be
Editorial Mandate be is a broad based media platform designed to profile established and emerging Canadian creatives. Our goal is to encourage creatives to be fully self expressed within the context of a national magazine connected to patrons via our interactive website, and in events. Here we seek to build a community of patrons and creatives who do more then read about each other. Here we share experiences and grow in appreciation of each other. The creatives are both performers and visual artists. Each issue of Be will feature two artists in ten different disciplines. Each will include the mentor and the muse, the male and the female, the experienced and the emerging talents showcased for who they are as much as what they do. The performers will include Canadian actors, musicians, models, athletes and chefs. The visual artists will include Canadian artists, fashion designers, architects, interior designers, makeup artists and photographers.
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The patrons are those who fuel the ability of the creatives to perform. Without patronage artistic expression can not survive. With patronage the artists can flourish and redefine a positive cultural expression that benefits an entire nation. In the be world, the purchase of our magazine, a click on our interactive website, or attending one of our events, creates patronage that will allow us to profile the best of Canada’s creative talent and build a solid community that interacts within itself. Our reach is designed to bring creatives and patrons together at a national level and construct a catapult for launching Canadian talent onto the international stage. In time we plan to expand to be an international brand that provides a platform for creatives worldwide. Our reality is we have set May 29th as our launch date and we are committed to publish four issues annually, participate in eight major events annually and to celebrating creative culture.
Promotional issue 2009 • BE
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PRESIdEnT & CEO
SunG ROk CHEOnG ClIFFORd E FORd
performance arts
ASSOCIATE PuBlISHER
26 humble genius
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PuBlISHER
PETER HOlMES
East coast chef Jeremy Charles talks about the art of food - Atlantica style.
EdITOR
YOunGJIn WOn
28 flying high
CREATIvE dIRECTIOn
TAnG CREATIvE
content overview 10
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COPY EdITOR
kYlE MAlInG
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GRAPHIC ARTIST
JAMES HuR SAlES ExECuTIvE
visual arts
Chelsea O will talk about where she’s been and what’s done, but ask her to explain her projects in progress and she really picks up.
30 it’s just soul music Be gets the skinny on what brasstronaut is cooking up.
re:connect 12 32 please no more questions about newfoundland
STEFAn kEkOvIC
Preview of an interview with BC artist Chili Thom.
ExECuTIvE ASSISTAnCE
JACquAlInE PARk
hey rossetta! isn’t just another “newfie” musical act.
Modern by Nature.
encapsulate the phemeral 14 interview with photographer Jennilee Marigomen.
SuBSCRIPTIOnS
Call 604-639-2140 or go online to www.bemagazine.ca info@bemagazine.ca
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fashion
spacial arts
34 original scale Preview of an interview with interior designer Robert Baily.
way outside the box 18 36 haute seat John Fluevog’s tale of how shoemaking found him. 28
northern nomad 20 photography by Greg Swales.
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Bocci’s Omer Arbel gets great results with his exploration of folding and pleating techniques.
38 open for business Opus Montreal renovated and revitalized for business and pleasure!
media kit 40 readership,distribution and stocklist 41 ad rates and submission requirements 42 Adarts overview
veloce Media Production be Magazine 1500 885 West Georgia Street vancouver BC v6C 3E8 phone 604-639-2140 www.bemagazine.ca 38
Copyright 2009 by Be Canada, LLC. All rights Reserved. Be magazine is published four times a year. Reproduction without permission of the publisher is prohibited. The publisher and editors are not responcible for unsolicited material and it will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication subject to Be magazine’s right to edit. Return Postage must accompany all manuscripts, photographs, and drawings.
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cover - Northern Nomad photography gregswales.com stylist Heidi Farnola resetfashion.blogspot.com hair/makeup ashleygesner.com model Jennine @ Lizbell beau @ Richards dress Jason Matlo hooded sweater Evan & Dean blouse Evan & Dean belt H&M hat Deluxe Junk vintage
www.bemagazine.ca
VISUAL ARTS
events
Be Magazine is about making something as abstract as creativity a real and tangible thing. The physical magazine is just one aspect of that. Be is fully engaged in hosting events that engage both the patron and creative communities.
