Algonquin College started the school year off right by treating students to a free outdoor concert featuring The Riot Police, Birds of Bellwoods, and headliner Sam Roberts.
Comeback Kid, Nathaniel Rateliff, Frank Turner among jam packed September at Spectrasonic!
First day of school is here and so is a full September of shows in Ottawa presented by Spectrasonic.
Hardcore and hip hop on The Diamond Mine Agency roster for August.
The Diamond Mine Agency will be bringing bands in town for the fans of heavier music lovers as well as for the hip hop crowd this August.
Spectrasonic starts August shows with We Were Sharks, Mayfield.
Ottawa promoters Spectrasonic have been working hard to bring audio candy to Ottawa audience’s ears for the month of August!
Rebelfest rocks the Lansdowne Park lawn in Ottawa.
The Algonquin College Online Learning Rebelfest, formerly known as Mountain Man Festival, was held this week in a scorching weather at Lansdowne Park, after being relocated from last year’s venue at a Calabogie resort.
A little bit of hip-hop and little bit rock and roll as RBC Bluesfest enters its final weekend
Well Day 9 started off a little earlier than the previous day. With it being the second last day…I didn’t want to waste it no matter how just about done I am lol! Some of the highlights on my list included Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine, Jessie Reyez, Rae Sremmurd, Colin James and, of course a sampling of everything in between.
Act of Defiance, OTEP, Seaway amongst many others to heat up Ottawa in July.
Ottawa’s Spectrasonic is bringing a bunch of amazing shows to Ottawa this July, and the list is more than worth checking out!
Musicability Making Music Accessible to All
They call it the Musicability Choir.
“Music has always been a part of what we do and is a big part of who we are,” explain Jodouin and Grealy-Fredette . They pair first met on orientation day in the Algonquin College DSW program. In 2006 the two friends became business partners originally working with families in their homes, building customized plans, sharing skills and strategies and empowering them to reach their goals.
The career path seemed pretty clear. Then they had kids and that shifted their focus a little. The main drive remained, however, and that was that Jodouin and Grealy-Fredette wanted to spend their lives helping others. They changed gears and created Family Harmonies Familiales, an Ottawa-based origination of Developmental Service Professionals offering a variety of flexible supports for families and individuals with and without special needs.
Sharing that love of music –Melodie even has a musical name– they soon realized they wanted to incorporate a more melodious component into their work. When they learned that many people with special needs, mental health or undiagnosed issues didn’t have many musical avenues to turn down, the duo created another branch on their giving tree in 2015 with Musicability.
“Music is so universal — it connects with all people on some level. We believe that each person can participate and contribute in making music in some way. It is empowering for all involved in being a part of something so positive,” they say.
Both trained as DSWs, Jodouin and Grealy-Fredette bring their past experience to working with the group’s various needs. They are also big on peer support and encourage others within Musicability to share their own skill set with those around them. Every Wednesday between 6 and 8pm the group meets at the Montgomery Legion (330 Kent St.), an accessible location. A typical group meeting sees anywhere from 5 to 25 attendees ready to face the music.
“We start by talking about upcoming gigs and events and then we play for about an hour. Everyone picks a song from our books, unless we are rehearsing a set list. We also have a variety of instruments for the group to learn and explore such as the keyboard, bass, guitar, ukuleles, drums, shakers, tambourine and a wide variety of percussive instruments. We end with a snack and social time and hugs.”
The two point out that the group is not just about the amazingness that happens while singing but also about personal growth. Musicability realizes the joy that comes out of being part of something that is all inclusive, a place where everyone has a say. It’s something choir members take great pride in being part of each week.
“I find it very comforting that everyone there understands that we all may be facing challenges that make the simplest things difficult,” says group member Fiona. “I appreciate how seamlessly accommodations are made. For me, sitting rather than standing when I get dizzy and wearing noise cancelling head phones has made singing much more enjoyable.”
“I would describe my experience as feeling wanted, like I finally belong to something,” says fellow member Will. “The group encourages and empowers myself and others to relax and have fun. We mix a little old school with a little new school.”
Meaghan adds that each day in Musicability is one where they are pushed to learn, be it new material or a new instrument, while Sherry and Deb state how glad they are to be in a place where they don’t feel judged.
“We feel that we are not able to do something just because we have disabilities and we can showcase to people what we are capable of,” says Sherry. “Musicability makes us feel good.”
