JANUARY 24 - JANUARY 31 / 2019 | FREE Volume 53 | Number 2662
UBC SKYTRAIN Mayor remains optimistic
COMEDY HIGH Weed lounges host jokesters
RENDEZVOUS
French-language film fest
Chill Out Dynamic duo Jonathon Young and Crystal Pite take a new dance-theatre journey with the world premiere of Revisor; plus, winter arts festivals, the VSO's 100th, and much more
BOB SUMNER
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THE WELLNESS SHOW
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GAMING DIVERSITY
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
2 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019
PHOTOS BY EMILY COOPER
CIRQUE
COMEDY
CUISINE
“THE EVENING SWEEPS YOU AWAY!” Globe and Mail AFTER SOLD OUT SHOWS IN DECEMBER,
BACIO ROSSO IS EXTENDING TO MARCH 10 TH 2019 DON’T MISS IT!
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JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 3
CONTENTS
JANUARY 24 - 31 / 2019
15 COVER
In our Chill Out arts guide, we talk to two of our local stage’s big stars— Jonathon Young and Crystal Pite. By Janet Smith Cover photo by Emily Cooper
NEWS
6
Mayor Kennedy Stewart sees progress toward his goal of extending SkyTrain to the Point Grey campus. By Charlie Smith
13 FOOD
A new reason to pull yourself out of bed in the morning: Dine Out Vancouver has launched brunch menus. By Tammy Kwan
29 MOVIES
Vancouver’s Rendez-vous French Film Festival will focus attention on Quebec’s 1960s Quiet Revolution. By Adrian Mack
32 MUSIC
VA N C O U V E R ’ S P R E M I E R E
Bob Sumner is best known to Vancouver music fans as part of the Sumner Brothers, but he has struck out on his own with a magnificent solo debut, Wasted Love Songs.
E N T E R TA I N M E N T D E S T I N AT I O N
By Mike Usinger
e 14 10 28 26 12 11 12 30 7 35 8 26 24
Start Here THE BOTTLE CANNABIS CONFESSIONS DANCE HEALTH HOROSCOPES I SAW YOU MOVIE REVIEWS REAL ESTATE SAVAGE LOVE TECHNOLOGY THEATRE VISUAL ARTS
e Online TOP 5
AT PARQ VANCOUVER SUN
FEB 3
2019 Vancouver’s News and Entertainment Weekly Volume 53 | Number 2662
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Former school trustee busted in Vancouver police child-sex sting. Canada’s Food Guide joins the plant-based dining revolution. Studio unit for $950 per month proposed in East Vancouver. What would Micheal Ferland cost the Vancouver Canucks?
GeorgiaStraight @GeorgiaStraight
The Georgia Straight is published every Thursday by the Vancouver Free Press Publishing Corp. Copies are distributed free every week throughout Vancouver, Burnaby, North and West Vancouver, New Westminster, and Richmond. International Standard Serial 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 © 2018 Vancouver Free Press, Best Of Vancouver, Bov And Golden Plates Are Trade-Marks Of Vancouver Free Press Publishing Corp. SUBMISSIONS The Straight accepts no responsibility for, and will not necessarily respond to, any submitted materials. All submissions should be addressed to contact@straight.com. Canadian Publications Mail Agreement #40009178, return undeliverable Canadian addresses to The Georgia Straight, 1635 West Broadway, Vancouver, B.C, V6J 1W9
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4 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019
PERFORMANCE REALTY
JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 5
NEWS
UBC SkyTrain receives a boost
TOF THE alk WEEK
T
by Charlie Smith
LUNAR NEW YEAR AT LONSDALE QUAY MARKET
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6 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019
he TransLink Mayors’ Council’s 10-Year Vision did not define which form of rapid transit should eventually connect the Millennium Line to UBC’s Point Grey campus. However, a TransLink staff report going to the mayors’ council on Thursday (January 24) indicates that management “will recommend SkyTrain as the preferred technology”. According to Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart, this is a “very important step” toward achieving his goal of linking the UBC campus to the rapid-transit system. In a briefing with reporters on January 21, Stewart said that there “seems to be a lot of enthusiasm among the other mayors for this project”. “We’re getting a lot closer to seeing rapid transit all the way to UBC,” he said. Funding is already in place to extend the Millennium Line from VCC– Clark Station to Arbutus Street and West Broadway. Stewart said that this leg is expected to be completed in 2025. It’s expected to cost $2.83 billion and will have six stations. “What we’re trying to do is develop a parallel planning process so we can maximize the efficiency of building that line,” Stewart said. “That’s why approving the technology from Arbutus to UBC is so important.” The report going to the mayors’ council doesn’t recommend a preferred technology. This is notwithstanding management’s statement in the text that it’s going to propose that SkyTrain be chosen over the less expensive street-level light rail. The report indicates that a Millennium Line extension from Arbutus Street to UBC would cost between $3.3 billion and $3.8 billion in 2018 dollars. This “preliminary estimate”
Mayor Kennedy Stewart sees progress in his goal of extending rapid transit.
assumes a partially tunnelled and partially elevated line. “You have to approve the technology and then you have to do the business case, and then we could see what it would cost per kilometre,” Stewart said. According to the report to the mayors’ council, at-grade light-rail transit from Arbutus to UBC would cost $1.7 billion to $2 billion in 2018 dollars. At-grade LRT from Main Street– Science World to UBC would be $2.88 billion to $3.2 billion in 2018 dollars. According to the report, preliminary work “demonstrated that a SkyTrain extension to UBC is the only technology that would accommodate the forecast ridership on the Broadway corridor and allow for future expansion in the longer term (beyond 2045)”. Stewart said that the president of UBC, Santa Ono, is very supportive of SkyTrain. The mayor added that the two of them will be working together to make it happen. “But equally important is the Musqueam First Nation,” Stewart added. “I have had face-to-face meetings with Chief [Wayne] Sparrow. They are very supportive.” g
WE’VE BEEN told that it’s a lost cause. And if there’s anyone to blame, it is us. For the convenience that the Internet provides, we have paid a dear price: loss of privacy. From posting photos of family vacations to online searches, purchases, and other financial transactions, we have been sharing an enormous amount of information about ourselves, with perhaps little care about who gets to see, collect, and use these data. As Canada and many countries across the world mark Data Privacy Day on Monday (January 28), we may want to have a better understanding of how our personal data are being gathered and examined, so we can better manage our privacy. In Vancouver, Mike Larsen and Micheal Vonn— cochair of Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s criminology department and policy director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, respectively— will lead a discussion about the promotion of privacy in the digital world. Titled “Privacy in Peril”, the event will be held on January 28 at the Montalbano Family Theatre at the central branch of the Vancouver Public Library (350 West Georgia Street) from 7 to 8:30 p.m. g
HOUSING
Report says far more homes needed in future
T
by Charlie Smith
he federal government plans to accept 340,000 immigrants in 2020. This increase in arrivals from the 300,000 target of 2017 is expected to be felt in the Metro Vancouver housing market, according to a new report. Andrew Ramlo and Ryan Berlin of the Rennie Intelligence Team forecast that by 2041, the region will have 4.03 million residents—up from 2.93 million in 2017. “In growing by 38%, the Lower Mainland is projected to add an average of 45,000 net new residents each year (on a net basis), with the annual growth rate averaging 1.3% between 2017 and 2041,” they wrote in the Rennie Outlook. “As a point of comparison to this latter metric, the Lower Mainland grew by an average of 1.8% per year over the past decade and a half.” They predicted that this 1.1-million increase in population would require 498,204 new dwelling units by 2041. That works out to more than 20,000 net new units per year. Of those units, they estimated that 292,351 would be ground-oriented and another 205,853 would be apartment units. Ramlo and Berlin also forecast that 352,404 units would be owned and 145,801 would be rented. “The region will continue to be challenged to deliver new supply—and the right supply—in a way that efficiently accommodates our growing and changing population,” they concluded. In their paper, Ramlo and Berlin forecast net interprovincial migration to add 4,300 residents to the region each year from 2017 to 2041. But that will be more than offset by almost 8,000 people, on a net
