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Choose your own ARTventure

Written

diane

on Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Marie-Josée Laframboise. 2010

Get ready for some serious art-hopping happening all over the city this week! Here are some highlights…

Starting at 5:30 on Thursday evening, the Ottawa Art Gallery (2 Daly Avenue) is hosting the opening of their fall exhibitions:

Network Installations (August 13-October 24)
Montreal-based mixed-media sculpture artist Marie-Josée Laframboise weaves a variety of materials (including nets, rope, thread, fabric, and twine) to create large site-specific installations that invite us to engage in, with, and around the work. Playing with geographical and topographical 3-dimensional forms in space, the artist calls into question the territorial relationships that exist between art and audience. Note: The artist will be speaking about her work at the OAG on Friday, October 1 at 12:30. Mark it in your calendar!

Avaaz (August 13-October 24)
In Punjabi, “avaaz” is a word used to describe both sound and voice. Multi-disciplinary artist Dipna Horra works with everyday domestic objects and sound (recorded conversations between the artist and her father and songs sung by the artist when she was a child) to evoke narratives that describe personal histories about travel, immigration, and the collective memories that exist within families.

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Movies for good causes this weekend

Written

saxby

on Friday, August 6, 2010

Courtesy of Veganbackpacker on Flickr

If you’re planning dinner and a movie this weekend, you might want to put your box office dollars to work for an Ottawa not-for-profit. Centretown Movies is an outdoor film festival taking place in Dundonald Park (at Somerset and Lyon). This year’s festival is a bit more concise than previous years, but two great Ottawa non-profit organizations will benefit from the ticket sales - a local community group and the festival itself.

Tonight’s screening of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is in support of the Ottawa Good Food Box, a purchasing cooperative that helps reduce the price of healthy eating by distributing fruits and vegetables directly to consumers. On Saturday, the festival is showing Hook to raise money for its own continuation.

Screenings are pay-what-you-can, and start at 9pm. Feel free to bring chairs and snacks to the park. And speaking of films, if you don’t have plans Sunday afternoon, the Ottawa Folk Festival is presenting The Ballad of Ramblin’ Jack at the Mayfair. It’s $6 for festival members and full price for everyone else.

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Restaurant Watch: Centretown gets a taste of Burma

Written

trevor

on Monday, August 2, 2010

Photo courtesy tcp909.

If you’ve ever typed “Burmese food” and “Canada” into a search engine, you’ve probably noticed that our country is not exactly a hotbed for the flavourful South Asian cuisine. Apart from one restaurant on the prairies, and a few specific dishes embedded within the menus of Thai or pan-Asian establishments, the authentic Burmese dining experience is a rare thing, indeed - which is why the recent opening of Rangoon Restaurant in the heart of Centretown is so exciting.

Photo courtesy flappingwings on Flickr.

The owners have carved out a cozy little space at 114 Gloucester St., on the corner of O’Connor, and populated their menu with a wide selection of Burmese classics. Not surprisingly, the first item on the menu is mohinga, a fish-and-rice-noodle soup spiced with lemon grass and cilantro that just happens to also be the country’s national dish. The server who handed me my take-out menu recommended the intriguing letphet phoke - a salad of marinated tea leaves, cabbage, toasted garlic, peas and all sorts of other delicious stuff. And as it would happen, the co-compiler of the 613 Style File, Lauryn Kronick, had just finished off Rangoon’s kyetta hin (chicken curry) when I walked in - and told me I had to try it when I came back.

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Flotilla and guests play Raw Sugar Café

Written

apartment613

on Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Photo Courtesy of Flotilla

Post by Gloria Song.

Flotilla is a band that is hard to classify. The same thing has been said about many bands, but with this Montreal-based band, you can name any number of their musical influences (Bjork, Portishead, Deerhoof, Joanna Newsom), but none of them fully capture the unique sound that this band brings to the Canadian scene.

