Daily ticket stories
Early in the new millennium a bass player named Mike Milligan landed in Ottawa and my good friend Wayne scooped him up right away and they started gigging together. Mike was one of those curious doublebass players that can hold your attention all his own; heck, the guy even had a solo bass album out. That’s gutsy…
Though I was born a Capricorn I have spent the intervening fifty some-odd years developing my own personal astrology – a very Capricorn thing to do, don’t you think? – and have settled upon: Selective Luddite. Oh, it’s not like I hate technology…
In early 2008 my eldest nephew Chris came to Ottawa to visit for five or six days. It was the first time I had ever hosted a family member for an extended stay and the first time I really spent much time with Chris. And wow, did I keep him busy…
Here, friends, is my golden ticket…
On February 27th, 2001 I slogged through the snowy streets of my adopted hometown to the Parliament Buildings to sit in on Question Period. I am a huge proponent of treating your own city as a tourist might and I make a point of visiting as much as I can of all the splendour this city has to offer…
On February 26th, 2009 I went to The Black Sheep in Wakefield, Quebec to see the great Kevin Breit. Not only was my favourite guitar player playing, he was sharing the bill with someone I had never heard of before, a guy named C. R. Avery…
On February 25th, 2016 I went to the National Arts Centre for We Are The Champions; The Music Of Queen. It was part of their annual Pops series and despite the title of the show I knew exactly what I was in for…
On February 24th, 2016 I went to see Harry Manx. The ticket was a birthday gift from m’lady and the gift also included a copy of Manx’s most recent cd. The presents were very apropos; not only was I generally a fan…
Back in the mid-’90’s I was part of a really interesting Ottawa freakrock band called Bob Loblaw. In 1996 we rented some recording equipment, set it up in the living room, and spent an intense week creating our only album – Monkey Do – which we released on cassette. For the record, Arrested Development didn’t start airing until 2003.
Once I started going to see live music there was basically no stopping me aside from the fact that I lived in a geographical area (Moncton) that was largely ignored by musicians big and small (especially big). With such a dearth of options I ended up jumping at even the barest inkling of live music…
