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Music, Culture, Photos and Other Happenings in Ottawa

Date archives September 2014

Audio / Music / Series 10

The Impossible Polaris Polaroid – S10E05

Impossible Polaris Polaroid

Back from Ottawa and this will be a wrap-up to the 2014 Polaris Music Prize coverage. This is more on the photos, instant photos, to be precise.
From the previous entry, I mentioned that half of the photos were on Flickr, it’s now updated and you can go to the link by clicking HERE.

I also brought along the trusty Polaroid SX-70 camera and several packs of The Impossible Project films to Toronto for the Polaris Music Prize Gala. Worse part was having to carry multiple equipment with a small carry bag. At least, I was able to bring the fun to shooting instant film photos. You will see the colourful frames and wonderful black & white photos taken from the pre and post Polaris Gala as it’s posted below.
I got a chance to try out Impossible’s B&W Film for 600 Hard Color Frames Edition. The colour frames looked great with the black & white instant photos. It’s definitely fun to look at.
You will see some of the familiar faces with the Impossible instant photos.
There’s a few instant that didn’t out well and that’s being posted up.

Short Basia Bulat Interview
It’s been awhile I have done audio interviews and had the opportunity to do a quick chat with Basia Bulat. You can listen to the interview from below. It’s just great to see her at the Gala.

For fashion, I rarely dress up nicely and shoot selfies. It was quite dapper of me to wear the bow tie from Hudson’s Bay.

Other Things
Going off on a different topic or going backwards. Prior to attending the Polaris Music Prize Gala, as I arrived to Toronto, I went straight to CBC Toronto, the Canadian Broadcast Centre for an informal tour of the building. I’m surprised that the CBC social media/digital team have been wanting to meet up for awhile but scheduling and lack of travel, it wasn’t worked. Luckily, with the Polaris Music Prize, I was able to make a schedule to come by to the building. It’s great seeing the radio side again but never got to see the main studios (#40, 41 and 42) from the tenth floor. The last time I went on a tour, it was with CBC Radio 3. I posted several photos on my Instagram if you can look for the CBC related photos.

Lastly, a final shoutout goes out to Be SixFifty Hotel. It’s a boutique hotel located on Bay St. Their decoration is stylish and more like a fashion-chic setting. Checking into my room, it was a small, which was fine as I stayed for one day. I was provided with a bottled water and some nice treats. They were the yummy macarons and candied nuts. The staff were friendly and decided to give one of the staff an instant photo. The price is under $200 if you’re going solo and it’s convenient in the downtown core of Toronto.

That’s the fun adventure I had and time for some rest and relaxation from the sweat and muscle pain. Also quite unusual to post two entries in one day.
Enjoy!
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Music / Series 10

The 2014 Polaris Music Prize Gala – S10E04

2014 Polaris Music Prize Gala Main-1

It was an awesome night to be at The Carlu as I experienced my first Polaris Music Prize Gala. The Polaris Grand Jury awarded Tanya Tagaq for her album, Animism on September 22nd. She gets to take home the $30,000 for best album of 2014 and based on artistic merit.

Quite fitting for Tagaq to winning the Prize as she was last to perform and delivered a bone-chilling but terrific performance. She was joined by the Element Choir and throughout the performance, the names of the murdered Aboriginal women were display as her way of dedicating them. Tagaq earned a standing ovation from her strong performance.

Other short list nominated artists performed at the Gala were Owen Pallett, Mac Demarco, Basia Bulat, Jessy Lanza and Shad (with Lights as a surprise guest for the song, Remember to Remember). Out of the favourites from the performance were Bulat, Lanza and Shad.
The gala was hosted by actor, Jay Baruchel who kept the show going with his witty jokes.
Congratulations goes out to Tanya Tagaq for winning and the nine short list nominees for the excellent albums.
Lastly, kudos goes out to Steve Jordan, Executive Director of Polaris Music Prize and to the hard working staff for bringing an awesome Canadian music event.

Being the first time to attend, it was great to meet some of the usual people and meeting new people. It was a fun and sweaty time at the event. I didn’t mind sitting up on the balcony of the Carlu and on the floor level taking photos.
You can check out some of the photos from the Polaris Music Prize Gala over on Flickr. Click HERE.

For the next entry, I will be post the Impossible photos which were taken at the gala.
Time to leave Toronto and return back to Ottawa.

