hey, look what i did

Check out my article on Apt613 (and make sure to look around while you're out - great site). 

As of right now (10:22AM on Wednesday) it's been shared by 6 people. People I don't even know!! Cool, right?  

 http://apt613.ca/wanted-home-for-bridge-to-gatineau/

xo
OC

lady antebellum | concert

In case you missed it, I attended the Lady Antebellum concert (with opening acts Thompson Square and Darius Rucker) on Friday at Scotiabank Place.


Before I get started on reviewing the concert (spoiler: IT WAS AMAZING), I'll first say that I'm going to do my best to mostly blog about things in Ottawa that you can do after I blog about them. But this was too much fun not to write about.


My friend Emilie got in touch with me this winter and bought the tickets for me, Sarah and herself as soon as they went on sale. So this has been a long time coming.

me, em, sarah

Emilie picked me and Sarah up; we left Orleans about 6pm and made it just in the knick of time for a 7pm start in Kanata.


I got to hand it to Em, we had aaaahmazing seats: first row of the third section on the sides. This is the ideal spot if you're priority is to have an unobstructed view of the band; we could see perfectly, didn’t have to deal with any small giants and girlfriends on shoulders. On the other hand, this isn’t really where the party’s at. The people around us were older and clearly not down for antics, if you have any planned.

Right away, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the first opening act, Thompson Square, had full lights, stage and sound. I've been to concerts at Scotiabank Place where the first bands seem like background music and get washed out. This is always disappointing when you're just as (or more) interested in seeing them than the main act, such as the case was for me when Taylor Swift opened for Brad Paisley in 2007 and just last year when Gloriana acted for the now-famous Swift. Personally, I think it benefits the headliners to award this curtesy to smaller groups. On Friday, the crowd was very very pumped up by the time the main show got started.


For a duo promoting a debute album, I thought Keifer and Shawna did a great job as a opening act by quickly getting everyone out of their seats. They got things started with I Got You and then seranaded the crowd with my new favourite, Getaway Car. After asking fans to sponsor a child in Africa, they sang their ballad Glass. At the end of that rendition, Shawna and Keifer moved closer to share a kiss; to me, this seemed totally fake a little weird. I know they are a married couple but the song isn't very romantic and the mood just wasn't there. Thank goodness they re-energized us with One of Those Days and their most popular hit, Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not. Unfortunately, the crowd was not familiar enough with their song to sing along when Keifer asked us to.

hadn't figured out that concert photography didn't require flash

Next, Darius Rucker joined the stage. Or if you prefer, Hootie minus the Blowfish. You could tell there was much wider recognition for him than Thompson Sqaure (especially among the aforementionned older crowd). The whole floor was standing and rocking out right away. He sounded great and was clearly very comfortable on stage, like he was just hanging in his living room in jeans, a t-shirt and a few bros. Emilie commented that he had incredible stage presence; I definitely agree. In fact, he made me really like his songs even though he's not my favourite country act.

That being said, I'd like to register two small complaints: (1) It seemed to go on forever... did he really perform 10, 11, 12 songs? By the end, I was getting antsy to see the band I paid to see. I even started checking what people were tweeting about the show. My favourite: "I didn't know Lady Antebellum was closing for Darius Rucker". Hah, good one. (2) What was up with the SUPER cheezy screen graphics!?! AmIright? Looking through my pictures, I still can't believe that my eyeball were subjected to these horrors. I felt like I was in a 1999 screen saver. Whoever is behind that should be sued. And now, for some ridiculous screen graphics courtesy of Darius Rucker:

Which brings me to... an electro pop-rock dance party. Or something. Before the main act, we got to jam to Party Rock and a few more overplayed-at-Ale dance hits while a camera filmed girls in short skirts getting their grind on and a newly engaged couple showing off their bling. Probably a first in country music BUT highly entertaining and got me totally pumped for...

Lady-freaking-A. The best way to describe what this was like for me is to say that this band was the soundtrack of undergrad. I listened to them almost everyday walking to Goodes Hall and back. Over and over, the same songs. Listening to them play live, all these memories came flooding back. It was like a big hug.

