The Georgia Straight - The Circus Gets Cooking - Jan 19, 2017

Page 1


2 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017


HER FURT WNS! DO MARK

S SHOE AS W A S LO

$

99

I T’S M I N D - B L OW I N G W E K N OW

UP T

O

OFF

J O H N F LU E VO G S H O E S G R A N V I L L E S T · · | WAT E R S T · · F L U E V O G C O M

JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 3


4 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017


100

$

*

25

$

*

voucher on select sun packages. Mexico Vacations

Caribbean Sun

USA Beaches

Unique Options

Cancun

Punta Cana

Honolulu

Costa Rica

Flights + 7-Night Escape

Flights + 7-Night Escape

Flights + 5-Night Escape

Eco-Resort Flights + 5 Nights + Car

1485

1795

$

now from

1585

reg from $

INCLUDES roundtrip

7-Night All-Inclusive Escape

1849 1749

reg from $ now from $

INCLUDES roundtrip airport transfers, 4-star luxury hotel with free room category upgrade upon arrival PLUS 1-tank scuba diving tour. BONUS $100 * savings included.

Riviera Nayarit Flights + 7 Nights 5-Star All-Inclusive

2135

from $

INCLUDES 5-star all-inclusive resort overlooking the beach and majestic mountains of Playa de Flamingos. BONUS $25* voucher included.

Los Cabos Flights + 7 Nights 4.5-Star All-Inclusive

2475

from $

INCLUDES 4.5-star beachfront all-inclusive resort on one of Cabos’ best swimmable beaches. BONUS $25* voucher included.

$

now from

1895

reg from $

airport transfers, 3-star all-inclusive hotel in the Hotel Zone PLUS snorkel excursion at the MUSA Underwater Museum of Art. BONUS $100 * savings included.

Mayan Riviera Flights +

1415

$

now from

INCLUDES roundtrip

airport transfers and 3-star all-inclusive resort on Bavaro Beach with Unlimited-Fun ® at two resorts with full access to Sunscape Dominican Beach next door PLUS an ATV adventure. BONUS $100 * savings included.

Montego Bay Flights + 7-Night Escape

transfers and 4-star contemporary boutique hotel across from Waikiki Beach PLUS a Paradise Cove Luau excursion. BONUS $100 * savings included. ADD private surf lesson from $215.

2019 LA Beaches 1919 Flights + 4-Night Escape

reg from $ now from $

INCLUDES roundtrip airport transfers and 3.5-star all-inclusive resort located on a secluded peninsula overlooking the Caribbean Sea PLUS bamboo river rafting excursion. BONUS $100 * savings included.

2035

from $

1505 1405

reg from $ now from $

INCLUDES roundtrip airport transfers and 4-star hotel in Marina Del Ray with easy access to Santa Monica, Venice and Playa Vista beaches PLUS guided tour of famous celebrity homes. BONUS $100 * savings included.

South Beach

Punta Cana Flights + 7 Nights 4-Star All-Inclusive

1515

reg from $ INCLUDES roundtrip airport

Flights + 4-Night Escape

Cuba Combo

Maui

Flights + 7 Nights INCLUDES 3

2049

from $

nights 4-star Havana hotel, 4 nights 4.5-star all-inclusive Varadero hotel PLUS roundtrip transfers. BONUS $25* voucher included.

ou find We’ll help y escape! the best sun

Flights + 5-Night Escape INCLUDES 3-star

Jose, eco-hotel in Bajos del Toro with daily breakfast, evening tour of Arenal Natura Park PLUS 6-day car rental with unlimited mileage to explore the wilderness at leisure. Experience 500 acres of private forest, a wellness spa, yoga, hiking and farm-to-table cuisine at this authentic nature retreat. BONUS $100 * savings included.

3-Night Escape + Car

1505 1405

INCLUDES roundtrip airport transfers and 4-star art-deco hotel in the heart of South Beach PLUS day-trip to Key West. BONUS $100 * savings included.

2345

reg from $ INCLUDES flights into San

Napa Valley Flights +

reg from $ now from $

all-inclusive resort set within a picturesque coconut grove along the azure Caribbean Sea. BONUS $25* voucher included.

INCLUDES 4-star

2245

$

now from

1515 1415

reg from $ now from $

resort in Kihei across from the golden sands of Kamaole Beach Park II PLUS admission to Maui Ocean Center. BONUS $100 * savings included.

1555 1455

reg from $ now from $

INCLUDES 4-star luxury hotel in the heart of Napa’s sun-soaked vineyards PLUS gourmet lunch aboard the wine train and 4-day Alamo car rental with unlimited mileage. BONUS $100 * savings included.

Los Cabos Adults-Only Flights + 7-Night Escape

2589 2489

reg from $ now from $

INCLUDES roundtrip airport transfers and 4.5-star Unlimited-Luxury ® resort located on Medano beach, the safest swimmable beach in Cabo San Lucas PLUS snorkelling adventure. BONUS $100 * savings included.

For more sun deals visit flightcentre.ca/sun

flightcentre.ca

More great deals online!

24/7

1 866 828 2259

Over 950 Airfare Experts across Canada.

All advertised prices include taxes & fees. Conditions apply. Ex: Vancouver. All advertised prices include taxes & fees. Air only prices are per person for return travel in economy class unless otherwise stated. Package, cruise, tour, rail & hotel prices are per person, based on double occupancy for total length of stay unless otherwise stated. All-inclusive vacations include airfare. pp=per person. Prices are for select departure dates and are accurate and subject to availability at advertising deadline, errors and omissions excepted, and subject to change. Taxes & fees due in destination are additional and include, but not limited to, local car rental charges & taxes, one-way rental drop fees which are to be paid upon arrival, resort fees & charges, tour ‘kitty’, airline baggage fees and cruise gratuities. ◊Price is per person for quad occupancy (2 adults & 2 kids ages 2-17) for total length of stay unless otherwise stated. *Conditions apply. For full terms & conditions please speak with a Flight Centre travel consultant or visit flightcentre.ca/sun. †We will beat any written quoted airfare by $1. Additional important conditions apply. For full terms and conditions visit flightcentre.ca/lowestairfareguarantee. BC REG: #HO2790 Canadian Publications Mail Agreement #40009178, return undeliverable Canadian addresses to The Georgia Straight, 1635 West Broadway, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1W9

JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 5


6 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017


CONTENTS

1161 West Georgia Street. Christian Laub photo.

10

NEWS

NDP Opposition health critic Don Davies says that with illicit drugs projected to kill more than 800 in B.C. in 2016, it’s time for Canada to debate legalizing and regulating hard drugs, including heroin. > BY TR AVIS LUPICK

12

HEALTH

Although online gay sex seekers have been stereotyped as socially isolated and risky, a recent study shows that is not the case. > BY CR AIG TAKEUCHI

13

GREEN LIVING

Eliminating plastics and saying no to takeout are just two of the ways you can set in motion a more sustainable 2017. > BY LUCY L AU

14

FOOD

From pig roasts to pizza-making, Dine Out offers a range of activities and tours that go far beyond savouring a meal at a table. > BY GAIL JOHNSON

17

COVER

Cuisine & Confessions makes the unlikely but spectacular combination of cooking and circus. And you may even help with the prep work. > BY TONY MONTAGUE

27

START HERE 15 39 39 32 35 34 39 36 9 24

The Bottle Confessions I Saw You Local Discs Real Estate Red Meat Savage Love Straight Stars Straight Talk Visual Arts

TIME OUT 26 Arts 34 Music

SERVICES

MOVIES

Annette Bening rules as a 20th Century fox; Neruda takes playful shots at a police state; Michael Keaton griddles up in The Founder; Ocean Waves finds Ghibli in a wistful mood.

36 Careers 35 Real Estate

Don’t Wait For Cupid. Hire One! Executive Search Dating.

31

MUSIC

You’re ready for a relationship, but meeting that special someone can be hard with your busy schedule. That’s why single professionals turn to Executive Search Dating – Vancouver’s #1 personalized matchmaker. Our award-winning &XSLGV JHW WR NQRZ WKH UHDO \RX WKHQ ¿QG ORFDO VLQJOHV who you’ll love meeting. Dating has never been easier. Executive Search Dating: Your relationship. Guaranteed.

After some long, lost years, Vancouver’s Bruce Wilson has escaped the darkness with Sunday Morning’s brilliant debut. > BY MIKE USINGER

36

COVER PHOTO

CLASSIFIEDS

Automotive | Education | Services | Travel Marketplace | Employment | Real Estate Property Rentals | Music | Announcements Callboard | And more... ALEXANDRE GALLIEZ

GeorgiaStraight @GeorgiaStraight @GeorgiaStraight

#1 Matchmaking Service

Call Today!

604 714 0221 JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 7


$30

f

it n

ol

21

sa

39

nd

FOR

to ss G e t a cce

87

30 DAYS

8 are n as

LIMITED TIME ONLY JANUARY 2 TO FEBRUARY 7

es

sc m e ntr e s, 9 sw i m

in g

po

65

41

Buy now and get: • $100 off group training package • 1 month free upon pass extension vancouver.ca Terms and conditions apply and are subject to change without notice.

MAJESTIC’S MASSIVE FLOOR MODEL CLEARANCE SALE $129

$79

Designer High End Night Stands from

$149

Counter Height Tables starting @

$99

$59 $59

Assorted Dining Chairs & Counter Stools

$299

Only! $59 Designer $299 Queen $299 Bed frames

Only! $299 *while quantities last

Since

1986

$299

Dining Tables up to 80% off!

Floor Model Double size Cabinet bed w/mattress

$1199

MAJESTIC SIT & SLEEP w w w.m a j e s t i c sitandsleep.com

1828 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver • 604-731-8226 Vancouver ’s Source for Cer tif ied Organic Latex

8 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017

E EINGK F RRKBAC PA IN


straight talk

WOMEN’S MARCH TO TARGET TRUMP TOWER

On January 21—the day following Donald Trump’s inauguration as president of the United States— more than 250,000 people are expected to convene in Washington, D.C., for what may be one of the largest protests in American history. But the gathering reaches far beyond that nation’s borders. In support of the Women’s March on Washington, thousands of Vancouverites will also be taking to the streets on January 21. The event is one of many localized rallies happening around the world as an extension of the demonstration in Washington, which has evolved from a feminist protest against Trump’s misogynistic rhetoric to an inclusive march for the liberties of all those directly or indirectly attacked during the president-elect’s election campaign. “The hatred that we’ve seen spring up, not just in the U.S. but in some of our own communities, frankly, is abysmal,” Lisa Langevin, a local electrician and one of the Vancouver rally’s organizers, told the Straight by phone. “We know that more of us support these groups than are against them, so, really, this is a visible signal to all of those people that we have their backs.” Protesters will meet downtown at Jack Poole Plaza (next to the Vancouver Convention Centre) on January 21 at 10 a.m. and will march past the U.S. Consulate on West Pender Street and Trump International Hotel & Tower on West Georgia Street before returning to the plaza, where various speakers will address the crowd. Langevin noted that people of all genders, ethnicities, sexual orientations, abilities, and faiths are welcome. She stressed that it is important for Vancouverites to march in solidarity with those in the U.S. and around the globe to send a message to the Trump administration and similar-thinking factions that acts of hate and discrimination will not be tolerated. > LUCY LAU

PAY-BY-DISTANCE TRANSIT TOUTED AS MORE FAIR

A city councillor believes that charging transit riders by the distance they travel is a step in the right direction. “It’s a more fair way,” Nathan Pachal

of Langley told the Straight in a phone interview as TransLink embarks on the second phase of its fare review. The long-time advocate of public transportation explained that a shift to distance-based fares will address equity issues related to the current three-zone fare structure, which has been in place since 1984. (A temporary one-zone fare was adopted in October 2015 for bus-only and HandyDART trips to facilitate the introduction of the Compass card.) According to Pachal, riders pay more when they “go through an arbitrary zone boundary” even if it’s just a distance of one kilometre. Others get to travel several kilometres within a zone and don’t get charged extra. Pachal is encouraged that there is strong public support for distance-based fares, judging by the feedback during the first phase of TransLink’s fare review. In a report released last month, TransLink noted that most riders consider the current SkyTrain fare structure for short trips across zone boundaries “expensive” and “unfair”. Based on survey data gathered by the transportation authority, 46,000 daily two-zone trips are less than 10 kilometres, while 2,800 daily one-zone trips are more than 20 kilometres. According to the report, this suggests that the “problem of short trips crossing a zone boundary is a very real one for many people”. TransLink plans to deliver a new fare system in 2018. > CARLITO PABLO

EMBATTLED DTES NGO GETS NEW EXEC DIRECTOR

After eight months without a captain at the helm, the Portland Hotel Society (PHS) finally has a new executive director. Jennifer Breakspear was recently named as the Downtown Eastside nonprofit’s new leader. She takes over from Eamonn O’Laocha, who resigned without warning last May. PHS is one of the largest government partners operating in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, with revenue exceeding $28 million in 2016. Breakspear takes over at a time when the organization and the entire Downtown Eastside are struggling with an epidemic of overdose deaths unparalleled in the city’s history. A veteran of high-profile Vancouver nonprofits, she spent the

pacific centre for reproductive medicine

last four years serving as executive director of the B.C.–based Options for Sexual Health and before that spent four years at the helm of Qmunity, a leading LGBT organization based in Vancouver’s West End. In a brief telephone call, Breakspear told the Straight her first weeks on the job will be spent getting to know the organization’s staff and building relationships with partners. > TRAVIS LUPICK

SKATEBOARDER DONATION EASES MOM’S TRAGEDY

Last August, Janet Charlie‘s son Tyler died of a fentanyl overdose. It was less than two years since another son had succumbed to alcohol poisoning. And so Charlie found herself unable to pay for the two boys’ funeral arrangements. “Losing two sons in two years is hard,” Charlie told the Straight in an interview last December. “I’m saving up for headstones for both my sons. And I’m paying each month out of my welfare cheque. Trying to pay for headstones for both of them.” The First Nations grandmother runs the concession stand at the Downtown Eastside Street Market. Interviewed there again this month, Charlie said that after reading the article in the Georgia Straight, somebody—she didn’t know who—came forward with a $3,000 donation that has allowed her to buy the headstones for which she was saving. “It’s wonderful what they did,” Charlie said. “There’s going to be a memorial now, and I’ll be inviting them.” The donation was facilitated by Sarah Blyth, a former Vancouver parks commissioner who manages the market where Charlie works. From there, the Straight traced the donation to a prominent member of Vancouver’s skateboard community who wishes to remain anonymous. In a telephone interview, the donor said many skateboarders feel an affinity for the Downtown Eastside on account of shared experiences of marginalization. “She’s been through a bunch of crap and I thought that would be a way to help her have some peace,” the benefactor said. > TRAVIS LUPICK

The Georgia Straight | Vancouver’s News and Entertainment Weekly | Volume 51 Number 2559 1635 West Broadway, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1W9 www.straight.com Phone: 604-730-7000 / Fax: 604-730-7010 / e-mail: gs.info@straight.com Display Advertising: 604-730-7020 / Fax: 604-730-7012 / e-mail: sales@straight.com Classifieds: 604-730-7060 / e-mail: classads@straight.com Subscriptions: 604-730-7000 Distribution: 604-730-7087 EDITOR + PUBLISHER Dan McLeod ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Yolanda Stepien GENERAL MANAGER Matt McLeod EDITOR Charlie Smith SECTION EDITORS

Janet Smith (Arts/Fashion) Mike Usinger (Music) Steve Newton (Time Out) Adrian Mack (Movies) Brian Lynch (Books) EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATOR Doug Sarti ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Gail Johnson, John Lucas, Alexander Varty STAFF WRITERS

Tammy Kwan, Lucy Lau, Travis Lupick, Carlito Pablo, Amanda Siebert, Craig Takeuchi, Kate Wilson SENIOR EDITOR Martin Dunphy EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Jennie Ramstad PROOFREADER Pat Ryffranck CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Gregory Adams, Nathan Caddell, David Chau, Jack Christie, Jennifer Croll, Ken Eisner (Movies), George Fetherling, Tara Henley, Michael Hingston, Ng Weng Hoong, Alex Hudson, Kurtis Kolt,

Robin Laurence (Visual Arts), Mark Leiren-Young, John Lekich, Amy Lu, Bob Mackin, Michael Mann, Rose Marcus, Beth McArthur, Verne McDonald, Allan MacInnis, Guy MacPherson, Tony Montague, Kathleen Oliver, Ben Parfitt, Vivian Pencz, Bill Richardson, Gurpreet Singh, Jacqueline Turner, Andrea Warner, Jessica Werb, Stephen Wong, Alan Woo ART DEPARTMENT MANAGER

Janet McDonald SENIOR DESIGNER David Ko CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Alfonso Arnold, Rebecca Blissett, Trevor Brady, Louise Christie, Emily Cooper, Randall Cosco, Krystian Guevara, Evaan Kheraj, Kris Krug, Tracey Kusiewicz, Kevin Langdale, Shayne Letain, Matt Mignanelli, Mark “Atomos” Pilon, Carlo Ricci, William Ting, Alex Waterhouse-Hayward DIGITAL PRODUCT MANAGER

Chet Woodside LEAD WEB DEVELOPER Jeffrey Li WEB DEVELOPER Tina Luu WEB ADMINISTRATOR Miles Keir

pacificfer tility.ca

PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR Mike Correia PRODUCTION

K.T. Dean, Sandra Oswald

AD SERVICES ASSOCIATE

Doctors: Caitlin Dunne Jon Havelock Jeffrey Roberts Ken Seethram Tim Rowe Victor Chow Ken Poon

IVF and Infertility Reproductive Genetics Fertility Preservation refer yourself today | referrals@pacificfertility.ca 604.422.7276

What’s Your Vision for the ARBUTUS GREENWAY? The Arbutus Greenway is a future northsouth transportation corridor that will connect False Creek to the Fraser River. Help us plan a high-quality public space for walking, cycling and wheeling — a legacy for generations to come.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION!

Jon Cranny, Lyndsey Krezanoski

DIRECTOR OF ARTS, ADVERTISING & MARKETING

Laura Moore

Take the Survey: vancouver.ca/arbutus-greenway.

SALES MANAGER Sharon Smith (On Leave) ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES

Steve Barmash, Glenn Cohen, Lauren Ellis, Robyn Marsh, David Pearlman, Patrick Ruel, Kathy Skelton

PROMOTIONS + SPECIAL PROJECTS

Navdeep Chhina

ADVERTISING + PROMOTION ASSISTANT

Maya Beckersmith

DIGITAL SALES COORDINATOR

Brenna Woodhouse CIRCULATION MANAGER

Dexter Vosper

Attend an Open House February 4, 2017 11 am-2 pm

Kitsilano Neighbourhood House 2305 West 7th Avenue

February 9, 2017 7-9 pm

Marpole Community Centre 990 West 59th Avenue

February 11, 2017 2:30-5:30 pm

Roundhouse Community Centre 181 Roundhouse Mews

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DIRECTOR

Dennis Jangula

CREDIT MANAGER Shannon Li ACCOUNTING SUPERVISOR

Tamara Robinson

ACCOUNTING

Angela Krommidas

RECEPTION/PROMOTIONS ASSISTANT

Teagan Dobson

The Georgia Straight is published every Thursday by the Vancouver Free Press Publishing SUBMISSIONS The Straight accepts no responsibility for, and will not Corp. Copies are distributed free every week throughout Vancouver, Burnaby, North necessarily respond to, any submitted materials. All submissions should be and West Vancouver, New Westminster, and Richmond. International Standard Serial addressed to contact@straight.com. Number ISSN 0709-8995. Subscription rates in Canada $182.00/52 issues (includes GST), $92.00/26 issues (includes GST); United States $379.00/52 issues, $205.00/ 26 issues; foreign $715.00/52 issues, $365.00/26 issues. Contact 604-730-7087 if you wish to distribute free copies of the Georgia Straight at your place of business. Entire contents copyright © 2017 Vancouver Free Press, Best Of Vancouver, BOV And Golden Plates Are Trade-Marks Of Vancouver Free Press Publishing Corp.

Visit an Arbutus Greenway Pop-Up: See project website for times and locations.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Phone: 3-1-1 TTY: 7-1-1 vancouver.ca/arbutus-greenway JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 9


NEWS

Stylish natural living since 1981

Organic Natural Healthy Bedding, Bath, Yoga & More Quality made in Vancouver for over 35 years

During a tour of the Downtown Eastside, NDP MP Don Davies (right) met with individuals such as Portland Hotel Society’s Daniel Benson. Travis Lupick photo.

20% Off Yoga & meditation Dec 28 - Jan 31

2749 Main Street (12th & Main) Tel 604.254.5012 dreamdesigns.ca

NDP MP wants legally available hard drugs > B Y TR AVIS LUPICK

O MASTER OF DIGITAL MEDIA

INFO SESSION JANUARY 25

Is this innovative program the graduate degree for you? Industry-Focused Master’s Degree

JOIN US ON JANUARY 25, 2017 at 6 PM CENTRE FOR DIGITAL MEDIA 685 GREAT NORTHERN WAY VANCOUVER, BC Register online at thecdm.ca/info-session

Graduate from 4 Major Universities Competitive Scholarship Opportunities

a collaboration between

learn more

thecdm.ca

It is no accident we are #1

Your first call when an accident strikes Warnett Hallen LLP is a boutique law firm that specializes in one thing – personal injury law. AY TOD CALL I L A B L E AVA

24/7

FREE CONSULTATION 604.737.3300

720 Robson Street, 5th Floor Vancouver, BC V6Z 1A1

warnetthallen.com

EDUCATION PRINT & DIGITAL special issues, branded content, social media & more.

604.730.7020 | sales@straight.com 10 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017

n a sunny but cold January afternoon, Don Davies, the NDP MP for Vancouver Kingsway, met with people in the Downtown Eastside working on the front lines of the fentanyl crisis. In a back alley near the intersection of East Hastings and Columbia streets, he spoke with Ann Livingston, a longtime advocate for harm reduction who helped bring North America’s first supervised-injection site to Vancouver. At a nearby overdose-prevention site, Davies, the Opposition health critic, met with volunteers watching over people injecting drugs. Up the street at a needle depot, Daniel Benson, a peer employed by the Portland Hotel Society, outlined an argument for the full legalization and regulation of hard drugs like heroin and cocaine. Everyone recounted watching someone overdose on fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that was linked to 60 percent of illicit-drug deaths in 2016. A few people told Davies they had lost a friend to the crisis. At the end of it all, Davies said the argument for legalization raised questions he has been contemplating for some time. “What I heard was a lot of people talking about the need to discuss finding safe, cheap ways to distribute drugs in a legal form,” he told the Georgia Straight. “I think we are at the point, as a country, where we can start opening a dialogue about finding a better method of distributing drugs, legally, to those who are addicted to them so that we can avoid the unnecessary death, destruction, and crime that is so clearly associated with the current model [prohibition].” Davies was quick to add he was not in a position to articulate a policy on legalization for the federal NDP as a whole. But he said his personal view is that it is time to have a national conversation about bringing hard drugs into a regulatory system, perhaps similar to how powerful prescription narcotics like methadone and OxyContin are controlled by the federal government

and regional health authorities. “I am in favour of starting that dialogue,” he said. “When we drive people underground to buy drugs in unsafe circumstances—so that people are not sure of what they are getting, not sure of the concentration of what they are getting, and forced to do drugs furtively and in isolated circumstances— it leads to a host of problems that I saw very clearly on my walk.” Federal health minister Jane Philpott was unavailable for an interview. Reached via phone, her spokesperson, Andrew MacKendrick, took no position on the legalization and regulation of hard drugs but said that in shaping the government’s response to the overdose epidemic, nothing is off the table. “We’re not going to shut down ideas if they may help address the crisis,” he told the Straight. Health Canada, MacKendrick emphasized, recently announced a $5-billion, 10-year investment in mentalhealth care that is designed, in part, to address the overdose epidemic. It is estimated that more than 800 people in B.C. died of an illicit-drug overdose in 2016. That’s up from 510 the previous year and 370 in 2014. In a December interview with the Straight, B.C. health minister Terry Lake said he has heard conversations about legalization happening at the federal level. “When I was at the opioid summit in Ottawa [on November 18], people would bring this up,” he said. “A lot of people are saying we should be like some countries in Europe and just legalize all drugs and make sure there is a safe supply. But I’m not sure. I don’t know enough.” Davies said there are obvious needs for greater investment in prevention and treatment. But he noted that some people will continue to use opioids regardless. “When you see people obtaining dangerous drugs off the street that are killing them, I think it would be really interesting—and a timely discussion to have—to see if we can distribute those drugs in the established pharmaceutical system,” he said. -

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A MEANINGFUL VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY? Our Peer Support Services is accepting applications for our Friendly Visiting Program/ Community Support Visitor Training. We are looking for volunteers from all diverse backgrounds. This volunteer training will prepare you with the skills to interact with seniors in our community and will enhance employment opportunities and personal growth. Training will consist of five consecutive sessions, evenings 4pm-7pm for a total of 15 hours. You will become more skilled with age-related challenges, grief and loss, isolation, loneliness and many other issues facing older adults. Jewish Seniors Alliance is an inclusive organization and reaches out to all seniors. At the end of the training you will receive a certificate. The sessions are starting on Wednesday March 1, 2017 from 4pm-7pm. For more information please call GRACE HANN or CHARLES LEIBOVITCH at 604-267-1555.

She’ll need 13,485 shots just to make it to 17. 1-877-CURE 533


GET FIT, GO NORDIC BEST REAL ESTATE AGENT WINNER 2010-2016

“Let’s Have a Coffee and Talk Real Estate” www.toffoli.ca 604.787.6963 email: paul@toffoli.ca Master Medallion

All you need. Rain? Mud? Dress up? Dress down? Blundstone boots take it all in stride. Try all-season, all-terrain, all-world Blundstone boots. Laces? Who needs ’em?

#068 The Chisel Toe in Black. $209.95

Australian Boot Company

1968 West 4th Ave.,Vancouver 604-738-2668 Mail order or free catalogue call 1-877-842-1126 Free shipping at australianboot.com

CROSS COUNTRY SKATE SKI CLINICS AGES 16+ FOR BEGINNER TO INTERMEDIATE SKIERS

LESSON, TICKET AND RENTAL

$280

+tax

VISIT CYPRESSMOUNTAIN.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION

JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 11


8

We have

YEARS

8

$

under our belt (and yours!)

