House Band Reading Series

Friday night I was back at the Raw Sugar for readings by Rob Mclennan, Megan Butcher and Brendan McNally's House Band.

Again, I took a bunch of photos, but I also drew sketches of Brendan and Rob. I didn't sketch Megan because I've tried before and wasn't happy with the results.

Recommendation: This was just the kind of outing I love on a Friday night - an opportunity to be social and experience live, local art that doesn't require too much energy at the end of the work week.

The House Band reading is an excellent way to experience a novel. The featured guests are always among the top poets or writers in Ottawa.

Links:

• This preview video gives something of a feeling for the House Band reading
• Here are my Flickr photos of the event

Hipster Travel Kit 2.0

Remember the Hipster Travel Kit? Zander is about to be off on a big trip, so I thought I should put one together for him. But Zander will want to travel light and I'm sure he's already got a bandana or two. So I came up with a new trimmed down model.

The Hipster Travel Kit 2.0 Contents:

• Large pill bottle with water proof and child proof cap;
• 2m of Gorrilla brand duct tape wrapped around the bottle;
• Loop of elastic cord: clothesline, fastener;
• Tea candle and half a match book;
• Earphones with convertible plug for airplanes and regular use;
• Ear plugs: for sleeping in noisy places and protecting your hearing in clubs and at concerts; and

External to kit:

• Binder clips; and
• A microfiber towel (did you know that many European hotels do not have washcloths in their bathrooms?)

Things I've Been Doing Instead of Blogging: Reading Books and the Internet

For Roy, or anyone else who is into sci-fi, computers, math, demons from other dimensions, and James Bond movies:

The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross (2006, ISBN 1-930846-45-2)

So fun it made me wish I'd worked hard enough in differential equations and algebraic systems that I could be a secret agent.

---

Speaking of Sci-Fi: Hi-Fi Sci-Fi Libarian

For librarians and people like me who love librarians, I found this on Connie Crosby's blog, more details on the creator's blog:

Avocado Shakes and Northern Style at Ju Xian Yuan

The first part of this posting is for everybody. Because Asian restaurants in Ottawa have actual Asian customers, they have begun serving beverages that are popular in Asia. One of these beverages is the avocado shake. If you are familiar with avocado as the main ingredient in guacamole this will seem absurd to you.

Listen up: My trust rating on Technorati may only be 14, but I do not give bad advice about food and restaurants. Avocado with ice cream is delicious. Avocado shakes are delicious. Order one when you have the chance unless you are lactose intolerant or have some problem with sugar.

[The rest of this post is about one of the restaurants in Ottawa where you can get an avocado shake. Out-of-towners may simply read the post below about dancing at Blue Skies, or move on. I suggest you try one of the links in "Dave's recommendations on other sites" over on the sidebar.]

We love that Northern Style!

Manon and I had our first date at Man's Restaurant. It had big portions of delicious food at low prices. Our kind of place. So we were disappointed when it closed and reopened as Ju Xian Yuan. But not so disappointed that we couldn't try the new place.

And tonight was the night.

Wow, it was good!

The first few pages of the menu offered "Northern Style Cuisine" I've never had anything described as Northern style before, so I ordered us three things from those pages.

First was the Northern Charcoal Style BBQ Skewered Lamb (5 skewers: $6). I have not had kebabs this good since I was in Ghana. Tender and spicy. Manon said something about cardamom. I'm not good at distinguishing spices so I don't know, but these were awesome.

The next dish out was the Northern Style Egg Plant with Chef Sauce. Also fantastic. ($8.95). [If you've got an anti-eggplant thing, you really should try to get over it. Think of it as one of those things you do to build neural pathways and stave of Alzheimer's. Don't tell me you can't do this. There was a time you didn't like the taste of beer.]

Then the Spicy Chicken ($9.95). Absolutely perfect.

We finished everything except a few mouthfuls of steamed rice and the chili peppers in the Spicy Chicken.

I'm looking forward to next time. There are a lot of dishes I have to try.

Ju Xiang Yuan Asian Cuisine 641 Somerset Street West Ottawa , ON , K1R 5K3 613-321-3669 [Hours]

Fringe Festival: Singing at the Edge of the World

Last week, the Ottawa Fringe Festival invited a bunch of us bloggers to a wine and cheese. As you know, I love free stuff, but what really got me there was (a) an opportunity to meet some of my favourite bloggers without them thinking I was stalking them [Even though bloggers tell you their favourite hangouts and where they are going, they may get freaked out if you show up at those places and introduce yourself]; and (b) guaranteed posting material.

