Tooth and caw

I had hoped to catch a bunch of the bands at the Ravenswing Arts Fare at Minto Park Sunday but my day turned out a lot busier than planned and in the end all I managed was to see New Teeth. Oh well, they were just as good as I remembered from their Zaphod's show, back in September 2008 when they were a quartet.

New Teeth and assorted greenery.



Lucas Mackenzie sings some.



Aged drummer Will Staunton.



Large-egoed bassist Matt Gilmour.



Outdoor singalong action!



Clapping action!



More Will!



More Matt!



More Lucas!



Singing and citation-writing action!



The fisheye is really not good for a lot of outdoor photography ...



More singalong action!



Having triumphed in the last Big Money Shot! round, their next set is June 11 at Live Lounge for Round 2.

• Show reminder: Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra makes a rare appearance at The Mayfair Theatre; Mouth and Eyes of New are at Zaphod's. The Dead Etiquette, Kobra and The Lotus and APE perform at The Rainbow.

Royal trucks

I'm not sure whose idea it was to have the final show of the Kelp 16th Anniversary event be a generator party on Victoria Island, but knowing Jon Bartlett's fondness for strange venues I have my suspicions ... At any rate, after Rhume wrapped up their great set at Raw Sugar, folks headed out the door and down Somerset St., trying to look as innocent as possible. The White Wires drove by in their U-Haul truck as I headed over to Empress, then off to Victoria Island. Last time I was on Victoria Island it was at the Naval Club, site of one of Kelp's 12th anniversary shows. This time around, the venue was a dusty parking lot opposite the climbing club.

Ian rocks the pink!



The whole lot!



Allie is prepared to go incognito.



And at this point, the generator gave up the ghost. Was it going to be the shortest set ever? Well no - after some inessential stuff was unplugged, things were raring to go.



Ian sings!



Luke sings!



Ian jumps about!



Allie's drum kit is well secured.



Wiry action!



I hope Johnny O's video turned out better than mine!



And so on!



Those Wires!



The crowd goes wild!



More Allie!



Girlfriend Wolfgang reaches for a high-five!



Rooftop action!



And there you go! The White Wires are going to be playing Ottawa again real soon, with a Gaga Weekend show June 12, a Westfest gig June 13, and a Bluesfest show July 17. Allie will also be appearing as Peach Kelli Pop (presumably with Ian as well) at IX on June 11.

• Show reminder: Hunter City Madness, Assassinate the Following, Texas With A Dollar Sign, Aimless Endeavor, Not Even Death and Think Twice play Mavericks; The Ravenswing Craft Fair at Minto Oark (or Montgomery Legion if it rains) also features music from Winchester Warm, The Uncles, The Mudplots, Sarah Hallman, Adam Saikaley and New Teeth; Meredith Luce and Rio Samaya are at the Elmdale House.

Sugar topping

The final act of the night at raw Sugar was of course Rhume, featuring a bunch of folks you've seen already. They only perform once in a blue moon nowadays ... I'm guessing the next time we see them will be at Kelp's 17th anniversary.

A Rhume performance takes preparation, plus beer.



On the right, Ramones and Leafs-loving guitarist Chris Page and drummer Jamie Gulliksen.



On the left, guitarist No. 2 John Higney and bassist Jarrett Bartlet.



And in the middle, Jon Bartlett. Usually Rhume shows end with Jon's pants suffering some kind of wardrobe failure ... in this case he started things off by changing into his show-outfit.



And away they go!



John frets!



Jon works the tambourine.



Singalong action with Piet Masone!



Singalong action with Scott Terry!



Shadowy action with Chris Page!



Cymbal-stopping action with Jamie!



Dancin' Jon!



Overhead action!



Singalong action with Jim Sproull!



And last but cetainly not least, Jon sings the instructions to finding the secret White Wires show!



So everybody ran off to Victoria Island.

• Show reminder: Hartford, Michou and Final Thought are at Cafe Dekcuf. David Simard and Erin Lang and The Foundlings are at The Canteen; The Kingmakers and King Rattler are rocking The Elmdale House; The Rock'N'Roll Pizza Prom saunters into the Montgomery Legion on Kent St. The Sound Technicians, Cutthroat Kids and The Watters Brothers perform at Zaphod's; The Hammerheads have their regular Rainbow gig; The Wonder of Stevie plays Irene's. Rep by Pop and David Newberry roll into the Avant-Garde Bar.

Some ensemble required

From the mighty rock'n'roll power of Camp Radio we got to the mighty noodling psych-poppery of Tres Bien Ensemble. I wonder if they're named after The Beatles' song Michelle (there's actually more than one TBE out there). As mentioned earlier, singer and keyboardist Yawd Sylvester is in Wayne Omaha (and also The Violet Archers). I forgot to mention just about everyone save Weakerthan Greg Smith is also an Omaha vet.

Yawd! A bassist!* Matt James! Greg! You can't see drummer Kirk Hudson because Matt's in the way. Not shown: The PA dying. Maybe Camp Radio killed it.



After some mostly successful PA repair, Jon Bartlett comes on for one of several introductions.



Yawd turns a dial.



Singalong action with Matt and Greg!



The view from the other end of the keyboard, plus a less-obscured bassist, who I'm now told is Daniel 'Paco' Paquette, not Aaron 'Bass' MacPherson.



More Greg!



Kirk models the Flaming Axe fest look.



Pointing action!



Stylophonic action!



More Paco Aaron!



Thank you and goodnight!



They seemed quite improvised at times, but definitely in the Wayne Omaha mode.

• Show reminder: Speaking of Raw Sugar, Henry Svec and Kelpster Andrew Vincent play there tonight, while Male Nurse spins the hits; Evil Farm Children, The Bushpilots, Marie Josee Houle, Chrissy Gordon and Boom Creek rock the Elmdale House for boobs everywhere; Cadillacs & Cadavers and Knives and Forks for Freedom play The Cajun Attic; Inepsy, Germ Attak, The Dirty Tricks, Critical Convictions and Prisons are at Mavericks; The Band Whose Name is a Symbol and Mark Alexander McIntyre celebrate their new vinyl slabs at the Clocktower; Darlings of Chelsea, Junkie and The Spider and Headbounce are at Zaphod's; The Rainbow has Big James and The Chicago Playboys early-ish and The Windup Radio Sessions with Paint late-ish. Greg Cockerill performs at Irene's.