Pierre & Patrice

Pierre & Patrice, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

Pierre chases down Patrice in a pick up game of bicycle polo on Saturday evening. They play in the park across the street from Di Rienzo's sandwich shop on Beech Ave. in Ottawa. See you there Sunday afternoon? I am going to try and check out the game around 2pm.

Fans

Fans, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

Quite possibly my most favourite photo of 2008.

Jim Cuddy - Blue Rodeo

Jim Cuddy - Blue Rodeo, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo just after a duet with Kevin Parent on Canada Day on Parliament Hill.

Pascale Picard

Pascale Picard, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

What a sweetheart of a singer. The Pascale Picard Band played their song Smiln' on Canada Day on Parliament Hill, July 1st 2008. Hear the song here:

www.myspace.com/pascalepicard

Order of Canada 1 July 2008

By the way, there are *other* members that were invested to the order:
George Elliott Clarke (Officer), Audrey Thomas (Officer), Elke Inkster and Tim Inkster (Members), etc., etc., etc. Congratulations to all!

Dry

Dry, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

A passing cyclist is geared up to keep dry on this rain soaked Thursday morning in Ottawa.

Snowbirds - Canada Day 2008

Snowbirds - Canada Day 2008, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

Canadian Snowbirds - Canada Day 2008 over Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario.

Snowbirds Fly Over Parliament Hill

Hope you didn't blink...
The Canadian Forces Snowbirds flew over Parliament Hill on Canada Day at roughly 12:33 pm. Their fly-over pattern was much wider than in previous years. Luckily, I had my wide angle lens to capture the nine Canadair CT-114 Tutor jets as the sped by.

Here they are as photographed in 2007.
And in a previous flight in 2006.

Serena Ryder - Canada Day 2008

Serena Ryder - Canada Day 2008, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

What can I say? Her Canada Day performance set was way too short. Too bad. She's a talented singer.

Serena Ryder

Serena Ryder, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

All Serena Ryder needs is an umbrella and a coffee on rainy afternoon in Ottawa. She was spotted in the crowd during the sound checks on Parliament Hill the day before her performance on Canada Day.

Blue Rodeo

Blue Rodeo, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

Kevin Parent and Suzie McNeil jams with Blue Rodeo in a rehearsal before their performance on Canada Day in Ottawa.

Joel Plaskett

Joel Plaskett, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

Nova Scotia rocker Joel Plaskett was on stage rehearsing the night before his Canada Day performance on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Judging be the number of times he's been performing in Ottawa area this year I think he should have an apartment here. That would be cool.
For more info check out his site on the web:
http://www.joelplaskett.com/

Paul Brandt

Paul Brandt, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

Alberta Country Superstar Paul Brandt rehearsed his hit song Alberta Bound on stage the day before Canada Day in Ottawa.
More info here:
www.paulbrandt.com/newindex.html

Suzie McNeil

Suzie McNeil, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

Canadian singer, Suzie McNeil rehearses during a sound check on Parliament Hill one day before Canada Day.

Check out her web site www.suziemcneil.ca for more info.

Tim Hussin

Love it when I stumble upon a good photojournalist's blog. Check out Tim Hussin's site: http://thussin.blogspot.com/

Chair Pummel

Chair Pummel, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

Victorious poet rob mclennan gives the nasty Nathaniel G. Moore a pummeling with a folding chair. Smack! Spencer Gordon lays motionless after a vicious unwarranted attack by Moore, now bloodied. This is poetry at its finest.

Throwdown

Throwdown In O-Town, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

rob mclennan hurls defeated poet Nathaniel G. Moore off the stage at Babylon's in Ottawa 27 June 2008. A bit of poetic justice I might add.

Throwdown In O-Town

rob mclennan vs Nathaniel G. Moore

Here are the facts: rob calls out Nathaniel at the start of the event with some cutting remarks about his reproductive organs. In Nathaniel's opening comments he talks about himself and how he is the underdog in his "miserable city" and earns every spot that he got in his literary career (whatever that means), as he declaims that he "was born insecure and I live it every day."

Nathaniel maliciously taunts and jabs rob which escalates with a beer shot to the face. After a brief scuffle rob pummels Nathaneil with a frying pan and hurls Moore off the stage onto a table. Moore, feeling slighted, takes Spencer Gordon to beat town with a folding chair. rob comes to the rescue and then whoops Moore and flashes the classic rock 'devil hands' to the awestuck crowd. Victory is his! Moore is relegated to the bathroom to lick his bloody wounds as mclennan savours his "win".

Marina

Marina, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

Marina is one of the NCC tour guides on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

Ottawa Rocks

Ottawa Rocks, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

if you look carefully at the photo on flickr.com (click on photo to see large size) the two rubbed out words are "my socks".

I ♥ you pingpong

I ♥ you pingpong, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

I ♥ you pingpong. So I went up to her to ask about the t-shirt. In broken English she tells me its for her twin boys. One is named Pin, and the other, well the communication broke down there.

She spelled out one son's name, Pin. P-i-n. I asked about the second boy's name and why the 'g' in ping. Unforunately, I didn't understand what she said as she didn't have time as the group was boarding the coach. Probably the other son is named Pon?? Hence, I heart pingpong... Anyway, thought you'd be interested.

Ode to Martin Parr

Ode to Martin Parr, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

Byward Market, Ottawa.

Throwdown In O-Town

Hosted by: The Puritan
Type: Sports - Tournament
Where: Babylon Nightclub
When: Friday, June 27 from 7:00 pm to 10:30 pm

Chantal Hébert

Chantal Hébert, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

From the Toronto Star on line bio:
"Chantal Hébert, Toronto Star political columnist, cut her teeth in politics at Queen’s Park in the late seventies covering the minority governments of Progressive-Conservative premier William Davis.

Since then she has reported in French and in English on Canada’s constitutional and referendum wars, the 1988 free-trade debate as well as the more recent rebirth of the Conservative movement.

In addition to her columns, Chantal is a regular member of the CBC’s At Issue panel, broadcast weekly on The National."

Wiki entry:
Chantal Hébert

Are You Monsters!?

Dragon Boat Races in Ottawa, 21 June 2008
Love the part at the beginning where she shouts, "Are you monsters? And the typical instant response is, "Yeah!" "You're Hot Monsters!" and of course I can't forget the classic line, "I am a machine. Machines feel no pain." Oh yeah note that vomiting is a sure sign that you've given it your hardest...It was a great day to be outside in the sun and sand.

Roof-Top Poets

roof-top poets, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

On the roof of the Carleton Tavern for the Ottawa Small Press Book Fair pre-fair reading with Stuart Ross, David McGimpsey, Mike Spry, Jason Camlot (could not make it) and Jon Paul Fiorentino (seen reading in background).