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SOUND SEEKERS: Fevers catch the promo bug, make video

Sound Seekers by Fateema Sayani is published weekly at OttawaMagazine.com. Read Fateema Sayani’s culture column in Ottawa Magazine and follow her on Twitter @fateemasayani

Sarah Bradley singing the verse of "Passion is Dead (Long Live Fashion)." In post-production, director Bryan McNally made it so that Sarah’s reflection is singing back to her. Photo credit Mélanie Broguet.

Social media is a vortex. You see the rush of information coming onto your screen and click, click, click through to endless amounts of information — you know how it goes. Hey, that’s likely how you found your way to this page.

This isn’t an anti-technology rant, by any stretch. In fact, there are plenty of gems to be found among all those pictures of cats and mash-ups of Beastie Boys lyrics. For the crusty skeptics among us, social media is considered at its best when it’s used for social commentary — all that self-promotion stuff seems like something you accept as part of the exchange.

For Jim Hopkins, online promotion is both a lure and a repellent. Hopkins plays bass guitar and sings backing vocals in the Ottawa indie-dance-rock band called Fevers.

They’re a dynamic little act, made up of five people who spend most of their time quietly toiling away in day jobs. They come together and play music that sounds like the stuff that Stars was doing five or ten years ago — but not as whiny. It’s danceable with touches of melancholy in all the right places. For example, their single “Passion is Dead (Long Live Fashion),” is dancefloor gold. Packed between the beats, if you listen carefully, is a lament for what’s lost in music: the soul of it all, the reason, the passion. Music made by a certain generation and of a particular style comes with a look — you know that look. It’s hipsters dressed in layers where everything looks worn in (though slightly more upscale than Value Village offerings). The Outfit is tied together with the right spectacles, and the right shoes.

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  |  May 9, 2012 at 1:00 pm

SOUND SEEKERS: Two bands named after films play Zaphod’s and Lee Fields shows his soul

Sound Seekers by Fateema Sayani is published weekly at OttawaMagazine.com. Read Fateema Sayani’s culture column in Ottawa Magazine and follow her on Twitter @fateemasayani

Eight and a Half

How’s this for a double bill? Ottawa duo Eraserheads—the band named for the David Lynch film—open for Toronto trio Eight and a Half—the band named after the Fellini film, 8 -1/2. If ever there was a moment to geek out, this is it. Capital G.

The show, taking place at Zaphod’s Saturday, is the music nerd’s ball—it is where obscure film and musical references will be traded, reverb pedals will be depressed, and beards will be grown.

Eraserheads have done well to make metaphorical links between screen and stage. The duo—Jamie Kronick on drums and Omar David Rivero on guitar and laptop—play experimental tunes that are as non-linear as the movie plot.

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  |  May 3, 2012 at 3:04 pm

EVENT PREVIEW: A Q&A with Sook-Yin Lee (Sex! Anger! CBC cuts!) ahead of her May 5 gig at the National Archives

By Fateema Sayani

Cultural watchers know by now that Sook-Yin Lee is willing to take artistic leaps in her career. Anyone who has seen the much-discussed sex scene in the John Cameron Mitchell film Shortbus, can attest to a willingness on the part of Lee — an artist, actor, and filmmaker who lives in Toronto — to put out in public what most others might keep quiet.

CBC listeners often hear plenty of Lee’s innermost thoughts on Definitely Not the Opera during the opening essay of the program. It’s delivered in that dry-yet-dramatic tone, practised by CBC hosts (Jonathan Goldstein, anyone?). The radio program, DNTO, is about self-actualization packaged in various themes (“What is the Real Power of a Story?” or “Who Was Your Unexpected Guest?”) and its subjects often veer into self-indulgence.

Lee, in her film work, has done well to mine personal experiences, without seeming exploitative, putting forth her life growing up in a violent household in Vancouver, B.C., living on the street, and the confusion of establishing a Chinese-Canadian identity amid clichéd cultural tropes (see her film short Escapades of the One Particular Mr. Noodle for more on that topic).

The Canadian Film Institute will screen that work and a selection of Sook-Yin Lee’s other films at Library and Archives Canada on Saturday. There will be a question-and-answer session with Lee after the films. Ahead of the event, Ottawa Magazine leads its own Q&A.