basis, leaving the region each year for other parts of B.C. Life expectancies are forecast to increase by four and three years, respectively, for men and women by 2041. Ramlo and Berlin declared that this projection “describes a population that grows larger over time, but does so at a relatively slow (and slowing) rate when compared to the historical experience”. A major factor driving population growth and housing demand will be immigration, they noted. “When combined with the flow of emigrants from the region (here projected on the basis of historical emigration as a share of the existing regional population) and the change in the number of non-permanent residents (such as students and those on work visas), net international migration to the Lower Mainland is expected to increase from 33,000 people in 2016 to a peak of 46,000 in 2023 before subsiding to just under 40,000 annually by 2041,” Ramlo and Berlin wrote. The authors relied on five data sources: Statistics Canada census counts and its demographic estimates compendium, B.C. Vital Statistics, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., and Metro Vancouver. They projected the total fertility rate to remain stable at around 1.56 (the total number of children a woman would be expected to give birth to during her childbearing years) until 2041; this would reflect a “continuation of postponement in the peak child-bearing years” along the lines of historical patterns. “The result would be a continuation of below-replacement levels of fertility, meaning migration will play an increasing role over time in growing the regional population.” g
ARE YOU EIGHTEEN YEARS OR OLDER AND LOOKING FOR A MEANINGFUL VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY? Our Peer Support Services at JSA is now accepting applications for our Community Support Friendly Visiting Program As an introduction to senior peer counselling, our community support friendly visitor training program is being offered at no cost. Upon completion of the program you will get a certificate. Gain skills in interacting with seniors in our community and increase your employment opportunities and personal growth. Upon completion of the course you will have learned active and empathetic listening, effective communication skills and become familiar with community resources for seniors Training will consist of five weekly consecutive sessions on Monday evenings starting Monday, February 25 from 4 pm – 7 pm for a total of 15 hours. Upon completion of the training you will be matched with a senior to visit with in the community to apply your new skills. Jewish Seniors Alliance is an inclusive organization and reaches out to all religious, cultural and ethnic groups. We have a demand for volunteers from all diverse backgrounds including volunteers who speak Cantonese, Mandarin as well as English
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JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 7
HIGH TECH Game characters become more diverse
Regul ation Redesign
A
by Kate Wilson
lthough video games take place in fantasy realms, their characters reinforce real-world stereotypes. Gamers come in all shapes and sizes. While the hobby is typically perceived to be male-focused, women now make up about half of all players, and research has shown that a higher percentage of black and Latino individuals turn on their consoles daily than any other race. Despite that, few people from those groups see themselves represented on-screen—and, if they do, the characters often can’t be controlled by the player. When marginalized figures show up in games, they tend to fall into broad groups. Women are most likely represented as oversexualized, narrative-devoid love interests or damsels in distress. Black and Hispanic characters are predominantly created for sports titles—but when they appear in action or shooter games, they typically surface as violent criminals or are sexually promiscuous. The default for hero figures, by contrast, is a lightskinned, heterosexual fit man. With video games offering a judgment-free world where individuals can explore different identities, it’s vital that titles create universes underpinned by diversity. In the opinion of Melissa Boone, Xbox senior researcher at Microsoft, that cultural shift is finally beginning to happen. “One of the things I think is really good in the industry today is how they [developers] are more aware of how important it is for people to see characters that look like them in video games,” she tells the Georgia Straight on the line from the Microsoft campus in Redmond,
Simplifying rules for city building Have you had difficulty understanding regulations for your renovation, new construction, or new space? Do you feel like your permit process was delayed due to complex requirements? The City of Vancouver is launching Regulation Redesign, a comprehensive review of its land use rules to make them easier to find and use. Join us at an open house to share your experiences with land use and development regulations. It will also be a chance to learn about what we’ve heard so far and some proposed ideas for changes. You don’t need to have technical expertise to participate – just an interest in improving the City’s land use regulations, policies, and guidelines. Tuesday, January 29, 2019, 5 – 7 pm Saturday, February 2, 2019, 1 – 4 pm BOTH OPEN HOUSES AT: Vancouver City Hall, 453 West 12th Avenue Ground Floor, Town Hall Meeting Room FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO SIGN UP FOR OUR EMAIL LIST: vancouver.ca/RegRedesign
Visit: vancouver.ca Phone: 3-1-1 TTY: 7-1-1
Video games increasingly offer worlds where players can explore identities.
Washington. “You’re seeing more and more of these characters showing up in games, often without comment, which is really appreciated— especially for people of colour like myself. It’s equally wonderful to see a game where the main character is LGBT. It’s just part of them, and they’re just doing things any other character would do.” Boone understands the need for diversity better than most. After earning her PhD from Columbia University in public health and social psychology, she spent years studying HIV prevention in vulnerable and minority populations. After making the switch to the technology industry three years ago, she was hired by Microsoft to research representation and accessibility in their games. One of the first studies she designed tested the significance of letting players customize characters. “People like to have that option,” she says. “But it’s most important for people who identify as black or Hispanic. They’re less likely to see themselves reflected on-screen. Gender consistently comes up as one
of the most important things to be able to customize. Another thing that comes up a lot is skin colour, hair type, and body type. From that study, even though it [looked at] customizing your own character, we can also draw some conclusions about the attributes that people pay attention to when we [the game studios] make characters.” Microsoft has begun putting those findings into practice and even updated some of its previous creations. Take, for instance, Chief Thunder, a playable Indigenous character in the head-to-head fighting game Killer Instinct. Thunder, a member of the Pacific Northwest’s Nez Perce tribe, was initially represented in a way that was not in line with his First Nations culture. After sending developers to consult with the tribe’s elders, Microsoft recently redesigned the character’s regalia, hairstyle, and body paint to bring them in line with their traditions. For Boone, it’s important that players understand the effort that goes into making sure that the company’s games are both fun and inclusive. “Whenever I tell people what I do, I get a lot of reactions that are like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I didn’t know that was a job,’ ” she says. “I get to explain to people how much thought and practice we actually put into trying to make their game experiences really amazing. It’s really awesome for a lot of people to hear that [Microsoft] is really thinking about this in a deep way. They have a researcher, they’re asking for feedback, so I love being able to share that. We know that there are people of all different backgrounds who play our games and that there’s something for everyone on our platform.” g
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CANNABIS
Jokes N Tokes shifts the comedy vibe
A
by Piper Courtenay
local comedy night reinforces why no good joke starts with “A stoner walks into a bar…” Why would they when a stoner can walk into a vape lounge, smoke weed, and enjoy an array of the city’s comedic talent instead? Hanging out at the West Hastings Cannabis Culture lounge, host and comic Andrew Packer explained to the Georgia Straight why his show, Jokes N Tokes, is selling out in Vancouver and Toronto. The weekly standup series brings a handful of guest comics to 420-friendly spots—where audiences prefer their funny served with a side of stoned. He said that although weed isn’t the crux of the material, the city’s lounges offer cannabis-friendly crowds a comfortable place to consume but also challenge comedians with a unique environment to test new material. Packer, who has a natural aptitude for rousing a very relaxed crowd back to their senses between sets, discovered a love of standup while studying finance at the University of Ottawa. After performing at various spots throughout Europe and Canada, he was approached by the owner of the Underground Comedy & Social Club in Toronto with the idea of a regular gig. He created Jokes N Tokes last year and now runs the show weekly in Vancouver and takes it back to Toronto once a month. Unlike local joints like Yuk Yuk’s and the Comedy Club that only permit alcohol, consumption lounges mean cannabis consumers don’t have to come to a show pre-lit or sneak out between acts. Instead of high-top tables and theatre seats, hosting a comedy night at places like Cannabis Culture also means Packer’s audience can melt into comfy couches while they take in the jokes.
Standup comedian and event organizer Andrew Packer works the laid-back room at the weekly weed-themed comedy show Jokes N Tokes. Photo by Piper Courtenay
“There’s definitely a totally different vibe,” Packer said. “Every audience has a character to it, but when people are more stoned it’s generally more chill… Drunk crowds tend to lend themselves to more interaction.” Despite the played-out trope that cannabis consumers are more easily amused—or dissolve into giggle fits at the most inexplicable of times—it turns out they’re a pretty tough crowd. Late on January 20, a lineup of eight comedians spent two hours on a makeshift coffee-table stage testing their material against a sea of bloodshot eyes—not all of whom were ready to give up the belly laughs on which comedians tend to thrive. The latest Jokes N Tokes night brought out Packer and his cohost, DJ Corey, and guest sets from a mix of local rising stars and touring professionals, including Chris Gaskin and Rory Dunn. Some fully admitted to the challenge when met with the chilled-out silence, something Packer said a high crowd is much more comfortable with than a booze-fuelled one. Others shot from the hip with relatable stoner archetypes, the host himself garnering a few
cheers of support after sharing a story about the first time he dabbed cannabis concentrates and threw up in his car. Some comedians, like Carl Turnbull, owned the fact that they, too, had indulged before their set, garnering “we’ve all been there” applause when they forgot where a joke was going or paused for a little too long between context and punch line. Comedian Ola Dada jumped onstage with a lit joint and, in a feat of classic weed-community generosity, was met with several lighters thrust in the air when it went out. Despite the added difficulty of engaging a naturally more laid-back crowd, Packer said he finds a lot of inspiration for new material while performing in weed lounges. “We [comedians] love it because we can do a set in a different, relaxed, interesting environment. For creativity, trying your jokes in different rooms makes them stronger. It’s really important,” he said. The show is heading to Toronto for a monthly event in February, but Packer plans on keeping it in Vancouver for as long as the community is up for a little comedy with its weed. g
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10 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019
HOROSCOPE
J
by Rose Marcus
anuary’s two eclipses have transpired, but they are not a done deal yet. Eclipses are intensification triggers that continue to play out over a length of time. The next set in July will link back to the two just past. They mark a timetable regarding what’s in the works now regarding a circumstance, process, or karmic growth curve. Now for an overview of the transits for the week ahead. Venus and Jupiter in Sagittarius will continue to keep everything on the increase. Mars in Aries continues to keep the fire well lit. Friday begins with Mars trine Jupiter in full swing. It is a great transit for travel, marketing, sports, pleasure- and adventureseeking, trendsetting, speculative investing, exploring more, and putting us in the better know. Ceres, a potent seeding and staging influence, enters Sagittarius on Saturday. Mercury has just left Capricorn for Aquarius. The communications, transport, and connect-thedots planet aims to break down the wall or barrier, to take the breaks off whatever has been blocked or held up, and to speed up the discussion, negotiation, research, or plan. Mercury in Aquarius is a revitalizing and bring-it-to-life influence. It can spark fresh insight, a new dialogue, new social or market trends, ready rapport, and unique and/or creative solutions. It is an ideal transit for opening up, sharing, socializing, trying something new on for size, and for innovation and reinvention. Tuesday evening, Mercury teams up with the sun. Spilling over into Wednesday, the transit can bring news, something fresh to watch or talk about, or someone to meet or share with. Enjoy socializing or entertaining; attend a class or special event.
E
JANUARY 24–30, 2019
LEO
July 22–August 23
Venus/Jupiter and Mars have been on an over-the-top program this week. Likely they have put you on the gain. All three will keep the action, news, trends, and expectation pumped up. There’s no lack of interest, stimulation, conversation, or social action. Full-to-the-brim days continue. Tuesday, meet up; enjoy a social night out; attend an event.
F
VIRGO
Things have been picking up steam all week. You can expect this momentum to continue. A new address, a trip, a new personal life trajectory—there’s a lot to look forward to. Venus/Jupiter and Mars are setting the future into play in some bigger-picture way. Friday can launch you on your way. Tuesday/Wednesday are excellent for taking a stab at something new.
G
LIBRA
H
SCORPIO
D
CANCER
June 21–July 22
Take charge of your destiny. Aim in a new direction. Think outside of the box; try something out of your comfort zone. Now through next Friday is an optimum time to get yourself up and running. What seems like a risk is also a natural next step. Friday’s Mars/Jupiter supplies ample insight and confidence. Tuesday can dish up something unexpected, perhaps an added expense.
pu your tickets rchase online!
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October 23–November 22
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AQUARIUS
January 20–February 18
Never a dull moment! The influence of last weekend’s total lunar eclipse is still rolling out Thursday/ Friday. Venus/Jupiter and Mars keep everything in full swing. Mercury, fresh at it in Aquarius, puts another fresh wind under your sail. Someone to meet, something to say, convey, buy, sell, or get off the ground? Tuesday/Wednesday are great for doing just that.
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PISCES
February 18–March 20
Friday starts in high gear, but come evening it’s time to slow down. Aim for quality over quantity this weekend. If you aren’t turned on by it, why do it? Saturday through Monday, feel your way along. Tuesday/ Wednesday gets you going on something fresh. Sparking a good idea or instant connection, Sun/Mercury puts synchronicity on your side. g
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May 21–June 21
Presented by
September 23–October 23
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Life is on the increase, growing beyond expectations and taking a leap of faith; destiny is at play regarding travel, relocation, a great idea, speculative ventures, and new involvements. Mercury, freshly into Aquarius, keeps action and opportunity going strong. Tuesday, good news travels fast. Head and heart beat as one. Sun/Mercury makes for an excellent day to meet, discuss, share, enjoy, experiment, or explore.
Nesters M a Gift Ca rket when you rd
Friday/Saturday, go for the extra. Venus/Jupiter and the transiting moon in Libra keep you looking and sounding your best, timing it right, loving it up, and making great gains. Tuesday/Wednesday, go with your first hit or pick; reach out; meet up; get moving; pitch your idea; share the news. Sun/Mercury can spark an instant connection/rapport, fresh insight or opportunity, something spontaneous or unexpected.
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The Vanity Lab
August 23–September 23
What you feel, witness, create, begin, express, experience—it all teams with more potency and potential. Thanks to Venus/Jupiter and Mars, you’re on a lucrative, step-ahead roll. Sunday/Monday, the Scorpio moon sharpens intuitive and obserARIES vational skills. Time to yourself can be March 20–April 20 put to good use. Tuesday/Wednesday, Expect the phone to keep something fresh or spontaneous hits ringing. For the next couple of weeks, it right. Sun/Mercury can clue you in, Mercury, freshly on the upbeat in prompt a quick response or reaction. Aquarius, makes for never a dull SAGITTARIUS moment. Go exploring; go first; be a November 22–December 21 risk taker. A fresh idea, conversation, Friday/Saturday keeps you collaboration, or new moneymaking avenue/project shows good promise going full swing and outdistancing right out of the starting gate. Mars them all. Venus continues in Sagittarin Aries keeps you/it going strong ius through the start of February. Juthrough Friday. Next Tuesday/Wed- piter stays with you for the year. As of Saturday, Ceres treks into Sagittarius nesday, say/do it; go. too. She won’t catch up to Jupiter until TAURUS November, but she’ll hit the ground April 20–May 21 running now. Ceres creates fertile Thanks to Mercury fresh at it conditions for a fresh start. Plant your in Aquarius and Mars/Jupiter on the seeds and watch them grow! upswing, you should find you can CAPRICORN make better progress now. You’re December 21–January 20 quick on the ball; so are they. MerMercury has just left your sign cury in Aquarius prompts a change of mind, heart, plan, or circumstance. for Aquarius. As of next Tuesday, the Friday through Tuesday, fresh-page quick-on-the-ball one will team up opportunity abounds. You can make with the sun. You are sure to feel the an important breakthrough with energy boost. From now to then and someone or something. Spontaneity beyond, busy days continue; your busy mind does too. Mars in Aries keeps delivers best. you in good fighting spirit. Where GEMINI there’s a will, there’s a way!
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HAVE YOU BEEN TO...
