Pregnancy Scares, an Ottawa-bred act, is an aural torrent of strepitous calamities. Part blast, part roar, with a tinkle surf-shuffle, their tunes rumble with an infectious energy. While engaged in numerous other projects, members of the band use this project as a form to unleash the beasts. The band is releasing a 7-inch this fall/winter, and they’ve scheduled a show on November 9th at the Dominion to celebrate the occasion. I (Alessandro) caught up with one member, Emmanuel Sayer, to get a quick peek into the inner workings of Pregnancy... | Continue reading article

A suicide, a wake, and a funeral: only the Irish can pull that off on stage and call it a comedy. Marie Jones’s Stones in His Pockets is set in a village in contemporary rural southwest Ireland, where local Jake Quinn (Richard Gélinas) and drifter Charlie Conlon (Zach Counsil) are making £80 a day as extras on the set of a Hollywood film—along with most of the rest of the town. When the film’s star, Caroline Giovanni (also Zach Counsil) decides to fraternize with the locals, Jake in particular, it sets off... | Continue reading article

After a nearly year-long hiatus, Opera Lyra Ottawa returns to the stage of Southam Hall at the National Arts Centre with a limited-engagement production of La Bohème, in the hopes of rekindling their fortunes. I think they stand a rather good chance of succeeding, and winning the hearts of new audience members to boot. The plot of Puccini’s La Bohème is simple enough: Rodolfo (Michael Fabiano) is a poet who lives in a Parisian garret (an attic) with the painter Marcello (Joshua Hopkins), the musician Schaunard (Peter McGillivray), and philosopher Colline (Valerian Ruminski). On Christmas... | Continue reading article

Let’s go to the opera. But, you say, we don’t have any opera in Ottawa. Yes, in fact, we do—it’s just been a while. After a season’s hiatus made necessary by a series of financial upsets, Opera Lyra Ottawa has their sights set on a dramatic comeback.  To this end, they’ve hired a new General Director, John Peter “Jeep” Jefferies, whose specialty is turning around opera companies with failing fortunes, and Artistic Director Tyrone Paterson has chosen an opera that will appeal to seasoned opera fans as well as provide... | Continue reading article

For the last couple of summers, the Downtown Rideau Business Improvement Area and Ottawa Arts Court Foundation have co-presented a series of theatre productions as a mini-festival called Summer Fling.  The lineup has included remounts of selected local productions from the Ottawa Fringe Festival, called “Fringe Benefits.”  With the quiet demise of the OACF—leaving the future of the Arts Court performance spaces as a venue for independent theatre on uncertain ground—Summer Fling has been reduced to a bare skeleton: the current Ottawa Little Theatre production of Jasper Station, an Ottawa Dance... | Continue reading article

What a brilliant summer for soccer. From Christine Sinclair’s magical footwork in the Olympics, to Spain’s brilliant play in Euro 2012, footy fans had much to celebrate. So what are soccer lovers to do now that fall is on the horizon? Easy, lace up your cleats and register in one of Ottawa’s numerous soccer leagues. Ahead of the upcoming fall season, Apartment 613 spoke to different league operators about the available options. From coed teams, to women-only divisions, to games for gentlemen 35 and older, there are games for all... | Continue reading article

Ottawa is quickly becoming a beer-fanatic’s wonderland, with new breweries like Broadhead and Ashton Brew Pub bubbling up everywhere to compliment Ottawa’s many beer festivals. The latest addition to this city’s craft beer craze is the National Capital Craft Beer Week, which kicks off this Friday at D’Arcy McGee’s. The kickoff party runs from 6-9 and admission is free. In addition to the obligatory craft beer, the party will feature music from Andre and the J-Tones, and so the funk will most certainly be brought. The festival continues through the 18th with plenty of... | Continue reading article

Last month, Creative Mornings brought their blend of pre-lunch intellectualism and coffee to the Ottawa School of Art with a talk hosted by Chef Matthew Carmichael, the man behind Mello’s Pop Up Kitchen. This month, the topic of discussion has shifted from the edible to visual art, with discussion featuring Julian Garner. Long a notable figure in Ottawa’s visual art scene, Garner is one of the men behind Five Cents Tattoo, a parlour located off Parkdale that emphasizes the art in the creative act of tattooing. The venue doubles as... | Continue reading article

During my extensive research for this article, I stumbled upon this clip from 1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. In the clip, the children are welcomed into the factory by a strange and rather morally ambiguous Gene Wilder. Now, I would contend, and I think anyone who has toured any candy factory, that this scene is somewhat removed from reality. I once toured the now-no-more Hershey’s factory in Smiths Falls, and at the time I was struck by the lack of whimsy, majesty and creepy men singing “come with... | Continue reading article

The low driving bass notes that told you Jaws was on his way, the nerve-jangling screeching of strings from Hitchcock’s Psycho that changed showering forever, the brazen trumpets of the Star Wars theme that gave you hope for the rebel alliance, these are all quintessential examples of the importance of music in spinning a tale.  Without music, these iconic films lack the same emotive quality they have when backed by a well-executed score. Music helps set the tone, foreshadow events – in essence, tell the story. One such epic saga... | Continue reading article