New Ottawa Music Listings Guide Found

list –noun
[list]
1. a series of names or other items written or printed together in a meaningful grouping or sequence

If you remember a previous post about my favourite resource for live music in Ottawa, then you may be as sad as I was to find out that Stillepost.ca has been shutdown.

For weeks I was at a loss as to where to find a good listing of local live music. I would search all the popular venue's websites each and every weekend looking to see what was happening in Capital City. It became tedious, and I thought 'Hey, if now one else is going to compile all these listings then I guess the task is up to me.'

And that, Dear Reader, is how My Ottawa Show Listings was born.

Recently My Ottawa Show Listings made it to the 2nd round of CBC Radio3's Searchlight Contest for Best Canadian Music Website. It made the first cut from over 100 sites down to 60. However it did not make the third round cut that cut the list down to the top 30 sites, which happened just a few hours ago.

Oh well, better luck next time My Ottawa Show Listings.

If you like live music and find the resource useful, please share My Ottawa Show Listings with all your friends. Also, if anyone would like to help keep the site up-to-date I could really use the help.

2010 - Best. Year. Ever.

New Year's Eve –noun
[noo yeers eev]
1. the night of December 31, often celebrated with merrymaking to usher in the new year at midnight

From volunteering at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, to seeing many great shows and music festivals, as well as inventing a new music festival device and becoming a member of the Canadian Ski Patrol, 2010 has easily been the Best. Year. Ever.

Sure there were a few lows along the way, but the highs have definitely outweighed any lows that I have encountered. I've become a better and stronger person and will be able to tackle any challenges that present themselves in 2011 with confidence and clarity.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve and are happy and content with the outcome of 2010. Just remember, things are never as bad as they seem. Patience and persistence will see you through any challenge.

For myself the New Year will be a year of some pretty big changes and as apprehensive as I may be I'm still excited to see where this new adventure will take me.

Cheers!

Where'd ya go CD?

MIA -noun
[ěm'ī-ā']
1. A member of the armed services who is reported missing following a combat mission and whose status as to injury, capture, or death is unknown

So I've been away for some time, neglecting this poor blog, for that I do apologize to both you Dear Reader and to you poor blog.

So lets play some catch up shall we?

Around mid April I was given notice that my contract would be ending on May 31st, it's been two whole weeks now that I've been underemployed, and a whole month since I have gotten a pay cheque. For a guy that unfortunately lives hand to mouth, this friends is not a good situation to be in. On the plus side I have managed to get a couple of writing jobs and am still slowly working on my Freelance Writer website.

On May 1st I headed back to Golden BC for a few weeks to visit with the most amazing girl. It was a bittersweet visit however, as I do not think I will ever get a chance to see her again.

After that I came back to Capital City for a week, then headed off to the Muskoka's to hang out at a cottage and clear my mind. I did some visiting back in Hometown and returned once again to Capital City. In my downtime, while looking for some means of gainful employment I put together a little blog network, which I have called My Big List Of Blogs. I'm not sure what I am going to do with it, but hopefully I'll get a little traffic and gain some much needed income with this pet project of mine.

So where does Chasing Distractions go from here?

I should be putting my efforts into finding some work, getting my life back together, but my ever-muddled mind still has the urge to chase distractions. Lately I've been focusing that energy on entering contests, you all know how I love winning stuff. Yesterday I won a ride in the Bluesfest limo, got treated to a Subway lunch and was handed 4 day passes for the festival. Today I put my efforts into winning some NXNE passes, but sadly I didn't win. But never fear Dear Reader, this story does have a happy ending, fellow CBC Radio3 blogger MoniSki graciously offered me one of her own NXNE passes. How awesome is that?

On Thursday morning I plan on taking what little funds I have, jumping into my Granpa mobile and heading down to the Big Smoke for one last weekend of music and excitement. Maybe I'll even run into The Details again.

Oh speaking of The Details, in an old post I mentioned testing out recording audio with my digital handheld recorder, it worked and the quality was much better. So I'll leave you with a video from that show back in March.




