Ottawa Explosion: Day 1

Okay, maybe not really, Day 1, since there was a short movie presentation and pass-pickup event at Oz Kafe in the Byward Market. However, this Wednesday show was the first night for band performances, with sets from The Heavy Medicine Band, Expanda Fuzz and Foam (unfortunately, New York combo Fruit & Flowers got stopped at the border). Here's Keturah (recently seen opening for Sparklesaurus at St. Alban's) starting things off!



Chris hits!



More Keturah!



Guitar action with Robert!



Bass action with Sean!



It was pretty dark, so I took a few shots with flash.



Closeup action!



Heavy action!



More Chris!



Expanda Fuzz expanded their set since F&F were delayed. Here's Leila!



Chris sings!



More Chris!



Extra Leila!



The whole lot!



More Leila!



Foam also played a longer set, although their tunes are so brief that "longer" is even more of a relative term than usual. They've also gone through a bit of a lineup change since I saw them tear up Black Squirrel Books back in August 2017. Here's they're new drummer, Will. He seems enthusiastic!



Guitar action with Nathan!



Nathan sings!



Davita has moved over to bass.



Rhythm section action!



More Will!



Extra Davita!



Foamy action!



Davita sings!



The whole lot!



A great kickoff!

Hello, strangers

I was hungering for some oddball sounds last week, and what could be odder than a bill featuring Slow Dawn, Pink Noise and Man Made Hill? Psychedelic slugs Slow Dawn were on first. Here's some rhythm section action with Chris and Jesse!



Blurry action with Sean and Dan!



More Sean!



Extra Chris!



More Dan!



Extra Jesse!



Dan sings!



Last time I saw Man Made Hill, I called him a synth-funk B.A. Johnson, plus pro wrestling. I think I'm going to add a bit of Mick Farren to that mix. Here's the one and definitely only Man Made Hill!



Off he goes!



Microphone arm action!



Spinning action!



Pink Noise brought things to a close; for this outing they were down to a duo: Mainstay vocalist Mark, and guitarist Graeme.



Graeme frets!



Gripping action!



The whole lot!



And, er, that's it!

Turn on the lights

Local sensations Sparklesaurus had their album release show a couple of Saturdays back, and packed St. Alban's for it. They had a couple of fine opening acts to help them out: Ginny and Keturah Johnson (of Heavy Medicine Band), who kicked things off with a solo set.



Keturah sings!



And so on!



Looping pedal action!



On to Ginny. The first and only time I saw the band, it was just Leslie from Bonnie Doon and Kristy (also of Area Resident) playing at Pressed. They've been joined by a pair of drummers (apologies in advance for a lack of good photos of either Matt or Ben), Catriona Sturton on guitar, a vocalist/keyboardist/dancer and a theremin player. Here's Lesley, emerging from the crowd!



More Lesley!



Guitar action with Catriona!



Matt shows off his moves.



Extra Catriona!



Song-and-dance action with Lesley and Matt!



Bass action with Kristy!



Harmonica action!



More Matt and Lesley!



And so on!



Microphone-sharing action!



Catriona with whatever that is!



Theremin action with Jasmine!



Extra Jasmine!



Tiny keyboard action!



Ribboned action!



Sparklesaurus always put on a great set, and it was great to listen to some new songs from them. Here's Felicity and Colleen, sparkly as usual!



Keyboard action with Shamisa!



Colleen sings!



Guitar action with Felicity!



More Colleen!



Even more Felicity!



More Shamisa!



Brad hits! Yeah, not a good night for drummer photos ....



Shamisa sings!



A fun night!