OttawaStart's Weekly Event Round-Up: March 14-20

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Here are our contributors' picks for the best local events in Ottawa this week. This list is published every Wednesday night in this space. You can bookmark this link for easy access: http://ottawastart.com/weekly

** Until Sunday, March 17: VERSeFest, Ottawa’s annual poetry festival **

Poetry & spoken word for six days from Canada, Holland, Ireland & Australia. You can hear contemporary surrealist absurdity, hip hop, dark comedy, 21st century medieval heavy metal trobaritz ballads, Japanese form poetry, urban grit, nature poetry, ghazals, lyric poems…the festival is your oyster.

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Amanda Earl , poet & publisher _

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** ** Thursday, March 14: Film & Panel Discussion:  Challenging and Preventing Hidden War Crimes **

Come watch the award-nominated “Hidden War Crimes”, a 19 minute documentary that puts human faces to the importance of stopping impunity for sexual and gender-based violence and stay for the panel discussion from industry experts.

– _ Laura Gauthier _

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** ** Thursday, March 14: Reel Food Film Festival ** Take a look at water and food—two of life’s basic necessities—with The Reel Food Film Festival’s screenings of _ Tapped _ (US 2009), on the privatization of drinking water through the bottled water industry, and _ Tim Baker’s Visit to Honduras _ (Canada 2012), which covers the Hey Rosetta! lead singer’s exploration of food issues. 6:30 p.m at the Ottawa Public Library (Main Branch) Auditorium. **

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Denise Deby , Green Living Ottawa _

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** ** Friday, March 15: Hamid Drake and Jesse Stewart at GigSpace **

Hamid Drake, a world-class improvising drummer and percussionist who plays everything from Ellington to free jazz, makes a rare appearance with Ottawa’s own creative, improvising percussionist Jesse Stewart. Jesse is also known for his work with ice, water, stone, balloon, and paper instruments. Expect a concert with more rhythmic subtlety, complexity, tonal and textural variations, and interactions - and even melody - than you’ve every heard before from percussionists. And there’s a free ticket draw until noon Thursday. Shows at 7pm and 9pm.

_ – Brett Delmage, OttawaJazzScene.ca _

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** ** Friday, March 15: Hilotrons & Silkken Laumann **

There is going to be a very danceable show at Babylon on Friday night with two of Ottawa’s finest: Hilotrons and Silkken Laumann. Here’s a stripped down version of Runaway heart by the Hilotrons. And for good measure, a great tune from Silkken Laumann .

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Ryan Bresee , host of CKCU’s Whatever’s Cool With Me _

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** ** Saturday, March 16: St. Patrick’s Day Parade **

The parade has a different route this year due to construction at Lansdowne Park. It starts at 11:00am near City Hall at the corner of Laurier Avenue West and Elgin Street. The parade heads west down Laurier, right on Bank, then left on Wellington, heading west on Wellington to an area near the Library and Archives Canada building, around noon.

_

Glen Gower , Editor/Owner of OttawaStart.com _

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** ** Saturday, March 16: Special live animals at the Canadian Museum of Nature **

Enjoy interactive and fun presentations by visiting zoologists from the Ecomuseum Zoo. See up close some of the amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds of prey that live in the diverse St. Lawrence Valley region. Learn more about the importance of conserving biological diversity. 11am-4pm.

_ – Sara-Lynne Levine, Ottawa Capital Region Macaroni Kid _

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** ** Saturday, March 16: Francofête **

Starting this Saturday, March 16 and taking place until March 24 is the Gatineau Francofête, an annual festival highlighting Francophone artists from the region and big names from the Quebec music and arts scene. This year’s edition will include Jamil, Damien Robitaille, Karim Ouellet, the Loco Locass among others.

_

Eliane Laberge , blogger _

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** ** Sunday March 17: Ottawa Nostalgia and Collectible Show ** If you’re like me, and admire all things retro and nostalgic, then join me when I attend the Ottawa Nostalgia and Collectible Show. This is a great show and sale of all the cool things from your youth that you can buy back and re-live again. Action Figures, toys, games, antiques, books, maps, military, you name it, it’s probably there. I’ll be looking for Six Million Dollar Man and Oscar Goldman action figures so hands off if you see any. ** ** Nepean Sportsplex at 1701 Woodroffe Ave. 9am-3pm…$6 admission, 12yrs & under free…early bird 7am admission.

_

Andrew King , artist _

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** ** March 17: St. Patrick’s Day at Greenfields ** Among the many places you may want to be on St Patrick’s Day, check out Greenfields in Barrhaven. Noon to 8pm, live Irish music, great food and tons of prizes. The funds raised go to the Max Keeping Foundation, to assist economically disadvantage children access sports, recreation, the arts and education. **

** _

Max Keeping _

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** ** Tuesday, March 19: LCBO: ZenKitchen Comfort Food **

Chef Caroline Ishii of ZenKitchen, an award-winning Ottawa restaurant, will be teaching how to create vegan comfort dishes, including Moroccan Red Lentil Soup; Warm Spinach Salad with Roasted Garlic Dressing; Shepherd’s Pie with Roasted Vegetables and Tomato Relish; and Mexican Chocolate Truffles.

_ – Don, blogger at foodieprints _

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** ** Tuesday, March 19: Absolute Comedy - Africa trip fundraiser ** At Absolute Comedy, Preston St.  19 year old Orleans youth trying to raise money to finance a trip to African to volunteer on projects in three countries. Comedians on the bill: Jason Harper, Dave Marheje. He gets $$ from tickets bought in advance: Dkennedy_99@hotmail.com **

** _

Max Keeping _

** Have a great week! **

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** ** See also: ** Ottawa Events Guide

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