Love them

iPhone app ftw 

They were so natural on stage. Often times I figure that artists just same the same stuff at each venue (We love you City X! You guys are the best! Thank you for being here with me): either these guys are great actors or they are extra awesome (pick B, pick B!) because they sounded so genuine. Especially Charles, the lead singer. What a babe. If I was his wife, he wouldn't be allowed to leave the house, let alone perform in front of millions of screaming female fans. Between songs he was making jokes and singing random tunes.

Gorgeous backdrop (Darius, take note) 

BABE.

As Sarah said later, they sounded better than their album. All three of them are so goddamn talented as musicians, songwriters and singers. Hillary is particular... is there a better vocalist in country music right now? She wasn't afraid to really showed off her pipes with an accoustic introduction to Run To You. And when she came on to perform Need You Know for the encore, it was eerily beautiful. Goosebumps I tell you.

The guitarist had two side braids... does that make him more or less bad ass?

Beautiful encore

Impact Statement:
Ticket: $87 (ish, incl. taxes)
Parking: $11
Beer: $8.75 (!?!?)


Bottom line:
I loved it, 'nuff said.


Who else was at the Lady A concert on Friday? What did you think? Did you notice Darius' screen graphic things or is it just me? 

but first...

given yesterday's way-too-short concise introduction to lady antebellum, i would be remiss if i did not lend a few words to friday night's opening acts: darius rucker & thompson square.

since i first started listening to their music last fall, i've been head over heels in love with the real life couple and singing duo, thompson square. i've been jamming to them on my way to class all school year.



shawna & keifer

 admit, she looks pretty bad-ass for a country lady! do your ears a favour and listen to:

• Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not
• Let's Fight
• I Got You
• Glass

i'm not as familar with (or honestly, not as big of a fan of) darius' music. fun fact though, he's good friends with tiger woods. sang at his wedding. cool beans, yo!




darius



on my ipod i've got:

• Alright
• It Won't Be Like This For Long
• Don't Think I Don't Think About It

 in other (not at all ottawa-related) musical news, i discovered this 8tracks mix last night, and i love every single song.

enjoy!

xo

OC

got to give credit where credit is due

thompson square pic: http://thatnashvillesound.blogspot.ca/2012/04/thompson-square-wins-early-acm-award.html

darius rucker pic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_Rucker

2 days, 9 hours, 43 minutes...

that's how much time is left before this happens to ottawa:

charles, hillary, dave (picture from scotiabank place website)

me, sarah, em, a few thousand of our closest friends and lady antebellum will be rocking out at scotiabank place on friday.

for those of you who are less country-less inclined (it's ok, it's not your fault) this trio is da bomb. i'm talking seven grammy awards.

if you listen to top 40, i'm sure you're familiar with Need You Now, the group's first single. other tunes to check out:

• I Run To You
• Looking for a Good Time
• Just a Kiss
• Long Gone
• Things People Say
• We Owned the Night
• Our Kind of Love

that'll get you started.

cannot wait! any one else going to be there?

xo OC

psssst. follow me on twitter (@crossmanator). i'll follow you back.

ottawa-gatineau bridge | a rant

as long as i can remember, i've been interested in politics. it's always appealed to be as a way of having a great impact on change (and also, i like to talk!). and as long as i can remember, i've also wanted to live in ottawa when i grow up. this cannot come as a surprise given that i started a blog just about ottawa... but still, i've made some pretty important life decisions (career, personal) based on this plan. 

so when the light was shed on the city's plan to build an east-end bridge (where my parents live and where i grew up) connecting ottawa to gatineau, my ears perked up. and red lights starting going off. 

not good. 

let's back up a little bit. ask most people i know, my number one pet peeve is traffic and commuting. it's part of why i chose to go to queen's (twice!) and why i have a huge fear of living in toronto. i detest it. so much, for so many reasons: it's a frustrating, time-wasting, environment-destroying way to spend 10+ hours of your week. time you could be spending with family or doing a hobby or exercising or freaken mowing the lawn. ANYTHING ELSE. 

as of now, my impression of the traffic situation in ottawa is that it's just about to get out of control. the city is continuing to experience major urban sprawl and the highway is getting more and more clogged during rush hour everyday. not to mention that the public transportation system is at capacity. obviously our city councillors are aware of this (if nothing else), so over the next five years (most of which i will be blissfully away in kingston, thank GOD) a light rail train (LRT) will be built running from tunney's pastor, under the downtown core, to blair. according to the LRT website the $2.1 billion project will reduce downtown bus traffic 50% (presumably making it safer for cyclists which is awesome) as well as reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 94,000 tones (among other benefits). all good stuff. and it's definitely about time. i don't really understand why it doesn't extend to orleans given that 100,000 people live there and the community is expanding towards rockland everyday. but i digress. 

