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Unconfirmed word is that Madonna will play Ottawa in September.
Meanwhile, Madge is promising fans an expensive, but unforgettable show. “It’ll be worth it,” she told Newsweek, adding that you can expect to pay about $300 a seat, making it one of the most expensive concert tours in recent history. Frankly, I’d be surprised if she gets anything like that at Scotiabank Place. Which begs the question, can Ottawa afford Madonna?

With this many concerts, we should call it Februaryfest.

Chicago at the NAC on Feb. 3
Deep Purple at the Civic Centre, Adam Cohen at the NAC’s Fourth Stage on Feb. 8
Kathleen Edwards at the Bronson Centre, Jim Cuddy at the NAC on Feb. 9.
Sam Roberts Band at the NAC on Feb. 11
Simple Plan at Scotiabank Place on Feb. 24.

More people watch Coronation Street than go to church on Sundays. If you are one of those, circle Saturday, March 24 on your calendar. That’s the day four of the show’s former stars, Ken Morley who played the grocer Reg Holdsworth, Steven Arnold, who played the butcher Ashley Peacock, Julia Haworth as the former nanny, and Ashley’s wife Claire Peacock and Nicholas Cochrane as Steve McDonald’s nicer, smarter twin brother Andy.
The four will be sharing secrets from behind-the-scenes, gossip about their character and news about the next 50 years for the series which has been running since 1960.
TALES FROM THE STREET is at the Rideau Carleton Raceway’s Entertainment Centre March 24 at 8 pm Tickets are $50 general admission(service fee extra) and $96 for VIP Meet and Greet tickets. Call 613-822-2211 or order online at www.ticketweb.ca

The old gang. I miss them.

Grammy-winning California rockers The Red Hot Chili Peppers are bringing their I’m With You World Tour to Ottawa April 30, two weeks after they are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer will play Scotiabank Place with their 10th album, I’m With You, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album of the Year. Opening is duo Sleigh Bells Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets range in price from $39.50 to $59.50 on sale Friday, Jan. 27 at 10 a.m. Order tickets online, visit www.capitaltickets.ca or www.livenation.com; by phone, call 613-599-FANS (3267) or 1-877-788-FANS. Tickets may be purchased in person at The Sens Store at Carlingwood Mall and Place d’Orléans, and any Ottawa Sports Experts location, Les Galeries de Hull and at the Scotiabank Place box office.

Kathleen Edwards made a pretty dramatic transformation from alt folkie to righteous rocking babe of David Letterman’s Jan. 17 show. Edwards, who got her start here in Ottawa, performed her new single Change The Sheets from her new album Voyageur, which dropped. Jan. 17. She even had Hannah Georgas singing backup. It’s the rawest performance I’ve ever seen Edwards give.
It seems that Ole Dave likes Edwards so much, he volunteered (albeit jokingly) to tour with Edwards as one of her stylists. I’ve never seen Letterman gush like that.

Check it out here.

I really liked Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt’s musical comedy about growing up taking piano lessons for a lot of reasons. It helps that I took piano for five years, so I could relate to a lot of the jokes, frustrations and imitations of eccentric teachers as well as the deluded dreams of becoming a spectacular concert pianist. Dykstra and Greenblatt are excellent actors and pianists, who have performed the show so many times, nearly 800 at last count, that it was absolutely flawless. It doesn’t try to be overtly political or social. It is what it is. Delightful. The depth and complexity are evident when the two stop joking and play passionately. Then, you can see the artist inside the character. IF that isn’t enough, I could listen to the two play Bach, Chopin, Schumann for hours.
2 Pianos 4 Hands farewell tour is at the National Arts Centre until Saturday, Jan. 28.

Pterosaurs and other huge flying dinosaurs the size of 747 jets once dominated the skies. See what earth looked like when it was a prehistoric airport when FLYING MONSTERS 3D, a new 3-D film by filmmaker Sir David Attenborough opens at the Canadian Museum of Civilization’s IMAX Theatre on Friday, Jan. 20 for an indefinite run. The museum is located at 100 Laurier St. in Gatineau.

Daniel Craig stars in the 23rd film in the Bond series “Skyfall”, which opens in November. Here’s the theme song, sung by Oasis’s Noel Gallagher.

Spoke with Richard Greenblatt, who with actor Ted Dykstra, created and will be performing 2 Pianos 4 Hands at the National Arts Centre Jan. 13-28. Greenblatt gave me an inside peek into his hit Canadian musical comedy in a story in tomorrow’s Ottawa Sun.
In the meantime, here’s a classic video of Vladimir Horowitz to put you in the mood.

David Lee Roth and the VanHalens will play Scotiabank Place on March 21. Kool and The Gang opening. Amazing. TICKETS ON SALE SATURDAY, JANUARY 14th AT 10:00AM at the Scotiabank Place Box Office, The Sens Store at Place d’Orléans and Carlingwood; any Ottawa Sports Experts location, Les Galeries de Hull.
Charge by phone at 613-599-FANS (3267) or 1-877-788-FANS (3267)
Order online at www.livenation.com or www.capitaltickets.ca  

Tickets (incl. HST) $49.50, $79.50 & $149.50 / Reserved Seating
(plus FMF and service charges)