WIN TICKETS TO SEE AND MEET THE

OFF SERVICES & RETAIL*

*restrictions apply, see store for details

CHIPPENDALES*

NEW CLIENT OFFER 3 BRAZILIANS FOR $80 TEETH WHITENING $88 Follow us on Twitter & facebook for specials and discount

TM

Hair Removal Bar

2805 West 16th Ave. Vancouver #112-17700 56 Ave. Cloverdale 1-844-4WAXING BOOK ON LINE WAXHAIRREMOVALBAR.COM

@waxhrbar

Online hookup seekers savvy with safer sex B.C. researchers are challenging preconceptions and harnessing the Internet’s power for gay sexual health

I

n the age of hookup apps like Grindr and the rise of the postgay identity, it can be challenging to determine how to reach queer men about sexual-health issues. A common assumption is that men who seek sex with men online are less involved in LGBT communities and are less likely to practise safe sex. However, the results of a study by the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS revealed such notions are inaccurate. The study was published on December 16 in the journal Sexual Health and conducted with researchers from the BC-CfE, UBC, SFU, and UVic. It involved 774 gay and bisexual men and men who have sex with men (MSM) in Metro Vancouver. Researchers sought to understand the relationships between seeking sex online, community connections, and sexual behaviour. The study found that, contrary to stereotypes, online-sex-seeking men were more likely to spend more social time with other gay and bisexual men. The most com- BC-CfE’s Nathan Lachowsky analyzed mon forms of community involvesex risk reduction among queer men. ment were reading gay news (75 percent) and attending gay bars or connected to each other and where clubs (73 percent). Over half of the they spend their time and what they men either watched (45 percent) or are emotionally connected to.â€? participated in (11 percent) a Pride The topic of how to use technology parade. However, these men also to help improve gay-male health was experienced less emotional con- also addressed by a panel discussion nection to a genat the 12th aneral LGBT comnual Gay Men’s munity identity. Health Summit in BC-CfE asNovember at SFU Craig Takeuchi sociate researcher Harbour Centre. Nathan Lachowsky explained by At the summit, B.C. Centre for phone from Victoria that things have Disease Control physician lead shifted away from a broader collective Troy Grennan spoke about how identity and toward personalized net- mobile and Internet technologies works. Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean can help to overcome barriers to that these men care less about taking testing and health care, for insexual precautions. stance by reaching MSM who may Although online sex seekers were not identify as LGBT or men who more than twice as likely to have live in rural areas. The Internet, condomless sex with someone whose he explained, can play a role in HIV status was different than their home testing. The example of BCown or whose HIV status they didn’t CDC’s virtual-clinic website, Getknow, they also employed a variety CheckedOnline, he said, helps to of strategies beyond condom usage “improve sexual health by increasto reduce the risk involved. Online ing uptake in frequency of testing, sex seekers were twice as likely to acceptability of testing, and also, ask a partner about HIV status, and as a result of all that, improve intwice as likely to use risk-reduction creased timeliness of diagnosis, practices (including changing sexual which again are critical factors in positions), and were more likely to times where there are high rates have been tested for HIV than those in STIsâ€?. who don’t seek sex online. BC-CfE research assistant Kiffer “The dominant story has been that Card, whose doctoral research was guys online are riskier, full stop,â€? La- part of the aforementioned study, chowsky said, “and‌what we were pointed out at the summit that in able to demonstrate is that, yes, these examining how Facebook can be guys do report an absolute greater used to spread health-related mesrisk for passing HIV, but they are sages, he found that efforts dedicated more likely to use risk reduction.â€? to specific issues, such as CommunThe study recommends future re- ity-Based Research Centre for Gay search on how social networks can Men’s Health’s Resist Stigma cambe used to spread information and paign, had a ripple effect throughout how to develop health-awareness related communities. strategies accordingly. “We see that not only did Resist “People’s personal networks are Stigma increase their discussion critical to the way in which we inter- around stigma but a lot of the other act and are influenced and learn about community-based organizations [did] things,â€? he said. “So if we want to help too and it shows that a focused effort provide HIV–prevention resources can actually improve the theme or the or education, we need to be really topic for all the other organizations as thinking about the way people are well,â€? he said. -

Health

FAMILIES DEALING WITH

Family-to-Family Education An intensive 12-session course

MENTAL ILLNESS )HEUXDU\ WR $SULO 7:00 p.m to 9:30 p.m 7KXUVGD\ HYHQLQJV &RDVW 0HQWDO +HDOWK ( WK $YH DW .LQJVZD\

TOPICS COVERED INCLUDE: • Symptoms of the illnesses - bipolar,

schizophrenia, clinical depression, anxiety • MedicaĆ&#x;ons and communicaĆ&#x;on • Problem solving • Advice on working with the system • Looking aĹŒer yourself as a caregiver

OFFERED FREE OF CHARGE! Register Early! Class size is limited. For information and to register call: Kathryn (604-926-0856) Course outline and details: www.northshoreschizophrenia.org/ education/ family-to-family-course/

dŚĞ Ä?ŽƾĆŒĆ?Äž Ĺ?Ć? ƚĂƾĹ?Śƚ Ä?LJ ĆšĆŒÄ‚Ĺ?ŜĞĚ ĨÄ‚ĹľĹ?ůLJ žĞžÄ?ÄžĆŒĆ? Ç ĹšĹ˝ ƚŚĞžĆ?ĞůǀĞĆ? ŚĂǀĞ Ĺ?ĹŻĹŻ ĆŒÄžĹŻÄ‚ĆšĹ?ǀĞĆ? ĂŜĚ žĂŜLJ Ç‡ÄžÄ‚ĆŒĆ?Í› ÄžÇ†Ć‰ÄžĆŒĹ?ĞŜÄ?Äž ĚĞĂůĹ?ĹśĹ? Ç Ĺ?ƚŚ ƚŚĞ Ć?LJĆ?ĆšÄžĹľÍ˜ /Ćš Ç Ĺ?ĹŻĹŻ Ä?Äž ŽĨ Ć‰Ä‚ĆŒĆšĹ?Ä?ƾůÄ‚ĆŒ Ĺ?ĹśĆšÄžĆŒÄžĆ?Ćš ƚŽ ĨÄ‚ĹľĹ?ĹŻĹ?ÄžĆ? Ç ĹšĹ˝Ć?Äž ĆŒÄžĹŻÄ‚ĆšĹ?ǀĞĆ? ŚĂǀĞ ĆŒÄžÄ?ĞŜƚůLJ Ä?ĞĞŜ ÄšĹ?Ä‚Ĺ?ŜŽĆ?ĞĚ

175 tables of Bargains on Deluxe 20th Century Junque! Vintage jewellery, memorabilia, kitsch, retro furnishings, shabby chic, plus drop-in appraisals all day! Sunday • JAN

Hosted by North Shore Schizophrenia Society in partnership with Coast Mental Health Funding provided by: Vancouver Foundation 12 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017

22 • 10am-3pm

Croatian Cultural Centre 3250 Commercial Drive at 16th Ave. Vancouver, BC • Free Parking Admission $5 • Kids Under 13 Free 604.980.3159 • www.21cpromotions.com


GREEN LIVING

• Willow Dental Care • Home of Sedation & Family Dentistry for well over a decade ✓ Professional staff that shows you the utmost respect ✓ No Embarrassment

✓ A pleasant and calm environment ✓ Reduced anxiety For over a decade setting high standards for taking care of high fear patients and their families

There are numerous things you can do to minimize your contributions to waste, such as investing in a reusable travel mug to replace disposible coffee cups.

Easy ways to shift to a sustainable lifestyle > BY L UC Y LA U

A

h, January—the start of a new year, a clean slate, and an opportunity to reinvent yourself. And while upping your fitness regimen, giving up a vice, and committing to self-care are all worthwhile endeavours, 2017 proves an opportune time to reevaluate your impact on the environment as well. Interested in reducing your carbon footprint for good but have no idea where to start? We asked Jacquie Rolston, founder of Zero Waste Club Vancouver—a community group that conducts ecofriendly potluck and DIY workshop events—for her beginner tips on leading a more sustainable lifestyle. ELIMINATE PLASTICS If you haven’t

already made an effort to rid your life of plastic bags, to-go cups, and water bottles—items that Rolston identifies as “the big three” of harmful, nonbiodegradable plastics—now is a good time to start. Disposable straws should also be removed from your everyday routine. “Most of it is telling your waiter or your barista that you don’t want something—and being faster than them,” Rolston notes. “Because most of them will do it out of habit.” Invest in durable totes, glass or stainless-steel vessels, and reusable straws instead. Single-use wet wipes, many of which contain plastic fibres and microbeads—tiny bits of plastic found in various exfoliators, scrubs, and cleaning products—should be avoided at all costs, too.

SAY NO TO TAKEOUT Ditch the plastic and Styrofoam carry-away boxes at your favourite restaurant and bring any leftovers home in reusable containers. “I carry a little kit of cutlery and chopsticks in my purse and try to have Tupperware with me all the time,” Rolston says. The zero-waste advocate explains that most businesses are willing to

accommodate your requests. Some, however, may refuse to package food in provided vessels. In these cases, it may be best to avoid the restaurant altogether. “You’re going to be talking to businesses a lot more,” Rolston says. “You have to get used to saying no to waste.”

Willow Dental Care | Willow + Broadway | 604.210.7751 | willowdentalcarevancouver.com

52 FACIAL

$

EUROPEAN

Experience your skin at its finest, with Optaderm’s one hour Complete Facial, yours for $52 (compare elsewhere $80-$135). Your skin will benefit from our relaxing aromatherapy massage, thorough deep pore cleansing, skin smoothing peel and soothing hydrating masque.

REVISIT RECYCLING RULES The more the three Rs of the environment are embraced, the more sophisticated municipal recycling programs are becoming. Therefore, it doesn’t hurt to regularly review your neighbourhood’s guidelines to familiarize yourself with what can—and cannot—be recycled and where. You may be surprised by what you discover. “I live and breathe this stuff, and I was recycling wrong,” Rolston reveals. “So just make sure you brush up on your recycling knowledge.” Plastic grocery bags should be dropped off at various collection depots and retail shops, for example, where they are shipped off and remade into composite lumber, containers, and other items, while cereal-box liners may often be left curbside.

OptaDerm Skin Care / Laser / Products

25 Years of Service tel: 604-737-2026 / www.optaderm.com Address: #340-2184 W. Broadway @ Yew, Van.

Gift Cards Available

Offer expires February 10, 2017

ASK FOR HELP It can be intimi-

dating to transition into a more sustainable or zero-waste lifestyle, but you don’t have to go at it solo. “Don’t do it alone,” Rolston stresses. “There are more people doing this than you would imagine.” Look to groups like Zero Waste Club Vancouver or the Vancouver Bulk Sharing Community and blogs, Instagrammers, and books for guidance. Most importantly, enjoy the process—try picking one skill to master over a week or month, for example, and then adding another one—and don’t sweat it if you’re not leading a 100-percentgreen lifestyle at all hours. “If it’s cheaper to get a bag of apples and you’re on a tight budget, then let that one go,” Rolston says. “Every bit of waste that you refuse is not going to the landfill, and that’s a win. So don’t beat yourself up.” -

WE'RE HERE TO HELP Divorce and separation Division of property • Child custody • Parental alienation • Child/Spousal support • Cohabitation, Marriage and Separation Agreements • Wills

SALE UP TO

70%

O F F FA L L W I N T E R S T Y L E S *EXCEPTIONS APPLY

FURTHER REDUCTIONS START S F RIDAY, JANUARY 20 T H

• •

Andrea E. Petersen LL.B BARRISTER AND SOLICITOR

DIVORCE

&

FAMILY LAW

1125 Howe St., Vancouver, B.C. • V6Z 2K8 TEL 604-339-6097 • ADVICE@ACELEGAL.CA JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 13


FOOD

From tours to classes: Dine Out offers more

T

he Dine Out Vancouver Festival may be best known for its prix fixe meals, but there’s a whole lot more to the annual extravaganza than sit-down dinners. To augment your enjoyment, consider signing up for one of the many culinary tours, one-off events, and pop-ups on the program, immersive experiences that will have you discovering more than just the food on your plate. Tickets and additional details are at dineoutvancouver.ca/events.

neighbourhood, including Jackalope’s Neighbourhood Dive, Black Rook Bakeshop, and Steam, Vancouver’s smallest tea shop. “We typically visit small, family-run businesses that are under the radar or off the tourist grid but that are making wonderful food,” says Off the Eaten Track co-owner Bonnie Todd. “The tours are a unique way to not only sample delicious food and drinks but to hear stories, learn more about the local history, meet the business owners, and discover interesting architecture or landmarks.”

EAT EAST VAN Learn about the city’s Japanese

JAVA JOURNEY A first for the city, the Vanhistory (and Oppenheimer Park’s place in it), couver Coffee Tour (January 21 and 29 and Febsee some of the oldest homes in Vancouver, ruary 5; $75, including taxes and tip) will take and hear the story of how caffeine fiends to three estabthe term growler came to be lishments for an in-depth during the Discover Raillook at how different types town Culinary Tour (Januof joe are brewed: filter cofGail Johnson ary 25 to 27 and February fee, cold-brew, and espresso. 1 to 3; $78, including taxes). Presented by Off Canadian Craft Tours provides transportation the Eaten Track, the urban adventure includes for this three-hour excursion presented in partstops at the Railway Street location of the Rail- nership with the Vancouver Coffee Snob. town Café, which recently launched one of three new spots set to open this year, and the ARTSY APPETITES Granville Island is where Uncommon Café, a darling coffee shop, com- it’s at for Art, Eat, and Sip (January 25; $63), missary, and cooking school run by a hus- a self-guided tour that features stops at artists’ band-and-wife team. There, you’ll get to don studios, restaurants, and more. an apron and make your own mini pizza. The tour also hits the Settlement Building, for craft PIE POINTERS Put an end to disappointing beer and wine samples from Postmark Brewing deliveries for good by learning how to make and Vancouver Urban Winery, and pastry chef your own f latbread pizza from scratch at the Eleanor Chow Waterfall’s Cadeaux Bakery. Perfect Pizza Cooking Class (January 26 at Five percent of ticket sales goes toward the the Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company HAVE Café, a neighbourhood culinary train- [1876 West 1st Avenue]; $42.50, including ing society that provides job training to people taxes and tip). Headed by Rocky Mountain Flatbread corporate chef Oliver Zulauf, the who face barriers to employment. Off the Eaten Track is offering other foodie evening also features a tasting of Gehringer treks throughout Dine Out. There’s Sip, Sav- Brothers Estate wines. Get Crafty—Kits, meanwhile, is another our, and Shop on Main (January 21, 22, and 27 to 29 and February 3 to 5; $78, including Rocky Mountain Flatbread pizza-making class, taxes), a three-hour East Van jaunt with stops hopped up with beer tastings from Persephone at the Honey Shoppe, Juicery Co., and Bal- Brewing (February 1; $42.50, including taxes). ance Botanicals, among other places in Riley Park. Meanwhile, the two-hour Discover the TAPAS THAT ROCK Pairings of craft beer East Village Culinary Tour (January 21, 22, 28, and small plates only get better when served and 29 and February 4 and 5; $68, including with live music. Take it all in during the Beltaxes) hits five places in the Hastings Sunrise mont Bar’s Tasters, Tapas, and Talent (January

Best Eats

Seeking something beyond dining at Dine Out Vancouver Festival? Check out foodie tours like Sip, Savour, and Shop on Main, a three-hour East Van trek with stops at places like Balance Botanicals.

26 at the Belmont Bar [1006 Granville Street]; served with Kentucky-whiskey pudding, and $47.50, including taxes and tip). chocolate-fudge brownies. THE WHOLE HOG Mamie’s Low Country

Pig Roast (at Mamie Taylor’s [251 East Georgia Street] on January 31; $63.35, including taxes and tip) brings southern-style comfort food to the heart of Chinatown. The threecourse long-table dinner at Mamie Taylor’s features traditional country biscuits, devilled eggs, house-made pickles, and more before a whole roasted suckling pig is served, family-style, with Mamie’s hot sauce, Augusta-style barbecue-pit beans, and Mississippi braised greens. There’s dessert, too: apple pie

DEEP-SEA DINING The Vancouver Aquar-

ium’s café will be transformed into a bistro during its Ocean Wise Pop-up With Chef Ned Bell (January 20 to February 5 at the Vancouver Aquarium [845 Avison Way]; $58, including tax and gratuity). Guests will dine on dishes such as side-stripe shrimp roll and seafood mixed grill with scallops, sablefish, and Kuterra salmon (raised on First Nation land); they’ll also be able to roll up their sleeves and check out the Discover Rays touch pool, home to cownose rays and southern stingrays. -

Mix ingredients. Season to taste. Serve over 17 days. DINEOUTVANCOUVER.COM

JANUARY 20 to FEBRUARY 5, 2017 PRESENTED BY

PREMIER PARTNER

FESTIVAL PARTNERS

PREFERRED PARTNERS

™ Trademark of Tourism Vancouver, The Metro Vancouver Convention and Visitors Bureau. ™ YP Dine and the Walking Fingers & Design are a trademarks of Yellow Pages Digital & Media Solutions Limited in Canada.

14 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017


ENTRÉE SPECIAL

(with the purchase of beverages)

2 FOR 1

ONE PER DINING EXPERIENCE

FOOD

(s (second entrée of equal or lesser value) up to $1 Valid until Feb. 16, 2017. Not valid with other $17. co coupons or other in-house offers or event nights. G Gratuities based on TOTAL bill before discount.

Free Street Parking!

BREAKFAST, LUNCH & DINNER

#thetipperrestaurant #lovestories #dineindiner #thetipper

2066 KINGSWAY (at Victoria) Victo | 604.873.1010 | www.thebottletipper.com

THE

Wines from Sulva, Viña Cobos, CedarCreek, and Santa Rita are perfect for the chilly, wet weather in Vancouver.

Hot reds to warm up winter

H

ere we are in January, and although it’s a fresh new year, we’re still in the depths of winter. The weather certainly dictates much of the tone of our days, and whether it’s chilly with snow or damp and rainy, a big red wine often hits the spot. This week, a quintet of recently tasted gems to share; being well stocked on toothpaste is highly recommended.

dates and figs. The first few sips see sun-dried tomato, roasted red bell pepper, black currants, eucalyptus, and a mild tinge of salinity highlighting all of those delicious things. VIÑA COBOS FELINO MALBEC 2015 (Mendoza, Argentina; $21.99;

B.C. Liquor Stores) Yeah, yeah, I know: we’re getting tired of Argentine Malbecs. Here’s one that breaks through the mould. While many a Malbec in this realm can be heavy and SANTA RITA SECRET RESERVE exhausting, this one right here is reRED BLEND 2015 (Maipo, Chile; markably lively and damn delicious. It $13.49, B.C. Liquor Stores) Killer bar- has a medium weight, with well-integain alert! While grated tannins, and you ignore the the many waves of cringe-inducing purple fruit carry tag line on the an abundance of Kurtis Kolt back label (“Every juicy acidity. A rich mirror keeps secrets, and every glass red that’s actually spry; a rare and welof SR does too”), pay attention to come style. what’s in the bottle. Or, really, don’t pay attention to what’s in the bottle; CEDARCREEK PLATINUM DESERT it’s certainly not necessary to focus on RIDGE MERITAGE 2013 (Okanagan nuance or character to easily enjoy this Valley, B.C.; $42.99; B.C. Liquor Stores) wine. If you are into the detail, how- This wine is a Bordeaux-inspired blend ever, you’ll note a touch of smokiness of 58 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 22 in the aromatics, swirling amongst percent Cabernet Franc, 14 percent dried sage and oregano, and a bram- Merlot, and six percent Malbec. It’s bly forest-floor character. On the pal- also 100 percent wonderful. On the ate, currants, dusty plums, black lico- nose are attributes that some may find rice, and a handful of fresh mint keep strange, but amiable at the same time: things lively, and more savoury than notes of fresh pencil shavings, graphite, and iron tell us that the Cabernet sweet. The value here is incredible. attributes are on point. When we SUVLA SUR 2010 (Gallipoli Pen- take our first few mouthfuls, the redinsula, Turkey; $42 to $46; private li- currant and red-bell-pepper flavours quor stores) I guess recommending a come rushing in, capped by hints of wine from Turkey coming in at more tomato leaf, parsley, and fresh thyme, than 40 bucks may be tempting fate? and they’re all kept in place by some For those who trust me on this: you lovely, soft tannins. shall be rewarded. This Bordeauxinspired blend of Merlot, Cabernet CEDARCREEK PLATINUM THE Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Pe- LAST WORD 2013 (Okanagan Valtit Verdot checks in with aromatics ley, B.C.; $77.99; cedarcreek.bc.ca/) of fruity tobacco along with stewed So. We have a wine here from British

The Bottle

Columbia that’s almost $80. When we look at other wines from around the world coming in at the same price, does the wine stand up? First off, let’s be clear that this wine is excellent and an obvious example of CedarCreek reaching for the stars. The quality is evident in the combo of 34 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 32 percent Merlot, 24 percent Cabernet Franc, and 10 percent Malbec. There’s plenty of rich purple and black fruit, licorice, fresh-cracked peppercorn, spearmint, Coronation grape, and more. It’s incredibly well built, with sticky black fruit all the way through, which makes it so darn amiable. If you decant it, it’ll be even better. CedarCreek is an incredible producer, offering wines of all styles at a myriad of price points. Some of the stuff on their lower tier finds a place at the front of the pack when it comes to local juice. Don’t get me wrong: this wine is tremendous, and really hard to come by. If you drop $80 on it, will you be getting one of the best wines in British Columbia? Yeah, you will. So, on the upside we have in front of us an incredible bottle of wine. Will it impress your international friends who doubt our local juice? Totally. Has the trifecta of blood, sweat, and tears been put into it? Yeah, that seems likely. Is this wine twice the value of the Meritage mentioned above at almost half the price? I can’t say it is. Perhaps, though, that speaks more to the value of the Meritage than it does of the Last Word. My key point here is that there is value to be found with the wines of CedarCreek; it’s just up to you how much you’d like to pay for it. -

OPEN

24

18

HOURS

2015

Naam Restaurant

Golden Plate Awards Best Vegetarian 20 years running Winner Winner Winner Winner

Best Vegetarian Best Restaurant for a 3am meal Best Veggie Burger Most Vegan Friendly

• Licensed • 7 Days A Week • Cozy Wood Fireplace • Heated Patio • Live Music at Dinner

2724 W. 4th Ave. / 738-7151 / www.thenaam.com

AFGHAN HORSEMEN RESTAURANT SINCE 1974

AWARD WINNING AFGHAN CUISINE

12T H A N N U A L

17

18

2014

2015

1833 Anderson St. (2nd Floor) Vancouver

BEFORE THE ENTRANCE TO GRANVILLE ISLAND, RIGHT BEHIND THE STARBUCKS

(604)873-5923 Open 7 Days A Week www.afghanhorsemen.com

Think you

know BBQ?

BOB LIKES THAI FOOD

You don’t know

3755 Main St @ 22nd Ave

604.568.8538

Vancouver’s first Central Texas BBQ roadhouse is NOW OPEN. Reservations recommended.

1521 W. Broadway @ Granville

604.558.3320

www.boblikesthaifood.com

THE RED CROSS www.redcross.ca Canadian Red Cross / Croix-Rouge Canadienne

JOIN US FOR DINE OUT VANCOUVER Now accepting reservations

(Vegetarians, not so much...) Open at 5 pm til late Wed - Sun Brunch served 10 am - 2 pm Sat/Sun

337 E. Hastings St. (just east of Gore St.)

meatatdixies.com ig @jeremyszafron

JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 15


FOOD

Weight loss program based on your blood analysis and your health

THE BAD PLUS • FRI. JAN. 20 @ 8 PM

Genre-bending powerhouse jazz trio featuring Ethan Iverson piano, Reid Anderson bass and Dave King drums

We design a complete personalized all-natural weight management program

A TRIBUTE TO NEW ORLEANS FRI. JAN. 27 @ 8 PM

No Pills No Shakes No Injections No Cravings No Hunger

Music from the birth place of jazz with Capilano U’s top jazz ensembles “A” Band and NiteCap

BANDA MAGDA • SUN. JAN. 29 @ 8 PM

This program has been clinically proven with over 20 years of research and development

The small-town cabaret of sealed secrets ST. JAMES HALL

604-677-7742

Tickets: 604.990.7810 • Online: capilanou.ca/centre

LMhomeopath@gmail.com www.metabolic-balance.com littlemountainhomeopathy.com

Capilano University • 2055 Purcell Way • North Vancouver

Shameful Tiki Room offers inspired mixing > B Y M IKE USIN GER

Straight, No Chaser looks to Vancouver’s talented mixologists for stories from behind the stick. We find out how they create, what they love, where their favourite bar is, and what they grew up watching their parents drink. WHO ARE YOU?

Hi, I’m Shea Hogan and I’m the bar manager of the Shameful Tiki Room. MY PARENTS MIXED

Growing up, most of my family on my mom’s side were dedicated gin-andtonic drinkers, though my grandma did mix her gin with Coke; give it a try, you’d be surprised! My stepmom is Danish, so growing up, during smorgasbords, we got to have a shot of “snaps”, aka akvavit. Let’s just say I didn’t quite have an appreciation for it then! My dad rarely drinks but when he does it’s usually crappy beer, so if I’m ever feeling particularly nostalgic, Coors Banquet does the trick. THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Cocktails for me usually start out as an idea. Is there a particular spirit I’m using, a flavour I want to achieve, a specific theme? (I once took inspiration from the movie Smokey and the Bandit, where I deftly balanced mescal, vodka, blackberry liqueur, and Coors Banquet together, garnished with a car-shaped, homemade lollipop.) Sometimes the more restrictive parameters can yield the best results. Generally, after I devise an idea, I research the ingredient(s), then I’ll make/ gather all of the things I need and do a trial run, and if it’s close to what I’m trying to achieve and tastes good, I’ll move forward and tweak as necessary. If it’s no good, I’ll scrap that idea and start again; sometimes no amount of tweaking can save something. Usually,

ADRIANNE PIECZONKA

SINGS FOUR LAST SONGS BY RICHARD STRAUSS SATURDAY & MONDAY, JANUARY 21 & 23 8PM, ORPHEUM

Bramwell Tovey conductor Adrianne Pieczonka soprano* R. STRAUSS Intermezzo: Waltz Scene R. STRAUSS Four Last Songs* R. STRAUSS Ein Heldenleben Symphony concerts do not get much more epic than this: Maestro Bramwell Tovey conducting the music of the great lateRomantic composer, Richard Strauss, with breathtaking Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka — called “a tour de force” by The Guardian — performing Four Last Songs in her VSO debut. PRE-CONCERT TALK 7:05PM, FREE TO TICKETHOLDERS.

MASTERWORKS DIAMOND SERIES SPONSOR

JANUARY 21 CONCERT SPONSOR

@VSOrchestra

TICKETS:

vancouversymphony.ca

16 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017

JANUARY 23 CONCERT SPONSOR

MEDIA SPONSOR

604.876.3434

Bar manager Shea Hogan says great cocktail ideas arise from limitations.

for me, naming a cocktail can often be the hardest part. A good name conveys a lot of things very succinctly. SIGNATURE CREATION

It would have to be my Vauxhall cocktail. It’s an old-fashioned twist, with ginger- and cardamom-infused Appleton Estate Signature rum, Cabernet Sauvignon syrup, angostura bitters, garnished with a thyme/tarragon/ rosemary mist. It’s one of my regulars’ absolutely favourite cocktail, and getting to see how he enjoys it every time is very satisfying. I’D LOVE A COCKTAIL WITH

I’d love to have a cocktail or four with Rhett Williams from Nightingale. He’s a monster worker with deep knowledge and a sharp palate. He’s also just an all-around class act. I’d like to drink some old bourbon with Kevin Brownlee from Annalena. He’s a solid human being, with a great creative mind, and is an impeccable host. He’s also a fantastic storyteller with the bravado of a 19th-century ocean-liner captain. Visit Straight.com for the full version of Shea Hogan’s Straight, No Chaser.


ARTS

If you’re going to a show by the 7 Fingers,

B Y TONY M ONTAG U E

be sure to reach the venue early. One of the signatures of the Montreal-based new-circus company is the preshow—a half-hour or so before the performance itself when the audience is invited onto the set, where the artists are preparing for the evening. In the case of the kitchen-based Cuisine & Confessions, some members of the public may even join in the prep work. The use of a preshow encapsulates the radical approach the 7 Fingers take to humanizing the new circus, engaging audience and artist in imaginative ways, and creating intimate teams of performers. “For Cuisine & Confessions we spent a great deal of time with the artists,” says Sébastien Soldevila, codirector with his wife, Shana Carroll, reached at his Montreal home. “We cooked together, we ate together, we talked for hours and hours. Then Shana and I made our selection. The idea was to tell stories linked by memories of kitchens, of different foods and recipes. We put it all together in a rather different way.” Above all, Soldevila and Carroll—two of the seven founders of the 7 Fingers—didn’t want what he calls a “homogenous” team. “That’s why we have an Argentine, a Swede, a Russian, a Québécois, and an American,” explains Soldevila, speaking in French. “It was important as well not to have the stories be too similar. And then we had to work out how to tell the story. Sometimes it’s through words, other times we illustrate it through dance or circus. Sometimes we create a scene, sometimes we just laugh at it. We work to avoid having a show that’s linear, but instead one that has variety. It’s a matter of balance. At the end of the show you have the impression of meeting the artists, of knowing them a bit.

When the circus gets cooking

Like the stories in Cuisine & Confessions, the show’s cast and creators all contributed to the kitchen that serves as the set. Alexandre Galliez photo.

of the audience’s country being told. I used several composers rather than because we want people one, and we mixed them and sometimes added to understand we’re com- musicians—it was a big undertaking. ing to their homes—chez “I also brought in Spike Wilner, a good friend eux. So we adapt the work each time. We’re lucky who has a jazz club in New York and does a lot of to have people in the cast who speak three or four improvisation work. We were in the studio for days languages, so there’s a fairly good range. And where and days recording themes and creating varianobody knows the language we’ve taken classes. So tions, so we ended up with a soundtrack that’s very audiences really have the feeling of being at a show organic. The process took six or seven months of that was tailor-made for them. And that certainly work but the result is pretty amazing. It feels as if affects their experience. For the cast it means there’s somebody on-stage playing live.” extra work, but it’s also an enrichment and The task of creating all the elements regives them the sense of being closer to quired for a 7 Fingers production will Check out… the audience.” be eased next year, after the hugely STRAIGHT.COM Performers and spectators imsuccessful and constantly innovatVisit our website mediately have much to share. ing company opens its own creation for morning-after “There’s something very special and production centre in the heart of reviews and local when you’re talking about kitchens Montreal’s entertainment district. arts news because it brings together the whole “We do at least one new show per world, basically. Everybody has stories year, sometimes two or even three, and about food, and one particular dish that you each time we want to create a piece we have love—or hate. It’s a point that all humanity holds to rent premises. The centre will regroup a series in common and we all have associated memories.” of different studios—for circus, for dance, for reCuisine & Confessions balances the universal- cording, for creating costumes and sets. It’s a way ity of its theme with the particularity of places of not only bringing all our activities together but and persons. It’s the first 7 Fingers show with an of sharing with the circus community here so that original score, one musical director Soldevila says other companies could use it. The project is huge, stresses the unique character of the piece and the and the studios will be wonderful.” performers. “Previously, we worked with preexisting music. But for this show we decided to The 7 Fingers present Cuisine & Confessions at go elsewhere. We needed melodies that would be the Vancouver Playhouse Wednesday through particular for each artist and the different stories Sunday (January 25 to 29).

With Cuisine & Confessions, Montreal’s 7 Fingers have mixed up a radical new recipe of physical feats and food “The preshow for Cuisine & Confessions is very important because there’s all the preparation of the food being done,” says Soldevila. “We invite people to come and help cut up the vegetables, we prepare the recipes, we wipe up, we talk with people about their memories of food. And you have the smell of the vegetables being cooked. We want to invite people to our kitchen, and to share our stories, so it’s important for us to welcome them in the preshow.” The set is a big kitchen, based on the home cooking spaces of the show’s cast and creators. “We wanted everything to come out of the kitchen,” says Soldevila. “We didn’t want a set that changed, and the main inspiration is the kitchen right here, but we also asked the artists for photos of those in which they’d grown up. We added little elements to have a kitchen that belonged to everybody—like when people share a house or apartment. Each artist brought one thing they wanted in it—such as utensils, or photos of them with their families when they were small. One guy brought his coffeemaker, and he brews up for people. It’s a good excuse to talk with audiences.” Since its debut in November 2014, Cuisine & Confessions has been performed on tour in seven languages. “It’s important for us to speak the language

THINGS TO DO

ARTS High five

1 2 Editor’s choice LOVE AND INFORMATION Dazzling and exhilarating, British playwright Caryl Churchill’s Love and Information takes you on a flurried, fragmented journey through 57 vignettes. In each, people are trying to connect: a man and woman share a secret we can’t hear; friends debate the existence of God; a man tells of falling in love with a computer voice. The cast takes on multiple roles, and the splintered pieces add up to big, moving ideas about love. The New York Times has called the script “thought-churning, deeply poignant”. UBC Theatre’s version is helmed by directing-MFA candidate Lauren Taylor. Love and Information runs from Thursday (January 19) to February 4 at the Frederic Wood Theatre at UBC.

