Pics from CFMA’s

Hi folks, here are some pics from the CFMA’s taken by Jake Morrison:

To see the full gallery, follow this link.

Pics from the Volunteer Appreciation Party at the Elmdale Tavern – November 19th

That was a lot of fun!  Thanks to all the volunteers for coming out last night!  Here are some photos by Jake Morrison:

To view the full gallery, please click this link.

Photos from the Genticorum Show – November 15th, 2009

Here are some photos from the Genticorum show on Sunday night:

Genticorum

Alexandre De Grosbois-Garand

Yann Falquet

Pascal Gemme

Genticorum

Karen Flanagan McCarthy pulling the winning ticket for the Lucky Draw

Standing Ovation for Genticorum – What a great show!

To view the full gallery of photos, click this link.  If you missed out on this show, the next Acoustic Waves show will feature Jon and Roy on Sunday January 24th.  If you’d like more info on the Acoustic Waves series, click here.

 

GCTC photo credits:

Photographer: Jake Morrison
Set designer: Camellia Koo
Lighting designer: Jock Munro

Photos From The Guthrie Family Rides Again – October 28th, 2009

What a great show last night!  Here are some photos taken by Jake Morrison:

Thanks to everyone involved for putting on a great show.  If you’d like to see more photos from last night, please follow this link.

A Guthrie Family Retrospective at the Ottawa Folk Festival

As you can probably tell, everyone here at the Ottawa Folk Festival is super excited about the Guthrie Family Rides Again concert coming up on October 28th.  Not only will it be an amazing show, but the Guthries have all played a memorable role in some of the magic that happens at the Ottawa Folk Festival.  So we figured that we’d give a brief history of all the different concerts that the Guthrie Family has participated in over the last 16 years:

The first shows Arlo played were on Dec. 6th and 7th, 1996.  These 2 performances helped to raise some much needed funding for the Ottawa Folk Festival, which was in the midst of a financial crisis at the time.   Because of these successful concerts, we like to say that Arlo saved the Folk Fest! 

Arlo’s next appearance was at the 1998 Folk Festival.  The crowd really enjoyed his set, playing favourites such as Alice’s Restaurant.  Later on in the evening, Roberta Huebner presented Arlo with an original painting as a “thank you” for helping to save the festival.

We didn’t see Arlo again until the 2004 Ottawa Folk Festival and as always, he charmed the crowd with favourites such as The City of New Orleans, Coming to Los Angeles and some songs by his dad, Woody Guthrie. 

The following year in 2005, Arlo’s daughter Sarah Lee Guthrie and her husband Johnny Irion graced the Folk Fest stage.  They played some original tunes along with some songs from the Woody Guthrie “vault”.  It was a great showcase of the talent lines that run deep in the Guthrie family. 

Arlo returned to play Centrepointe Theatre in May 2006 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the “The Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”.  If you don’t know the story behind this song, it’s based on events that took place in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.   Eventually, the song was turned into a movie and Arlo became a cultural hero, inspiring a whole generation to social activism.  In 1991, Arlo bought Trinity United Church – the church where Alice once lived – and it’s now the home of The Guthrie Center and the Guthrie Foundation.  The Guthrie Center is a not-for-profit interfaith church foundation dedicated to providing a wide range of local and international services. Programs range from providing HIV/AIDS services to organizing annual events like “The Walk-A-Thon to Cure Huntington’s Disease”.  And like the Ottawa Folk Festival, the Guthrie Center is run mostly by volunteers.

At the 2007 Ottawa Folk Festival, the weekend was filled with tributes to Woody Guthrie.  We were honoured to be joined by his daughter, Nora, who made a multi-media tribute for Woody.  Later that evening, Kris Kristofferson, Eliza Gilkyson and Ray Bonneville payed tribute to Woody Guthrie by performing a 90 minute set titled “Ribbon of Highway”.  There was also a display featuring photos, handwritten lyrics and visual art from the Woody Guthrie Archives.

2007 Concert Poster

The last time that Arlo played a show with the Folk Fest was October 28th 2007 – exactly 2 years to the day from his next show (Wednesday October 28th 2009, in case you haven’t heard…).  This show was billed as “An Evening with Arlo Guthrie: Solo Reunion Tour – Together At Last!” which brings us back full circle.  When the Guthrie family rolls into Ottawa later this month, we’ll get the unique opportunity to see four generations of, as Vanity Fair calls them, ”the first family of folk”.  The entire family will be performing songs that they’ve written, learned together and come to love. Along with Arlo’s standards, the evening will include a selection of recently re-discovered Woody Guthrie lyrics put to music by friends and family.

Eliza Gilkyson in Photos

Wow, what a great show!  As always, Eliza Gilkyson played a wide range of tunes and displayed a great wit and charm on stage.   Here are some photos:

 

We discovered that Canadian Crowds are good whistlers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a nice surprise, Lynn Miles jumped on stage and sang backup on a few songs!   At this point in the night, we discovered that Athabasca is the Texas of Canada (or is it vice versa?)… 

Thanks to Jake Morrison for taking some great shots!  To see the entire gallery, follow this link.  The next concert coming up is the Guthrie Family Rides Again on Wednesday Oct. 28th.  Hope to see you there!