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> Go on-line to read hundreds of I Saw You posts or to respond to a message < OUTDOOR PURSUITS CLASS - CYPRESS - WE SMILED AT EACH OTHER
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 19, 2019 WHERE: Cypress Free Access Trail You were coming down the hill with your class. Your teacher couldn’t find your group and when he found you we came shortly after. You had a lovely smile and gorgeous eyes. We exchanged a few words but I was a bit distracted by you. I was on skis with a beard in a group of four. Say hi if you see this and want to grab a tea and walk :)
IN THE LINE AT MIA THUG FUCKER - I GAVE YOU MY JACKET
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 18, 2019 WHERE: Club MIA You were with your two guy friends. I was in a group of four. I gave you my jacket to wear as you were cold and all your friends tried it on. I didn’t end up going in the show but wished I got your number before we parted ways.
MAIN ST BREWERY / MS HAT
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 19, 2019 WHERE: Main St. Brewery Do I know you? Or do I just want to? I kept lookin your way and you kept lookin back. Was it coincidence? Was it happenstance? Or was it because I was awkwardly staring? If option B: Share a beer and a few tears over all the trades this season?
EXCHANGED LOOKS ON THE BUS
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 17, 2019 WHERE: 100 Bus
Authentic Greek Food
Extensive Wine & Bar List 1830 Fir St. Vancouver | 604.736.9559
www.apolloniagreekrestaurant.com C L O S E D M O N D AY S L U N C H • W E D N E S D AY to F R I D AY 11:30A M ͳ 2:30 P M D I N N E R • T U E S D AY to S U N D AY 4:30 ͳ 9:30 P M 12 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019
I saw you on the 100 bus this afternoon. I was the blond in the blue jacket, you were also blond, wearing a black coat and white shoes with a red stripe. We exchanged looks a couple of times, and now I’m regretting not trying to talk to you. Hmu if you feel the same!
I SAW YOU IN HUB BUB
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JJ ON COMMERCIAL
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 16, 2019 WHERE: 420 Robson St.
I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 16, 2019 WHERE: JJ Bean
You were standing next to me in the waiting line. We shared a few glances but then your order came and you left before I could start a conversation. You were this cute, blonde girl with the brown coat and the most beautiful smile I have ever seen. I was the tall guy with the curly hair. I would love to see you again to find out
You bagged up my beans and made my tea this afternoon. I thought you were charming & adorable. Maybe we can go bowling?
SOUTH AFRICAN AT MAIN STATION
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 18, 2019 WHERE: Main Street SkyTrain Station I was waiting for a train and you commented that with my empty duffel bag it looked like I was going to commit a robbery. We chatted and joked for a little bit while waiting for the train and I learned you were from South Africa. The train arrived but I went through a different door than you because I thought there might not be room. You made my morning and I'd love to hear about some of the crazy shit you said you'd seen in SA. Maybe over a drink?
OFFERED YOU MY UMBRELLA
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 17, 2018 WHERE: Downtown Met you at a rally... you're working on your PhD... thought you were cool maybe we should get a coffee ?
YOU WERE ON YOUR BICYCLE. I WAS ON MINE.
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 16, 2019 WHERE: Richmond Public Library You were riding north from the library. We crossed paths. You gave me a smile that was big and warm and felt like a kiss. Then we rode away from each other.
KIND-FACED MAN ON THE BUS TONIGHT
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 14, 2019 WHERE: Riding the Bus We got on and off the bus at the same stops. You were wearing dark blue suede shoes, and a red scarf. We shared a few glances. I don’t know why, but I’d like to know more about you. Respond with the bus number and a brief description of me, if you feel the same way.
CLASSICAL PIANIST
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 11, 2019 WHERE: Sumac @ Astoria I’m guessing you were the only classical pianist at the Sumac show at the Astoria on Friday night! I’m the foreigner whose accent you identified. Thought you were just moving during the set, but didn’t see you once it ended. Would love to get to know you better.
MIXED FILIPINA HUGGER
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: SEPTEMBER 6, 2018 WHERE: The Toast Collective We saw bands together at the Toast in early Sept. You were with a friend, I was with a friend, we all got along drinking our beers. You just moved into town recently, you’re not on social media (or so I was told). You asked for my full name which I typed into your phones’ notes and invited you to come to my show the week after (which u didn’t, which is ok). We hugged and parted ways! U told me u were part Filipina (I am Filipinx also). If u remember me and ever wanna hang sometime hmu. that would be cool!
Visit straight.com to post your FREE I Saw You _
HAVE YOU BEEN TO...
Bill Reid Gallery billreidgallery.ca
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he founder of the Wellness Show, Jeannette Savard, can only marvel over what an institution her annual event has become. On February 2 and 3, she will celebrate its 27th anniversary at the Vancouver Convention Centre with 250 exhibitors and almost 100 presentations on five stages. The attendance is expected to exceed 20,000 people. “In the first year, I think I had about 80 exhibitors,” Savard recalled in a phone interview with the Georgia Straight. “I had experienced working with different trade shows. I thought it would be a fine idea to have all of this under one roof.” Some of the city’s most celebrated chefs—including Hidekazu Tojo (Tojo’s), Clement Chan (Torafuku), and David Mueller (Bauhaus)—will share their expertise on the cooking stage. There will also be a presentation by Naz Deravian, author of Bottom of the Pot: Persian Recipes and Stories. The fitness stage will feature everything from yoga to Pilates to high-intensity interval training. On the living-well stage, there will be discussions about women and heart disease, stress reduction, allergies and chronic disease, the effects of collagen, and pharmacogenetics, among other topics. “The whole purpose of the show is to come and try and sample and learn and figure out what you like and don’t like—and what you want to incorporate into your own lifestyle,” Savard said. There’s also a stage focused on healthy families that offers eight free 75-minute massages, courtesy of the Vancouver College of Massage Therapy. Another stage focused on women and wellness features a presentation on how mindfulness can cultivate sexual desire. It’s offered by UBC professor and internationally recognized sexuality expert Lori Brotto. There’s even a table-tennis area and a Bodhi meditation garden. And for the canna-curious, there are opportunities to learn more about cannabis and health. On the living-well stage, the founder of the Medicinal Cannabis Resource Centre Inc., Terry Roycroft, will offer a session comparing opioids to cannabis. And on the women and wellness stage, Aurora Cannabis’s director of regulatory affairs, Annaliese Kibler, will speak about women and cannabis. For the fifth consecutive year, Nesters Market is hosting an organic marketplace at the Wellness Show. If you love freebies, this is a must-see destination. “There will be many products for people to sample,” Savard said. “Nesters actually doesn’t sell onsite, but there will be lots of deals if people want to buy them in-store.” Prizes include two-night wellness retreats at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise resort and at the Nita Lake Lodge in Whistler. Two-night packages at the Long Beach Lodge Resort, the Kingfisher Oceanside Resort & Spa, and the Black Rock Oceanfront Resort will also be given away. g
FOOD
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5 brunch menus for Dine Out
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by Tammy Kwan
CHICKPEA (4298 Main Street, $25)
Since this popular food truck expanded to a brick-and-mortar spot in Mount Pleasant, its following has increased significantly, and with good reason. Chickpea serves up tasty plant-based comfort food with a Mediterranean twist, and its prix fixe brunch menu doesn’t fall short. Start off with a drink such as turmeric latte, chocolate-almond milk, or chai latte. Mains range from the “chickcheese” sandwich (with crispy eggplant, sun-dried tomato paste, and vegan cheese) to French toast (with sautéed bananas, Canadian maple syrup, and housemade coconut whipped cream). Choose from desserts like blueberrylemon or chocolate-espresso chickie pie for a sweet finish. HAWKSWORTH (801 West Georgia Street, $35)
A visit to this fine-dining restaurant will usually set you back a pretty penny, but its Dine Out brunch menu is actually quite affordable in comparison to its regular offerings. Guests will enjoy a three-course meal that
INDIAN N RESTAURANT 6 87- 0 0 49 6 0 4 4 8 4 -2236
Expires: March 31, 2019
8 POWELL ST. (IN GASTOWN) 604
www.sitarrestaurant.net
✃
rix fixe lunch and dinner menus have always been the main draw for the annual Dine Out Vancouver Festival, which runs through February 3. But this year the highly anticipated food-and-drink event will is introducing new breakfast and brunch menus—perfect for city dwellers who can’t get enough of hearty morning meals. Indulge in everything from croque monsieur to avocado toast to fried chicken and waffles during the festival. Here are five restaurants around town serving up tasty brunch for Dine Out 2019.