The group has accumulated many supporters over the years from other musicians, venue owners and radio personalities. They’ve performed at House of Targ, The Capital Fair and Westfest, to name a few spots you could find their songs and smiles. This summer they have some mobile workshops set up, will be making some band merch and have a benefit gig at the Rainbow Bistro come July 3rd. As membership is by pay what you can, every little helps help support them.
“It’s such a powerful thing to share and spread so much love and joy with so many different people,” says Jodouin and Grealy-Fredette. “Our hearts are often overflowing.”
Learn more about Musicability and how to register for the choir by clicking here.
That Place You Know with Ali McCormick
Once, before they called her the Lioness of Lanark County, Ali McCormick was growing up off the grid on a farm with the first steps to the rest of her life lying in wait in the form of an acoustic guitar. Home was a small house on a Watson’s Corners hill where her family grew vegetables, tended to livestock and lived a life many of their loved ones couldn’t quite understand. They were tough times but they were beautiful times. The great wide world was somewhere beyond the horizon but first there were spring melts, maple syrup runs and days chasing deer out of the garden with an old hound dog. Then, of course, there was that guitar.
Somewhere between the jump into 5 and the step to six, McCormick started strumming her brother’s six string. It wasn’t long before she was given one of her own, a cherry top parlour guitar which would graduate into theTaylor that has now seen many miles beyond where it started from.
“Our family was always big on long, drawn out and frequent visits,” recalls McCormick. “It was during those visits with heated in-depth family discussions, boisterous tea and coffee drinking sessions, where inevitably the guitars would come out.”
Though she refers to music as always having been a strength and comfort to her, she admits she hadn’t seriously thought of pursuing it as a career until a few years ago. That desire, though, was pulled by another dream, one to see the world over the horizon line she’d spent so much time looking towards out her Watson’s Corners window. In her late teens, guitar in hand, she headed towards the city lights, tucking snippets of songs into suitcases and dusting off melodies at way-station stops along the journey. On snowy night highways, in lonesome hotel rooms, on smoky room stages, here she found the words and the words found themselves onto scraps of paper that found their way into her songs.
“I’ve been known to park the car half-way up the driveway and stop everything to hammer out a song coming home from work,” she’ll tell you. Her tunes would be very much like McCormick herself, a stitched together patchwork quilt of personality, one that has a sense of worldly wanderlust as well as a fiery, back woods tough personality. Even sandpaper, of course, has a softer side and you’ll find that there too.
This wilderness wordsmith populates her music will characters you can slip on like a well-worn sweater. Though you’ll find struggle and bittersweet kisses, McCormick usually gives you a clearing at the end of the past where you can dip your line into a local fishing hole and dream a little dream. Though mainly rooted in folk, her tunes do like to wander in other pastures. From time to time you will catch a hint of jazz and even hip-hop on the wistful winds.
“I love bringing something out in my songs, be it a story or feeling, to people,” she says. “If a song has made someone else think of something they want to change about themselves, or remember someone they love then I’m in my happy place.”
Having released two albums (2014’s self-titled recording and 2016’s Clean Water), McCormick is ready to share perhaps her most personal offering to date with That Place You Know. Tracks like “Tackle Box, Saw, Chain and a Knife” and “The Woodstove” show that though the body has ventured across the land the soul has never strayed far from her childhood farm. The path at the end of a tour now leads to her own cozy clearing where she runs a sheep farm between her musical interludes. A need to be inside nature’s envelope is part of her DNA.
“If I learned anything related to musicology during my years in restaurants it is that some recipes call for familiarity. Nature has the perfect ingredients for an environmentally inspired songwriter to cook up some good, wholesome poetry.”
That Place You Know is an album of road-tested songs that could be called an ode to youthful memories filled with hijinks and wild days at the midway. In between there are moments spent at home nestled in the warm caress of love. One would expect no less from The Lioness of Lank County.
Before hitting the road from Ontario to the West Coast, Ali kicks off her Album Release Tour at Irene’s on June 8th. Special guests Fluffy Little Cowboys!
River Town Saints to help Dreams Take Flight in Ottawa
Dreams Take Flight is a national volunteer charitable organization dedicated to providing the trip of a lifetime to medically, mentally, physically, socially or emotionally challenged children. With the aid of Air Canada, other national and local organizations and businesses, money is raised to make the dream a reality in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax. Every year one flight departs each of the above locations for a day of magic at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida.