Vol. 2 Issue 1 June 2017 Cover photo: Joe Johnson
Editor-in-Chief Katie Stobbart
Publisher Anthony Biondi
Communications Manager Jess Wind
Managing Editor Valerie Franklin
FRESH Curators Aymee Leake - Art Alex Rake - Fiction
Business Dessa Bayrock - Ad Sales
Writers Joe Johnson Heather Ramsay Christopher Towler Nick Ubels
Raspberry publishes letters to the editor of 150 words or less. Letters should be sent via email to info@raspberrymag. ca. The editors reserve the right not to print a letter for any reason. If you have a tip for arts, culture, or community coverage, let us know.
Contents
On the cover: Exploring Mission's Downtown core Mission is turning 125 this year. As it grows and changes, we thought we'd capture a snapshot of its current character, both old and new.
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FRESH track This month we released Casinos' new track, "Sean," on our website. It's their first volley after a few years lying low. Read their interview with Nick Ubels, then take a listen!
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www.raspberrymag.ca
Contents Downtown Mission in photos p.8
Chilliwack: Welcome to where you live p.20
Tourism Challenge p.28
Fresh Track: Casinos' new release p.39
Retro Gaming Expo p.54
Columns Local Harvest book review FRESH Art: Dara Kim Sherlock
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p.26 p.46
p.45 Art on the Wing p.62 Let's Play game review
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The Red Press Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering the growth of the literary arts in the Fraser Valley; publishing works which stimulate local arts and culture, including Raspberry magazine; and promoting awareness and readership of contemporary Canadian literature.
Editorial Hi reader, Birthdays are kind of arbitrary. And unless there’s a plan I don’t know about, we’re not even celebrating ours with cake. But I do feel it’s important to recognize our milestones: to lay out where we’ve been and where we’re going.
Photo: Joe Johnson
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Raspberry was created a year ago after a lot of dreaming and no small amount of doing. It was born from the kind of wanderlust that leads you home instead of elsewhere, travelling among the people you’ve been passing all this time and finally making a connection. It came from a desire to see ourselves reflected in the place we live. From the get-go, we knew the arts and culture scene here in the Fraser Valley has a unique character — one that deserves to be cultivated, recorded, and held to the light. So, in the past year, we’ve published 11 issues exploring a whole host of artistic genres and community topics. From Chilliwack to Fort Langley, from Mission to Abbotsford, we’ve sampled the sweet, the savoury, and the bitter, swigged poetry, and chewed on art. We’ve swum through history and slid down a few thespian rabbit holes. We’ve stopped to play games and dream of the future and talk about our favourite books. We’ve attended countless events and even held our own first annual event, Raiseberry, back in March. (We hope we’ll see you there again!) In so many ways, this year has been a thrilling and beautiful adventure. We aren’t finished the journey; in fact, you’re about to read a new chapter. This issue begins Raspberry’s second volume, and we’re eager to work hard over the next year to paint this region’s art, culture, and community life into our pages. We’re moving forward with a renewed commitment to publish Raspberry in print, keep broadening our horizons, and meet old friends and new along the way. Here in the valley, there’s plenty of fertile ground to explore. So buckle up. We’re taking this baby for a ride. Best, Katie Stobbart Editor-in-Chief
An ex histori
PHOTOGRAPHY MISSION
xploration of Mission’s ic downtown through a camera lens written & photographed by Joe Johnson with files from: Katie Stobbart Shea Wind
Starting this June, Mission will celebrate its 125th anniversary. Mission is, of course, more than just a few landmarks north of the river: a university campus, a terminus for the West Coast Express, an abbey. It’s all these things, but just strolling through its downtown core tells a fuller story, of a growing community whose unique flavour distinguishes it from its geographical siblings. This photo exploration of Downtown Mission, from North Railway Avenue up to Second, and from Grand Street in the west to Murray in the east, was a good taste of the spirit at the core of the district.
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The Mission Museum at the top of Welton Street seems like an ideal place to start, as it offers a foray into Mission’s historic character. The building that houses the museum was erected in 1907 on First Avenue, and later moved to its current location. It has also spent time as a bank and a library. Many of its former neighbours no longer stand, but there are still a handful of historically significant buildings in the area. Just west of the museum, on Second Avenue, sits the All Saints Anglican Church; the building was constructed in 1948, but as a congregation, the church has called Mission home since 1901. Even current residents might be surprised to learn that the downtown area once held a popular swimming hole. Back in 1949 people would enjoy summers at this creek-fed spot east of the museum. Today the site is partially paved over by the Mission Library parking lot; the other half is overgrown, with a rezoning proposal on the property. In fact, the area is a candidate for Mission’s plan to make its downtown area a bit greener, as potential park space.
