‘A confluence of what’s happening in Ottawa poetry’: VERSeFest draws to a close

Ottawa's VERSeFest ran from Feb. 28 - March 4 (Photo credit: Pearl Pirie)

Pearl Pirie (blog/Twitter) is a local arts enthusiast who blogs about the city’s literary events in both word and image. Her most recent poetry collection came out last year. Thirsts (Snare, 2011) launches at Tree on Jan. 24. She will be one of the readers at VERSeFest in March.

Rachael Simpson at VERSeFest (Photo credit: Pearl Pirie)

Evan Thornton at Sneezers said: “Gain a sense of scale: In one fell swoop, you’ll get a feel for the astounding level of poetry activity in Ottawa. Not just a one-time festival, VERSeFest is actually a confluence of what’s happening in Ottawa poetry every month of every year, all the time.”

Ben Ladouceur said of Rachael Simpson’s reading: “Her work and her reading voice both brim with an unadorned kind of insightfulness. Never mind that her name is probably the least-known of the four.”

Suzanne Buffam at VERSeFest (Photo credit: Pearl Pirie)

Jenica Reid ‏tweeted: “Mike McGee, OpenSecret and Ursula Rucker just blew my mind. I don’t think I have it anymore.”

In Brenden McNally’s column, he quoted Suzanne Buffam, who came up from Chicago to read. She said she thought VerseFest is fantastic, adding, “It’s nice to see a festival that’s not about networking, it’s just about poetry.”

Outside, our ladies of posters directed pedestrian traffic to venues. (Photo credit: Pearl Pirie)

And it’s about enthusiasm.

Today is the finale, when VERSeFest welcomes Ursula Rucker to give a workshop at Mercury Lounge. (A slim chance of a spot if someone doesn’t show up to take their reserved tickets.)

At 4:30 pm, Vermont poet and novelist Paige Ackerson-Kiely and west coast Canadian poet, Barry McKinnon. At 8 pm at the NAC: Mexico poet Pura López-Colomé’s, former U.S. poet Laureate Philip Levine Governor General award-winning poet Phil Hall do the summit reading. (Tickets are still available.)

Last chance to check out VERSeFest tonight! Get out there, Ottawa!

Something in the Ottawater: Rusty breaks down the city’s Slam scene

Rusty Priske (blog/Twitter) is the Slam Master at Capital Slam and has represented Ottawa on the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word a record four times. He is an unabashed Slam proselytizer.

Rusty Priske

The slam scene in Ottawa is my home, just as much as any place with four walls and a roof could be.

It has helped define my life over the past five plus years and I can hardly remember what my life was like without it. Of course, that just may be due to my failing memory. I am getting old, you know.

My faulty memory aside, I am one of the oldest slammers on the scene and I believe I have been involved in slam longer than most in our local community. (Though we have some vets making a comeback appearance this January!)

So what makes the Ottawa slam community so special to me?

Let’s go back to the beginning… to my introduction to the world of slam. My wife, Ruthanne Edward, and her friend (local blogger and columnist) Nadine Thornhill had decided to go to something called Capital Slam back in January of 2006. I had never heard of slam and wasn’t really interested in poetry, but I agreed to come along. It was held in a bar on Bank St. called the Gap of Dunloe. By today’s standards, it is hard to imagine a Capital Slam in a place like that. The lay-out was not good for a show and the bar was still open for ‘non-show’ business, so the poets were sometimes competing with the bar patrons for ‘ear-space.’

That show was not only the first for all of us, it was the first performance of Nathanael Larochette, who went on to be the Director of the Capital Poetry Collective – the organization that produces Capital Slam. It was the first performance of Mosha Folger, who became a well-known face on the scene. That night happened to be hosted by John Akpata, the first ever Capital Slam Champion and the long-standing host of Monday Night Scribes on CHUO. The scorekeeper was Steve Sauve, who was often considered the heart of the scene, and our greatest loss.

By the end of the show, I had an idea for a poem I wanted to write.