i'm less interested in the city's other solution to traffic: a new bridge that will connect ottawa and gatineau. currently, the national capital commission (NCC) is in the last phase of consultation as they evaluate three options for the 6th bridge's location: one near the rockcliffe airport and two further east that connects over the rockcliffe parkway to orleans. the goal it seems is to alleviate truck and commuter traffic from the downtown bridges and it would cost $500 million dollars. 

attending the public consultation that was held by what i gathered was the firm that is in charge of the consultations only reaffirmed my belief that this a waste of ottawa taxpayers' dollars on a 1950s mentality of urban planning. building a bridge that far east will allow gatineau commuters to jump on the 174 to get to their jobs in ottawa thereby increasing the traffic towards downtown. in addition, it will trespass onto the greenbelt and the aviation parkway, a beautiful waterfront that thousands of cyclists, runners, walkers and rollerbladers  love to enjoy. it actually hurts my heart to think about that. i love that parkway. and the ncc should be protecting it, not destroying it. not to mention it is completely unsustainable. what's going to happen in 20, 30 years when traffic increases again? another bridge? 

 three potential corridors for 6th bridge (CBC news, link below) 

commuters need an incentive to use environmentally friendly public transportation and congested highways are a great one. in fact, the engineer i spoke to from the consulting firm backed up my views. he pointed to the difference between west end and east end traffic. the city has invested in expanding the highway to kanata where no similar additions have been to orleans. as a result, use of OC transpo from east end commuters exeeds that of west end by 40-50%! 

the $500 million slotted for this bridge NEEDS to go towards expanding the LRT to orleans and even to gatineau, as well as adding more trains. that is real, sustainable, environmental, forward-thinking solution. ideally, 5-10 years from now the LRT would be so good that everyone would use it to commute downtown.  

one day, when i settle in Ottawa, i don’t want to spend an hour getting to work honking at cars with quebec license plates. i want to be able to take a bus from the corner of my street to a light rail station 5 minutes away and hop on a train downtown. 

  

that's the kind of ottawa i want to live in. and i don't think i'm alone. 

articles on this topic: 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2012/06/12/ottawa-gatineau-sixth-bridge-ncc-east-end-opposition.html

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Bridge+divides+east+residents/6772262/story.html

 

oh so good | byward market

begrudgingly, i recently entered a new phase in my life: post-undergrad. along with crippling self doubt, debt, more crappy apartments and a lot less (socially acceptable) drinking, this means attending weddings. lots of them. apparently, my friends have no issue getting a man to put a ring on it. a few weeks ago, i had the pleasure of being the co-master-of-ceremonies at the lovely carolanne's nuptials to her high school beau, andré. also, as i briefly alluded to in this post, one of my oldest and dearest friends, caroline, recently said "yes" to a beautiful sparkler from another friend of mine, justin. and finally, there's jordan who will be walking down the aisle at the end of july.

jordan moved to montreal to go to mcgill after high school. her mother and step-father then moved to nova-scotia. the end result is that we don't see much of each other which is why it was so special to spend some time with her during her brief stay in ottawa (for a wedding dress fitting) last weekend.

after a yummy dinner at caro and justin's pad with val and mat, we met up with jordan at the rideau centre and made our way to the market for desert. caroline opted that we dine at oh so good.

oh so good is a coffee and desert place nestled beside zaphod beeblebrox on york street near sussex in the byward market. i've been quite a few times: mostly on dates in high school and a handful of other times since.

in general, it's a nice concept. oh so good only serves desert, coffee, tea and the like. in the front part of the restaurant, there's a counter that showcases two dozen or so different cakes and pies. you can order from the counter, pay at the cash and sit at one of the tables to enjoy the yumminess. alternatively, you can walk towards the back and request a table where you will be served by a waiter/waitress. throughout the restaurant, the dark walls are adorned with paintings by local artists. it's a got a cozy feel too: perfect for a first date or catching up with friends like we were doing. it was fairly busy, though on a saturday evening they were able accomodate our group of 7 immediately (that might have something to do to with the on and off rain all day).