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Moving from quiet Second Avenue and down to busy First, Mission’s historical context comes into focus. The street doesn’t have a gentrified feel; instead there’s a liveliness that seems to reverberate from building to building. And from person to person—plenty of friendly people approached asking why a person was wandering the streets taking photos, and stuck around to chat. One woman asked a technical question about photography; later, an older biker originally from Montreal shared some light-hearted humour.
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For the most part, the historic buildings downtown have become the homes of modern businesses, restaurants, and shops rather than simply relics of the past. This blend of old and new gives Mission’s downtown an unassuming charm. The old post office building built in 1935 is still a post office after all this time, and the Bellevue Hotel is now home to the Stage, an entertainment venue. The hotel has seen a few cycles of existence, as it burned down in 1922, was rebuilt, torn down in 1949 by new owners, then opened again in July that year.
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There are a few buildings along First with boarded-up windows and moving signs, which is an issue addressed in Mission’s 2013 Downtown Action Plan: to replace empty spaces with “community gardens, art displays, and other interim uses.”
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Finally, there’s North Railway Avenue, where the feel of the area changes again. Businesses line the road, including a small theatre. The area is home to a considerable amount of public art, and large murals are scattered through the small downtown core.
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Where on First Avenue the buildings seem small, their backs sprawl downhill a few storeys — the long stretches of wall, with gates, power lines, and the rail yard across the road gives Mission a harbour town feel reminiscent of New Westminster. Where the former capital built up fairly quickly along the Canadian Pacific Railway, Mission took some time to fully develop.
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With a connection to its history, and an action plan on the books to revitalize the area it will be interesting to see in the years to come how Mission’s unique flavour distills into a potent Fraser Valley spice.
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ABORIGINAL
ARTS &
CULTURE
DAY
JUNE 4TH 2 0 1 7
The Abbotsford Arts Council would like to cordially invite you to our 2nd annual:
ABORIGINAL ARTS & CULTURE DAY June 4, 2017: 1pm - 5pm Kariton Art Gallery, 2387 Ware St. Bringing the Community together to showcase Aboriginal & Metis Arts & Culture Join us for a FREE Family event featuring: • Storytellers • Drummers • Artisans • Singers • Activities for children For more information please visit: abbotsfordartscouncil.com VI\QWV[ KZMI\QWV[
Fly the Kite Studios - FREECITY Productions - Hub - Landmark Realty - London Drugs - McDonalds Panago - Prospera Credit Union - Safeway - Save-On Foods - Staples - REMAX - The Original Windmill Deli
Heather Ramsay
Photos used with permission from Helen Bonner and Sandra Bonner-Pederson. No matter what led you to Chilliwack on the eastern edge of British Columbia’s Fraser Valley — work, family, school, the cheaper than Van-City real estate — I have a question. How much do you really know about where you’ve chosen to live? Sure, you’ve experienced the manure stink. You’ve probably even been stuck behind a tractor on Evans Road in rush hour. You were horrified to read about the cattle prodding abuses at the local feedlot. You’ve been to the water slides at Cultus Lake. Maybe you’ve hiked up Elk Mountain. What more could a newcomer need to know?
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"if we’re ever going to get to a place of reconciliation, it is important to understand the history of the place you call home."
