If you’ve seen a cloud of bubbles floating above Ottawa Bluesfest crowds, it’s probably Michael Lalonde.
It all started at a dollar store, where Lalonde bought a two-dollar, hand-pump bubble gun before a HOPE Volleyball event.
“People loved it so much, they loved it, they were obsessed,” Lalonde said.
It was then that Lalonde decided to continue investing in more intricate bubble guns. First came a battery-powered gun. Then he upgraded to rechargeable bubble guns so he could sidestep the need for batteries that depleted too fast.
Three years later, Lalonde’s bubble gun fame has generated countless stories.
At an Arkells show at CityFolk in 2023, lead singer Max Kerman took Lalonde’s bubble gun and used it throughout the crowd.
“It was a whole song. He did a full U around the crowd, and you can only see the bubbles,” Lalonde said. “He posted: We must have more of the bubbles.”
Another time, Ottawa singer TALK was gifted a bubble gun at a Bronson Centre show in 2024.
But it’s not just musicians that Lalonde gifts his bubble guns. He often gives them to kids who are at shows with thankful parents.
It’s all good, however, as Lalonde carries a deep arsenal of bubble guns at home. “I’ve had 20. I’ve given a lot of them away over the years.”
Lalonde, who is both a musician and co-owner of an Ottawa tech company, is something of a renaissance man who reinvented himself since the COVID-19 pandemic. In his 20s, Lalonde didn’t attend many concerts, focused instead on working and paying down student debt.
Then, around eight years ago, he joined as an owner of the upstart tech company PureColo. On July 17, the Ottawa Business Journal reported that the
company had a non-binding letter of intent to be acquired
by Vancouver data centre company Carrier Connect Data Solutions in a deal valued at $4.1 million in shares and $4.4 million in cash.
It was only four years ago that Lalonde taught himself guitar. Since then he has released an album with his Petty Cache project, which featured Jake Boyd and Nixon Boyd from Hollerado fame.
“During the pandemic, I got into music. I started going to shows and realizing the genuine connection and feeling that you can have and the people you can find,” Lalonde said, turning towards his girlfriend.
It was music, a specifically a show at the Rainbow Bistro, where Lalonde met his girlfriend and current bandmate, Natasha Farinaccio.
The two have been attending Bluesfest this year, bubble guns in hand.
“Mike is the man of the operation, but he always tries to include me,” Farinaccio said. “He always asks me to bring one as well, he always makes me feel like an assistant.”
“Absolutely I need support. I have a lot of pockets, but extra hands are always helpful,” Lalonde added.
He does not see any conflicts between his music and tech lives. Instead, he views them in lockstep, pointing to the authenticity and human connection that music cultivate and saying they have made him a better tech executive.
“They feed each other. The more I do my creative passions, the more I learn about connecting with humans and having genuine conversations,” he said. “Having an understanding of how to communicate with somebody I want to do a deal with, in a way we both win and we’ll have a good outcome.”
It seems to be working. Lalonde was named one of Ottawa Business Journal’s 40 under 40 this year. However, the bubble guns stayed at home on the night of the ceremony.
Lalonde says he also sees the larger music and tech scenes in Ottawa in harmony. He points to the
tech execs who stepped in to sustain the Rainbow financially.
“There is a link,” he said. “There’s definitely people that are really good at doing things. Music is a hard thing and it requires similar skill sets. It requires creativity, ingenuity, memorization and relationships.”
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