Who said festivals were only for the summer season? Because there’s plenty of them happening this month, and we’re only in February. That and art battles, comedy nights, music shows, and film screenings ought to keep you busy and entertained if you’re in the National Capital Region this week. Check out Eventful Capital’s Weekly Picks below for a glimpse into what’s up in the days ahead.
Dubstep/trap/house DJ and Producer Borgore is bringing his The Buygore Show Tour to Ottawa this Tuesday, February 3. The Israeli electronic dance music producer will be giving a live set at Barrymores alongside Ookay, Jauz, Dotcom and SHAKE. 
The first-ever MEGAPHONO festival is being held from this Tuesday, February 3 to Thursday, February 5 at various locations across the capital city. This music festival, meant to showcase the National Capital Region’s local talent and help our artists connect with music industry professionals, is going to feature an interesting series of workshops, panels, networking opportunities and, of course, live shows, presenting a solid lineup of artists from the National Capital. As part of the festival, Eventful Capital is proud to present the official closing party, the MEGAPHONO MELTDOWN, happening at Mercury Lounge this Thursday night with hip-hop heavyweights Flight Distance, rap newcomers KingsCollege, electro-pop supergroup The PepTides, Franco artist FLO, and DJ Zattar of the famed Timekode parties.
Cracking Up The Capital is celebrating 11 years of support for mental health with its 2015 edition being held from Tuesday, February 3 to Saturday, February 7. This year, the comedy festival will present a night with CBC Radio’s Laugh Out Loud featuring some of Canada’s best stand-up comedians, a free Improv show, a Francophone comedy night with Montreal’s Derek Seguin and a Finale featuring Mary Walsh, Mike MacDonald, Dave Hemstad and more.To get the full lineup and program, just click below.
Alestorm is bringing its 2015 PirateFest to America with a stop in Ottawa scheduled for this Wednesday, February 4. The Napalm Records pirate metal band will be performing live at Mavericks alongside USA grind/death metal group Swashbuckle, South California pirate group The Dead Crew of Oddwood, Ottawa instrumental progressive metal project The Night Watch and Ottawa metal 5-piece Aenigma.
This Wednesday evening, join Greg Houston and Randy at Raw Sugar Cafe for Brew Ha Ha as they welcome your jokes and songs to the stage. The monthly Comedy and Music Open Mic will feature comedy headliner Travis Maplesden and musical headliners Gavin Dyke and Black Dogs. 
SAW Video’s members are a vital part of Ottawa-Gatineau’s media arts community. This Thursday night at the Mayfair Theatre, their talent is being celebrated with the 2015 edition of Resolution, SAW Video’s annual screening of new members’ work. This eclectic event showcases Ottawa’s vibrant filmmaking scene with something for everyone, including drama, documentary, animation and experimental video art.
Metal heads will want to head over to Mavericks this Thursday night to check out UK grind band Napalm Death, Quebec thrash group Voivod, USA grind formation Exhumed, hardcore punk project Iron Reagan and USA death metal band Black Crown Initiate.
Local artists should definitely take advantage of the Bluesfest School of Music & Art event happening this Thursday, February 6 from 7 to 9 pm. Titled “Who Owns It? Navigating the Music Publishing Frontier” the event will teach musicians how to get paid for their music and license their work as a songwriter in radio, TV, film, and more. The evening will be lead by an expert panel featuring Jeremy Fisher, Avi Diamond, and Mark Edwards and will be moderated by Samantha Everts of YouRockRed.
This Friday night, the FAU MARDI crew celebrates winter with an audio-visual night showcasing the best talent of the Ottawa-Gatineau region. From 7pm onwards, bring your skates and show off your moves on the Ruisseau de la Brasserie to the tunes of Grumpy B, Sylv9st9r, Chris International and Greg Reain. Then, starting at 10pm, bring your dance shoes next door inside Axeneo 7/Daïmôn to keep the party going. 