Like most places in BC, there is a deeper history to this land. And since Chilliwack has one of the largest growth rates in the Lower Mainland, (the population jumped by 12.6 percent to 88,000 since the last census), this is something many newcomers may not understand. How long until you find out that the proper Halq’eméylem word for Tzeachten, one of seven Stó:lō communities within the city’s boundary, is ch’iyaqtel, meaning place of the fish weir? What will lead you to discover that Helen Bonner, age 89 and born and raised in Tzeachten, remembers her grandfather saying that the first white officials who came promised that the territory — from mountain to mountain — would always be theirs. Or that when these officials came back (different ones of course) they told her grandfather that they had no idea what mountains the others had been referring
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Helen Bonner
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Helen Bonner's grandfather, Billy Hall, then Chief of Tzeachten to. Instead, her grandfather and those of his generation, watched their land being given away to an influx of settlers. The thing is, you have to look for these stories. The Stó:lō are hardly mentioned in the City of Chilliwack’s community profile But the Chilliwack Museum is a good place to start. You may not even like what you find out. But if we’re ever going to get to a place of reconciliation, it is important to understand the history of the place you call home. So here’s a start: Like most of her generation, Helen was sent to residential school at the unfathomable age of four years old. “I was slapped around,” she says. “It was a terrible place.” If she could have, she would have ridden her bike home from Coqueleezta, a forbidding structure that used to stand off Vedder Road, on land that has since been reclaimed
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by the Stó:lō Nation. Her parents’ house was that close. But she wasn’t allowed. Instead, she lived there, along with many young students from far-away communities, for 10 months of the year. Helen still can’t believe the audacity of the early settlers. “They were so prejudiced they didn’t even want Indians living around here.” She and her friend Margaret would ride their bikes to the shops downtown and make the storekeepers take the “No Indians” signs down. “You open a store in Indian Country and you don’t want Indians in here?” she would say. “That’s why my mother never wanted to go to town.” After hearing this, you may say that this was a long time ago and has nothing to do with your move to this beautiful valley. But I don’t agree. It is exactly because these sto-
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ries are so hidden that Canadians continue to ignore the truth of their colonial past. So much can be traced to the Indian Act, the racist legislation enacted in 1876, which initiated the residential school system and the reserve system, and has been the source of 140 years of oppression. But for all the paternalism, Indigenous people have resisted too. Helen and Margaret once went to the brand new Chilliwack movie theatre, bought their tickets and walked straight past the roped-off section in the back where “Indians” were allowed. Instead they sat down at the front. The manager came down the aisle and told them they couldn’t be there. “Why? We bought our tickets like everyone else,” she said. She planned to punch him if he tried to remove her, but he went away. Helen told me some good stuff too. She raised her eight children on the reserve and made sure they all finished high school. She bowled in the local league for 25 years. She has 17 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. And although many of her friends are gone now, she meets those who remain for coffee at the local McDonalds every morning at 6 a.m.
Coqualeetza Residential School It’s complicated. I know this. But all Canadians must learn the history of what has happened on Indigenous land, so that we can find a way to live together fairly. Justly. By the way, the fish weirs are gone from Tzeachten because some early farmers in Sardis were tired of the seasonal river flooding through what they already considered “their” land. In 1882, someone dropped a massive tree to block the northward flow and the Chilliwack River diverted west to the creek known as the Vedder. Because of that, the Tzeachten no longer had easy access to fish, nor their primary mode of transportation, the canoe. They were cut off from their way of life. Now they own the mall where I shop for my favourite cheese. Some people may say that it is all for the best. But I say this is unceded land and that fact needs to be acknowledged and somehow righted today.
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Local harvest Home-grown Westcoasters Dessa Bayrock and Jess Wind bringing you some local literary flavour. We review works set in the valley, written by authors from the valley, or that have that British Columbia, Fraser Valley vibe. Come back each month to see what the Fraser Valley has to offer.
Exploring space, form, function, home, and The Outer Harbour Whirling, vibrant stories from Wayde Compton Dessa Bayrock The Outer Harbour is the first collection of short stories from Vancouver author Wayde Compton, and it reads like a first collection — rough around the edges, yes, but also gutsy, loud, subversive, insistent. This collection is a like a puppy: it’s got a good heart, a lot of energy, and a million limbs going in about 12 directions at once. The most intriguing and striking thing about these stories is how well they hang and fit together. Thematically, Compton is concerned with space: how it breeds familiarity, and how that familiarity can be explored, undermined, or transformed into something else. He borrows an epigraph from Gaston Bachelard's Poetics of Space — the same text that examines how a house or building is the perfect metaphor for the mind — and this absolutely sets the stage for the collection. He wants to abandon clear-cut or familiar space, or at least clear-cut
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and familiar use of space. These stories flirt with the uncanny or the creepy or the straight up weird; they defamiliarize things that ought to be comfortable, and sit back to watch you scratch your head. A good example of this is the first and strongest recurring plot arc, which pops up periodically in several stories: Pauline Johnson Island, a brand new island formed by volcanic activity off the coast of Vancouver out of the blue. What is the government supposed to do with this new piece of land? What do they have a right to do? This new island gives Compton a good excuse to talk about land rights, not to mention the way the government treats land and the people on it. We witness this island at its smoky, alarming birth; we follow it as half a dozen protesters land on it and attempt to decolonize a space the government has already declared off-limits; we see those protesters
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dragged off, and the land then developed into condos, of course; finally, the island’s luxury apartment buildings become some kind of holding facility for people — migrants from some place, some unknown where — who, for some reason no one can quite understand, are blinking in and out of existence and from one place to another. And this progression is cool, wickedly cool, a history fed to the reader so gradually as to be almost unnoticeable. One of the “stories” is just a series of images, of posters advertising a variety of events to do with this new island: protests, infor-
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mational meetings, sales nights for the condos, and so on, and this pulls us back to the epigraph: Compton is messing around with the idea of “space,” again, and how space can be used in a narrative or a book to subvert expectations or frameworks. It’s delicious, delightful, artful — like a magic trick. One thing changes into another right before your eyes and you can't quite figure out how it happened and you love it. You love the transformation and you love that someone did it right in front of you.
