chilly and lovely ottawa folk festival (or music and love - part 2)

As I wrote in Saturday's post, most of this week end was devoted to the Ottawa Folk Festival.

The festival consists were of mini-concerts (called workshops) like this one (there were a bunch of different venues but it felt like numbers were down, due to the unseasonably cool weather) and then big concerts on the main stage in the evenings.

The pic below is of the Arrogant Worms. We saw them three separate times over the week end, as S. is a huge fan. This compromise was not too difficult, since they are very funny (with lots of humour for the adults) and excellent, musically speaking. They were also paired up with some other wonderful performers.

I frickin' love these boys so much, it makes my chest ache (the ones pictured just below; I like the guys above just fine but they would no doubt be relieved to know that they are not the ones I adore).

Aren't they beautiful, all three of them?



I mean, seriously. Look at them.

And this is Bram Morrison, of Sharon, Lois and Bram fame. Remember the Elephant Show? The man claims to be losing his memory but I saw little evidence of that. And, man, he is good with kids. Introduced himself to each and every one of them before the show. And remembered their names.

Seeing him in such an intimate venue was magical for D. and me.

And Skinnamarink? It never gets old.


As you can see, D. was mesmerized, and an active participant.

We need to get this kid some music lessons. Not only can he carry a tune (which cannot be said for the rest of us) but he has a real sense of rhythm.

This is him tap-dancing in his brand new tie-dyed shorts, made by a guy named Dolphin (I am doing nothing to disabuse you all of your stereotypical notions of Folk Festivals am I?). D. developed quite a crush on the man.

One of the best things about the folk festival, though is the chance to discover performers. Here are two that you should check out. These are artists that are really worth supporting:

David Gaudet, who was this year's winner of the festival's Rising Stars award. He is a singer- songwriter with a truly original sound. I loved him.

Hoots and Hellmouth a smoking hot, many-piece band from Philadelphia. I suppose they could be called 'alt-country'. I just know that these guys really rocked. And they had a floor-sized tambourine that they all jumped on. Way cool.

More festival photos can be found at Flickr.