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 Nestat 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. Continue reading →
Gotta hand it to social media or a particular Internet show because last Friday, I had an opportunity to meet up the duo known as SidePonyNation. Tanya and Lynn were in Ottawa as part of Ottawa Race Weekend’s Heath and Fitness Expo at the Ottawa Convention Centre. They were there to sell clothing by Modrobes. I had the opportunity to do an interview and provide them with cupcakes from The Cupcake Lounge. The thing I forgot about Modrobes was that it was featured on CBC’s Dragons’ Den a few seasons ago and also a well known clothing brand. The audio interview is posted below.
Concluding the Asian Heritage Month Song Set
It’s been a fun month in playing Canadian bands and musicians with Asian backgrounds as part of celebrating Asian Heritage Month in Canada. This Wednesday’s show was getting through the ones I haven’t played from the likes of Wendy Versus and Ember Swift. All in all, it was a blast playing and supporting the musicians and bands with Asian roots.
Another note, Cadence Weapon is still number one for the third week on The Wild 10 Countdown. The new entry on the countdown is Kandle. Also on the top 10 are Cold Specks and Metric as they are getting a lot of plays on various radio shows.
The playlist for the May 30th show is at this link.
Audio/Interview
The May 30th Radio Show – Press play to listen.
It’s fun having someone join me on the radio show. It’s this time of the season when people go away for the next couple of months. Wednesday’s show was my co-host, Lauren’s last show of the season. For the time being, I will be hosting solo until she returns. Overall, she had the chance to interview with the likes of Dan Mangan, Said The Whale and Hey Ocean!on her second season.It’s pretty funny that we got to interview bands from Vancouver. It’s alway a privilege to have someone passionate about Canadian indie music.
Also on the show was the interview with Yukon Blonde (another Vancouver band). It’s been awhile I had a chance to interview them because of other events happening. This time, I was able to but without the co-host. The audio of the interview is posted below.
On the live show, a guest hung out and it was former host of Horses Spilled Milk, Erica as she wanted to myself and Lauren to go to The Cupcake Lounge due in part being Lauren’s last show for the time being. The photo of the cupcakes is shown below.
As usual, there’s the Wild 10 Countdown and Lauren’s music picks of the season. You can listen to the show in the Audio section below.
The radio show playlist is at this link.
Kid Koala at Canada Aviation and Space Museum
On April 15th, I had the opportunity to go to The Canada Aviation and Space Museum for the Kid Koala Space Cadet Headphone Concert. It was very last minute to go and thanks to Apartment 613 for the enjoyable time. I did not realize that snailhouse was the opening act to Kid Koala. I enjoyed the headphone concert and the tracks he performed reminded me at the time when he opened up for the Arcade Fire outdoor at Pop Montreal. For anyone who has me on Facebook and Instagram, I posted some photos on there but I will post them here for your interest.
Enjoy!
Audio/Interview
The April 18th Radio Show – Press play to listen.
[audio http://archive.org/download/WildworksOnCkcu-fmForApril182012/WildworksApril182012.mp3]
The Yukon Blonde Interview Continue reading →
It was a close call for Wednesday’s show because I had a equipment failure on Saturday night as I was doing a pre-recorded interview with Adaline. Luckily, there was a second chance as I did a live phone interview with her. It was almost a disaster because CKCU-FM doesn’t do long distance calls as I would need a long distance card to call outside of Ottawa. Aside from the slight setback, it was smooth sailing from then on as I got to do the interview. You can listen to the interview in the audio section. What I forgot to mention were the opening acts from Saturday’s show. They were Factory Owl and The Watters Brothers. Up and coming local bands. I’ve seen The Watters Brothers perform and they bring a style of Blues which is marvellous. It was the first time to check out Factory Owl and their use of orchestral instruments sounded pretty lovely. Overall, it was good Saturday night to enjoy live music.