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#ExploreB Vancouver Tou Jess
with files fro
BC through the urism Challenge Wind
om Shea Wind
It was one part local tourism, one part solid marketing, and one part Amazing Race. The 17th annual Tourism Challenge encouraged tourism industry staff and volunteers to take as many daytrips as possible to the Lower Mainland’s tourist hotspots (or lukewarm spots) over a six-week period. This year’s rendition of the Tourism Challenge featured a “passport” to be filled up with stamps, which could be collected at each of the tourist destinations. More than 100 attractions, hotels, and neighbourhoods offered stamps, and although the challenge focused on Vancouver, the destinations ranged all the way from Whistler to Hell’s Gate. More than 20,000 tourism industry participants in Lower Mainland take part in the challenge each year, collecting stamps and filling up their passports. It’s not really a race, but there
is a little bit of effort required at each of the attractions. Maybe you're answering questions, requiring you to read some of the exhibit. Or maybe you need to complete an activity and report back to an employee for your stamp. In Gastown we had to search for a specific address and count the windows on an orange apartment building. At Burnaby Village we were asked to find the name of the blacksmith shop — a trick question, as it turns out. We learned the history of Granville Island through a Foodie Tour of its public market, and learned it is the second most visited tourist destination in Canada next to Niagara Falls. Most of the attractions were concentrated in Vancouver, such as museums and art galleries, the Greater Vancouver Zoo, and historical sites along Highway 1, making them transitable by folks living and working closer to the city. Most, but not all.
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Discovering history along the Fraser River As a Fraser Valley resident, trekking into Vancouver to collect stamps was not ideal. But we still wanted to complete the challenge for a chance to win some of the excellent prizes — like WestJet flights, and a Rocky Mountaineering package. We quickly realized that although most of the attractions only offered one stamp each, some of the ones closer to home offered two or three per visit — so, with limited weekends and some strategic planning, we set out to become local tourists in our own surrounding communities.
Hell's Gate It’s that place you drive by every year on your way to the Okanagan. Maybe you stopped in with your parents as a kid, but you don’t really remember. You think there was ice cream. The tram takes you down the side of the Cascadia Mountains, across the Fraser, to a landing at the base of the Pacific Coastal Mountains. Bring your camera. We thought walking across the suspension bridge with our ice cream was a good idea. About halfway across we had to stop, or else we might’ve lost our dessert through the caged floor to the raging river below.
Historic Yale
We didn’t know what to expect with this historic site — entirely missable if you take the Coquihalla Highway, which many of us do. Located off Highway 1 just north of Hope, Yale was once the largest city north of San Francisco. It served as an Hudson’s Bay Company trading post, a Gold Rush stop, a main terminal for Cariboo Wagon Road construction, and eventually the headquarters for the Canadian Pacific Railway. But you’d never know it to look at it today. Yale took the prize for biggest surprise history gem, with its detailed reenactments and activities. To get our stamps we were asked to turn ourselves in for a period-specific crime at the local jail by entering it into the leger. You’re looking at the baddest train-robbing duo this side of the Rockies.
Then I got to try my hand at cracking their safe.
Kilby Historic Site The Kilby Historic site is tucked away just off the Lougheed Highway, where Harrison River meets the Fraser. We explored the Manchester House Hotel and an intriguing exhibit detailing the Sasquatch myth, complete with plaster footprint casts. The highlight, as it usually is for us, was the interactive farm, where we made friends with some very muddy pigs.
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Powerhouse at Stave Falls You know the dam — you’ve driven across it to get to the prime swimming spots behind Mission. But did you know you can go inside? After attempting (and failing) to pass through a downed powerline simulation without dying, we were treated to a shocking Tesla coil demonstration before descending into the bowels of the historic dam.