You return to a lot of the same themes in your work: sexuality and growing up Asian seem to come up most often — what’s of interest there?
It’s hard to say, precisely, but I feel there’s somewhat of a template — meaning some things are innate to a person and there’s an innate quality to a voice, it’s just the essence of a person. For me, it’s a spirit of playfulness, experimentation, and thoughts on being human. They are similar concerns that I have had as a young person and I continue to respond to concerns that arise over life. I am curious about aspects of my life that I am in a conundrum over, things like thwarted love, the dynamics between the needy and the needed, and the paradoxical desire we have to connect and to put up barriers to connection.

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  |  May 1, 2012 at 11:00 am

PARTY ON: Three quirky (and decidedly cozy) venues to hang out, be seen, and get sweaty

Spacing Out

The shortage of traditional concert venues in Ottawa and the space constraints of living in closet-sized Centretown apartments mean party people are finding new venues to hang out, be seen, and get sweaty
BY FATEEMA SAYANI

The party space at the Rochester Pub definitely channels that coveted 1970s rec room vibe. Photography by Rémi Thériault.

Kitchen Party at the Rochester Pub
It may be called Kitchen Party, but this spot definitely channels the rec-room vibe. The pub’s covered patio has low ceilings and wall panelling to rival any ’70s-era basement. Undergrads cram into the space to dance to the music of host DJs Hobo (Pawel Skorupski), Sweet Cheeks (Jose Palacios), and the guest DJ who usually spins an entire set of vinyl — with the occasional Serato trespass. This is where civil servants normally lunch during the week and where regulars head for brunch on the weekend. That easy vibe is extended to the evening crowd. When it’s time for the party, there is no great transformation. The tables and salt and pepper shakers are simply put aside.
Second Friday of the month. 502 Rochester St. $5.

Ceremony at the Ottawa Jail Hostel
This is where the last working gallows in Canada was located (when the hostel was known as the Carleton County Gaol), but none of the hip kids at this monthly event let that fact spoil the vibe. DJs Adam Saikaley, Eric Roberts, and Gary Franks, play post-disco and their own dance-floor-friendly edits of classic cuts. Attendees appreciate the stone walls and the barred windows, which amplify the backstory of the place. Want the feel of a jail experience? Then remove your over layers. The coat check is in the space formerly used for solitary confinement.
Last Saturday of the month. 75 Nicholas St. $5. prisonceremony.tumblr.com.

 

Spin City: Jose Palacios, aka DJ Sweet Cheeks, spins the tunes at a recent Kitchen party night at the Rochester Pub. Photography by Rémi Thériault.

Indie Night at GigSpace
Music teacher Elizabeth Bruce hosts this low-key showcase, which features Ottawa folk singers performing a short acoustic set. It’s followed by the open-mike portion, where the highly talented and the merely brave try out those tunes they’ve been poring over in bedrooms and coffee shops. The room is set up simply, with a riser, a piano, rows of chairs for the audience, and a self-serve tea station at the side. The line between the stage and the seats is barely demarcated, encouraging banter between performer and patron that leans toward the intimate. The vibe is like the GCTC’s Black Box Studio Theatre meets The Elbow Room.
Second Thursday of the month. Inside Alcorn Music Studios, 953 Gladstone Ave. $5. gigspaceottawa.com.

This party space primer was featured in the May 2012 edition.

  |  April 27, 2012 at 8:59 am

CULTURE: Pitching writers and songwriters to sell “Brand Ottawa”

Illustration by Michael Zeke Zavacky.

What we need is a little character! Pitching writers and songwriters as torchbearers in the campaign to make our capital ever more cool   BY FATEEMA SAYANI

A survey of blogs and wags shows that this city churns up a conflicted kind of boosterism. Commentators vacillate between loving the place, hating the place, and getting a frisson of excitement anytime someone else characterizes our municipal character for good or for bad. We have been acknowledged!

Remember when The Washington Post praised the city’s “unselfconscious cool”? How about when Tyler Brûlé, editor of Monocle magazine, crapped over the place for its “layer of grime and general sleepiness”? Still, my LOL-favourite is Ann Coulter’s call-out of the city’s perceived lack of spine. In March of 2010, after being drowned out by protests at her planned U of O talk, the conservative newsmaker complained about capital denizens’ low IQ and then proceeded to define the word Ottawa as Indian for “Land of Bedwetters.”

