Can you believe we’re already in March this week? Time has bee flying right by! As February comes to an end, and Spring is in the air, it’s almost time to get excited for festival season. Speaking of which, the Ottawa International Jazz Festival unveiled a big part of its lineup this week including artists such as Aretha Franklin, Macy Gray, Willie Nelson, The Heavy among others. The rest of the lineup will be announced later this Spring so stay tuned.
As for this week in Ottawa-Gatineau, there’s a nice variety of events happening so let’s jump right into suggestions for the days ahead.
In Gatineau this Tuesday, a special edition of Fau Mardi will be taking place the Petit Chicago to raise funds for Momentum 2013, the Ottawa U Visual Arts Grad Show. The Fau Mardi collective invites you to take part in a night of dance performances, groovy tunes, great affordable local art, and raffle prizes. For more info, simply click on the image below. 
Also in Gatineau this week, the 34th Salon du Livre de l’Outaouais invites you to its book festival at the Gatineau Congress Centre in the Hull sector. A variety of publishing houses and authors will be selling books, giving autograph sessions, presentations, readings and more. For further information on this festival, click on the poster below. 
For the first Friday of March, if you’re in the mood to dance, you might want to check out Fuck I Love You! at Mugshots. DJs J Fun and Atherton will be playing all types of long loves from all the eras in an effort to explore humanity’s most complicated emotion on through dance floor expression. Grab more info by clicking on the event poster below. 
From Friday, March 1 to Sunday, March 3, Tacolot, Mill Street Brewery & CHUO FM 89.1 present The Wellington End Music & Food Festival. The festival’s various events will include live shows, DJs, delicious foods and craft beers and will take place at The Tacolot, The Hintonburg Public House, 10Fourteen, The Wellington Eatery, Black Pepper, Alpha Soul & Hino. For more details, click on the event poster below.
This Saturday, March 2, Artengine invites you to come try out their newly acquired 3D printers and learn about 3D printing with some of the city’s foremost 3D printers. The Print-A-Thon will take place in Artengine’s M70 lab, in the Arts Court and is open to anyone wanting to learn and get creative. To get more info on this fun and unique event, click on the image below. 
For this week’s edition of Privé, DNA Presents brings you the Bassjackers live at Era on Saturday, March 2. The house music duo from Amsterdam will be doing a live set following openers Ariyan and Alex Primeau. For details, just click on the event poster below.
To conclude the week in slow motion no less, up-and-coming beatmaker Shlohmo will be throwing a live set at Ritual as part of the Laid Out Tour. The LA DJ of the Wedidit Collective will be in Ottawa with D33J also of We Did It. There’s been a lot of buzz around the DJ’s new Laid Out EP, which features a unique slowed-down hip hop/r&b style so be sure to check out Shlohmo if you’re into that type of sound.
Other noteworthy events happening this week include Astrobeat at the Petit Chicago in the Hull sector of Gatineau this Saturday. March 2. The Astrobeat DJs will play the best in Lounge, Deep House, Nu Disco, Techno House and World Beat.
The 12th Annual New Sun Conference on Aboriginal Arts will take place on Saturday, March 2 at Carleton University and will feature guest speakers Tantoo Cardinal (stage, film and television actress), Gerald McMaster (curator and visual artist), Dorothy Grant (haute couture fashion designer), Daniel Heath Justice (author and educator), and Lucie Idlout (blues-rock singer/songwriter).
The March edition of Frenzy is also going down this Saturday at Babylon with Iggy Smalls, Foster and special guest Laocapone.
Also on Saturday, March 2, Starts on Vinyl present Rap VS Hip Hop with special guest DJ J.E.T.S. at Raw Sugar Cafe. The evening of music will essentially feature an exploration of the beats and rhythms that make up hip hop and rap.
Last but not least, on Sunday, March 3, there will be a Blues in the School Artistic Showcase at the Blacksheep in Wakefield. The fundraising event is meant to raise funds for the RBC Royal Bank Bluesfest Blues in the Schools educational program. The showcase will feature artists Rick Fines, TJ Wheeler, Sharon Riley, JW-Jones, Drew Nelson, Terry Gillespie Trio, Brothers Chaffey, Celtic Rathskallions, Amanda Rheaume, River City Junction, Tyler Kealey and Ana Miura.
So there you have it folks! I hope you enjoy your week and that you have the opportunity to attend one of the many exciting events happening this week in our wonderful capital.