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Maple Ridge Museum The museum is a cute little house off Lougheed Highway, dedicated to documenting the development of the area north of the Fraser River. It’s suggested that early settlers on the Langley side pointed across and decided to set up shop on the opposite bank. Eventually developing into a booming brick factory town, the museum boasts its connection to the industrial
development of the Lower Mainland. The gem of this museum lies in the basement, where the Dewdney-Alouette Railway Society displays their historically accurate model of Port Haney as it was in 1926. Developed from archival photos with an acute attention to detail, no element is overlooked for these enthusiasts.
Greater Vancouver Zoo I honestly can’t remember the last time I was at the zoo. I have faded memories of visiting animals in Stanley Park, and I know I probably day-camped at the Greater Vancouver Zoo, but the opportunity to discover it through the passport challenge with some of my favourite little dudes brought a whole new perspective. We trekked through the exhibits, saying hello to the free-roaming peacock and hungry lions before answering questions about local wildlife conservation efforts.
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Langley Centennial Museum
Fort Langley More than just an adorable historical town with a solid local business draw and plenty of film location credits, the fort at Fort Langley stands as the “Birthplace of BC,” where the HBC fur trade and Gold Rush fever collide in immersive reenactment. With a sprawling grass field and the fully licensed Lelem’ at the Fort cafe inside, the Fort is as much a history lesson as a relaxing place to hang out for lunch. There are even rentable tents that can be booked through Parks Canada if you want to extend your stay — but they book plenty of months in advance, so plan ahead, way ahead.
Our adventure started and ends here. The Langley Centennial Museum is on the corner of King and Mavis in Fort Langley. With a commitment to Langley-based history, the permanent exhibit showcases daily life for residents throughout history. Many of its items were donated by local prominent families. The Tourism Challenge is a unique tool for attractions like LCM, not just for employee and volunteer recognition, but for marketing. Jeff Chenatte, acting cultural services manager at the museum, explains the benefits of participating in the program. “Well over a thousand individuals have come through our doors in the past few weeks on this program; they spend money in our gift shop and leave and return to their positions in the hospitality industry well-versed in all that LCM and Fort Langley has to offer,” he says. “We are looking at ways of further capitalizing on the program through related promotions in the community or links to social marketing, but that will have to wait until next year."
There's something missing...
We were pretty sure our progress would take us in a big circle if you plotted all the non-Vancouver destinations on a map. So we did.
Langley Centennial Museum
Maple Ridge Museum
Conclusion: there are some key communities missing from this program. Why can I trace a circle of Tourism Challenge attractions right around core of the Fraser Valley communities? At first glance I would assume because it is a primarily Vancouver-based program. But that doesn’t account for the vast number of outliers from Whistler to Hell’s Gate. For six weeks I was a tourist in the province I grew up in, visiting attractions I’d seen on highway signs and had nev-
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er given a second thought to. I learned more about BC’s history than I’d ever picked up through 20 years of education in this province. Surely Fraser Valley communities would benefit from the kind of exposure, community-building, and knowledge-sharing that happens through a program like this. Instead of tourists passing through Mission, Abbotsford, and Chilliwack, give them a reason to stop and learn something.
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Track Premiere:
"Sean" Casinos Nick Ubels
Casinos are hard not to like. Whether you go for the big melodies or the fuzz-dripping guitars, the rich character studies or the muscular musical chops, there’s something for everyone. Since releasing their self-titled EP in 2014, the Abbotsford poprock favourites have kept a low profile, playing a smattering of shows and quietly developing a repertoire of new music. Raspberry is thrilled to share Casinos’ welcome return.
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“Sean” is the long-awaited first volley of the band’s rebirth. The pace is slower than much of their previous material, which is often characterized by an almost manic, sugar-rush energy. Here, Casinos deliberately savour the intricacies of the musical interplay, dwelling in the groove established by new drummer Ken Ditomaso, who joined the band in late 2015. The guitars are heavier and crackling with swagger, underpinning Kier Junos’ incisive and melodic vocals that tell the tale of a friendship gone sour. I caught up with Kier and guitarist Zack Keely to discuss the band’s long history, Frank Ocean, and Kier’s approach to storytelling.
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“Sean” is your first release in nearly three years. What’s changed in that time? Kier: I think we’ve all just become more discerning musicians, naturally, with age. We’re writing material that’s a lot more becoming of us. Not like we didn’t wear our last release on our sleeve or anything like that. I wrote on our Bandcamp page myself that [2014’s Casinos EP] was our final push of songs from our teen years. “Sean” is very much something of this era, which is why we’re really pushing to get it out there so we can kind of redefine ourselves in the public eye.
