Much More March: Events All-Over for the Month Ahead

March is just around the corner in the National Capital Region and so are plenty of events to keep you busy and entertained. The month ahead will certainly be nothing short of amazing.

To kick things off, Steve Aoki and Datsik will be at the Ottawa Civic Centre Salon this Thursday, March 1 on the occasion of the 2012 Dim Mak’s Deadmeat Tour. This promises to be a heavy night of bass for fans of dubstep, house and electro alike. Check out the event poster below and click for event details…Ottawa, can you truly represent your city?

 

Also this Thursday March 1, on the hip-hop side of things, Kapacity Entertainment presents the one and only Raekwon “the Chef” of the Wu Tang Clan at Ritual Nightclub. This is not his first time performing in the Nation’s Capital and tickets are still on sale and available online and at all locations. If you’re a true fan of classic hip-hop and the whole Wu Tang fam, please do yourself yourself a favor and check out Raekwon especially if you’ve never seen him live before. The man does NOT disappoint. More details if you click on the poster below…

 

 

Between March 1 and March 4, the city of Gatineau is hosting its annual book fair called the Salon du Livre de l’Outaouais (SLO). Taking place at the Gatineau Congress Centre in Vieux-Hull, this event is the place to be for book lovers, writers, and publishing houses. The annual gathering offers much more than books for sale. Check out the full event program on the SLO website.

 

Kicking off as I type these words, VerseFest, a world of poetry in Ottawa, runs from February 28 to March 4 at various locations around the city. If you love writing and reading poetry, this is definitely for you! You can find the entire programming on the VerseFest official website.

 

 

This Saturday, the March Edition of Static features DJ extraordinaire DROP THE LIME at Babylon. DROP THE LIME is not just a DJ. He offers a full on one-man music performance: he sings, he DJs, and all out performs for every crowd he plays in front of. Ottawa is definitely in for a treat! Check out the event details on the poster below!

 

Also this Saturday is the grand opening of Bijou, the newest night club and lounge to hit Canada’s National Capital,  with DJs Sean Perry and Kid SL. For the official opening, the masterminds behind Bijou promise:

- The sexiest and most fashionable staff in Ottawa
-A selection of over 20 cocktails and 20 martinis
-A vast and exclusive champagne, scotch, cognac and whiskey selection
-The best music and DJ’s in the region
-The most exclusive playground in the city

Let’s see if this new venue is as hot and unique as it claims to be…!

 

After poetry galore, the Bijou opening and DROP THE LIME, comes the Montreal-Indie rock band Plants and Animals who will be performing live at Ritual on March 8 with Thus:Owls, a Swedish Indie band. If you enjoy indie alternative music, you should definitely come out for this line-up. The main act, Plants and Animals, will be performing songs off their latest team effort The End of That.  Check out event details here.

 

 

This ought to keep you all busy for the week and weekend ahead! Much More March events will be announced next week….Stay tuned and enjoy whatever events you’ll be partaking in over the next couple of days!

La Coka Nostra x Swollen Members

Reblogged from byward of mouth:

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Hardcore Hip Hop was definitely in the Capital early February as Swollen Members and La Coka Nostra hit up Ritual Nightclub for a mid-week show. The two groups set out on a cross-Canada tour earlier this month, with this being the first time La Coka Nostra has toured all together in Canada.

The crowd was hype as Swollen Members (

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A Week of Music: Tiken Jah Fakoly, YACHT, Great Bloomers and More…!

Winterlude may be over and the canal closed for the rest of the season, but that doesn’t mean you have to give in to the winter blues. Get ready Ottawa because this will be another week packed with events for the National Capital Region!