In addition to excellent refreshments, they also gave each of us passes that were good for 2 shows. Plus there were bloggers there that I wanted to meet and we had a really fine time. [It turns out that Milan is as knowledgeable in person as he is on his blog. He's not just cutting and pasting. For example, we started talking about the solstice that occurred the day before. Someone asked, "does it happen at the same time all over the world, or does it go with the rotation, so if it's 5:00 in Halifax, it's 5:00 here and so on." I just said "no, same time all over" and before I could figure out how to explain why, Milan said, "If you think of the length of the day at any point on Earth as a sine curve, the solstices are the maxima and minima." Skylark said, "Oh, of course. Those would be the points on the curve where the first derivative is zero."]

Now that you know the kind of things we bloggers talk about when we're together, and you know of my possible conflict of interest, on with my review.

So far, I have seen two shows at the fringe. I didn't enjoy one of them much, so I won't tell you about it. However, I enjoyed Randy Rutherford's Singing at the Edge of the World. I think everybody who sees his show likes it. To find reviews from people much better than me at reviewing, you can just google.

In the next play, the one I didn't like, I tuned out a bit and reflected on the experience of seeing a play compared to going to a movie. Watching a good movie can be a wonderful experience, but watching a good play is somehow better. There may be glitches, we may not see the best take of twenty-five for every scene, but somehow it's more real and we are part of the performance. So how come there were probably more people at Ottawa's smallest cineplex on Friday night than there were at the entire Fringe Festival?

I think the problem is that people are reluctant to try something without a reason for thinking they will like it. It's pretty rare for a person to order tickets for whatever movie starts next. We pick movies because they have a star or director whose work we've liked before, because the trailer looked appealing, or we've heard a review. A review from a professional is good, but one from a friend is even better. (I went to Iron Man because Kathy and Roy said it was good. Well also because somebody I know thinks Robert Downey Jr. is hot.)

Fringe shows don't stick around town long enough for us to get recommendations from friends. There are no previews. The thumbs up guys on TV don't tell you which shows to go to.

You have to take chances.

And here's the thing... You might as well. How often do you hear a movie is great, the previews look compelling, its got stars you love, and then you really don't like the movie? More often than it should be, right?

So, take chances. I tried two plays at the fringe. One of them was the sort of story that could change your life. The other one, not so much, but it was only an hour and I still got something out of it.

And if you're in Toronto, Saskatoon or Victoria, you can still see Singing at the Edge of the World this summer.

Links

• Ottawa Fringe Festival: Sunday Schedule Best in Fest
• Festivals in Ottawa
• Xpress Theatre Listings
• Randy Rutherford - 4:32 worth of the show
• July 3-12 Toronto
• Aug 1-9 Saskatoon
• Aug 25 - Sept 2 Victoria

Note: My apologies to Milan for not only misquoting him, but having him say something ridiculous. His quote is now accurate.

John Stiles at the Manx

John Stiles gave a great reading at the Manx on Saturday. I enjoyed it so much that I bought his novel, Taking the Stairs and one of his poetry collections, Creamsicle Stick Shivs. I would have bought two of his short story collections but he'd only brought one copy of Scouts are Cancelled and David O'Meara had promised it to Andrew Farrell because Andrew's copy was "borrowed" and never returned.

Stiles told us during the reading that at his second last reading, his wife told him he'd read so much nobody needed to buy his novel. So at the reading he did in Ithaca on Friday night, he read much less. He clearly also read much less at our reading because a lot of us seemed to need copies of Taking the Stairs.

Nevertheless, I regret not being at the reading where he supposedly read too much because like him, his characters are often from the Annapolis Valley and it's great to hear them speak with the actual accent.

He told us that he'd been trying to sell his novel for ten years and part of his problem was he couldn't find a short description. "It's a love story" and "It's about a struggling writer" weren't capturing the publishers' attention. Finally after he sold it, his friend Corby told him the book was "desperation laced with hope". Stiles called Corby a nasty name and asked "Why couldn't he have come up with that ten years before?" But then he took it back. "Don't quote me on that" and explained that Corby is a great guy.

