The Balconies

Saturday's Glow Fair and a Bit of Ottawa Asian Fest Night Market – S11E31

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Glow Fair Saturday Main-1

There were lots of events happening on Saturday in the Nation’s Capital. From Ottawa Explosion Weekend to UFC to Ottawa Asian Fest Night Market and Glow Fair, there’s not much to miss around with the fun and Summer around the close corner.

I first went to Ottawa Asian Fest Night Market at Lansdowne Park, as my lion dance troupe performed for the opening ceremony. With the hot weather, it was pretty tough to perform in the sun. Photos posted below.

Day 2 of Glow Fair’s concert had Gang Signs from Vancouver, Ottawa’s own The Balconies, Halifax’s Rich Aucoin and Toronto’s Dragonette. Each ranged from the rocking to the dancing beats. Aucoin was the best from Saturday’s lineup because of his interactivity to the crowd and bringing in total fun. The Balconies, who I haven’t seen in a long time had some new members, a change from when they were a trio. Dragonette brought the crowd to its feet as Glow Fair concluded the concert series.

I also took a few Impossible Project black & white instant film photos. Finally tried to B&W 2.0 600 film as it improved the development process but the first photo with Rich Aucoin didn’t turn out good because parts of it was white.

It was a weekend to not forget from the events happening in and around Ottawa.
You can check out the loads of photos below.

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Saturday’s Glow Fair and a Bit of Ottawa Asian Fest Night Market – S11E31

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Glow Fair Saturday Main-1

There were lots of events happening on Saturday in the Nation’s Capital. From Ottawa Explosion Weekend to UFC to Ottawa Asian Fest Night Market and Glow Fair, there’s not much to miss around with the fun and Summer around the close corner.

I first went to Ottawa Asian Fest Night Market at Lansdowne Park, as my lion dance troupe performed for the opening ceremony. With the hot weather, it was pretty tough to perform in the sun. Photos posted below.

Day 2 of Glow Fair’s concert had Gang Signs from Vancouver, Ottawa’s own The Balconies, Halifax’s Rich Aucoin and Toronto’s Dragonette. Each ranged from the rocking to the dancing beats. Aucoin was the best from Saturday’s lineup because of his interactivity to the crowd and bringing in total fun. The Balconies, who I haven’t seen in a long time had some new members, a change from when they were a trio. Dragonette brought the crowd to its feet as Glow Fair concluded the concert series.

I also took a few Impossible Project black & white instant film photos. Finally tried to B&W 2.0 600 film as it improved the development process but the first photo with Rich Aucoin didn’t turn out good because parts of it was white.

It was a weekend to not forget from the events happening in and around Ottawa.
You can check out the loads of photos below.

Continue reading →

The Lonely End of the Rink with Grant Lawrence – S09E11

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With Grant Lawrence Polaroid Vinyl

Grant Lawrence was in Ottawa on Friday, November 29, 2013. He was there to promote his new book, The Lonely End of the Rink – Confessions of a Reluctant Goalie. The event was held at Pressed, which is a great place for sandwiches and other food.
I had the chance to interview with Lawrence and talked about the details on his second book, which is on the hockey side. You can listen to the interview below.
It was great to see the venerable radio host on CBC Radio 3 come to the Nation’s Capital and say positive things about Ottawa. His second book has connections to Ottawa, be sure to look for it at bookstores.

December 2nd Radio Show
Aside from the interview, there were new music from the like of The Balconies and MORI. MORI released a music video to this song, I Know It’s Over. If you watch the music video, a certain appearance from Cadence Weapon and Miracle Fortress are in it. Keep an eye on it.
The Balconies will be releasing their new album, Fast Motions in the new year, keep a look out on it.

As usual, Lauren joined me for the second half of the show and talked about HAIM as we approach the end of the year and have our yearly best of 2013 countdown coming up.

Performing this week in Ottawa is Kashka at Raw Sugar Cafe for December 6, 2013.
To check out the playlist from the radio show, click here. You can listen to the audio below.
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The Interview with Cai.ro – S08E30

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Credit: Caitlin Laura Photography

Credit: Caitlin Laura Photography

Hi friends, Candice again. I took a short break last week, but I’m back again and as usual, I co-hosted on today’s edition of WildWorks. And now for a quick recap!