First off, I found out last week that singer and musician Tiken Jah Fakoly will be in Ottawa at the Shenkman Arts Centre of Orleans this Wednesday, February 22. The African Bob Marley was scheduled to perform at the same venue last year, but the show was cancelled the day before for reasons I can’t recall. So, when I realized the Ivory Coast artist would be back, there was no question about it, I most definitely have to attend! Tiken Jah is just one of those artists that speaks from the heart and isn’t afraid to point the finger at the rampant injustice present all over modern Africa. It’s feel good music with a social conscience I just can’t wait to travel back to the Motherland with him through an evening of music. Tiken Jah Fakoly performs this Wednesday night at 8:00 pm and tickets are still on sale as I type this. If you love African reggae and want to see this legend in the flesh, visit the Shenkman Arts Centre website for more info.

Also on Wednesday night, the electronic group YACHT will be at Ritual with Silkken Laumann and Jeffrey Jerusalem. YACHT describes itself as a band, belief system, and business conducted by Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans of Los Angeles, California, Marfa, Texas and Portland, Oregon, USA which embraces eclectic but playful blend of electronics, accoustic percussions and noises of all sorts. I’ve never seen them live, but apparently their show at Ritual 2 years ago was very entertaining! Check out the event details here.

On Thursday, the Up and Up Concert Series present Drumhand at Babylon starting at 9pm. Drumhand is a Toronto power-house of rhythms from hot climates complimented by the melodic spirit of of New Orleans’ style jazz horns. The group was in Ottawa last winter as part of the Ottawa Jazz Fest’s Winter line-up. Now they’re back in town on a tour supported by the Ontario Arts Council. Click on the poster below for details.

If you want to check out some indie folk roots rock this weekend, Spectrasonic and punkottawa.com present The Wooden Sky and Great Bloomers this Friday February 24 at Ritual. These  two bands from Toronto will be in Ottawa playing live sets from their albums entitled “Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon A Sun” and ’Speak Of Trouble’. For further information on the event please visit the event page here.

Great Bloomers

Here are more events taking place around the city this weekend…! Click on the poster for event details and enjoy the next few days!

Fashawn

Reblogged from byward of mouth:

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At the beginning of February, Fresno, California native Fashawn rolled through Ritual Nightclub, in the heart of downtown Ottawa. This was Fashawn's second time playing at Ritual, previously opening for Brother Ali last year, this time headlining the tour himself.

Opening the show for Fashawn were locals Homebased, and Notes to Self (Swamp Donkey, Roshin, BronzeOne and DJ Dopey of MTV Live fame), who hail from Toronto.

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Nuit Blanche Ottawa reveals theme, issues call to artists

Reblogged from Ottawa Citizen:

A few years ago, late one night at Big Beat Central, a friend and I were drowning ourselves in single-malt when he asked me, “Simpson, tell me one true thing.” To my surprise, what came to mind was, “Life is beautiful.” He was surprised my answer wasn’t more cynical.

That’s precisely what appealed to Stefan St-Laurent when he chose the theme “Life is Beautiful/La Vie est Belle” for the inaugural Nuit Blanche Ottawa, to be held later this year.

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Nuit Blanche Ottawa announces theme, calls to artists

Reblogged from Ottawa Citizen:

Nuit Blanche Ottawa will take a major step forward today, when it releases the official theme for the 2012 event and issues a call for proposals to artist.

The theme of the inaugural Nuit Blanche in Ottawa will be Life is Beautiful, or La Vie est Belle, as chosen by curator Stefan St. Laurent. It’ll be the theme that must be reflected in the  installations that artists create for the one-night event, to be held Sept.

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In the news...annoucements for Ottawa's-own Nuit Blanche coming soon!

A Busy February: Extra Events for Ladies and Gents

Yes its Wednesday and the weekend is still 2 days away, but don’t despair! There are still plenty of events happening in and around town to keep you busy for the rest of February. For example, its the last weekend of Winterlude if you haven’t taken advantage of it yet.

As a reminder, tomorrow is the Sunn Daze Cirque Noir Born Bad: A Natural Born Killers Vday Party happening at Babylon. More details on the event flyer below…

 

Also this Thursday is the Double Barrel night at Overkill Bar (in the basement of the Mercury Lounge) with DJ Illo, a rare example of eclectic record collector — soul music lover — musician — producer — crowd conscious DJ . Raised and residing in Ottawa, Illo has played all the best parties in the city, every major city in Canada you’ve ever been to and many in the United States as well. You can expect to hear all era’s of soul music at Ottawa’s only weekly night that celebrates classic soul and funk with the dancefloor in mind. Starts at 10pm + no cover = gotta love it.