Links:

• Stiles on John W. MacDonald's Blog
• Stiles on Charles Earl's Through the Broken Viewfinder
• John Stiles on Wikipedia
• See and hear John Stiles

A Reading at Venus Envy

A week ago Saturday, Megan Butcher and Jennifer Whiteford read with Chandra Mayor at Venus Envy.

I enjoyed Megan and Jennifer's work as I always do. Megan interspersed her reading by throwing five paper airplanes into the audience. Although she aimed away from me, two of the planes swerved and hit me right in the chest.

Do you think that means something? Do you have a different answer if I tell you that the planes contained information about a bondage workshop scheduled for June (not sure if it is this year or last year).

I didn't know Chandra's work before, I really liked her reading. She won the Margaret Laurence award and that is entirely appropriate because her writing felt like something Margaret Laurence might have written had she been born fifty years later.

When you go to readings at book stores, if the reader is boring, you find yourself scanning the book covers. At Venus Envy, the readers have to be particularly engaging to keep you from getting distracted by the magazines, DVDs, and other objects intended to help people with their intimate pleasures.

It is proof that the all three were engaging that I didn't look at the wall of strap-on dildos and harnesses behind the readers until after the show. (Photos in the Flickr set.)

Links:

• More photos from the Reading on Flickr
• Venus Envy
• Megan Butcher
• Jennifer Whiteford
• Chandra Mayor

A few things

(1) I'm a big believer in criminal sentences that keep people out of jails. So, I am not into the latest campaign that makes it seem like people sentenced to staying in their homes are not being punished.

But I have to admit, when I walked past the parking for the Provincial Court House and saw this, I thought it a bit inappropriate to replace the old paddy wagon with a vintage Corvette. Even if it is orange.

(2) Our young friend Kay just blogged a bike repair adventure. [2023 edit: no longer online] She blows my mind because (a) all that work to repair the bike; and then (b) she does such a detailed blog posting. It makes me tired to think about it. Kaye spares no expense to tell a story.

(3) I've posted photos from Saturday night's Ball and Chain honky tonk gig at the Elmdale. I'm glad I sat up in front of the pedal steel player, Al Bragg. Because (a) he was great, and (b) I could see the set list. When it came time to play the Lover's Waltz, Michael said "Let's Skip this One."

"No," I called out, "don't!" and for a change, they listened to me.

Isn't it strange how certain melodies played in the right way can make you cry every time you hear them? Even when there are no words that go with the tune? If I had stayed in cognitive science, maybe I would have tried to research why that is.

Lonesome Paul at the Kaffé 1870

Jody called me on Saturday and asked if I wanted to come over for supper and then go see Lonesome Paul.^Note She and Michael had been out in Wakefield and just happened to see a poster that said he was playing that night.

For some reason, the poster made them think of me.

I'd been swimming and Kathy and we had talked about going to a movie because her usual Saturday night date had a big D&D game, and mine had wallpaper to remove. So Kathy and I went out to Michael and Jody's.

Before supper they played us a few recordings that will be on their next CD. Even before mixing they sound really good. We especially liked the one that Michael wrote about Jody. Kathy kept going on and on about it.

If you don't want to wait until the CD comes out, you may get a chance to hear these songs this weekend:

Saturday night: Ball and Chain at the Elmdale

Sunday afternoon: the Ottawa Opry at the National Library

After supper and a lot of talk about how much Jody and Kathy like little dogs, we made our way out to Wakefield. If you thought that the Black Sheep Inn is the only place to see music outside of Ottawa, you were mistaken. (But if you thought Wakefield was the only other town to go to, you're still right.) The Kaffé 1870 is cozy. Apparently the lead singer for the Fiftymen is one of the people running the place, so they understand how to put on live music. (Although they don't seem to know about placing listings in the Xpress.)

Paul had a fabulous group of musicians backing him up. Dave Bignall on guitar, Peter Van Althen on drums, James Stephens on bass and Keith Snider on fiddle and banjo.

Jody was getting all nostalgic because she remembers dancing in front of Dave Bignall and James Stephens 30 years ago when she first moved to Ottawa.

I've only been dancing to their music since 1987, so it didn't make me quite so nostalgic.