What was played on the live radio show were songs from Hong Kong films as this Sunday will be the 31st Hong Kong Film Award. It’s become a yearly tradition to play past winners from the Best Song Film category leading up to the award show. As far as I know, it will be broadcast on RTHK Radio 2 and will definitely listen in.
Aside from the live show was the top 10 countdown and I haven’t made a set date on resuming the top 10 entries.
The playlist is over at this link.
Audio/Interviews
The full show – Press play to listen.
[audio http://archive.org/download/WildworksOnCkcu-fmForApril112012/WildworksApril112012.mp3]
The Adaline Interview
It was a great privilege to chat with Will Currie from Will Currie and the Country French on the weekend. The band has been around for a couple of years and I did not get a chance to do an interview them when they stopped by in Ottawa. The interview was aired on Wednesday’s show at CKCU-FM. It’s been awhile that I have done a music interview because it was a slow time during the holidays and up until January of 2012.
The interview with Currie was light-hearted at best and really wished that my co-host was there to help out as well. Overall, it was nicely done. Oh yes! Even though I rarely mention it on my show, I had cupcakes to bring along for Will Currie and The Country French and almost forgot that it was the lead member’s birthday at the time of the recording. The photo of the cupcakes is posted below.
Don’t forget to listen to the radio show and the interview at your own time.
The playlist for Wednesday’s show is over at this link. The Wild 10 Countdown summary will be posted later.
Audio/Interviews
The full February 15th show – Press play to listen.
[audio http://www.archive.org/download/WildworksonCkcu-fmForFebruary152012/WildworksFebruary152012.mp3]
The live part of the show – Press play to listen.
[audio http://www.archive.org/download/WildworksonCkcu-fmForFebruary152012/WildworksFeb15Live.mp3]
The Will Currie and The Country French Interview
Photo
The cupcakes to Will Currie and The Country French from Saturday, Feb. 11th
It’s the yearly festive time as I play a lot of Christmas songs on my radio show at CKCU-FM. Aside from the tunes, I decided to get these unique holiday flavoured sodas by Jones Soda. The flavours were Candy Cane, Gingerbread, Pear Tree and Sugar Plum.
One of the CKCU shows I hung out, we tried the Candy Cane Soda. The host’s verdict was that it tasted like something out of the dentist. It’s not in a bad way but he didn’t mind the taste of it.
This will be the 2011 edition holiday guide to the shows I hosted at CKCU-FM.
I was on the air for Christmas Eve and just played a bunch of Christmas songs and then a few past Christmas #1 UK songs. It was great to play the Christmas tunes everytime. There were a few requests through Twitter and hopefully some were pleased.
The full Top 50 of 2011 is over at this link or on the top right of the blog.
The playlist for the December 21st show is at this link.
I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Finishing Up The Top 50 of 2011 for December 28, 2011 The third part of my Top 50 of 2011 is completed. Instead of playing the top 10, I’ve decided to play the top 11 as it’s fitting that 2011 is ending. This week’s show is slightly different as the first hour would usually be podcasted on this blog. It’s a bit of a flip-flop as the first hour was live and the second hour is for the blog. Both are splitter up for your listening convenience.
The playlist for December 28th’s show is at this link.
A New Year’s Eve Update
I had the opportunity to do a fill in for a Friday night radio show. I wasn’t expecting to have another final show of 2011. Thanks to the guys from Friday Night Derailment for the last minute fill in.
The playlist from the December 30th show is at this link.
Happy New Year!
Audio/Radio Show
The December 14th Radio Show – Press play to listen.
The December 21st Radio Show – Press play to listen.
From Both Kinds of Music’s Both Kind of Xmas Show – press play to listen.
The December 24th (Christmas Eve) Radio Show. The playlist is at this link. Press play to listen.
The December 28th radio show.
Hour 1 – press play to listen.
Hour 2 – press play to listen.
The December 30th radio show. Press play to listen.
Photo
Here’s a photo of cupcakes I got at The Cupcake Lounge on Christmas Eve.