Their album One Hundred Words for Water was released in 2009 and quickly became the fourth most played indie album on Canadian community/campus radios that year. It’s not hard to see why. The album combines haunting female vocals with jazz chord progressions that manage to be complex yet still pop music catchy, producing a dream-like quality in their sound. Oh, and they have a harp. Yes, I said harp.

Clearly the originality of their style is partly due to their arranger/keyboardist/bassist,Geoffrey Holbrook, who is working on a doctorate at Columbia University in contemporary music composition. It probably also has to do with the fact that their vocalist and guitarist, Veronica Chamley grew up in Ottawa before moving to Montreal to study.

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It’s time to get your Turkey on!

Written

apartment613

on Friday, July 23, 2010

Photo courtesy Britt Novakowski.

by Britt Novakowski, Turkish expert extraordinaire

Ottawa’s annual celebration of the many wonders of Turkey takes place this weekend – and no, it has nothing to do with the bird. Rather, the Ottawa Turkish Festival will turn Confederation Park into a Grand Bazaar of Turkish culture, complete with traditional music, dance and food. Mmmm, baklava.

But don’t stop there! Baklava is just the beginning. Swap your morning Starbucks for a strongly brewed, tooth-rottingly sweet Turkish coffee and you’ll be buzzing for the rest of the day. Make sure to round off breakfast by grabbing a few simit – large bagely-type-things the size of your face, covered in sesame seeds and guaranteed to kill a low-carb diet in a single bite – and then go dance it off!

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Mother’s Children album release party

Written

Migneault

on Friday, July 9, 2010

Photo courtesy of caitpowers on Flickr.

Bluesfest too expensive for you? Or perhaps you can’t take the heat? Believe it or not, there is a way to get some quality entertainment this Friday night for a very modest price. Best of all, you can escape the summer heat in the dark (but not dank) basement of Ritual Nightclub (137 Besserer Street).

That night, Ottawa’s Mother’s Children will hold their LP release party. These guys make the kind of power pop that can’t help but make you dance your ass off as you down a few beers. Word on the street is that the new album, called …That’s Who!, is pretty damn good. Perhaps the best thing about the show, though, is that it will cost you roughly 13 times less than going to Bluesfest the same night! For the paltry sum of $3 you can see a live show as good, or let’s face it, probably better, than anything you’re likely to see at Lebreton Flats. You can use the money you’re saving to buy roughly 10 beers at $4 a pop.

If you love saving money, and love your city, do the right thing and see Mother’s Children Friday night. Doors open at 10.

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2010 International Festival at the Sparks Street Mall

Written

Katie

on Thursday, July 8, 2010

Sparks Street will be alive with the sounds of music and dancing from around the world. Come enjoy it all for free!

Name: 2010 International Festival on the Sparks Street Mall
Location: Sparks Street Mall
Dates: Thursday, July 8 to Sunday, July 11, 2010
Times: All Day
www.sparksstreetmall.com/international_festival.htm


	THURSDAY, JULY 8
Time	Stage 1 Elgin & Metcalfe	Stage 2 O’Connor & Metcalfe	Stage 3 Bank & O’Connor

12:00 PM	Brio Italian dancers	Melody (International)	Remon (South American)
12:30 PM	Al-Arz Lebanese Dance
1:00 PM	Tequila (Ital/ Spain/Peru)	Sounds of the Carribian Steel Drums	Said (Morocco)
1:30 PM

5:00 PM
6:00 PM
8:00 PM

Times subject to change.