Be Magazine will be a supporter of numerous Canadian events including;
David Ellingsen Three Stones 13’’ x 13’’ edition of 20 36’’ x 36’’ edition of 5 2005
BC Fashion weeks Montreal Grand Prix Toronto Film Festival Montreal Fashion weeks fine art | photography Telus World Ski |&sculpture Snowboard Festival
vISuAl ARTS
re:connect artist Chili Thom
Being an artist in Whistler, BC, is both a blessing and a curse. The high cost of living can be a real financial drain if you aren’t on top of your game, but inversely that lights the fire under foot and keeps you productive. The surrounding mountains, forests, lakes and rivers offer boundless inspiration for a landscape artist and often my next new painting is literally only a few steps outside my door. Whistler’s best bonus is the massive international clientele that rolls through town on a daily basis — It’s a real community with a small-town feel, yet my artwork is continuously exposed to an audience from all over the world. My creative process always begins with experiencing the subject matter. Without experience there is a certain amount of disconnect and I notice the painting begins to feel like work. I mainly focus on landscapes rather than abstract or man-made objects and themes because I gain the bulk of my inspiration from being out in nature and letting go of all the distractions and the hustle and bustle of society. When my mind is relaxed and free I find it so much easier to absorb the inspiration needed to create a great piece. Once I’m back in the studio my preparations are definitely ritualistic — I change into my painting clothes, arrange my work space, make a cup of tea or a glass of wine and light some incense. This prepares my mind and helps get me into the painting. Sometimes I will waffle around wasting time if I haven’t done this but I find it’s extremely important to be in the right mood and mindset if I want to produce good work. Music is also essential. In fact I can’t paint in silence unless I’m doing it on-location outdoors. Music gives my mind direction and focus. Sometimes I get excited on the music and that, in turn, gets me pumped on the artwork so I end up painting and dancing at the easel for twelve hours at a time. The transition from part to full-time artist was incredibly scary. For years I had been an outdoor guide or a waiter that painted. Although I had been selling artwork for several years and was establishing a growing clientele I found it tricky to get inspired after coming home from work. I couldn’t find the right mood to paint on the regular and I was having a hard time finishing enough canvasses to supply even a modest public demand.
it’s never easy to say, “guess what mom? i’m quitting my job to become an artist.” Right: Chili Thom, Green Skies at Night 48” x 72” Acrylic on canvas 20” x 30” Giclee print edition of 33 | 2008
Read the entire story in be magazine’s inaugural issue due out in late May 09 12
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vISuAl ARTS
encapsulate the phemeral
photographer Jennilee Marigomen interview and portrait by Oker Chen
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Jennilee Marigomen never shoots selfportraits, yet her photographs are nothing but portraits of her self. She insists, “I don’t like being in photos,” but her photographic subjects are so intensely personal that they frame the person behind the camera. The same words that describe her photos are the same as those of her identity ñ ephemeral, fleeting, and elusive for the ordinary viewer. If you were to ask her to describe herself, she’d tell you “I’m not a talker.” Yet, much like the hidden art she captures, a small amount of exploration bypasses her best efforts at anonymity. “I like shadows. I like reflections. I like life as secret spectacles. I like whimsical and ephemeral things.” she says. Whether she’s talking about her body of work or her being is only determined by context. Much like her subjects, she plays the shade, with black hair, an unadorned black dress matched with black leggings and black shoes. The line between her body and its shadow is erased, camouflaging her figure in the vancouver back alleys as she hunts for the next misshapen shrubbery or alien dapple of light. Jennilee comes from a new generation of amateur photographers, although her beginning is hardly unusual: she started shooting 35mm black and white film for her high school yearbook 10 years ago. Without an accessible camera after leaving high school, her photography became inactive for three years until she was given a free camera from a friend. Where Jennilee shows her
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modern photography was after she received her first digital SlR camera. She attributes one of her biggest stylistic influences to the international community of the internet- for example, the imagehosting Flickr. But what she has never done was meet in person with any of her online photographers. That’s no surprise — her photos of mundane surroundings closes the gap between the viewer and her intimate definition of beauty that it leaves herself highly vulnerable. The intrigue is that Jennilee is a contradiction ñ her anonymity and distance is only necessary because her artwork displays none. She is of a new generation who are able to network through solely non-physical means. Although some her work does get printed, her photos are almost exclusively are online, whether it’s through her website, or the cumulation of her media world in her photo journal, walkinddistance.ca titled after the photo walks she regularly goes on, Walking distance is a window into Jennilee’s everyday life, captured in an already-gone nostalgic gaze at a recent past rendered as distant memory. Each photo is paired with a song and a poetic title and nothing else, effectively a transmission of quiet, raw nostalgia. As she grows more confident in her photography passion, while still keeping her graphic design career, she intends to resurrect her past experience with physical media. She’s already in the process assembling a book of her photos, and hopes to open a gallery show in the near future.
