Just folk

The weather's mighty chilly right now, but I'm not sure I don't prefer to the grubby stuff we were getting in mid-September, which I forded through to get to one of Zaphod's free showcases. Two lone guitarists started things off: Denis Michel Hache and Male Nurse. Denis was born in New Brunswick, and moved to Ottawa, where he took music in university and gigged around town as part of Dyalek; now he lives in Montreal.

Everything looks better in blue light.



From a lower angle.



The other side of Denis.



Strumming action!



And so on!





Big finish!



Next up, Male Nurse - a.k.a. Davey Quesnelle. He's a little more out there than Hache. I think of him as Ottawa's answer to Smog.

Here he models a Holy Cobras shirt, one of the many bands he is/was in.



Dave sings!



The other side of Dave.



Green is also nice, but not as nice as blue.



Folk-rocking action!



Two acts that complemented each other nicely.

• Show reminder: Antigen Shift, Ad.Ver.Sary, Synkro and Encephalon bring the music of the future to Zaphod's. Oceans, Ty West, The Breakup Letter and Vicious Guns are at The Rainbow.

Two plus four

Last night's weather must have kept a lot of people indoors; the turnout to last night's free showcase at Zaphod's was pretty skimpy - a real friends and family affair (but without the family). It was a mixed bag, style wise - two folky solo acts and one rocking quartet.

Denis Michel Hache broke the ice. I kept wondering if he was the same guy Andrew Vincent wrote a tune about, but as Davey Quesnelle later pointed out, that's a Gary, not a Denis. He comes from New Brunswick and played a solid set of acoustic folk.



Davey played some songs from his new tape as well as stuff from his older albums. For one guy with a guitar he can make a fair amount of noise. He makes me think of a one-man lo-fi Anthony and The Johnsons, for some reason.



The Retreat finished things off with some fairly bombastic rock music. They say they like 60s outfits like Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Guess Who and grunge bands like Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots, and I can definitely hear all of that.



Not a bad time at all.

• Show reminder: Insurgent Inc. play Zaphod Beeblebrox, unfortunately Nadja had to cancel. Dang! (Shane Whitbread and Ad.Ver.Sary are filling out the bill instead). K'naan and Colin Munroe perform at Ritual. The Elmdale House hosts Brea Lawrenson.