Series 10

Nuit Blanche Ottawa+Gatineau 2014 – S10E03

NBOG14 Main

Last night was an enjoyable time to check out the third edition of Nuit Blanche Ottawa+Gatineau. NBOG is an event where artists creative a unique playground and space surrounding the downtown zones of Ottawa and further down Wellington West/Hintonburg. This year’s theme or tagline is Bypass! What that meant was that artists try to convey us of bypassing the use of culture and direction within the city.

The place I wandered around, they were at Byward Market, Ottawa School of Art, Arts Court and Canadian Museum of History. I went pretty early to some of the places as some art displays were not set up. One of the unique installations was down by the Wellington and Elgin bridge. It was an airplane crash simulation-type and not for the faint of heart.

Over at Arts Court, there were several exhibits and displays there. There was this unique installation called Passage by Jesse Stewart and it’s an audio-visual experiment where he used the tunnel from Arts Court to Mugshots Bar. Uniquely dark walking to the tunnel and then experiencing the tight, cramped space climbing the ladder and onto one of the holding cells of the former jailhouse. It’s also the last time where the tunnel will be used as Arts Court/Ottawa Art Gallery will be renovating.
There were art exhibits on display in conjunction with Ottawa International Animation Festival. One stood out was Disney Made Me Do It. You will see some photos posted on Flickr.

At Ottawa School of Art, there was a micro party and outside the school, there were food stands from tacos and Chinese style buns. Lot of fun activities at that building.

For the second year in attending the event, there was rain dropping on and off. I had two cameras and an umbrella to contend with. This kind of event brings the interactive fun to Ottawa and to show that arts scene is thriving in the Nation’s Capital.
Unfortunately, I didn’t stay for the whole night as I had to take the final bus ride at around midnight. Before leaving downtown, I bumped into a few friends and took some instant photos and you will see those from below.
You can check the photos over on Flick. Click HERE.

Next stop, I will be off to Toronto for the Polaris Music Prize Gala. It will be a fun time. See you until the next entry.
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Music / Series 10

The Polaris Short List Salon: Ottawa – S10E02

Polaris 2014 Salon SIgn

 

On Tuesday night, The National Arts Centre played host to the Polaris Music Prize Salon as the Polaris jury members discussed the 2014 Polaris Short List and who would win it. For the Ottawa edition, Steve Jordan, the founder and Executive Director of Polaris Music Prize moderated while the panelists consisted of Ryan Bresee (CKCU), Roch Parisen (Rochon Communications),and John Sekerka (CHUO).

The panelists and Jordan discussed the ten albums and what were their best and worst from the 2014 edition of the Short List. One of the topics raised at the Salon was the criticism of this year’s Short List having seven of the ten albums being repeat and returning nominees. The Ottawa jury didn’t have an issue with it whereas Canadian music fans in general have complained about it. Jordan also mentioned about the future of the album as a whole with what people buy and listen to.

The albums that were garnered a lot of discussions were Drake, Mac Delmarco, Tanya Tagaq and Timber Timbre because it brought in the positives and negatives in terms of artistic merit coming from the Ottawa jury. Mac Delmarco was contentious as Bresee said that it was not his favourite from the short list and the same went for Drake as Parisen and Sekerka weren’t fans of his album.
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Series 10

Checked Out House of PainT XI, The Main Event – S10E01 [Season Premiere]

House of Paint 2014 Banner

Kicking off the new season of the blog and now on its tenth season. You’ll notice a change in the look of the blog. It’s still a work in progress as I will probably be changing things around to the blog. It’s astounding that the blog has continued for pretty long. Aside from that, on to the event I went.

I had the opportunity to check out the 11th edition of House of PainT which happened at the Dunbar Bridge Underpass located near Carleton University and Brewer Park. For those who don’t know House of PainT, it’s a hip-hop festival showcasing and celebrating urban arts and culture in Ottawa.

This year’s festival is held for five days. The one I went was day 3 and dubbed, The Main Event. Saturday lineup had the ever popular graffiti wall, the crew bboy/bgirl, workshops, live music performances (DJs and Rap) and visual arts. It was definitely a fine Saturday to be out and after the crazy thunderstorm which hit two times on Friday in Ottawa.

I missed out last year’s HOP but I made it out to this year’s festival by bringing along the trusty Polaroid camera (SX-70) with the Impossible Project films to shoot some fun instant photos and getting the people excited with it. The black & white Impossible photos are posted below.
You can check out the digital photos over on Flickr. Click here to view the photos.
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