Casia Interviews Charlotte Cornfield

New and emerging indie star Charlotte Cornfield from Montreal was a big hit at this year’s 2009 Ottawa Folk Festival. Just 20 years old and she’s bringing the house down with her soulful songs about the pain and struggle of relationships. Her upbeat music makes one believe that there is hope for love after all.

I had the pleasure of talking with Charlotte and her desire to travel the world and share her music, along with her contagious smile had road trip written all over her face. Her bubbly, energetic personality made me want to start dancing and singing along and maybe go on a road trip myself and explore what life has to offer.

Festivals are a great venue for emerging artists to play in front of new crowds and develop their fan base. It was obvious that Charlotte did just that in Ottawa and I am certainly one of her newest fans. I’ll be keeping an eye on this young star and hope she returns to Ottawa soon.

Check out Charlotte’s website for more personal information including upcoming shows: http://www.myspace.com/charlottecornf…

Videotaped by Shaun Weatherup of Exit Broadcasting: http://www.youtube.com/user/EXITTODAY

Interviewer – Casia (lyricist and internet music collaborator): http://www.indiemusicworks.com/artist…

Casia Interviews Radoslav Lorkovic

Radoslav Lorkovic, “Festival Man”, a truly gifted grand piano master and accordian player extrordinaire. The intensity in his sun-glass hidden eyes tells the tale of a true musician dedicated to traveling the world, from festival to festival, to share his talent and his passion to all who will listen. It is obvious when I spoke with him that his music means the world to him and he has a thousand stories to tell of his adventures from the small taverns of the Upper Mississipi River to the grand castles of Italy, across the Canary Islands, to the Yupik villages of Alaska to the infamous Carnegie Hall.

With five critically acclaimed solo recordings and numerous appearances on the recordings of and performances with Odetta, Jimmy LaFave, Ribbon of Highway Woody Guthrie Tribute, Greg Brown, Richard Shindell, Ellis Paul, Dave Moore, Andy White and Bo Ramsey, where will Radoslav go next? Last I heard, he was hoping to get booked for some festivals in New Zealand.

Radoslav draws from a multitude of influences ranging from elegant classical and jazz styles to the rawest, most basic blues, country and soul. He is an artist I will be watching for and hope to see at next years Ottawa Folk Festival where he can tell us some more exciting stories.

Radoslav’s website: http://www.radoslavlorkovic.com/

Exit Broadcasting on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/EXITTODAY

Casia’s website: http://www.indiemusicworks.com/artists/casia … (more info) (less info)

…We’ve only just begun!

Well the Folkfest weekend has come and gone, and as many have pointed out, it was SPECTACULAR. The feedback we’ve been getting has been unanimous: You enjoyed yourselves immensely!

Now it’s fall so it’s time jump into MORE MUSIC. Our Acoustic Waves series with the GCTC is now kicking off with our first perfomer: Eliza Gilkyson.

Eliza Gilkyson

Date: September 27, 2009
Time: 8 pm
Cost: $22
Location: Great Canadian Theatre Company 1233 Wellington, Ottawa, ON
Tickets: Available at the GCTC Box Office or call 613-236-5196.

Guthrie Family Rides Again:

Also, Ottawa Folk Festival, along with Cisco Bluesfest present: The Guthrie Family Rides Again, Oct. 28, 2009. Visit http://www.ottawafolk.org for more info.

Volunteers Treated to Some Outstanding Performances

Wow! What a festival this turned out to be. Three days of amazing music and excellent weather. Who could ask for anything more.

The festival kicked off Thursday evening with the Cultural Artist Collaboration performing to crowds of party-going volunteers, and what a treat it was. Several 100 gathered in the dance tent to enjoy a smorgasborg of mouth watering music. Twenty-five musicians who had never met before came together for three days to create a show of “ear candy” bound to please any taste. It is truly amazing how they were able to build upon an idea, instrument by instrument to create such a tantalizing, toe tapping, body moving collaboration. From drums to bass, sax, tuba, flute, shamisen, harmonica, guitar, accordian and a selection of instruments I have never seen before really do go well together. They played as if they were one…connected in mind and spirit.

To the loud cheer of the crowd, Artistic Director Chris White said “The Festival has a deeper purpose, we’re building a community together”. And, Tatiana Nemchin, Director of Planning and Operations was in tears for the amount of volunteers and festival support this year. What a wonderful way to begin the show.

Over the next few weeks, we will be adding lots of video and artist interviews for your enjoyment. Stay tuned…..

The 2009 Ottawa Folk Festival Artist Collaboration:
Catriona Sturton, David Ross, Debbie Danbrook, Ellen McIlwaine, Jesse Stewart, Linsey Wellman, Lyndell Montgomery, Petr Cancura, Radoslav Lorkovic, Hannah Naiman, Kate Nankervis, Penny Chivas, Anne McGee, Shona Kearney, Skye Nicholson, Idy Oulo, Victoria Vox, Melaniejane, Andy Rush, Liz Hanson, Koul Hob, Larry Graves, Tory MacGillivray, Emmanuelle LeBlanc, Pastelle LeBlanc.

Thank you everyone.

Posted by Casia – August 25, 2009