Country living

Having seen Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba I ping-ponged back to the Hard Rock Stage to see The Rural Alberta Advantage. I've seen them before, but it's been a while - more than two years - since the last time at Zaphod Beeblebrox. Since then the trio of Paul Banwatt, Amy Cole and Nils Edenloff have generated a fair number of plaudits and have signed to Saddle Creek.

First, stage supremo Steve Lund tosses out the traditional Mardi Gras beads.



Amy and Nils get ready to roll.



Paul Banwatt hits. He was pulling a festival doubleheader, also appearing as 50% of Wood Hands the following day.



Vibraphonic action!



Percussion takes teamwork!



Nils sings, Amy and Paul hit stuff.



Paul gets into it.



Nils takes a solo turn.



The whole lot!



Amy sings!



Paul counts in.



Inexplicable black and white action!



The crowd goes wild!



They're currently touring out West before heading to Europe. They'll be back in time for a few December shows in Canada, including their last of 2010 in Toronto Dec. 16. They've also finally got around to recording album No. 2.

• Show reminder: It's a busy Saturday, with DOA, The Action and It's Asshole Time rocking Mavericks; Quest For Fire and Huron are upstairs at Cafe Dekcuf; Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, Boats! and Otouto perform at Raw Sugar Cafe; Bad Doctor, Ace Kinkaid and Jean-Paul De Roover get electronic at Babylon; Nadia Von Hahn brings some piano pop to Zaphod Beeblebrox; The Hammerheads get funky at The Elmdale; Bad Weather, Chloe Charles and Katie Sevigny are at the Avant-Garde.

Juke joint melodies

Off my first day of SLR-less Bluesfesting, and I have to say that my  Fujifilm F200 EXP has behaved pretty well. There aren't going to be any closeups, but the resolution an focus seems all right. I actually saw a bunch of people with SLRs and standard lenses ... the policy around cameras seems a bit fuzzy. Well, I'm not going to spend any more effort figuring out what the heck is going on, so on to the photos of the many fine acts I witnessed yesterday. I started off at the Hard Rock Stage ...

Last time I saw Capital Grass and The No Men I was very impressed. They were based in Guelph then, but have since moved to the capital. At the Club SAW gig in question they mentioned they were working on a full length album, and it's finally arrived.


Capital Grass and The No Men at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 14, 2010

I didn't stay long because I wanted to see Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba. Ngoni Ba is a family band based around the lute, grand ancestor of the banjo. Like so many of the African acts bought to the festival by the Black Sheep crowd, the band is all killer and no filler. A lot of fest-goers are obviously wise to this as well, as the Black Sheep tent was actually quite full, with even the stands well-occupied. When I walked in his percussionist was tearing things up on the tamani. Bassekou is the gent second from left in the photo below.


Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 14, 2010

After that most enjoyable set I returned to the Hard Rock Stage, where emcee Steve Lund tossed out a few beads before The Rural Alberta Advantage came on. As it happens the first time I saw them was at the same show where I first clapped eyes on Capital Grass. Once again this was a very nice set, with old favourites like Frank and a few new tunes intended for a possible upcoming album. They also covered Maybe Tomorrow (the theme from Littlest Hobo, that is) and Survivor's Eyes of the Tiger.


Rural Alberta Advantage at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 14, 2010

I then went off to grab something to eat while I was serenaded by That 1 Guy and his electric boot. Since he has a lot of songs about food, I guess it was appropriate. Actually his music is quite krautrockish at times.


That 1 Guy at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 14, 2010

I then headed back to the Hard Rock Stage - there wasn't much else on - to watch Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes. It was a rocking set from an artist who's usually tied in with the working class rock of Bruce Springsteen. "We're going to have some extra blues in this set because the woman who manages this stage ... threatened me with a gun," he quipped.


Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes  at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 14, 2010

One of the advantages of the Fujifilm - it's a cinch to switch up the dimensions, good for those group photos.


Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes  at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 14, 2010

I rounded the evening off watching an excellent set from Plants and Animals. They were in excellent vocal form and quite energetic. Less energetic was my camera battery, which managed about 200 photos before winding down.


Plants and Animals at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 14, 2010

I also made a slight detour during Plants and Animals set to catch Santana playing Black Magic Woman. I think that's him in the middle ...


Santana at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 14, 2010

Not quite up to last night's Arcade Fire set, but a good day nonetheless.

• Show reminder: The Agonist, The Catalyst, Black Market Surgery and Last Day Within rock Mavericks; Calgary's Grown-Ups and Young Stalin get hardcore at Nine for the RRPP; Roots Movement take a break from their usual reggae night at the Rainbow to play the Bluesfest afterparty at the Rainbow ... wait a minute ...; Vancouverites Kilmore Place and This is Franco join The Sonic Defence Project at the Elmdale House; Thisquietarmy and D/A A/D are at the Avant-Garde.

