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Are we reading the same review that I wrote? I enjoyed the vast majority of the festival. I don't like Diamond Rings or Bahamas. Not sure why it bothers you so much. Ps. Gavinoids = author of thick specs review (MM), true or false?

Gavinoids - I wrote quite a bit; impressive that you don't agree with any if it. Too bad you didn't enjoy the weekend.

Well, ok. I've been seeing Bryson perform since Punchbuggy but then again maybe so have you. I guarantee that both of us know Bryson's catalog better than the Weakerthans though. That much was pretty obvious. One didn't even have to know anything about the songs to hear the mistakes. Anyways, you picked a silly way to debate the fact. Bahamas bores me. Just isn't my thing I guess.

Are they like Flash Lightning or Lightning Dust?

I watched it, it was really good (as far as these roasts are concerned). Springer didn't quite fit in but all the others took and gave some wicked shots.

He's accused, not guilty.

The main points of the article seem to be plausible though.

Good-ish news comes from the suicide, and a not-so-fast-on-the-breakup-talk

For $10 extra you deserve to be blown first

I have hearing loss from shows and from playing so I try to stay away from speaker stacks the best I can. I generally prefer near the soundboard, but if I can't get there anywhere in the middle will do. I wear earplugs more frequently now - in the past I only used them for Big Sugar and loud shows at Barrymores.

(cough) NORTH OF AMERICA!!

I think I bought that Southern Tier IPA a little while back. Extra tall 6-pack box right? 7% alcohol? If that's the one I'm thinking of, I wasn't a huge fan. Good beer taste but too much alcohol taste too.

Halloween in NJ, playing with the Boss at Bonnaroo.... Born To Run? Maybe too obvious.

Too expensive

Fixed

Sorry to hijack your thread Jay...... But here's some more hijacking.....

I think you'd like Woodpigeon and Timber Timbre (although Timber Timbre really depends on the setting and your mood - it's quiet and spooky-ish)

According to Natasha Von Castle from L3 Publicity (in charge of publicity) who is being interviewed on CBC right now, all the artists were paid their deposits. The breakdown occurred with travel money apparently - Ky-Mani needed $6k in travel money, Sean Paul needed $14k. Also there were bands 'booked' to play who had no idea they were booked (Loudlove from Ottawa, for example). This is just what was said on the radio, no idea if it's true or not.

Sunday's Ottawa Reggae Festival performances cancelled outright. Also, $50k for Sean Paul? Where does this promoter think money comes from?

Sounds great Velvet! I'm glad you post these reports! I've said it before but I hope you get these published into a book someday.......

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Looks like the tradition of poorly run Ottawa Reggae Festivals is still going strong! It went poorly......

town is a new restaurant where the Elgin Freehouse used to be (Elgin and Gilmour). I went for dinner Wednesday night. It was the best restaurant meal I've had in Ottawa that I can remember. We split a few small plates to start. The pecorino potatoes were good but a little plain. Corn in a bag with a tomato butter was delicious and simple. (Dipping the potatoes in the tomato butter was a good idea). The cod fritters were perfect and pretty filling. I think there were 5 on the plate, and they were definitely not light. The ricotta gnudi with hand-chopped pesto was unreal. So good. For such a cheesy dish I could have eaten it all night. My large plate was the crispy trout. It was 3 thin pieces of trout, nicely crisped and nicely seasoned. It was sitting on top of grilled king mushrooms (nicely scored), agrodolce (shallots and white wine, reduced), soffrito, and what I think was some grilled yellow zucchini? Not sure about that. It was a yellow vegetable that wasn’t a pepper. Each element was great on its own but when I could manage to get them all on the same fork, it was amazing. The portion was large but not too large. Another large dish at the table was the small plate Lamb Ragu with papardelle (large enough for a main for sure). Tasted great. Had a chocolate pudding for dessert. It was OK, for chocolate pudding. Our server (Phil) was great; friendly, funny and definitely knowledgeable - I asked him what agrodolce was and he knew, didn’t have to go ask the kitchen to ask. He explained the lamb ragu and how it’s prepared without stumbling. Obviously very comfortable talking about food and ingredients, styles etc. Not sure why people are calling it a gastropub - "Gastro" sure, but I consider a pub to be full of beers. There are 6 beers at Town, 3 on tap and 3 in bottles / cans. Beau’s, Kichesippi, St. Ambroise on tap, Peroni, Creemore and something else in bottles / cans. Wine list was small but well-rounded and there’s a daily cocktail. Prices were decent - $5 - $13 for small plates, $20 - $25 for large plates. Atmosphere was great, not too loud, not too crowded, chairs were comfortable. Nice to see that the menu reviewed in the Citizen is different than the menu I chose from the other night. I hope this suggests frequent changes and new choices each time someone visits. Two things they could work on - There were very few vegetarian options on the menu, and none of the large plates were veggie. I imagine the kitchen would create something amazing if you asked, but when there’s no choice up front it’s kind of alienating. I’d also lengthen the beer list. Or, do BYOB / BYOW with a minimal corking fee. More places need to do this in Ottawa. I will definitely be back as often as my wallet allows. PS - You'll need reservations to eat here.

This looks like a great time.