MERCURY LOUNGE OTTAWA Thursday May 28th 22:00pm with DJ Trevor Walker

Biz Markie is coming to Ottawa soon and will be playing Babylon on Saturday, December 20th. Twenty years after the man born Marcel Hall’s absurdly catchy hip-hop/R&B hybrid Just a Friend conquered the airwaves, it seems Biz Markie is only now set to make his first appearance in Capital City.

“My focus is on DJing right now,” Biz reports. “I already did the beatboxing. I did the rap. That was in my younger days.”

This is going to be a great show so if you’re in Ottawa I suggest checking it out. Show starts at 10pm. See you at Babylon!

Title: Christmas With Caridad
Location: Zaphod Beeblebrox, Ottawa
Link out: Click here
Date: 2008-12-19

Zaphod Beeblebrox is holding “Christmas with Caridad,” featuring Cubano Son and starring salsa diva Caridad Cruz. Since immigrating to Canada in 2003 from her native Cuba, where she sang professionally for 10 years, Caridad Cruz has attracted a lot of attention. Her debut Canadian performance with Jane Bunnett’s Spirits of Havana was broadcast nationally on CBC’s ‘Global Village’ and inspired a Globe and Mail reviewer to applaud her “warm ocean of a voice.” Caridad’s performance has also been described as “best heard live,” so it should be a good time at Zaphod’s. Also, I know a lot of the strippers from Barefax are into Latino music, so maybe they’ll also stop by.

Here are the event details:
Friday, December 19, 2008
Zaphod Beeblebrox
27 York Street, Ottawa
Age 19+/ General Admission
ADVANCE TICKETS: $10.00 at TicketWeb.

Click here for the flyer.

Jaxpratt, aka DJ Jeff LaPratt, plays a great set on pure party anthems at the Mercury Lounge on Friday nights. This month is looking a little sparse with Jaxpratt at the Merc, but only because it’s the holidays and Friday nights are being ate by other performances. Jaxpratt has made a name for himself all over the St Laurent region playing electronic hits and mixing his own unique selection of beats. If you’re in Ottawa on a Friday night, check him out at the Mercury Lounge.

The Ottawa Xpress posted an article this week about the Canadian Floor Masters and their 25th anniversary. The crew got a ton of coverage back in the day for their trip to Russia during an unstable time. The crew followed Stephen Leafloor (a.k.a. Buddha), the founder of the group, and went on to do shows as well as community work. Working with first nations peoples, CFM were giving an otherwise underground dance, a good rep. The group affiliated themselves with the New York City Breakers and did great things for putting Canada on the map for something other than having a huge land mass. Congratulations guys!

[Via]

Join CBC host Alan Neal for an eclectic triple bill concert featuring four Ottawa musicians. The concert will be recorded for national broadcast on CBC Radio Two’s Canada Live! Linsey Wellman (saxophones), Mike Essoudry (drumset, percussion), Adam Duncan (guitar) and Megan Jerome (voice, piano) are graduates from the music programs at Carleton and Ottawa Universities, and are now enjoying the spaces and flavors between traditional music categories. The concert takes place at the University of Ottawa, in Frieman Hall (Perez Building), on Sunday December 14, at 2:00pm (doors open at 1:30pm).

The afternoon is three diverse 45-minute concerts of original compositions. Linsey Wellman and Mike Essoudry will present world and improvised music; Adam Duncan will perform his newest Indo-jazz compositions; and Megan Jerome will share her homemade love songs. Between sets, all are invited to enjoy tasty treats generously provided by The Table Restaurant.

Advance tickets are $12, available at the following locations, or $15 at the door:

Compact Music (Downtown)
190, Bank Street
(613) 233-7626
compact@sympatico.ca

Compact Music (Glebe)
785 1/2 Bank Street
(613) 233-8922
compact@bellnet.ca

Domenics Music (Orleans)
2297 St Joseph Blvd
(613)-837-0124

Musician Biographies

Linsey Wellman and Mike Essoudry met at the music program at Carleton University. Together they explore the possibilities of tone, rhythm and melody. They embrace stasis and movement, meditation and exuberance, delicacy and amplitude. Their improvisations and compositional sketches look both forward and back, to the ever new possibilities of instant creation, and to sounds, themes and evocations as old as humanity itself.

“Inspired music it is” Dolf Mulder of Vital Weekly

Adam Duncan earned a Bachelor of Arts, (Hons), in Guitar and Composition at Ottawa University and has studied sitar and Indian Classical music (ICM), with Guru Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan. Adam has appeared across Canada and the USA playing guitar and sitar in a variety of festivals and workshops. Combining elements of Jazz, North and South Indian music, this afternoon will mark the premiere of 5 new compositions.

“Beautiful compositions” Pt. Samir Chatterjee of Chayanandaan Foundation

Following family singsongs and classical piano lessons Megan Jerome earned a degree in jazz piano at Carleton University. Megan’s free-spirited and beguiling homemade songs have met rave reviews nationwide. Mike Essoudry is a fine percussionist who is closely tuned into the subtle groove of these gems of songwriting. Sweet and whimsical and crisp, Megan and Mike create music with plenty of space to feel their unique partnership and sense of play.

Title: Ottawa Music Awards
Location: Bronson Center, Ottawa
Link out: Click here
Date: 2008-12-04

Arists, producers, record labels and video directors will all be at the Bronson Center tomorrow, Thursday December 4th, for the Ottawa Music Awards. The awards are giving out more than $25,000 in prize money so the best of luck goes out to the nominees. Also, the awards are offering Canadian Independent urban artists the opportunity to be on the cover of M.O.B. Magazine. Also, you’ll get the chance to get your music heard by major record labels. To participate, send your demo or hottest mixtape with all your contact info. You’ll find all the information you need here.

www.OttawaMusicAwards.com

Teknobrat is from Montreal and currently lives in Ottawa. He’s a huge fan of Chicago acid House and Ghetto Trax sounds from the end of the 80’s early 90’s. He also has an almost OCD approach to collecting albums with a library of over 5,000 albums. Teknobrat has had a huge Ottawa radio presence with La Teknosphere on CHUO 89.1 FM and Planet Rave, which aired on CKCU 93.1 FM. His latest EP, Reborn, is having a release party tour starting December 12th 2008 and will hit most major Canadian and US Cities in the first quarter of 2009. Check out the flyers!

[Click here for the Ottawa Mercury Lounge show flyer]

[Click here for the Quebec City show flyer]

TCR contributor Mike Plante just sent us video of elodieO’s performace at the Mercury Lounge on November 20th 2008. elodieO is the super cute New York City LES/Nublu electro scene girl who was originally from Paris. Her sound is a mix of 60’s Nico-esque pop and 90’s golden era trip-hop. Thanks for the vid Mike!

elsiane was formed when singer/songwriter Elsieanne Caplette and drummer Stephane Sotto partnered to merge their styles into something that blends classical, jazz, rock and electronic. Stephane has a rhythmic, soft beat that nicely compliments Elsieanne’s idiosyncratic voice. Together, they make music that sounds like the soundtrack for having sex in space on your way to heaven. If you’re down, I think they’re playing either the 13th or the 20th at the Merucry Lounge in Ottawa. I’ll be sure to update.