Folkfest: Day 2 + Julie Doiron & the Wrong Guys

Day 2 of the Ottawa Folk Festival was a (very) short one for me. Not only was I exhausted, I also found out that one of my close friends, who currently lives in Toronto, was in town.

I headed to Hogs' Back Park and checked out Timber Timbre. It was the only show I was interested in checking out.

The show was great. Lead man Taylor Kirk showed up on stage solo, with a blues guitar and a bass drum. The show was really intimate and it sounded fantastic. I wasn't very familiar with Timber Timbre's material but this was definitely a good introduction.

Afterwards, the headliner was Lindsey Buckingham, of Fleetwood Mac. I had planned on staying for a bit, and checking out a few songs. However, when the opportunity to catch up with a good friend presented itself, I took advantage of it.

After grabbing a few drinks with my friend and her fiancé, I headed towards downtown to meet my husband and his friends at Café Dekcuf, where Julie Doiron & the Wrong Guys were playing. I was lucky enough to be able to catch the last few songs from their set and Julie's (solo) encore at the end.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

The band is comprised of Julie, Eamon McGrath, and two members of Cancer Bats. They sounded really good. It's too bad that there weren't more people in attendance. 

Seeing as Julie and I share the same name (or most of it), I joked with my friends that I needed to confront her about this. One of Gaston's friend is a good friend with Julie's manager. She introduced us and told him that Julie and I had the same name. Once he heard that, he grabbed me and introduced me to Julie. It was a bit awkward right at first, as she seemed confused when her manager told her that I was Julie Doiron too. Once we started chatting, everything was great. She is such a sweet girl. I really enjoyed talking to her. She totally won me over with her performance and her nice personality.

Overall, it was a good night of music.

Ottawa Folk Festival: Day 1

The Ottawa Folk Festival began last night on a high note. Although I've attended shows at Folkfest for the past two years, this year is the first time that I decided to get a full festival pass.

Day 1 had the best lineup of the festival, in my opinion. At the very least, it was the lineup that I was most excited to see.

Although my friend and I attempted to make it to Hog's Back Park to check out Matt Mays at 7pm, parking was nearly impossible to find. When we finally arrived, Matt Mays was ending his set. I wasn't bothered by this, seeing as I've seen Matt Mays before. However, we were right on time to catch the next act!

Matthew Good was the artist that I absolutely needed to see yesterday. Although it's been less than a year since the last time I've seen him live, he had announced that he would be playing a solo acoustic set. I was thrilled when I heard this news. During his "Hospital Music" tour, he played a solo acoustic set and it was the best Matt Good show I had seen so far.

This show did not disappoint! Matt played a great set and was unordinarily talkative and social with the audience, most likely as a result of alcohol intake. At one point, he referred to himself as a "Gin Snob" since the kind he was drinking was "cheap". At the beginning of the show, I was thinking that this might annoy me during the show. However, it was hard to be annoyed when he was playing such great material!

He performed acoustic versions of most of my favorite songs, including "Surburbia", "While We Were Hunting Rabbits", "Strange Days", "Avalanche" and "99% of Us is Failure". Unfortunately, he did not play any songs from his most recent album "Lights of Endangered Species", which I can understand would be challenging for him to do acoustically, seeing as there are so many instruments used in the album. He also didn't play anything from his album "Vancouver", which was a bit disappointing as well.

Overall, an amazing performance by Matt Good. Everyone in the audience seemed pleased, although I don't think that most of them knew that he was not playing with a full band. The most important thing is that I knew and was excited about it and my expectations were definitely met.

The headliner that evening was Ben Harper. I am a huge fan of his and I have seen him live twice at Bluesfest. When he began his set at Folkfest, I quickly realized that he would be playing solo as well, which I found very exciting.

During this set, Ben played many different instruments, including vibraphone, piano, ukulele and guitars, both electric and acoustic.

Ben played a lot of great songs from his older albums, including "Burn One Down", "Diamonds on the Inside", "Not Fire, Not Ice", "Forever", and "Walk Away".

At the end of his set, Ben shared with the crowd the story of when he met the late Jeff Buckley. As a tribute to him, he played a cover of "Hallelujah", which was absolutely raw and filled with so much emotion. I was brought to tears. By far the highlight of the night for me.

