music.
Overall, it was a great time attending the Polaris Music Prize Gala and always a thrill to see people I know. Kudos to Steve Jordan and the staff at Polaris for keeping the job done. It’s a blast to be in Toronto.

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

The Best of 2014 Countdown Part 2 (S10E13)

As promised, the second part to my best of 2014 countdown. This list is from #20 to #1 and it’s the best part of the year ender to Canadian independent music. The countdown for the past few years has no repeats from an artist and band. It’s based on the album and when it was released.

Without spoiling much, the top 10 has half of the entries by female musicians. 2014 has been an important year to female rights and violence against women. Without spoiling much, the playlist is posted below. Several entries have a lot of returnees as artists and bands have released their follow-ups to their previous albums. Some have been critically acclaimed.
As usual, you can listen to the audio.

Happy New Year and hello to 2015.

Audio – #20 to #1
Press play to listen.