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Creeping Out Sara – Tegan Quin Responds To NOFX Song

in⋅ter⋅view –noun
1. a meeting or conversation in which a writer or reporter asks questions of one or more persons from whom material is sought for a story


Today, via Grant Lawrence at CBC Radio3, I got a chance to ask Tegan Quin how she felt about Fat Mike’s memoir entitled ‘Creeping Out Sara’ where he sings about meeting one of the Quin sisters at a German music festival. The song was released on the new NOFX album called Coaster. If you would like to hear her response, check it out here - (just fast-forward to the 25 minute mark).



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The Twelve Days Of Bluesfest

per⋅fect at⋅tend⋅ance –noun
[per-fekt uh-ten-duhns]
1. the act of attending an event without missing a day
The Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest was twelve days long this year, and being a trooper I managed to go every single day, no matter how much it hurt me. I would love to do a review of every single show I saw, but after seeing over 80 artists I think this post would take me forever. So this is going to be less of a review and more of a list of bands I saw. Please feel free to read them in the tune of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’:

On the first day of Bluesfest I went to go see:
Amanda Rheaume, Van der Graaf Generator, Amos the Transparent, Monkey Junk, The Black Keys, Sergent Garcia

On the second day of Bluesfest I went to go see:
Brothers Chaffey, Holy Fuck, Iron & Wine, Metric, Oumou Sangare, Ben Harper, The Road Hammers, Elliot Brood

On the third day of Bluesfest I went to go see:
The Stills, Okkervil River, Sam Roberts, Jackson Browne, The Dodos, Steve Earle, DeVotchka, King Sunny Ade & His African Beats, Arrested Development, Peter Voith Trio

On the fourth day of Bluesfest I went to go see:
Jill Barber, Hey Rosetta!, John Vanderslice, Rachael Yamagata, Punch Brothers, Curumin, Matisyahu, FEMI KUTI, Jesse Cook

On the fifth day of Bluesfest I went to go see:
Girl Talk, Land of Talk, King Khan & BBQ Show, Jenn Grant, Neko Case, Thunderheeist, Joe Cokcer, Mother Mother, Kid Koala

After my fifth day of Bluesfest Grant Lawrence of CBC Radio3, who had found me on Facebook to ask if I would do a live fan review of the festival, tracked me down. Hungover, and maybe even still a little drunk I agreed. If you ended up missing my live radio debut you can still give a listen to it. Look for the entry that says 'Live on CBC Radio 3: All Request with Wintersleep!' and hit the Play button for Ottawa Blues Fest Fan Review (Crozon Ottawa)

On the sixth day of Bluesfest I went to go see:
Gym Class Heroes, Stone Temple Pilots, Basia Bulat, Great Lake Swimmers

On the seventh day of Bluesfest I went to go see:
The Zombies, Ice Cube, The Yardbirds, Xavier Rudd, Toots & the Maytals

On the eighth day of Bluesfest I went to go see:
The Arkells, Silent Disco, The National, KISS, Beast, Skydiggers, K'NAAN

On the ninth day of Bluesfest I went to go see:
Shout Out Out Out, Busta Rhymes, Mick Taylor, Les Claypool

On the tenth day of Bluesfest I went to go see:
Cake, Blue Rodeo, Paolo Nutini, Dave Mason, Clem Snide

On the eleventh day of Bluesfest I went to go see:
Poorfolk, Woodhands, Otis Taylor, Ludacris, Drive-By Truckers, Black Mountain, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Low Anthem, Louisiana Red, Rhythm Council, David Lindley, The Deep Dark Woods, That 1 Guy

On the twelfth day of Bluesfest I went to go see:
Deer Tick, Handsome Furs, C.R. Avery with the Sojourne's, The Dead Weather, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

I ended up winning the Perfect Attendance Award. I think it was the first time ever in my life that I have had perfect attendance. My Mom would be so proud.



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NxNE – Day 2

ac⋅quaint –verb
[uh-kweynt]
1. to make more or less familiar, aware, or conversant
2. to bring into social contact; introduce

My cousin decided to blow off work and join me for a day at NxNE. I haven’t seen him in awhile and we were never really that close so it was a good chance to get to know him better.