headscarfe Holt Renfrew blouse Obakki trousers Obakki
.pdfs m
subm
austernity photograph Brenndan Laird stylist Toyo Tsuchiya @ Judy Inc. makeup Jessica Steblyk @ Judy Inc. model Ksusha @ Richard’s
But she is not abandoning digital photography either, with a work in-progress project on botanophobia, the fear of plants experienced by some people. Images of strangely shaped brushes, gargantuan plants, and vines and creepers transforms nonthreatening static objects into primal fears.
“There are so many interesting and surprising things in everyday life once you peel back the obvious perspective. Things that can really surprise your eye. It’s so exciting!” Jennilee says. Whether she realizes her own identity works the same way is unknown.
Read similar stories to this in be magazine’s inaugural issue due out in late May 09 16
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I like shadows. I like reflections. I like life as secret spectacles.
FASHION stylists | designers | photography | make-up and hair
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sweater H&M cardigan Religion jeans Melting Pot jacket Artful Dodger scarf Jack & Jones hat Kitsch
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photography Greg Swales stylist Heidi Farnola hair/makeup Ashley Gesner Beau @ Richards Jennine @ Lizbell
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jacket Fly 53 denim Cheap Mondays cardigan Fly 53 scarf Hugo Boss shirt Fly 53 hat Kitsch shoes Opening Ceremony at Gravity Pope Opposite Page jacket FLY 53 scarf Isabelle Dunlop hat Junya Watanabe for Comme Des Garcons cardigan American Apparel
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Her dress Jason Matlo print top long sleeve top tights Wolford socks& hat H&M shoes Marc Jacops at Gravity Pope
Her dress Jason Matlo print top long sleeve top tights Wolford socks& hat H&M shoes Marc Jacops at Gravity Pope
Performance arts
Him jacket Fly 53 scarf Isabelle Dunlop jeans William Rast hat Junya Wantanabe for Comme Des Garcons cardigan American Apparel plaid shirt Fly 53 boots Frye at Gravity Pope
Performance arts
Him jacket Fly 53 scarf Isabelle Dunlop jeans William Rast hat Junya Wantanabe for Comme Des Garcons cardigan American Apparel plaid shirt Fly 53 boots Frye at Gravity Pope
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FASHIOn
well outside
[the box] John Fluevog’s tale of how shoemaking found him interview Cliff Ford | photography David Ellingsen | hair & makeup Colleen Conroy photo assistant Robin Hunt
I enter the studio, which makes me think of a glass cathedral. So this is where John Fluevog has set up shop. A bit of awe sweeps over me, but I’ve come armed. I’ve got a bottle of one of BC’s best reds and a new man purse with a notebook and pen. The purpose of this trip is to sit back and talk to the man who turned his name into one of Canada’s top shoe brands. Over the past thirty-eight or so years, John Fluevog’s roots have spread out from under the pavement of vancouver’s Gastown. From his humble beginning at 2 Powell Street, John has developed into a seasoned business veteran with a vision to mentor and inspire young apprentices with potential in designing and marketing footwear. Wine poured, we sit down to it. I point to the ceilings and the staff. “very impressive!” He smiles and sips his wine. “So how did you get started with all this?” I ask. “Being a shoemaker found me. “At twenty years of age I lacked a clear direction in my life and found myself working
retail to cover the cost of my car and the way I dressed. I was just average, not exceptional, just getting by really. I worked for forty-five dollars a week selling shoes and thought, ‘This will not last’. It was through that experience I forged a friendship with Peter Fox and one day he asked me about options for getting some money to start a shoe store. I introduced the idea to my dad and he agreed to loan Peter thirteen thousand five hundred dollars if he would partner with me for fifty percent of the business. So my dad made me do it! We set up shop in Gastown and for ten years we sourced and sold the coolest shoes in Western Canada. It was the seventies and we had six colours of patent leather boots for men in bright yellow, green, red, blue, orange. Two and a half inch platform shoes flew out the doors to our esteemed cliental of pimps and rounders. CluB was big in the seventies and pimps running ponies and cocaine had no problem paying two hundred and seventyfive dollars for a pair of our shoes …