10 OFF!!
When 2 meals are purchased
Open Daily 11am-10pm Across from the Gassy Jack statue in Gastown
Not valid for delivery or specials. Dine in only. Lunch or Dinner.
• One coupon per 2 people • Max: 3 coupons per table
Ru nne r- up Be st I ndi an
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Crispy fried chicken and jalapeño-cheddar waffles are included in the Dine Out Vancouver southern brunch at Juke Fried Chicken’s outlet in Chinatown.
situated in the heart of Kitsilano (read: brunch central). Trattoria’s Dine Out brunch offerings are short but sweet, and its entrées include avocado toast with roasted cherry tomatoes, and ham-and-cheese crespelle (Italian crepe) topped with a fried egg. The kitchen team keeps the dessert light: fresh fruit paired with JUKE FRIED CHICKEN sweet Greek-yogurt sauce—just the (182 Keefer Street, $20) kind of laid-back treat a true yogaFew things satisfy the belly better loving Vancouverite would go for. than a fresh plate of crispy fried chicken and waffles, which is probably why WATER ST. CAFÉ Vancouverites won’t find a shortage (300 Water Street, $25) of this popular southern brunch dish The weather isn’t warm enough to around the city. Juke Fried Chicken’s enjoy brunch on Water St. Café’s Chinatown outlet is serving up a Dine patio, but that shouldn’t make a visit Out brunch menu that showcases to this Gastown spot any less appealmocktail and coffee options for the ing, especially when it’s offering a appetizer, two-piece fried chicken special menu. The dining establishand jalapeño-cheddar waffles for ment’s three-course Dine Out brunch the entrée, and dark-chocolate-and- includes appies like granola with seasonal fruit and burrata caprese (simple coffee parfait for dessert. Italian salad) with heirloom and TRATTORIA KITSILANO Roma tomatoes. Move on to heavier (1850 West 4th Avenue, $15) dishes like smoked-salmon benny This Italian eatery is no stranger or sausage and biscuit before endto visitors searching for breakfast ing the meal with basil panna cotta and brunch, especially because it’s or seasonal fruit sorbet. g includes items like braised octopus with fennel, smoked-trout coddled egg with grilled baguette, and croque monsieur (baked ham-and-cheese sandwich) with house pickles. Finish off with candy-cap ice cream, a deconstructed dessert that features toasted white chocolate and aerated toffee.
5COURSE DINNER SPECIAL
$15.95 Dine-in only
. House Salad . Spring Roll . Choice of Entrée . . Daily Soup Daily Dessert
1152 ALBERNI STREET 604.646.8899 www.pinkelephantthai.com
JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 13
WHERE COMMERCE, SPIRITUALITY, AND COMEDY MEET
CONTEMPORARY COMEDY
YOGA PLAY
By Dipika Guha Feb. 7 – 16, 2019 MainStage Tickets from $29!
GatewayTheatre.com , H GatewayThtr Christine Quintana & Chirag Naik. Photo: David Cooper.
14 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019
DRINK
Wineries receive winter guests
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by Kurtis Kolt
was on a work trip in the Okanagan a couple weeks back and was quite taken with the serenity of wine country this time of year. My visits, like most, are usually in spring, summer, and fall, but this was maybe the second or third time I’d done winter wine touring. Although things were snowy and peaceful, I was surprised at how many wineries are actually still open in these winter months; I certainly wasn’t the only one hitting the tasting rooms. I was visiting a couple of wineries for a magazine article and opted to fill out my trip hitting wineries I had never been to before. In fact, this recent trip was the first time I’ve visited Kelowna’s Summerhill Pyramid Winery, founded by Stephen Cipes and his family in 1991. “You’ve never been to Summerhill?” exclaimed pretty much everyone I mentioned it to. “That’s crazy!” I’ve long admired the Cipes family’s dedication to organic and biodynamic farming, plus their affinity for traditional-method sparkling wine, a category that offers some of the best bang for your buck in our region. Better late than never. I toured the actual pyramid on the property—a homage to the Great Pyramid of Giza—where wines are aged, then participated in a lengthy tasting through their sparklings, reds, and whites. Summerhill’s sparkling wines are the most consistent of all their wines and I see no reason for them not to stand proud among some of the great Champagnes, Cavas, and other sparkling wines of the world.
natural-wine bent, so a little haze in the bottle or hint of spritz in a white comes with the territory. A fun place to tuck into salty snacks, wine, cocktails, and local craft beer. RICCO BAMBINO 2017 SYRAH (Okanagan Valley; $45)
Pepper, cloves, cardamom, and bacon fat add zip to Ricco Bambino’s Syrah.
and Pinot Blanc and aged on the lees nine months. It explodes with lemon and lime, and once the fizz softens up a bit Granny Smith apples enter the fray, carrying a hint of rosemary through the lengthy finish.
Syrah is one of my favourite grape varieties in British Columbia, and this quickly placed in my top five currently on the market. It’s awash in purple fruit and dripping with bacon fat, and integrated through all of it are cloves, cardamom, and black pepper, bringing plenty of charisma.
Down in Oliver, CheckMate Artisanal Winery is one of the latest projects by proprietor Anthony von Mandl of Mission Hill Family Estate fame, whose portfolio of wineries includes CedarCreek Estate Winery, Martin’s Lane Winery, and Road 13 Vineyards. SUMMERHILL PYRAMID WINERY The goal of CheckMate is to make the CIPES BRUT ROSÉ NV best Chardonnay and Merlot on the (Okanagan Valley; $30.48) planet. Winemaker Phil McGahan This one is 100 percent Pinot Noir, and explores and expresses every possible its lively pink colour from limited skin nuance of the varieties, sourced from contact looks quite cheery in the glass. vineyards planted in the early 1970s. It sits on the lees for three years, bringing great brioche character, while CHECKMATE ARTISANAL WINERY bright acidity and just eight grams per 2015 QUEEN’S ADVANTAGE litre of residual sugar keep things dry. CHARDONNAY I would have expected a hearty dose of (Okanagan Valley; $85) red berry fruit, but it errs more toward With the precision fine-tuned oak prothe tartness of rhubarb, cranberry, gram, and care taken in crafting these and fresh lime, finishing with a little wines, they don’t come cheap. I can say, though, from where I’m standing that dash of white pepper. although labels like this one are going Ricco Bambino is the new kid on for 85 bucks, these are indeed some of the block—literally, an urban block, the best Chardonnays currently made on Pandosy Street in Kelowna. This in B.C. Lime leaf and orange blosSUMMERHILL PYRAMID WINERY small venue is both wine bar and som make for pretty aromatics, while CIPES BRUT NV production facility, under proprietor the creamy palate sees well-integrated (Okanagan Valley, B.C.; $29.90) (and jewellery designer) Jason Alton. Gala apple, quince, and star fruit, with This perennial favourite is composed The wines, made by Matt Dumayne a little cinnamon toast framing things of a combo of Riesling, Chardonnay, of Okanagan Crush Pad, are of the well. g
arts
Stage duo pushes further with Revisor by Janet Smith
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Revisor (left, photo by Michael Slobodian) tackles stylized political farce—strikingly different territory from Betroffenheit, the show by Jonathon Young and Crystal Pite that wowed the world.
etroffenheit ranks as one of Vancouver’s biggest stage success stories—touring the globe for two years, eliciting rave reviews, and earning a coveted 2017 Olivier Award in London. Now, in one of the most anticipated new shows of 2019, choreographer Crystal Pite and actor-writer Jonathon Young are back with Revisor. Tellingly, its world premiere here sold out months ago. Whereas Betroffenheit mined personal tragedy—a devastating loss in Young’s own family—Revisor takes a less autobiographical direction and plays with stylized political farce. Yet it continues the exploration of words, theatre, and dance that the pair started with Betroffenheit. And it takes the same kind of dazzling risks. For his part, Young, who played the anguished central role in Betroffenheit, seems happy to be moving on to something new. “Betroffenheit was a massive journey and became something I never expected. I feel content with how far it’s reached and I’m ready to say goodbye to it,” he tells the Straight over the phone, while juggling performances in Electric Company Theatre’s recent The Full Light of Day. “So I don’t miss it. But I still get to be in the studio with these incredible artists.”
