Stuff to go see!

The Ottawa slam team (which includes yours truly) heads out Saturday morning to go spend a week in Vancouver for the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. Sigh, it's a hard life... If you want to get a chance to see us and wish us luck before we go, you've got two more chances:

Wednesday, October 5, 2005

National Capital Throwdown III

8 p.m.

Gap of Dunloe (263 Bank St. @ Cooper)

This is a Throwdown! The Capital Poetry Collective presents its FREE open mic night for established and emerging Ottawa poets. This edition will see popular local poets in a Poetry Xchange, randomly performing each other's best-known poems in a night of hilarity and fun! Performers include Steve Sauvé, Kevin Matthews, DJ Morales, Ritallin, and more! For more info, email Throwdown Coordinator Jessica Ruano at throwdown@capitalslam.com.

Friday, October 7, 2005

World Beats & Eats

7-10 p.m.

Mercury Lounge (in the market at 56 Byward St., upstairs from the Collection)

Check out this fantastic event that combines two of the best things in the world - food and music - with poetry! This event will donate proceeds to travel costs for the 2005 Capital Slam Team's trip to Vancouver for the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word! Eats by East India Company, Oz Café and Middle East Bakery. Beats by Lance Baptiste and Emily Jones. Giveaways by Six Degrees Records Vernissage by Daser. Gonna be crazy fun! $8 at the door.

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, July 6th @ 8 pm
Bridging the Gap at Babylon Nightclub (317 Bank)
A fundraiser showcasing the best talent Ottawa has to offer. Hosted by Mike Check with performances by spoken word artists Valerie Armstrong, Kevin Matthews, DJ Morales, Ritallin and John Akpata. Also: b-boy battle, MC showcase, live band, live graffiti and DJs. Other performers include PressWon, Flip Kuma, DeCypher Cru, Boogaloo Tribe, DJ T-Wrecks and DJ D-Mass, among others. $5 admission.

Friday, July 8th @ 7 pm
Bon MOTS: The 1st Annual Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto Slam
Ottawa Public Library Main Branch Auditorium (120 Metcalfe @ Laurier)
Featuring performances by some of the finest poets in the tri-city area, including Wakefield Brewster, Leviathan and Amanda Hiebert (Toronto), Lady Katalyst, Buttaphly, Steel and Blu (Montreal), Kevin Matthews, Steve Sauvé, Owen Hewitt and Madame H (Ottawa). Hosted by Ritallin the Cerebral Stimulant. For more info, contact info@capitalslam.com or call 252-1777. $10 admission.

Saturday, July 9th (7 pm to 2 am)
Golden Cherry Awards
SAW Gallery (67 Nicholas St.)
The biggest awards show in town, with 10 emcees, live voting by the public, competing bands and over 200 hot local artists looking for attention. Sponsored by Stella Artois and Westboro BIA. $10 admission.

Sunday, July 10th
International Team Poetry Slam
Toronto (time and location TBA)
Ottawa's newly formed Capital Slam Team will face off against other slam teams from across the globe! Gulp...

Sunday, July 17th @ 5 pm
Dusty Owl Reading
Swizzles (246B Queen St, near Kent)
Capital Slam and Dusty Owl combine forces as the Capital Slam Team performs as a team in Ottawa for the first time and shows off what they’ll be taking to Vancouver at the 2005 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word! For more info about the show, please email steve@dustyowl.com. Free admission!

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

It's been a while since my last post, and I've neglected to announce a few events that have come and gone. What can I say? The Fringe Festival kept me pretty busy for a while. Maybe some other interesting stuff has been happening as well. ;)

First things first: Every year, the SAW Gallery holds a fundraiser called the Golden Cherry Awards, which presents awards in a variety of categories to Ottawan artists in every category imaginable. Here are some relevant nominations for the spoken word community:

• Capital Poetry Collective (Best Website and Best Collective)
• Oni the Haitian Sensation (Best Poetry/Spoken Word)
• Kevin Matthews (Best Poetry/Spoken Word)
• Q the Romantic Revolutionary (Best Poetry/Spoken Word)
• John Akpata (Best Poetry/Spoken Word and Best Radio Show)
• Ritallin the Cerebral Stimulant (Best Erotica)
• Steve Sauvé (Sexiest Artist)

They must have made a mistake with that last one... maybe it's supposed to be "Artiest Sexist" or something. Naw, I wouldn't qualify for that, either. Anywho, here are a couple other nominations that (despite not having anything to do with spoken word) I think are pretty damn cool:

• Ottawa Fringe Festival (Best Festival and Best Art Organization)
• World Beats & Eats (Best Art Happening)
• Aaron McKenzie Fraser (Best Photographer)
• Third Wall Theatre Company (Best Company)
• Mélissa Laveaux (Best Singer-Songwriter)
• Café Nostalgica (Best Music Venue)
• Melanie Little (Best Fiction)
• CBC Ottawa (Best New Building)
• American Embassy (Biggest Architectural Eyesore)

The awards ceremony is Saturday, July 9th at the SAW Gallery (67 Nicholas) at 7 PM. Admission is $10 and the winners are determined by the attendees.