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  |  April 19, 2012 at 9:20 am

EATS, SHOOTS, AND PEEVES: Our “embedded reporter” recaps and recounts a weekend of canapés and snapping photographers and offers up some trenchant whinging from Juno weekend 2012

Ottawa Magazine culture columnist Fateema Sayani offers up “bite-sized gripes” from the Juno Weekend that was

Juno Weekend 2012 was a lot different from 2003—the last time the awards were presented in the capital. I covered it then for the Ottawa XPress, where I was editor-in-chief. My team spent weeks preparing a special 80-page preview issue and wrote an extensive post-event piece. These days reporting was done a la minute thanks to Twitter. While it’s a helpful way of confirming rumours and spreading party gossip, it offers little time for narrative or extended observation. (Analysis = paralysis!). Continuing in that vein, Ottawa Magazine’s culture columnist offers up bite-sized gripes from the big weekend.

Fateema Tweets: @DeejayZattar has the 7inches in rotation for an afternoon #Juno party. The big show starts at 8 p.m. at Scotiabank Pl

I’m Feeling A Little Charlie Angus Right Now
Don’t call me a qwitter, but I’m finding these glib little bites of information slightly exhausting. I like Twitter and I get Twitter, but, as with all of the technology I use, I have a love-hate relationship with the site. Right now, I’m leaning toward hate as the opening screen of Twitter.com is emblazoned on my eyeballs. My pre-Juno weekend tweet count: 150 in three years. During Juno weekend: 250 in three days.

Wouldn’t My Mom Be Proud
The stream of tweets got noticed for bad (comments about too many tweets) and for good (comments about the Gawker-style tone). OpenFile Ottawa called me their favourite embedded reporter of the day, after I tweeted that there were vibrators in the celebrity gift bags. For the rest of the day, my name and the word “vibrator” came up in Google alerts. I was officially “the buzz.” Great.

Selling Ottawa to Outsiders
The whole point of telecasting the Junos outside of the Toronto area is to drum up holiday business in the host city. To that end, folks in the tourism industry had brochure tables set up in the media sign-in room replete with the usual photos of tulips, the canal, and the Hill. Sometimes, they forget to include helpful details about the inter-provincial nuances of capital life. Many out-of-towners at the Friday night opening ceremony in Gatineau were annoyed that they couldn’t jump in the Ottawa taxis that were dropping off in old Hull. Sorry guys, it’s because of territory rules. Shrug.

Fateema Tweets: Blue Rodeo back stage. "When we first came to Ottawa, we played The Rainbow...."

Fateema Tweets: Blue Rodeo back stage. "When we first came to Ottawa, we played The Rainbow...."

Overheard
Diamond Rings wanted vegetarian food and couldn’t decide between Oz Kafe and Zen Kitchen. Deadmau5 thinks sound systems in our clubs suck. He elected not to talk politics when he dined with Stephen Harper at 24 Sussex because he “doesn’t know anything about that shit.”

Spotted
A quarter of city council hobnobbed at the Friday night Canadian Museum of Civilization launch party. MP Tony Clement took his kid to the Saturday afternoon shopping mall frenzy to see Deadmau5. (BTW, I received the most DMs calling in favours and asking me to pull strings to get Deadmau5 tickets—from people over the age of 15!). Jim Watson who was widely quoted as saying he’d like to see the Junos return to town in 2017, the city’s 150th birthday, was seen “owning it” by talking up Ottawa at the Warner Music Canada after-party at Metropolitain Brasserie. I tagged a sighting of Jian Ghomeshi at the Manx with the CBC host’s handle, to which I received a reply asking why I did not approach him to say hello. After that, I felt more stalker than Gawker and got a weird schooling in Twitter culture. That Angus has a point.

Pack Reporting
I tweeted a number of star-sightings that were made with my own eyes or sent to me via friends’ camera phones. I had to lean on CBC Bandwidth host Meg Wilcox for a few tips too as I didn’t immediately recognize all Canadian rock royalty. How to tell between Simple Plan, Hedley, and Down With Webster? Who’s JRDN anyway—and does he need a vowel? The Toronto Star’s Ben Rayner tweeted that he didn’t know who JRDN was either, so I felt vindicated and assured that my music snob cred was still intact.