YOUNG BEGAN WORKING on and “dreaming about” Revisor while touring Betroffenheit. Young had long been fascinated with Nikolai Gogol’s 1836 play The Government Inspector. The tale centres on a poor civil servant whom a small town mistakes for a high-ranking official. He milks the false identity for all it’s
worth, accepting bribes and getting drunk off power before fleeing. The play’s name in Russian is Revizor, the job title of a clerk who revises legal texts. Young looked at how this satire of greed and political corruption had been revised over time. And then he and Pite went on to thoroughly deconstruct and revise it into something absurd and, sometimes, abstract. “I’m interested in how these forms get passed down and mutate, why they’re recovered and reused and updated—this continual revision and how we maintain order,” Young says. The finished piece features eight dancers from Pite’s Kidd Pivot company moving to Young’s adapted script, which has been recorded by Canadian actors. That dialogue sometimes gets remixed and distorted. As in Betroffenheit, in which words circle and confine a man in a metaphorical prison of posttraumatic grief, the spoken text creates a kind of score. “Language releases us and oppresses us and allows us to participate in the world,” Young explains. “Words create this tangled network between us. Language is a network of meaning and emotion and pain and humour. And working with Crystal, we see that language in the body. It’s less concrete than what I’m doing but it has more possibility.” Young calls his adaptation of the original, five-act script a “process of extreme reduction”. “My struggle for a long time was how to take this dusty old tale that’s rich with digressions and elaborate language and old-fashioned references, and strip it down to its skeleton and make it contemporary,” he says. “And then there was just opening these portals
where the play stops, and we create opportun- be careful that I bring the audience along—that ities for the more figurative abstractions,” he they don’t get split into seeing and hearing,” she adds, referring to Pite’s dance-based sequences. explains. “If the movement is too different from what’s being said, I think they stop listening.” The biggest difference in the dynamic, comFOR PITE, the attraction of The Government Inspector came in trying to adapt farce to dance. pared to Betroffenheit, she says has been the The choreographer says she wasn’t familiar laughter. “It’s looking at some pretty dark things with the Gogol play until Young told her about it. in the human condition, but the delivery system “It’s about corruption and deception and at best is funny,” Pite observes. “Farce is funny.” With all the coming and going of that theatit’s hilarious, but it’s also sort of wonderfully unfashionable,” says Pite, speaking over the rical form, plus the transitions between more phone on a break from the creation process structured plot elements and abstract dance, it’s that has stretched between the Banff Centre very handy that she shares an East Vancouver and space at Arts Umbrella. “There’s a vintage home with Revisor set designer Jay Gower Taylor—who is her partner and fellow parent to their quality that seemed appealing.” Pite, a former Ballet B.C. and Ballet Frank- young son Niko. Pite admits she’s been spending furt dancer, is one of the planet’s most in- long hours playing with all the moving parts of demand choreographers. She has productions Gower Taylor’s maquette, which sits in her house. “I love the tactile feeling of picking somecoming up this year at both Nederlands Dans Theater and the Paris Opera Ballet. Litera- thing up and shifting something,” she says ture has sparked many of the works she does of the model of the set, with its miniaturized for her own company, Kidd Pivot; one of the door, chandelier, desk, chairs, and phones. “It’s questions like ‘How do we get this part best-known is her acclaimed Tempest Replica, off and on? Does it have wheels?’” she says. inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The possibilities, the artists are finding, are But with Electric Company Theatre’s Young, she loves diving even deeper, pushing the ways endless. Pite and Young are creating a complex new vocabulary for their respective art forms, that dance and theatre can intersect. “With Revisor, it’s been fascinating for the sparking ideas in each other and finding fresh terdancers to explore story and character and then ritory between theatre and dance. And Betroffento see what happens with that when we enter heit and Revisor seem to be only the beginning. “I find it very inspiring and I feel that I’m able more abstracted territory,” says Pite, who created the script-based The Statement at NDT with to make work that I was never able to before,” Young in 2016. “I think I’ve gained the confi- Young says without hesitation. “And it seems dence to take it even further, given the success bottomless where the conversation can go.” g of the last two pieces—to work with more text DanceHouse presents Kidd Pivot’s Revisor at the and plot and character.” She thinks of the language as music. “I have to Vancouver Playhouse from February 20 to 23.
Chill Out guide: winter fests are warming up
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by Janet Smith
bunch of winter festivals are gearing up to help you ward off the chill—not to mention the lure of your couch and Netflix on a cold night. This year’s offerings are particularly diverse, boasting everything from Tex-Mex multimedia operas to Japanese butoh spectacles and everything in between.
out in the sounds, with two singers and six musicians on keyboards, drums, violin, cello, electric guitar. bass, and—best of all—tuba. And don’t miss L’Homme de Hus (February 1 and 2 at the Vancouver Playhouse), French performer Camille Boitel’s amusing mix of acrobatics and clowning, as he struggles with a mountain of sawhorses.
It’s all for just five bucks admission. Highlights: Climb aboard for tours of the St. Roch, with a string quartet playing on the ship’s deck from 11:30 a.m. to noon.
PUSH INTERNATIONAL PERFORMING ARTS FESTIVAL (At venues around town to February 3)
WINTER WANDER (At Vanier Park on February 2)
Follow the oinking sounds as this arts extravaganza celebrates the Year of the Pig. At the outdoor headquarters by the VAG, look for 12 endlessly Instagrammable porcine superhero statues, Taiwanese “Luna robots”, plus other hands-on
The interdisciplinary celebration continues, with cutting-edge shows from as far away as Japan and Belgium. Highlights: Pancho Villa
Stroll between the Vancouver Maritime Museum, Museum of Vancouver, and H.R. MacMillan Space Centre as From a Safe Distance (January 31 never heard before, in this tale about they open their doors for a day full at the Vogue Theatre) blends multi- the legendary bandit; the shared his- of activities, fuelled by on-site food media and opera in ways you’ve tory of the U.S. and Mexico plays trucks and musical performances. Reggie Watts hits JFL NorthWest; Immigrant Lessons dance at Talking Stick Festival.
LUNARFEST (At the Vancouver Art Gallery Plaza on February 9 and 10, and other venues from January 29 to February 19)
see next page
JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 15
Chill Out TIP SHEET
HERE ARE FIVE more shows heating up the winter
arts calendar.
c FRENCH MODERNS: MONET TO MATISSE, 1850-1950 (February 16 to May 20 at the Vancouver Art Gallery) The Brooklyn Museum sends us 60 works from its collections and puts you in a Paris state of mind, taking you on a journey through impressionism, early modernism, surrealism, and more. Think of giants like Gustave Caillebotte, Marc Chagall, Paul Cézanne, and Auguste Rodin. c LA BOHÈME (February 14, 16, 19, 21, and 24 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre) Visionary Canadian directing and design duo André Barbe and Renaud Doucet, who made such a splash with Vancouver Opera’s 2017 Turandot, return with a giant, vintage-postcard rendition of the Giacomo Puccini classic. c BLOOD ON THE DANCE FLOOR (February 6 to 9 at SFU Woodward’s) Jacob Boehme, a descendant of the Narangga and Kaurna nations of southern Australia, uses dance, text, and imagery to create his memoir. Along the way, he tackles everything from his ancestors’ heritage to what it’s like to face living with HIV, to racism and homophobia. The
ILBIJERRI Theatre Company production is presented by DanceHouse, the Talking Stick Festival, and SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs. c MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (February 5 to 16 at the Cultch Historic Theatre) Classic chic Productions gives Shakespeare’s playful comedy an all-female cast. Director Rebecca Patterson knows what she’s doing: she hails from the Queen’s Company in New York City, a troupe dedicated to femal casts. c THE MATCHMAKER (January 24 to February 24 at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage) You don’t get to see classic farce—and farce done well—too often these days. But we think Thornton Wilder’s raucous story of mistaken identities and the vintage version of Plenty of Fish might just be the cure for whatever seasonal affective disorder is setting in by now. Plus, with Nicole Lipman in the title role as Dolly Gallagher Levi, you can’t go wrong. g
Dairakudakan returns to town, bringing Pseudo human Super human to the VIDF.