A few months later Greg ‘Ritallin’ Frankson announced that he was stepping down as Collective Director and that Elissa Molino and Danielle Gregoire were taking over. They produced a volunteer sign-up list and before I knew it, I was the Collective Treasurer.

The sense of belonging happened immediately. I found myself surrounded by people who LOVED this art form that was sinking its tentacles into my brain and heart. I got to know people like Danielle and Nathanael. I got to know people like Steve and Festrell. I got to know people like Kevin Matthews and Jessica Ruano.

Well-known Ottawa spoken word poet John Akpata (Photo credit: Pesbo, via Flickr)

But that was the slam scene in 2006. Support was passionate but the scene was still fairly small. Capital Slam moved from bar to bar, trying to find its feet. It wasn’t until the 2007 finals that we booked the Mercury Lounge, at the suggestion of Andrew Brittain, our CD producer from Mudshark Audio. We had no idea that we had found another integral piece that would help define Capital Slam over the next years.

The next piece came in the form of a single poet that somehow heralded the start of a movement. In the summer of 2007 Ruthanne and I were at a Dusty Owl show (one of the long-standing poetry readings around the city), and a name was called up for the open mic that we were not familiar with. Poetic Speed. We went and spoke to him as soon as we could and let him know that his incredible style of delivery and his powerful words would do very well at Capital Slam. That fall, first he came and slammed. Then OpenSecret came and slammed. Then Ibn Najeeb (then known as Marcus Jameel).

Ottawa spoken word poet Ian Keteku (Photo credit: Pesbo, via Flickr)

The floodgates were opened. People in Ottawa learned that slam was HOT and that you were guaranteed and awesome show when you came down. The artistic visions shown on stage inspired poet after poet to share their words and thoughts until we had gone from struggling to keep the show going and filling the stage to have sold out shows and a fight to get on the sign-up list in time.

For those years, Capital Slam was the only game in town but in 2009 Ibn Najeeb and Ian Keteku (by then they had both been Capital Slam Champions) formed Urban Legends at Carleton University. A slam with a very different feeling than CapSlam, though with many of the same poets, it only added to the growing excitement in the city. Throughout there have been other shows, like the Oneness Poetry Showcase (organized by CapSlam Champion Free Will) and the Bill Brown 1-2-3 Slam (organized by Capital Slam founder Greg ‘Ritallin’ Frankson), that came and went but not without leaving their own impressions on the slam scene. Former Capital Poetry Collective Director Danielle Gregoire also founded the Lanark County Slam (now known as LiPS), which sent the first rural team to the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word.

Then, of course, there is Voices of Venus. Organized by Festrell and Amazon Syren, VoV created a place for women to share their poetry of all styles. When they came along, the Ottawa scene had become very male and VoV helped recreate the culture where everyone could feel comfortable sharing their art. While it is not a slam, the change in culture has certainly been felt on the slam scene as now nearly half of the poets that take the slam stages in Ottawa are female.

Adeena Karasick at last year's Voices of Venus (Photo credit: Pesbo, via Flickr)

The term ‘Ottawater’ was coined (to the best of my knowledge) by a Toronto poet named L.E.V.I.A.T.H.A.N. He was featuring at Capital Slam sometime after the 2008 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word (held in Calgary that year), and he talked about how the Capital Slam team had caught many of the seasoned vets off guard. The team of Marcus Jameel, Poetic Speed, Nathanael Larochette and OpenSecret (I was team alternate) made a big splash, grabbing a third place nationally. He said that there must be something in the ‘Ottawater’ to make so many amazing poets.

If so, it has been working overtime as 2009 saw the CapSlam team (Ian Keteku, Poetic Speed, OpenSecret, Brandon Wint and myself as alternate) winning the National Slam Championship… only the third team ever to do so as Vancouver and Halifax had dominated the previous years.

Being with that team in Victoria and watching them perform to the best of their ability and win the championship remains one of the best moments of my life. The evening had started out very emotional for me already as Greg Frankson had done a tribute for Steve Sauve, who had died earlier that year. Then my team kept me an emotional wreck in an evening that ended with us holding the trophy high. (Ultimately it led to the formation of The Recipe, which is now the top spoken word group in the country.)

