PrettyInScarlett

Having missed the Spring 2012 Ottawa International Writers' Festival, it was good to get into the autumn events. Sadly I couldn't make the Ottawa premiere of Midnight's Children (of which have heard only positive reviews!), but started my autumn festival with the All In A Day Songwriters' Circle. Being a relative newbie to Ottawa, I know of Lynn Miles by name but not a whole lot more. Friday 26th was both a celebration of her quarter-century making music and for me, an educative evening as well. A thoroughly entertaining evening with lots of clips from CBC Radio archives, messages from friends and a cross-section of Miles' prodigious output. I particularly enjoyed 'Love Doesn't Hurt', 'Hockey Night In Canada', and You Don't Love Me Anymore', as well as a guest appearance by Sarah Slean performing 'The Right Words'. Of the New Science series, Jacob Berkowitz ' presentation of The Stardust Revolution was really interestin...

After Vinyl Tap Stories, the exciting mix of music and words at this autumn's Writers Festival kept the audience enthralled. I didn't see the Marshall McLuhan Centenary event on Friday 21st October, but heard some of the accompanying music by Hilotrons ' Mike Dubue. The Marshall McLuhan Concerto , performed on cello, electric guitar, vibraphone with effects, was indeed captivating.  Moving straight into the following event, Musical Language: The Songwriting Circle (presented by CBC's Alan Neal ) proved very popular; Louise Burns , Ann Vriend , Matthew Barber and Emm Gryner together supplied first-class entertainment; Ambre Mclean was also there to perform 'So Over', the winning song from the All In A Day competition . Fitting in with the theme, they are all singer-songwriters, but within that the songs showcased on Friday encompassed indie-folk-alt country, different styles of guitar accompaniment and piano-based songs. Out of all 4, I most enjoyed Ann ...