from previous page
arts programming. Highlights: Mando-pop fans will flock to An Accident of Love, a musical adaptation of the 1983 Taiwanese film Papa, Can You Hear Me Sing (February 9 at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts), while The New Butterfly Lovers, by choreographer Joshua Beamish, returns to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on February 3, reuniting China’s
Classic Chic Productions (Vancouver)
HISTORIC THEATRE
Much Ado About Nothing
most famous folktale with the Asianinflected concerto it inspired. JFL NORTHWEST (At venues around town from February 14 to 23)
Comedians converge in the city for the annual laugh fest, from big-name stars to underground sensations. Podcast, sketch, and more are on the roster, with headliners including Howie Mandel (February 14 at the Orpheum), Gabriel Iglesias (February 18 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre), Steve-O (February 17 at the Vogue), and Whitney Cummings (February 16 at the Vogue). Highlights: Late-night-TV fans will await the warped genius of Fred Armisen and his Comedy for Musicians but Everyone Is Welcome (February 16 at the Vogue), as well as the fully improvised show by Reggie Watts (February 23 at the Vogue), while serious comedy die-hards will be all about Dave Attell (February 14 at the Vogue). TALKING STICK FESTIVAL (At the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre and other venues from February 19 to March 2)
The traditional and the contemporary meet in this 18th annual celebration of Indigenous visual arts, theatre, dance, music, powwow, and film. The diverse mix includes a kickoff gala that blends a buffet, the Using Tradition Visual Arts Exhibition, and sample selections from upcoming performances at the fest; and a Métis fair on March 2 at the Roundhouse. Highlights: If you’ve never seen Corey Payette’s haunting residential-school musical Children of God (February 22 to March 10 at the York Theatre, presented with the Cultch), catch it during the fest; and check out February 23’s all-afternoon Celebration of Dance, whose diverse acts include Immigrant Lessons, a troupe that finds colourful physical ways to tackle issues from racial discrimination to gender identity. COASTAL DANCE FESTIVAL (At the Anvil Centre in New Westminster from February 20 to 24)
Dancers of Damelahamid continue the former Coastal First Nations Dance Festival in a new location, putting the spotlight on local and international Indigenous artistry and welcoming performances from B.C., Yukon, Quebec, Alaska, Washington state, and Australia. Highlights: From the other side of the globe, Wagana Aboriginal Dancers celebrate Australia’s Blue Mountains and Central New South Wales through contemporary and traditional Aboriginal styles.
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PHOTO BY EMILY COOPER
16 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019
Feb 05– Feb 16, 2019
VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL DANCE FESTIVAL (At the Vancouver Playhouse, the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre, and other venues from March 8 to 30)
Performers from Asia interweave with local bright lights like Lesley Telford, Noam Gagnon, Daina Ashbee, and Olivia Davies amid the eclectic offerings this year. Highlights: Japan’s wild, warped, and wonderful butoh company Dairakudakan returns with another spectacle to open the fest, this time featuring sculptor KUMA/ Shinohara Katsuyuki’s iron and glass stage installations; and Taiwan’s Tjimur Dance Theatre closes the series at the same venue with its mesmerizing Varhung— Heart to Heart. g
JANUARY 24 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 31 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 17
UBC OPERA 2018/19 SEASON
Morna Edmundson, Artistic Director Ø Stephen Smith, Pianist March 9, 2019 | 7:30 pm 6:45 pm | Pre-concert talk
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Shaughnessy Heights United Church, 1550 West 33rd Avenue, Vancouver, BC
ticketstonight.ca or call 1.877.840.0457
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CHOR LEONI
ILLUSTRATION BY ROAN SHANKARUK
THE MAGIC FLUTE (Die Zauberflöte)
Opera in Two Acts / Sung in German with English surtitles Librettiest Emanuel Schikaneder Jan 31, Feb 1, Feb 2, 2019 – 7:30 pm / Feb 3, 2019 – 2:00 pm CHAN CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS ERICK LICHTE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Conducted by Neil Varon / Directed by Nancy Hermiston Vancouver Opera Orchestra www.ubcopera.com
Box Office: 604.822.6725
Ticket online: ubcoperatickets.com
THE KING’S SINGERS
ROYAL BLOOD: MUSIC FOR HENRY VIII
CAPELLA An explosion of choral, jazz, and pop music with Jodi Proznick and her band.
March 1,2,3 | 8pm March 2 | 4pm VANCOUVER PLAYHOUSE
chorleoni.org | 1.877.840.0457 18 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019
AT THE CHAN CENTRE
FEB09
9
“The superlative vocal sextet.” The Times (London)
Tickets from $36 | earlymusic.bc.ca | 604.822.2697 This concert is generously supported by Janette McMillan & Douglas Graves, Birgit Westergaard & Norman Gladstone
ARTS
VSO fetes 100 with Day of Music
T
GLOBAL DANCE CONNECTIONS SERIES
by Alexander Varty
VSO’s Kelly Tweeddale wants Day of Music to give back to the community.
learn from a day like that, where you invite people beyond the orchestra to come and celebrate together, is that it removes barriers of size and opportunity,” she tells the Straight in a telephone interview from the VSO’s downtown offices. “You allow people to be on different stages that maybe they’d never been invited onto, and you allow the community to sample without any risk that they invested in the wrong thing. So we’ll have a lot of pollinators out there going from thing to thing and talking about it and getting a good sample of the rich musical offerings of Vancouver. “I don’t think we do that enough,” she adds. “And I do think it’s the responsibility of something like the orchestra, which is a big institution, to use its resources to make sure that we have a broad music community both as performers and as audiences.” Angela Elster, hired as vice-president for the VSO School of Music and community programs last year, agrees that a radical expansion of the orchestra’s outreach program is the key to its ongoing vitality
over the next century. “Under the community engagement umbrella, we have a Women’s Voices program, where we interview women guests—artists who come into the symphony, but also women educators, women composers, women conductors,” she explains in a separate telephone conversation. “It’s an underrepresented demographic in the field, and we really want to do what we can to advocate for more women being educated in music, and more women in the spotlight. “We also have a number of organizations who are part of our community-engagement development program,” she adds. “For instance, through the [Downtown Eastside] Women’s Shelter, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, and the YWCA, we are able to give several thousand tickets a year for those who do not have access to the symphony.” Through the School of Music, the VSO is even beginning to grow its own audiences from scratch, with its innovative Early Years musiceduction program. Enrollment is open to young listeners aged “four weeks to seven years,” Elster explains, “and we are in the process of expanding that to early-childhood centres in the Lower Mainland and beyond, helping early-childhood educators, who may not have a music background, begin to use music throughout their day.” “In technology, they call this ‘agile development’,” Tweeddale says of the VSO’s varied audience-engagement strategies. “Basically, it’s a series of small experiments until you figure out what works.” g The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s Day of Music takes place at various downtown venues on Saturday (January 26).