For those of you on the Ontario side, there’s a strong chance that some of you will have Monday off for Family Day. If you’re looking for something to do on Sunday, the Play On Players present Afro Family Funk, an evening of dancing, sining and remembering with resident funksters DJ Illo and DJ Magnificient

 

Starting on February 17 is the 34th edition of the Gatineau Ski Loppet, the biggest cross-country ski competition in Canada that takes place right here in the Gatineau Park. If you love skiing and are up for the challenge you can still register for the race by visiting the even’ts website.

 

If you love art and care about supporting local artists I invite you to attend my dear friend and artist Dinorah Catzalco‘s exibition vernissage at Ambrosia restaurant in Aylmer this Sunday, February 19 as of 4pm. Her work is out of this world Come see for yourself! The exhibition will be on until April 29 which gives you plenty of time.

To end the month, The Red Bull Music Academy teams up with MUTEK this year for a series of late winter concerts in Canada geared at repping the fall workshop series. Starting February 29 at Ottawa’s Junxion and going as far east as Montreal and as west as Vancouver, the national tour will feature performances from Dutch electronic producer Martyn and Toronto’s Egyptrixx. This is sure to be an amazing night if you love electronic music.

 

Winterlude 2012 Part One: Jacques-Cartier Park

Reblogged from byward of mouth:

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Classic Winter Fun!

February, Winter and Ottawa. Three possibly very frightening words when combined. However here in the Nations Capital we have the annual Winterlude festival to amaze, entertain and distract us from the cold.

Now wrapping up it's second of three weeks, Winterlude is well underway and on route to being another huge success in its twenty-third year. Proof of this can easily be seen and experienced first hand and for free, at either of the two primary festival sites.

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Concert review: In the Dead of Winter at the Black Sheep Inn

Reblogged from Ottawa Citizen:

Enticed by the chance to visit her favourite snow-globe town, Juno-nominated singer-songwriter Jenn Grant stepped in at the last minute to help kick off the Black Sheep Inn edition of Halifax's In The Dead of Winter festival on Feb. 10.

 Jenn was at home in Halifax on Feb. 9 when she got the call to replace her friend, Newfoundland-born singer-songwriter, Amelia Curran, who was sick.

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Event Review: Misteur Valaire with Beat Market and FunkyFalz at @ the Canadian Museum of Civilization

I hope everyone got to enjoy one of the many events/activities that took place in the National Capital Region this past week. The SPAO Print Sale was presented, Winterlude was still on, Sexapalooza was at the Convention Centre, there was an Electric Pow-Wow with ATCR and Poirier at Babylon…

There sure was no lack of fun things to do around the region like the Soiree Electro-Jazz Misteur Valaire with Beat Market and DJ FunkyFalz. The show took place on Saturday in the Grand Hall at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau and it was presented by the City of Gatineau on the occasion of Winterlude. The night began at 9pm with Beat Market and following the electronic duo’s set, Misteur Valaire soon followed around 10:30 pm. It was my first time attending a Misteur Valaire show and I must say I was truly impressed by the group’s performance. I was immediately captivated by the fast-paced music, creative visual projections, and colorful lighting effects that transformed what could have been a simple show into a truly exciting performance. Misteur Valaire certainly doesn’t dissapoint as the charismatic guys are full of energy and kept the crowd dancing from the opening song to the encore. The Museum’s Grand Hall just added to the whole atmosphere and proved that the venue definitely has a significant impact on an event’s outcome. All in all, the group offered Gatineau an amazing set and even gave a musical nod to iconic artist Whitney Houston who passed away yesterday at the age of 48. To finish the night on a high note, DJ FunkyFalz delivered some solid sounds and kept the crowd moving til the very end. Thank you Misteur Valaire for presenting such a professional production and for being truly entertaining!!