	FRIDAY, JULY 9
Time	Stage 1 Elgin & Metcalfe	Stage 2 O’Connor & Metcalfe	Stage 3 Bank & O’Connor

12:00 PM	Dy-Verse Elite Dance Venezuela	Los Pizanos (MEX)	Chinese (Dance)
12:30 PM	Al-Arz Lebanese Dance		Tequila (Ital/ Spain/Peru)
1:00 PM	Remon (South American)	Sounds of the Carribian Steel Drums
1:30 PM	Belly Dance
			Melody 4:00 PM
5:00 PM	Irish 4-5 PM	Polish Dancers 5:00PM
6:00 PM	Zorba the Greek	Said (Morocco)	Los Pizanos (MEX)
8:00 PM	Chady Nadaf Lebanese	Sounds of the Carribian Steel Drums	Tequila (Ital/ Spain/Peru)

Times subject to change.

	SATURDAY, JULY 10
Time	Stage 1 Elgin & Metcalfe	Stage 2 O’Connor & Metcalfe	Stage 3 Bank & O’Connor

12:00 PM	Remon (South American)	West African Drum beat	Said (Morocco)
12:30 PM
1:00 PM	Dy-Verse Elite Dance Venezuela	Los Pizanos (MEX)	Melody (International)
1:30 PM	Sounds of the Carribian Steel Drums	Belly Dance
	Austin Rovers (Irish)	Bollywood	West African Drum beat
5:00 PM		Los Pizanos (MEX)
6:00 PM	Sounds of the Carribian Steel Drums		Said (Morocco)
8:00 PM	Nagham band Lebanese	Sounds of the Carribian Steel Drums	West African Drum beat

Times subject to change.

	SUNDAY, JULY 11
Time	Stage 1 Elgin & Metcalfe	Stage 2 O’Connor & Metcalfe	Stage 3 Bank & O’Connor

12:00 PM	Higland Dancers	Remon (South American)
12:30 PM	Tequila (Ital/ Spain/Peru)	Chinese (Dance)
1:00 PM		Sounds of the Carribian Steel Drums	Los Pizanos (MEX)
1:30 PM	Bollywood
	Viva Mexico Dance (4:00)	Melody (International)	Belly Dance
5:00 PM	Tequila (Ital/ Spain/Peru)	XXXXXXXXXXXX	Said (Morocco)
6:00 PM	XXXXXXXXXXXX	XXXXXXXXXXXX	XXXXXXXXXXX
8:00 PM	XXXXXXXXXXXX	XXXXXXXXXXXX	XXXXXXXXXXX

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Crast Test Dummies at First Baptist Church

Written

Francois

on Sunday, June 27, 2010

When: Friday, October 15, 7pm

Where: First Baptist Church ( 140 Laurier Ave. West)

Cost: All Ages - 7pm doors - $25 advance. Tickets available Friday June 11 at 11am at Ottawa Folklore Centre, Vertigo Records, all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.ca or by phone at 613-755-1111

Spectrasonic pre-sale Wed 10am-Fri 11am here: http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/100044C790406579 - password OOOHLALA

Direct ticketing link: http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/100044C790406579

Website:

http://www.crashtestdummies.com/

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Strong Out and guests at Babylon

Written

Francois

on Sunday, June 27, 2010

When: Sunday, September 12, 5pm

Where: Babylon Nightclub (317 Bank St.)

Cost: $22 advance / 19+ Tix on sale NOW @ Vertigo Records and online here:
http://www.ticketweb.ca/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=2116715

Websites:

http://www.myspace.com/strungout

http://www.myspace.com/rufio

http://www.myspace.com/mutepunkrock

http://www.myspace.com/wearetheunion

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Katie Melua at the Bronson Centre Theatre

Written

Francois

on Sunday, June 27, 2010

When: Thursday, September 9, 7pm

Where: Bronson Centre Theatre (211 Bronson Ave.)

Cost: $30 advance - All Ages. Tickets available Friday June 11 at 10am at Ottawa Folklore Centre, Vertigo Records, all Ticketmaster outlets, online at www.livenation.com or www.ticketmaster.ca or by phone at 613-755-1111. Direct ticketing link: http://www.ticketmaster.com/Katie-Melua-tickets/artist/913414

Website:

http://www.myspace.com/katiemelua

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