Also, the latest No Rules Slam is tonight @ 8 PM at the Parliament Pub (101 Sparks at Metcalfe). Starting with this installment it is now a two-round competition, so come prepared.

There are lots more events coming soon. I'll try to update my site within the next day or two to reflect this.

Ciao for now!

The Capital Slam team has been announced!

Last night was the Capital Slam finals, and the team was chosen. Ottawa will be represented at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Vancouver this October by the following poets:

• John Akpata (team captain)
• DJ Morales
• Kevin Matthews
• Steve Sauvé
• Oni the Haitian Sensation (team alternate)

The team will of course be accompanied by our esteemed slammaster, Ritallin the Cerebral Stimulant. It was an amazing night full of great poetry. With no disrespect intended toward those who didn't make the team, I have to say I'm really excited about our roster. I think we're going to blow them away in Vancouver this year. We had a good showing last year, but I think everyone here has matured stylistically in the time that has passed. Not to mention our secret weapon, DJ Morales. I've said it before and I'll say it again: This girl is phenomenal and far and away my favourite Ottawa poet. The audiences in BC won't know what hit them.

Plenty of events still to come this summer. Expect to see the Ottawa Slam Team at various literary events (including the July edition of Dusty Owl).

Buy my CD online!

For those of you not in the city of Ottawa who want to get their greedy little hands on a copy of my live CD, Steve Sauvé Does It With His Glasses On, you can now buy it online at the Bywords Online Store. Sorry, no "girls with glasses" discount online, though. If you're a bespectacled lass who wants two dollars off, you gotta buy it in person. I may be doing a little bit of touring this year: I might show up in nearby cities like Toronto and Montréal within the next couple months, and I'll hopefully be in Vancouver come October. I will bring CDs to all my shows.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who've already bought a copy of my CD. It's only been available for a couple weeks, but I've already made a tidy profit and have received heaps of praise for it. Thank you all for your support. I may be doing a "professional" studio album later this year, and I'm considering doing one or two independent live CDs per year from now on as well. If I make it to Vancouver in October I will probably record my next live one there.

Ciao!

Spoken Word in the next two weeks...

Good evening. I'm Chevy Chase, and you're not. Wait, what? Anyways... This blog has gotten 1000 hits to date. Not bad... There's lots going on in June! Check out these highlights for the first half of the month:

Saturday, June 4th and Sunday, June 5th (10 am to 5 pm each day)
Art in the Park (in the Glebe at Bank and Clemow)
Come get a sneak peak of some of the talent that will be involved with the Ottawa Fringe Festival this year. You spoken word fans out there will want to make sure to catch Oni the Haitian Sensation from 12:00 to 12:15 each day, and Steve Sauvé (me!) and Ritallin the Cerebral Stimulant from 3:45 to 4:00 each day. The rest of the time will be filled with music and indie theatre. Come out, say hi, and buy my new CD if you haven't already.

Wednesday, June 8th @ 8:15 am
Ottawa Morning on CBC Radio One (91.5 FM)
Host Anthony Germain will be chatting with yours truly to promote the Capital Slam Finals. They will probably also play a track from my CD. If you're not in Ottawa, you can still tune in by going here at 8:15 am EDT and selecting Ottawa from the list of locations.

Friday, June 1oth @ 8:00 pm
Capital Slam Finals at the Universe City Lounge
(145 Besserer, above the Agora Bookstore)
Finally, the poets who will become the 2005 Ottawa Slam Team will be decided! Hosted by Alan Neal of CBC Radio One's Ontario Today. Come cheer on your favourite poets! $10 cover.

Friday, June 10th and Saturday, June 11th
WESTFEST (Richmond Rd. between McRae and Golden)
Awesome festival, made all the more awesome by the fact that it's 100% free. This year's headliners are the Cowboy Junkies! For free!! Also, catch spoken word artists Kevin Matthews and Q the Romantic Revolutionary, as well as several other figures from Ottawa's literary scene, from 12:00 to 1:30 pm on Saturday. And trust me: YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS Catherine Kidd, who will be performing from 7:30 to 8:00 pm the same day. She's fucking amazing.

That's all I have the energy to type for now. Later!