In 2010, the festival moved to Ottawa. That year, not only did the Capital Slam team (Chris Tse, OpenSecret, PrufRock, John Akpata and Brandon Wint) repeat as champs, but second place went to the brand new Urban Legends team! (Ibn Najeeb, Synonymous, Hyfidelik, Hodan Ibrahim and D-Lightful)

There was definitely something in the Ottawater.

And it didn’t end there! In 2011 the close bonds in the Ottawa slam community were never more apparent as when the Capital Slam team included Sean O’Gorman, who had taken over running Urban Legends along with Hyfidelik and Sarah Musa, and the Urban Legends team included Brad Morden, who had taken over as Capital Poetry Collective Director after Nathanael Larochette stepped down.

At the festival (held in Toronto this year), the Urban Legends team performed on the finals stage and ‘changed the game’ with a highly choreographed production of a Just Jamaal poem.

Ottawa's Youth Slam Team (Photo credit: Arrdeejayy, via Flickr)

But also at the festival, we got to see how deep those Ottawater streams run! A year before, at the festival in Ottawa, a poet from Toronto named Yahuda Fisher, announced his intention to add a youth slam component to CFSW. Greg Frankson and Danielle Gregoire had recently founded the Ottawa Youth Poetry Slam and they sent  team made up of Switch, CauseMo, Scotch, Biting Midge and Blue (stage names are very popular in the Ottawa slam scene…). These young poets tore up the stage, doing a series of team pieces with a level of sophistication and complexity that rivalled anything on the main finals stage.

So where does that leave us?

The scene is always evolving. Capital Slam moved to two shows a month a few years ago and Urban Legends followed suit this year, so it is possible to go and see some amazing slam poetry every single week in Ottawa. Ruthanne Edward, long a fixture as doorperson at CapSlam shows, has been running Once Upon A Slam, a STORY slam, once a month for over a year. The slam and spoken word communities were an integral part of the first VERSeFest – Ottawa’s poetry festival – earlier this year. VERSeFest is now sponsoring the very first Ottawa Women’s Slam Championships, to be held in January, 2012. (Which will include some of the biggest names from Ottawa’s slam history). The next VERSeFest (Feb.29^th-March 4^th, 2012) will feature top spoken word names like Ursula Rucker, C.R. Avery. ‘Mighty’ Mike McGee, Shauntay Grant and more.

The Ottawa Slam scene is an amazing, vibrant community to both share and partake in one of the most beautiful and exciting forms of art possible. With the random nature of the judging, coming to a slam makes you PART of the show and, just maybe, you will find what you need there and step onto the stage. Many find that, once they do, their lives are never the same.

It is a community in every sense of the word, but I have another word for it. I call it ‘home.’

If you weren’t intrigued before, I’m sure you are now … Thanks for the amazing description of the Slam scene, Rusty!

Behind the scenes of the Ottawa Rock Lottery: Music doc latest focus of OIFF Spotlight Series

A still from the Ottawa Rock Lottery Documentary (Photo credit: The Indefinite Project)

Samantha Everts (blog/Twitter) is a writer, freelance journalist, event promoter and music lover. She’s also the driving force between the Ottawa Rock Lottery, a music-focused charity event that’s now the subject of a documentary that’s part of the Ottawa International Film Festival‘s ongoing Spotlight Series. Local film-making crew, The Indefinite Project, filmed the documentary in May 2011 and it will be presented Wednesday at 7 pm at the Mercury Lounge.

Outline for us what exactly the Ottawa Rock Lottery is. Where did the idea come from?

Basically, we throw 25 musicians names and pull five groups of five names, and they become a band. The groups then have 24 hours to create 20-30 minutes of original music to present the next day.  So the music could be great, or it could be awful!  We were lucky last year in that everyone got along great and the music was genuinely good, which works out well for the documentary. The idea originated in Denton, Texas in 1997 and since, they have sprung up all over North America.   Our motto is: “Why have a scene when you can have a community?”

