Festival Updates and News
News about Ottawa Festivals and our Member festivals, special events and fairs.
Dragon boat fest city’s ‘best-kept secret’
MJ DESCHAMPS | METRO OTTAWA
The best fests in life are free.
Ottawa’s 16th annual non-profit Dragon Boat Festival is coming up this weekend at Mooney’s Bay, with free admission to spectators.
Although it is North America’s largest dragon boat race festival, “the Dragon Boat Festival is the best-kept secret in Ottawa,” said executive festival director John Brooman.
“It’s a free event that offers everything from team building for the racers to live shows for adults and children.”
Full story on the Metro Ottawa website: Dragon boat fest city’s ‘best-kept secret’
Festival fever
Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
The Dragon Boat and Summer Solstice festivals offer great entertainment this weekend, says Lynn Saxberg.
In the meantime, two relatively new festivals taking place this weekend are of growing interest to music fans. The Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival at Mooney’s Bay is presenting the all-star African Guitar Summit as part of its lineup, while the Summer Solstice Aboriginal Arts Festival on Victoria Island includes a headlining performance by one of Canada’s top First Nations bands, Eagle & Hawk, on Sunday.
At Dragon Boat, the concerts are part of an initiative that started five years ago, partly to entertain hundreds of paddlers and their families on shore at Mooney’s Bay. This year, 190 teams are participating in the races, with a goal of raising more than $300,000 for Ottawa-area charities.
June 21 is the summer solstice, a traditional day of celebration for aboriginal people around the world. In 1996, it was officially declared National Aboriginal Day in Canada. For the last couple of years, organizers of the Ottawa event have expanded the celebrations to fill a whole weekend.
Read the full article on the Ottawa Citizen website: Festival fever
A gift with strings attached
Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
American roots-rocker Ben Harper talked about the usual stuff during the first part of my phone interview with him last month. We chatted about his new band, Relentless7, their new album, White Lies for Dark Times, and what’s coming up for the summer. He’s on tour, headlining the main stage at Bluesfest on July 9.
So I asked what Harper thought of the ukulele as a teaching instrument.
“Oh man, ukuleles are fantastic,” he replied, pausing for a second before asking for my mailing address. I gave it to him, assuming he had a ukulele CD or instruction booklet he wanted to send. I was wrong.
“You think the kids would like ukuleles?” he asked, not waiting for an answer. “I’m going to send you 40 ukuleles from my family’s music store.”
Read the exciting conclusion on the Ottawa Citizen website: A gift with strings attached
Bigger Bluesfest aimed at drawing more tourists, music fans to city
Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
In a move that could pave the way for Bluesfest to take over the city in an even bigger way and join the ranks of other world-class festivals, a newly expanded show will bring free concerts to the ByWard Market next month.
For Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest, the initiative announced Wednesday could be the start of an exciting new chapter in its history. Look at Montreal’s jazz festival, where free outdoor stages in the downtown area are a huge attraction, or South by Southwest, where the non-stop club offerings entice people to flock to Austin, Texas.
Bluesfest organizers are using their $1.5 million in funding earmarked for 2009 to set up a satellite festival in the Market that will run July 9-13 and feature free concerts on a big outdoor stage, as well as ticketed shows with dozens more acts in 10 downtown clubs.
Funk legend George Clinton and the P-Funk Allstars, Scottish folk-rockers the Proclaimers, hip-hop veterans Arrested Development and the Harlem Gospel Choir are among the acts booked to perform the free shows in the Market.
Full story on the Ottawa Citizen website: Bigger Bluesfest aimed at drawing more tourists, music fans to city
Spend an afternoon on the Bridge
TRACEY TONG | METRO OTTAWA
Previously known as Noon Under the Bridge, the free summer music series – a collaboration between the NCC and groups like Parks Canada, the National Arts Centre, Canadian Heritage River Conference, Association des professionnels de la chanson et de la musique, the Ottawa International Jazz Festival, Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest, Ottawa Turkish Festival – consists of outdoor music and theatre performances on the Plaza Bridge overlooking the Rideau Canal.