Ottawa emo rock band Safekeeping will be giving a live show at Leaky B’s Lava Lounge this Friday night and sharing the stage with Ottawa indie emo/rock newcomers PINE, Montreal indie rockers Riverbeds and Ottawa indie rock group Old Rules and Ottawa pop punk project Portside.
Ottawa’s own BlakDenim is embarking on a mini-tour of Ontario and Quebec and it all kicks off in Ottawa this Friday night at Mavericks. The local hip-hop/funk/rock/soul fusion group will be performing live alongside local soul/funk/rock band Old Stereo. This is guaranteed to be a good time! 
Halifax’s In the Dead of Winter Music Festival, which has been having a Wakefield edition since 2009, is once again being held at the Blacksheep Inn from February 6 to 8. Giving centre stage to acoustic music, this year’s instalment will feature live performances by Spencer Burton, Kalle Mattson, Laurent Bourque, Folly & The Hunter, Amos The Transparent and Breagh MacKinnon.
Local power-wave duo Jaguar Saint will be making an appearance at Fall Down Gallery this Friday night alongside experimental freak folk project Pith and the Parenchymas. If you’re into new sounds and exploring music beyond traditional sonic boundaries, this should be a very interesting night of music!
Montreal’s The Beatdown will be performing live at House of Targ this Friday night. The ska/reggae/rocksteady band will be headlining the show alongside ska opening act The Sentries of Ottawa. To top it off, Double D Soundsystem will be spinning all ska, rocksteady, and reggae vinyl while you enjoy all the pinball and arcade games you can handle.
The Ottawa Winter Jazz Festival is kicking off this Friday, February 6 and runs over two weekends until February 15. This year’s eclectic lineup will include performances by the excellent Oliver Mtukudzi, The Lost Fingers, Reuben and the Dark, Martha Wainwright, Esmerine, locals Fet.Nat. and several more. Check out the entire programming by clicking on the poster below.
Ottawa metalcore/sludge metal group Iron Golem will be giving an all-ages live show at Leaky B’s this Saturday night. For the occasion, they’ll be sharing the stage with Niagara Falls’ doom/grind metal band Ism, Ottawa/Barrie hardcore/heavy metal formation Contempt, Toronto hardcore project Ransom and Ottawa hardcore newcomers Stuck.
For the art lovers out there, the monthly Art Battle Ottawa is taking place this Saturday at the Orpheus Musical Theatre. This unique concept organized across Canadian cities, brings 12 local painters together for a live painting competition. An annual National Championship eventually goes down in the summer to crown the top Canadian painter of the year.
New York avant-garde/improv trumpet player Peter Evans will be giving an intimate live performance at Raw Sugar Cafe this Saturday, February 7. The musician, who’s heavily involved in NYC’s music community, will be sharing the stage with local artist Adam Saikaley and saxophone player Linsey Wellman. 
Fryquency, the pay-what-you-can series that exhibits emerging and experimental Canadian music, is hosting a show at Mugshots this Saturday night. The night of live music will feature performances by local future folk duo Bosveld, Ottawa ambient post-rock/dream pop project Herons Wake and Montreal experimental noise punk band Skin Tone. What’s more, all ages are now welcome.
Tribal Threat Music, in partnership with House of PainT and in collaboration with Black Artists’ Networks in Dialogue (BAND), presents a Black History Month series called “Our Musical Roots- Here & There”. The first of three events, titled “Origin of Beat”, will feature musical performances by Toronto DJ Tk Smoothe (Afro fusion) and Ottawa DJ duo Tribal Threat (House). Happening at Maxwell’s, the event will start at 10pm.
Fever, the only disco dance party of its kind in Ottawa, is going down at Babylon this Saturday, February 7. The monthly night promises all the glitz and glam of the 70s & 80s and tons of disco hits provided by DJ Illo. An awesome way to dance the night away!