3 4 5

Five events you just can’t miss this week

In the news

LES BALLETS TROCKADERO DE MONTE CARLO (January 20 and 21 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre) Mad skills go beyond the joke of men in tutus. HARD RUBBER ORCHESTRA (January 24 at the Orpheum) The local faves cleverly bounce around genres at the VSO’s New Music Festival. AS I LAY DYING (January 19 to February 12 at the BMO Theatre Centre) Absurdist southern gothic with physical theatre: not a form you often see. MESS (To January 22 at the Waterfront Theatre) The innovative look at eating disorders trails raves from the Edinburgh Fringe. SWEAT BABY SWEAT (To January 20 at the Scotiabank Dance Centre) Love, sex, and all their difficulty, embodied bluntly by two sweat-soaked dancers.

CATALOGUE WITH VINYL The Rennie Collection at Wing Sang has just put out Rodney Graham: Collected Works, a catalogue that commemorates the multivenue celebration of Rodney Graham’s work that happened here in 2014. What sets the linenbound book apart is that its back cover serves as a sleeve for a 7-inch vinyl record with two musical tracks featuring Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon. It also boasts a scholarly essay by Mark Godfrey, senior curator of international art at Tate Modern; a “creative fiction” by novelist Susie Boyt; an essay by author, music journalist, and Saint Etienne band member Bob Stanley; and, of course, dozens of full-page colour illustrations of Graham’s works.JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 17


ARTS

Lulo Reinhardt

Luca Stricagnoli

Composer Rodney Sharman has been fascinated by early-music instruments, and the way they are played, for a long time.

Old instruments find new sounds Chrystian Dozza

Debashish Bhattacharya

> B Y A LEX A ND ER VA R TY

International I Guitar Night “One of the most important showcases for the contemporary guitar.” The San Francisco Chronicle

SAT, JAN 28 8pm ticketsnw.ca 604.521.5050 $35 / $25 / $10 plus service charges

Vetta Chamber Music 2016 - 2017 31st Season Joan Blackman

Arthur Rowe

Joan Blackman

Artistic Director

Ménage à Trio

VSO NEW MUSIC FEST WIDENS REACH

Arthur Rowe piano Joan Blackman violin Eugene Osadchy cello

not joking when we contend that the Vancouver Symphony 2 We’re Orchestra’s New Music Festival is all about making connections: the

Shostakovich Piano Trio in C minor Brahms Piano Trio in B major Smetana Piano Trio in G minor

Thu Jan 26th at 2:00pm Fri Jan 27th at 7:30pm Eugene Osadchy

West Point Grey United Church for more information visit our website

Vettamusic.com Martha Lou Henley Charitable Foundation

THE HAMBER FOUNDATION

t’s not that they’re incestuous, exactly, but they’re certainly intricate. Untangling the skein of relationships that makes up the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s 2017 New Music Festival would require a flow chart as complex as a certain orange buffoon’s business dealings—although in contrast these sonic connections are happy ones, and no one’s getting stiffed or slighted. With the festival expanding this year to six concerts, there simply isn’t space to go into everything that’s on offer. So let’s look at a pair of events in particular: the two nights of New Music for Old Instruments slated to take place at Christ Church Cathedral on Wednesday and Saturday (January 25 and 28). This intriguing collaboration between the VSO and Early Music Vancouver was hatched between the symphony’s music director, Bramwell Tovey, and EMV’s relatively recently installed artistic director, Matthew White, with the latter suggesting that composer Rodney Sharman be brought in to program the two nights. As Sharman is a former VSO composer in residence, it seemed a natural fit— and the connections only get deeper from there. In curating New Music for Old Instruments, Sharman went all the way back to his teenage years in Victoria, where he inadvertently found himself enmeshed in the very early days in what has since become an established, and somewhat Canada-centric, genre. “What year did Nixon resign? It was that summer,” Sharman recalls on the line from his East Vancouver home, before going on to explain that 1974 found him attending a colloquium that featured gambist Peggie

Sampson, harpsichord virtuoso Colin Tilney, and future Turning Point Ensemble codirector Owen Underhill performing brand-new scores on some very old instruments. The beauty of that sound has stayed with him ever since. For Sharman, part of the appeal has to do with how baroque musicians, particularly string players, approach their instruments. “In modern string playing, the difference between up-bow and downbow tends to be minimized, so that you can achieve the long line,” he explains. “It is as much like opera singing as possible, whereas in baroque performance practice the difference between up-bow and down-bow is cherished. This is what I mean when I speak of the refinement of [baroque] bowing: these small differences are perhaps more like speaking than they are like singing.” This vocal, even conversational approach to music-making will be particularly apparent on the second night of New Music for Old Instruments, which centres on VSO composer in residence Jocelyn Morlock’s appropriately radiant Golden and features the Pacific Baroque Orchestra under the direction of Alexander Weimann. Also prominent will be countertenor Reginald Mobley, who’ll add an extra chronological wrinkle by performing some American Songbook standards, appropriately rearranged for the PBO. More connections? Weimann’s interpretation of the Sesame Street favourite “Bein’ Green” was originally crafted for EMV’s White, back when he was a working singer rather than an arts manager. And Sharman’s take on Cole Porter’s “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye” owes as much to Lady Gaga as it does to any Jazz Age crooner. The first concert, in contrast,

Edith Lando Charitable Foundation season media sponsor

18 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017

features a smaller ensemble, with soprano Camille Hesketh handling vocal duties. That night, Sharman explains, offers an especially welcome chance to revisit Peter Hannan’s Trinkets of Little Value, based on the Iroquois dictionary that the French explorer Jacques Cartier compiled while overwintering on the St. Lawrence River during 1534 and 1535. “These words from Renaissance Iroquois—which is where we see the word Canada for the very first time—will be sung by a soprano with instruments that would have been around when Cartier was here,” he notes, adding that “it’s much richer” with these period instruments than in the alternative orchestral score. Other elements that have Sharman excited include Weimann’s solo harpsichord performance of György Ligeti’s Continuum—“one of the most difficult pieces in the repertoire,” he notes—on Night 1, and the improvised coda planned for the end of Night 2, in which Mobley will join Tovey and Weimann, both on piano, for a lighthearted romp though the jazz canon. “That’s kind of the dessert on the program, with an open bar,” Sharman says, laughing. “I don’t know if you’ve ever heard Alex Weimann as an improviser, but he’s superb!” Not quite your normal cathedral fare, but it sounds like an appropriately festive finale for two nights of truly innovative programming. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Early Music Vancouver present New Music for Old Instruments at Christ Church Cathedral on Wednesday and Saturday (January 25 and 28), as part of the VSO’s New Music Festival. For a full schedule, visit www. vancouversymphony.ca/festivals.

> BY ALEXANDER VARTY

event, now in its fourth year and larger than ever, is extending its tentacles to encompass other arts organizations, freelance musicians, and even some very nonsymphonic forms. This year’s groundbreaking New Music for Old Instruments concerts (see feature on this page), presented in conjunction with Early Music Vancouver, are to be expected: both organizations share a background in European art music. But what are we to make of the presence of the Hard Rubber Orchestra (shown here) at the Orpheum on the festival’s opening night (Tuesday [January 24])? It’s a bold choice, but booking the hard-hitting avantjazz big band allows the VSO to rope in Vancouver New Music artistic director Giorgio Magnanensi, whose composition le feu et l’artifice is featured. The band’s massed brass should sound especially vibrant in the big hall. Standing Wave’s On a Wire concert, at the Orpheum next Sunday (January 29), is straightforward enough: the sextet’s members either play or have played with the VSO, while the featured composers include Jocelyn Morlock and the orchestra’s associate principal trumpet, Marcus Goddard. But a real departure for the festival is Pure Piano, at the Orpheum next Thursday (January 26), which finds pianists Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa, Miranda Wong, Lisa Cay Miller, and Corey Hamm at the ivories. Their collective credits include Music on Main, the Nu:BC Collective, the Piano and Erhu Project, the Aventa Ensemble, and the very experimentally inclined NOW Society; it’s more than intriguing to find all these groups under the VSO umbrella. And then there’s the festival’s only truly symphonic event, Requiem for a Generation, at the Orpheum next Friday (January 27). With works that address the ongoing war in Afghanistan and Pablo Picasso’s horrific and moving Spanish Civil War memorial, Guernica, it brings social commentary into the mix, along with the UBC University Singers and Choral Union, the Langley Fine Arts School Youth Choir, and composer Glenn Buhr’s folk-rocking Button Factory Band. How this will sound remains to be heard, but it’s going to be huge. -


BRAHMS REQUIEM The Intimate Brahms

8pm Friday, January 27, 2017 Ryerson United Church Bergmann Duo | Vancouver Chamber Choir Jon Washburn, Conductor Brahms wrote this famous arrangement of his beloved Requiem for choir and two pianists. Its clarity presents a new, more intimate perspective, a sort of chamber music sensitivity of this most heartfelt of musical masterpieces. The Choir is joined by the Bergmann Duo for melancholic partsongs and vivacious Hungarian Dances.

1.855.985.ARTS (2787) vancouverchamberchoir.com

CHRIS BOTTI in concert PRESENTS

Firehall Arts Centre Presents a Redcurrant Collective Production Directed by Chris Lam

T H E N E T H E R By Jennifer Haley

with the VSO

A dark and fascinating sci-fi detective story. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15 8PM, ORPHEUM William Rowson conductor Chris Botti trumpet

Firehall Arts Centre 280 E Cordova For tickets: firehallartscentre.ca or call: 604 689 0926

Billboard chart-topper and Grammy® Award-winning talent, Chris Botti is the consummate instrumental entertainer, whose amazing live performances are noted for their sophisticated arrangements, virtuosity and variety, seamlessly switching from best-selling pop classics to essential jazz standards such as When I Fall in Love, Emmanuel and The Very Thought of You. Hear him live with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

Jan 18–28

MEDIA SPONSOR

@VSOrchestra

TICKETS:

vancouversymphony.ca

604.876.3434

JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 19


FOLK-S. PHOTO: MATTEO MAFFESANTI.

PREMIER MEDIA PARTNERS

TICKETS FROM $

PRESENTS

CARAVAN NEW ENGLISH PERFORMANCE SHOWCASE

15

F I V E W O R K S BY E N G L A N D ’ S B R I G H T E S T S H I N I N G T H E AT R E A R T I S T S

MESS

CAROLINE HORTON & CO. / CHINA PLATE Josephine is putting on a play about her struggle with an eating disorder. With wild invention, laughs galore and great songs to boot, this show unflinchingly confronts big issues (and extremely tiny ones). JA N 18– 2 2 WATE R F R ON T T H E AT R E FRO M $ 1 5 PRESENTED WITH VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL

EVERY BRILLIANT THING

POINT BLACK POETS

BACKSTAGE IN BISCUIT LAND

In this heartrending yet hopeful play about depression and the lengths we will go to for those we love, comedian/performer Jonny Donahoe delivers a list of all things worth living for, starting with ice cream.

Breaking down the barriers between rap, poetry and the dramatic monologue, spoken word is one of the key literary and musical forms of today’s world. Here are five of its best practitioners speaking with passion and precision, their words touching on the political, the personal and every point in between.

Jess Thom involuntarily and repeatedly says “biscuit,” a verbal tick of her Tourette syndrome. What society deems “atypical” allows Thom soars with a hilarious, unhinged mix of improv, comedy and puppetry in this enlightening show.

JA N 2 6– 2 9 P E R FO R M A N C E W O R KS $ 36

JAN 27 CLU B PU S H @ TH E FOX CABAR ET $ 22

JAN 3 0 –FEB 1 ROU N DHOU S E $36

PAINES PLOUGH/ PENTABUS THEATRE COMPANY

TOURETTESHERO

FOR TICKETS & MORE INFO: PRESENTED WITH

caravan new english performance

SUPPORTED BY

CARAVAN: NEW ENGLISH PERFORMANCE IS DELIVERED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE BRIGHTON FESTIVAL

20 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017

PREMIER MEDIA PARTNERS

WALLFLOWER

QUARANTINE

Evoking memories of awkward high school dances, private groove sessions, romantic slow dances, the performers endeavour to recall every dance they have ever danced. This is storytelling in action, autobiography emerging in movement and music. F EB 1– 3 PER FO R MAN CE WO R KS $ 36


PuSh FEST

Murder mystery grapples with dystopia The City and the City gets viewers involved in solving a crime—and restoring some sense of order in chaotic times > BY AND RE A WA R NER

F PUSH PICKS Here are a few of our top choices for your PuSh International Performing Arts viewing this week: BY HEART (At Performance Works from Thursday to Saturday [January 19 to 21]) Portuguese artist Tiago Rodrigues’s piece will only begin when audience members fill the 10 chairs he’s set up on-stage. From there, he teaches them a poem, while sharing stories about his family and about writing. Le Figaro called the piece “profoundly moving”. FOUR THOUSAND HOLES (At the Fox Cabaret on Monday and Tuesday [January 23 and 24]) Pianist Vicky Chow and percussionist Ben Reimer (shown here) apply their mind-blowing skills to work by three contemporary composers at Music on Main—most notably Nicole Lizée’s new ode to Prince and the Minneapolis sound. PORTRAITS IN MOTION (At the York Theatre from Tuesday to Thursday [January 24 to 26]) Photographer Volker Gerling takes the simple flipbook and projects it, creating fleeting moments of fine art. Small revelations in his luminescent black-and-white portraits take on almost magical scale. -

ive years ago, the reality of a dystopian future seemed further away than it does in 2017. Here we are, a week from opening night of The City and the City, a thriller that follows detective Tyador Borlú from the Extreme Crime Squad as he attempts to solve a murder. Coproduced by Upintheair Theatre and the Only Animal, The City and the City was adapted by playwright Jason Rothery from China Miéville’s award-winning novel of the same name. Director Kendra Fanconi, who is also the artistic producer of the Only Animal, was first and foremost a fan of murder mysteries. “Murder mysteries surged in popularity after the world wars, and the sort of theory behind that is that we go, as a culture, through these enormous chaoses and we’re attracted to these mysteries, where the world is disordered by some kind of crime or event that has happened, and a hero detective is able to bring a community together to restore order,” Fanconi tells the Straight over the phone. Her own need to restore order has never been stronger. “Right now, particularly with [Donald] Trump’s election, and soon-to-be coronation, we are in a time of profound chaos,” Fanconi says. “I’m binational, so I’m also an American citizen....Like so many of us, I had completely sleepless nights after Trump won. That was in our preproduction period for The City and the City. I thought about ‘What can I do?’ The answer for me was ‘I’m going to do this play.’ ” Her feelings of present-day dystopia are also connected thematically,

In The City and the City, audiences have to figure out how the world works, and what their greater role is. Matt Reznek photo.

Fanconi says, to something important in the play. “The City and the City takes place in two fictional cities whose borders overlap, but the citizens of these cities have a deep cultural history of not seeing each other,” she explains. “In fact, they unsee each other. They learn it as kids growing up. It’s this metaphor that first drew me into the play, and walking around the city of Vancouver and going, ‘Well, what do I unsee in this city?’ ” The hero detective tries to see everything. Fanconi calls that choice “a powerful act of engaged citizenry”, adding, “I think in this

production, it’s what we wish for our city and our future.” The City and the City is a technically and creatively ambitious undertaking, too. The set is made up of 500 milk crates, there’s a live soundtrack, and, because the play is interactive and had to be created using audience participation, Fanconi estimates that nearly 300 Vancouverites will have watched segments and whole “stumble-throughs” of the production by opening night. “How it works for our audience is, it’s the mystery of ‘Who are you and what character are you within the world of the play?’ And then there’s a bigger mystery about how the world

works and what’s your greater role,” she says. The audience will watch the action unfold live in the room, but they’ll also receive instructions for clues, actions, and text via audio feeds. “It’s an adrenaline-filled experience. There’s no way not to be involved,” Fanconi says with a laugh. “Like, if you came to the front door and said, ‘I want to see the show and I don’t want to do anything,’ we’d say, ‘Here’s your money back. This is not that show.’ ” The City and the City is at the Russian Hall from next Thursday (January 26) to February 5, as part of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.

GLOBAL DANCE CONNECTIONS SERIES

JAN MARTENS

Sweat Baby Sweat

Jan Martens photo: Klaartje Lambrechts - Alessandro Sciarroni photo: Andrea Macchia

January 18-20

ALESSANDRO SCIARRONI

FOLK S, Will you still love me tomorrow?

February 2-4

27/28 8PM 29 3PM

Scotiabank Dance Centre

Tickets 604.684.2787 | ticketstonight.ca

thedancecentre.ca

Presented with

THE PRESENT DAY COMPOSER REFUSES TO DIE

Alessandro Sciarroni is presented with

SFU'S GOLDCORP CENTRE FOR THE ARTS 149 W. HASTINGS STREET, VANCOUVER TICKETS & INFO

TURNINGPOINTENSEMBLE.CA

Jan Martens is supported by

JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 21


PuSh FEST

Frank Zappa fuels inspiration for concert > B Y A LE XAN DER VAR TY

T

here’s a lot to like about the Mothers of Invention’s 1966 debut, Freak Out!, from its solarized cover—with bandleader Frank Zappa in a moth-eaten coonskin coat—to the music inside, a truly psychedelic mashup of sounds made by an artist whose only drug was the nicotine that eventually killed him. Those sounds ranged from a wonderfully scabrous blues called “Trouble Comin’ Every Day”, so pointedly political it could have been written last week, to the sidelong percussion frenzy that is “The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet”. But for a certain subset of young explorers, the most mindblowing element was buried in the double LP’s liner notes, in the form of a “relevant quote” from 1921, attributed to one “Edgar Varèse”. “The present-day composer refuses to die!” it read. Those who chose to follow that thread soon found themselves in a sonic landscape beyond anything they might otherwise have imagined—and some, like musical provocateur John Oswald and Turning Point Ensemble co–artistic director Owen Underhill, continue to find inspiration in that world. “As a teenager, I followed Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention,” says Underhill in a phone call from his East Van home. “And then when I went to university and started doing composition, I started to make the link and became very interested in [Edgard] Varèse as probably the most innovative composer, in terms of sounds and orchestration and imagining a totally new music. He was imagining electronic music 20 years before he was able to actually do it.” Oswald had a very similar experience, encountering Varèse and Zappa’s music when he was in his very early

teens. And now he and Underhill are collaborating on Frank Zappa Meets Varèse and Oswald. Oswald’s contribution, Refuse, is an album-side-long collage of musical references that alludes to both Varèse and Zappa’s ways of working. “When I got asked to do this piece, I couldn’t resist, just because of the nascent influence that both of these guys had on me at about the same time,” Oswald says on the line from his Toronto home. “And then there’s the pleasurable research that I had in preparing to do this project, which was re-immersing myself in the music of that period that I was probably listening to—which was everything from spy-movie soundtracks and hi-fi showoff records to the chiefly English rock bands that came to my attention around the time that the Beatles arrived on The Ed Sullivan Show, which was ’64.” Varèse will be represented by a pair of breakthrough works from the early 1920s, while an expanded, 30-piece version of Turning Point will play Zappa’s The Yellow Shark, essentially the iconoclastic composer and satirist’s last will and testament. What links all three composers is their use of what Varèse called “sound masses”: sculptural blocks of tone that can be stacked or superimposed to achieve density. It’s an approach Oswald often deploys. “I’m trying to do well in this world that Varèse and Zappa really excelled in. The larger-ensemble pieces that Zappa has in this program are really gorgeously orchestrated, and Varèse’s stuff is unique, so the competition’s pretty high!” Turning Point Ensemble and the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival present Frank Zappa Meets Varèse and Oswald at SFU Woodward’s Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre from January 27 to 29.

A S TA R T L I N G , C U T T I N G - E D G E M U S I C , T H E AT R E A N D P E R F O R M A N C E A R T S E R I E S

DYNASTY HANDBAG

JIBZ CAMERON (USA)

Dynasty Handbag is a blazing, fearless stage presence. Rowdy, raunchy and queer as folk, she presents a veritable mixtape of songs from a roster of wholly invented artists. JA N 2 0

POINT BLACK POETS THINGS A PERSON IS (ENGLAND) SUPPOSED TO WONDER

Five preeminent spoken word artists tackle the political, the personal and every point in between Call it stand-up comedy, whimsical poetry or just with burning passion and precision in their plain unclassifiable, Moser’s incisive performances Canadian premiere. are fantastically entertaining and making waves in PRESENTED WITH CARAVAN: NEW ENGLISH PERFORMANCE the arts world.

BRIDGET MOSER (CANADA)

SUPPORTED BY ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND & BRITISH COUNCIL

JA N 2 1

JA N 2 7

VISITORS FROM FAR AWAY TO THE STATE MACHINE

(CANADA)

2321 MAIN STREET

REVENGE OF THE POPINJAY

ANIMALPARTS (USA/CANADA)

An experimental rap-horror show that blends live hip-hop, storytelling, performance art, and graphic “heterophobia” in an exhilarating dark comedy. PRESENTED WITH ZEE ZEE THEATRE

JA N 2 8

HONG KONG EXILE (CANADA)

A profane space oddity that follows two aliens visiting Earth for their honeymoon. Video graphics and nonlinear storytelling fuse in this intergalactic opera spanning a thousand years.

LIDO PIMIENTA

In a night of music for a revolution, this indie phenomenon offers a tribute to nature and the decolonized spirit at the intersection of ethnicity, gender and nationality. FEB 4

FEB 3

SHOWS 9PM • TICKETS $22

GENRE-DEF YING SHOWS BY THE WORLD’S MOST EXCITING EMERGING ARTISTS

PREMIER MEDIA PARTNERS

22 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017


ARTS

Cello Suites warm up Winterlude

C

ello cognoscenti, for you we have news both good and bad. First the downside: Jean-Guihen Queyras’s performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s six immortal suites for cello, at the intimate Orpheum Annex, is sold-out. This should surprise no one, for Queyras is among his generation’s most thoughtful musicians, and the Cello Suites are, of course, among the most sublime compositions ever written for his instrument. They’re also pieces that Queyras knows especially well. Having performed them almost since infancy, the cellist recently went even deeper into their architecture by commissioning six contemporary composers to write musical commentaries on the suites, as part of his Six Suites, Six Echoes project. “It was one tool to give me freedom—freedom from the thousands of other interpretations that I have in my ear,” Queyras explains in a transatlantic telephone call from Leipzig, Germany, where he is performing Ludwig van Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with pianist Martin Helmchen and violinist Isabelle Faust. “The idea was to give this experience also to the listener, and I think it worked nicely,” he adds. “If you sit down and it’s one Bach piece and another Bach piece and another Bach piece, people can be worried that they are too predictable, in terms of the construction. To give them, before each piece, a totally different sound universe, I think it opens the mind.” One small piece of good news, or perhaps fantasy, is that Queyras is not performing the commissioned pieces during his Vancouver visit, which allows for the possibility that he might return to perform the full, two-day program at some point in the future. More concrete cheer comes from knowing that local listeners will have a second chance to hear the cellist during this weekend’s Vancouver Recital Society–produced Winterlude mini-festival: he’ll join pianist Alexander Melnikov at the Vancouver Playhouse, following Melnikov’s own solo matinee there. “Sasha, what I love about him is that he’s such an unusual musician,” Queyras says of his long-time friend and musical partner. “Even when you’ve played with him for 15 years, you don’t know what he’s going to do next time that you play a piece that you have played 20 times together. He’s so unexpected all the time, in a good way. I mean, he is really improvising very much all the time. There is this quality in

Cello virtuoso Jean-Guihen Queyras is a featured guest at the Vancouver Recital Society’s Winterlude mini-fest.

his playing: a great clarity, combined with invention in the moment. He pushes probably much further than me—and that’s both inspiring and challenging, I feel.” On the program—next to works by Robert Schumann, Beethoven, and Anton Webern—is one curious choice: Frédéric Chopin’s Cello Sonata. “We both like this piece but not many other people do, for different reasons,” Queyras says, laughing. “Cellists usually don’t like it because the pianist is playing many more notes. The piano is quite dominant in a way it’s difficult to defend as a cellist.” Perversely, that seems to be part of the work’s appeal— along with its odd profusion of subthemes and diversions. “The form can be a bit puzzling,” Queyras explains, “so we are going to try to show why we like this piece very much. It’s not like any other cello-and-piano sonata, basically.” Expect inspired musicianship—and more than a few surprises. The Vancouver Recital Society’s Winterlude festival takes place at the Orpheum Annex on Saturday (January 21) and the Vancouver Playhouse on Sunday (January 22).

Macbeth packs powerful punch MUS IC MACBETH A Third World Bunfight production. A Vancouver Opera, Italian Cultural Centre, and PuSh International Performing Arts Festival presentation. At the Vancouver Playhouse on Monday, January 16. Continues until January 21

Amid all the strong images in

2 this Africanized Macbeth, the

final one haunts you as you leave the theatre. It’s a projected image of a real Congolese war child’s pleading eyes staring out at you from a black-and-white photograph. He’s refusing to let you forget the carnage that is going on halfway around the world—in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where this version of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera is set. Elsewhere during the tight, highly stylized rendition of the work, militiamen in camouflage, mirrored sunglasses, and berets turn their machete-swinging assassins’ song into a crazed lounge number. White-masked multinational mine executives find baby corpses amid the chunks of gold they’ve gathered to weigh. Women get dragged offstage by their hair to be raped, only to crawl back unnoticed as Macbeth and Banquo discuss their takeover plans. And villagers collapse and mourn over the bloodied clothes of murdered children. Bold and fearless, this Macbeth takes what some might consider a staid, European art form and turns it into an in-your-face political tool. Put that together with the all-black South African cast’s fierce performances and the startling visual design and let’s just say you have a pretty non-staid night out at the opera. Macbeth earned a long, enthusiastic standing O as the provocative opener to the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. These are not voices we see on-stage that often in Vancouver. And this show, with its concept, design, and direction by

MUST SEE

AT LEAST ONCE inYOUR LIFETIME

> BY A LEX A N D E R VAR TY

Owen Metsileng stars in the visually striking Macbeth. Nicky Newman photo.

South African arts maverick Brett Bailey, will upend any preconceptions you have about what opera is supposed to look like. Shakespeare’s “Scottish Play” translates surprisingly well to the chaos of central Africa, with Colonel Macbeth here killing various warlords so he and his wife can take power—after which they indulge in chandeliers, Champagne, and riotously out-there red shoes. This is not Verdi for purists. Although the cast performs the libretto in its original Italian (pared down and with songs rearranged), its surtitles play loosely and irreverently with the translations. Macbeth lets his power-hungry wife know about the witches’ prophecy with a text message that ends with “WTF!!? C U Later” and there are local references like “kickbacks to Kinshasa”. Various long, complicated intertitles explain to us the complex power battles over gold and other resources in this region of the Congo. And garish, promotional-style projections remind us that not only is this region for sale to western investors, it’s thick with the tantalite needed for cellphones—the kind most of us have in our pockets. Our hands, it seems, are as dirty as Lady Macbeth’s. One of the show’s biggest successes is its reorchestration, which

“ Mind-blowing! Go back and see it about six times!” —Richard Connema, renowned Broadway critic

“I come back every year…I’m reborn and see true hope every time!”

—Christine Walevska, “goddess of the cello”, watched Shen Yun 4 times

“Awe-Inspiring Sensation!”

“A MUST-SEE!” — Broadway world

SHEN YUN — Not Made in China

Jan. 29 - 31 Queen Elizabeth Theatre

Tickets: ShenYun.com/Van | 888-974-3698

Group: tickets@divineculture.ca

Seats for Shen Yun going fast. Buy now to avoid missing out.

delivers a spiky, contemporary feel in the hands of a dozen or so onstage Vancouver Opera Orchestra members under the baton of Premil Petrovic. Composer Fabrizio Cassol frequently weaves African rhythms into Verdi’s romantic strains, and percussionists Cherilee Adams and Dylan Tabisher bring them to atmospheric life. Anchored at stage left, the focused ensemble is as much of a pleasure to watch as the gaudily attired bunch on the small, raised platform that serves as the central playing area. The musicians are matched by an intense cast. The standout is Nobulumko Mngxekeza as Lady Macbeth, reaching rich heights in her upper register but bringing terrifying resonance to the lower end, too. She’s fearsome, strutting in her skintight leopard-print body suit when the Macbeths strike it rich, and unafraid to gyrate and—yes—even twerk in her disturbingly celebratory “Si colmi il calice”. Owen Metsileng brings it too, displaying unnerving fragility in the title character when he’s stripped to his underwear to sing his late aria “Pietà, rispetto, amore”. As Banquo, Otto Maidi boasts a baritone that shakes the rafters in “Oh quale orrenda notte!”. And the small chorus produces a much bigger sound than you would ever expect. The show builds an intimacy you don’t often get at the opera, despite its exaggerated style. It’s visually striking, but without sumptuousness: nods to its developing-world setting include corrugated-metal stage cladding and plastic milk cartons. The projected backgrounds range from brightly hued, wallpaperlike graphics of AK-47s and money to harrowing black-andwhite war photographs. None of it is subtle. But considering the battle over mineral wealth in the DRC is at a death count of six million and rising and no one seems to be noticing, subtlety is not what’s needed. > JANET SMITH

JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 23


ARTS

Richard Ibghy and Marilou Lemmens’s whimsical The Prophets toys with our reliance upon economic charts and graphs.

