ACTRA: Why Canadian TV Drama?

The fight for Our TV
Watch the video and see why we need to win

ACTRA’s decade-long fight to get more Canadian drama back in prime time is in the final round. Our federal regulator – the CRTC – is holding big hearings on November 16 where they will re-write the rules for Canadian TV. We’re not exaggerating when we say that this is the fight of our lives, or more specifically – our careers and our culture.

TV is still the most popular cultural medium so when our private broadcasters spend 13 times more on U.S. programming than they do on our own dramas and comedies, we’ve got a problem. 

This fall we have a chance to make sure that broadcasters are told to give back to the system, to give us back our voice in prime time.

Watch this video and let some of your fellow performers tell you why they care.

**video and information copyright - ACTRA – www.actra.com

Break Your Band 2009

Saturday November 7 at Mavericks in Ottawa, Supernova presents “Break Your Band 2009″ a battle of the bands show featuring up and coming band Pleasant Park.  For more information on this event visit www.supernova.com

On Tour: Signal Hill

Live at Crazy Horse in Kanata (115 Roland Michener Dr.) last weekend was Newfoundland’s ultimate acoustic guitar-based band Signal Hill. Touring the world both covering classics and performing original material, Signal Hill is most well-known for being one of the best, if not THE best cover band around. They will be on the go non-stop until the end of the year when they sing-in 2010 performing in Nova Scotia New Year’s Eve.  In addition to several other dates in Nova Scotia, stops along the way include New Brunswick and Newfoundland, but they can’t head back to the east coast for the last time in 2009 without stopping by Grace O’Malley’s in Toronto for a three-night appearance November 5, 6 and 7.

For more information and tour dates visit www.signalhill.ca

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Is there anyone you’d like to see here or think we should interview? Let us know! Post a comment or send your e-mails to suggest_77seconds@hotmail.com

Coming up this week on 77-Seconds:

-Signal Hill live from Crazy Horse

- “A History of Ghosts” book signing with Peter Aykroyd and Dan Aykroyd

-Ed Gougeon at Yuk Yuk’s Wednesday October 28th. The show starts at 8:30pm so get there early! Call 613-236-5233 to reserve your spot.

Tara Holloway

Come down to Live Lounge Thursday October 22 for Live 88.5′s  Big Money Shot where Tara Holloway will compete for the number one spot in the third round finals.  In addition to touring across Ontario, hitting up to 5 cities per week, Tara is also part of Babes for Breasts, where she uses her voice to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research.  After her most recent show with BFB in Ottawa, Tara headed down to Live Lounge where she snagged first place in the the 2nd set of the round three prelimiaries.

Tara

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For more information on Tara, including tour dates and locations, visit:

http://www.taraholloway.com

http://www.myspace.com/tarahollowaymusic

One World Film Festival

World Inter-Action Mondiale (WIAM) has announced the 20^th annual One World Film Festival. The festival will take place over four evenings, October 15, 23, 29 and 30 at Library and Archives Canada.

For more information about WIAM and the One World Film Festival, please visit www.wiam.ca or contact Micheline Shoebridge by phone at 819-772-4079 or by e-mail at michelines@magma.ca

Ed Gougeon

We were at the Aulde Dubliner last week for the fist ever Capital City Comedy Night at the Pour House, where we had the opportunity to meet Ottawa’s own Ed Gougeon. The first time I saw Ed on stage was last spring at Yuk Yuk’s and was excited to see him perform again. Watching Ed on video doesn’t even begin to compare what it’s like to see him perform live;  he is not only talented but engaging and has you sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what’s next. We will have the chance to sit down with Ed at some point over the next few weeks, so if there is anything you would like to know or have a question for him, let us know and we will be sure to ask away. We will post details of the interview but for the time being, check out what you missed last week!

One last thing… CHECK OUT HIS SITE… www.edgougeon.com ! We stumbled across it and read this morning’s daily rant and it was hilarious! We definitely have an appreciation for honesty and telling it how it is! The best line -> “Take 5, okay ants?”

Capital City Comedy Night at the Pour House

Just when we thought it would be nice to have even one more venue to showcase great some of the comedic talent in Ottawa, Rachelle Todd provided us with just that.  Last Tuesday night we checked out Capital City Comedy Night at the Pour House for their first night of fun and laughs.  Hosted by Trevor Thompson, the lineup included Ed Gougeon , Dave McConnell, Peter Grunstra, Anto Chan, Rachelle Todd, Tommy Fitz and features Wafik Nasralla.

We met up with Rachelle and Wafik after the show to find out a little bit about Capital City Comedy Night.

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 production assistant: angela sauve   |  camera / editing: kyle smith

We will be featuring Ed Gougeon on 77 Seconds next week as well so check back for clips of his performance and our interview or sign up for updates!

For more information on Capital City Comedy Night, Rachelle Todd and Wafik Nasralla, check out the following links:

Capital City Comedy Night

Rachelle Todd

Wafik Nasralla

Lindsay Ferguson @ Live 88.5 Big Money Shot

Compelling music, with a powerful yet calming voice, Lindsay Ferguson has a style of her own. An attractive and very talented singer/songwriter, Lindsay participated Friday night in the Live 88.5 Big Money Shot challenge, where she rocked the stage with a set of 6 tracks that held your attention till the end. After experiencing a live performance, I realize that her album “Sound.” is only a glimpse of what this girl is capable of.

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production assistant: angela sauve   |  camera / editing: kyle smith

For more information on Lindsay Ferguson check out her website or MySpace page

BoxcART Festival

The BoxcART Film Festival took place Sunday, September 20, 2009 from 2:00pm to 5:00pm, at the Jack Purcell Centre in Ottawa.

The BoxcART Film Festival was originated by Nina Bains (Founder) and Shawn Kazda (Co-Founder)because of their vested interest in promoting Filmmakers and Artists in Ottawa.

About the Founders:

A native of Toronto, Nina Bains found peace and tranquility in Ottawa 14 years ago. She carries an undeniable love of being a Mother of two, Sonja and Nicolas, an insatiable thirst for adventure, an undying lust for travel and a vision that includes a collective Art and Film Community in Ottawa. These passions are what led to the creation of The boxcART Film Festival. Taking Artists and Filmmakers out of their creative comfort zones and work together to put Ottawa on the map!

Shawn Kazda

Shawn Kazda lives for adventure and riding freight trains, and was born and bred in Ottawa. When not on trips he spends his time dreaming of far away places forever planning the next big trip. Without the right friends along the way to make these trips possible, Shawn would still be wondering what the world had to offer. This festival was created with the same concepts in mind, to provide the support necessary to take people from their bedrooms to the big screen.

production assistant: angela sauvé  |   camera/editing: brian ford