Private faces, public places

Local photographer Ian Flynn McDonald gets up-close and personal with Ottawa’s indie rock scene

Ottawa’s indie rockers and their fans are the focus of Indie 613, an exhibit by photographer Ian Flynn McDonald.

At one time a perennial fixture on the Ottawa music scene, McDonald photographed bands back in the ’80s before he dropped everything to become a single dad. He has since picked up a new camera and resurfaced to shoot some of Ottawa’s hottest acts, including Tokyo Sex Whale, The Bible All-Stars, The Reverb Syndicate, The Rookers, Manpower, Ninety Pounds Of Ugly and Gun Smoke, to name a few. This will be his first art show in more than 20 years. Read more…

We’re looking at how this talented musician goes from creating the most aggressive hardcore music with a band to retreating to create Glass Fingers, a personal and folky solo effort on Translation Loss Records.

In a city where side projects are the norm rather than the exception for most musicians, Tweedy stands out as a poster child for musical diversity in Ottawa.

Content is their cause. Guerilla looks at Ottawa through a wide-angle lens to create material that is substantial, intelligent, diverse, approachable, curious, experimental, and presented from multiple viewpoints. Guerilla publishes feature stories, essays, images, and a variety of contributions from local artists, arts writers, and cultural observers. Check them out at www.getguerilla.ca.

Howe to make Maki roll

Howe Gelb takes Kate Maki’s music to new heights

If her stagger-to-the-saloon groove and parlour-blues tunes weren’t enough to grab your attention, Sudbury’s Kate Maki has enlisted the help of eccentric Arizona singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist Howe Gelb to produce her latest album, On High, marking a career high for the former Ottawa resident. Read more…

This Is Your Dad’s Oldsmobile

The Brothers Chaffey are brave old souls in a brave new world

The Brothers Chaffey - Matthew (rhythm guitar) and Curtis (lead guitar) - play the sexiest country-soul music with a blues-rock swagger that one university rag called “your dad’s kinda music.” Rather than take issue with the putdown, Matthew, the elder of the sibling duo, is proud of his old-timer rock-and-country chops. Read more…

Each year, the growing campaign culminates in a beauty pageant-style event called the “Sweetest Stache Bash” where growers dress up in costumes and compete in a variety of events (the mustache parade, beer foam retention, mustache strength, Q&A) in an effort to determine the sweetest stache.

This year, I hosted the event that took place Friday, December 14 at Zaphod Beeblebrox on York Street.

Mustache growing kicked off on November 9. Visit: www.m4kottawa.org!

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Mustaches for Kids is a volunteer-run organization started in Los Angeles in 1999 to do good and have fun by growing Mustaches for children’s charities.

Jingle Sells:
Jingles Are the Way for Toronto’s Major Maker

Not all musicians lending their voice to television commercials sound as off-key as the Ontario Freshness Guy. There’s Feist for iPod. Bedouin Soundclash for Zellers. Ottawa’s Andrew Vincent for Old Navy. And now, with spots for Chevy, Telus and Maynards Candy, Toronto’s Major Maker is proving how good jingles grow-a-oh in Ontario—along with the bank account.

“It’s like an actor trying to land a spot by moving to L.A.; it can totally happen, you never know,” says singer-songwriter Lindy Vofjnord about landing success by taking a commercial route with his music partner, Todor Kobakov.

Sell outs?

“The people that criticize, I don’t have any energy for addressing why they’d think this was a bad idea. They can go fuck themselves,” Lindy says politely. Read more…