HOLY F@#&ING BLUESFEST LINEUP, BATMAN!

From OttawaFestivals.ca

Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest organizers have announced the line-up for the 2010 edition of the festival. This year, scheduling will run from Tuesday, July 6 through Sunday, July 11 (Monday will be an off-day for fans and organizers to re-charge their batteries) and re-commence Tuesday, July 13 through Sunday, July 18. Festival organizers are expecting another year of great attendance while offering a dynamic festival experience, for what Billboard Magazine has ranked as one of the top-10 festivals in the world.

Confirmed Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest acts to-date include:
Alexisonfire;
Anders Osborne & Johnny Sansone;
Andrew Bird;
AfroReggae;
Arcade Fire;
Aterciopelados;
B-52s;
Babe Ruth;
Basia Bulat;
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba;
Bear in Heaven;
Big Jeezus Truck;
Big Soul Project featuring Roxanne Goodman;
Bill 'Sauce Boss' Wharton;
Bjorn Berg;
Blonde Redhead;
Campbell Brothers;
Caravan Palace;
Carolyn Wonderland;
The Cat Empire;
Champion and His G-Strings;
Charlie Winston;
Coolooloosh;
Crowded House;
Culture Reject;
Curtis Salgado;
Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band;
Down With Webster;
Drake;
Dream Theatre;
Eamon McGrath;
Elvis Perkins;
Ethiopique;
Faber Drive;
Foghat;
Furthur featuring Phil Lesh & Bob Weir;
Garaga;
Gipsy Kings;
GOOD2GO;
Gord Downie and the Country of Miracles;
Great Big Sea;
Great Lake Swimmers;
Group 1 Crew;
Grupo Fantasma;
Iron Maiden;
James Hunter;
Jimmy Cliff;
Joan Jett;
Joe Krown Trio with Walter Wolfman Washington & Russell Batiste;
John Butler Trio;
John Hiatt;
John Kilduff;
Keith Urban;
Ken Workman & the Union;
Kevin Costner and Modern West;
Kings Go Forth;
Konono No. 1;
Lady Tramaine Hawkins;
Laurent Bourque;
Levon Helm;
LIGHTS;
Loudlove;
Lukas Nelson;
Marc Cohn;
Marcia Ball & The Voice of The Wetlands All Stars featuring Tab Benoit, Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne, Johnny Sansone, Waylon Thibodeaux, and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux;
Marianas Trench;
Martin Sexton;
Matt Andersen;
Matthew Good;
Matt Schofield;
Metric;
Moneen;
Monster Mike Welch;
NEWWORLDSON;
Nicolas Collins;
Occidental Brothers;
Octoberman;
Ozomatli;
Passion Pit;
Paul Rishell & Annie Raines;
Planet Smashers;
Renaissance;
Richie Righteous;
River City Junction;
Robert Farrell Band;
Robert Randolph & the Family Band;
Roger Hodgson;
Ronnie Baker Brooks;
Roy Rogers & The Delta River Kings;
Rosanne Cash;
The Rural Alberta Advantage;
Rush;
Ryan Montbleau Band;
Santana;
Septentrional d'Haiti;
Slyde;
Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes;
Staff Benda Bilili;
Steel Pulse;
Steve Dawson’s Mississippi Sheiks Project;
Steve Hackett;
Steve Winwood;
That 1 Guy;
That’s the Spirit;
Terrance Simien & The Zydeco Experience;
The Aggrolites;
The Budos Band;
The Constellations;
The Ethics;
The Flaming Lips;
The Hold Steady;
The Lost Fingers;
The Love Machine;
The Mohawk Lodge;
The Moody Blues;
The Musical Box;
The Swell Season;
The White Wires;
Timber Timbre;
TJ Wheeler;
Tommy Castro;
Too Slim and The Taildraggers;
Trevor Hall;
Tye Tribbett;
We Are Wolves;
Weezer;
Woodhands;
Yatkha,

with more to be announced.

http://www.ottawabluesfest.ca/ for more details!

Ottawa gets it UNdone.

Who would have EVER thought I'd be mingling with marketing and communications people? What's worse... I actually loved being in their presence. What's wrong with me?!