Provincial and municipal

I don't get to see as many bands as I'd like these days so even the cruddy weather last night didn't stop me from slipping and sliding my way over to Zaphod Beeblebrox to watch a triple bill presented by i(heart)music and headed by The Rural Alberta Advantage. About two dozen people turned out - not bad considering the spirit-dampening and potentially bone-breaking freezing rain.
The first band on the bill was Kings of Lowertown, making their live debut. Simon Borer of Entire Cities described them as sounding like Dead Milkmen crossed with Bruce Springsteen. I can see how their rootsy side inspires the comparison with The Boss. Personally they made me think more of folks like Steve Wynn and Sean O'Brian, but with less jangle. I could see them on a bill with The Allrights or BushPilots with ease.
At first I was worried that Entire Cities would put paid to my brilliant theory about bands with City in their name. Then I realized that since it's "Cities" and not City it still stands. They blend a country-and-bluegrass influence with some noisy indie rockist tendencies. Like a few other Toronto bands, they seem to have a floating membership. This time around guitarist-vocalist Borer was accompanied by Josh Lyon on accordion (sustaining some teasing for abandoning his tots in Kingston to do so), banjo-playing cutie Tamara Lindeman (like Simon, also of the exceedingly swell Weather Station), Adorable bassist Brendan Howlett and Paul Banwatt doing double duty on drums. They put on an active show, which made me wish I had my camera back.
On to The Rural Alberta Advantage, who were as swell as they were at their Club SAW gig last year. Their set was kind of similar. Like Entire Cities, they have a new CD out - that's why they're on tour together (East Coast dates loom). All in all, a swell way to spend $5. As an added bonus, I didn't end up on my butt either going to or returning from the show.
Things should be a bit less treacherous tonight - and they'll cost even less than $5 since Someday This Will All Have To Be Fixed, That's The Spirit, Arms and Sleepers and Michael Munnik are performing for free at Zaphod's. Here's a photo of That's The Spirit, a.k.a. The Polytones' Ben Wilson, performing at Zaphod's in April 2006.



As for later in the week: On Tuesday you can see Patrick Dolan , formerly of In Search of '75, and Andrea Warren at the Avant-Garde Bar; Wednesday The Raynes will be dropping into Zaphod Beeblebrox alongside My Tiny Circus and Amanda Bon. Thursday a vast horde - including Tanya Janca, Dog Park Radio, Riishi & Tim, Bruce Boris and Solomon Moon - descend on The Montgomery Legion on Kent St.

Here come the lies

Here comes the weekend! The long weekend if you get Family Day off. The midweek doldrums are soundly broken on Friday with a host of shows. Brendan Flynn and the Terrible Liars and Adam Puddington Band are performing at Babylon - a similar lineup graced the stage back in February 2007 when I snapped the pic of Brendan (and Matthew from Acres) below.



Of course there's lots of other stuff to see: Captain Foxy and Enemies and Allies play End Hits; Dry River Caravan and Marie-Josee Houle perform at the Avant Garde Bar; Zaphod's hosts much rock and rolling with Kid Sentiment and Four 'N' Giv'r.
On Saturday Nina Nastasia makes her return to Ottawa - that's her below playing the Birdman Stage at the 2003 Bluesfest. Male Nurse opens the show at Mavericks.



She's not the only thing happening at Mavericks - Cancer Bats, Boar and Inire will be performing there earlier in the day. Upstairs at Cafe DeKcuf you can catch HandHeld, Farler's Fury, The Valveenus, Snatchback and Beef Blood. Zaphod's features Two Hours Traffic, Trevor James & The Perfect Gentlemen and My Psycho Ex. Lastly, over at Club SAW you can thrill to the sounds of Pysiedius, We Were the Fires of Rome, There Were Thousands, Today I Caught the Plague and Addaboe - I guess the bands with long names balance out the ones with short 'uns. Speaking of Club SAW, back in July I saw a very nice show with The Rural Alberta Advantage. - captured below, of course. Yes, that is one-half of Woodhands in the middle. RAA are back in town on Sunday, this time at Zaphod's with Entire Cities and Kings Of Lowertown.



Down in End Hits' basement you can see The Sleep, Return to Strength and Dead Winter. In late-breaking news, The Coggs, Bear Claps and Tonk & The Honkys play the Mercury Lounge.

Go west

The Rural Alberta Advantage closed the night with their electronic-tinged folk music. I can certainly imagine them sharing a stage with The Fembots or Ottawa's own Acorn (heck, they probably have already). They were in the area recently for another of Matthew's shows at the Black Sheep Inn and I have a strange suspicion he'll drag them back to delight the region again ... It's not that long a trip, since they're based in Toronto, not rural Alberta. Also, they have matching shirts.

Nils Edenloff.



Paul Banwatt- last seen in this part of the world, or at least this blog, playing drums in Woodhands.



Amy Cole, singer, keyboardist, shaker of tambourines.



Paul and Amy gang up on a helpless floor tom.



Singalong action!



I see a lot of glockenspiel these days.



Rural action!







They ended their set by bringing the show out into the crowd.





I picked up their pay-what-you-can EP and it's nice, but I think they'll make a leap and a jump on their upcoming LP, which is currently in the works.

Where'd they go?

There were a few good options for an evening's entertainment last night, but when it came time to head out the door I went downtown to Club SAW to see a show put on by i(heart)music featuring a couple of bands I hadn't seen before: The Rural Alberta Advantage and Capital Grass and The No Men. Ottawa's own Sarah Hallman provided the icing on the cake.

Readers with sharp memories may recall me wondering in print whatever happened to the 50% of the Four Frames not in Boom Creek, the Coulis brothers. They're now two-thirds of Capital Grass and The No Men, at least for this engagement. Matt Gower is the chap on banjo and vocals.



After viewing my pictures of CG&NM I decided to tinker with my camera's white balance, sucking out most of the yellow. I think you'll agree this photo of Sarah and Brian Simms is something of an improvement ...



Finally, here is two-thirds of the Rural Alberta Advantage; drummer Paul Banwatt is off to the left, but can also be seen behind the kit in my pictures from an early Club SAW show as 50% of Woodhands (who are returning to the area at the Black Sheep Inn Aug. 24, by the way).



This was an excellent show from all three bands. I thought Hallman's performance was particularly fine.