Why are the great gigs always half empty?

Back to small venues after the E Street Extravaganza, and a treat, really, our second Sugars experience. A quick line about the support bands -for once they were at least ok! The first up, Jodie Daniels, just him and an acoustic guitar, he wasn't bad at all for his first ever show! Next (local) band Sixty were pretty polished but fairly unoriginal (except for a cover of 1990s hit Rhythm Is A Dancer).

Unfortunately, friends of both supports had made up a good section of the audience, who then left, so it was (again) a pretty small gathering for The Sugars! Pah. They missed out! I managed to get a snap of the set, which, amended for a few changes, was: Seamstress (not sure of 2nd song), Fairy Tales, Heaven Knows, Serenade, Monsters, All My Children, Mama, Everybody Yell, Gossip, W T M H, Black Friday. The changes -well, there was a problem with an amp after Heaven Knows, but nobody minded that much. Especially not us, trialling earplugs for the first time and they definitely work! No ringing ears at all! And, the sound seemed accentuated so it was easier to hear individual instruments. Apart from that, excellent set. Also, another chance to buy a coloured 7in single, this one (Black Friday/Isle of Sirens) is fuschia -which will tide me over a few weeks.

The album 'Curse of the Sugars' is out 7th July on various formats. Myspace will give details of further shows on the current tour.

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Pigeon Funk

Notes on a very random purchase. Earlier today I acquired Venetian Snares 'Rossz Csillag Alatt Sz ü letett ' purely on the basis of the language and artwork. Its certainly something different - and most definitely not pop. After a bit of searching: Venetial Snares is, according to Wikipedia, the performing name of Aaron Funk, who seems to specialise in experimental tracks in odd time signatures. Article here . The sleeve notes for this album (whose title is Hungarian for 'Born under a bad star') poses the question: what if, for just a day, we could both be pigeons? Interessant. Apparently this concept (a day in the life of a Hungarian pigeon) is non-typical of Venetian Snares sound, but one could ask, does Mr Funk do 'typical'? On first listening, the sound of this CD mixes classical/traditional Hungarian sounds and breakbeats. but aside from that? Definitely a 'listen for yourself' artist; try the website , fan site or myspace .

Lang Lang: a little bit of stardust in Southam Hall

Lang Lang with Anita Pari Like many National Arts Centre regulars, the idea of a Lang Lang concert sounded fantastic... except that for me the Gala tickets are rather too expensive. As a result the turnout for today's masterclass with young artists Anita Pari (Ottawa), Alexander Malikov (Calgary), and Tina Chong (Banff) in Southam Hall was pretty good. No surprises that there were photographers and a TV camera all over the stage... so much so that during Lang's analysis of Malikov's rendition of Transcendental Étude No 8 'Wild Hunt' (Liszt), someone shouted at the cameraman to move. To my mind they seemed a little intrusive on the performances, but none of the artists seemed to take any notice. Lang Lang with Tina Chong Up first and for me the best performance was Anita Pari with the captivating Ballade No 1 by Chopin. In comparison, Malikov's performance did not have anywhere near as much projection. Final performer Tina Chong seemed

New talent at Southminster

As a follow-on from last weekend's excellent Chopin concert, there is an afternoon of New Artists from the NAC's Summer Music Institute at Southminster United Church on 17th June. Entitled 'Dover Beach and other works for summertime', the concert features new artists Katarzyna Sadej , Emily Nenninger , Drew Santini, Hannah Min, Paul Casey , Karen Kang and Bryan Wagorn. I had the chance to hear Bryan Wagorn at one of University of Ottawa's Concerts at the NAC 4th Stage concerts back in February and thoroughly enjoyed his performance. The proposed programme is very enticing: MENDELSSOHN String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13 MONIUSZKO Sen (The Dream) Prząśniczka (Spinner Girl) SZYMANOWSKI Lecioły Zórazie (The Swans Were Flying) Ściani Dumbek (The Dark Forest) CHOPIN Piosnka Litewska (Lithuanian Folksong) Moja Pieszczotka

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