Blog Archives

It was another busy weekend in Ottawa with big shows happening around the city, and Barstool Prophets was also ready to leave their mark on the city scene with the sold out comeback show at Barrymore’s.

It’s 2017, Canada is 150, the JUNO Awards are in Ottawa for only the 3rd time ever, and it’s an amazing year to be a woman in music. Tonight 8 awards were handed out at Canadian Tire Centre out which 4 were given to women and the rest to either the Tragically Hip / Gord Downie, Leonard Cohen or Shawn Mendes.

In true Canadian form Juno weekend kicked off with a snowstorm on Friday night. Thankfully if you didn’t like that, warmer kinder weather was in store for Saturday and the Juno Gala dinner at Ottawa’s Shaw Centre.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Joel Plaskett this week about “Solidarity”, his latest solo release, but this ones a little different, it’s with his father Bill Plaskett, and it is a wonderful musical tapestry that spans the generations.

In a city that’s known as the home to some of Canada’s greatest entertainers, namely Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip, you have to put on a special show to impress the fans that fill the walls at the Rogers K-Rock Centre. It was a brisk evening last night on the shores of Lake Ontario and it was Brad Paisley who would take to the stage along with, Calgary native, Lindsay Ell and Chase Bryant.

This was my first year really getting serious about doing photography.  Admittedly the learning curve was huge, but the development and rewards were 100% worth the struggle.  From sneaking my camera into shows at the beginning of the year, to working the stage at the CTC by the end, it’s been a wild ride.

For those that don’t know, WE Day is “a celebration of youth making a difference in their local and global communities”. Youth who have participated in ‘WE’ events or activities can earn their way in as a reward for their accomplishments over the course of the past year. Both in their own communities, and as part of global initiatives.

It was an unusually stormy late summer Saturday night in Kingston and mere moments before the annual CFB Kingston Garrison Family Fun Fest, featuring Abby Stewart and Tim Hicks, was about to kick off the entire venue was evacuated due to a severe thunderstorm. Lucky for us the CFB Kingston Base Gym was a short hundred meter dash in the driving rain away.  A little under an hour later the rain stopped and the stage lights came on….it was showtime!

It was a sweltering weekend in Oro-Medonte and the weather wasn’t the only thing that was hot. With an attendance upwards of 40,000 people (a 5,000 person increase from last years inaugural event) WayHome was the place to be.

It wouldn’t be RBC Bluesfest, or any outdoor festival, if rain didn’t factor into the equation for at least a day or two of the event. But, to me anyway, that’s what makes it all the more special and memorable.