This week, we brought you an interview from Toronto-based band, Cai.ro. The “orchestral-folk”-styled band was in Ottawa on March 8 for a show at Avant-Garde Bar.

And while their six-song EP garnered a fair amount of attention since its August 2011 release, Cai.ro has announced that it’s planning on heading back into the studio to record some new material later this year. Check the bottom of this post for the full interview and Cai.ro’s track, “Addict.” (The track is played on the radio show) Continue reading →

The Start of Christmas Season & The Balconies Takeover – S06E12

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The Balconies

What a way to kick off the first of December with a bunch of awesome music and holiday tunes. I will be using tunes from A Charlie Christmas for the next couple of Wednesdays leading to Christmas. I still love The Peanuts and the classic cartoon. The worse part was using the 2006 remaster version. Next week, I should use the pre-2006 version of A Charlie Brown Christmas.
December 1st happened to be World AIDS Day. I started off with the famous Marvin Gaye cover of What’s Going On by the Artists Against AIDS Worldwide. Even though the song came out in 2001, I decided to play it in tribute of the people who’ve lost their lives to AIDS.
I won’t explain much on the Wild 10 Countdown as it will be on the other blog.
The second hour of the show had The Balconies taking over for the first half hour. It was pre-recorded and during the time when they competed for the finals of The Big Money Shot. Even though it had some interview elements, I had the trio request their favourite songs. This is considered the final music interview of 2010.
The final half hour of the show was the start of the Christmas show as I played Christmas tunes by Canadian indie artists & bands as well as the usual Christmas pop tunes. For this set, I included two Christmas songs that are not in English. One was in Japanese (Utada Hikaru) and the other in Mandarin (Mavis Fan). I played a new Utada Hikaru song because she recently released her 2nd Single Collection compilation album. This is considered her last for the time being as she will be going on an indefinite hiatus starting in 2011.
Without further ado, you can check the playlist at this link.
The Wild 10 Countdown for December 1st is at this link.

Audio  & Extras –  Radio Show for December 1st and The Balconies Takeover Show (Segment)
Press play to listen

The Balconies Takeover Show
Press play to listen or you can download it.

Since I had mentioned Utada Hikaru, here’s the music video to Goodbye Happiness. The new song from Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfpX8lkaSdk]

The Post POP Montreal With Grand Analog, Think About Life & PKG – S06E06

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Wednesday’s radio show was the post POP Montreal edition as the top 10 countdown had some bands that attended the music festival and then later on, I aired two interviews by Grand Analog and Think About Life.
What’s new on the radio show is that I got a new co-host. Her name is Marzia and she’s an exchange student from Italy. So, be kind to her. She’s been a great addition to my show as she’s enjoying the music that I am playing.
I started off the show with a couple of Anita Mui songs because October 10th, would of been her birthday if she was still alive. It was another tribute to the “Madonna of Asia.” First song was her rendition of Stand By Me because a good friend has been fond of the original version by Ben E. King. I decided to play it again for her.
As I explained in the previous blog post about the various activities I did at POP Montreal like hanging out with two members of The Balconies and The Golden Dogs for poutine in Montreal. In the second hour, I made the new co-host happy by playing The Hundred In The Hands, Delphic and The Temper Trap. I attended Saturday’s show by checking them out. They were pretty good.

The PKG Giveaway
One thing I forgot to mention on air was who are PKG? They are a Canadian company and they make electronic accessories like laptop sleeves/bags, iPhone cases and other tech carry-on.
The fine folks from PKG had me do a giveaway for the radio show. It was grateful of them to do another one after POP Montreal. It was pretty tempting to not get hooked the messenger bag I gave away.
Congratulations to Tom Burns (of Ottawa) for winning the awesome messenger bag. Kudos to last week’s winner, Tanya Poirier (also of Ottawa) for winning the PKG/POP Montreal VIP giveaway bag.
Thanks to PKG for displaying an excellent room at the POP Montreal headquarters (Notman House) and for the giveaways.

Don’t forget to check the playlist by going to this link. The countdown entry is at this link.
You can listen to the radio show by pressing play.

The Interviews at POP Montreal
Grand Analog – Part 1.
It’s in part 1 because the length of the interview was long. Press play to listen or download it.