Links:

• Kaffé 1870
• The Fiftymen's stale website
• Ball and Chain's slightly stale website
• Where the Lonesome Paul quote came from
• A website that helps you find the right dog for your lifestyle

Ball and Chain at the Elmdale

Just in case you hadn't heard, Michael and Jody have a monthly gig at the Elmdale, first Saturday of every month. I took a lot of photos last month. Here are reasons you might enjoy going:

• Ball and Chain and the Wreckers play fun old country and cajun and they are getting better all the time.
• The sound quality is excellent. When Jody or Michael sing, you can understand the words even if you don't know them all already. (I suppose if you're really bad at French you might not understand those words, but "Aye yi yi" is pretty easy to translate.)
• Plenty of room for dancing.
• It's relaxed at the Elmdale. You don't have to worry if you are wearing the right clothes or are the right age or have the right job.
• Quarts

Ball and Chain at the Elmdale Sat, February 2, 8:30pm – Sun, February 3, 12:00am Where: 1084 Wellington Street, Ottawa, ON (the Elmdale House) (map)

Photoshop Tutorials

View these if you want to learn some tricks with Photoshop type software. http://laughingsquid.com/you-suck-at-photoshop-by-donnie-hoyle/ Or view them if you want to get some ideas on making instructional videos entertaining. In the last video, Donny creates a picture for an eBay auction of a ring. The auction was up on eBay for a while and the ring hit more than $700, but it seems he cancelled the auction due to "big news" that he has not yet explained.

Kaye's Christmas Movie

Young Kaye and her friends have completed an epic new Christmas movie: A Very JK Christmas.

This 21-minute epic follows two pairs of friends. Kaye and Jay-Tee wind up trapped in an ice cave after going to the woods for a Christmas tree. Meanwhile, at the store for decorations, the muzak makes Spence go into some sort of seizure that Jimmy can't bring him out of.

If you're like me, you'll want to skip past the cannibalism scene, but the rest is well worth watching. Especially the scientific analysis of rock, paper, scissors. I'm hoping they'll let Astronaut Love Triangle cover the song.

p.s. I'm serious about the cannibalism.

Gettin' Political on Facebook

I've been trying to avoid being political on Facebook. Instead, I've been just using it to see what friends are up to (example: "S.E. is totally relaxed") and let them know what I am up to (example "David is in from shovelling snow.") When people invited me to join the group for the weird voting method, I didn't join even though I agreed we should try it. But today one of my Facebook friends, who clearly doesn't know me well, asked me to join the group called Do NOT support "The Golden Compass".

I clicked "ignore". Then I did a search on support Golden Compass and found a group called Support The Golden Compass. I clicked join, then I sent an invitation to the guy who invited me and where it lets me leave a message I wrote: "I loved this book".

I did. The sequels got too dark for my taste, but I still found it refreshing to be reading a serious fantasy series that wasn't disguised religious theology. Didn't it bug you when you found out that the Narnia books were designed to make you believe in Christianity? Shouldn't Christianity be able to stand up for itself without a fantasy series having to prop it up?

Since I was getting all political, I joined the Fair Copyright group too.

But that's going to be it for politics. I'm too busy with Astronaut Love Triangle, Propeller Dance and the Maple Leaf Brass Band to do any more.

Opening at 155b - Exhibit #2: Bureau, Laalo and Puckering

Exhibit #2: The Writing is on the Wall, 2nd group exhibit, curated by Christopher Healey, and featuring Patrick Bureau, Trevor Laalo and Margie Puckering Went to this opening a week ago and finally got the photos up on Flickr. Margie Puckering created these mannequins in coveralls. I hope she had a studio to keep them in because they would have been creepy around the apartment.

The Hollow Women by Margie Puckering [panorama created in Autostitch]

Burning of the Library of Alexandria by Patrick Bureau[detail]

Patrick Bureau's work inspired me the most: scenes from history recreated with Lego (specifically, the Star Wars collection). The show lasts until Jan. 20, 2008. Gallery 155b 155b Loretta Avenue North Ottawa, Ontario [They are around to the side of the building.]

Dave Cooper Opening

The Dave Cooper opening at Artguise on Friday was quite a scene. Lots of babies and small children. And lots of parkas. Far more parkas than will likely be at the Los Angeles showing of these paintings in February. My Flickr set Artguise Dave Cooper's currently out of date site Dave Cooper's more out of date site

Tips from a Songwriter

Jane singing a sweet song (photo: D. Moyer)

Jane did a beautiful job at Sally's Salon today. She sang one of the 25 songs she has written. This one she wrote when she was 8. She's working well with her back-up band, and is even generous with them. Mike on mandolin and Dave on clarinet both got nice long solos.

