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Music, Culture, Photos and Other Happenings in Ottawa

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Summer Happenings

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It’s a summer entry as I won’t be posting regularly and it’s considered the off-season.

The biggest craze to hit parts of the world is Pokémon Go. Canadians have been waiting for the release, which came out on July 17th and made the game’s server crash. I haven’t played like crazy with the worry of the phone’s battery life. I’ve noticed seeing people play around my neighbourhood as there’s several Pokéstops located and a competitive gym to clash with.

On Tuesday afternoon, there was a Pokémon Go event in Ottawa called the Confederation Park Lure Party. There were lots of people convening at the park and catch whatever Pokémon are available.

Even the Mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson came out and joined in the fun to trying out Pokémon Go.
You can check the photos from below.

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Specials

Summer Special – The Community Cup 2013

CKCU CBC Ottawa Commuity Cup Photo Frame

It’s soon to write a blog entry as the current season wrapped up but this is a Summer special. All I can say that it was a great opportunity to participate in The Community Cup for the second year and to support and represent CKCU-FM. What a way to start the Summer fun and a lead in to Canada Day.

I have to grin and bear it as Team CBC Ottawa beat Team CKCU to a score of 3-1. They took a nice revenge after a score-less tie from last year’s game. All in all, it’s for a good fun and no bitterness afterwards. You were awesome and a class act. It was also great to see Amanda Putz of CBC Bandwidth as I haven’t seen her around in quite awhile. Great to see get into the soccer spirit and downing Team CKCU.
I was able to shoot this video on Instagram of the post-game handshakes. Another Instagram video with Teri Loretto and Jewne Johnson doing the news. Lastly, I brought along the Fujifilm Instax Camera and the people were astonished to see the camera and instant film.

It was nice to have hosts of Fundamentally Sound and Debaser take part in this year’s Community Cup and there were a few other hosts as well. Kudos to DJ 2 Creamz for DJing at the event as well.
Time to recover from the pain.

Photos are posted on Flickr at this link. Some photos are posted on Facebook over at this link.
On the Summer edition of WildWorks on CKCU, I will be airing some of the reactions and thoughts from the teammates and a few from CBC Ottawa.
Have a great Canada Day! You can check the photos from Canada Day over at this link.

Update for July 3rd – Audio segment from The Community Cup is posted up. It consisted of reactions of teammates from CKCU and CBC Ottawa. An apology as I forgot to give thanks to the organizers of The Community Cup on the radio show.
The Wild 10 Countdown for July 3rd entry is over at this link.

Enjoy!
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Audio / Specials

Interview With Nat & Marie (Summer Special 2012)

The Summer edition for 2012 brings you the interview with Nat & Marie. After avoiding and being negative towards Canada’s largest city known as Toronto. I had the opportunity and a change of heart for the city as I met up with the lovely ladies. I will admit that meeting Nat & Marie was the first priority over NXNE and I will leave it at that. Overall, they were great to chat with and I wasn’t overly nervous meeting them because I was in my comfort zone while interviewing them on the nice, warm June day (it was a Saturday) in Toronto.
The interview is in three parts and it mainly delves on social media and online culture. Aside from the interview, there’s the usual music and the top 10 being played on the Summer edition show.
Since it’s the Summer, the TV shows that I am watching are Hell’s Kitchen, Masterchef and Dallas. Big Brother is now added to the viewing list.

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Audio / Music / Specials / WildWorks Blog

2010 Summer Special

It’s this time of year where I sporadically post entries during the Summer. I had the opportunity to go for more Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest dates compared to last year. I was able to do audio interviews with several artists. It will be provided here. Overall, I was excited to see some of the performing acts. Worse part was enduring the heat.

The Ottawa Folk Festival Edition (Posted on August 18, 2010)

You can listen to the August 18th edition of the radio show. Aside from the top 10 countdown and Arcade Fire songs, there were interviews from Rolf Klausener of The Acorn, Aidan Knight, Jill Zmud, & Jim Bryson.
Press play to listen.