The economy meets engaging art THE VSO NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL An exploration of new creations and contemporary composers. Join us for an exciting Festival experience with music that is new, vital, current, and on the cutting edge! Concerts hosted by Maestro Bramwell Tovey and VSO Composer-in-Residence Jocelyn Morlock. POST-CONCERT MIX AND MINGLE in the lobby, featuring live DJ and cash bar, immediately following the Orpheum concerts.

BRAMWELL TOVEY VSO MUSIC DIRECTOR

UBC UNIVERSITY SINGERS

STANDING WAVE

PACIFIC BAROQUE ORCHESTRA

1: HARD RUBBER ORCHESTRA TUESDAY, JANUARY 24 7:30PM ORPHEUM

The Hard Rubber Orchestra takes you on a genre-smashing journey through new creations, led by composer, bandleader and trumpeter John Korsrud.

2: NEW MUSIC FOR OLD INSTRUMENTS I WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25 7:30PM CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL

Join harpsichordist Alexander Weimann and friends at Christ Church Cathedral for part one of a new and unique concept concert: an exploration of new music on Baroque instruments, presented by Early Music Vancouver.

3: PURE PIANO THURSDAY, JANUARY 26 8:30PM ORPHEUM

Four of the most incredible contemporary music pianists in the country, each with a very distinctive style, come together in this unique and exciting concert to explore the outer limits and musical possibilities of the keyboard.

V IS U AL AR T S TO REFUSE/TO WAIT/TO SLEEP AND M&A At the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery until April 9

A quick read through the press

2 release for To refuse/To wait/

To sleep suggests an exhibition so crammed with critical ideas that it threatens to alienate the viewer. A slow walk through this group show, however, reveals the exact opposite: the works on view are highly engaging, visually as well as intellectually. Melanie Gilligan, Gabrielle Hill, Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens, Marianne Nicolson, and Raqs Media Collective take on a battery of issues related to our distressing entanglement with global capitalism and the market economy. Forms range from Hill’s unassuming sculptures composed of salvaged materials to Gilligan’s multichannel sci-fi video. The slightly obscure title of the show, curated by Lorna Brown, is meant to suggest what the artists represented here are not, that is, tastefully removed from the address of icky economic issues. (Willfully ignoring the economic is, Brown suggests, a waste of time.) The first artwork we encounter is a huge banner installed on an exterior wall of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery. Created by Nicolson, it reworks the provincial flag of British Columbia using Kwakwaka’wakw images and motifs and Chinook jargon, reversing colonial power dynamics and reasserting a First Nations claim to place. It is a commanding and, not incidentally, beautiful piece. Nicolson is also showing two large, powerful paintings, Tunics of the Changing Tide, at the nearby Walter C. Koerner

Library. Again, this work makes use of Kwakwaka’wakw imagery to redress the cultural and economic consequences of colonialism. With intellectual subtlety and visual whimsy, The Prophets, by Ibghy & Lemmens, satirizes our society’s faith in charts, graphs, and other forms of data visualization employed in economic analysis and prediction. Installed on a gallery-length tabletop, the work is composed of over 500 tiny, exquisite models, handcrafted versions of economic models. Their delicate materials include thread, bamboo sticks, fine wire, acetate, and plastic netting. Each of these wonderful little constructions is accompanied by a wee, handwritten label, such as “Nonlinear Growth Model”, “Effect of Constraints on Capital Requirements”, and “Natural Rate of Unemployment”. We know the artists are messing with us—pointing up the “free” market’s inability to see beyond itself—when we encounter labels that read “The Fuzzy Subsets of the Poverty Line”, “Locating Points of Indifference”, and “Comparative Twidget Market”. Hill, who grew up in Strathcona, spent much of her childhood wandering the adjacent False Creek Flats waste grounds. As an adult, she returns frequently to that rough and marginal space to create performances and interventions, and to gather discarded materials for her eloquent sculptures. Twelve of them, collectively titled Waste Lands, are on view here. They range from a bench built out of old lumber and beer cans to a basketball hoop with an absurdly elongated net made of plastic casing that has been stripped from copper wire. Hill, who is of Cree-Métis descent, has also created a series of bundles out of abandoned

blankets tied with, again, plastic wire casing. (Two of them are installed near the gallery’s ceiling, high above viewers’ heads.) Her art appropriates the early modernist technique of assemblage to speak to the contemporary reality of those dispossessed by both capitalism and colonialism. Her stained, peeling, grubby, and rusty artifacts are about much more than clever formalism: they abound, as Brown points out in her curatorial essay, in the complex narratives embedded in disregarded urban spaces. Complementing the group show is M&A, a durational performance piece, created by artists Simon Goldin and Jacob Senneby, working in collaboration with a New York–based investment banker and a team of computer and theatre people. M&A tracks a stock-market investment (the artists’ exhibition production budget) to its uncertain conclusion. At the Belkin, actor Sebastien Archibald interacts with visitors in rehearsing a script by Jo Randerson, his performance acknowledging that it (and presumably his fee) will end if the investment tanks. As Brown writes, “The speculative nature of both art and finance— and the often troubling relationship between the two—is placed in direct relation in M&A.” It’s an intriguing and illuminating work, not simply in its premise but also in its execution. Archibald is a delight, seamlessly slipping between roles as he answers questions, explains the work to us, and takes on the character of “ACTOR”. One of his lines, as he solicits money from the audience and is then unable or unwilling to return it, is, “Sorry… it’s beyond my control.” Then he adds, on script and as any committed capitalist would, “I’m not really sorry.” > ROBIN LAURENCE

Wanna Yuk?

4: REQUIEM FOR A GENERATION FRIDAY, JANUARY 27 7:30PM ORPHEUM

Maestro Tovey, the VSO, and the assembled choirs perform -H΍UH\ 5\DQȇV sublime Afghanistan: Requiem for a Generation, created with Canada’s War Poet in Afghanistan, Suzanne M. Steele. Glenn Buhr describes his new work Guernica 2017 as a musical rant against the way children are victimized by our wars.

5: NEW MUSIC FOR OLD INSTRUMENTS II SATURDAY, JANUARY 28 7:30PM CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL Join the 3DFLȴF %DURTXH 2UFKHVWUD at Christ Church Cathedral for the second part of a new and unique concept concert: an exploration of new music on Baroque instruments, presented by Early Music Vancouver.

6: ON A WIRE SUNDAY, JANUARY 29 7:30PM ORPHEUM

Bramwell Tovey and the VSO join forces with Standing Wave in an eclectic and wide-ranging new music performance. MEDIA SPONSOR

@VSOrchestra

ORDER ALL 6 CONCERTS & RECEIVE A 25% DISCOUNT! OVER SINGLE TICKET PRICING

TICKETS:

vancouversymphony.ca

604.876.3434

24 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017

TOP TALENT SHOWCASE EVERY TUES AT 8:00

PRO-AM NIGHT

EVERY WEDS AT 8:00

FEATURED HEADLINERS THURS & FRI AT 8:00 SAT AT 7:00 & 9:30 THIS WEEKEND FEATURING (JAN 19-21)

JOHN BEUHLER www.yukyuks.com 2837 Cambie (at 12th)


ARTS

Stomp still keeps audiences clapping MULTIME D I A STOMP At the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Friday, January 13. No remaining performances

If there’s one thing about Stomp strikes you much more strongly in 2017 than it did during the percussion act’s rise in the late 1990s, it’s how low-tech it really is. That might not have stood out so much when it was a brave new thing blasting out of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a sort of busking act taken to extreme, orchestral heights. But today the British-born sensation feels fresh for the very fact that it doesn’t have video projections or digital effects. It is simply human beings, making music with their hands and feet, slapping them against their bodies, or on matchbooks, plastic bags, and other everyday junk. Stomp long ago left its indie status behind, earning copycats, Saturday Night Live send-ups, and even a place at the 2012 Olympic closing ceremony. But it doesn’t feel over-polished, even after 25 years, and maintains a kind of childlike wonder. (Kids in the crowd loved it, not surprisingly.) The tight show that returned to Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre maintains that stripped-down appeal, with enough new numbers to keep crowds who have seen it before entertained. There’s a fun new shopping-cart piece that becomes a chaotic, choreographed ballet of wheeling across the stage, and another segment turns huge, monstertruck-scaled tire tubes into outsized, wearable drums/bouncy castles. The complex garbage-can-lid clanging bits are still here, as are the noisy vignettes where the cast slips into rappelling gear and starts artfully banging the bins, street signs, pots,

2 that

The garbage cans remained, but new “instruments” also appeared.

pans, and washboards that make up the by-now iconic set. But it’s the quieter numbers and the more character-driven pieces that still please the crowds. In the dark, the Zippo-lighter orchestra, with its magical synchronized flames, almost reminds you of digital lights blinking on and off—until you think about the extreme human precision that must go into choreographing it. And a piece where main player Jeremy Price, ever exasperated, tries to read a newspaper, only to be joined by a band of coughing, paper-rustling, twitching others, speaks to how much the individuals in this show bring to the table—and we’re not just talking about these multitaskers’ mad drumming skills. But perhaps Stomp’s biggest accomplishment is in its extended climax, getting an entire audience of theatregoers to join in a game of ever-more-complicated claps. In these jaded times, it’s amazing: an act of community, of old-fashioned fun and simple beauty. I didn’t see a single member of the crowd who refused to participate—and this is Vancouver we’re talking about. So Stomp on, I say.

“The most admired jazz diva since the heyday of Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday” - The New York Times

> JANET SMITH

ADVERTISING & PROMOTIONS ASSISTANT The Georgia Straight is seeking an energetic and organized person for the position of Advertising & Promotions Assistant. This is a full-time maternity leave position working Monday-Friday. You will be primarily responsible for supporting the Director of Arts, Advertising and Marketing, as well as a dynamic team of sales and marketing professionals in the Advertising Department. Duties include administrative and marketing support to the department. You will also be called upon to perform a variety of other tasks, sometimes with very short notice. These include promotions & sponsorship, dealing with client proofs & liaising with production & accounting departments. Responsible for running & monitoring databases for contesting and promotions. In addition, stocking sales literature, preparing media kits, and providing vacation coverage. You are confident in your ability to provide exemplary customer service to clients and reps alike, are professional at all times and have a good working knowledge of Word & Excel. Writing skills are an asset. You must enjoy and be able to handle the intense pressure of a very busy department, determine priorities quickly and efficiently when handed a multitude of tasks, and work effectively under the pressure of firm ad deadlines with great attention to detail. Preference will be given to candidates with some advertising or media experience and an appreciation for the Arts. If you are interested in applying for this position, please reference GS_SA0417 in the subject line and email a cover letter and resume to: careers@straight.com We thank all applicants for their interest but only those selected for an interview will be contacted. NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE.

Dianne Reeves C H A N C E N T R E AT U B C Tickets and info at chancentre.com

Fred Herzog: Shadowlands See the visually arresting works of Fred Herzog, the Canadian pioneer of colour street photography. His passion for capturing everyday life comes together in this striking exhibition.

January 21 - May 22, 2017 Whistler, BC Fred Herzog Self-Portrait (detail), 1959 Archival Pigment Print Courtesy of Equinox Gallery, Vancouver © Fred Herzog, 2016 JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 25


ar ts/ timeout THEATRE 2OPENINGS THE NETHER Jennifer Haley’s play is a detective story that explores the nature of virtual realms, fantasy, and morality. Jan 18-28, Firehall Arts Centre (280 E. Cordova). Tix $24, info www.firehallartscentre.ca/. AS I LAY DYING The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Theatre SmithGilmour’s production of William Faulkner’s Southern gothic masterpiece as part of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. Jan 19–Feb 12, Goldcorp Stage at

THEATRE DANCE MUSIC COMEDY LITERARY EVENTS ET CETERA GALLERIES MUSEUMS

BULL Made it Ma Equity Co-op present Mike Bartlett’s play that sees two people play a fast-paced game of cat-and-mouse with a coworker as they await news of a job termination. Jan 24-29, 8 pm, Studio 1398 (1398 Cartwright, Granville Island). Tix $15-21, info www.madeitmaproductions.com/.

< < < < < < < <

CUISINE AND CONFESSIONS Théâtre la Seizième presents Montreal-based theatre company Les 7 Doigts in a medley of theatre, dance, and circus. Jan 25-29, Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton). Tix $45-60, info www.seizieme.ca/saison/ cuisine-confessions/.

the BMO Theatre Centre (162 W. 1st). Tix from $29, info www.artsclub.com/. LOVE AND INFORMATION MFA candidate Lauren Taylor directs Caryl Churchill’s play that sees over 100 characters search for meaning in their lives through a series of vignettes. Jan 19–Feb 4, 7:30 pm, Frederic Wood Theatre (6354 Crescent Rd., UBC). Tix $11.50-24.50, info www.ubctheatretickets.com/.

straight choices

2ONGOING

THE CITY AND THE CITY Using emergent audio technology, the audience receives clues for actions, text, and characterization to bring the story to life in real time. Based on the book by China Miéville. Coproduced with Upintheair and the Only Animal. Presented with PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. Jan 24–Feb 5, Russian Hall (600 Campbell). Tix $28/23, info www.upintheairtheatre.com/.

THE FIGHTING SEASON Bleeding Heart Theatre presents Sean Harris Oliver’s play that investigates the Afghan war through the eyes of three Canadian medical personnel. To Jan 21, Vancity Culture Lab (the Cultch, 1895 Venables). Tix $35, info www.thecultch.com/. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST The SMP Dramatic Society presents the story of a provincial beauty who falls in love with a prince cursed with the form of a beast. To Jan 28, 7:30 pm, 2 pm, St Martins Hall (195 E. Windsor Rd., North Vancouver). Tix $21/17/14, info www.smpdramatics.com/.

VSO POPS: SOUNDS OF

A LOOK BACK AT BULL A major force in the Vancouver cultural scene, multidisciplinary artist Hank Bull finally gets the spotlight in a new retrospective, Connexion, at the Burnaby Art Gallery starting Friday (January 20). Here, his collection and archives take the form of a big installation that traces almost 50 years of Bull’s many artistic collaborations. Look for photos, video, props, and other pieces (including Dichroic 1, from the 1978 shadow play Visà-Vis, shown here). Experimental music, mail art, Fluxus, Dada: they’re just some of the influences on the prolific artist’s output, most of it originally seen in underground spaces. The show runs until April 6. ART The Sidekick Players present Yasmina Reza’s play that questions the value and limitations of art. To Jan 28, 8-9:30 pm, Tsawwassen Arts Centre (1172 56th St., Delta). Tix $18/15, info www.sidekickplayers.com/. MACBETH As part of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, Third World Bunfight presents an adaptation of Verdi’s opera, itself based on Shakespeare’s tragedy, that incorporates African musical idioms. In Italian, with English surtitles. To Jan 21, Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton). Tix from $45, info www.pushfestival.ca/.

SIMON & GARFUNKEL

HAPPY DAYS Square Planet Theatre, in association with SFU School for the Contemporary Arts and FCAT, presents Samuel Beckett’s darkly comic eulogy to the human spirit. To Jan 28, 8 pm, Studio T (SFU Woodward’s, 149 West Hastings ). Tix $25/20, info www.sfu.ca/sca/.

DANCE 2THIS WEEK SWEAT BABY SWEAT Flemish choreographer Jan Martens’s work distills the relationship between a man and a woman into an intensely physical, intimate duet depicting all-consuming love. Jan 18-20, 8-9:30 pm, Scotiabank Dance Centre (677 Davie). Tix $26-36, info www.thedance centre.ca/events/global_dance_connec tions_2016_2017/. LES BALLETS TROCKADERO DE MONTE CARLO The American all-male drag ballet corps parodies the conventions and clichés of romantic and classical ballet. Jan 20-21, Queen Elizabeth Theatre (650 Hamilton). Tix from $29 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticketstonight.ca/.

MUSIC

FRIDAY & SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10 & 11 8PM, ORPHEUM Michael Krajewski conductor Jonathan Beedle vocalist

2THIS WEEK

A.J. Swearingen vocalist

A.J. Swearingen and Jonathan Beedle perform their remarkable tribute to legendary folk-rock artists Simon & Garfunkel with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Michael Krajewski is one of the most accomplished Pops conductors in the world today, holding posts as Music Director of the Philly Pops, and Principal Pops Conductor in Atlanta, Jacksonville and Houston. VSO POPS SERIES SPONSOR

FEBRUARY 10 CONCERT SPONSOR

VSO POPS RADIO SPONSOR

MEDIA SPONSOR

@VSOrchestra

TICKETS:

vancouversymphony.ca

26 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017

604.876.3434

DIANA DOHERTY Music in the Morning presents the Australian oboist, violinists Terence Tam and Barry Shiffman, cellist Joseph Elworthy, and pianist Lorraine Min in a performance of works by Bach and Mozart. Jan 18-20, 10:30-11:30 am, Vancouver Academy of Music (1270 Chestnut). Tix $38/3517, info www.musicinthemorning.org/. MUSIC ON THE POINT: ARCHYTAS ENSEMBLE Violinists Dale Barltrop and David Gillham, violist David Harding, and cellist Ariel Barnes perform works by Marcus Goddard and Schumann. Jan 20, 7:30 pm, Roy Barnett Recital Hall (6361 Memorial Rd., UBC). Tix $20/10, info www.music.ubc.ca/music-on-the-point/. WINTERLUDE The Vancouver Recital Society presents classical musician Alexander Melnikov in a program of Rachmaninov

and Debussy. Jan 22, 3 pm, Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton). Tix from $25, info 604-602-0363, www.vanrecital.com/.

THE VSO NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra presents an exploration of new creations and contemporary composers. Concerts include Hard Rubber Orchestra (Jan 24, 7:30 pm, Orpheum Theatre), New Music for Old Instruments I (Jan 25, 7:30 pm, Christ Church Cathedral), Pure Piano (Jan 26, 8:30 pm, Orpheum Theatre), Requiem for a Generation (Jan 27, 7:30 pm, Orpheum Theatre), New Music for Old Instruments II (Jan 28, 7:30 pm, Christ Church Cathedral), and On a Wire (Jan 29, 7:30 pm, Orpheum Theatre). Jan 24-29, Orpheum Theatre (601 Smithe). The event also runs at Christ Church Cathedral, info www.vancouver symphony.ca/. CMS PIANO QUARTET The American classical ensemble plays works by Brahms and Faure. Presented by the Friends of Chamber Music. Jan 24, 8-10 pm, Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton). Tix $50/15, info www.friendsofchambermusic.ca/.

COMEDY 2ONGOING THE COMEDY MIX 1015 Burrard, Century Plaza Hotel & Spa, 604-684-5050, www. thecomedymix.com/. Comedy club with pro-am night Tue at 8:30 pm, showcase Wed at 8:30 pm, and featured headliners Thu at 8:30 pm and Fri-Sat at 8 and 10:30 pm. Cover $8 Tue, $10 Wed, $15 Thu, $18 Fri, $20 Sat. 2SIMON KING Jan 19-21 2SCOTT THOMPSON Jan 26-28 2NIKKI GLAZER Feb 3-4 2GINA BRILLON Feb 9-11 2BRIAN POSEHN Feb 16-18 2JON DORE Feb 24-25 YUK YUK’S COMEDY CLUB 2837 Cambie, 604-696-9857, www.yukyuks.com/vancouver. Comedy club with Top Talent Tue at 8 pm, amateur night Wed at 8 pm, and professional headliners Thu-Fri at 8 pm and Sat at 7 and 9:30 pm. Cover Tue $10, Wed $7, Thu $10, and Fri-Sat $20. 2JOHN BEUHLER Jan 19-21 VANCOUVER THEATRESPORTS LEAGUE Some of the world’s most daring and innovative improv. Firecracker! (Wed, 9:15 pm); Improv After Dark (Fri and Sat, 11:15 pm); OK Tinder (Thu, 9:15 pm); Rookie Night (Sun, 7:30 pm); TheatreSports (Wed, Thu, Fri, and Sat, 7:30 pm; Fri and Sat, 9:30 pm). Jan 18-25, The Improv Centre (1502 Duranleau, Granville Island). Info www.vtsl.com/.

2THIS WEEK SIMON KING U.K.-born standup comedian performs a solo show. Jan 19-21, The Comedy MIX (1015 Burrard). Tix $15-20, info www.thecomedymix.com/.

see page 28


MOVIES REVIEWS 20TH CENTURY WOMEN Starring Annette Bening. Rated 14A

It’s never too soon, or too late, to look back at

2 your own history. In 20th Century Women, diversely talented writer-director Mike Mills takes a playful pass at the gender roles we’re still negotiating more than 35 years after the frankly autobiographical stuff recalled here. In the similarly well-crafted Beginners, Mills (who’s not the bass player in R.E.M., but has designed and shot music videos for Moby and others) detailed his father’s late-in-life comingout. Here, he takes on the travails of his mother, who stayed in Santa Barbara and ran a chaotic boarding house after Dad moved away. Annette Bening has one of her best-ever roles as Dorothea Fields, whose name is probably a nod to Dorothy Fields, lyricist for “A Fine Romance”, “On the Sunny Side of the Street”, and many swing-era tunes our frank-talking heroine grew up with.

Voyage around my mother

Fresh from Neon Demon, Elle Fanning provides the moody adolescent love interest and rocks the late ’70s fashions in Mike Mills’s subtly evocative 20th Century Women,

Neruda joins its bald, rotund, and deeply hedonistic poet turned senator’s story in 1948. That’s when the new Chilean president turned In 20th Century Women, filmmaker Mike Mills follows 2012’s against the leftists in his own Beginners with another look back at a problem parent coalition. Veteran TV comic Nostalgia figures heavily in this Century, which Luis Gnecco plays it mostly straight as the famous takes place mostly in 1979, a year of hideous cars poet, whose patrician use of language meshed and even worse fashions. But the film occasionally with a common touch that endeared him to peasrockets back to Ms. Fields’s pre–WWII childhood ants, intellectuals, and all kinds of rebels in the and jumps forward, through clever use of archival Spanish-speaking world. The movie downplays Neruda’s stubborn Stalgraphics, to the turn of this millennium. Stylistically, Mills mixes a more heartfelt version of Wes inism, in favour of what you might call a melAnderson’s artificiality with the quietly edgy sur- ancholy affirmation of life; politics is merely his nagging responsible side! The script by Guillerrealism of Miranda July, to whom he is married. The story centres nominally on Dorothea’s mo Calderón, who also wrote Larraín’s scabrous 14-year-old son, Jamie, played by newcomer Lucas The Club and the similarly themed Violeta Went Jade Zumann, currently a bit lost among Mom’s to Heaven (about tragic singer Violeta Parra), tenants. These include a working-class dropout doesn’t traffic in the usual biopic tropes. Instead, (Billy Crudup) helping to restore her heritage the story is narrated by a figure right out of Nehome; a forward-looking, if kooky, artist (Greta ruda: an unctuous police inspector called Oscar Gerwig); and teen resident Julie (Elle Fanning), Peluchonneau, played by Gael García Bernal as a whom Jamie has had a crush on since childhood. mustachioed martinet dreamed up by someone Between her many menthol Salems (“They who’s seen too many film-noir cops. Described as “half moron, half idiot” by a weren’t bad for you when I was growing up!”), Dorothea notices her only child’s moody shift Santiago politician, the clueless detective is sent into adolescence. Someone who routinely fol- on a wild chase across the country to follow the lows acute observations with exactly the wrong kind of fugitive who drops autographed books responses, she asks her tenants to help raise the wherever he goes. Peluchonneau can’t quite hide boy—and almost immediately starts resenting his resentful admiration for the poet, whom he their interference. Along the way, Jamie sees goes on the radio to condemn as “a public menhis first punk bands, memorizes major passages ace and unforgettable lover!” (In fact, there are of Our Bodies, Ourselves, and keeps pining for at least two brothel scenes too many, and NeJulie. Nothing huge happens, but all of it evokes ruda’s patient wife, played beautifully by Merthe subtle stuff that makes us the men and cedes Morán, isn’t much of a character.) The use of archaic rear projections in car women we are, were, and will be. > KEN EISNER scenes, beautifully disorienting lens flares, and thickly coloured filters throughout gradually NERUDA heightens the movie’s graphic-novel qualities. As Chilean political thrillers go, it’s more Sin Starring Gael García Bernal. In Spanish, with City than it is Missing. The mix of visual spoofs, English subtitles. Rated PG mind games, and classical music is hugely enFrom the director of Jackie comes another tertaining, even if the realities of an emerging trip back in the time machine, this time to police state aren’t ignored. (Future U.S.–backed director Pablo Larraín’s native Chile, where Nobel dictator Augusto Pinochet shows up briefly, as a Prize–winning poet Pablo Neruda lived and died— concentration-camp commandant.) Neruda neibut that end came long after the material covered ther sticks to nor rewrites history; it takes poetic by this timely and surprisingly playful look at how licence to keep the muses out front. > KEN EISNER art can triumph in a would-be terror state.

2

WEEK IN WIDESCREEN

Heil Hynkel THE GREAT DICTATOR We all saw this one coming,

right? Directly following the inauguration of Cheeto Mussolini on Friday (January 20), the Vancity Theatre revives Charlie Chaplin’s unforgettable takedown of a certain German chancellor, screening Saturday (January 21) and again—double-billed with Ernst Lubitsch’s no less pertinent 1942 classic, To Be or Not To Be—on Sunday (January 22). -

Featuring the voices of Yoko Sakamoto and Nobuo Tobita. In Japanese, with English subtitles. Rating unavailable

Remember that old Northern Pikes song

2 “She Ain’t Pretty”, with its punch line “She

just looks that way”? It could have been written for Rikako, voiced by Yoko Sakamoto in this unusually gentle offering from Studio Ghibli. Rikako is a haughty Tokyo girl from a wealthy family, and she causes a major stir when she shows up halfway into the last year of high school in the relatively small southern town of Kōchi. She particularly catches the eyes of class prefect Yutaka (Toshihiko Seki) and his best friend, Taku (voice veteran Nobuo Tobita), who turns out to be the wistful tale’s narrator and main protagonist. It takes a school trip to Hawaii before Taku gets a real chance to know the ethereal-seeming Rikako, and she turns out to be, well, not nice at all. Produced by Ghibli’s Nozomu Takahashi and directed by Tomomi Mochizuki from a novel popular at the time, the film was made for Japanese television in 1993, and is just hitting the anime circuit now. Like most Ghibli offerings, the 75-minute tale is suffused with nostalgia, in this case for the world of VHS movies and TV cartoons of the 1980s; the characters are only having their fifth-year highschool reunion when we meet them. Unlike other titles from the studio that brought us Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro, there are no mystical events, fanciful tricksters, or even spooky dream sequences—just the acutely observed travails of thoughtful young people facing their growing pains. Visually, Ocean Waves is a minimalistic affair, with the emphasis on small gestures, vocal inflections, and finely drawn landscapes more evident than big plot developments. The only element undercutting the piquancy of these recalled events is Shigeru Nagata’s cheesy synthesizer music, which dates the movie more permanently than was probably intended. It’s also a hint that the ending will be a bit duller and more twist-free than expected. (Spoiler alert: the boy and girl actually like each other!) But the preceding 70 minutes is like spending a sunny afternoon with an old friend you forgot you knew— and is even better-looking than you thought. > KEN EISNER see page 29

MOVIES

The projector

1

OCEAN WAVES

What to see and where to see it

Canada’s Top Ten

FASTER PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! As

the theme song says, “Pussycat, she’s living reckless, pussycat, she’s riding high, if you think that you can take her, well… just you try.” Starring the terrifying Tura Satana, Russ Meyer’s cult classic comes to the Rio Theatre on Friday (January 20).

2

THAT COLD DAY IN THE PARK

3

BORN IN 1987 Things go horrifically wrong—don’t they always?—when a young couple blag their way into Tehran’s high society in Majid Tavakoli’s film, coming to the Vancity Theatre on Wednesday (January 25) courtesy of the Vancouver Iranian Film Society.

Legendary filmmaker Robert Altman’s love affair with Vancouver began with the shooting in 1968 of this abundantly strange tale. Sandy Dennis stars, and so does Tatlow Park, when That Cold Day… screens at the Cinematheque on Monday (January 23).

WEREWOLF The deeply gritty tale of two Cape Breton junkies, Ashley McKenzie’s microbudgeted Werewolf might be the most emblematic work in a still emerging Canadian film renaissance that also includes director Kevan Funk’s Hello Destroyer. Naturally, both titles come to the Cinematheque as part of the Canada’s Top Ten series, with Werewolf screening Friday (January 20), followed by Hello Destroyer on Saturday (January 21). JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 27


Arts time out

from page 26

JOHN BEUHLER Vancouver actor and standup comedian performs a solo show. Jan 19-21, Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Club (2837 Cambie). Tix $19.05/9.53, info www.yukyuks.com/vancouver/. THE FIGHTER AND THE KID LIVE Live presentation of the weekly podcast featuring former UFC heavyweight Brendan “Big Brown� Schaub and actor-comedian Bryan Callen. Jan 18-19, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix for Jan 19 show SOLD OUT. Tix for Jan 18 show $25 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. GUYS WE FUCKED: THE EXPERIENCE JFL NorthWest presents Corinne Fisher and Krystyna Hutchinson as they bring their hit podcast to life through games, audience participation, rants, stories, standup comedy, and never-beforeseen video. Jan 20, Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway). Info www.riotheatre.ca/.

2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS JFL NORTHWEST Comedy festival features performances by Sarah Silverman, Trevor Noah, Chris D’Elia, Iliza, Tom Segura, Brian Posehn, Jon Dore, Nate Bargatze, Aparna Nancherla, K. Trevor Wilson, Jim

Gaffigan, Colin Quinn, Michelle Wolf, Todd Glass, and Barry Crimmins. Other program highlights include SiriusXM’s Top Comic Showcase, Comedy Short Shorts, Piff the Magic Dragon, My Favorite Murder, the Just for Laughs Showcase, and the Best of the West Series, which showcases local comic talent. Feb 16-25, various Vancouver venues. Tix at www.jflnorthwest.com/.