Fateema Tweets: Shaun Majumder's This Hour Has 22 Minutes character is "Horny Jay." He's razzing Blue Rodeo @TheJUNOAwards

Parties
These days the music industry has less money, by all account—though you wouldn’t know it by the parties. Warner Music had the hottest bash with the prettiest and drunkest people. There was an indoor BeaverTail stand too. EMI held their party at Empire Grill and had an oyster bar. Austerity be damned! Universal Music was at Side Door, but most people flooded to the big Warner bash at Metropolitain as it was billed as the place where you should end your night. The Agency Group represents the biggest stars including City and Colour, Nickelback and Feist. They hosted a party Saturday night at the Arc hotel. B-listers and remaining hoi polloi partied at the Government Conference Centre Saturday night. It was a hype-building bash for the 2013 awards, to be held in Regina and Moose Jaw, SK. Even the beancounters threw a bash. PriceWaterhouseCoopers, who tallies the votes, held a nerdfest at the Brookstreet Hotel. Meanwhile, Toronto types were said to have gathered inside Now Magazine founder Michael Hollett’s hotel room at the Chateau Laurier for an impromptu jam session Saturday afternoon.

Fateema Tweets: Kiran Ahluwalia won the World Music Award. She talks about adding guitars to classical Indian music. Raga-rock.

Cueing for Q
Tickets for the recorded broadcast last Thursday at the Bronson Centre sold out just hours after it was announced. There was a line all the way down Primrose just to get into the hall. Tickets to the taping of the CBC program cost $20—that’s kind of like getting taxed twice, if you think about it. The show took place on the same day the federal budget was announced. The plan is to cut 10 percent of the CBC piggybank. Do the math. Maybe there’s a solution in there somewhere? No one brought it up. In fact, in the Q&A session after the show, not one person in the audience asked a question of substance. Someone asked about Jian Ghomeshi’s sexy voice (seriously?), another proposed a Moxy Fruvous reunion tour (really?). What about the budget, damnit? Ottawa audiences—we’re just so damn nice. It was painful, and embarrassing.

Talking Shop
The celebrity lounge at the Arc Hotel had a special drink called The Shatner with Wiser Canadian Whiskey (geddit?), red vermouth and a splash of bitters. Based on that, me and the peeps at OpenFile and Apartment 613 hatched a plan over beer to create a crowd-sourced drink list based on the party leaders. We thought Elizabeth May should have a champagne mix, ‘cause she’s bubbly and all. Thomas—“call me Tom” –Mulcair needs something with a dry finish….and that’s how far we got. I’m still serious about this one guys…. Guys?

Culture columnist Fateema Sayani does her best Geddy Lee impression for her media pass

Media Room Dynamics
For both the untelevised portion and the televised portion of the awards, accredited media people sit in a basement and watch the ceremony on TVs. We then wait to see if the talent will come backstage and answer questions with their platitudes and pose for photos. At the start of the broadcast, we get a sheet telling us who won in each category. It’s deflating to know that in a few short minutes, Lights will lose to Hedley for Pop Album of the Year and that you’ll have to sit through a whole bunch of boring categories. The dudes from Vice Magazine kept their cred intact. They were the drunkest and loudest in the room on Saturday night and entertained the rest of us during slow moments. On Sunday, music geeks traded wits with the #CdnShatnerBands hash tag. I liked Nash the Shat and Broken Social Shat the best. You could spot your media colleagues by their dorky lanyards and yellow passes with the unflattering mug. Here’s mine—despite what might seem evident from this photo, I am in no way related to Geddy Lee.

  |  April 4, 2012 at 11:15 am

SOUND SEEKERS: Deets and tweets, hometown heroes, and more for Juno Weekend

Sound Seekers by Fateema Sayani is published weekly at OttawaMagazine.com. Read Fateema Sayani’s culture column in Ottawa Magazine and follow her on Twitter @fateemasayani

 

Zoo Legacy, from left, Dom Goss, Nick Pouponneau, and Sam Goss. Photo by Alexandre Vlad from Captivate Creative Studio

JUNO TREATS, DEETS, AND TWEETS

By now you’ve heard all the brou-ha-ha — yes, the Junos are in town. This involves hosting a big ol’ bash at the palladium (aka Scotiabank Place) way out in the former municipality of Kanata. What follows are a bunch of after-parties spread about town. That happens April 1. Ahead of the big bash, your hottest ticket is the $30 wristband that gets you into the JUNOfest concerts taking place March 30 and 31 around the city — that’s where the fun happens.

When the Junos were in town in 2003, the best gig by far was a showcase at Barrymore’s. The place was packed for an acoustic jam from an all-star cast including Sam Roberts, k-os, and Buck 65, aka Rich Terfry. The rapper and CBC host was in production mode, performing what would become the tune “Way Back When.”  He had yet to memorize the words — stanzas were written on his left hand in black Sharpie, Chris Martin-style.