Apparently, I am taking part in this blog rally challenge, check the blog link out by clicking here. If you like my entry on Ottawa Bluesfest or the radio show, just comment away. Finished on July 26th.

Don’t forget to check out http://wild5countdownckcu.wordpress.com/ as it will be the only blog to be updated weekly during the Summer. I have been mentioning Arcade Fire over on the other blog.

Cameo In Audio Form on Other Radio Shows

Posted: August 4, 2010
There are two radio shows where I made a voice cameo appearance.
The New Midnight Jamz on July 31, 2010 – press play to listen.

The Drunken Master Revue on August 4, 2010 – press play to listen.

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Audio / Music / Specials / WildWorks Blog

Holiday Wrap Up 2009


We’re inching closer towards the end of 2009 and ringing in 2010. It’s also the end of the decade called the noughties. I won’t be resuming my Series 5 entries until after the new year as this is another special entry for the Christmas holidays.
January 1, 2010 update: Happy New Year to everyone!

The best of 2009 edition for Wednesday morning’s radio show at CKCU is now posted and you can listen to it.
Here’s a previous audio which is moved to this entry since it’s a wrap up to 2009. Here’s the embedded player to listen.
From the December 16, 2009 radio show, my top 10 Canadian albums of 2009. Press play to listen.

Here’s the December 30, 2009 edition of ASR and my radio show. Press play to listen to the entire show.

Press play to listen to my Best of 2009 edition. At the end of the show, I played a famous Chinese song by the late Anita Mui. It was December 30, 2003 when she passed away.

Playlist is at http://wildworks.wordpress.com/radio/

Yeah Yeah Yeahs -My Favorite of 2009
I picked the Yeah Yeah Yeahs as my favorite for 2009 and since I explained a bit on-air, I forgot to mention on-air that there’s this clip from NME’s YouTube site had the Yeah Yeah Yeahs talk about It’s Blitz track by track. It’s funny how they explained the first 2 tracks as “party, party, party!” Here’s the YouTube clip.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6BTZ4E0RrQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

Remembering Anita Mui
At the end of the radio show, I played an Anita Mui song in a way of remembering her. Here’s a YouTube from her final concert in 2003 and she was ill but continued to perform under pain. The ending when she leaves the stage will put you into tears.
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3dP-8Ti6x8″]
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Audio / Music / Specials / WildWorks Blog

Holiday Listening 2009

This is the return of the so-called holiday specials as it will not be linked to my usual entries. This time, these entries will be connected to the radio shows I have been doing. So far, I have played the usual Christmas songs by U2, The Pogues, Mariah Carey, Band Aid and Wham! There’s been a heavy dose of Fairytale of New York being played from the radio show.
Don’t forget the playlist is at http://wildworks.wordpress.com/radio/

December 24-25, 2009 – Merry Christmas to everyone! Hope you take your time reading and listening through this blog entry. I should thank North by East West for providing the new Christmas songs by Canadian independent bands and musicians. Without them, I would not be able to play good Christmas music on my radio show at CKCU-FM.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009 wrapped up the Christmas edition of the radio shows. Played several new Christmas songs by Said The Whale, In-Flight Safety with Jenn Grant and Library Voices. Surprised that I have played Fairytale of New York four times but the other 3 are cover versions. Also on the radio show was The Balconies Christmas interview that I did on a cold Friday, December 18, 2009, prior to their concert at Cafe Dekcuf.
Here’s the full radio show from 10-11.30am. Press play to listen.

Here’s my radio show from 11-11.30am. Press play to listen.

The Balconies Christmas Interview
Press play to listen or download it.