We started the day out at the Hyatt Regency with Rah Rah, a pretty good band from Saskatchewan. Followed by Papa Groove, a very unique band from Montreal. During the Papa Groove show my cousin leaned over to me and said “They look like a bunch of tour buses crashed and these guys are the survivors.” And he is right. The lead singer resembles Lenny Cravitz, the bass player is a white guy with long dreadlocks sporting a cowboy hat, there was a 5-piece brass section, two guys on keyboards dressed as pimps, three drummers and I think one or two other guys on guitars. You really have to see it to believe it.

We rushed over to the National Film Board to check out a documentary but, still feeling the pints from the previous night, I misread the schedule. The documentary was being screened at the Hyatt Regency – the very place we just left. I begged off doing anything else for the rest of that afternoon and took a much-needed nap.

Feeling refreshed, we headed back out on the town. Our first stop was Lee’s Palace for the Outlaws and Gunslingers show. I ran into Amanda Putz and listened to The Swallows and a compilation of Jim Cuddy, Royal Wood and Oh Susanna. The line-up was a little too country for me so we jumped the streetcar to Queen St. West and just made it in time for The Burning Hell show at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern, followed by The United Steelworkers of Montreal. Apparently the Horseshoe does not follow the maximum capacity requirements, so by the end of the Steelworkers show the place was jam-packed. Feeling slightly claustrophobic we left and ended the night off at the El Mocambo with You Say Party! We Say Die!, and die I did. Exhausted, I made it an early night and went back to my cousin’s place to rest up for the weekend.






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NxNE – Day 1

let⋅down –noun 
[let-doun]
1. disillusionment, discouragement, or disappointment

On Tuesday night the great people at CBC Radio3 hooked me up with two passes to the North by Northeast music festival in Toronto. So Wednesday morning I woke up early, jumped in my car and made the 500 or so kilometre drive to The Big Smoke.

The first night was a bit of a bust; the rain began just as I got in line for the Arts & Crafts show at The Courthouse, and to add insult to injury they were only letting in people on the industry guest list. After standing in the rain for 2 hours, dejected, I decided to leave and hailed a cab to The Drake Hotel. A cool pint of Guinness and the sounds of The D’Urbervilles, lioness and Woodhands made up for the disappointment from the beginning of the night.



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UPDATE: CBC Radio3 Goes 100% Canadian - Sorta

hy⋅poc⋅ri⋅sy –noun
[hi-pok-ruh-see]
1. a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude
Today Steve Pratt, Music Director at CBC Radio3, anounced on the Radio3 Blog that they would stick with the current mix of the web radio station, which is 100% Canadian. Although this is good news, the people spoke and the powers that be listened, there is a few caveats when it comes to 100% Canadian. I'll let Steve explain further:

Why did we choose to only include Canadian music and artists in our rotation?
It's a long list, but here are three big reasons:

• To many of you, CBC Radio 3 is synonymous with all-Canadian independent music already.


• We believe this music format makes a huge impact for Canadian musicians.


• In a world of musical offerings, 100% Canadian is distinct.

One tiny caveat:

We're celebrating, but we're not bigots.

A quick note to those among you who will call for our heads if there's even a shred of content that can't be deemed ‘100% Canadian:' while we will play 100% Canadian music in rotation day in, day out, we will also continue to reserve the right to play what some may consider 'non-Canadian' music when we feel it makes sense. For example we might:

• Play bands that feature Canadians prominently, even though they don't technically qualify as ‘official Canadian Content,' like the new Buck 65 collaborative project, Bike For Three.


• Play a cover! If a Canadian artist is covered or remixed by a non-Canadian artist and people are talking about it, we will feel very comfortable playing that song for you once or twice for context, as we recently did in our Remix Special Podcast.


• Broadcast a non-Canadian band at a live event because they're on the same bill as several amazing Canadian acts, as we did two years ago at Pop Montreal.


• Make an occasional exception: Our recent CBC Radio 3 Session with Neko Case, who is American, but is widely considered an ‘honourary Canadian.


• 'Embrace an artist's choice, if a guest host or artist wants to play a favourite track or talk about influences.

Basically, our rule of thumb will be this: if it feels Canadian and if audiences consider it a relevant and essential part of the celebration, enjoyment, and discussion of Canadian music and culture, we're gonna play it. As Sloan put it, "if it feels good, do it." That's what 100% Canadian means to us.

