arts & entertainment

[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“500”] [ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/86408481@N04/11093424183) Parliament in a White Blanket by Jen Delorme[/caption]  Just about every weekday at noon there’s a 15-minute concert played by the Peace Tower Carillon, the massive collection of bells that ring out from inside the tower on Parliament Hill. ...

_ Our crowdsourced list of the best events in Ottawa this week. _ ** Thursday, January 8: redruM Comedy Show/ Avant Garde Bar’s comedy Open Mic Night ** Featuring a variety of local comedians. /Expect the unexpected. Pay what you can at the end of the show. ...

Over 100 interviews comprising approximately 200 hours of material have been donated by arts journalist and author Sarah Jennings to Library and Archives Canada. The recordings, along with some supporting documentation, derive from the research for her book _ Art and Politics: A History of the National Arts Centre _ (Dundurn Press, 2009). ...

As the countdown to the TORONTO 2015 Pan American/Parapan American Games continues, the City of Ottawa invites residents to nominate a community leader, local celebrity or role model to be a torchbearer for the Ottawa leg of the torch relay that starts in Canada on May 30, 2015. ...

[caption id=“attachment_8089” align=“aligncenter” width=“405”] Mr. Loaf by Andrew King[/caption]

We finally went to see Freezing at the Gladstone Theatre. It’s billed as a “witty, wintery family musical” and it certainly lived up to the billing. It’s a pun-filled interactive show full running just over 90 minutes with an intermission. The musical is set in the Snow Globe Kingdom, although it might as well be set in Ottawa for all of the references to Queensway traffic and corrupt politicians. ...

UPDATE, MARCH 29: Bluesfest says a “major addition” to the Bluesfest line-up will be announced on Monday morning at 10:00am. They posted a teaser video (below) featuring Bluesfest director Mark Monahan. The Ottawa Citizen’s Peter Simpson thinks the major addition will be Kanye West. ...

** 2015 Living Locally Fair (Russell) ** The Russell and District Horticultural Society takes credit for the (to my knowledge) first fair of 2015. On January 17, the Society organizes its annual “Living Locally Fair”, a one-day event that’s all about local foods and other products that go in or on your body, as well as environmentally friendly ways of living. ...

Here are some photos and a video from the Sears Great Canadian Chill (aka New Year’s Day polar bear dip) at Britannia Beach. The Chill is a series of polar bear dips that raises money for local and national paediatric oncology initiatives through the Sears Canada Charitable Foundation. ...

Check out our list of 2015 events here: Ottawa New Year’s Eve Events – December 31, 2015