Read the entire story in be magazine’s inaugural issue due out in late May 09 18
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“a painter paints pictures on canvas. but musicians paint their pictures on silence.� -Leopold Stokowski
photograph Peter Holmes music Edo Van Breemen of The Clips
PERFORMANCE ARTS music | dance | installation | culinary arts
PERFORMAnCE ARTS
humble genius chef Jeremy Charles
interview Mary Leighton | photography Mike Mahoney
“And I’m happy for newfoundland, too! It was something else, I’m telling you. This is the first time we’ve been voted in the top five in this kind of thing, and then to get first place…” A year and a half ago, Chef Jeremy Charles started a restaurant just outside of St. John’s, newfoundland. EnRoute Magazine voted this restaurant, Atlantica, 2007’s #1 Canadian restaurant. now there are 24 more seats downstairs, 10 new burners in the kitchen, and the staff has swelled to eight—all in response to booming business—but the chef who put the wheels in motion remains humble as can be. “You’re only as good as your last meal, you know? Just as a hockey player is only as good as his last game.” That’s the struggle when it comes to food, which has to be the most easily appreciated medium in the wide world of art. On the upside, you know your creations have the full attention of a hungry audience. But then there’s the downside—no rest, no putting the painting up in the gallery and sitting back while critics do their jobs. Producing food is more like performing theatre—you go onstage every night to create and be judged. With Jeremy, it’s easy to talk about food as art. “If you look at any kind of artwork, technique counts. There’s no difference between a meal and a fine painting hung on the wall.” As for describing his own work: “down to earth. Stripped. With a strong French influence.” The French influence comes from his training at St. Pious Culinary Institute in Montreal, where he lived after leaving St. John’s at the age of 19, with packed bags and a girlfriend who’s now his wife. “An adventure,” is how they saw it. One day, he saw something in the paper about a culinary school. “I walked through the doors and felt this incredible energy, and I knew right then and there I was in the right place. From the first day…wow.” He dropped out of a business program at dawson College, and the adventure really began. The trajectory wasn’t totally surprising—Jeremy worked in bakeries and as a fishmonger, and grew up with family that appreciated good food. Still, he says, “My mother was fairly shocked. It must have sounded out of left field when I called her up: Hey Mom, I’m quitting business. I’m going to culinary school.” now the adventure has taken him back to newfoundland, to boxes of “big, beautiful chanterelles,” artichokes planted specially for him by the organic farm next door, and fresh local lamb that graze out on Sheep Island, tended by a man pushing 80, who greets Jeremy every time he comes for his twice-weekly order. Atlantica’s tight menu reflects all this local produce and meat. There are no wild fusion efforts—”There’s a place for it, but personally, I don’t venture too far down that road”—and there’s a nice reliance on newfoundland vegetables, like turnips, parsnips, and cabbage. Read the entire story in be magazine’s inaugural issue due out in late May 09
PERFORMAnCE ARTS
