Requiem for a Dream

Recent Ottawa outings were pleasant so I planned for more this week. Ticketmaster pushed ads for folk singer Anna Graves at Club Saw but it was too rainy mid-week. Finally, I came across a show ($25) at the NAC Fourth Stage with pianist Sarah Hagen. What a surprise since I have seen her several times in Toronto starting back in 2013.

This recital was originally for April of 2025. It was the first to be cancelled due to the pandemic and the last to be rescheduled. During that lock-down, ensconced in PEI, Hagen finally decided to tackle The Goldberg Variations. Something that, she joked during the intro, she thought to save for her 80th birthday celebration.

So on Friday, more than 35 years early, we heard her take on this famous J.S. Bach composition. First came the Prelude from Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, although it likely was written after the Variations. Then Hagen gave a short intro. The popular story that Bach wrote them so that Goldberg could soothe Count Kerserlingk's insomnia is believed to be false. She thought that the perennially poor Bach owed Goldberg money because J.S. is best-known for being "Baroque". The punchline to this extended joke got groans from the audience. But Hagen did impart some useful info for a newbie like me. There were only 3 variations in a minor key: the 15th which marked the first half and the 25th that "ended" the composition. The last 5 was the hopeful resolution. That gave me markers for her uninterrupted recital.

It was an enjoyable show, especially those minor variations, that I listened mostly with my eyes closed. Though I was sitting near the back, I did have a clear sightline to her hands. So on the faster, complicated passages, I marveled at their speed and precision. The opening aria and its reprise at the end was instantly recognizable in popular culture. Her encore was a shimmery prelude by Rachmaninoff.

During the talkback, Hagen continued to charm the audience with her wit: Her 30 art collages, displayed around the stage, were created with each variation playing on a loop; this was a challenge auditory-wise on the short 1-minute ones; her favourite variation was number 13 for its beauty and "easy to play"; of all versions she heard before she started practicing, Lang-Lang's was the best as, in her opinion, it truly escaped from the shadow of Glenn Gould's; the ones with accordion or sax quartet, not so much; his team replied to her inquiries about their gear when she recorded hers but the $100,000 mic set-up was not doable; if she could talk to Gould, she'd ask him what drugs he took and if they expanded his playing. The woman who asked that question told a story of her own. As a 19-year-old working at Hampton Court Hotel, she spoke regularly with Gould who had a residence there. She had no idea who the ramshackle man was until a friend clued her in about 1 month before his sudden death.

That April concert would have been music from women composers. I saw it at Gallery 345 late in November 2019 before the world shut down. Hagen opined that she might still do that showcase in Ottawa. Considering that her next album will be the music of Cécile Chaminade, that could well happen.

History Repeating

On Friday, I went to another show ($53) since the previous one was enjoyable. The group that owned History in Toronto opened another one in Ottawa. Not to bury the lede but this one was so good that I might return despite it being a Ticketmaster-affiliated venue. It was right downtown besides the Rideau Mall instead of out in a far-flung neighbourhood. Better yet, instead of "airport security" and long lines, I walked through the scanners and inside in less than 20 seconds. Located inside a former Chapters bookstore, History Ottawa was more in-line with Concert Hall in size than its larger sibling. Yet the smaller space still had great sight-lines and sound.

Boy Golden hailed from Winnipeg and his band The Church of Better Daze mostly came from out west including (Western Rock Artist of the Year) Fontine. However, I noticed that Torontonian Dani Nash (The Pining) sat behind the kit. The latest stuff was languid country while the early songs were high tempo honky-tonk and rockabilly. Boy Golden was less about cowboy stoicism than being socially progressive (Suffer) and emotionally available (I Wanna Know). It was an engaging opening set from a gregarious performer.

I saw Afie Jurvanen a few times before he got big as Bahamas. His "good ol' Canadian boy" personality went over great with the crowd and got cheers and laughs. He reminisced about Ottawa venues like Zaphod (now 27 Club) and Babylon, referred to his songs firmly tongue-in-cheek as "soft rock ballads", and humourously posited the new material as being obsolete since computers can write music now. With 8 albums, Bahamas did keep the latest to a minimum and played from his whole catalogue. His songs were a little too punchy to be "soft rock" even if ironically the most popular ones (Lost In The Light) were close to that genre.

I actually came for Christine Bougie (guitar) and Felicity Williams (back-up vocals) and they did not disappoint. But Jurvanen was no slouch on guitar and vocals. Him trading licks and chords with Bougie was what kept the songs propulsive and grooving. Though he usually sang higher up, the biggest cheers came whenever he switched to falsetto (All The Time) and let his voice with Williams' even higher soprano soar. His dad jokes persona kept going through his set. When he saw that someone in the front row was on their phone during one of his segue, Afie launched into an impromptu cover of On The Road Again that his band quickly picked up. With a career now at 17 years, and his audience approaching retirement age, Bahamas came on at 9 and finished at a quarter past 10 pm. I appreciated the early wrap since I was no spring chicken myself

Bye Town

The revived Dough Re Mi was back on life-support after another visit on Tuesday. It first looked good for the vegetarian mannakeesh ($5.99), piled richly with olives and other ingredients. But it was a bust: the sourness of the sauce was off-putting. But those wet toppings created a crust that was both soggy (the dreaded gum line) and dry.