The last Rock Lottery took place in May. What were the highlights of the event?

Highlights of the event would have to be seeing so many friendships and working relationships develop.  Several of the participating band members won the Live 88.5 Big Money Shot, too.  I’ve run into “bandmates” from the Rock Lottery at Bluesfest and they still have this rapport and respect. The amazing support we got from the local business and arts community via sponsorships was overwhelming but, most importantly, seeing the audience members enjoying themselves and get introduced to new music was great.  Plus we raised over $400 for the Ottawa Food Bank. 

A still from the Ottawa Rock Lottery Documentary (Photo credit: The Indefinite Project)

Tell us a little bit about how the Rock Lottery got involved with OIFF. What was the filming experience like?

I just wanted to put on a cool arts event that could connect the community that I so love and have been supported by for the last 9 years.  I never thought that  I would get to work with a  film festival or have a documentary of my project shot and be on the big screen. I was invited to host the OIFF’s Music Video Challenge as a representative of Rock Lotto last spring after they saw an article in a local newspaper.  I think the relationship has been that of further connecting the Ottawa film scene with the independent music scene — and it benefited both parties significantly.

I’ve actually got a degree in film studies and do whatever I can to support the independent arts scene, so when my friends in the Indefinite Project asked to make a documentary, I was all for it.  I was already in the process of arranging an independent screening when I found out about the OIFF Spotlight Series, and was set upon having the doc screened by them.  It’s been a few months of organizing to make it happen, but we’re all so excited for Wednesday night!  Again, I feel really blessed to have their support.

A still from the Ottawa Rock Lottery Documentary (Photo credit: The Indefinite Project)

Have you seen the doc? Any memorable moments to share?

I have indeed!  Since I am the organizer of the event, I was not involved in the filming. So I was just as surprised to see such candid moments caught in it, like the filmmakers breaking into a jam space because the musicians were practicing too loud, or the reaction to a drummer showing up hours late.  If you’re into music at all, watching some of the best in Ottawa trying to work together is a rare treat to begin with.  I’m in the process of completing grant applications and seeking corporate sponsorship for next year’s event, so it’s been very motivational to watch. Just come out to the watch the documentary and you’ll see.

Any plans for a future Rock Lottery? What would you do different the second time around, if anything?

Yes!  It will be held at the end of April 2012.  It will actually be the fourth time Ottawa will have one (we held events in 2008 and 2009, as well as May 2011).  It’s the money and grants that will determine how different it can be, and I can’t give away too many of the big plans, but it will be awesome.

Again, the Ottawa Rock Lottery is screening TOMORROW night at 7 pm at the Mercury Lounge. Tickets are $8 and the event will be hosted by CBC’s Alan Neal, with a performance by Amos the Transparent and a Q&A with the filmmakers.

Start the weekend early: Ottawa gets down on Thursday nights

Photo credit: Pesbo via Flickr

‘Chris Clark’ works in PR by day and sings soul music by night. She is an Ottawa enthusiast, a terrible dancer, a Centretown hipster and loves to talk all about culture in the capital. 

We’ve all heard it before: Ottawa is where culture goes to die. Bigger metropolises look down their noses at us and out-of-towners lament about yet another business trip to Ottawa expecting only the sterility of the Delta, politics and CBC radio. But little do they know, behind the dull reputation lies a city bursting with interesting things to do.

Oh yes, friends, our fair Capital is too quickly labeled a snore. She may be a lady in the streets, but she’s a freak in the sheets!

Today I’m tackling Thursday. Thursday is Ottawa’s Friday night, much to the chagrin of all of us day-job types. And tonight, October 20th, there’s a plethora of amazing things to do.

You could enjoy pickles and vodka with Buckman Coe, a handsome folk crooner, at Avant-Garde. Or if you’re looking for something a wee bit spicier, you could warm up with Caridad Cruz at the Mercury Lounge. If jazz is more your thing, you’ll find Lina Allemano blowing her horn to the clink of pint glasses at the Blacksheep Inn but if you’d prefer to jam/rock, you could head over to The Rainbow for the Reggae with Roots Movement.