What a way to begin a new season for the blog and radio show. It’s the second year to do a show playing moon songs and bringing in mooncakes in honour of Mid-Autumn Festival. This time, I decided to bring a unique kind of mooncakes to CKCU-FM. The ones I brought along were Taro and Sweet Potato cake and the other one with the purple, pink, yellow and white, they were the fruity flavoured mooncakes. Thankfully, I got them at T&T Supermarket and I wanted something different as I haven’t been accustomed to the lotus paste and egg yolk. I’m not a big fan of the egg yolk.
Enough on the food and on to the radio show. Now on the third season, it’s filled with great tunes and a returning co-host in some capacity. It’s great to have Lauren back, but I found out that she won’t be on the show for the live part. She will be there for the recorded part, which is the top 10 countdown. All in all, it’s great to get some help. In the first hour of the show, I played Go Outside (Menahan Street Band Remix) by Cults as I was listening to The Strombo Show on Sunday and George played the original version of Go Outside.
Wednesday night, we had an opportunity to interview Sara Lowes and an unexpected or impromptu but funny interview with Ben of Said The Whale. It’s great for my co-host to finally get a chance to interview a musician. Expect the interviews to be aired next week.
The playlist for September 14th’s show is at this link. The Wild 10 Countdown entry for September 14 is at this link.
Last thing, I decided to give some of the mooncakes to Dick Altavista of Both Kinds of Music and the hosts of A Juncture. Hoped you liked it. What a great way to begin the new season. Continue reading →
OK, I had an itch to blog something as it’s food related. Before going to CKCU-FM, I decided to go to The Cupcake Lounge to try out their cucpakes. As usual, I would buy cupcakes before going to a radio show at CKCU. Never on my show because I’m on for Wednesday mornings and the cupcake places don’t open at 10am and I’m stuck at the station. It used to be on Saturday nights but this time, it was on Thursday from 12-2pm for Fundamentally Sound. The photo displayed, top left was Key Lime, bottom left was Chocolate Dulce du Leche and then the others were Cherry (middle) and Red Velvet (right). I had Fundamentally Sound’s Dennis and Jewne and even the CKCU Sponsorship Coordinator try them out. Their verdict on the cupcakes by The Cupcake Lounge were great. For myself, I had Red Velvet, Cherry and Key Lime. When I had the Key Lime after the show finished up, I was close to having a cupcake coma due to their excellent icing. Overall, the cupcakes were excellent and it’s nice that they were freshly made. The icing weren’t overly sweet. Remind myself to get an extra bottle of water to overcome the icing.
Lastly, I’ve decided to post up the radio show from my mine and for Fundamentally Sound on here. Enjoy another Summer special entry!
Audio/Podcast
The July 7 edition of Fundamentally Sound – Press play to listen.
The interview segment on Funadmentally Sound
The July 6 edition of WildWorks (Summer Edition) – press play to listen
Summer has arrived in the Nation’s Capital and the nice, warm weather has been either positive to the sun lovers or negative for anyone not liking the heat. I don’t need to mention about the fashion shows again as you go back to the last entry. Aside from that, Wednesday’s show returned to the usual format of the first hour being pre-recorded and the second hour being live on the airwaves. Due to last week’s post holiday hangover, the segment I wanted to play got aired for the first of June’s edition of the radio show. It’s a leftover from May to say the least. I found out a friend went to sleep when I started to play the sad love songs in Chinese. Before that, I decided to play a track by Crissi Cochrane and I think my friend liked the song I played. As usual, the new Arcade Fire tracks, Speaking In Tongues and Culture War has been garnering a lot of buzz and for this week, the new single from Library Voices came out. Forgot to mention that the start of the first hour (podcast) of the show had a tribute to Gil Scott-Heron as he passed away last week. He was known as the Godfather of Rap. I wished I had known some of his musical works.
I couldn’t forget about giving a shoutout to Nat & Marie again as I have been enjoying their Wednesday night Internet show.