LITERARY EVENTS 2THIS WEEK TELLERS OF SHORT TALES A program of monthly readings designed to engage fans of the short-story genre with emerging and published short story writers. Jan 19, 6-8 pm, Anvil Centre (777 Columbia St., New Westminster). Info www.rclas.com/. CONFLICT IS NOT ABUSE: SARAH SCHULMAN IN CONVERSATION WITH DOUGLAS TODD Novelist, essayist, playwright, and scholar Sarah Schulman discusses the cultural phenomenon of blame and scapegoating as explored in her work Conflict Is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair. Jan 19, 7:30 pm, CBC Studio 700 (700 Hamilton). Free admission, info bit.ly/2i9ivPO. PUSH FESTIVAL: HUMAN LIBRARY As part of the PuSh International Performing

Arts Festival, you can borrow a human book from a curated collection of topics such as recovering hoarder, battered woman, and same-sex-marriage warrior. Jan 21, 22, 28, 29, 12-4 pm, Vancouver Public Library Central Branch (350 W. Georgia). Info www.vpl.ca/.

will focus on a single work from the SFU Art Collection and will unpack this work out of storage and unpack its significance. Jan 19, 12:30-1:30 pm, SFU Gallery (8888 University Dr., Burnaby). Info www.sfu.ca/ galleries/sfu-gallery/SFU-gallery.html.

WINTER GATHERING Celebrate the winter season with spoken-word poetry by Molly Billows and Sol Diana, music by Rob Thompson and Jamie Thompson, interactive storytelling by Kenthen Thomas, food, and refreshments. Jan 19, 6:30 pm, Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art (639 Hornby). Admission by donation , info www.facebook.com/ events/1200775703344088/.

on the web!

For up-to-the-minute, searchable Arts listings on your phone, visit

www.straight.com

ET CETERA 2THIS WEEK

MISCHIEF MANAGED: HARRY POTTER BURLESQUE Geekenders and Kitty Glitter present a burlesque evening inspired by the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Costumes encouraged. Jan 19, 8 pm, Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway). Tix $20/15, info www.riotheatre.ca/event/ harry-potterlesque/.

2017 PUSH INTERNATIONAL PERFORMING ARTS FESTIVAL The 13th annual celebration of groundbreaking theatre, dance, music, and multimedia art features artists from 11 countries. Highlights include an all-star Australian indigenous band, South Korean performance art, Bavarian folk dancers, and participatory recitation from Portugal. To Feb 5, various Vancouver venues. Tix $10-103, info www.pushfestival.ca/.

PORTRAITS IN MOTION Volker Gerling uses the flipbook to show us intimacy in motion through the beginning and end of a smile, an awkward embrace, and glimpses of a long-time love affair. Part of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. Jan 24-26, 8 pm, York Theatre (639 Commercial). Info www.thecultch.com/.

UNPACKING ART: LUNCHTIME TALKS ON WORKS IN THE SFU ART COLLECTION—BRIAN MYLES Each talk

MEDIA SPONSOR

NOW PLAYING!

JAN 20

ADVANCE TICKETS AT RIOTHEATRETICKETS.CA

Just For Laughs Northwest Presents GUYS WE FUCKED: THE EXPERIENCE SP FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! SP Friday Late Night Movie

HARRY JANUARY 21 & JANUARY 22

POTTERTHON

SATURDAY & SUNDAY

THE HARRY POTTERTHON WEEKEND All Harry Potter. All Eight Movies. All Weekend Long. +RS RQ WKH +RJZDUW V ([SUHVV RU WKH 6N\WUDLQ DQG JHW UHDG\ WR OHW \RXU WUXH KRXVH FRORXUV IO\ DV \RX MRLQ XV IRU D PDUDWKRQ ZHHNHQG VFUHHQLQJ RI WKH HQWLUH Harry Potter VHULHV 7ULYLD FRVWXPH ZHOFRPH DQG HQFRXUDJHG FRQWHVWV DQG PD\EH HYHQ D FKDQFH WR LPELEH LQ EXWWHU EHHU Minors welcome in the balcony! ,QGLYLGXDO ILOP WLFNHWV DQG GD\ RU ZHHNHQG SDVVHV DYDLODEOH *Since this is a marathon, start times are approximate. If coming for an individual film, please arrive 15-20 minutes before scheduled start time. SATURDAY, JANUARY 21 HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE SP HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS SP HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN SP HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE SP SUNDAY, JANUARY 22 HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX SP HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE SP HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 1 SP HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2 SP

CANADA’S TOP TEN FILM FESTIVAL

JANUARY 23 JANUARY 24 JAN 25

THE CRITICAL HIT SHOW: A #DNDLIVE IMPROVISED COMEDY SPECTACULAR SP *HW \RXU PRQWKO\ IL[ RI PHGLHYDO PLUWK DQG PHUULPHQW ZLWK D KLODULRXV QLJKW RI LPSURYLVHG FRPHG\ JROG LQVSLUHG E\ WKH ZRUOG V PRVW SRSXODU UROH SOD\LQJ IDQWDV\ JDPH 1RZ LQ LWV ILIWK \HDU 9DQFRXYHU V PRVW LQWUHSLG SHUIRUPHUV ZLOO YHQWXUH RQ D TXHVW IRU FRPLF JORU\ DQG VQDFNV LQ WKLV OLYH LPSURYLVHG VDJD

CLOSING EVENT Saturday January 21 DOORS 6:30 | SCREENINGS 7:30

HELLO DESTROYER Special Guests in Attendance

PLUS CANADA’S TOP TEN SHORTS 2016, WEREWOLF, IT’S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD, AND NELLY.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

ONE OF THE BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR •

•

•

CRITICS’ PICK

“A CAPTIVATINGLY ORIGINAL LITERARY THRILLER.� - Justin Chang

++++

- Benjamin Lee, THE GUARDIAN

“STUNNINGLY INVENTIVE.

A WORK OF CLEVERNESS, BEAUTY AND POWER.� - Jay Weissberg, VARIETY

NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW

FROM

PA B LO L A R R A Ă? N ,

D I R E C TO R O F

‘NO’

&

‘JAC K I E ’

JAN 26

The Geekenders Present PORTAL 2: THE (UNAUTHORIZED) MUSICAL SP Aperture is back. For science. You monster! 7ZR \HDUV DIWHU WKH Geekendersœ VPDVK KLW DQG VROG RXW ³YLUDO VHQVDWLRQ´ LQVSLUHG E\ RQH RI WKH ZRUOGœV PRVW SRSXODU YLGHR JDPHV PORTAL 2: THE (UNAUTHORIZED) MUSICAL LV EDFN ZLWK UHYDPSHG VHWV VFULSWV FRVWXPHV PXVLF DQG PRUH 7KLV RULJLQDO PXVLFDO SURGXFWLRQ LV QRW WR EH PLVVHG (Minors OK to Jan. 28 matinee!) *See www.riotheatre.ca for showtimes.

JANUARY 30

JAN 27-29

N E R U DA

LEONARD COHEN: IN SHORT SP &HOHEUDWH Leonard Cohen ZLWK D FROOHFWLRQ RI IRXU VKRUW ILOPV SURGXFHG E\ 7KH 1DWLRQDO )LOP %RDUG RI &DQDGD EHWZHHQ 7KH ÂłJHP´ RI WKH EXQFK LV Donald Brittain DQG Don Owen‘s UDUHO\ VHHQ ILOP LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MR. LEONARD COHEN D GRFXPHQWDU\ SRUWUDLW RI Cohen LQ KLV SUH PXVLFLDQ GD\V DV D SRHW DQG VWDQG XS FRPHGLDQ *See www.riotheatre.ca for details. NERUDA SP Gael Garcia Bernal VWDUV DV DQ LQVSHFWRU WDVNHG ZLWK KXQWLQJ GRZQ 1REHO 3UL]H ZLQQLQJ SRHW Pablo Neruda ZKR EHFRPHV D IXJLWLYH LQ KLV KRPH FRXQWU\ LQ WKH ODWH V IRU MRLQLQJ WKH &RPPXQLVW 3DUW\ LQ Pablo Larrain's (Jackie) *ROGHQ *OREH QRPLQDWHG (Best Foreign Film) ELRSLF "A virtual fireworks show about the power of poetry and fame on the world." (Entertainment Weekly)

SEE WWW.RIOTHEATRE.C A FOR COMPLETE LISTINGS & UPDATED C ALENDAR

28 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017

OFFICIAL SELECTION

CANNES

DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT 2016

OFFICIAL SELECTION

TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL 2016

OFFICIAL SELECTION

NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL 2016

OFFICIAL SELECTION

2016

TheOrchard.com

are

you

on the

LIST?

SFU GOLDCORP CENTRE FOR THE ARTS 149 W. Hastings, www.sfuwoodwards.ca. 2MOMENTS: ARNE EIGENFELDT (a new work of continuous, generative electroacoustic music, continuing the artist’s research into musebots (independent, intelligent musical agents) that generate music) to Jan 28

MUSEUMS

TORONTO INT’L FILM FESTIVAL

STARTS FRIDAY, JANUARY 20

SONGS FOR THEATRE There’s a reason Jim Byrnes’s fundraising concerts for First Impressions Theatre in Deep Cove always sell out: the intimate evening is not just about the music, but about ample storytelling. This year, the Vancouver bluesman is joined by the new band Mainstreet Muze, with Babe Gurr, Steve Hilliam, and Adam Popowitz. The concerts happen Thursday and Friday nights (January 19 and 20) at the atmospheric Deep Cove Shaw Theatre in North Van. Byrnes was integral to getting the little venue built and has helped support it ever since.

VANCOUVER ART GALLERY 750 Hornby, 604-662-4719, www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/. 2STARE (exhibition features photographic works that evoke a fixed and concentrated gaze on the part of artist and viewer) to Jan 22 2WALKER EVANS: DEPTH OF FIELD (exhibition features more than 200 black-and-white and colour prints from the 1920s through to the 1970s) to Jan 22 2VANCOUVER SPECIAL: AMBIVALENT PLEASURES (exhibition encompasses a range of approaches and reinvigorated explorations of surrealism, abstraction, atemporality, and conceptual practices) to Apr 17 2JUXTAPOZ X SUPERFLAT (exhibition offers a unique insight into contemporary art and its place in cultural life) to Feb 5

“INCREDIBLY ENTERTAINING.�

TOP 5 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILMS OF THE YEAR

CRAZY 8s FILMS 18 YEAR ANNIVERSARY SCREENING & PARTY SP &HOHEUDWH ZRQGHUIXO \HDUV RI Crazy8s Films ZLWK D ELJ VFUHHQ YLHZLQJ RI VRPH IHDWXUHG IDYRXULWHV SURGXFHG DV SDUW RI WKH DQQXDO VKRUW ILOP IHVWLYDO 5XE HOERZV ZLWK Crazy8s DOXPQL WKH LQFUHGLEOH 9DQFRXYHU FRPPXQLW\ RI IULHQGV DQG VSRQVRUV DQG WKLV \HDUÂśV ZLQQHUV DQG SHUKDSV WDON WR WKHP DERXW FUHZLQJ XS DQG FDVWLQJ Meet 'n mingle starts at 7:00 pm.

JAPAN UNLAYERED Exhibition curated by master Japanese architect Kengo Kuma presents Japanese traditions alongside contemporary design to illustrate that the defining principles of Japanese design remain the same despite the evolution of technology. Jan 27–Feb 28, Fairmont Pacific Rim (1038 Canada Place). Free admission, info www.japanunlayered.com/.

Till Jan 22 #SEETHENORTH

TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH SP Director David LaVallee will be in attendance for Q&A. 3UHVHQWHG E\ WKH CCPA-BC. ARRIVAL SP"ARRIVAL delivers a must-see experience for fans of thinking person’s sci-fi, that anchors its heady themes with genuinely affecting emotion and a terrific performance from Amy Adams." (Rotten Tomatoes)

DIRTSONG The PuSh International Performing Arts Festival and Coastal Jazz present the Canadian premiere of the multimedia experience created by Australia’s Black Arm Band. Feb 4, 8 pm, Queen Elizabeth Theatre (650 Hamilton). Tix from $25, info www.pushfestival.ca/.

straight choices

ÂŽ

ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS SP 7KRXJK IUHTXHQWO\ HQMR\HG DORQH ZLWK KHDG SKRQHV David Bowie‘s FRQFHSW DOEXP The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars PD\ DFWXDOO\ EHVW EH HQMR\HG LQ WKH GDUNÂŤ $QG RQ WKH ELJ VFUHHQ ZLWK HYHQ ELJJHU VRXQG 7KLV UHVWRUHG KLJK GHI FRQFHUW ILOP FRPHV GLUHFWO\ IURP WKH IDPLO\ RI GLUHFWRU D.A. Pennebaker, DQG FDSWXUHV WKH ILQDO DSSHDUDQFH RI WKH *ODP 5RFN .LQJ V DOWHU HJR Ziggy Stardust DW /RQGRQ V +DPPHUVPLWK 2GHRQ RQ -XO\

ODYSSEO Cavalia presents a multimedia performance that uses equestrian arts, stage arts, and high-tech theatrical effects to examine the centuries-old relationship between human and horse. Jan 29–Feb 19, Under the white big top at Olympic Village. Tix $29.50-204.50 (plus service charges and fees), info www.cavalia.net/.

ITALIAN CULTURAL CENTRE 3075 Slocan, 604-430-3337, www.italiancultural centre.ca. 2AN ARTIST’S JOURNEY THROUGH EUROPEAN MUSEUMS (Leslie Poole paints of the emotional responses we experience while touring the great museums of Europe) Jan 20–Mar 30

GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINEE

NERDLAND SP Titmouse Inc.'s (Black Dynamite, Moonbeam City) ILUVW IHDWXUH NERDLAND IHDWXUHV WKH YRLFHV RI Patton Oswalt, Paul Rudd, DQG Hannibal Buress LQ DQ RK VR YHU\ UDXQFK\ FRPHG\ IROORZLQJ WZR VRPHWKLQJ EXGV ZKR GHFLGH WR VSHQG D GD\ WUROOLQJ / $ RQ D IDPH JUDE MRXUQH\ HQFRXQWHULQJ DQG DEXVLQJ IULHQGV ERWK QHZ DQG ROG DORQJ WKH ZD\

SHEN YUN Touring production combines ancient legends, technological innovations, historically authentic costumes, and animated backdrops with classical Chinese dancing and orchestral music. Jan 29-31, Queen Elizabeth Theatre (650 Hamilton). Tix $85-179 (plus service charges and fees), info www.shenyun.com/van.

GALLERIES

presents

1660 EAS T BROADWAY @ COMMERCIAL

2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS

VANCITY THEATRE

Vancouver International Film Centre

1181 Seymour Street, Vancouver BC, Canada V6B 3M

SIGN UP FOR GEORGIA STRAIGHT’S WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

for exclusive access to pre-buys, concerts, movies, getaways and more! To subscribe visit STRAIGHT.COM/NEWSLETTERS

THE MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY AT UBC 6393 NW Marine Drive, 604822-5087, www.moa.ubc.ca/. 2IN THE FOOTPRINT OF THE CROCODILE MAN: CONTEMPORARY ART OF THE SEPIK RIVER, PAPUA NEW GUINEA (exhibition features the carvings of Papua New Guinea’s Iatmul people) to Jan 31 2LAYERS OF INFLUENCE: UNFOLDING CLOTH ACROSS CULTURES (exhibition features more than 130 diverse cultural garments) to Apr 9

TIME OUT ARTS LISTINGS are a public service provided free of charge, based on available space and editorial discretion. Submit listings online using the event-submission form at straight.com/AddEvent. Events that don’t make it into the paper due to space constraints will appear on the website.


MOVIES

Fearless writer-director-actor Don McKellar returns to the small screen with the CBC’s anxiety-drenched Michael: Every Day.

Don McKellar: all the time

R

est assured, everyone, Don McKellar has no trouble peeing in public. “If anything, I pee too often in public,” he declares, with not undue pride, during a call to the Straight from Toronto. “It’s sort of the opposite problem.” This might seem like a frivolous and possibly very immature way to begin a conversation with the talented actor-writer-director, at least until you catch Episode 3 of Michael: Every Day, the CBC series that premiered January 15 with McKellar at the helm. It’s based largely on the many and varied phobias plaguing McKellar’s friend and series cocreator Matt Watts, and it was really only a matter of time before Michael—also played by Watts—would be working through his lavatorial stage fright in the comfortable clinical setting of a Sunday-night sitcom. “This show is all about normalizing these anxieties,” McKellar says. “It’s a comedy, but, on the other hand, the issues that these people are facing and their symptoms are serious, and they’re very common. Matt’s character has general anxiety disorder, which manifests itself in lots of ways.

Movie reviews

“And Dr. David Storper has depression,” he continues, referring to Michael’s cognitive-behavioural therapist, played by the show’s third creative partner, Bob Martin. “We don’t want to diminish the impact these things have on people’s lives. They’re real.” All seriousness aside, the overarching joke here is that Michael and David share a sweet kind of codependency that ultimately blurs the line between their professional and personal relationships, a dynamic that was first established in 2011 with Michael: Tuesdays and Thursdays. Returning to the characters at the behest of the Ceeb after five years has been “intriguing”, in McKellar’s word, even if the call was unexpected. “We thought it was sorta nuts,” he admits with a chuckle, “and then quickly, actually, we saw the fun in it.” Presumably, everybody also saw the good sense. In a landscape filled with so-so Canuck comedy, Michael: Every Day is a gem, smartly written (novelist Lynn Coady is actually responsible for the notorious third episode), beautifully acted by a cast that also includes Tommie-Amber Pirie as Michael’s ex and Ed Asner as David’s therapist, and then shot in a pleasingly crisp and angular style by McKellar.

It’s another worthy entry in a remarkably long and novel résumé that stretches back to McKellar’s 1989 writing-acting debut in Bruce McDonald’s Roadkill. He’d go on to win international renown as a screenwriter (Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, The Red Violin), while remaining an inspired oddball on both sides of the camera with projects like 1998’s Last Night. If some might view more mainstream-leaning directorial efforts like 2013’s The Grand Seduction as a mark of McKellar’s versatility, he prefers to put it down—ironically enough—to being “the man without fear”. “Just to be clear, I have all sorts of psychological problems,” he says, with audible glee. “I’m just not particularly phobic. But I do get distracted easily and I think that, fortunately, in this case, it’s resulted in a really diverse career that’s gone off in lots of different directions. I think my impatience and my lack of focus has sort of worked out for me. But it could also take a devastating turn in the other direction.” It’s nice to know he’s scared of something. Catch the first two episodes of Michael: Every Day at www.cbc.ca/. Episodes 3 and 4 air on CBC TV on Sunday (January 22).

from page 27

®

BEST ACTOR · CASEY AFFLECK

4 3

SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS®

BEST ENSEMBLE BEST ACTOR CASEY AFFLECK N O M I NAT I O N S

4

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

WINNER

C R I T I C S ’ C H O I C E AWA R D S

BEST ACTOR CASEY AFFLECK BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

KENNETH LONERGAN

BEST YOUNG ACTOR

LUCAS HEDGES

MICHELLE WILLIAMS

WINNER

NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW AWARDS

BEST PICTURE BEST ACTOR CASEY AFFLECK BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

KENNETH LONERGAN

3

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE, MALE

LUCAS HEDGES

LUCAS HEDGES

WINNER

NEW YORK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS

BEST ACTOR CASEY AFFLECK BEST SCREENPLAY

KENNETH LONERGAN

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

MICHELLE WILLIAMS

“A MASTERPIECE.” “++++

THE FOUNDER

THE BEST FILM OF THE YEAR!”

Starring Michael Keaton. Rated PG

The first big movie of the Trump era arrives in the appropriately ambivalent form of The Founder. First and foremost, this two-hour Horatio Alger story from The Blind Side director John Lee Hancock is a vehicle for Michael Keaton’s towering performance as Roy Kroc, who refined and propagated the McDonald’s formula. This makes sense, since the tale is largely about negative charisma and sheer willpower, properties that have always marked even the gentlest of Keaton’s performances. In this case, his manic energy is channelled into someone whose business ambitions were only about making money. The late Kroc’s name will forever be associated with the “billions served” burger empire, but as the film recalls, in detail, this Midwestern milkshake-machine salesman had exactly zero to do with the original fastfood drive-in of that name. It was started in San Bernardino, California, by brothers Dick and Maurice “Mac” McDonald, played absolutely straight here by Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch, who usually go for more comic roles. They came up with the sleek, modern efficiency system, and the iconic golden arches. As written by Robert Siegel, former editor of The Onion, the movie doesn’t tell us that the McDonald brothers were already thinking franchise when approached in 1954 by Kroc, who was curious to see how they would use eight of his machines. The Founder elides other major players and events in this origin story, and alters the name of self-help business guru Norman Vincent

WINNER GOLDEN GLOBE (DRAMA)

> B Y A DRIA N M A C K

2

97%

ONE OF THE BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR

*AS OF 12/12/16

WINNER WINNER WINNER BEST ACTOR

BEST ACTOR

BEST ACTOR

CASEY AFFLECK CASEY AFFLECK CASEY AFFLECK ATLANTA FILM CRITICS SOCIETY G O T H A M AWA R D BOSTON SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS

As Golden Arches honcho Ray Kroc, Michael Keaton gives The Founder a generous dollop of special sauce.

Peale—who also “inspired” Donald Trump’s father—but it gets the outlines right. These include first giving himself a rotten deal on franchise royalties and then turning around and sticking it to the bros as he got more leverage, and dumping his long-suffering wife (Laura Dern) in favour of the savvier spouse (Linda Cardellini) of an early partner in the move to go national. The film has been accused of generating undue sympathy for Kroc, but this suit isn’t entirely empty until the moment he decides to take sole credit for the invention of McDonald’s. The subject here is really the blurred line between entrepreneurship and creativity, and that’s just as American as french fries and Coca-Cola. > KEN EISNER

FIFTH AVENUE

NOW PLAYING!

2110 Burrard St. ´ 604-734-7469

CINEPLEX ENTERTAINMENT

CINEPLEX ENTERTAINMENT

CINEPLEX CINEMAS LANGLEY #20090, 91A Avenue • 604-513-8747

88 WEST PENDER • 604-806-0799

PARK & TILFORD 200-333 Brooksbank Ave. • 604-985-4215

JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 29


100 $25 $

*

*

voucher on select sun packages.

For more sun deals visit flightcentre.ca/sun 24/7

1 866 503 1294 Over 950 Airfare Experts across Canada

*Conditions apply. For full terms & conditions please speak with a Flight Centre travel consultant or visit flightcentre.ca/sun. BC REG: #HO2790

JOIN US

EVERY 2ND FRIDAY Feb 10th, 24th ■ Mar 10th, 24th ■ Apr 7th, 21st

LIVE AT

STADIUM CLUB MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13 CELEBRATE VALENTINE’S DAY WITH

AIR SUPPLY THE ORIGINAL ROCK DUO PERFORMING THEIR CLASSIC HITS “I’M ALL OUT OF LOVE”, “HERE I AM”, “LOST IN LOVE” & MANY MORE.

F RI DAY

DOORS AT 7PM | SHOW AT 8PM TICKETS STARTING AT $49.50 CHAMPAGNE INCLUDED IN TICKET PRICE TICKETS AVAILABLE AT EDGEWATERCASINO.SHOWARE.COM FOR BOOTH RESERVATIONS: 778.833.0294 Vancouver’s Only Downtown Casino 760 Pacific Blvd. South Vancouver, BC V6B 5E7

Across from BC Place P 604.687.3343

30 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017

EDGEWATERCASINO.CA

THANKS FOR VOTING US BEST STRIP CLUB!

MALE DANCERS: 8:30-10PM FEMALE DANCERS: 10PM-CLOSE


MUSIC

Having finally accepted that Vancouver

BY MIKE US IN G ER

might be as close as he’ll ever get to home, muchtravelled singer and artist Bruce Wilson has been wondering lately if he might be ready for a change. “I was in Detroit a couple of months ago and now I’m thinking that I might like to move there,” says the reborn frontman and face of the multimedia project known as Sunday Morning. It’s a cold winter-weekday afternoon, and he’s met up with the Straight for postwork coffee at Kafka’s on Main Street. “I’m actually obsessed with the idea of moving. It’s a fucking cool place—really amazing, with architecture that’s astounding. It’s a beautiful and complicated city, and things that are beautiful and complicated have always intrigued me.” That statement is certainly borne out by Sunday Morning’s eponymous debut, which was released right before Christmas and is augmented by accompanying videos, and an upcoming book. Working with long-time friend and legitimate Vancouver music-scene legend Stephen Hamm on Sunday Morning, Wilson has created a fascinatingly multilayered record that’s as rich and rewarding sonically as it is thematically. Over 11 at times brooding and at times uplifting tracks that nod to immortals like the Stooges, Nick Cave, and the Velvet Underground, the singer leaves you

A journal of the lost years

Bruce Wilson’s favourite songs of all time include “Jesus Christ Pose”, “I Am the Resurrection”, and—you guessed it—“Sunday Morning Coming Down”.

clean after the breakup, he threw them out. “When we split up I had this desire to eradicate my seriously wondering what inspires him more: the past,” Wilson says. “So I hucked out everything.” 4 a.m. terrors when life seems endlessly fucked, That was circa 2009, after which he moved back or the breakthroughs when dark clouds part and to Vancouver. Then one day, when he was showing blinding sunlight floods in. someone a Tankhog video on YouTube, he spotted “The name Sunday Morning kind of embodies a comment. that duality,” Wilson offers. “It can mean either a “Someone had written ‘I found this guy’s jourspiritual rebirth or just waking up totally hung- nals,’ and as far as I know he still has them,” Wilson over and wishing that I was dead.” says. “I began thinking, ‘What would it be like if I found someone’s journals and tried to interpret OVER THE YEARS, Wilson was more than fam- someone’s life from them and create a narrative iliar with waking up regretting the night before. arc from someone’s prose and poetry?’ So I began He was raised by middle-class parents, his thinking about that and how to present that as a English-professor dad and teacher-writer mom project or art piece. I spoke to Hamm about maybe instilling a love of music in him, including giants writing a couple of songs. We started doing that, it like Alice Cooper and the Velvet Underground. was going well, so we put a band together to play By the time he hit his teen years in Vancouver, the songs.” Wilson was forming bands like Pollyanna SlaughThat was around 2010, and the initial goal terhouse and TV Repairmen, which featured Slow was to do something straightforward, as is evifrontman Thomas Anselmi. In the tradition of vi- dent in early Sunday Morning songs like “Can’t sionaries from Iggy Pop to Kurt Cobain, he was Find You”, when Wilson’s smoky baritone is also buying into the idea that to be a true artist augmented by desert-sunset guitars and rockyou have to rebel on all fronts. At age 18 he tried steady drums. heroin for the first time. “Hamm and I wanted to do something com“It was winter, and I don’t want to say who I was pletely different from Tankhog,” Wilson relates. with or where I was, but we were in a house with no “We wanted to write simple, emotionally driven heat,” he remembers. “I’d done acid and speed and songs and not complicate things too much.” the heroin came out, so I tried it. The house was And despite that, Sunday Morning is often anyfreezing—the pipes had frozen—but when I did it, thing but simple and straightforward, winningly everything was incredibly warm and comfortable.” referencing everything from distortion-dazed A half-decade later, his indie-scene star began Americana (the drinking-doubles duet “Hearts to truly ascend when he became the fantastic- Break”) to porno-sonic funk (“Dirty South”). ally unhinged singer for Vancouver’s Tankhog, Those who wonder what the Motor City sounded an early-’90s protogrunge unit that also featured like during the early reign of the Stooges can head Stephen Hamm on bass. The band imploded af- directly to the scorching “Sick in the City”, while ter releasing a vinyl single (“The Freight Train the guitar-glazed “The Change” is the song we’ve Song”/“Jealous Trains”) and a full-length album wanted the Afghan Whigs to write since their (House of Beauty). And in many ways so did Wil- completely essential Gentlemen. son’s life, as the singer spent years and years movKicking off a record that’s one of the dark-horse ing around the world, from city to city, in a haze treasures of 2016 is “Come the Rain”, a baroque of alcohol and drugs. beauty with grey-skies strings, plaintive piano, and “Tankhog had kind of done all that it could do— Wilson’s whisky-and-nicotine-cured vocals. Try we’d taken it as far as we possibly could and none not to get the chills when Wilson—coming on like a of us were very healthy,” Wilson remembers. “So it man who’s religiously studied such masters as Mark split up and I took off to Spain and North Africa Lanegan, Leonard Cohen, and Nick Cave—pours for a while, came back here, and was kind of boun- out his soul with lines such as “Oh baby, come the cing around Vancouver, Montreal, and Japan for a rain/Wash this dirty water from my veins.” couple of years. Alcohol and heroin became more of a priority than they ought to have been, and I Sunday Morning’s Bruce Wilbegan to spiral. I really didn’t write or make music son sounds off on the things for a number of years.” that enquiring minds want to Instead, Wilson continued to move around know. from town to town, picking up work—often carpentry—while successfully keeping the fact that On Vancouver: “I don’t he was an addict from everyone around him. know how stable I am, but I feel more grounded “I managed to function and hold down jobs and than I have in the past. Calling the city home keep ahead until I couldn’t,” Wilson says. “And has been more of an internal grounding than when I couldn’t, there was no real turning around.” anything else.” He got clean and sober in Vancouver in 2006. “It’s weird to think of it in retrospect,” Wilson On drinking and drugging: “I think I was remembers, “because at the time my capacity to deunder the misconception that it was part of what ceive myself was astronomical. I remember seeing I ought to do as an artist.” photos of myself and not being able to convince myself that they were just crappy photographs. I really On what’s next for Sunday Morning: did look that bad.” “I wrote a book and I’m in the middle of a draft. The termination of a relationship in MassachuI had to put it on hold while I was doing the setts at the end of the ’00s would in many ways album and making videos and getting ready for set the table for what became Sunday Morning, the show. After this show, I’m going back into which started as a collaboration between Wilson seclusion to finish it off. It tells a fictional story of and Hamm and then gradually morphed into a a guy named Turner whose notebooks I found.” full band. Even during his lost years, Wilson kept detailed journals. Determined to wipe the slate

Vancouver music-scene survivor Bruce Wilson has returned in fine form with Sunday Morning

in + out

HELPING BRING SUNDAY MORNING to life is a cast of veteran players from Vancouver’s long and storied indie-music scene: bassist Coco Culbertson (the Gay), drummer Justin Leigh (Pluto), guitarist Kevin Rose (Tankhog), and vocalists Leah Commons (Bubble 11) and Carmen Bruno (Trailerhawk). They come together to create a journey that’s as beautiful as the Velvet Underground’s classic “Sunday Morning”, and as terrifying and unrelenting as that band’s masterpiece “Sister Ray”. The dichotomy is entirely intentional. “I think I was born with a sense of dissatisfaction,” Wilson says with a laugh. “There’s always been some sense of darkness, and part of what Sunday Morning is is kind of an investigation into the duality of our psyches.” What might illustrate that best is the way that, in the middle of our interview, Wilson reaches for his iPhone and then calls up a batch of photos. Taken during his recent trip to visit friends in Detroit, they show interiors of old Motor City buildings that are nothing less than stunning—proof that the golden era of American architecture didn’t stop with landmarks like New York’s Chrysler Building and Chicago’s Tribune Tower. Where most see the onetime economic engine of the United States as a decaying mess of rampant crime, spiralling poverty, and miles of boarded-up buildings, the veteran indie rocker is, tellingly, able to look beyond the surface. Wilson’s affection for what’s generally regarded as one of North America’s most majestic yet troubled cities is an understandable one, especially when viewed through the prism of both his own history and what he’s accomplished with Sunday Morning. No one is supposed to take an extended lostyears hiatus from the music industry, and then return almost unannounced, with a record this brilliant. Given how artistically triumphant his return has been, the obvious question is whether Wilson has regrets about how he let the darkness engulf everything for much of his adult life. As he is with all of his answers, Wilson is philosophical. And what he says goes a long way to explaining the album’s powerful final lyrics on the angelic closer, “When Sunday Morning Comes”: “There’s silence in the dawn after the fever breaks/ When Sunday morning comes.” “I think that the only thing that I find myself regretting is the amount of wasted time,” he offers. “But I think that it happened how it happened for a reason, and I’m incredibly proud of this album.” And, for now, he’s proud to call Vancouver home. It’s where he launched his music career, where he got clean after years of abusing his mind and body, and where Sunday Morning was born. For now, Detroit might have to wait. “It rains here all the time, but I always end up coming back,” Wilson says. “For years and years I fought it and was always kind of planning my escape. The song ‘Comes the Rain’ was something I wrote as kind of a spiritual embracing. It sounds so clichéd, but I was trying to escape myself. Part of what Sunday Morning means is trying to find home—what is home and how do I experience it? Home as a concept was something that I didn’t really understand, and I don’t know if I do now. But I do feel like it’s more of a home now than it has ever been.” Sunday Morning plays a full-band album-release party at the Cultch on Saturday (January 21).

JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 31


MUSIC

FRIDAY NIGHT CONCERT JIM BYRNES

LOCAL DIS CS

Friday, January 27 7:30 – 8:45 p.m. Main Hall

KARSTEN SOLLORS

1950 Marine Drive West Vancouver

westvanlibrary.ca GROOVE & TONIC JANUARY 21

19 LAS DIVAS 25 20 TANGLERS 26 THE PHONIX 21 GROOVE & 27 TONIC THURSDAY $2.75 10 OZ DRAFT $5.50 HEY Y’ALL HARD ICE TEA

FUNK / SOUL / R&B COVERS

FRIDAY $5.50 LONG ISLAND ICED TEA

THE MAGIC CIRCLE

SATURDAY

WEDNESDAY

AIR STRANGER W/ MOOD THURSDAY $2.75 10 OZ DRAFT $5.50 HEY Y’ALL HARD ICE TEA

FUNK / SOUL / R&B COVERS

FRIDAY $5.50 LONG ISLAND ICED TEA

UNKNOWN SOLDIERS,

COVERS

Sollors lives up to his rep

SABOTAGE, THE WALK-INS

FOOD. DRINK. LIVE ENTERTAINMENT.

*** VISIT US ONLINE FOR UP TO THE MINUTE LISTINGS, DRINK SPECIALS AND MORE www.thebackstagelounge.com ***

Six Cents EP (Farris Wheel)

As a veteran DJ with tracks to staple electronicmusic imprints like Toolroom and Nervous records, Vancouver-born producer Karsten Sollors commands high expectations for new releases. Fortunately, the young star’s upcoming Six Cents EP more than lives up to the strength of his credentials. The three-track collection begins with “Bottom Line”, an energetic house offering. Sporting an insistent, rolling bass line that never wavers from the punchy, four-to-the-floor beat, the record is peppered with demanding minor synth chords and strong vocal hits. Featuring a spoken-word discussion of street knowledge, “Bottom Line” boasts an aural clarity typically missing from works that include longer samples. Middle song “Montreal” moves Six Cents into more melodic territory. A warm bass line complements the track’s aggressive techno sounds, and offers a balance to its haunting, simple melody. With syncopated rhythms and high string-synth drones that drop in and out, the song repeatedly shifts its tone throughout its six-minute duration, creating a multifaceted and engaging record. The title track and final offering is the EP’s floor-filler. A bouncy and infectious anthem, the tune draws upon elements of ’90s acid house in its bass sounds and melodies. Updating the genre by expertly demonstrating how modern production techniques have advanced dynamic contrast, “Six Cents” features various moments of light and shade, offering numerous points for DJs to mix in and out. Slated to be released on February 10—just two months after the artist’s Illegal Arts EP dropped on rising label Prison Entertainment—Six Cents proves that Sollors can produce quality work at lightning speed.

2 signed

> KATE WILSON

THE APRIL FOOLS CHILDRENHOOD Low Colour (Independent)

The April Fools Childrenhood

2 is actually just one man, David Cowling, who also happens to be half of a duo called Leave, along with Emma Citrine, whose solo debut, Sad Surprise, was reviewed by this very publication last week. Cowling and Citrine are playing a joint CD–release show on February 10 at VIVO Media Arts Centre. If that

Oops! It seems Karsten Sollors has misplaced every shirt he owns.

seems like a bit of an oddball venue for such an event, it’s actually a good fit for the vibe of the April Fools Childrenhood. The four songs on this EP (there are actually five tracks, but the first one, titled “Low”, is just 25 seconds of studio noise and preamble) are spare and spacious, comprising a few layers of (mostly) guitar and vocals. The songs are hauntingly melancholic. They don’t have hooks, exactly, or even choruses per se, but Cowling does have a way with a plaintive melody. Low Colour is one of those records that seem tailor-made for a late night spent pondering how in the hell everything went so terribly wrong. Mind you, the lyrics are all but impenetrable. There’s something vaguely Catholic about “Whisper to Me”, on which Cowling sings “Confession makes for a guilty room/Purified by open wounds,” but it’s almost certainly metaphorical. As for what he means by “Never Alone”—“Laying with the muse, I slip behind a question/Disassociated now, I am put off/Before making eyes, blushed in realizing/The tenderness in solace as I ramble in my way”—only Cowling knows for sure. > JOHN LUCAS

TERRIFIER Weapons of Thrash Destruction (Test Your Metal)

Kelowna-bred, Vancouver-based Terrifier is looking to fully wreck listeners with its new album, Weapons of Thrash Destruction. Throughout its nine songs, the record unleashes a furious hellstorm of metal yells and hollow-tip-deadly riffs. At its core, it’s a full-fledged love letter to the power of old-school thrash. On the flip side, its traditionalist bent also makes for a rather conventional assault. “Reanimator” lays out the mission statement right quick, with guitarists Rene Wilkinson and Brent Gallant’s

2 quintet

rapid-fire hammer-ons coalescing alongside drummer Kyle Sheppard’s double-kicked detonations. Above this, frontman Chase Thibodeau shrieks of desecrated graves, legions of undead immortals, and other assorted decay-set scenes that’d have H.P. Lovecraft reanimator Herbert West frothing at the mouth. Though there are a few diversions— see the introductory death-waltz pace of “Nuclear Demolisher” or the spooky instro track “Riders of Doom”— Weapons of Thrash Destruction’s general reliance on keeping things in warp drive ends up dulling Terrifier’s overall attack. Instead of punchy, in-and-out procedures, most songs unload extra rounds of sweep-picked riffery above and beyond the four-minute mark. Thibodeau and Co. hoist beers high for “Drunk as Fuck”, the frontman proclaiming of their chosen style: “Heavy metal’s not just music, it’s a way of life.” Considering the retro approach of Weapons of Thrash Destruction, Terrifier’s pounding Labatt’s like it’s still 1986. > GREGORY ADAMS

ORA COGAN Shadowland (Hidden City)

With five albums and over 10

2 years of touring experience under

her belt, having shared stages with the likes of Grouper, Juliana Barwick, and Chelsea Wolfe, one would hope that Ora Cogan would be hitting her peak by now. Fulfilling her promise, with the help of coproducer Trish Klein (the Be Good Tanyas) and a small selection of the city’s finest session players, including drummers Justin Devries and Zachary Treble, bassists Ryan Bekolay (Summering) and Caton Diab (Nam Shub), and keyboardist Tyson Naylor (Dan Mangan), the Vancouver singersongwriter’s sixth album, Shadowland, does not disappoint. Overlooking one or two rather forgettable moments, the album contains a satisfying breadth of mindfully arranged Americana instrumentals that perfectly suit Cogan’s soul-stirring vocals. “End of Nowhere” and “Disinformation” have a simmering alt.country depression that one imagines the Jayhawks might embody for a David Lynch film. The unsettling organ drone and circular acousticguitar tension of “Ground and Grave” evoke a feminine take on the cinematic folk-noir feel of Timber Timbre, while “Repatterning” could easily pass for a lost Wolfe track, circa Pain Is Beauty, were it not for the smoky Angel Olsen–like timbre of Cogan’s gripping voice.

NTO S IN TORO D R A W A INDIE T THE 2017 A E IV L Y IN A RY PANEL NCE TO PL T A S H U C D R IN U O MUSIC THIS IS Y N MUSIC WEEK BEFORE A E IA IV D L A E N S A A AT C HOWC Y DS WILL S N A B ONE LUCK D E E R T E C H E L H W E C H S R A 5 ONY SEARC ER THIS M L TALENT IES AWARDS CEREM A N IO VANCOUV T A N E IND O THE ILS L GO ON T TO PERFORM AT TH IL W OUT DETA R K E C N E H N E C WIN S A O DIES.C L BE CH A BIO TO INOW TO ENTER BAND WIL D N A O E H VID E PEAK ON TRACK OR SEND ONE LISTEN TO 102.7 TH ONLINE OR 2 017

APRIL

17- 23, 2017

S H E R AT O N C E N T R E T O R O N T O H O T E L

32 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017

> ALAN RANTA


MUSIC

AFI learned to lighten up If AFI’s upcoming self-titled album seems noticeably less gloomy than 2013’s black-hearted Burials, that’s not by accident. When he’s reached at home in Los Angeles, guitarist Jade Puget notes there were a couple of big changes in the writing process. For a start, singer Davey Havok was in a good place this time mentally, something that his bandmates readily admitted wasn’t the case even as they were doing press for Burials. “Burials was definitely a pretty dark record, especially where Davey was concerned,” Puget says. “He definitely came out the other side of that, so he and I went into this record in a better place creatively.” A big part of the positivity was where the two long-time friends convened when it was time to begin their Burials follow-up. Sometimes a physical space can have an unexpectedly positive effect on the creative process. “For Burials we wrote in this little room Davey was living in, and it always seemed to be dark in there,” Puget says. “And we started in the winter—even in L.A. winters can make for a kind of dark environment. This time we wrote in this attic room in Beverly Hills, which was just a nicer place to be and with a better vibe. I’m a big believer that the vibe has to be right when you’re writing, and it definitely was.” AFI suggests that Havok and Puget were indeed ready to lighten up— something they haven’t really done since their bombastically bleak 2003 breakthrough, Sing the Sorrow. Diehard fans will find plenty to love in “Still a Stranger” and “Dark Snow”, which traffic in the band’s trademark mix of straight-from-the-mortuary synths and goth-king vocals. At the same time, AFI isn’t averse to deviating from its recent template, with “The Wind That Carries Me Away” reinventing the blues for the Hot Topic set and “Above the Bridge” coated in three layers of Cure-brand lipstick. Further shaping the new record (which, thanks to its artwork, is already being referred to as The Blood Album) is the fact that the guitarist found himself sitting in the producer’s chair. That provided a freedom he and his bandmates haven’t enjoyed in the past. “Davey and I have been writing together for a long time, so at this point, going into our 10th record, we really wanted to challenge ourselves and explore new areas,” Puget says. “In the spirit of exploration we’ll pretty much try anything. But part of what made this record really different is that I finally got to produce. With most producers, I think their job is to bring a homogeneity to a record—in a good way, so that it’s really cohesive.

2 10th

But for me, I’m never really looking for something to be cohesive, so I got to realize these songs in the way they were written. That kind of gave each song its own identity.” Luckily, Puget and Havok were in a good enough frame of mind for AFI that they were interested in pleasing no one but themselves. Whether you’re talking mental health or writing spaces, sometimes everything comes together in a perfect confluence. “If you look at some of the greatest records, like Nirvana’s Nevermind, every song has the same guitar tone and the same drum sound. It’s a good vibe. Same with Weezer’s first album and Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite for Destruction. It can be a great thing, if that’s what you’re going for. But for us, to have the freedom to do a song like ‘Above the Bridge’ or ‘Feed From the Floor’ and then be able to go to ‘Dumb Kids’ or ‘Pink Eyes’ is what appeals to me as a songwriter, as a musician. I want that eclecticism.” > MIKE USINGER

AFI plays the Commodore Ballroom on Tuesday (January 24).

Backstage access helped K’Valentine get her break The backstage lounge is the bas-

2 tion of the elite: the room where

there was a lot going on in such a small space. Dr. Angelou said that to read my poetry at that time would be to take away from the actual art. So she handed me a business card, and told me to mail her two of my best poems. She said, ‘I’m gonna help you.’ ” K’Valentine’s poetry soon fed her love for hip-hop. Deciding that production was the only difference between spoken-word poems and rap, she soon began writing and recording her own tracks, and developing a deep knowledge of the genre. After discovering that hip-hop superstar Talib Kweli would be performing in her home city, K’Valentine jumped at the chance to go—and once more ended up backstage. “I walked up to Talib and let him know I do music. He asked how he could find it, and I told him to go to my website or he could give me his number and I’d send him the link. He just gave me his number on the spot.” Taking an immediate liking to K’Valentine’s work, Kweli acted as the executive producer for her first mix tape, Million Dollar Baby. Marrying the rapper’s snappy lyrics to beats incorporating dramatic piano riffs, aggressive trap samples, and key backing tracks like a smooth, live version of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Electric Relaxation”, Kweli left his stamp on the young artist’s style. “When he’d put it all together,” she recalls, “Talib called me, and he said, ‘K, I’m getting ready to send you the final file, and I want you to look at it and tell me how you feel.’ He sounded so excited, and that made me even more excited. He told me, ‘This sounds really good, and this is the mix tape. When we start working on your album, you gotta really open up. Everything’s gonna be all original—you won’t be able to use industry beats like you’ve done before.’ And that was the first time we’d spoken about an album. That was a huge moment for me.” With new singles “She”, “Atlanta”, and “That’s Real” already in the public domain, K’Valentine is looking forward to releasing her completed LP in the coming months—an opportunity that she’s very grateful for. “I usually don’t use the term lucky,” K’Valentine says. “Instead, I’d say that I feel blessed. People out there have probably been praying for those meetings with Maya Angelou and Talib, and with me, it kind of just happened. I’m just blessed that I ran into them, and now to be able to learn and grow.”

famous artists and their acolytes drink, party, and make new connections. The most secure location at a show, it’s notoriously difficult for members of the public to enter. But as up-and-coming rap artist K’Valentine found out, good things come to those who are persistent. An avid poet, K’Valentine—who has chosen not to release her birth name—had her first career-changing experience at a venue in her sister’s Minnesota college. After discovering that literary legend Maya Angelou would be speaking there, K’Valentine bought a ticket, jumped on a bus, and managed to talk her way behind the scenes. “Our meeting was actually brief, but very memorable,” she tells the Straight, on the line from her Chicago home. “I had brought some of my poems with me, and I told her how much I admired her, and how much of an honour it would be for her to read some of them and give me some feedback. She looked at me and said, ‘No.’ I asked why not, and she replied, ‘Well, if I were to do that, > KATE WILSON you wouldn’t be showing any respect for me, for yourself, or for your art.’ “She told me to look around the K’Valentine opens for Talib Kweli at room,” K’Valentine continues, “and Venue on Wednesday (January 25).

timbre concerts presents

RUN THE WORLD TOUR

The Gaslamp Killer Gangsta Boo, Nick Hook and CUZ

FEBRUARY 8, 2017 - PNE FORUM ALL AGES TICKETS: TIMBRECONCERTS.COM

JAN JAN JAN FEB FEB FEB FEB FEB

20 - HIGH ON FIRE @ RICKSHAW 26 - DUMBFOUNDEAD @ ALEXANDER 27 - LIZZO @ ALEXANDER 01 - BLACK LIPS @ RICKSHAW 02 - LYDIA LOVELESS @ BILTMORE 11 - WHITE LIES @ RICKSHAW 16 - CLOUD NOTHINGS @ BILTMORE 17 - THUNDERCAT @ RICKSHAW TICKETS: TIMBRECONCERTS.COM

NO COVER

MONDAY JAN 23rd

Jan 20 RHYTHM ST. Ja Jan 21 KISILTONES Jan 22 SONS OF THE HOE

DAILY DRINK & FOOD SPECIALS 1038 Main St • (604) 608-1444 1 block North Main St SkyTrain

SUNDAY NIGHTS MAGIC CARDS & AFTERNOON OPEN JAM METAL MONDAYS TUESDAY FOOSBALL 90’S THURSDAYS SATURDAY OPEN MIC FREE DARTS, FOOSBALL & TERMINATOR 2 PINBALL OPEN TIL 3 FRI & SAT LIVE LOCAL SHOWS 7-10 CHECK FACEBOOK FOR INFO

KARAOKE RULES

JOIN US EVERY SUNDAY TO SEE VANCOUVER’S BEST COUNTRY MUSIC ACTS COMPETE ON OUR STAGE! JAN 15 - CHELSEA CHARLTON - ROCKIN’CHAIR JAN 22 - DAKOTA PEARL - ROWDY SPURS JAN 29 - THE CLAY RAVENS - NICOLE SUMERLYN FEB 5 - AJAYE JARDINE - SHYLO SHARITY FEB 19 - THE COUNTY LINE - ROLLIN’ TRAINWRECK FEB 26 - FAITH NUMADA - KRISTIN BUNYAN

BUY YOUR ADVANCE TICKETS ON MYSHOWPASS.COM!

932 GRANVILLE STREET | 604.331.7999 | ROXYVAN.COM |

ROXYVANCOUVER JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 33


Granville Island). Free admission, info www.coastaljazz.ca/.

music/ timeout CONCERTS < CLUBS & VENUES < OUT OF TOWN <

CONCERTS 2JUST ANNOUNCED SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE Brian Cook hosts an evening of local music by Emily Chambers, I M U R, Jesse Roper, and Dutch Robinson, with proceeds to Parkinson Society British Columbia. Jan 27, 7:30 pm, Imperial Vancouver (319 Main Street). Tix $25, info www.parkinson. bc.ca/how-to-help/shake-concert/. ZIMBAMOTO AND LOCARNO Caravan World Rhythms presents Vancouver world-fusion bands Zimbamoto and Locarno. Jan 27, 7:30-10:30 pm, Biltmore Cabaret (2755 Prince Edward). Tix $20, info www.caravanbc.com/. BANDA MAGDA Greek-born singer, accordionist, film scorer, and composer Magda Giannikou performs with her band. Jan 29, 8 pm, St. James Hall (3214 W. 10th). Tix $30/27, info www.capilanou.ca/centre/. REMI BOULDUC PLAYS DAVE BRUBECK Tribute to Dave Brubeck including the music of Brubeck’s most celebrated album Time Out. Presented by Coastal Jazz. Jan 29, 8 pm, Frankie’s Jazz Club (765 Beatty). Tix $15, info www.coastaljazz.ca/. CAMARO 67 Vancouver funk-groove band hits the stage with guests Bigfate. Presented by Coastal Jazz as part of Winterruption. Feb 17, doors 7:30 pm, show 8:30 pm, Performance Works (1218 Cartwright, Granville Island). Tix on sale Jan 13, 10 am, $25 at www.coastaljazz. ticketfly.com/. ROBIN LAYNE BAND Canadian jazz-fusion ensemble takes the stage. Presented by Coastal Jazz as part of Winterruption. Feb 18, 1 pm, 2:10 pm, Performance Works (1218 Cartwright, Granville Island). Free admission, info www.coastaljazz.ca/. BLUE MOON MARQUEE Canadian jazzblues band composed of A.W. Cardinal and Jasmine Colette Ohlhauser. Presented by Coastal Jazz as part of Winterruption. Feb 18, 3:45 pm, 4:55 pm, Performance Works (1218 Cartwright, Granville Island). Free admission, info www.coastaljazz.ca/. JAMES DANDERFER’S HUMMINGBIRD BRIGADE Local clarinetist and his band present an evening of New Orleansand Chicago-style jazz. Presented by Coastal Jazz as part of Winterruption. Feb 18, doors 7:30 pm, show 8:30 pm, Performance Works (1218 Cartwright, Granville Island). Tix on sale Jan 13, 10 am, $25 at www.coastaljazz.ticketfly.com/. ONLY A VISITOR Vancouver avant-pop ensemble led by vocalist-pianist Robyn Jacob. Presented by Coastal Jazz as part of Winterruption. Feb 19, 1 pm, 2:10 pm, Performance Works (1218 Cartwright,

NICK HAKIM New York City-based soul singer-songwriter tours in support of debut full-length release Green Twins. Mar 25, doors 8 pm, show 8:30 pm, Alexander Gastown (91 Powell). Tix on sale Jan 20, 10 am, $13 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu Records, and www.ticketweb.ca/. ALINA BARAZ Los Angeles-based pop singer-songwriter tours in support of her Urban Flora EP release and her upcoming full-length debut release. Mar 28, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, The Imperial (319 Main). Tix on sale Jan 20, 10 am, $20 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu Records, and www.ticketweb.ca/. DEF LEPPARD English glam-rock band (“Pour Some Sugar On Me”, “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad”), with guests Poison and Tesla. Jun 6, Rogers Arena (800 Griffiths Way). Tix on sale Jan 20 at www.livenation.com/. HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF American folk-blues band tours in support of upcoming release The Navigator. Jun 15, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, The Imperial (319 Main). Tix on sale Jan 20, 10 am, $23.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

2THIS WEEK DIRKSCHNEIDER German heavy-metal vocalist and his band. Jan 19, 7 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $70/38.50 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Highlife Records, and www.theinvisibleorange.tunestub.com/. THUS OWLS Swedish-Canadian experimental-indie rockers, with guests Handmade Blade and Marin Patenaude. Jan 19, 8 pm, WISE Hall (1882 Adanac). Tix $15-20, info www.facebook.com/ sawdustcollector/. JIM BYRNES Local blues vocalist-guitarist performs with guests Mainstreet Muze, featuring Babe Gurr. Jan 19-20, 8 pm, Deep Cove Shaw Theatre (4360 Gallant Ave., North Van). Tix $35, info firstimpressions theatre.com/. HOLY FUCK Toronto-based electronica collective tours in support of its latest release Congrats. Jan 19, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Fortune Sound Club (147 E. Pender). Tix $20 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticketweb.ca/. HIGH ON FIRE California heavy-metal band tours in support of latest release Luminiferous, with guests Waingro, Astrakhan, Dead Quiet, Heron, and Hedks. Jan 20, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $25 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu Records, and www.ticketweb.ca/. THE BAD PLUS New York City jazz trio composed of pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer Dave King. Jan 20, 8 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts (2055 Purcell Way). Tix $32/29, info www.capilanou.ca/centre/. THE RUNAWAY FOUR Vancouver video-game-medley band performs at an album-release party for Chaos Theatre. Jan 20, 8-11:55 pm, Seven Dining Lounge (53 W. Broadway). Tix $10, info www.therunawayfour.com/. KANGA Los Angeles heavy-pop band, with Adrian H and the Wounds, Actors, and Wire Spine. Jan 20-21, 8:30 pm–2 am, Astoria Pub (769 E. Hastings). Tix $10, info web.face book.com/events/1603184069989451/. QUIET CITY #31 Deep-listening concert features music by Brandon Nickell, Cameron Shafi, Christian Carrière, Kevin Drumm, and Rusalka. Jan 20, 9 pm, Revue

NEW ORLEANS INSPIRED CUISINE

Stage (1601 Johnston Street). Info www. facebook.com/events/722045621291648/.

CLUBS & VENUES

STEEL PANTHER Los Angeles-based glam-rock/comedy band performs on its 2017 Girls in a Row Tour, with guests the Wild! from Kelowna. Jan 20-21, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix $35 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

ALEXANDER GASTOWN 91 Powell, 778-379-0407. 2DUMBFOUNDED Jan 26 2LIZZO Jan 27 2VALLIS ALPS Mar 11 2NICK HAKIM Mar 25

ADAM DOBRES Canadian Celticfingerstyle guitarist performs at a CD-release party, with guests the Gabriel Dubreuil Trio. Jan 21, 4-8 pm, Bluedog Guitars (121-60 Orwell St., North Vancouver). Tix $25, info www.bluedogguitars.com/p/events-and-concerts/. ART SIGNIFIED 4 YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOW: NIGHT 2 Music by Brass, Eric Campbell and the Dirty, Passive, Colby Morgan and the Catastrophes, Anchoress, Dopey’s Robe, James Green, and Cousin Arby. Jan 21, 7 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $10 at the door, info www.rick shawtheatre.com/896/art-signified-4-yearanniversary-show-night-2-brass-with-guests/. BEAR’S DEN British alt-rock band tours in support of latest album Red Earth & Pouring Rain. Jan 21, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, The Imperial (319 Main). NOTE: Moved from original venue of the Biltmore Cabaret. Tix $20 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

on the web!

For up-to-the-minute, searchable Music Time Out listings, visit

www.straight.com

2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS

Call for reservations

Join Us for DINE OUT & LIVE MUSIC Voted Best JAZZ/BLUES VENUE by Georgia Straight Readers!