flying high performance artist Chelsea O interview Mary Leighton | photography Emily Gan & Sammy Rawal performed September 25th, 2008 at the Fisher Center in New York architecture Frank Gehry | rapture choregraphy Noémie Lafrance Chelsea O will talk about where she’s been and what’s done, but ask her to explain her projects in progress and she really picks up. Better yet, ask about the big dream for the future—her own circus company with a space in vancouver. Compared to most of the people she graduated with, who joined companies and settled into the routines that were handed to them, Chelsea O has taken a different road. “I’m jealous and I’m not,” she says. The result of her choice is that she has to, in her words, “Go with the flow—go where there’s work.” Available work usually means teaching the odd class or performing at corporate events, which is enough to cover rent and let her develop her own projects. A year and a half ago, Chelsea graduated from Montreal’s national Circus School, where she put in three years of intense, physical work. She specialized in aerial silk, which she says is a hard specialty to be innovative with. not one to be creatively constrained, she teamed up with an engineer and designed a new apparatus for herself, called the aerial kite for its shape. She used it in her final five-minute piece at the national Circus School and the director of the program was impressed, complimenting Chelsea on the way she used the medium to tell a story. This narrative component to her work continues to stand out. Chelsea has been out of school for over a year now. The transition into the program was one thing—“I worked my ass off to get
in”—but the transition out of it has been just as difficult, if not more so. As she says, when you’re working five or six days a week and putting in twelve hour days, “You kind of start losing perspective. It’s very addictive to be in that bubble.” Her dream when she began the program was to be able to perform at a professional level. After three years of just about nothing but training, she achieved that level, which in turn forced her to look in the mirror re-assess her goals. “I had to look at things again. You have to ask why you want that. You have to ask what kind of lifestyle you are truly looking to create for yourself.” Chelsea got job offers, but she turned down the contracts. That was where she split paths with a lot of her fellow graduates. First, she paired up with a rope artist to create a company called Tipping Point Productions, but a shoulder injury on the partner’s part meant that she again had to re-evaluate. Which brings us to the present, where Chelsea speeds up to explain her current projects. For the Health Arts Society, an amazing organization that sprung into life in 2006, she’ll be developing an acrobatic element for a new series of outdoor performances. The Society is devoted to bringing professional art to long-term health sites. last year, the artists presented 650 events. This year, the Society expects to complete more than 1,000 performances, some of which will include Chelsea’s.
Read the entire story in be magazine’s inaugural issue due out in late May 09
be gets the skinny on what brasstronaut is cooking up
interview Mary Leighton | photography Peter Holmes lighting assistance Parker Treffry & Shaleen Hauck
from left to right: John Walsh, Brennan Saul, Edo Van Breman, Bryan Davies
The music escapes the usual genre categories. Brasstronaut’s Myspace account tries to capture it with three: “soul/live electronics/jazz.” As the band tours around Canada this month, audiences will find their own words to talk about the sound. I suspect the band’s members are easier to describe. All four struck me as downright charming. Brennan introduced himself so casually that I wouldn’t have guessed he was about to walk onto the stage at the Biltmore to take a seat behind the drum kit. Edo van Breeman, who provides vocals and keyboard, scrunched up in a corner with a pen and notebook to answer questions even as he was working out the lyrics to a new song — to be performed that night. When the dJs pumped the music so loud that we had to lean in to hear each other, John Walsh, the bass player, smiled encouragingly. Bryan davies, who throws a trumpet into the Brasstronaut mix, listened thoughtfully and summed up thoughts with a comparison between the band and a wellsimmered pasta sauce. In short, their company was at least as good as the performance they gave fiftten minutes later. mL: What do you like most about your music? Bryan: I like it because it’s just very expressive. very soulful. Brennan: We talked earlier about how it’s neat in this band, it’s sort of original in the sense that there are so many different elements of music coming together.