Feeling emotional? You could head on over to Cafe Nostalgica for some open mic poetry. Or since the Rockabilly scene is alive and well here in Ottawa, you could oggle some pin-ups at the Atomic Rooster‘s live music Rockabilly night. But wait! There’s more? You betcha.

I am a fantastic dancer … OK, not true; I’m terrible. But at least I give it my spastic all and there’s nothing I enjoy more than dancing it up in my city. Thursday is essentially the collective urban night here in Ottawa. Zaphods will be busting the hits you forgot, but love to remember, Ritual will be playing that Drop it Like its Hot brand of Hip Hop (with some crazy Epic Meal Time cooks upstairs) and DJ NDN will be bringing the flavour at Standard Tavern. Even pubs like the Brig can usually be found playing Old Skool bangers on a Thursday night.

But the real spot to dance, in my opinion, is undeniably down in the basement of Mercury Lounge @ the Overkill bar, where DJ Magnificent’s Double Barrel is happening. Its a fantastic night of all vinyl 45 Motown, Funk, Soul and Reggae hits. The beer is cheap, the door is free and the people get down!

Man, I feel like it’s that scene in Dirty Dancing where the great Patrick Swayze returns to the resort to utter: “Nobody puts baby in a corner!” and then everyone wildly breaks out into dance like some primordial flashmob. I’m Swayze and Baby is Ottawa. Now get out there and enjoy your city tonight!

Wow! Thanks for your lively post, Chris. I’m sure we’ll be hearing more …

A perfect Saturday in Ottawa: the Bytowne Cinema, Capital Slam and Play Food & Wine

Jessey is a writer, digital communications strategist, and the founder of Local Tourist Ottawa.

I had such a great day yesterday, I thought I’d share with everyone what a perfect Saturday in Ottawa looks like from my perspective.

Here we go…

Never Let Me Go, based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro

1:30 p.m. – The Bytowne Cinema

We haven’t yet had a guest blogger take the time to write  a full post on the magic that is the Bytowne…but hopefully that will be coming soon! First called the Nelson cinema when it opened in February of 1947, the theatre has a long history of being the go-to spot for a great film.  Today it is known for its independent programming and, to be perfectly frank, its propensity for sharing great films I would have otherwise probably never heard of.

Yesterday’s film was Never Let Me Go, “a science-fiction story with virtually no science-fiction elements.” Starring Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield, the movie is about three young people trying to figure out the purpose of their lives and come to terms with the limited time they will have to live them. I won’t tell you much more than that, but I will say that it was excellent.

Also a great surprise, (and this always happens when I go to the Bytowne!) I ran in to two great friends from my university days.

6:30 p.m. - Capital Slam kick-off at the Mercury Lounge

Wow. What a wonderful event.

Ottawa poet Brandon Wint

Capital Slam is the second longest running slam series in Canada, and every year poets compete for a chance to represent Ottawa at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word.  After a fantastic open mic session, 12 slam poets took the stage, all wowing and inspiring the audience in their own unique way.

I was particularly taken by Brandon Wint - I hung on each and every word that he spoke. Montreal folk musician and poet Caytee Lush also sang and shared some of her poetry, and I’m officially hooked. Check out “Oh Paranoia” on her MySpace. Immediately.

If you’ve never been to Capital Slam, you really should check it out. The competition will continue the first and third Saturday of each month at the Mercury Lounge. I’ll be there!

10:30-ish – Play Food & Wine

Play Food & Wine is, without a doubt, one of my favourite restaurants in Ottawa. I go for the wonderful food (last night we shared: pork rillette, digby scallops, gnocchi and grilled hangar steak), the fantastic wine, the exceptional service, and of course – to see the smiling face of wine director and LTOttawa contributor Grayson McDiarmid. As always, Play was a delicious way to end a wonderful day.

I hope everyone else is enjoying their weekend!