BLUEMARTINIJAZZCAFE.COM 1516 YEW STREET, VANCOUVER, BC | 604 428 2691

34 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017

BACKSTAGE LOUNGE 1585 Johnston, Granville Island, 604-687-1354. 2TANGLERS Jan 20 2AIR STRANGER, MOOD Jan 25 2THE PHONIX Jan 26 BILTMORE CABARET 2755 Prince Edward, 604-676-0541. 2ZIMBAMOTO AND LOCARNO Jan 27 2LYDIA LOVELESS Feb 2 2KOBO TOWN Feb 4 2KATE BUSH: LIVE BAND BURLESQUE TRIBUTE Feb 12 2LEON Feb 14 2CLOUD NOTHINGS Feb 16 2FORTUNE FEIMSTER Feb 17 2NATE BARGATZE Feb 18 2MICHELLE WOLF Feb 19 2CLIPPING. Feb 22 2BARRY CRIMMINS Feb 23 2APARNA NANCHERLA Feb 25 2KEVIN ABSTRACT Feb 26 2THE RADIO DEPT. Feb 28 2TENNIS Mar 1 2JOSEPH Mar 18 2JAIN Mar 27 2COLONY HOUSE Apr 1 2MITSKI Apr 7 2WHITNEY Apr 10 2SAN FERMIN Apr 20 2THE WEDDING PRESENT Apr 26 2SONDRE LERCHE Apr 28 BLUE MARTINI JAZZ CAFE 1516 Yew, 604-428-2691. Live jazz, soul, and blues. COBALT 917 Main, 778-918-3671. 2THE LEMON TWIGS Feb 1 2SERATONES Feb 4 2CHERRY GLAZERR Feb 7 2HIPPO CAMPUS Feb 23 2MOON DUO Mar 4 2FUCKED UP Mar 19 2THE COURTNEYS AND JAY SOM Apr 11 2ALL THEM WITCHES May 6

ENTOMBED A.D. Swedish death-metal band, with guests Full of Hell, Turbid North, and Terrifier. Jan 22, 7 pm, Rickshaw COMMODORE BALLROOM 868 Granville, 604-739-4550. 2STEEL PANTHER Jan 20 Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $20 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticketfly.com/, 2AFI Jan 24 2BIG WRECK Jan 27 2STING Feb 1 2JOHN K. SAMSON AND THE info www.rickshawtheatre.com/. WINTER WHEAT Feb 2 2SONREAL Feb 3 2REEL BIG FISH AND ANTI-FLAG Feb PETER GRAHAM-GAUDREAU Canadian9 2USS Feb 10 2BOOTS N’ BABES BALL born film, TV, and stage actor, and musician Feb 11 2MATTHEW GOOD Feb 16 2THE performs at a release party for new album Feel Everything, with guest Richard Spencer. CADILLAC THREE Mar 8 2BLACKIE AND THE RODEO KINGS Mar 10 2CHRONIXX Jan 22, 7-9 pm, St. James Hall (3214 W. 10th). Mar 18 2JAPANDROIDS Mar 20 2MOTHER Tix $12/10, info www.peterg-g.com/. MOTHER Mar 25 2THE TEA PARTY Mar 31 BREAKTHROUGH COUNTRY PROJECT 2THE DAMNED Apr 15 2THE ZOMBIES Apr Performances by local country bands 21 2DWEEZIL ZAPPA Apr 25 2TESTAMENT Rowdy Spurs and Dakota Pearl. Jan May 10 2BONOBO May 25 22, 7-10 pm, The Roxy (932 Granville). FORTUNE SOUND CLUB 147 E. Pender, Tix $7, info www.facebook.com/ 604-569-1758. 2HOLY FUCK Jan 19 events/231871290549727/. 2DREAM WARRIORS Jan 24 2GET LUCKY: AN ART SHOW Jan 29 2THE BLACK GARDENIA Coastal Jazz prePANCAKES AND BOOZE ART SHOW sents the Vancouver-based five-piece Feb 2 2THE KNOCKS Feb 3 2PROF Feb jazz band led by vocalist and ukulele 11 2THE STAVES Feb 17 2P.O.S Mar 3 player Daphne Roubini. Jan 22, 8-11 pm, 2ISAIAH RASHAD Mar 22 Frankie’s Jazz Club (765 Beatty). Tix $15, info www.blackgardenia.ca/. FOX CABARET 2321 Main. 2HENRY WAGONS Feb 10 2THE MOJO STARS AFI American rock band tours in supFeb 17 2PARSONSFIELD Feb 23 2THE port of upcoming studio album AFI (The RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE Feb 25 Blood Album), with guests Chain Gang of 1974 and Souvenirs. Jan 24, doors 7 pm, 2JOEY LANDRETH Mar 3 2SHRED KELLY Mar 25 2LYDIA AINSWORTH May 4 show 8 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix $36.50 (plus service charFRANKIE’S JAZZ CLUB 765 Beatty, 778ges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. 727-0337. 2BLACK GARDENIA Jan 22 DREAM WARRIORS Toronto jazz-rap duo 2REMI BOULDUC PLAYS DAVE BRUBECK Jan 29 2CORY WEEDS QUARTET Feb composed of King Lu and Q performs on 3 2DAVE STRYKER QUARTET Feb 10 its Legends of the 6ix Tour. Jan 24, doors 8 EMMET COHEN TRIO Feb 16 2KATIE 2 pm, show 9 pm, Fortune Sound Club (147 THIROUX Mar 3 E. Pender). Tix $25 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. FUNKY WINKER BEANS 37 W. Hastings. TALIB KWELI American hip-hop artist performs on his Seven Tour, with guest K’Valentine. Jan 25, doors 8 pm, Venue (881 Granville). Tix $35 (plus service charges and fees) at www.bplive.ca/.

DINE OUT IN KITS!

AT THE WALDORF 1489 E. Hastings, 604253-7141. Three separate rooms, including Tiki Room, Tabu, and the Hideaway. Punk as F*CK Tuesday, TING! Dancehall & Reggae Thurs, The Hangout Friday, Vison Saturdays.

U2 Irish rock quartet kicks off its Joshua Tree Tour 2017 by performing the 1987 album in its entirety, with guests Mumford & Sons. May 12, BC Place Stadium (777 Pacific Boulevard). Tix on sale Jan 16, 10 am, from $35 to $280 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. GUNS N’ ROSES Los Angeles hard-rock band (“Sweet Child o’ Mine”, “November Rain”) performs on its Not in This Lifetime Tour. Sep 1, doors 6 pm, show 7:30 pm, BC Place Stadium (777 Pacific Boulevard). Tix $275/150/115/35 (plus service charges and fees),at www.livenation.com/. COLDPLAY British rock band led by Chris Martin performs on its A Head Full of Dreams Tour 2017. Sep 29, doors 5 pm, show 7 pm, BC Place Stadium (777 Pacific Boulevard). Tix $199.50/139.50/89.50/59.50 /29.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

Evil Bastard Karaoke Experience Sun-Thurs.

THE IMPERIAL 319 Main, 604-868-0494. 2BEAR’S DEN Jan 21 2BENJAMIN FRANCIS LEFTWICH Feb 4 2LOS CAMPESINOS Feb 21 2BANNERS Feb 25 2THE WOOD BROTHERS Mar 12 2CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH Mar 18 2STRFKR Mar 22 2AGNES OBEL Mar 25 2ALINA BARAZ Mar 28 2MARTHA WAINWRIGHT Apr 24 2METACOSM Apr 29 2HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF Jun 15 IVANHOE PUB 1038 Main, 604-608-1444. Pub with live bands on weekends and open jam night Sun from 4 to 8 pm. Open at 9 am with breakfast and daily food specials. Pool tourney Thu. No cover.

QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE 650 Hamilton, 604-665-3050. 2BLUE RODEO Jan 27 2LYLE LOVETT AND JOHN HIATT Mar 6 2BRIAN WILSON Apr 8 REPUBLIC 958 Granville, 604-669-3214. House, hip-hop, EDM, chart, and reggae. Open nightly from 10 pm to 3 am. RICKSHAW THEATRE 254 E. Hastings, 604-681-8915. 2DIRKSCHNEIDER Jan 19 2HIGH ON FIRE Jan 20 2ENTOMBED A.D. Jan 22 2THE SUPER DUPER SHOW Jan 27 2HELLCHAMBER Jan 28 2BLACK LIPS Feb 1 2LORDI Feb 2 2MAYHEM Feb 3 2ALCEST Feb 4 2WAX TAILOR Feb 7 2WHITE LIES Feb 11 2THUNDERCAT Feb 17 2JUST CAUSE Feb 18 2POLYRHYTHMICS Feb 25 2ANDY BLACK Feb 28 2THE REAL MCKENZIES Mar 4 2BLACK MOON OVER ROSS BAY Mar 12 2DIRTWIRE Mar 15 2DREADNOUGHTS Mar 17-18 2TRUCKFIGHTERS Mar 21 2TEENAGE FANCLUB Mar 25 2KREATOR Mar 29 2D.O.A.: ROCK THE VOTE Apr 1 2AMORPHIS Apr 3 2ELECTRIC SIX Apr 5 2SOHN Apr 8 2MYKE BOGAN Apr 20 2D.R.I. Apr 26 2ASPHYX Apr 30 2DELAIN AND HAMMERFALL May 5 2SABATON May 7 2EVERGREY May 21 RIVER ROCK SHOW THEATRE River Rock Casino Resort, 8811 River Rd., 604247-8900. 2THE ROBERT CRAY BAND Mar 3 2ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK Mar 10 2ABBAMANIA Mar 18 ROGERS ARENA 800 Griffiths Way, 604899-7400. 2DIERKS BENTLEY Feb 9 2RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS Mar 18 2ARIANA GRANDE Mar 24 2CHRIS STAPLETON Mar 27 2THE WEEKND Apr 25 2LIONEL RICHIE Apr 27 2DEF LEPPARD Jun 6 2NEIL DIAMOND Jul 24 2BRUNO MARS Jul 26 2ROGER WATERS Oct 28 THE ROXY 932 Granville, 604-331-7999. 2MAN MADE TIME Jan 18 2MOSAIC RIDDIM Jan 19 2ELEANOR RISING Jan 20 2THE POOLSHARKS, SAM THE ASTRONAUT Jan 21 2BREAKTHROUGH COUNTRY PROJECT Jan 22 2BREAKTHROUGH COUNTRY MUSIC PROJECT Jan 22 2WICKED LIQUOR Jan 24 2WOODSHED SUPPLY CO, STEPHANIE STANDERWICK Jan 27 ST. JAMES HALL 3214 W. 10th, 604-7363022. 2DROP IN ROCK CHOIR Jan 18 2PETER GRAHAM-GAUDREAU Jan 22 2TOWER OF SONG Jan 28 2BANDA MAGDA Jan 29 2ANNA AND ELIZABETH Feb 3 2STARMAN: AN ACOUSTIC EVENING OF BOWIE SONGS Feb 5 2CAJUN COUNTRY REVIVAL Feb 10 2ALASDAIR FRASER AND NATALIE HAAS Feb 12 2THE GONZALO BERGARA QUARTET Feb 13 2OLD MAN LUEDECKE Feb 17 2KIÉRAH Mar 3 VENUE 881 Granville, 604-646-0064. 2TALIB KWELI Jan 25 2TOM GREEN Feb 10 2TRENTEMOLLER Mar 10 2SAVE FERRIS Mar 18 2LADYHAWKE: CANCELLED Mar 24 2WHY? Mar 25 2KATATONIA Apr 5 VOGUE THEATRE 918 Granville, 604569-1144. 2US THE DUO Jan 27 2ADAM ANT Feb 4 2ILIZA Feb 17 2PIFF THE MAGIC DRAGON Feb 18 2MY FAVORITE MURDER Feb 18 2PIERCE THE VEIL Feb 20 2WILLIAM SINGE Feb 22 2VINCE STAPLES Feb 28 2MØ Mar 17 2ZUCCHERO Mar 22 2DAN + SHAY Mar 25 2BIFFY CLYRO Mar 31 2BILL AND JOEL PLASKETT Apr 1 2THE ZOLAS Apr 6 2KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD Apr 10 2MAYDAY PARADE Apr 13 2SAID THE WHALE Apr 29 WISE HALL 1882 Adanac, 604-254-5858. 2THUS OWLS Jan 19 2THE SLIP-ONS Jan 20 2LUNARIUM Jan 21 2PETUNIA AND THE VIPERS Jan 23 & 30 2DROP IN ROCK CHOIR Jan 24 2OUTLAW COUNTRY SWING NIGHT Jan 27 2IMPROMPTU ROCK CHOIR Jan 31 2ROSE COUSINS Mar 19 2JAMES MCCARTNEY May 13

OUT OF TOWN 2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS

ORPHEUM THEATRE 601 Smithe, 604665-3050. 2SAM ROBERTS BAND Feb 7 2COLIN JAMES Mar 8 2PASSENGER Mar 25 2KALEO Apr 4

SNOWBOMBING CANADA Featuring performances by Kaskade, Ludacris, Bob Moses, Duke Dumont, Getter, Netsky, Oliver Heldens, Pete Tong, Snakehips, the Funk Hunters, My!Gay!Husband!, and Yurie. Apr 6-10, Sun Peaks Resort. Tix at www.snowbombingcanada.com/.

PRINCETON PUB & GRILL 1901 Powell, 604-253-6645. Live music on Thursdays with the Palomars (first Thu of every month), the Honky Tonk Dilettantes (second Thu), Sick Boss (third Thu), and Gabriel DuBreuil (fourth Thu). Jam session Tue, trivia night Wed, live local bands Fri-Sat, and karaoke Sun. No cover.

TIME OUT MUSIC LISTINGS are a public service provided free of charge, based on available space and editorial discretion. Submit listings online using the event-submission form at straight.com/AddEvent. Events that don’t make it into the paper due to space constraints will appear on the website.


HOUSING

Chinatown controversy

T

he latest version of a controversial The latest application features a number of Chinatown condo project has split two changes from the one submitted on April 15, City of Vancouver civic advisory com- 2016. One is a reduction of floors, from 13 to 12. mittees. The building’s height was also reduced by five The Urban Design Panel (UDP) and the feet, from 120 feet to 115 feet. As well, the numChinatown Historic Area Planning Commit- ber of condo units was reduced from 119 to 110. tee (CHAPC) have arrived at different views In that previous application, the developer regarding the proposed development that had proposed that 68 percent of the 119 conwould incorporate current addresses 105 Keef- dos would be two- or three-bedroom units, er Street and 544 Columbia Street. which are suited for small families. In the The project is in an area considered by latest revision, only 37 percent of the 110 concommunity members and dos will be two- or threetheir supporters to be a bedroom units. focal point in the historic The original rezoning neighbourhood. The deapplication for a 13-storey Carlito Pablo velopment site is adjacent building was fi led on Septo the Chinatown Memorial Plaza. Across tember 18, 2014, with a revised version for that Columbia Street are the Chinese Cultural filed almost a year later, on September 3, 2015. Centre and the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical At deadline, the minutes of the UDP meetChinese Garden. ing on January 11 this year were not yet availIn a meeting on January 11, the UDP sup- able on the city’s website. The panel had twice ported the plan by the Beedie Group to con- rejected the proposal. Among the points struct a condo building. The CHAPC, for its agreed on by panel members in a June 1, 2016, part, met a day later and decided not to sup- meeting were that the building was “too tall” port the plan. and that the “ ‘spirit’ of Chinatown and the Chinatown heritage advocate Melody Ma contemporary reinterpretation of history were noted that this twist puts two panels—one not evident in the design”. of which has deep ties to the community—at Minutes of the January 12, 2017, meeting of odds with each other. the CHAPC were also not immediately availMembers of the CHAPC include representa- able. In a previous meeting on November 10, tives from the Vancouver Chinatown Merchants 2015, the committee did not support the deAssociation, the Chinese Cultural Centre, the velopment because of its height. Based on recChinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver, ords of that meeting, the committee also noted and the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden Society of Van- that the proposal “did not fully recognize the couver, as well as property owners. sensitivity of the site”. The issue, according to Ma, is whose opinion In August last year, Vancouver East MP will prevail when city staff put together their Jenny Kwan joined Chinese veterans and recommendations on the Beedie Group pro- Chinatown leaders in calling on all levels of posal to rezone the property at the northeast government to acquire and develop the site for corner of Keefer and Columbia streets. the community. They proposed the building “It’s an interesting question,” Ma told the of housing for low-income seniors and interGeorgia Straight in a phone interview. generational community space. Now in its fourth iteration, the rezoning In a media release about the event, the application will be decided by council at a Chinatown Concern Group noted that since later date. 2008, almost 800 market-housing units have Filed on December 12, 2016, the latest ver- been developed in the neighbourhood, while sion proposes a 12-storey mixed-use build- 22 nonmarket-housing units were built in the ing that will have 110 condo units from lev- same period. els three to 12, 25 units of social housing for According to the group, the rezoning appliseniors on the second floor, and commercial cation by the Beedie Group will “only add to spaces and a cultural space for seniors at the the development pressure and gentrification in ground level. the neighbourhood”. -

604 - 175 EAST BROADWAY

301 - 175 EAST BROADWAY

#

• ASKING •

$309,000 · East Facing · 1 Bedroom

cce riennce xpeerie EExp

#

· Heritage Building · Lots of Character · Wood Floors · Vintage Radiators · Galley Kitchen · Bright & Spacious · Windows in every room · 625 sq ft approx

it griity g egr eg ntteg IInt In esults Res R

MP

NEW YORK STYLE APARTMENT

• ASKING •

$430,000 · Beautifully renovated · New windows · 1 bedroom, 1 bath.

· Bright and spacious · High Ceilings · Vintage Radiators · 900 sq ft approx · Miele gas range & oven · New kitchen & bathroom · North East + West facing windows

CLASSADS@STRAIGHT.COM

ONLY 30 MINS. TO WEST VANCOUVER OR WHISTLER

SPECTACULAR SQUAMISH

E210, 40180 WILLOW CR. EXCELLENT 1 BDRM RENOVATED CONDO HIDDEN GEM WITH A NEW KITCHEN

Real Estate

NEW YORK STYLE APARTMENT

604.730.7060

REAL ESTATE

Excellent 1 bdrm condo at Diamond Head Place. A hidden gem with a new kitchen, updated fixtures, glass doors and laminate floors. Set upon a beautiful treed courtyard with Mountain Views. Enjoy ideal southwest sunny exposure from the private balcony. Walking location to Garibaldi Village mall, trails, schools, & restaurants. An excellent real estate opportunity offered at a spectacular price in today’s low interest rate market. 45 MINUTES TO VANCOUVER. MLS#: R2130318

$259,000 PETER@BELOSTOTSKY.COM

1.604.848.4279 79

W W W. B E L O S T O T S K Y.C O M

PETER BELOSTOTSKY quality real estate services

PERFORMANCE REALTY

REAL ESTATE SEE ADS & OPEN HOUSE INFO at

realestate.straight.com

ADVERTISING INQUIRY: call

604.730.7064

| kathy@straight.com

PENTHOUSE ASSIGNMENT MT. PLEASANT

PH1 - 233 KINGSWAY | VYA • ASKING •

#

402-5790 EAST BLVD

· 957 sq ft approx · 2 Bed / 2 Bath · Mezzanine · Large Private Roof · Assignment Top Patio 718 sq ft approx · Under Construction · Stainless Steel Appliances · Move in Early 2017 · Wood Floors · 1 Parking · MLS R2118668 · Wood Blinds · Full Size Washer/Dryer

$1,095,000

MICHAEL PEARLMAN • 604.307.4800

MOUNTAIN VIEW APARTMENT

· 2 Bed & den · 2 Bathrooms · North facing · View of mountains · Located in · 1300 sq ft approx. Kerrisdale · 2 Parking spots · Above London Drugs · 1 storage locker · MLS R2131931 · Bright and spacious · Gas fireplace • ASKING •

$1,150,000

mbpearl@gmail.com | www.michaelpearlman.com REMAX SELECT PROPERTIES • 5487 West Boulevard Vancouver, BC

JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 35


straight stars January 19 to 25, 2017

M

ars in Pisces surpasses Saturn’s checkpoint on Thursday. This planetary pairing can unleash, unhinge, or diff use. It draws attention to the many celebrities who are not performing and the many prominent folk (Justin Trudeau included) on the absentee list for Trump’s inauguration. Coinciding with Mars/Saturn, the sun’s trek into Aquarius stokes the social and political climate. Protesters and supporters alike look to the inauguration as an ultimate opportunity to be seen, heard, and taken seriously. Thursday is optimized regarding last-minute finalizations, pushing past it, uncovering a better solution, and/or blowing off steam. The Aquarius sun sparks a fresh diversion or a new infusion. Will the big event get out of control? There’s so much we can’t see, so much we don’t know, so much that is up for grabs. Noting Mars in Pisces, the sun in Aquarius, and a shrewd Scorpio moon ruling both the undercurrents and undercover operations, we can’t rule anything out. Still, Trump is usually one to pull it off and keep going. Venus, Mercury, Neptune, and Pluto are in good collaboration and aiming to make the most of it. You should too. Friday/Saturday, get your sexy on. Don’t have a lover to share the weekend with? No problem. Something else will readily captivate or claim you. Sunday/Monday, the moon in Sagittarius takes aim on something next, something more. Contracts (actual

> BY ROSE MARCUS

or karmic) are up for renewal or for consider options; stretch your mind breaking. Tuesday through Thursday, and your body. Tuesday/Wednesday, take care of business. Aim to finish it get down to business. off or to get yourself better set up. We CANCER are only a few days away from a new June 21–July 22 moon and a fast-track cycle. Feel like you are comARIES ing up empty? Uncertain where to March 20–April 19 go looking or how to get yourself Haven’t been able to bend launched? Sometimes necessary your mind around it, put your finger change can feel too daunting to take on it, say your piece, or get the mes- on, but you have to begin somewhere! sage across? You will be able to do Simply start a research process. As of so now, especially so thanks to Mars Thursday, more viable options, avgetting over the hump with Saturn enues, or product will start making on Thursday. You’ll also gain a fresh their presences better known. Friboost from the sun in Aquarius. day/Saturday, turn up your ambition You’ll hit a smooth stride through or your sexy. mid next week. LEO TAURUS July 22–August 22 April 20–May 20 Let it go; get it off your Perhaps you’ve had strong chest; free it up; free yourself. Clear it inklings about it, but even so, Mars/ away and make room for something Saturn could let the cat out of the bag or someone new. Whether through in some unforeseen way. On another necessity or welcomed, Thursday’s note, you could run out of excuses or Mars/Saturn is good for a release or steam for carrying on. Come clean; an unwind. Look to the Aquarius change an attitude, your mind, or sun to refresh your social life and something more. It’s the right time to stimulate fresh interest. Friday to push the refresh button or to dive through Monday flows well. Tuesinto something new. day/Wednesday calls for more effort.

‫ﺑ‬

‫ﺎ‬

‫ﺒ‬

‫ﺏ‬ ‫ﺐ‬

GEMINI

May 21–June 21

Thursday moves you past a hurdle. Mars/Saturn can diff use the tension, end the wait, or fi ll in an important blank. Friday/Saturday, the follow-up is on an ease-up. Work, repairs, or healing should move along readily and well. Sunday/Monday, take a look at it; scout around;

‫ﺓ‬

VIRGO

August 22–September 22

As of Thursday, you should start to feel an ease-up. Through Saturday, you’ll add up the facts and figures and read people and situations with sharp insight. Make the most of your one-on-one time. Loaning you added sway and savvy, the Scorpio moon helps you make a significant

impact. Put your all into it Monday. ship, and timing are at their best. Tuesday/Wednesday, slow and reaCAPRICORN sonable do it best.

‫ﺔ‬

LIBRA

September 22–October 23

Thursday through Saturday keeps you well-occupied. Don’t expect to skim or stay on neutral. You can get more deeply involved or pulled into more than you anticipated to begin with. Going deeper with your special someone could be healing for both of you. Sunday/Monday, keep it light and on the upbeat. Tuesday/Wednesday, less is more.

‫ﺕ‬

SCORPIO

October 23–November 21

Looking for something fresh to spark it for you? It comes naturally, especially through Saturday. The sun’s entrance into Aquarius, starting Thursday, is good for a personal reboot. Make it productive, romantic, or relaxed; the weekend is yours to own. Make good use of your time in the smooth, rolling week ahead. Aim to get yourself on track and better organized.

‫ﺖ‬

SAGITTARIUS

November 21–December 21

‫ﺊ‬

December 21–January 19

Don’t know how to play it, what to say, or how to schedule your time? Keep loose and let things shape up on their own. Past Thursday, the stars are on an ease-up. For the most part, Friday through Monday should prove smooth going. Tuesday through Thursday requires more from you, but it’s easily handled.

‫ﺋ‬

AQUARIUS

January 20–February 18

Your birthday month can produce something significant right off the bat or it can be on low ebb to start, but give it another week and Mars and the rest of the gang will hit full steam ahead. Friday/Saturday, throw your weight around; call the shots. Sunday/Monday, take aim on something or someone fresh. Tuesday/Wednesday, stay creative.

‫ﺌ‬

PISCES

February 18–March 20

Thursday gets you over the hump, lets you off the hook, or helps you to release what’s been bottled up inside you. Aim for romance, get industrious, or indulge yourself; Friday/Saturday are your best days to make the most of it. The moon in Scorpio keeps feeling your way along just fine. Sunday/Monday, look/ think/plan ahead. -

In the mood to hide out, escape, or indulge? Take the next couple of days to get away from it all. Immerse yourself where it soothes you, inspires you, or quenches the thirst. Friday/Saturday are good for movies, music, or romance. The Aquarius sun boosts you with fresh B o o k a re a d i n g o r s i g n u p f o r inspiration and energy. Sunday/ Rose’s free monthly newsletter at Monday, your creativity, showman- www.rosemarcus.com/astrolink/.

CAREERS & EMPLOYMENT VANCOUVER TAP DANCE SOCIETY

TAP, JAZZ, HIP HOP CLASS

EMPLOYMENT

CERTIFIED MASSAGE

Adults, teens, youth-technique, choreography, history Professional faculty-variety of classes, for all skill levels. Find out what the tap buzz is all about!! GREAT EXERCISE, FUN & YOU LEARN A SKILL ◗ Classes begin week of Jan 4/17

HOSPITALITY/FOOD SERVICE

Facial Rejuvenation & Weight Loss Treatment Black Jade Power Bath. Jade & Crystal Treatment. Acupuncture, acupressure, RMT Ins acc. Couple Special $68/120min 778-893-3422

Trial Basis

FIRST TWO WEEKS

www.vantapdance.com

in

JANUARY

604.253.0293

2 COOKS Needed for PinPin Restaurant Fraser St, Vancouver At least HS Grad with 2 yrs. Experience. Permanent F/T, $16.00 per hour Duties: Prepare/Cook complete meals or individual Filipino/Chinese dishes & Supervise kitchen helpers. Maintain inventory, Records of food, Supplies and Equipment. May help clean work area. To apply please send resume to pinpinrestaurant@gmail.com

MBS

Leelawadee Thai Spa 889

Helmcken St. 778.886.3675 www.leelawadeethaispa.com

Thai Massage 778-886-3675 D/T.

MARTIAL ARTS

WING CHUN SOCIETY Practicing hand weapon & chi sau www.wcsvan.com 604-218-7826

AESTHETICS $28 massage + Free Gift 604 -709- 6168

WORKSHOPS & EVENTS Soldiers Guide To Survival Relax In 5 Minutes Or Less Info: relax4tone@shaw.ca

It is no accident we are #1

Your first call when an accident strikes AY TOD CALL IL A B LE AVA

24/7 FREE CONSULTATION 604.737.3300 720 Robson Street, 5th Floor Vancouver, BC V6Z 1A1

warnetthallen.com

36 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017

RETREATS Is it time for Hawaii? MauiVegetarianRetreat.com

COMING EVENTS

BASONE • GUITAR SHOP •

YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW

A Celebration of the History of Oakridge United, St. Giles and South Hill churches.

Sat. Feb. 11, 2017 • 1-4:30 p.m. 305 W. 41st Avenue, Vancouver We are celebrating the history and community of our church of almost 7 decades. As we redevelop the site for the future, come and celebrate with us:

HOME & GARDEN SERVICES

Official Welcome at 2 p.m.; tours of the church; refreshments and lots of time to celebrate and reminisce!

MOVING & STORAGE

If interested in attending, please contact Oakridge United Church 604.324.7444 www.oakridgeunited.org

TwoGuysWithATruck.com Moving & Storage, Free EST. Visa Okay. 604-628-7136

NAHANEE MOVING Professional Movers 604-782-3973

ANNOUNCEMENTS

NOTICES

WITNESS NEEDED

On Jan 8, 2017, at approx. 3:45pm, a dark gray Hyundai Tucsan was rear-ended by a JeepSUV at a red light at the intersection of East Hastings and Nanaimo. If you witnessed this accident, please

call 604-336-8007

SERVICES

FREE CLASSIFIED AD

www.straight.com/classifieds click place an ad, then FREE ads •Ads must meet criteria in available categories. •Ads will be published online. •Ads will be published in print if space is available.

MUSIC

RECORDING STUDIOS

WORK FROM HOME

M R & D Studios Vancouver's most comfortable 2"-24 track, ADAT & ProTools HD. Mastering $55/hr eng, prod. & arranger incl. 604-421-2988

REHEARSAL SPACE Renegade Productions Inc. www.renegadeproductions.net 604-685-0435 www.facebook.com/RPInc

HOME BASED BUSINESS!

■ Enjoy freedom as a home inspector ■ Complete training & certification ■ BC Gov’t Licensing ■ LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE!

Call Dave NOW to book your franchise presentation. (778) 996-0369 • www.bc.abuyerschoice.com

REPAIRS

EQUIPPED HOURLY REHEARSAL ROOM New West $20/hr 24/7 Call/Text 604-229-5981 diamondsharpstudios.com click BOOK ONLINE

Suna Studios Rehearsal M-F 6-12, Sat/Sun 12-12 East Van Hourly ($16.66/hour) & L/O, www.sunastudios.ca 604-563-5460

EVERYTHING YOU THINK A

GUITAR

SHOP

LD BE! SHOU

318 E. 5th Ave • 604.677.0311

BASONEGUITARS.COM

MUSICIANS WANTED The Main on Main St. is looking for Wednesday through Saturday night acts. All Genres welcome. For more info email mainbooking@hotmail.com

- Musicians LLBOARD CAMusic

WANTED & AVAILABLE it d Players Presents nite

va

M

AUDITIONS

McLaughlin nt by the Sun Director: Liz Men/Women aged 25-70 t only Cold read by appointmen 22 April Running date Mar 30 604-224-8007

place your

W

FREE AD (max. 5 lines)

ww

erranean male. n for role in new play. Medit ensated. Send yrs. old. Actor will be comp otmail.com. so@h nd resume to peter_gras

www.straight.com/classifieds

UTOMOTIVE

Choral Singers Wanted Join High Spirits Choir! If singing is your passion, this may be the choir for you! Challenging, eclectic repertoire including jazz, classical, world music, etc. Spring term starts Wednesday, February 15th. Rehearsals every Wednesday 7 to 9:30 pm at Estonian Church, Oak & 49th, Vancouver. More info www.highspiritschoir.ca or highspiritschoirinfo@gmail.com

PERSONAL SERVICES

DATING SERVICES

CITYLOVE SINGLES CLUB

MANY LOCAL ASIAN LADIES

SPEED DATING EVERY SATURDAY

Call Susan: 604-771-6512 (Office) 305 s Tower-5811 Cooney Rd, Richmond


............................................................................................................................................................... CLASSIFIEDS MERIDIAN SPA LTD. EMPLOYMENT GRAND OPENING GAY PERSONALS

Angel TOUCH

SERVICES PERSONAL SHAVING SERVICES FOR MEN ★ SAFE ★ CLEAN ★ DISCREET ★

604-767-8625

$30/30 Min

MASSAGE BODYWORK MASSAGE In a peaceful setting in Langley Because you deserve it! 9am - 8pm

FACIAL

DEEP TISSUE MASSAGE

$30 UP

ROOM 2 ǧ 4334 FRASER ST, VAN

Robert 604-857-9571

Parking Available Near No Frills

ORIENTAL STRONG HANDS

778.788.3039 | 9:30am-9pm

E. Van. New location. Kingsway area. Mature * Good ServicE & Massage *Ultra Enjoyment * Discreet shave avail. In/Out calls for good time. 9AM - 9PM 778-989-2128 JOHN

Sensual Massage

Experienced, discreet, and clean for men only by a mature male. 9 am to 10 pm in-calls only. Student rates. Burrard & 6th

Alex 778-828-4683 NAMASTE HEALING TOUCH MASSAGE

BDSM

www.straight.com

Beauty & Wellness Spa 604.325.2313

Sensual Domination & BDSM Asian. Prostate & Strap On play, Fetishes. Duos 11am-10pm 604-726-3266 D/T crystalxox.com

28/50 MIN

$

1 FREE AFTER 5 SESSIONS!

FETISHES

NEW!!! 50% OFF

$62/30MINS,$77/50MINS SPECIAL 4 HANDS $25/30MINS (ONE GIRL FREE) BODY SCRUB $48/50MINS (REG$100) NEW!PROSTATE TREATMENT

* Fetish Fantasies * Role-Playing * Erotic BDSM

LUXURY • FREE SHOWER • FREE PARKING

NEW TEAM • NEW MANAGEMENT 5 DIFFERENT GIRLS DAILY 8642 Granville St., Vancouver

5281 Victoria Drive @ 37th

604-568-6601

Hiring

TOKYO Body

1-236-882-1678

Lily’s Bodycare

Massage

CHINESE, JAPANESE & KOREAN MASSAGE

TANTRA

Tantra Massage

Absolutely Wonderful, Healing & Joyful!