Read the entire story in be magazine’s inaugural issue due out in late May 09
PERFORMAnCE ARTS
it’s just soul music
hey rossetta! isn’t just another “newfie” musical act interview Victor Liang | photography Adam Penny
Read the entire story in be magazine’s inaugural issue due out in late May 09 32
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SPATIAL ARTS architecture | interior design | industrial design | travel | hospitality
“we work not only to produce but to give value to time” -Eugéne Delacroix
SPACIAl ARTS
original scale
interior designer Robert Bailey
interview Cliff Ford | photography Josh Dunford
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His name may not jump out at you but if you have ever stepped into the Opus vancouver or the Opus Montreal you will get a glimpse of his work. Robert Bailey was born, raised and has worked in vancouver for over 50 years and now he has found his happy place. Trained formally Robert began his career in commercial design. Trapped in a 30 year cycle and 100 working associates he was able to bust out into residential design 8 years ago. From 1000 SF to 8000 SF, in vancouver, Hong kong, london muse house or a private jet, Blake embraces all commissions with a great deal of passi on. Inspired by the best of the Hamptons meeting westcoast causal, his work is subject to constant research and the seamless evolution of time and space. “We are not a production house. We are here to do a great job!” Of his most recent public work kOkO supper club at Opus Montreal embraces a true sense of what a great job can look like. Sitting for a formal dinner date on my last trip to Montreal brought that home… the space is magical. “Joy and delight, were our primary inspiration. The historical context of the original art nuvo architecture was enhanced by the generous pallet of black and whites married to the wild side of Osker Wild’s great inspiration’.
The space is a one of kind opportunity and Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays the Opus moves seamlessly from formal eatery into top night spot in Montreal’s chic urban got go spots. But it is the place one comes home to that has this brilliant talents full attention. “Every client has a special something you have to listen for and work with” This apartment featured here is one of our best recent works. It captures the best of Westcoast and masculine palette of the client. “We wanted to incorporate his art and sense of personal style into a space that would inspire him and want him to long to come home to. The apartment was gutted and rebuilt. Rich walnut and modernism mixed with custom furnishings evolved out of hours of dialogue and research for the just right scale.” “Great design is all about the right scale. To do that you need to be willing to be original and not relay on what is available, but to dig deeper to create and design the perfect piece for both client and space. It is about one of kind and helping to actualize our clients personal vision.” now on his own Bailey with a small firm committed to creating intimate spaces. “ I want to stay connected to the people I work with and for. We are here today and just make the most of it. Granted I can continue to maintain that focus, I am fully satisfied in life and career. It is perfect.”==
Read the entire story in be magazine’s inaugural issue due out in late May 09
story by Celeste Moure photography by Cory dawson Bocci, a young contemporary design and manufacturing house based in vancouver, has thus far been known for chandelier installations and custom fabrications of extremely large proportions. In a departure from the chandelier format, Bocci recently introduced the 25, an upholstered bench designed by Bocci’s Creative director Omer Arbel as a result of his exploration of folding and pleating technique. Arbel’s chairs, starting with the 2.4 cast resin lounge in 2003 and the 8.0 concrete chair in 2005, have been critically acknowledged as intense and exploratory investigations into material quality and fabrication technique. These conceptually driven pieces, which were developed in
limited runs and have garnished significant acclaim in the international design community, have become collectors items. Arbel’s sensitivity to material and process based investigations, and his obsession with the chair as a potentially polemical project, are evident in a mature form in the 25, which is his first chair to go into production. Conventional upholstery is based on a simple principle: foam is encased in fabric to provide comfort. The 25 bench eliminates foam from the equation and compensates by providing a vast excess of fabric, which is allowed to fold and pleat haphazardly to create a comfortable seat and back.
Read the entire story in be magazine’s inaugural issue due out in late May 09 36
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story by Cliff Ford Photography Jean Blais & robert Kent
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I love visiting Montreal even in the chill of the winter, but the Opus Montreal has just given me every reason to set up camp there for my next business trip and even massage my schedule for more down time at the hotel. On the road again never felt so good.
It was clear from the first warm greeting of the doorman, Opus is open for business again and we are all invited come in and stay a while. We had caught the red eye to get the first fruits of the business day and so we arrived well ahead of check-in time.
It was only a three hour difference from vancouver but the sleep-deprived duo was feeling a bit beaten up by the journey. Read the entire story in be magazine’s inaugural issue due out in late May 09
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