This weekend: Sex, slam poetry and beyond

So what are you doing this weekend? … because we can’t decide!

We did a little digging to find out what is going on in Ottawa this weekend, and this is what we found:

• The Sexapalooza consumer trade show at Lansdowne Park

• The Wedding Palace Bridal Show at The Westin

• The Capital Slam kick-off at the Mercury Lounge

• A Daft Punk tribute band at Barrymore’s

• A bunch of other cool looking concerts (thanks for keeping track Eventful!)

• A community information session on Ontario’s microFIT program (think: renewable energy)

I know we probably missed a lot…this is just what popped out at us. So what are you doing this weekend?

NYE in the 613; Ways to ring in 2011

New Year’s Eve and all its glitz, glam and hype is upon us.

(If you thought jostling the pre-Christmas crowds was tough, the combination of fighting boxing-week shoppers while seeking party favours and the perfect pair of pumps should be terrifying!)

But no matter what 2010 has brought to you and yours, NYE is a chance to celebrate the past and toast the future. Take a chance to do something special as the clock strikes midnight this Friday.

Here are some of LTOttawa‘s favourite ideas:

The traditional night out

Any of Ottawa’s many bars and pubs are sure to able to help you ring in 2011 along with hundreds of your closest friends. From a Mardi-Gras theme at Fat Tuesday’s to a Masquerade at Mercury Lounge in the Market, to pints with friends in the cozy booths of the Manx or Lieutenant’s Pump on Elgin, the city will be teeming with fun.

Meanwhile, our friends at STARFISH events have planned a Carnival-themed party at the Crowne Plaza — complete with “express” makeovers from 6-9 pm to be followed by two DJs, food, prizes and “surprises.”

Live Theatre

If you’d rather watch the (oh-so-ditzy) drama from a distance, the National Arts Centre is hosting a NYE showing of Legally Blonde, The Musical. You can add pre-performance gourmet dinner and/or a post-party to make for a complete night out. Ring in 2011 with the bubbly lawyer-in-training Elle as she takes school by storm — in pink — under the bright NAC lights while sitting in plush seats.

Meanwhile, over in Gatineau, the Casino du Lac Leamy is offering the Esquire Show Bar, advertised as “recreating the unique atmosphere of Montreal’s legendary R’nB mecca of the 50s, 60s, and 70s.”

A Comedy Club

Both of Ottawa’s comedy venues — YukYuk’s and Absolute Comedy are offering evening performances to allow you to laugh in 2011. Absolute has a 7:45 p.m. showing with buffet dinner and a 10:15 p.m. showing with midnight champagne toast. Comics are Nile Seguin and Joey Elias. Meanwhile, New Yuk’s Eve over on Elgin has a 9:00 p.m. showing followed by pizza buffet, party favours and six comedians, including headliner Simon Cotter, along with Jen Grant, John Hastings and others.

Special dinner OUT

Lots of restaurants will be offering special menus for you to sit, sip and savour your best memories from 2010. Some of my reliably amazing faves are Play Food & Wine, Murray Street, Town and Fraser Cafe. (Reservations STRONGLY required; I may be a little late on the suggestions!)

Special dinner IN

You don’t need to slave all day in the kitchen to still have a memorable meal at home with some good friends, food and conversation. Potlucks are always an interesting and easy option, as is a finger-food-only meal. Other options are picking up gourmet catering from such places as Red Apron, Epicuria or Thyme and Again.

Two years back, our friends (and guest bloggers!) Josh and Margaux hosted a dinner where everyone was asked to bring a fruit. Dessert was a “grassroots” fruit salad to which everyone had contributed! A fun way to do something a little different. I’ve also had friends organize a four-course meal by designating each course — salad, soup, main and dessert — along with a wine pairing, to a group of two for an easy way to break down an elaborate meal.

And then there’s the house parties, romantic B&Bs with a special someone and family-themed fun, like sparklers on the lawn of Parliament Hill.

As long as you surround yourself with good people and good memories, 2011 will be here — and you’ll be missing 2010 — before you know it!