Needing a good pie, I returned to Ogilvie Pizza on Friday. The owner was happy to see me since I haven't been there in a year due to my Toronto sublets. The price for a slice and drink has gone up a dollar to $7.99. It wasn't perfect, but similar to Montreal pizza, putting the meat before the cheese meant less moisture being trapped. I contemplated going to the NAC to see Anh Phung and the Civil Lizard (including Steven Foster on drums). But an evening of 3 sets of Jazz wankery didn't appeal.

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Ottawa, transit was free on the week-end. I wasn't sure what other celebrations were planned. I did see people wandering downtown with commemorative posters and other tchotchkes. I walked down Bank Street and thought about missed opportunities. A main street should not be this empty on a Saturday. But the combination of vacant-on-week-ends government buildings and local businesses have always killed the downtown core. There were now more condos (actual or planned) but at the cost of street-level attractiveness. Will there ever be a turn-around or it was too late due to decades of poor planning?

I turned on Somerset to head to the Mid-Autumn Festival in Chinatown. But poor planning also made this street festival seemed sad. Whether it was the BIA or the city bureaucrats, the vendors' were crammed into two small blocks. If there were more space between booths and they were positioned only on one side of the street, it might have stretched invitingly from Bronson to Booth. I didn't want to pay $15 for 5 dumplings with no convenient place to eat.

I turned again on Booth to go to Pimisi Station. When I briefly returned to Ottawa in the mid 2000s, I often looked at a lone condo under construction at Lebreton Flats while waiting for a bus to take me to a business park in Kanata. After 8 months, this desolate view convinced me to give Toronto another try leading to 15 years of urban bliss. That condo had no neighbours for years. It took 2 decades and an LRT, but the area was finally built up, even though most of the buildings were still under construction.

Two quick stops later, I was back on Bank. I stopped off at Kimbap, a new Korean take-out. The husband-and-wife proprietors and the nooks filled with small decorations reminded me of Roll and Bowl. The vegan bibimbap ($15) wasn't quite as good a deal because the order didn't have miso soup and salad. The bowl was tasty enough, but like other restaurants in Ottawa, they substituted mainstream ingredients (green lettuce, cucumber) for more authentic flavour such as bean sprouts and kimchi.

It wasn't just the city's anniversary but also Nuit Blanche Ottawa. This was a modest attempt to revive a decade-old bust. I haven't gone to the much larger Toronto one in a decade, mostly because it has become more of a party. During the week, I was curious to see if concentrating the installations in Byward Market could generate a crowd. There were also shows at the Saw Gallery at the multidisciplinary Pique festival (free this year because the city's anniversary) with some non-local acts including Karen Ng (The Weather Station). But once again, I opted out at the end. It was mostly due to living outside the core and dealing with unreliable transit. Also, this was Karen's in her improv mode and not the friendlier musical mode.

In The Key of Three

I had a case of FOMO since last week. I hadn't seen singer/model Ellisa Mielke (Mieke) for a decade. With her relocation to L.A., she rarely plays in Toronto anymore. Mielke was showcasing songs from an upcoming album at The Burdock ($15) on Thursday. Then on Friday, recent find Monstrosa, a mostly female metal band, was having a show at The Monarch ($16.95). But I had just returned from a short trip to Toronto, one with good food but albeit no entertainment outings. Financially, it didn't make sense.

Over the course of the week, I kept checking AirBnB and discovered something new. As the booking date neared, some hosts (or more like the site's algorithm) dropped their prices. By Wednesday, a spot located in Bloordale offered $99 per night. But finally I decided that, at my age, I wasn't up for a quick 2-day trip (by bus) so soon after a previous one.

So though I didn't go out in Ottawa for shows anymore, I looked for something to do on Saturday. There was a $20 concert at the 4th stage studio at the NAC. The main draw for me was Lia Pappas-Kemps who I saw at a January show. She played a solo set showcasing older songs and new, unreleased numbers. Kemps only played 1 song from her album released in March. Her reason: without a band and a fixed set list, she had more freedom to mess around. Her songs were lyrical (in her words "melodramatic") with odd chord changes (she changed her guitar's tuning after every song). She said that her new stuff was an attempt at "simpler songs" but they were still a bit ornate. I prefer the stark specificity of a singer/songwriter like Teagan Johnston.

The headline set was the duo True Mountain Laurel. This was a 1-year-old collaboration from Haley Blais and Sam Lynch, friends with established musical careers. With only 22 minutes of tunes on the new album, they also included their own songs. The Laurel songs were more playful, a banter between friends while their own material were uniformly "sad songs". Their two-buds, millennial-coded stage patter received big laughs. Kemps joined them mid-set for two songs. The 3-part harmony and trading verses on Anna Nalick's Breathe (2 AM) was lovely. It is always bemusing to realize some young person's classic song is way after your time. But the stunner was Kemps' new song "I Want It Easy" (to be released soon). Blais and Lynch were right to demand that she sang it during their own set with them on backing vocals. Here was finally a "simple song" that landed with heavy lyrical weight. It could get Kemps into the mainstream.

The 3 performers and I were all taken aback at the near-capacity (I eyed around 120) crowd. Both Kemps and True Mountain Laurel were too new so many might have been fans of either Blais or Lynch. Regardless, this meant that it was a more lucrative show for them all than a typical bar gig especially since I think NAC shows are sponsored by grants (i.e., no booker or venue fees). Mielke's sold-out Burdock show could also yield an OK payday. Monstrosa's concert, with 4 full bands including Jess Roveda, Ever Since We Met, and Passenger Princess might only net each musician enough for brunch.