Due to sound quality issues, if you couldn’t listen to In-Flight Safety & Jenn Grant’s version of Fairytale of New York clearly, you can download the song for free at this site via NxEW, http://www.nxew.ca/2009/12/free-download-in-flight-safety-and-jenn.html
The same goes for Said The Whale, here’s the link to download the free Christmas songs, http://www.saidthewhale.com/christmas.html

Monday, December 21, 2009 was my final Monday afternoon show. I started the final show by playing the Christmas #1 song in the UK for 2009. That’s right, it’s Rage Against The Machine. The song that trumped the 2009 X-Factor winner was Killing In The Name.
I had a special guest on the show. It was Ben Welland of Sadie Hell. We played our favorite Christmas songs and I did live interview (first time) with Welland as he is promoting his debut album and the gig on January 2, 2010.
Without further ado, you can press play to listen to Monday’s show.


Saturday, December 19, 2009 was not Christmas related as I got to be a guest on Midnight Jamz, alternating on Saturdays from 8-10pm on CKCU. Actually, there was talk of Christmas in one of the host break. This radio show mainly plays Hip-Hop, R&B, Dance and Reggae. Near the end of the show, we were all singing along to It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday by Boyz II Men off-air. I had no clue why I was singing along to it with no mistakes.
Press play to listen.

Wednesday, December 16 continued with several Christmas songs being played. Past Christmas #1 songs in the UK were also played and my top 10 Canadian indie albums of 2009. Joel Plaskett and Metric were battling for the 1-2 punch.
Press play to listen.

Monday, December 14 kicked off the Christmas themed show. It was the return of the duo of Horses Spilled Milk and we basically played the Christmas tunes by the mainstream artists and bands.
You can listen to the Dec. 14th Christmas edition radio show by pressing play.

Happy Holidays! Continue reading →

Audio / Music / Specials / WildWorks Blog

August Extra #4: Joel Plaskett x Three at Ottawa Folk Festival

With Joel Plaskett at Ottawa Folk Festival.
It’s certainly ironic that Joel Plaskett’s current album is called Three because it is the third time I saw him live (two from last year, one in winter and late Spring). It seems like 3 is a lucky number into itself. Onto Plaskett at Ottawa Folk Festival, he definitely gave an excellent performance because he had his dad, Bill Plaskett, perform along with him. It is different than seeing without his Emergency band because his solo performance from Folk Fest seemed to be a bit mellower than his rock-style with the Emergency. He did some humourous talk during his performances and joked about being delayed at LaGuardia Airport and getting bit by mosquitoes. All in all, it was great and having Amanda Putz MC’ing made it awesome.
What was also funny was my brother got Plaskett to write number 3 in Chinese. It’s such an easy Chinese word to write.
Earlier in the afternoon, I got to check out the “Songs From The Road” songwriters circle with him, Ana Miura, Steven Page and Bruce Cockburn. I didn’t stay too long due to the some reasons (bringing my two month old trusty 13″ MacBook Pro) and I was totally sweating like crazy.
You can check the photos here.
Overall, I had a great time being at Ottawa Folk Festival for that one and only last day. Seeing the usual folks made feel happy and making me laugh. (you know who you are).
Another nice favour I have done for the two CKCU radio shows were giving them a promo of sorts from Plaskett. I hope they will like it.
Photos from Plaskett’s performance at Ottawa Folk Festival can be seen here.
Well, that’s all for now and will put various Ottawa Folk Festival photos that I took later on. It was an awesome weekend (minus Saturday) with i(heart)music festival on Friday and then the final day of Ottawa Folk Festival.
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Music / Specials / WildWorks Blog

August Extra #3 – i(heart)music festival With Oh No Forest Fires, Modernboys Moderngirls, The Love Machine and The Balconies

The Balconies at i(heart)music festival
I decided to blog another Summer entry and it’s nearing a fifth series/season because this person lit a fire under me because this person enjoys reading my live music entries. The hint is this person works for the Ceeb #2 (in Radio). That’s all I will get into, but thanks! (Hope you read it). With the fifth season looming may come a name change for the blog due to the fact that I am not really traveling around the world.
On Friday night, I checked out the i(heart)music festival at Cafe Dekcuf for The Love Machine and The Balconies. I am familiar with those two Ottawa bands because my brother is good friends with them. What’s nice is that both bands are great friends with each other. It’s good to see connections from one another.
For anyone who doesn’t know about i(heart)music, it is by an Ottawa-based music blogger who writes and promotes up and coming Canadian indie singers and bands. It’s more like giving them exposure and bringing good music to the Nation’s Capital and throughout Canada.