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  |  March 28, 2012 at 3:29 pm

SOUND SEEKERS: And What Army hits Maverick’s, plus Deaner and lots of DJ action

Sound Seekers by Fateema Sayani is published weekly at OttawaMagazine.com. Read Fateema Sayani’s culture column in Ottawa Magazine and follow her on Twitter @fateemasayani

And What Army? Photographed by Bryan JonesLeft to right: Kevin Earle, Ryan Hillier, Johnny Nash

AND WHAT ARMY? HAVE A #RIPWHEELS MOMENT

The death of Neil Hope in 2007 was a late discovery for most. His death, at the age of 35 in a Hamilton rooming house, only hit the news in mid-February of this year and surprised many who grew up watching his character Derek “Wheels” Wheeler on the TV show, Degrassi Junior High.

It wasn’t much of a surprise to Johnny Nash, bass player and vocalist in Ottawa garage rock trio And What Army?

It was a grapevine thing. The ex-boyfriend of Nash’s ex-girlfriend knew someone who worked at the bar where Hope regularly got terribly drunk. They say they saw it coming. Anyone who was familiar with the show will note the terrible foreshadowing. Wheels was a tragic character on TV and off-screen: Hope was straight-up about his parents’ alcoholism and his own addictions, which he discussed in a documentary called The Dark Side.

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  |  March 15, 2012 at 11:22 am

SOUND SEEKERS: Zattar guests at Kitchen Party, plus Munson, Carroll, The Ethics, and Jack Pine

Sound Seekers by Fateema Sayani is published weekly at OttawaMagazine.com. Read Fateema Sayani’s culture column in Ottawa Magazine and follow her on Twitter @fateemasayani

DJ Zattar, aka Alexandre Mattar

KITCHEN PARTY 9 + DJ ZATTAR’S NOSTALGIC WITH 45S MIX

Alexandre Mattar is waxing nostalgic about, well, wax — and a bit of acetate too.

Mattar is known by his DJ handle, Zattar, and as one of the cats that started the good-time monthly dance party called TimeKode.

Zattar been collecting records since he starting DJing a dozen years ago and has, of late, taken a shine to labels such as People’s Potential Unlimited, an American mail-order business that has re-released some boogie-funk records from back in tha day on seven inches.

Zattar took it on as a personal challenge to prepare a new set using only 45s. He will play that mix Friday at Kitchen Party 9, a monthly dance night that, as the name implies, takes the hang-out-by-the-sink house party vibe and transfers it to the neighbourhood pub.

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  |  March 8, 2012 at 12:12 pm

SOUND SEEKERS: John Allaire, Lucky Ron, Daughters of the Revolution, plus 20th anniversary celebrations at Zaphod’s

Sound Seekers by Fateema Sayani is published weekly at OttawaMagazine.com. Read Fateema Sayani’s culture column in Ottawa Magazine and follow her on Twitter @fateemasayani

John Allaire headlines the monthly songwriter circle Wednesday, March 7 at the Elmdale Tavern

BEST BETS
John Allaire headlines the monthly songwriter circle Wednesday, March 7 at the Elmdale Tavern, with guest Meredith Luce.

Is it in poor taste to say Allaire writes tunes from the heart? Probably, but if you’ve seen an Allaire show, you know he has a fierce wit. The banter is often worth the price of admission ($5). Ray Harris and Lefty McRighty host.

Trip-hop act Sound of Lions plays Friday, March 9 as part of a week-long celebration of Zaphod Beeblebrox’s 20th anniversary (27 York St.). You can hoist a pan galactic gargle blaster to club founder Eugene Haslam — he plays a DJ set Monday, March 5.

On the songwriter tip, Lucky Ron plays Irene’s Pub Friday, March 2 with his band The Rhode Island Reds and openers Steve Stacey and The Stump Splitters. 9:30 p.m., $10.

Daughters of the Revolution meld hype-man antics with electronic pop and rock for a mad live jam. They’ll fill the room when the play Café Nostalgica on Friday, March 2 with DJ Pruf Rock.

Finders Keepers is a pop-punk trio born out of the Centretown Recording Alliance, a group that challenges each other to throw together bands real quickly and put out new releases at the speed of a three-chord punk tune. The band celebrates its new release Friday, March 2, at Maverick’s with headliners The Penske File. 8 p.m., $7.

  |  March 1, 2012 at 1:38 pm

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