Overall, it was a really beautiful performance that felt quite intimate. I was very impressed and I really enjoyed it. However, it seemed like most of the crowd had left early and the few people who were still there during Ben Harper's performance were not interested in listening to his music, which is very unfortunate. Some people can't recognize talent/good music even when it's slapping them in the face.

Tonight is day 2 of Folkfest. Let's see how many shows I have the energy to catch!

Review: "Your Sister's Sister"

**Note that this is my first movie review. You've been warned**

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

This past week-end, I went to see "Your Sister's Sister" at the Bytowne. After seeing the trailer, and since I am a huge fan of Emily Blunt, I really wanted to see this film. In addition, the film received good reviews at TIFF.

Emily Blunt plays Iris, whose friend Jack (Mark Duplass) is having a hard time getting over his brother's death. She sends him to stay at her family's remote cabin. Upon his arrival, Jack discovers that Iris' sister Hannah is already staying at the cabin.

After an awkward meeting, Jack and Hannah end up drinking together then having a drunk sexual encounter. Iris shows up the next morning and things begin to unravel.

The relationship between the sisters is magical and it makes you want to join their family. The dynamic between all three characters is quite interesting to watch and their relationship progresses in an unusual way.

Mark Duplass and Rosemarie Dewitt were both unknowns to me. However, both their performances were outstanding. Dewitt definitely steals the show in the film. The actress (who starred alongside Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married") did a phenomenal job as Blunt's sister. Blunt is a pleasure to watch, as usual. Duplass does a great job as Jack, a guy unable to find himself and figure out his life after losing his brother a year earlier. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Duplass actually co-wrote and co-directed the film "Jeff Who Lives at Home", another great film that is worth checking out.

Overall, "Your Sister's Sister" is a cute, light-hearted comedy. The performances are great and the film had some really funny moments. The ending wasn't quite what I was expecting but it can still be considered a good ending. All in all, this film is worth checking out.

Inspired / Getting Inked

One of my favourite artists is Matthew Good. His music speaks to me in so many ways and I have a lot of respect for him as an artist, a musician, an activist and a human being.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

The album "Avalanche" is one of my favourite albums of all time. Matthew Good's tour for this album was the first show that I saw after moving to Ottawa. Safe to say, it was quite a memorable show for me.

Last October, I went to see Matthew Good live, when he was touring for his new album, "Lights of Endangered Species". I believe this was my fifth or sixth time seeing a Matthew Good show.

The shows begins. It is pitch black; there are no lights. The piano begins...

"Buy in it'll shut you up. Try it, it should shut you up..." 

He is playing "While We Were Hunting Rabbits". Instantely I start crying. I cannot believe this is happening.

"While We Were Hunting Rabbits" has been my favourite Matthew Good song since 2003. It's a beautiful song that just gets me every time I hear it. Never in a million years did I ever think I would get to hear this amazing song live. In addition, the piano version of this song was so raw and so beautiful. I was in heaven. Tears of happiness kept falling down my cheeks.

After that, I just knew. I knew I would get some of the song lyrics tattooed on me.

I approached my tattoo artist with the idea of the song lyrics and a lighthouse. I love lighthouses, because they remind me of home, and the Maritimes. Since my artist is quite busy, I had a few months to mentally prepare for this tattoo (and save some money).

This past Saturday, I visited my tattoo artist at her shop outside of Ottawa. Exactly as I was laying down so she could get started, Matthew Good Band starts playing on the speakers. This was a sign. I was meant to do this.

My tattoo, still in the healing process.
Done by Edith Fluet from Blue Blood Custom Tattoos

After five long and painful hours, my tattoo was done. I couldn't be happier with the end result.

***

Sometimes, it's easy to get lost and stray from our path. But if we look hard enough, there is always something or someone around that will lead us back to where we're supposed to go. That's what the lighthouse represents to me. Sometimes, I may feel like a ship lost at sea, but I always manage to find my way back.

This tattoo is a tribute to the amazing people in my life who have supported me and kept me on track. This tattoo is an hommage to Matthew Good, whose words have always left me inspired.