You’ve been in a band together since high school, right?
Kier: Since we were 13, 14. That’s when we all started playing music together. Zack: It’s come in many different incarnations. I’d say we started playing music together in grade seven. And you were writing songs earlier than that. Kier: My sister Faye got a guitar for her 16th birthday, but never played it as much as I did.
That’s a very long time to be in a band together. Kier: It is a long time. In fact, I’m kind of surprised we’ve kept going this long with largely the same group of members
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since 2010. We had another guitarist for a while that we played shows with. Mitch [Trainor] also went to SJB [St. John Brebeuf Regional Secondary], and he joined us in 2010. Zack: I’ve since switched roles. I joined the band as bass player and I’ve switched to guitar.
As far as what interests you as a writer… I feel like Casinos always have had this sense of detail of interpersonal drama reflected in the lyrics. Kier: I’d have to agree with you. I write all the lyrics and it’s kind of on me to create the narrative of those stories. I’ve been a journalist for a while now, it’s kind of my other passion, and by virtue of that, I like storytelling. I’ve always liked writing about people. Maybe once upon a time it was just girls I was in love with. Now it’s just people, people I’ve interacted with, other relationships I’ve had with people, be that friendships or just acquaintances. I guess I’m inclined to write about people. I’ve even written roasts. Zack: “Sean” is a roast. Kier: In a way, it really is. It’s about what we want from friendships and a friendship that I’ve been trying to escape. I’ve been trying to ghost someone for a while now and … you’ll get the picture.
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Has your approach to how you write about people as characters in your songs changed over the course of Casinos? Kier: I think it has changed. When I was a teenager and I was writing about people, it was a lot more natural, it was a lot more free-writing about my thoughts and feelings and that was it. Whereas now, I try to weave a narrative around the thing, and use concrete language to explain this person’s existence or their story. I don’t even shy away from experimenting with fiction. On the third track of Channel Orange, “Sierra Leone”, Frank Ocean writes about himself as an alternate person who’s a little bit looser and ends up fathering a child with another woman, which never happened. But I thought that was interesting and I thought why not? You’re a storyteller, why can’t you write fiction that way? So I decided to experiment with that. We have this song called “Café Racer” and it’s about a man I met in London who had a Café Racer. He was in his late forties, in Honor Oak Park in East London, and I just weaved this narrative in my head where he’s incredibly disappointed with himself and his family situation and all he’s got is this Café Racer and all he wants to do is ride it through perennials and ruin people’s gardens. It’s like, “Don’t do that!” But it’s all he has. Zack: Kier seems to have this great way of reimagining the lives of people that he
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doesn’t really know. And he uses songwriting as a place to experiment with that. It’s almost like this elaborate exercise in people watching where you take what you know and ask what does this tell me? Kier: You can characterize my songwriting for a lot of songs like that. Sometimes, I just spill. But other times, I’m really having a lot of fun with it. Zack: One thing that always seems to be in songs that Kier brings to practices where we learn the parts is an idea of a story, sometimes in the form of guitar parts.
Could you elaborate on that? Zack: I don’t know if I could give you a particular example, because it’s everywhere. “Café Racer” for instance. The lead part that I play at the very beginning sets the mood for this guy pitter-pattering around on this Café Racer. Then comes this brash 90s rock kind of chorus: “I’m riding through an English garden!” and you kind of get a sense of the man there, this guy that just says “fuck it,” you know?
”Sean” was released on our website on May 6, 2017. You can catch Casinos live this summer around the Fraser Valley and find more of their music online at casinos.bandcamp.com
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art on the wing Art on the Wing is a quick monthly glimpse into the work of an emerging artist or curator, produced in partnership with The Reach's Emerge program.
Social justice is Darby Arens' cup of tea Anthony Biondi The small paper labels stapled to teabag strings might seem unassuming, but local artist Darby Arens is using them to make a powerful statement. Her new artwork, which creates images out of these tea tags, is the result of her work with a non-profit organization that aims to bring young girls in India out of the sex trade. Why tea tags? Because tea and trafficking are linked. “Traffickers will often target tea plantations,” Arens explains, “because they’re some of the lowest-paid workers. So, parents will be more likely to sell their child to traffickers.” She adds that some parents are even tricked into giving up their daughters, based on lies of giving them a better life. This isn’t Arens’ first foray into found-object art. In her last major show, Emerge’s Dis://connection, her piece “Icarus is not here” was a blend
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of digital artwork in strips, punctuated by bits of feather and wire. “I really like bringing that kind of materiality to the work, and finding meaning in everyday objects that you see,” she says. She hopes her new work will bring awareness of injustices in the tea industry, and the importance of fair trade. Arens also wants to keep creating socially engaged art, with a focus on the materials used to create it. Recently she has been working largely with tea tags and encaustic wax, a mixture of beeswax and resin. “You can create really interesting textures with it,” she says. “I have a little heat gun and a little crock pot in my basement suite, [which] I heat up the wax with. It always smells good.” Arens hopes to show her work in a few galleries in Fort Langley in the near future.