After supper, another songwriter, Jen Gilbert, was asking Jane about her song-writing practices. I took notes because I'd like Astronaut Love Triangle to have 25 songs.

"I write most of my songs in the bath. Sometimes two songs in one bath. Because there's nothing else to do in there...

I just cannot write rock songs. I write sweet songs. I have no idea how to write campfire songs...

[Mentions a collaboration effort with her guitarist brother, Liam.]

But then we had the idea 'toothpaste'. We wrote a song about how back in the old days they didn't have toothpaste... How they came up with the name 'Colgate'.

It just shows you don't know what to do, but then you have an idea. I would never have guessed I'd write a campfire song about toothpaste."

The Stolen Angels Launch Party

Those of you who weren't able to make it will be happy to know that the Kathy Cook's reading on Sunday and her launch party tonight for Stolen Angels were both well-attended successes.

The reading had a nice feel to it. After Kathy read, she was interviewed by someone who knew how to do a good interview and then the audience asked good questions. It was like a really good university class without an exam or paper requirement, and much, much less costly.

Tonight in the Market, the launch party was all about schmoozing with journalists, politicians, writers and activists. There was also the weird part when all these very young women in slinky dresses showed up. They had helium ballons and gift bags and only seemed to be interested in speaking with the women at the Launch.

I believe they had started with their own private gathering in another part of the Foundation, then moved out to promote one or more local women's clothing shops, and later left for other fashionable Market venues.

I don't think they deliberately chose to start at the event where Kathy Cook was selling and signing her book about girls who were kidnapped into sexual slavery.

Link: Previous posting with more info on Stolen Angels: The Kidnapped Girls of Uganda

Openings: Erin Robertson and Stefan Thompson

Response by Erin Robertson.

In my younger days, Friday nights were all about going to live music clubs and dancing. Now Friday nights are about catching up on sleep. But if I wind up just watching TV all evening, I feel depressed. This is why it is great that there are often art openings on Friday night. Yesterday, Art Guise had Erin Robertson and Invisible Cinema had Stefan Thompson. Both shows were wonderful and if I didn't have a big loan to pay off, I would have bought paintings from both of them. Robertson's paintings were emergency scenes, impressionist acrylic with thick layers of resin over them that made them look wet and shiny.

The Shepherd and other works by Stefan Thompson.

Thompson's are playful and sometimes creepy. He paints on re-used materials and advocates environment friendly methods.
A big Thank You! to Zoom for recommending the Stefan Thompson show, I would have missed it otherwise.

Cozy Art from Karina Bergmans

I'm reluctant to suggest a trip to Nepean to the bulk of my readership, but if you find yourself near Ben Franklin Place in the next little while, you should go in and see Karina Bergmans' exhibit in the Atrium Gallery. I found it to be full of things that made me smile and want to live in a Dr. Seuss world.

Sitting in my living room this evening, I found myself looking at the couch and the chairs thinking... how could I make all this be like Karina Bergman's art?

Vernissage: Sun (Oct 7) from 2:00pm to 4:00pm.

Atrium Gallery 101 Centrepointe Drive, Ottawa Monday - Thursday 8:30 a.m. – 9 p.m. Friday 8:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m Sunday 1-5 p.m The show runs until November 7th.

Moo Moo's Ice Cream in St. John's, NF

Moo Moo's Interior; photo: M. Blouin

If you are in St. John's in the summer time. You will almost certainly go for ice cream at Moo Moo's. They have an excellent selection of flavours to please all tastes.

Abigail and Jessica enjoying their selection; photo: M. Blouin

I understand that when available "Moon Mist" is not a flavour that pleases all tastes. For example, while my young friend Jessica enjoys it, her mother has a long list of unpleasant things she would rather do than eat Moon Mist ice cream.

If you are particularly gluttonous, you may decide after eating your ice cream cone to have a second cone, but to make it a soft cone.

Dave making a mistake so you won't have to; photo: M. Blouin

Based on my one experience, I would advise against this. If you must have more, stick with the "hard" ice cream. Unless you enjoy something that resembles frozen milk more than the soft ice cream you are used to.

Moo Moo's Ice Cream Inc Address : 88 Kings Road, A1C6L7, St. John's, NL Telephone : 709-753-0999