Residents and visitors are invited to bring their lunch and enjoy a free hour of entertainment from noon to 1 pm, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Full story on Metro Ottawa website: Spend an afternoon on the Bridge
Summer Travel ‘09: Ontario
Brian Banks | Maclean’s.ca
Ottawa Bluesfest/Ottawa (July 8-19) This 11-day festival is number one with a bullet in Canada and not a lot of people know it. But they soon will. In 2007, in just its 13th year, Bluesfest drew more than 300,000 fans. A big factor is the quality and diversity of its program, drawing big-name talent from throughout North America. Among the 2009 headliners: Ben Harper and Relentless7, Our Lady Peace, Styx, Blue Rodeo, Ice Cube, Jackson Browne, Stone Temple Pilots, and Ornette Coleman. In 2007, Bluesfest moved to its present site at LeBreton Flats Park next to the Canadian War Museum. Organizers found room for five stages, including two main stages. With more than 220 acts, they’ll need them. Take the opportunity to visit the dozens of other sites throughout the National Capital Region: Parliament Hill, the National Gallery of Canada, the Museum of Civilization, and the aforementioned Canadian War Museum, to name just a few.
Full article on Maclean’s website: Summer Travel ‘09: Ontario
The little festival that could, and is
Patrick Langston, The Ottawa Citizen
Good weather, turnout help cement Westfest’s growing reputation
Westboro may never become Nashville north, but it gave a doggone good imitation on Saturday courtesy of Westfest’s Kickin’ Country.
That’s what festival organizers called a day busier than a southern chicken farmer as everything from bluegrass to jug band to country-rock boot-scooted out over Richmond Road, finishing off with Canadian country veterans Prairie Oyster.
Full article on the Ottawa Citizen website: The little festival that could, and is
Latest ENCORE! theatre production sheer brilliance
Fred Sherwin | Orleans Online
But what’s really great about “‘the lost one” is that the other actors don’t get lost in the script or vershadowed by McDougall’s brilliance because they are all brilliant in their own right. I loved Jeysa Pratt who plays the bag lady, and Eric Morlang, who plays the man in the tree, was great as well as was the rest of the cast that includes Katie Cunningham, Alison Capuano, Patrick Villeneuve and Lewis Caunter.The play is truly a collaborative effort that relies on improvisation which helps make every performance unique in its own right. I can only imagine the fun the actors had both in producing the play and acting in it.
With their three performances at the Orleans Théatre out of the way, the cast is busy preparing for their upcoming appearance at the Ottawa Fringe Festival which gets underway on June 18 at a number of downtown venues. Showtimes are Saturday, June 20 and June 27 at 1:30 p.m. in the University of Ottawa’s Academic Hall.
Full story on Oreans Online: Latest ENCORE! theatre production sheer brilliance
Danny Michel, Jenn Grant put sizzle in Westfest crowd
Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
Former Ottawan Danny Michel brought his rocking new band, the Camptown Racers, to Westfest on Friday, kicking off an idyllic opening night for the sixth annual festival. East Coast singer-songwriter Jenn Grant and indie rockers Arctic were also on the bill.
For Michel, it was a test run for his latest arrangement of backing musicians, and things were slightly chaotic throughout the set. Despite a missed cue here and there, the chemistry made it clear that he’s on to something. Even his most tender songs benefited from the swagger of the dynamic rock band. One highlight was Elgin Avenue, a melodic tune inspired by Ottawa’s homeless.
More on the Ottawa Citizen website: Danny Michel, Jenn Grant put sizzle in Westfest crowd
In a Glass house
Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
The founder of Prairie Oyster lives the peaceful life on the edge of the city
As a musician, Glass works mostly in the evening and on weekends. His sleek, soulful playing has landed many gigs with several hard-working Ottawa-area artists, including Cajun twangsters Ball and Chain, Texas-style troubadour Brock Zemon and singer-songwriter-guitarist Lynn Miles.
But on a national level, Glass is still best known as a founding member of Prairie Oyster, the veteran Canadian country band that headlines Westfest Saturday. His expressive songwriting and guitar work helped define the band’s rootsy music. Blending Tex-Mex, Cajun, blues and swing into old-time country, Prairie Oyster championed alt-country before it was cool to be alt-country.
Glass, along with singer Russell deCarle and steel guitarist Dennis Delorme, is toasting the 35th anniversary of Prairie Oyster this year. They formed the band in 1974, which happens to be the same year Glass’s motorcycle was manufactured in Germany (though he bought it years later).
With the addition of a fiddler, John P. Allen, and a female singer-songwriter-pianist, Joan Besen, the band released its first album, Oyster Tracks, in 1986. By the 1990s, they were a chart-topping, Juno-winning major-label priority. Over the next eight or nine years came a string of albums and close to a dozen Top 10 singles, including Everybody Knows, Such a Lonely One and Don’t Cry Little Angel. In the group’s heyday, it was a rare beast: a Canadian country-music band that sold thousands of albums.
Read the full article on the Ottawa Citizen website: In a Glass house
Note: Prarie Oyster is appearing at Westfest
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