Once upon a time Ottawa was blessed with small clubs like Bumpers and The Hi-Fi (formerly Lucky Ron's). Alas, both those places are long gone. Fortunately, some chic new eateries - most notably Raw Sugar - seem to to be steeping into the gap. There's also The Daily Grind, The Avant-Garde (granted, not new at all), and Pressed, the Gladstone Ave. gourmet sandwich joint. It's actually an ideal place, since there's no nearby homes to complain about the noise and inside it's got a nice clear view of what passes for a stage from just about everywhere in the room. Mind you, it's a little dim (get ready for some grainy photos, in other words). Still, I can see why Kelp supremo Jon Bartlett has taken a liking to it, and why the folks in Nick Ferrio & His Feelings, Marine Dreams and Baby Eagle & The Proud Mothers seemed to be enjoying themselves so much last night.
First up, Peterborough's Nick Ferrio - that's him on the left. He performs in a folk and country style, and favoured the crowd with a reverse murder ballad and the tale of Mary Beth Harshbarger - the woman who shot her husband because she though he was a bear (you may have heard of her acquittal for criminal negligence in March 2012).
Nick Ferrio & His Feelings at Pressed, August 9, 2012
Although Ferrio usually has a lot of Feelings with him, on this occasion he only had a vocalist and bassist to accompany him.
Nick Ferrio & His Feelings at Pressed, August 9, 2012
I'd say he was followed by Baby Eagle & The Proud Mothers, but since he's a Mother himself - playing the bass - I'm not sure that's accurate. Baby Eagle is Steve Lambke, formerly of The Constantines; he had ex-Constantine Will Kidman (a.k.a. Wooly Leaves, you may remember his set with Julie Doiron at Mavericks a while back) on guitar and Attack In Blacker Ian Kehoe to play drums.
Baby Eagle & The Proud Mothers, August 9, 2012
Will was getting some ace sounds out of his guitar.
Baby Eagle & The Proud Mothers, August 9, 2012
And if you're wondering where the Ian Kehoe photos are, look no further since he steps out from behind the drums as mainman for headliners Marine Dreams. Like BE&TPM, they seem to draw a heavy influence from scrappy 1990s indie rock.
Marine Dreams, August 9, 2012
Bass player Ross was quite enthused by Ottawa's active Thursday night life (or maybe he was just teasing us ... I suspect the latter).
Marine Dreams, August 9, 2012
A very good evening, and I enjoyed the brownie too.
- Show reminder: Doll, FuzzyBunny Slaughterhouse, Harbinger, Static Revolt and Carvello rock Cafe Dekcuf; downstairs at Mavericks you'll find Seas, I Spell It Nature, Monday I Retire, and Gulfer; Good2Go play The Atomic Rooster; Tyvek, Wet Hair and Party Knives destroy the Fun Boy Club House at 96 Plymouth. Ghostwrite, Jon Creeden, Cory Levesque and Cas Houde strum at 558 Gladstone; The Woodshed Orchestra and Dave Merritt perform at Irene's; Bearshark unleash their new CD at the Elmdale with an assist from Cold Capital and The Wicked Mercy, Fuel The Phoenix, Titan Rain and Brave The Third play Zaphod's.