Think About Life
Press play to listen or download it.

October 7th Update: Thursday Show Guest Hosting and Ottawa Chinatown Gateway
It was totally last minute as I decided to do some guest hosting for 12pm on Thursday at CKCU-FM. Instead of 30 mins, it went to 2 hours. As I ended the show, I decided to sneak in Imagine by John Lennon. What I didn’t realize was his birthday would be on October 9th and he would be 70 years old. Talk about ironic timing.
Press play to listen and the playlist for the show is at this link.

Following the guest stint at CKCU-FM, I had to go to Ottawa Chinatown for the official opening of the Gateway. The official opening had dignitaries and politicians for the unveiling.  Here are a few photos I took. The Gateway looks lovely.

Having Fun at Pop Montreal – S06E05

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Coming to Montreal to attend Pop Montreal was fun. Pop Montreal is an annual music festival that showcases International and local music through various venues. Being my first time, it’s quite enjoyable. Although, I didn’t get a chance to see some of the acts I wanted to see, it was mainly due to walking and taking public transit around to various places. I seem to have gone to Le Divan Orange several times because there were free shows happening in the afternoon. My own problem was not preparing on who to check out as everything I did was on the fly and unexpected.

Friday night, I went to The Jukebox to see Grand Analog. Odario Williams and his band members (minus one) were surprised to see me and I haven’t seen them in awhile. They had a great set and it’s been awhile I heard their music. Before getting inside to The Jukebox, I finally tried Schwartz’s smoked meat sandwich. Luckily, it was across from the venue and had time to waste as I arrived early.

Saturday’s lineup was a lot to check out but I chose a few to attend.
The Notman House (Pop Montreal headquarters) had a Pop BBQ Show featuring The Whitsundays, Hot Panda, Maylee Todd, Forest City Lovers and others. I went for the food as I only checked The Whitsundays perform. Afterwards, I took the bus to Le Divan Orange to see Think About Life. It was a packed show as they couldn’t let any more people in. They rocked out a energetic half an hour set. I did the interview with the lead singer of the band and expect to be aired soon on CKCU.
After Le Divan Orange, I had to go further up to Ubisoft Montreal. Yes, it’s the videogame company. They are one of the sponsors and that event was called Pop The Roof. The photo above was Malajube performing at Ubisoft Rooftop. That was probably one of my favourites because being at the rooftop felt nice. Seeing the backdrop of Mont-Royal and downtown Montreal made it felt surreal. The secret party for Pop The Roof had good crowds and there were free food being served.
The next one was going further down to St-Catherine to go to Le National as I was recommended by a new volunteer at CKCU. She told me to check The Temper Trap and having a media pass, I didn’t need to pay. The opening acts at the show were The Hundred in the Hands (New York) and Delphic (from UK). Those two bands were electro-rock based and they had catchy tunes. Then came The Temper Trap. Their music is alternative music with grand sounds. Their first tune, it seemed epic with the drumming. I know it’s Montreal as the show was packed, but I never knew the band has a good fan following.
The unfortunate part is that the same lineup will be in Ottawa for Sunday night.
After checking out the fabulous show, I headed over to 3 Minots to find The Balconies and Laurent Bourque (along the Old Crowns gang minus their lead member) to pay them a visit. They were surprised to see me in Montreal. It was tough to get in 3 Minots as it was at capacity. I did hang out with Jacquie, Liam, their friend and The Golden Dogs for poutine.
Overall, it was an amazing Saturday I had at Pop Montreal.
Not sure what to check out on the final day of Pop Montreal.
Note: One of the proud sponsors of Pop Montreal, PKG, were kind enough to give me another giveaway for my radio show on CKCU. Keep tuned to it.

Here are a few photos that I took from the iPod touch.

It’s Basically The Whole Month of May Entry – S05.2E08

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Updated on May 26, 2010
Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to chat with Leif Vollebekk at the 1st May Whee Festival at Zaphod Beeblebrox.
Wednesday’s radio show will be fully updated later but for now, the Leif Vollebekk audio interview is posted up. You should enjoy the interview as it became a hilarious interview. I even made some goof-ups on the interview. I apologize for messing up on the question about The Balconies. He didn’t form the band, he helped gave Jacquie, Stephen and Liam the name.
Also on the radio show was an expanded edition of the countdown. For this week only, my Wild 5 Countdown became the W10 Countdown.

