On fourth day of this year's Folkfest, the line-up was just as exciting as the first day. The day was just as cold as day 3, but not as wet.
We headed to Hogs' Back Park around 6pm to check out Said the Whale. I was excited to check out the band again, after seeing them open for Tokyo Police Club two years back.
I walked around the festival grounds for about an hour, waiting for my next scheduled show.
I had been waiting anxiously to see Patrick Watson live at Folkfest. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch him at Osheaga this year. After taking a listening to his first album, "Just Another Ordinary Day", I knew this guy was the real deal.
To say that I was blown away is an understatement. His voice is so stunning and so haunting. His band sounds absolutely phenomenal live. The entire crowd was completely captivated by the performance. The band members on stage seemed to genuinely be having a good time. Although there was a huge crowd, the show felt very intimate. At one point, I looked up at the sky. It was clear and all the stars were visible. At that moment, everything was just beautiful.
Finally, the lovely and adorable Dan Mangan took the main stage. Although Patrick Watson was a hard act to follow, Dan Mangan did a great job and put on a great show. The highlight of his show was when he performed the song "Robots". He grabbed a tambourine, left the stage and went into the crowd. He grabbed a few fans who were sporting robot heads and brought them on stage while the rest of us were singing "Robots need love too. They want to be loved by you". Check out a video of some of the action:
All in all, a fantastic line-up and a great evening at Folkfest.
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On the last day of Folkfest, Bon Iver and Hey Rosetta! were playing. I decided to give my ticket to a friend of mine, as I felt I needed a break. Also, staying at home in the warmth was kinda nice.
Next week-end, hip hop enthusiasts in the Ottawa area will gather for House of PainT (HoP). Known as Canada’s Hip Hop festival, House of PainT will be celebrating its ninth anniversary this year. According to Rob Reid, who is responsible for Development, Media and Marketing for the festival, people who have never attended the festival will be amazed. "Picture 200 artists from all disciplines, like graffiti, DJs, MCs, and a Bboy / Bgirl breakdance battle, all participating in our Main EvenT 4-disciplines of Hip Hop jam," adds Reid. "It's the most explosive cultural event in the city."
Compared to other hip hop festivals, HoP is committed to building up Ottawa's local scene; thus, the reason behind this year's theme, 'BuilDing'. "We are building on the success of past years," says Reid, "and building deeper relationships and partnerships within our community, and building a more sustainable cultural economy for urban artists to live and work - right here in Ottawa." House of PainT is a non-profit organization and registered charity that is entirely run by volunteers.
This year's festival has a great line-up of events scheduled. Among these events is a photo exhibit entitled "Sites Unseen". The works of five selected photographers, focusing on the changing visual landscape of a city in transition, will be presented at Fall Down Gallery. Thursday, September 13th @ Fall Down Gallery, 8pm-1am, by donation.
House of PainT will also feature a spoken word poetry competition, where 12 top ranking poets will compete. The power will be in the audience's hands, as they will be deciding who will reign in this never before seen slam style competition. Special guest judge MAESTRO FRESH WES will be in attendance. This event is not to be missed! Friday, September 14th @ Shopify (126 York St), 7-10pm, $10.
On September 15, HoP will hold the Main EvenT, a 4-disciplines of Hip Hop jam. The event will take place under Dunbar Bridge at the site of one of Canada's largest legal graffiti walls (at Brewer Park - beside the Rideau River and Carleton University) starting at noon. The event promotes the four disciplines of Hip Hop and will feature DJs, MCs, Graf writers, and an explosive Bboy / Bgirl breakdance battle. In addition, various workshops will be available for youth on breakdancing, rapping, DJing and graffiti art as well as an artist market with many local artists and artisans. This event is free and for people of all ages. Saturday, September 15 @ Under Dunbar Bridge, starts at 12pm, Free for all ages.
With the support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, HoP is presenting its first Concert Under the Bridge on Sunday, September 16. This event will also take place under Dunbar Bridge. This year's all-star, all-Canadian line-up includes Shad, Maestro Fresh Wes, Kid Koala, Flight Distance, Masia One, Radio Radio, D-Track, Atherton, with DJs Magnficent and Killah Karyen. A limited number of advanced tickets are available for sale online. Sunday, September 16 @ Under Dunbar Bridge, 12-7pm, $20.
Day 3 of Ottawa Folk Festival was a wet one. A wet and cold one. Being the practical gal that I am, I took out my bright blue rain boots and my parka and headed to Hogs' Back Park.
After a friend introduced me to them, I've come to really enjoy the music of the Great Lake Swimmers. I was really excited to hear that they were playing at Folkfest. I really enjoyed their set.
Afterwards, LP was playing at the Ravenlaw stage. I made a point to check out her show, although I had never heard of her. A few friends of mine said she was great, so I thought it might be worth while to stick around.
Am I ever glad I stuck around! LP was absolutely phenomenal! The power behind that voice is out of this world. She put on a very fun and energetic show. By far, the best discovery of Folkfest!
While LP was playing at the Ravenlaw stage, Yukon Blonde was rocking out on the Tartan Homes stage. Although it was really tempting to leave LP and go check them out, I decided to stay at the Ravenlaw stage. I did have a chance to catch Yukon Blonde's last two songs. There was a nice crowd gathered at the stage and people were sharing great feedback on the band's performance.
The headliner that evening was Great Big Sea. After a few hours in the cold and wet weather, I felt ready to head home. Overall, day 3 was fantastic and I was pleased.
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.
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!
**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.