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fresh art
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About the artist
Dara Kim Sherlock Dara Kim Sherlock lives in Chilliwack. Inspired by the natural outdoor settings of Agassiz and Harrison Hot Springs, her art often features wildlife. Her drawings are a mix of pen, watercolour, and pencil crayon. More of her work can be found at kimmikatcreative.com.
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Where pixe
els collide
going retro at new west's gaming expo If there’s one thing video games have going for them it’s their ability to be on the cutting edge of computer technology, and at the same time tap into their audience’s sense of youth. Nostalgia is a powerful emotion for bringing people together under shared memories and experiences, and this plays out in an obvious way at New West’s recent Retro Gaming Expo.
christopher towler
An annual event since 2012, the expo was inspired by similar conventions celebrating a generational nostalgia for old video games. As far as conventions go, this one is still fairly new on the scene — but just because it’s young doesn’t mean it’s anything less than impressive.
A text-based adventure game built for an early gen personal computer.
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The Retro Gaming Expo shines in its ability to bring local fans together. Whereas large cons attract massive crowds, this expo provides an excellent opportunity to meet and mingle with local independent vendors, artists, and gaming enthusiasts from all over the Fraser Valley and the Lower Mainland. And how better to meet new people than to beat them at a nostalgic old video game you both used to play when you were kids? The expo features ongoing retro gaming tournaments throughout the day, including Super Smash Bros match-ups, Super Mario Kart SNES showdowns, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix face-offs, and even Mortal Kombat from way back when. The expo also features an open area play-space where you can play your favourite retro games with other convention-goers.
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Oh, and did I mention there are also gaming-inspired musical performances, often performed in costume? Because there are. That is a thing that happens. It’s a regular con occurrence that can only be experienced in person. This year the performances included local musical groups such as missingNo., the Runaway Four, and Opus Arise, and the music ranged in genre from synthwave and chiptune to a rendition of the opera from Final Fantasy VI. Although “retro gaming” might bring to mind images of the NES, Atari, or Commodore 64 systems, the Retro Gaming Expo takes it further, exhibiting obscure gaming systems that existed even prior to the mass marketing of consoles designed for at-home use. It is also a gathering for local vendors that specialize in selling hard-to-find collector’s items from past systems, such as
o obscure Japanese import titles that never saw the light of day in North America, usually due to being deemed unmarketable for Western audiences. I was enthralled by physical copies of now-rare Super Nintendo titles such as Final Fantasy VI, Super Mario RPG, and the legendary Earthbound, which was still sealed in its box with the original player’s guide. Just make sure to bring more than pocket change with
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you — these collector’s items don’t come cheap. And if you’re gamed out, take a stroll down the Artists’ Alley, a convention staple: a marketplace of local artists and crafters. Many sell prints of their artwork, as well as other crafty media including custom designed buttons, t-shirts, pins, jewellery, bags, fox-tail and cat-ear accessories, and quilted or knit items. Here we see the blending of maker culture
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older games still bring the same joy today with geek culture creating new unique media from popular images and styles of our youth. All in all, the Retro Gaming Expo has something for just about everyone. If you’re in the area this time next year, give it a shot; it’s a fantastic way to spend an afternoon indulging in nostalgia and meeting like-minded people, and a rare chance to purchase or play older, hard-to-find games. The video gaming industry seems to always be focused on the next big thing, but expos like these prove that older games still bring us the same joy and fun today as they did fresh out of the box 20 or more years ago.
Far left: I picked up this “Zelda and Me” print by Kurtis Findlay. Top: Kim Brown sells gaming-inspired accessories of all kinds, ranging from earrings to bow ties to necklaces. Middle: Artistic duo Rhonda and Tyler Homfeld specialize in creating gaming accessories. Bottom: Colourfully designed, gaming-inspired t-shirts and buttons by Sam Kalensky.