The W10 Countdown for Week of May 5, 2010.
1. Fixed – Stars
2. Forced to Love – Broken Social Scene (new entry)
3. Your Hands (Together) – The New Pornographers (new entry)
4. The Right Time (feat. Tyler Bancroft) – Hannah Georgas
5. Laura Palmer’s Prom – You Say Party! We Say Die! (was #1 last week)
6. No Ghost – The Acorn (new)
7. Celestica – Crystal Castles (new)
8. Breakneck Speed – Tokyo Police Club (new)
9. Authentic – Young Rival (new)
10. Ghost Pressure – Wolf Parade (new)

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End of April and Beginning of May Shows & Monday’s Radio Show – S05.2E7

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There were two awesome live show this past weekend to marking the end of April and the beginning of May. The show on the end of April was The Balconies returning to Ottawa after their cross Canada tour. It was at Zaphod Beeblebrox, opening up for The Balconies were Sandman Viper Command and The Belle Game. It was great to see The Belle Game but it was three out of the eight members. Overall, they performed a good set and one part of their was when front man, Adam Nanji gave me a shoutout for being supportive. Even though I was slightly embarrassed, I had to use my hat to cover my face in a funny way.
Here’s a video that I shot of The Belle Game.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izLODenSfZg]
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Girls Just Want To Party! – S05E42 (Finale, End of Series 5.1)

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Thursday night was pretty exciting as I went to Zaphod Beeblebrox for the 3rd week as I checked out Girl Party featuring Jas Nasty, Kool Krys and Jenocide. I decided to do an audio interview with Kool Krys because she’s been heard on other radio shows lately. There’s something unique about her music because Ottawa hasn’t really got a big hip-hop presence (my opinion, I don’t check out the 613 hip-hop scene very much). It seems like she’s my first “official” Ottawa artist to be interviewed for my radio show.

The show was great because Kool Krys brought excitement to her hip-hop music. She sang some classic tunes like Salt ‘N’ Pepa and Destiny’s Child as it reminded me of my teenage years when I listened to those songs on the radio. She brought the old school mentality and it certainly gave me a smile because I felt like it was the 1990s all over again.

Prior to Kool Krys performing, Jas Nasty was spinning tunes and she also played old school tunes from the 80s. The final act was Jenocide, from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her music was more on the electronic and thrash (as her MySpace page says it). I didn’t realize her style of music reminded me of Ruby Jean and The Thoughtful Bees, also from Halifax.
Overall, it was a good night even though I missed out on other events happening.
From cartoons to comic book heroes, we will go from Jem & The Holograms to Wonder Woman.
Played the Superfriends theme on the March 24th radio show because of Wonder Woman being in the cartoon. The Superfriends theme is played around the 17 minute mark.

Here’s the radio show and interview with Kool Krys in 2 parts. Playlists for hour 1 and hour 2 are available if you want to check what was played.
Radio show – Press play to listen. You can now listen to the show through iTunes as an audio stream.

WildWorks Extra – The new slot from 11.30am-12pm. Press play to listen.

Kool Krys Interview
Part 1 interview, press play or download it.

Part 2 interview, press play or download it.

This is not the end of Series 5 yet, as I didn’t expect to go over with the number of entries. Series 5 will continue with a new number, 5.2.
5.2 will possibly start with the Said The Whale/In-Flight Safety/Graham Wright concert or a yearly tribute to Leslie Cheung and the first time to dedicate it on radio after writing up for a couple of years since his death.

Other Loose Ends Before Ending 5.1
I did some video shooting for Bands Undone. I shot for Ottawa bands, Dave Norris & Local Ivan and Old Crowns on separate days. What made me excited was that the Canon EOS 5D Mark II got a new firmware update and I shot on 24p (24 frames per second, which they say is cinema look).

A new method I tried was using the microphone and monopod as a boom mic. Instead of having Kara using a microphone, it was nice to have her not use a mic and have her chat freely. The one with Dave Norris was shaky because it was a first time but the one with Old Crowns turned out well.

Check the links provided from the Bands Undone site as it will include the videos I shot, Dave Norris & Local Ivan and Old Crowns. Both local bands were great and enjoyable.