But let's be serious here for a moment. The Untweetup: awesome. Drinks were flowing; connections were basically materializing out of thin air; and there was laughter aplenty. Going in, I hadn't a clue what to expect or how it would turn out, and to be perfectly honest, I was little nervous about it. And walking in the door to Foundation at the exact same time as Scott Stratten, Mr. Man-of-the-Hour in the flesh, was a minor coronary in itself (or SQUEEEE!!-inducing, he might say). But I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly everything moved along.

I walked in and immediately recognized some familiar Ottawa tweeps. And it wasn't long before I was being introduced to a couple of new ones, too. Among them were Matt Cameron (@MattKCameron) and Kyle McInnes (@KyleMcInnes).

I don't think it's really possible to properly represent just how ridiculously hilarious these two were. A couple of fast-talking, quick-witted, and clever tech bloggers--characteristics so lethal that, combined in the right quantities, the result is likely to be similar to napalm. I don't think I've laughed harder at nerdier things in my entire life, ever. From their idea of creating a completely new computer platform called, quite simply, "Awesome Shit" (no usernames, no passwords, just all awesome); to @TweetNotes, a ColesNotes type Twitter account dedicated to simplifying literary classics in 140 characters or less (Dorian meets Sibyl. Sibyl falls in love. Shallow Dorian loses interest. Dorian indulges in debauchery. Regret. Futile confession. Suicide.) If any of you noticed Scott's OH tweet about "six pounds of ketchup in the colon," Yeah. That was Matt Cameron. Also... Did you know that there is approximate $0.25 worth of gold in Goldschlagger? It's true.

When I finally got to meet Scott, I thought my knees might give out. You know, he's much taller than I imagined. And highly entertaining. He walked over to the small group I'd been hanging around the whole night, wondering what all the fuss about the "back of the bar" was. He told us all about his fun with airport security, in a manner not unlike a stand-up comedian. I asked him if there'd be any karaoke on the menu for the night because rumour had it that he could command an audience with a mean rendition of Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer." He told me about his timely breakup with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and said that I should probably do the same. Although I don't think I'd get any phone calls from Leafs head honchos with free invites to games.

Another highlight of the night was meeting David Hicks (@ALL_CAPS). What an agent. He complimented my "fembot" nail polish and offered me a slice of sound parenting advice, all in the same breath. After talking to him, I tweeted that I'd discovered David Hicks was actually human, quelle surprise. And then someone replied to me, "Don't be fooled by the fleshy exterior. #terminator."
Must investigate further.

So, all in all, the night was pretty prolific. I came home with a pocket full of business cards, a few new followers, and an entirely new and fond respect for Ottawa, the city and the tweeps who inhabit it. AND I managed to avoid any contact with the iPad that was floating around the room the whole time. A pretty impressive feat, if I do say so myself.

A million enormous thank-yous go to GenYOTT and Scott Stratten for organizing this event. I think I speak for all of us when I say that I can hardly wait for the UnBook tour this fall. Hopefully the weather will be a little more generous to Mr. Stratten the next time around.

Oh right, and one more thing:

The unturban was golden.

beer. punk rock. good people. nostalgia.

A faded 'PAID' stamp on my hand; a rockin' headache of epic proportions; a faint memory of screaming "JOHN MELOCHE IS SEXY!"

All indications of a great night. It seems like a lifetime ago that this kind of thing was a nightly occurrence for me. I'd almost forgotten what the allure of that scene was. Last night sent a rush of memory from my toes right up the very tip of my skull (making a special stop at my now damaged eardrums---thanks guys.) A hundred different faces, familiar and new. The same idea applied to the music. A lively crowd, complete with a moshpit, crowd surfers, and special appearances by the bands' front men. The devoted fans shouting along with the singers, reinforcing the social, political, and moral significance of the lyrics.

All of these elements made for one resounding and undying theme: unity. The sense of singularity and harmony was overwhelming, pasting a smile permanently across my face. Mavericks was the center of the universe last night.



Or maybe--six beer and three shots later--it was just a sauce-induced euphoria.

Either way, I was reminded of why I was so in love with this scene so long ago. There is a part of my heart, I think, that has always been reserved for all things studded, drunk, and grungy. And that piece was brought to the front and center last night.

I would thank everyone myself for an awesome time. But someone already said it best last night, and to try to top it would be an act of utter futility:



"Cheers to beers and queers." - Kyle Loverin