The First Two Bands – Oh No Forest Fires and Modernboys Moderngirls
There were two other bands I got to check out who were on the bill. First up was Oh No Forest Fires, they started off with a wild and rocking set and during their performance, the lead singer of Oh No Forest Fires made jokes about Jerry Seinfeld in Ottawa. What was even funny during their performance was their mic stand kept falling off and one almost hit my head. That was a close call and would of knocked myself silly. What’s also surprising is the lead singer is the brother to one of the members of Hey Rosetta.
You can check the photos here via Flickr.

Onto Modernboys Moderngirls, I missed the first part due to interviewing the members of Oh No Forest Fire. They’re a new band and they performed to a great rocking set.
You check the photos here via Flickr.

The Beloved Two Ottawa Bands
How could I not say about returning Bandwidth host, Amanda Putz’s favorite Ottawa band, The Love Machine. They totally rocked and energized the crowd for their performance. At one point of their set, Jacquie and a friend were doing the robo dance and it was funny part to their performance. They announced that they will be doing their first music videos and needing females to be part of it and there were some jokes included, which I won’t say.
You check The Love Machine photos here via Flickr.

Last, but not least, The Balconies. Prior to arriving early, I decided to hang out with Jacquie and Liam for some food. Went to a Thai restaurant and I only ordered shrimp spring rolls. The worse part was that I didn’t stay for all of their performance because of a lousy bus service in Ottawa. I only stayed for about 10 minutes to hear their usual rockin’ songs. They still rocked out pretty late and even a good turnout. There were worries about the turnout due to Jerry Seinfeld at the NAC, Ottawa Folk Festival and Britney Spears at Scotiabank Place. Overall, things were pretty good for a Friday night at Cafe Deckuf.
You check the The Balconies photos here via Flickr.

That was my Friday and now onto Joel Plaskett at Ottawa Folk Festival for Sunday (Aug. 23).

Audio / Music / Specials / WildWorks Blog

August Extra #2 – Horses Spilled Milk and Guest Hosting for Kristal’s Method

View From The Tay River in Perth, Ontario
I know the photo is not really linked to this particular entry but I mentioned at the start of Horses Spilled Milk that I went to Perth, Ontario on Saturday for 2 lion dance performances. Check the 2009 Summer page for the short entry. I had to sub in for co-host for the beginning of the show because he was running late. I was basically a lifesaver for Horses Spilled Milk and Kristal’s Method.
Halfway through Horses Spilled Milk, there was a classic 80s song played and the hint; The Breakfast Club, directed by the late John Hughes.

Afterwards, I unexpectedly decided to guest host Kristal’s Method because Kristal wasn’t around. I had to scramble and figure out what songs to play. I had help from Armen of Thematics at CKCU-FM at the first host break. This time, I totally played 100% Canadian independent music.
Note: Audio for both shows are no longer available to listen.
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Audio / Music / Specials / WildWorks Blog

August Extra: Fundamentally Sound on August 6, 2009 and Still With Summer

[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/wildworks/fundamentally-sound-for-august-6-2009″]
You can listen and download.

I was able to be a guest co-host on Fundamentally Sound with Dennis Molnar on Thursday. Fundamentally Sound is a Hip-Hop, Rap, Funk, Soul radio show that airs from 12-2pm at CKCU-FM.
Warning, there are several songs that have swearing and this blog being PG-friendly, I just want to give an advance warning. Overall, I was very comfortable being on-air because at least there someone in the on-air studio. I was calm, cool and collective and not as nervous when hosting your own radio show. Although, my loyalty still lies with Canadian indie music radio shows but my roots still lie with enjoying various forms of musical genres.