Zara 604-222-4178 Jericho

604.986.8650

SERVING NORTH VANCOUVER FOR 16 YEARS

1050 Marine Dr. North Van

PREMATURE EJACULATION? ELIMINATE SEXUAL ISSUES NATURALLY LEARN SECRETS to GUARANTEE RESULTS UNTIL JAN 31 - BUY 3hrs $360 GET 1hr FREE

I Spa

19+ SWEET GIRLS

604.523.6689 ★ Relieve Roadrage ★ 202-1037 W.Broadway 604-739-3998 Hotel Service

AMAZING TOUCH SPA NEW OWNER!

NEW Girls!

$80

10AM - 10 PM Hiring

604.568.9238 $80/30 min.(incl.tips) #3-3490 Kingsway

604.558.2526 HIRING 2639 W. 4th Ave. Kitsilano

NURTURING TOUCH

Over 20 yrs exp. 604 739 6002 Mon-Fri Kitsilano

MASSAGE $60/30 mins (incl tips)

E. 49th Ave & Victoria Dr. 10am - 8:30pm • HIRING 604.500.9082 • 778.379.7736 COCO'S THAI MASSAGE BBY. $40 & up! No F/S 10am - 8pm 604-619-7453

Promo $30/45 mins 20437 Douglas Crescent, Langley (@ 204th St. beside HomeHardware) Front & Back Door Entrance Free Parking

604.510.6689

Hiring

Exotic Mature East Indian (45) Coquitlam & M/Ridge. Meena 778-839-6583

Reg 120

$ 70 /30 mins

70

10:30am-8pm Daily 5336 Victoria Dr. Vancouver

A/C AVAILABLE 604.327.8800

(& Blenheim)

604-558-1608 COMFYSPA .CA

D OPENING! ! ND GRAN TION NEW RENOVA

BUTTERFLY TERFLY T ERFLY MASSAGE MASSA A New Management by Miko. 4536 Hastings St. Burnaby near Willingdon Ave.

HIRING

BACK ENTRANCE + FREE PARKING

11AM - MIDNIGHT 604-299-1514

New Star Massage Grand Opening • $30/30min. Open from 10am

604-780-6268

49 E. Broadway

@ Quebec St. open 7days/9am-midnight

604-568-2248

HIRING

3468 E.Hastings/Skeena. Van. Front & Back door entrance. Free Parking

Platinum Special $50/ 1/2

Club

HR

PLATINUMCLUB.NET

604.683.2582

426 HOMER STREET HIRING 604 683 2582 All credit & debit cards accepted 426 Homer St.

CHINESE BEAUTY - HELEN 10am - 2am. 778-322-1583

GREAT ASIAN MASSAGE 604-782-9338 Surrey

BATH HOUSES

EARLY BIRD SPECIAL

Sexy Asian girl Kim N/Van. 778-302-8524

Monday - Friday 10am - 2pm & Saturday & Sunday 12pm - 4pm

HONG KONG STYLE MASSAGE Perfect SensualOil Body Massage. 1Hr/$80. 45min/$60, 30min/$50 INC. TIP 223 W/ Broadway. (2blks East of Cambie) 6am - 1am. 7 days

Please Call Lini 778-668-2981

HAPPY HOUR WEEKDAYS

AMAZING ASIAN MASSAGE

5pm - 7pm

GRAND OPENING! $80/30 min Package, open 7 days 10 am - 10 pm. 604-270-6891 12551 Vickers Way, Richmond, close to IKEA

604-681-0823 4th Floor 595 Hornby St, Van.

Sexy Thai Girl Jessica Burnaby 604-336-4601 PROFESSIONAL MASSAGE Elmridge Way Richmond 1 hr / $40 778-990-8136

Mon-Fri • 10am-Midnite Sat-Sun • 12pm-Midnite

www.theswedishtouch.com

Always Hiring | Accepting all major CC’s

Ocean Relaxation Centre ✦ ALL

RAINBOW MASSAGE

DAY SPECIAL ✦

$80/30 MIN (INCL. TIPS)

Different Packages For Sale Underground Parking

#100 - 1727 WEST BROADWAY 5 MINS FROM D/T

604-738-6222

604.430.3060

CHINESE, THAI, SPANISH & CAUCASIAN GIRLS

4969 Duchess St. Van. Just off Kingsway NOW HIRING Between Earles & Slocan

PHOENIX

DREAM & CITY Massage

(incl. tips)

BODY SCRUB (Incl. 45 min. Hot oil massage) NOW

COMFY WELLNESS SPA

at Manitoba

Warm & loving - complete body massage. All incl. Reasonable low price. R/mond new home.

NEW GIRLS

$

$

Rose Body Massage

HONG KONG magic hand body massage 30 min/$60 45 min/$70 60 min/$80 Steveston Hwy, close to No. 3rd Richmond. Open 10am-10am (appt. after 10pm) Call Gigi 604-369-0979

Lotus Beauty Spa

EX SHOWGIRL! In & All Hotel Services incl. airport

FALL SPECIAL

(Across Macpherson Ave)

604-442-9526

#3 - 3003 Kingsway @ Rupert, Van. - N/E Corner

121 W. Broadway

101-5623, Imperial St. BBY

$50 BEST SERVICE!!

604-568-5255

www.miyabeauty.com miyabeauty@hotmail.com

NEAR JOYCE NEXT DOOR TO SUBWAY

BLISSFUL MASSAGE

10AM ➤ 10PM

KINGSWAY & KNIGHT

BODY & HEAD MASSAGE

Aqua Spa

30min

604

438-8979

778-323-0002

BODYWORK

D-768 Princess St., New Westminster (@ 8th St. between 6th & 7th Ave behind Save-On Foods)

HIRING

Call Geewka 604-445-2602

20 E/Pender $60

RICHMOND - 2 RD / WESTMINSTER Hwy

604-788-7723 Divinea 8am-8pm

EXCELLENT MASSAGE SPECIAL PACKAGES

NOW

MASSAGE

SacredTantraMassage.com

Gemini Studio

Looking For A Steady Partner Not for money, but rather for an ongoing relationship.I'm good with my MOUTH and on the BUTTON!

LOTS OF PARKING AT THE REAR

Healing for Sexual Problems Control Ejaculation, Maintain Erection, Stop Herpes $120. herbalbathclinic.com, 604-271-4148

604.875.8844

HIRING

www.veronikaharley.com

PERSONALS

WWW.

4095 Oak St. Vancouver 604-266-6800

(INCL.TIPS),

M4M Massage customized to meet your needs. In calls only.10am-10pm West End 778-888-5884

3272 W. Broadway

Call 604-438-7119

Emax Massage

MIYA $10 OFF

BEAUTY SENSATIONAL MASSAGE

JAPANESE $60

Seeking all nationalities 19+ No experience necessary.

Mr. BALDNUTZ

75 MIN

New Staff! Relaxation Massage. 604-985-4969 HIRING

CoverGirlEscorts.com is now Hiring.

MASSAGE

New Back Door Entrance from Underground Parking

YOUNG NG AND EX EXCITING XC CIIT ITING GIRLS ALWAYS AVAILABLE! HAPPY HOUR: 6PM-8PM DAILY

$30 FOR 45 MINUTES TES 3849 E. HASTINGS ST. BBY NOW HIRING FREE REAR PARKING & ENTRANCE

604.336.0700

10 AM - MIDNIGHT 7 DAYS AYS

1st Time Visit FREE HIRING

FOR NEW CLIENTS Mon - Fri 12pm - 6pm

2263 KINGSWAY

FREE PARKING HOTEL SERVICE

@

NANAIMO

6043770028

STEAM 1 MEN’S BATH HOUSE

STEAM 1

EVERY DAY flat rate pricing! Anytime 24/7 Lockers $14 | Rooms from $22

BLACKOUT PARTIES NOW TWICE A MONTH SUNDAY JAN 29TH & SATURDAY FEB 11TH 11AM ‘TIL 7PM Anonymous Check In Avail • All Rates with Current Membership

Drop In Fees May Apply Now no ID needed for entry

WWW.STEAM1.COM New Westminster, 430 Columbia Street 604 . 540 . 2117

Serving Van. for 19 years! Best Experience! Best Service! Best Choice! Steam Room and Sauna! Free underground parking. NOW

HIRING

2070 2070 7 W. W. 10 10thh A Ave v V ve Van an an

60 4 7 604 738 38 3 3302 3 02

LINGERIE FRI & SAT OPEN TO CLOSE

604.436.3131 www.greatpharaoh.com

5-3490 Kingsway, Van. ESTABLISHED 1993 HIRING: 778.893.4439

JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 37


CLASSIFIEDS ................................................................................................................................................................ HOTE ELS S

The

TIGERSpa

WE HAVE AVE MIXED MIXED, ASIAN, CAUCASIAN MASSEUSES WHO WILL GIVE YOU THE BEST, MOST RELAXING MASSAGE.

$80/30mins INCLUDES TIPS

778-297-6678

Now Hiring • In/Out Calls • 11am -11pm

Suite 1090 – 8580 Alexandra Rd. Richmond

Sa Sa Massage VARIETY OF GIRLS (19+) V.I.P. ROOM $80/30 MIN INCL. TIPS

604.433.6833

4532 MAIN ST. (Main + 29 th), VAN. OPEN EVERYDAY: 10am-10pm

778.379.5969

BMWC Massage Relaxation

$80/30min

Visit 10 Times & Get 2 FREE! Healthy Infrared Sauna (FREE)

778.628.3302

2622 West Broadway, Van. Near Trafalgar St.

Grand Opening

PROSPER

(Gate at East Side of Front Door)

City

BETTER

604.553.0909

Oak St. vancouver

778.321.2209

NEW GREAT HOURS!! 11:30am - 9pm. Sometimes weekends. I'm well proportioned, HOT& READY with a BIG BOOTY! 38 yrs old. Kind, Clean, Pretty & love to enjoy! Let's have an amazing non-rushed experience in my classy apt. Fetish by request. No text or Blkd. calls. Sarah 604-441-5440 Appts preferred.

Sweet & Petite Hot Mature ♥ Female loves to pamper!♥

Diamond Bodycare

♥ ♥ ♥ REASONABLE RATES ♥ ♥ ♥ In/Out calls. Early risers welcome!

Kayla 604-873-2551

BEST MASSAGE IN TOWN

30 min / 30 $

3671 EAST HASTINGS

604-568-0123

(incl. tips)

BEST SERVICE BEST CHOICE

FREE UNDERGROUND PARKING

PANTERA SPA

JAPANESE

!604-265-6000!

WILD MOM ★ 6PM-3AM! SARAH in SURREY

World Class Breasts

Genuinely Spectacular NATURAL G CUP! Come visit Hooter Heaven! Canada's #1 Erotic Destination.

Private 778-838-9094

NOW HIRING

3519 KINGSWAY, VAN NEAR BOUNDARY • HIRING

Good Price, Good Service D931 Brunette Ave. 7 Days a Week

$100

HI N OW RI NG

than

BEST 3488 MAIN ST. @ 19TH AVE 10 AM TO 10 PM

604 879 5769

Beautiful, Busty Ex Stripper Ready or Not, here I come! Ready to satisfy your desires. No restrictions!

Romance Relaxation Spa

778-714-0824 GENTLEMEN DISCREET ATTRACTIVE MATURE EUROPEAN LADY OFFERS DELIGHTFUL RELAXATION SESSIONS.

604-451-0175 EuropeanLady.ca

± ± Professional Massage Waxing $25 up

604.873.9890

3482 Main Street & 18th Ave COMPANION GRAND OPENING! Best Massage Every day different female practitioners! 3322 Main St. 604-872-1702 Fun Classy Blonde Beauty In calls & Out calls locally Private upscale condo

funlovinxoxo.me 604-773-8876

www.EuropeanLady.ca

NEW..NEW..NEW..MASSAGE Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese & Philippines Girls (19+) In/Out calls

604-600-6558

VIP

RILEY 604-773-8876

CLOSE TO O

DISCREET ET

FUN Real Picc

604 728.8161 61 www.ClassyAngel.com INDEPENDENT CHINESE PLEASURE PROVIDER For polite gentlemen Accompanied shower Submissive or curious also welcome Discreet,North Burnaby location Parking available Actual Recent Photo. Fluent in English.

www.funlovinxoxo.me

50% OFF BEST BBES BE EST ST CCHINESE HHINESE HIN INESE MASSAGE $28/45 min. i 4 Hands $38/30 min. $57/45 min. Many Sweet & Sexy Asian Girls Luxurious Spa 1 FREE Session after 5

ANGELA

778-317-3888

NEW HOT ASIAN GODDESS

NO RESTRICTIONS! BEST SERVICES! In/Out calls Friendly & Sexy Van/Burnaby/Surrey. HIRING NOW!

5531 Victoria Dr. & 40th Ave, Vancouver | 604-564-1333

778-939-6249 MATURE HOT SEXY WILD ASIAN

PHONE SERVICES

(45+) Sexy, full-figured Asian. PHONE SEX TOO! JUICY PLUMP BUTT! Natural 40E'S. Lonely? Let's chat & a little more? Lily 778-714-1018 In/Out.

CANADA'S HOTTEST ADULT CHAT LINE XXX LIVE 1on 1 or XXX 2 on 1 Free Browsing. 13 years in business! All major credit cards and/or telephone banking 604-247-4000 Use code 918 for a 20min Free Trial

BEAUTIFUL OLDER WOMAN 36D - 26 - 36. 36th@ Victoria

604-671-2345

604-957-1030 MING, Nice & Mature. NEW HOT ASIAN GIRLS No Restrictions. Good Service! Joyce & Kingsway. 24 Hrs.

778-960-7875

Near Oakridge Mall 24hr Chinese.w41st & Cambie.

778-710-8828

LIVE. DISCREET. UNCENSORED.

1-604-639-3040

Providing for the care and rehabilitation of injured, orphaned, and pollution damaged wildlife.

www.wildliferescue.ca WEBSITES www.sacredtantramassage.com

Seattle: 206-576-1825

Victoria, BC: 250-220-3334

GET YOUR FREE TRIAL TODAY Ahora en Español/18+

soccermom.escortbook.com

HIGH CLASS FEMALE ESCORTS & INTIMATE COMPANIONS

More local numbers: 1.800.550.0618 interactivemale.com

WWW.FOXDEN.CA covergirlescorts.com www.ClassyAngel.com www.platinumclub.net crystalxox.com www.greatpharaoh.com www.EuropeanLady.ca

Open desires... Hidden identities...

INTERVIEWS DAILY C OV ERGI R LES C ORT S .C OM

www.stripperplaymates.com

www.classymiko.com www.stress-awaybodycare.ca www.theswedishtouch.com

www.CarmanFox.com

Try FREE Now: 604-639-3011 More Local Numbers: 1-800-700-6666

redhotdateline.com 18+ 38 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017


savage love About a year

ago, I was pretending to read my boyfriend’s mind and jokingly said, “You want to put it in my ear.” Since then, I have seen references to ear sex (aural sex?) everywhere! There’s even a holiday (“Take It in the Ear Day” on December 8), and I was reading a book just now in which the author mentions how much she hates getting come in her ear. So while I am honestly not trying to yuck someone’s yum, I do have two questions. First, is this really a thing? And, second, how does it work? I mean, I like it when my boyfriend kisses my ears, but I don’t think I’d get that hot from him putting his penis there. It just seems loud. Can you enlighten me? > AN UNDERSTANDING REQUESTED ABOUT LISTENERS

Ear sex is a thing. But we need to distinguish between auralism, AURAL, and an ear fetish. People into auralism are sexually aroused by sounds— it could be a voice or music or sex noises. (Sex noises can arouse almost anyone who hears them, of course, so, technically, we’re all auralists.) An ear fetish, on the other hand, is a kind of partialism, i.e., a sexual interest in one part of the body (often parts not typically found in pants). A foot fetish is a partialism, for example, as is an ear fetish or an armpit fetish. Most ear-fetish stuff—including the thousands of ear-fetish videos on YouTube—is about tugging, rubbing, or licking someone’s ear and not about fucking someone in the ear or coming in someone’s ear canal. Dicks don’t fit in ear canals, and blasting semen into

someone’s ear could cause a nasty ear infection. So both are risky practices best avoided—but, hey, if PIE (penis in ear) sex is actually a thing, I invite any hard-core ear kinksters out there reading this to write in and explain exactly how that works.

I have a particular fetish that I’ve

> BY DAN SAVAGE men, women, and children who didn’t choose to become homeless because it made their dicks hard. There’s nothing moral about making their plight worse than it already is. Finally, DIRTY, while you’re able to fantasize about being stripped of your assets and left homeless, there are real people out there who have nothing and don’t find anything about being homelessness arousing. Want to be poorer? Donate a big chunk of your assets to homeless shelters and/or nonprofits that assist those experiencing homelessness in your area.

never fully disclosed to anybody. My ultimate fantasy is to be stripped of my assets by a woman and then (most importantly) made homeless. I like dressing up dirty—face, clothing, and all—and even going so far as to look through garbage cans. My question is this: is it moral to live out I’ve never admitted this to this fantasy, considering the plight of anyone: the idea of committing suicide turns me on sexually. I recoghomeless people? > DESIRING INTERESTING ROLE- nize how crazy that is, and I want PLAY THAT’S YUCKY to emphasize that I’m not suicidal. I’m not depressed; I love living, and I’m not gonna lecture you about how despite this sexual impulse, I don’t homelessness is a tragedy for indi- want to kill myself. I’m turned on by viduals and a national crisis that the fantasy of hanging myself, but the administration of Orange Julius that’s not really how I want my life to Caesar is unlikely to prioritize. Just end. (To be clear: autoerotic asphyxilike AURAL, DIRTY, I’m not here to ation gets a lot of press, but that’s not yuck anyone’s yum. But this is defi n- the situation here. Asphyxiation ititely a fantasy—morally speaking— self isn’t my kink, and other methods that can’t be fully realized. of committing suicide also turn me You’re turned on by the thought of a on.) My question is this: given that I cruel woman taking absolutely every- don’t want these fantasy scenarios to thing from you and leaving you home- ever become reality, should I indulge less? Great. Find a woman who’s into the fantasy through healthy, safe play findom (financial domination) and with a responsible partner or should give her some or most of your money I try to repress it and shut it down? and play dress-up on the weekends I’m worried that if I indulge the fanand sleep in her backyard. But don’t tasies through safe scenarios, I might give her everything and actually wind reach a point where the safety preup homeless, DIRTY, because then cautions interfere with the thrill. On you’ll wind up competing for scarce the other hand, I know that trying to shelter beds and other resources with repress sexual desires is a hopeless

endeavour and trying to keep these fantasies in check might result in a scenario where they boil over and I end up engaging in riskier behaviour than I would have otherwise.

> HORNY AND NERVOUS GUY’S ENDANGERING DEEDS

You’re not actually suicidal, right? I know you already said you weren’t, HANGED, but I want to doublecheck. Because fantasizing about killing yourself—for whatever reason—technically counts as suicidal ideation. If you or anyone else reading this is contemplating suicide, please reach out to someone you trust. Ask for help. Stick around. (Some resources: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1-800-273-8255; the Trevor Project, 1-866-488-7386; Trans Lifeline, 877-565-8860.) Okay, HANGED, I’m going to take you at your word: you love being alive and don’t actually want to kill yourself any more than a sane person into master/slave role-play actually wants to own a human being or be enslaved. But while I agree that repressing sexual desires is a hopeless endeavour, HANGED, “can’t be repressed” isn’t the only factor we have to take into consideration as we contemplate acting on our sexual fantasies. There are two other important considerations (at least!): can the act be performed consensually? Can the act be enjoyed with minimal risk of permanent harm? Your kink can definitely be performed consensually, and there are ways to minimize the risks of harm—and I’m not talking about only sticking your head in an Easy-

Bake Oven. I’m talking about finding a responsible/indulgent/macabre partner who’s willing to indulge/assist/monitor. Yours is a kink that can be explored only during supervised play, otherwise you run the risk of fucking up and accidentally hanging yourself. You can never do this solo. So if you don’t have a responsible and unflappable partner, HANGED, you’ll have to stick to your right hand and your imagination.

Bi guy here who’s way okay with

the use of “fag” or “faggot” in the right context. And what FAGS wrote in about last week—a boyfriend who wants to be called “faggot” while she talks negatively about his cock—is absolutely the right context. There’s an evolution in meaning taking place right now, Dan. These days, “fag” is less about sexual preference and more about sexual submission. A submissive man? Gay or straight? He’s a fag. I’ve been serviced by both hetero and homo faggots and have enjoyed myself, as have the fags who sucked my cock or did my housework. Go onto Tumblr and see for yourself. (Also: I have a sneaky suspicion that sparks would fly if FAGS raised the subject of cuckoldry with her boyfriend.) > BI GUY INTO FAGGOTS

Thanks for sharing, BGIF. On the Lovecast: Trump! What’s up with the piss thing and how to fight him. Listen at savagelovecast.com . Email: mail@savagelove.net. Follow Dan on Twitter @fakedansavage.

The Georgia Straight Confessions, an outlet for submitting revelations about your private lives—or for the voyeurs among us who want to read what other people have disclosed. > Go on-line to read hundreds of I Saw You posts or to respond to a message < GABBYS LAST NIGHT

r

s

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 15, 2017 WHERE: Gabby’s in Langley

Scan to confess interview I had a job interview this morning and a random ball of spit flew out of my mouth and landed on the table. I apologized, wiped it away with my hand and quietly died of embarrassment on the inside.

Conflicted? I don’t believe in the death penalty, but I do think the world would be better off without some people.

Take off your backpack Now that school is back in session, I’d like to gently remind students to please take off your backpack when you’re riding the train or the bus during rush hour. Today I got both smacked in the face by a zipper and smoked in the balls by a dangling water bottle. My future children will thank you.

Egotistical Infatuation When you don’t really want to be with someone, but you really want them to want to be with you.

Last night at Gabby’s at the Me and Mae show, I couldn’t take my eyes off of you! You had long dark hair and a beautiful smile. I was there to see West of Memphis and you were there to see Me and Mae. I walked by your table hoping to say hi, but you looked away. Then you moved closer and looked over to me several times. Sorry for staring, I can’t stop thinking about you. I’d like to see you again.

GASTOWN NIGHTS

s

Water Street Sat. night - Me: Long hair in a black and white 3/4 length tweed coat. I stopped you and asked you where the Gassy Jack was (which I thought mistakenly was the steam clock) You: looking fine in your Sat. eve Gastown attire questioning where I was from kindly pointed me in the right direction... but only later to run into you a second time waiting for a table at 6 Acres. U were going to tough out the 45 min wait... I didn’t stay - but I wish I had.

NEW YEAR’S EVE CHAMBAR

s

Family isn’t everything I am so embarrassed by how I treat my family. But interacting with my parents actually makes me feel like killing myself. So every time I ignore their text, walk away from their targeted passive aggressiveness, not accept their insults, I remind myself my life is worth more than the yearning for family bonds that may never be possible with them.

I can just live with high blood pressure, right?

r

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 14, 2017 WHERE: Water Street & 6 Acres

r

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 31, 2016 WHERE: Chambar We spoke a few times NYE, but my night ended unexpectedly and I didn’t get to say Goodbye. Let’s pick up, where we left off. Me-long blonde hair, two-piece red dress. You - muscular, 5’11”, tattoo on forearm and wearing a slick vest/slacks combo.

$20/month for medication shouldn’t be a big deal, but it kind of is when you already can’t afford your rent.

WEST OAK, YALETOWN, PURPLE HAIR BIRTHDAY GIRL

Hate Bandwagon

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 7, 2017 WHERE: West Oak, Yaletown

r

Just because someone posts a picture of someone and writes bad things about them doesn’t mean any of it is true.

Visit

to post a Confession

s

I joined you and your friends at the corner table at the West Oak in Yaletown. It was your birthday I and I bought you shooters. Wish I got your number. Coffee?

I TRULY SAW YOU AND I RAN.

s

r

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 13, 2017 WHERE: Safeway West 4th I saw you, and then I bolted! Haha, we were literally just in line at Safeway on 4th, and we talked about proper grocery store etiquette, and then about my weird dinner choices. It’s because I’ve been sick for the last 2 weeks! You were wearing a toque and grey wintery stuff and in your mid to late 30’s and I don’t think I’ve never been so dazed on a first encounter. Ever. And I’ve never written one of these, but how could I not when it’s a half an hour later and I’m in my apartment and I’m still smiling about a silly chance encounter.

CIGARETTE SMOKING ASIAN GIRL (BEIGE JACKET)

r

s

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 13, 2017 WHERE: Howe and Smithe This is a long shot - but here goes. I always see you smoking on the corner of Howe and Smithe (right in front of waves). I think we might work in the same building. Last time I saw you, you were wearing a beige/light brownish winter coat, talking to some Asian dude in the lobby as I walked into the elevator. You’re unbelievably cute and I’m cripplingly shy to approach you. We should crab a coffee and smoke!

OAK RIDGE SKYTRAIN DIRECTION DOWNTOWN

r

s

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 8, 2017 WHERE: Oak Ridge Station We both boarded the SkyTrain at Oak Ridge around 6pm, saw you peeking at me few times, you were Asian 20s, light beige jacket, black leggings, gray sweater and a pair of Uggs colour cream... You stayed standing by the door till I had to get out at Granville Station... I was the guy listening music, blue umbrella, with camo joggers, short hair and a blue jacket... I'm sure you remember - we locked eyes few times ;) holla back!!

ESMERALDA

r

s

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 16, 1996 WHERE: Esmeralda

I saw you in a cafe in Paris. You were with two others and a dog. “The aura of Buddha will be illuminating.” Stay safe.

SAFEWAY AT KING EDWARD MALL IN VANCOUVER

s

r

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 3, 2017 WHERE: Safeway at King Edward Mall in Vancouver By fish counter, you were buying fish and you suggested I buy Tilapia with coconut coatings, which I did. Then you suggested I buy Adam’s peanut butter when I was by that Aisle. Which I did. For some reason, you had powered me. We exchanged greetings in check in line. Sorry, that I did not wait to see if you could tell me how to cook that Tilapia. Please help me.

AFGHAN HORSEMAN

s

r

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 4, 2017 WHERE: Afghan Horseman, Granville Island I was waiting for someone and I guess you were too so the waitress brought you to look at me and asked you “Is that her?” I looked up and smiled. Of course I wasn’t your date, but I wish I had been. You are handsome, tall, with light hair. I am Caucasian, brunette, 5’7”. What a funny coincidence. Maybe we could meet intentionally next time? :)

DANCING AT JUNCTION

r

s

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 6, 2017 WHERE: Junction You asked to dance with me, I was rocking the floor, which you admired, and eventually I said I needed a time-out. Was there with a couple bros that night. The real reason I left was I was tired going out after a week of being sick. Me: beard with glasses. You: light maybe reddish hair looking slim and fine. Let me know if you want to go out again once I’m a little healthier.

SWEET CHERUBIM SERVER

r

s

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 5, 2017 WHERE: Sweet Cherubim you are so beautiful!!!! You served me and my friend a brownie and a coffee and you winked when we said goodbye.

GIRL WITH HOPE IN SHADOWS CALENDER @ CONTINENTAL CAFE

r

s

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 7, 2017 WHERE: Continental Cafe on The Drive Must admit I was jealous, you were the woman with the toque wearing all black sitting with your back to the window. I was the tall guy wearing black (with the black/white hat), well you were looking outside the window at a girl standing in front of the cafe on her phone. I’m guessing you were more interested in her, (I don’t want to make assumptions) & just saw me as just another guy (if helps I was transitioning to female, but decided to stop & feel I’m now non-binary/gender neutral I am on estrogen). Anyway who knows.

PASSENGERS....

s

r

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 6, 2017 WHERE: ScotiaBank Theatre Burrard We sat next to each other at Scotiabank Theatre, watching Passengers in 3D. You were casual cool in a nice button down, I was the fidgety brunette with the plaid shirt and ponytail. You were snacking on nibs, I sorta wanted to snack on you. I know, cliche.

RE: SUPER VALU REDHEAD CASHIER

r

s

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 5, 2017 WHERE: Super Valu I got your reply but couldn’t seem to send you a reply. You asked for my description to jog your memory and I have long black hair and green eyes and was wearing glasses and a leather jacket. Really hoping you see this!!!!!!

Visit straight.com to post your FREE I Saw You _ JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 39


40 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 19 – 26 / 2017


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.