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LET'S
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Game Reviews from the Geek Beat It doesn’t matter if it’s board, mobile, video, role-playing, or card — games are a way to bring people together, to learn and hone new skills, and to collaborate on elaborate world building. They are for first dates, family fun nights, team-building, or any other social gathering. It can’t be denied there’s a game culture thriving right here in the Fraser Valley. So what are we playing? With so many ways to play, it can be daunting to pick up and learn a new game. We’re here to help you along as we play new games, or discover classic favourites. We’ll even tell you where you might find these games to play yourself.
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It’s hard to be liberal: lessons from Secret Hitler Katie Stobbart Play time: 30 to 45 mins Players: 5 to 10 (played with 5) Age: 17+ Earlier this year the creators of Secret Hitler sent the board game to all 100 US senators, with a letter explaining that despite the historical setting, senators and staff might find it relevant “as you negotiate the balance of power with the Trump White House” (as quoted in Adweek). How it works: you get an envelope containing voting cards, your political allegiance (liberal or fascist), and a character card. One character plays as Adolf Hitler. Throughout the game, the presidency passes to each player, and players collectively elect a chancellor. The goal of each party is to play enough of their policy cards to win before the other team, and to prevent or enable Hitler’s rise to power.
There’s lying, there’s indignation at being accused — “Spoken like a fascist!” — and it’s hard to know who to trust. The lying tactics players use put Secret Hitler in bluffing game territory, so you get to know your friends’ “tells” and use them to help your own game, as well as seize opportunities in later rounds to gleefully accuse them of betrayal and dishonesty. There’s a lot of laughter playing this game, but underneath is a disturbing comprehension of the ease with which fascists can manipulate the game to score a win — we played several times, and the fascists did win more frequently. Their tactics, as the game-makers are aware, make the political dynamic of Secret Hitler hit pretty damn close to reality. Secret Hitler is available as a PDF under Creative Commons License, so you can practice fighting fascism for free if you print it yourself.
Our contributors Dessa Bayrock is an ex-journalist with a soft spot for the Fraser Valley. She currently lives in Ottawa and studies the apocalypse as part of her M.A. in English. You can find her reviewing books online at Bayrock, Bookrock and for Ottawa Review of Books. If you rearrange the letters of her name you can spell “abyss croaked,” “as bark decoys,” or “brocade as sky,” all of which describe her in one way or another. @YoDessa www.bayrockbayrock.wordpress.com Anthony Biondi is an artist and writer living in Abbotsford. He has been previously published in The Louden Singletree, and served four years on The Cascade’s editorial board as Art Director and Production and Design Editor. He is a humourless crab, and fundamental contrarian, whose cholesterol may be higher than his IQ. | www.anthonybiondi.com Joe Johnson is keenly interested in exploring new creative outlets and has always been drawn to photography and the arts. Having been through the rigors of working at a student newspaper, coming to Raspberry magazine is a natural progression for him. Other passions of his are found in writing, running, and the outdoors. He also has his roots in web operations and digital marketing. Heather Ramsay recently relocated to the Fraser Valley. She is a writer and journalist and is completing a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at UBC.
Katie Stobbart is a writer and editor from Abbotsford. She has edited The Cascade newspaper, Louden Singletree literary magazine, and the Pacific Rim Review of Books. She is also a proud co-founder of QuiQuill Communications. A selection of her poems will appear in a co-authored chapbook soon to haunt local library shelves, dentists’ offices, and hotel lobbies: It looks like a chicken. Katie is also working hard to improve her patio gardening game. Christopher Towler just finished his Master of Arts in Communications & New Media. He is an avid roleplayer, board and video gamer, (surprised?). He is also a writer, musician, and really into improv theatre. He’s also the owner of a rad pug-familiar named Oscar! Nick Ubels is an editor, musician, and event planner living in Abbotsford with his wife and two cats. He loves black coffee and tennis but is terrible at both. His life story served as inspiration for the events of Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Jess Wind somehow managed to earn two degrees by writing about zombies. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from UFV and an MA in Communication from Carleton University in Ottawa. Jess is an ex-editor of The Cascade, is published in The Louden Singletree and has been known to blog about entertainment media and culture. She likes her coffee black, her video games retro, and her sports local.
Raspberry magazine is a monthly Fraser Valley magazine devoted to arts, culture, and community life. Established in June 2016, Raspberry publishes reviews, event coverage, and other arts-friendly content online as we work toward our goal of publishing in print. You can follow us on social media for updates on our progress, information and insights on the Fraser Valley arts and culture scene, and fresh arts coverage.
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