So in other words CBC Radio3 Goes 100% Canadian - Sorta.



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CBC Radio3 – 100% Canadian vs 85% Canadian

poll –noun
[pohl]
1.a sampling or collection of opinions on a subject, taken from either a selected or a random group of persons, as for the purpose of analysis

Due to the recent budget cuts in the media, the national broadcaster CBC has had to make hard decisions. Many programs have been reorganized, and some have been cut all together.

On the radio side of things, from my understanding anyway, the budget for recording live shows has now been amalgamated between CBC Radio3 and CBC Radio2. Furthermore the CBC Radio3 web radio station, which boasts 100% Canadian content, is now facing a change in their programming.

Radio3 currently runs two separate stations, one for the web and the second on Sirius radio. Again due to budget cuts CBC will merge the two stations into one on Monday, June 15th. The web station currently features a 100% Canadian mix, whereas the satellite feed is an 85% Canadian and 15% international mix. The question is which format do they go with?

Music Director Steve Pratt breaks down the respective arguments as follows:

For keeping the Sirius mix:

• it will help draw in a bigger audience that will then be introduced to new Canadian acts


• we can showcase the best of international music side-by-side with the best from Canada and show how we stack up


• it better reflects what our audience might actually be listening to.

For keeping the Web Radio mix:

• our 'brand' is very, very clear (100% Canadian)


• every song works with full interactivity on the website (international artists do not have pages on New Music Canada, would not be available for inclusion in personal playlists, etc).


• web radio supporters believe that as a public broadcaster, we should be playing as much Canadian music as possible.

In pure social media form, Radio3 included their listeners in the decision making process with a web poll which closed today at 5pm EST. While I was writing this post the results were just announced:

77% NO – Do not include international music into the mix
23% YES – Include international into the mix

Now it’s off to the powers that be to make their final decision. Either way, the people have spoken so let’s see if they will be heard.



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SEARCHLIGHT! Winner Phog Lounge Announces Concert Details

head⋅lin⋅er –noun
[hed-lahy-ner]
1. a performer whose name appears most prominently in a program
Tom Lucier, of the Phog Lounge, announced live today on CBC Radio 3 the concert details for winning the Searchlight Contest for the Best Live Music Venue in Canada back in February.

So without further ado, here are the details:

Phog Lounge, Windsor, Ontario
Saturday, July 11th, 2009

Many local Windsor Bands will be performing during the Free All Day Event (charges for the VIP section).
CBC Radio 3 will be there for a live broadcast of headliner Holy Fuck.

I wish I could make it down to Windsor for this concert, but I already have passes for Bluefest here in Capital City. For all those that are going to attend, enjoy!



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Wolfe Island Musicfest 2009

line⋅up –noun
[lahyn-uhp]
1. a particular order or disposition of persons or things as arranged or drawn up for action

Today Virginia Clark, the Artistic Director of the Wolfe Island Musicfest 2009, released the 2009 line-up on CBC Radio3.

This year’s festival will be taking place Aug 7th and 8th and a weekend pass goes for $50, which includes camping.

I'm not very good at typing, so I was only able to get a few of the bands down, so here is the small list:

Holy Fuck
Apostle of Hustle
Rural Alberta Advantage
ohbijou
Woodhands
Attack in Black
P.S. I Love You

Per Virginia these are only a few of the confirmed ones (minus the two our three I missed) and there are still many more to be added to the show.

I went to the 2008 Wolfe Island Musicfest, had an amazing time, and will sure to be back this year.

Update:
CBC Radio3 finally released their blog post, so here are the three artists I missed:

Busdriver
The D'urbervilles
Julie Fader

You can also hear the interview with Virginia Clark.





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The Mist

o⋅ver⋅stim⋅u⋅late –verb
[oh-ver-stim-yuh-leyt]
1. to stimulate to an excessive degree
2. to expose to excessive stimulation

I don’t know if anyone else experiences the same phenomena, but whenever I am in a new place for the first time I find it hard to take in my surroundings. It seems my vision can only concentrate on one particular thing at a time. I have a centre focal point and everything surrounding is shrouded in a mist. It is as if my brain cannot comprehend this new environment and goes into overload. The side effect usually is that when I return to a place it seems much smaller than I originally thought.