now i should mention that i am not a foodie or a baker by any means (not like annie from http://mysweetfrostings.blogspot.ca/) ...that being said, i've always really enjoyed these deserts. and personally, i have fairly plain tastes; i really enjoy chocolate, just chocolate, so i ordered the chocolate mousse all to myself, though once i saw the portion i realized probably should have shared like caro and jordan did with their grand marnier cheese cake. it was absolutely delicious and, as my friends took turns bringing up embarassing high school memories, i devoured most of the large piece of cake. 

where things get less so good is when the bill shows up: the slide of chocolate mousse cake set me back $7.25 ($8.33 tax in). the cup of earl grey tea was $2.25 ($2.59 tax in). pretty pricey.

bottom line
this place is an old favourite and i'll be going back to oh so good, no doubt. next time, i'll remember to share my piece of cake. the slice was so big that i couldn't finish it all and it would make the price more reasonable.

canada science & tech museum

when it's raining and you have an out-of-towner for the weekend, it's definitely a struggle. last weekend, i was just in that situation and my solution was a museum outing to the canada science & technology museum.  

is it just me or does ottawa has a ton of museums? there seems to be one on every topic! but given who i was running with that day, science & tech was certainly the way to go. chris & i met up with my sister and her boyfriend, phil. let's a paint a picture, shall we? i was the least nerdiest person there. the least. so sad. 

growing up in ottawa, i had visited the science & tech museum quite a few times and even spent a week or two there at a summer camp. a few key exhibits stand out clearly in my mind from those days: the crazy kitchen, the eggs & chicks and the trains. 

after paying the $9 student entry fee ($11 for adults, $6 for children + free parking), our first stop was the crazy kitchen. 

i literally ran there (of course it was clear across the museum). for those of you who haven't been, it's a room where the floor is crooked and all the appliances and furniture are straight. long story short, it results in spatial distortion that makes you dizzy. it's a cool concept but considering how much i had hyped it up, it probably felt short of expectations. i remember as a child falling over and flinging from the rails... last weekend, i don't think any of us was the least bit dizzy. 

afterwards, we made our way through the different exhibits that make up the majority of the museum. there was lots and lots of information; it was hard to absorb. my favourite was energy: power to choose. we also took a peek at connexions: the plugged in world of communications. 

 this display entertained me immensely. i can just see it now: "look, honey, your mommy used to have one of those to listen and it would only hold 1,000 songs." 

the best part of this exhibit was a life size digital network; like a way nerdy version of a jungle gym. the slides were super dark: like pitch black. i was freakin terrified. but all the small children were just throwing themselves in the dark hole without a fear. so finally i launched myself down the slide and basically stuck out my hands and feet so i would slide as slowly as possible. big wuss. 

in the canadian science and engineering hall of fame, chris immediately noticed the picture of his prof, arthur mcdonald, on the wall. badass. 10 points for queen's. 

next, we set out for what was described by chris as "really effing cool": the trains. 

 growing up i knew that my great-grandfather had driven the same model of train as the one outside the museum so it always held a special place in my heart. as for the ones inside, there are two you can walk through to see the engine and the passenger cars. of course, there are explanations outside the trains on how they work which we chris read thoroughly. 

our final stop was the sex exhibit.why did we not go there first? no clue. this is a travelling exhibit that went to montreal and regina before coming to ottawa where it was met with a ton of controversy. 

honestly, i didn't see what was such a big deal. yes, it was somewhat graphic (there are nude pictures of children, teenagers and adults... definitely nowhere near the porn that some media seemed to think it was) and the content is mature (we are talking about sex) but the language of the displays was somewhat juvenile. though it was informative and thorough, it was certainly geared to a younger audience (probably best for 13 - 17 year old) AND it was sectioned off from the rest of the museum. there was an employee there to explain to you the content of the exhibit before your entered. personally, i can't say any of the information was novel. it's hard for me to understand what so many people in ottawa are outraged about. 

bottom line

this was a great outing for a rainy day and worth the $9 we spent. if anything, i wish i had more energy to check out the exhibit on innovation. on the flip side, some of the interactive displays (touch screens, games) were broken. some of the displays were very juvenile, which is to be expected when the topics are quite complicated. it was great to be back, but i think i've had my fix on science & tech for at least a few years.