***

In a few days, Matthew Good will be playing an acoustic set at the Ottawa Folk Festival. I am really looking forward to the show. Stay tuned!

Looking Back: 10 Years

Last week, I celebrated a very special anniversary. Ten years ago, last Wednesday, my entire life changed.

I made a huge decision to leave home and move to Ottawa, a city that I fell in love with when I was just 13 years old.

Leaving home at the age of 18 can be really scary. I was terrified. Although I wanted to live in Ottawa more than anything else, I was leaving everyone and everything I knew. Two months earlier, I had found out that my grandmother had ovarian cancer. My grandmother was the most important person in my entire life. This piece of news was quite upsetting. Although I was excited to move, I did not want to leave my grandmother behind, knowing she was sick.

I knew staying behind wouldn't help my grandmother get better. So there I was, in my aunt's car, driving to Ottawa on the morning of August 15, 2002. While driving out of my small town in NB, our car passed my grandparents' car, who were driving to the hospital for my grandmother's first chemotherapy treatment.

Although leaving NB wasn't easy, once I got to Ottawa, I knew I had made the right decision. My life has changed so much since moving here and I am definitely not the same girl I was back in NB.


10 highlights of the last 10 years:

10. Graduating university. Going to university was a big deal to me. I found the experience eye-opening and quite challenging. Therefore, graduating was a big deal, especially after a rough first year. Although I might not exactly follow the same path if I had to do things over, I am happy with my experience because I learned a lot about myself.

9. Volunteering. Since moving here, I've had the opportunity to volunteer with some amazing organizations and for some amazing events. It's taught me so much and I've met some amazing and inspiring people. 

Backstage at Ottawa Fashion Week.
Image courtesy of Miss-SLY!

8. Finding my passion. Volunteering for so many events opened my eyes and allowed me to discover my passion for event planning. After graduating university, I kept thinking of going back to school and trying event planning. Although many people were telling me to go back to school and get my Masters' degree, I decided to go to college and try event planning. I don't regret my decision for one second.

7. Amazing people. Through school and through work, I have met some pretty amazing people. Some of these people are still in my life, some are not. However, I am thankful for their role in my life and I've learned a lot from these people. 

6. Music! Being in a big city has allowed me to discover new music and see more live shows than I ever dreamed of. After my first live show (Matthew Good's Avalanche tour), I was hooked. Since then, I've seen some amazing shows.

5. Pretty cool jobs. My career has always been very important to me. Since moving to Ottawa, I've worked everywhere from Parliament Hill to a museum, from non-profit organizations to the Juno Awards. Now, I work as a magazine editor and trying to make it as a freelance writer. Not too shabby, if you ask me...

Me, my dad and my three brothers

4. Family. Although I moved away from my family 10 years ago, I've never felt closer to them. Being away from the people you love definitely put things in perspective and I am actually thankful that I moved for this exact reason. I appreciate them so much more now than I ever did before.


3. Great friends. I've met incredible people and made some amazing friends while I've lived in Ottawa. I've also managed to maintain many friendships that I established back in high school. I am lucky to have some amazing people to call friends.

The day I married my best friend.

2. Did I mention all the live shows?!? :)

... and finally

1. Falling in love. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes... lots of live shows and lots of fun!

I feel like I've accomplished quite a bit in the last ten years. Regardless, I'm lucky enough to have found a place to call home, and I couldn't be happier.

Ottawa, here's to a great decade, and here's to many more!

Feeling a Little Lost

After all those weeks and months of anticipation, Osheaga has come and gone. Now,  I am eagerly awaiting the next set of shows.

Here's my issue: I have no shows lined up until the Ottawa Folk Festival, which is three weeks away. Then, once Folkfest is done, I will be hitting up NYC's Radio City Music Hall at the end of September. After that, I' m hitting Montreal for two shows at the end of October.

Gulp! When I think about it, that's not very many shows... At least, not compared to what I'm used to this summer.

I won't start panicking just yet. I'm thinking that I will get my music fix by hitting some music venues, like Zaphod's and Mavericks and checking out some local acts in the meantime. Or I could just stay home and save some money... but where's the fun in that?!?

Do you guys have any shows to suggest? What shows in Ottawa (or Montreal) are worth checking out this August/September/October?