Last night I attended a concert as part of BC Scene here in Capital City. I ‘won’ two tickets from my favourite radio station CBC Radio3, and although my attention was focused on both Dan Mangan and Danny Michel who are amazing artists, I had to blink away the mist that kept crowding my vision. Regardless of my encroaching mist problem the concert, held at the First Baptist Church, was simply amazing, hard bench pews and all.

If you would like to listen to the concert, which was recorded live, it should be available at CBC’s Concert on Demand. You can also see some live videos and read a better review of the concert from Emily Chen.



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SEARCHLIGHT! Winner Phog Lounge Declared Best Live Music Club in Canada

con·test -noun
[kŏn'těst']
1. A struggle for superiority or victory between rivals
It started a month ago with a list of 114 nominated venues from coast to coast. Then the Top 50 were announced, then the Top 20. A week ago, it was the Top 10... and today the Grand Prize winner of the CBC Radio3 Searchlight Best Live Music Club in Canada was announced.

Congrats to the Phog Lounge located in Windsor, Ontario!

As the Grand Prize winner the Phog Lounge will receive:

• A concert of their choice presented by CBC
• A SIRIUS Satellite Radio System
• CBC Radio3 clothing for all the staff
• A plaque and trophy declaring the Phog Lounge the #1 Live Music Venue in all of Canada

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Searchlight! What Is The Best Live Music Club in Canada? Top Ten Revealed!

ven⋅ue –noun
[ven-yoo]
1. the scene or locale of any action or event
If you haven’t yet figured it out, I am addicted to CBC Radio3. Every couple months they do The Searchlight! where they pick a topic, such as this rounds What Is The Best Live Music Club in Canada?, ask everyone to submit suggestions and then they start doing votes.

From a list of 114 venues they are now down to 10:

1. Aeolian Hall, London ON


2. Amigo’s Cantina, Saskatoon SK


3. Baba’s Lounge, Charlottetown PE


4. Call The Office, London ON


5. The Capital Bar, Fredericton NB


6. George’s Fabulous Roadhouse, Sackville NB


7. The Grad Club, Kingston ON


8. Phog Lounge, Windsor ON


9. Starlight Social Club, Waterloo ON


10. Zaphod Beeblebrox, Ottawa ON
    

Get your vote in now. The winner will be announced on February 25th.




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My CBC Radio3 Biopic... Sorta

bi⋅o⋅pic –noun
[bahy-oh-pik]
1. a biographical movie or TV show

I got this suggestion from a girl who goes by the name Sobbee while reading her blog post about her biopic.

Although according to Webster this is not really a biopic*, the premise seemed fun and the rules seemed simple enough, so I decided to do my own:

*Update: After some thinking about this, it's probably supposed to be the soundtrack to my biopic...

1. Open your library (iTunes, Media Player, iPod, etc) - I used my CBC Radio3 Playlist
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button

I'm quite amused by some of the results, so much so that I may just update the playlist here on this blog to match it… someday anyway.

Without further ado, here we go:

Opening Credits
Bye Bye Bye
Plants and Animals

Waking Up
My Selecta
Dubmatix

First Day At School
Two Sinister Genteman
Kill the Lights

Falling In Love
Moonjam
Lampshade

Fight Song
Looking to Fight
Hexes and Ohs

Breaking Up
Space Kidz
The Clips

Prom
The Poisoned Cup
Young and Sexy

Life
Like I Give A Care
You Say Party! We Say Die!

Mental Breakdown
Penny For Your thoughts
The Joel Plaskett Emergency

Driving
Dynamo
The Golden Dogs

Flashback
Sand Storms
Magic Weapon

Getting Back Together
The Devil In Our Bones
Meatdraw

Losing Your Virginity
Stormy High
Black Mountain

Wedding
Bottom Of The World
Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton

Birth Of A Child
Willow Tree
Chad VanGaalen

Final Battle
Hummingbird
Born Ruffians

Death Scene
Disapointed Tourist Lost and Confused After Walking into a Free Trade Zone
Spymachine 16

Funeral Song
Curse Of The Currents
Said the Whale

End Credits
Cold Heart Breaker
Petunia

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