The Wild 10 Countdown for June 1, 2011 summary. In case I may not update the sister blog, there’s a new number one song to kick off June’s countdown. It’s Kill Count by The Balconies. Even though they are now in Toronto but good for Ottawa’s own The Balconies for grabbing the top spot. The biggest gainer for this week happens to be Austra as the band is getting a lot of praise for the release of the debut album, Feel It Break. It is also iTunes Canada’s Free Single of the Week.
Since there will be a lot of events coming up for June. Season six for the blog will be winding down soon. There will be a few entries left before it goes into Summer break, just like the TV season as it finished in May.
The New Midnight Jamz Preshow – June 4, 2011 and Cupcakes
I finally returned to The New Midnight Jamz and the preshow podcast. It’s a lengthy one as the host, DJ Daddy Rich and myself went through the Top 10 US chart from Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles Chart. As usual, we discussed on Doctor Who since the midseason finale aired in the UK.
As we ended off the podcast, we decided to play the mini-mix from The Strombo Show’s The Blend. The mini-mix is at this link.
It’s been awhile that I brought cupcakes to CKCU-FM and this time, I went to Auntie Loo’s Treats as I’ve heard it has one of the best cupcakes.
Here’s the mini-playlist from the preshow.
Praise Da Lord (featuring Shad) – Maestro
Rolling In The Deep – Adele
Alright OK! – Masia One (apology for not mentioning her on the podcast)
The Blend – Coco Fresh and Lissa Monet
The photos posted from below shows Strawberry Lemonade, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Mint Chocolate and Earl Grey with Lemonade. Overall, they were pretty good but the bad part was that I putted it in the fridge and it was kind of solid. The icing tasted good and wasn’t overly sweet.
Links
The playlist for the June 1st radio show is at this link.
The Wild 10 Countdown entry for June 1st is at this link.
Audio/Podcast
The June 1st Radio Show – Press play to listen.
The New Midnight Jamz for June 4, 2011 (includes the preshow podcast)
The Preshow Podcast – is posted from PodOmatic at this link.
For the second time before heading to CKCU-FM for The New Midnight Jamz, I went for another batch of cupcakes as I heard this past week about a new cupcake place which opened up in the Byward Market. It’s called Glitz Cupcakes and Company and it’s located on 11 Murray St. As you see the photo on top, they look scrumptious. I brought it for The New Midnight Jamz and the hosts didn’t mind it again. The verdict on the cupcakes this time were that they’re very sweet. For myself, it wasn’t too bad as I tried maple (middle left) and strawberry (top right). The good thing about Glitz’s cupcakes were that it was still moist and there was no dryness when eating it. Aside from the sugary-ness, you would still need a full glass of water to wash off.
For a slight shout/plug, I will wait for Hilary Duff (not the pop singer) when she gets a chance to check it out and review it for Local Tourist Ottawa. She’s been searching for cupcakes in Ottawa. Check her reviews out!
Another surprise from the host of The New Midnight Jamz was that he gave me a cake as a late birthday greeting as last weekend was my birthday. Thanks for the nice surprise as their show is not on every Saturdays.
Food aside, the tunes played on The New Midnight Jamz were the usual Hip-Hop and R&B tracks with some Canadian content added. To check the playlist, go to this link.
Audio
The February 26th edition of The New Midnight Jamz. Added was a pre-show podcast exclusive as I was the host to kick off The New Midnight Jamz.
Press play to listen.
New Addition
Also happened on Saturday was getting a USB microphone. Since being cut to an hour on the airwaves, I’ve decided to get comfortable with pre-recording part of my show as I get more leeway to be loose and go at my own pace. The microphone I purchased was Blue Microphones Yeti. The microphone has been out for awhile and I found out that they’re out with the Yeti Pro but I don’t think I would need it due to the price. I tested the microphone out as I pre-recorded for the pre-show on The New Midnight Jamz. To my own surprise, the sound quality of the recording went pretty well. Easy setup to my laptop and that was it. Here’s the photo of it.
WildWorks 