THURSDAY MARCH 5 | Live & Local with Diminished Responsibility Swing Combo | 7:30PM

Live & Local is a free, community-centered music series celebrating the artists who live and create right here at home, with select Thursday evenings hosted by a different local musician bringing their own sound, collaborators, and creative vision to the stage. Each night features a full set from the host followed by an open, collaborative jam—no two nights the same, always free, always local, always live.

This is a pass-the-hat event—please help support and show your appreciation for the featured artist by contributing what you can.

Dinner is available with our kitchen open until 9pm. Reservations are strongly suggested—make yours HERE. We are an intimate 85-seat venue, so every seat is a great seat! While we do our best to accommodate all seating requests, they cannot be guaranteed. For the best experience, we recommend making reservations in even numbers (for example, a party of three may be seated with an additional guest). Doors open half an hour before showtime for those who will not be dining with us.

Diminished Responsibility Swing Combo (DRSC) is an Ottawa-based trio with a repertoire of mainly 1930s and 1940s swing songs by the likes of The Mills Brothers, Ella Fitzgerald, and The Ink Spots.  DRSC comprises Ian Clark (guitar, vocals), Stuart Rutherford (pedal steel, vocals), and Ann Downey (bass, vocals).  All three musicians have been stalwarts of the Ottawa music scene for decades, playing in many different groups and genres. 

Ann Downey is part of the internationally renowned folk trio Finest Kind (aka OttaWassail at Christmas time), as well as playing with, among others, The Toasted Westerns, Vinyl Frontier (with Pat Moore), Monroe Sisters, and Sneezy Waters.  

Stuart Rutherford is a multi-instrumentalist who plays dobro with Ottawa bluegrass legends, The Dusty Drifters, and pedal steel (+ fiddle + dobro) with various local artists.

Ian Clark has played guitar on acclaimed CDs in the celtic/folk scene with champion fiddler Pierre Schryer and Canadian Folk Music Award nominated group JIIG, and currently also plays with Ottawa rockabilly swing bands Dimestore Playboys and Three For A Buck.

Following a first set of songs from the band, the second set will be an open stage, hosted by DRSC as the house band, for anyone who wants to sing a song (swing or otherwise!) accompanied by DRSC (optional!).