COMPANY 605 CANADA
LOOP, LULL
January 21-22, 28-29 | 7pm
LIU KUANHSIANG TAIWAN
KIDS
January 24-26 | 8pm
VICTORIA HUNT AUSTRALIA
COPPER PROMISES: HINEMIHI HAKA January 31-February 2 | 8pm
Photo credits top to bottom: David Cooper/Etang Chen/Heidrun Löhr
his Saturday (January 26), the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra turns 100 years old—and in a welcome reversal of birthday protocol, it’s giving us all a present. The VSO’s Day of Music, which takes over 10 downtown stages including the orchestra’s home base, the Orpheum, offers 100 separate performances and over 1,000 musicians, spread out over 12 hours of nonstop sound. And it’s all free. Among the artists present will be the VSO itself, in conjunction with the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra; global luminaries Silk Road Music, Itamar Erez, Hamin Honari, and Nicole Li (as part of the Piano and Erhu Project); representatives of Vancouver Opera; jazz-pianist composer John Stetch; and a variety of choral ensembles, including Elektra Women’s Choir, EnChor, and the Vancouver Youth Choir. It’s a diverse crew—and it signals more diversity in the VSO’s future. In fact, even as the orchestra celebrates its storied past, it’s enjoying a process of renewal, beginning with the appointment of a new musical director, Dutch conductor Otto Tausk, and concertmaster, English-born Nicholas Wright. Things are changing in the VSO’s management as well, with two relatively recent arrivals in executive positions spearheading a more aggressive—and creative—program of outreach and education. VSO president Kelly Tweeddale, who assumed her role in 2015, is largely responsible for Day of Music, which builds on similar celebrations she’s organized in Cleveland and Seattle. “I thought it was the perfect opportunity for us to give back to the community—and what you
Scotiabank Dance Centre
Tickets 604.684.2787 | ticketstonight.ca
Info thedancecentre.ca Presented with Kids presented with
ALSO ON VIEW THIS SEASON AFFINITIES: CANADIAN ARTISTS AND FRANCE February 16 - May 20, 2019 MOWRY BADEN March 2 - June 9, 2019 MOVING STILL: PERFORMATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY IN INDIA April 19 - September 2, 2019
French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850-1950 is organized by the Brooklyn Museum Major Sponsor:
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Cathy Zuo
Huaijun Chen and Family
Berthe Morisot, Madame Boursier and Her Daughter, c. 1873, oil on canvas, Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 29.30, Photo: Sarah DeSantis, Brooklyn Museum
JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 19
ARTS
Violinist Monica Germino searches for softer sounds by Alexander Varty
ILBIJERRI THEATRE COMPANY (AUSTRALIA) PRESENTS
BLOOD ON THE DANCE FLOOR BY JACOB BOEHME “RESOUNDS WITH THE PULSE OF LIFE.” THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD FEBRUARY21–24, 6–9 8PM NOVEMBER SFU GOLDCORP NOVEMBER 24, 2PM CENTRE FOR THE ARTS
November 22, 2018, 8pm: Presented in French | Présenté en français November 24, 2018, 2pm: Performed with ASL Interpretation
SFU GOLDCORP CENTRE FOR THE ARTS Warning: Adult concepts (sexual & drug references), coarse language, loud music. SE ASON PAR T NERS
SE ASON PAR T NERS
DORINE BL AISE, PHOTO
Monica Germino has hyperacusis, or extreme sensitivity to sound, but as the show MUTED proves, it’s opened up a new world of music. Photo by Sharon Mor Yosef
M
onica Germino was once, by her own admission, “probably the loudest violinist” in classical music, known for her huge tone, but also for playing fire-breathing electric violin. Now she’s likely the quietest musician in the field, and for good reason. Germino was recently diagnosed with hyperacusis, or extreme sensitivity to sound, and advised that if she continued to perform she ran the risk of irreparably damaging her ears. On the line from her Amsterdam home, the violinist reports that the first physician she consulted told her to stop playing entirely. “And all the rest said, ‘No, no… Keep playing, but just use a lot of ear protection,’ ” she says with an audible shudder. “And I just couldn’t do that; that wasn’t going to work.…The idea of wearing ear protectors was like sensory deprivation.” Then, as she says, “the composers saved me.” Having resigned herself to the idea of abandoning her performing career, Germino was in the process of bowing out of prior commitments when her frequent collaborator Michael Gordon, of the Bang on a Can composers’ collective, offered an alternative. “I said, ‘So this is what’s going on,’ and he didn’t really want to talk about our other project at all,” she recalls. “He said, ‘Okay, I’m going to write you a really soft piece. I don’t care if anyone can hear it; I’m going to write it, and I want to be the first.’ “I just said, ‘I don’t know, Michael.’ But my mind kept circling around that idea, and I went and started looking at mutes, and got lost in this fantastic world of crazy mute-makers who are working in all sorts of innovative ways to change the colour of the instrument but also cut the volume down.” Much to her surprise, she discovered that playing at extremely low volume opened up expressive possibilities and tonal options she’d
previously overlooked. Equally surprising was that Gordon’s Bang on a Can colleagues Julia Wolfe and David Lang wanted to contribute, and soon their mentor, the Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, was onboard too. The result is MUTED, a suite of lowvolume works that Germino will bring to Music on Main next week, playing on a variety of quiet instruments—muted violin, frame violin, and a new “whisperviolin” made especially for her—in an intimate space. She’ll also sing while she plays— and one of the texts that Andriessen has set for her might just offer a few clues to her character. It’s taken from American humorist Don Marquis’s Archy and Mehitabel stories, based on the friendship between a poetic cockroach and a cat. “I remember saying to Louis that I relate to Mehitabel, because she’s got such a desperate life,” Germino says, laughing. “She’s actually an alley cat, but the whole time she’s pretending she’s this reincarnation of Cleopatra, and she’s had all these past lives of glamorous characters.…And in the meantime she’s homeless, and she’s falling in love with all these horrible cats who betray her all the time. But I like the way she can put on this amazing act, like ‘Life is fabulous, Archy. I may be old and deaf and on three feet, but I’m a grand old dame.’ “I like that combination of desperation and faking and… perseverance,” she continues. “I hope I can be that—maybe not so much the faking part, but forging ahead no matter what. I really did not think I was going to forge ahead the way I am right now, but I’m just so curious about what’s going to happen next and where this is going to go.” g Monica Germino and Music on Main present MUTED at the Annex from Monday to Wednesday (January 28 to 30) as part of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.
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“Extraordinarily original and funny” —The New York Times
playing at stanley industrial alliance stage
By Thornton Wilder
Jan 24–Feb 24 nicola lipman and ric reid; photo by david cooper
20 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019
granville island stage
goldcorp stage at the bmo theatre centre
Feb 20–Mar 10, 2019
YORK THEATRE ACTOR: MICHELLE BARDACH | PHOTO BY MATT BARNES
Urban Ink (VAN), Co-produced with the Segal Centre (MTL) Presented with the Talking Stick Festival
TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THECULTCH.COM | 604-251-1363 | 1895 VENABLES ST. PRODUCTION SPONSOR:
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JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 21
“The most perfectly accomplished pianist of his generation" — The Independent
One million tickets sold in over 50 countries !
TUE, MARCH 19 2019 8 PM CHAN CENTER AT UBC VANCOUVER Tickets : 604 822 2697 / www.chancentre.com www.piaf-theshow.com
22 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019
Tickets start at
$25 BEHZOD ABDURAIMOV PIANO SUN FEB 10 at 3pm
CHAN CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS This 28 year-old Uzbek dynamo has transitioned from prodigy to celebrated career musician, earning comparisons with towering figures such as Horowitz, Cliburn, and Ashkenazy along the way. A not-to-be-missed performance!
WAGNER/LISZT | PROKOFIEV | LISZT TICKETS: 604 602 0363 I VANRECITAL.COM SEASON SPONSOR:
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ARTS
Smash Comedy Fest aims for total inclusion
T
by Guy MacPherson
he old days of male-dominated comedy shows are… Well, they’re still here. Slowly but surely, though, things are getting better. The inaugural Smash Comedy Fest is one small step toward total inclusion. A modest three-night affair, the festival features standup, sketch, improv, and workshops showcasing some of the top comedic “women/trans*/femme” or “(WT*F)” performers in the city. “We’re still learning and trying to be inclusive of everybody,” explains Stacey McLachlan, festival codirector and one of the 10 improvisers in the Nasty Women troupe. “We know there are performers out there who aren’t just necessarily identifying as cis women, or queer women, either. So after a lot of discussion we came up with what we thought was maybe the best terminology. It’s not perfect. I don’t think as a community or society we’ve decided what the right way to talk about gender and the everevolving fluidity of that as yet.” They decided to add an asterisk to trans to signify it’s so much more than that. “There’s transgender, transsexual, transvestite, gender-queer, gender-fluid, nonbinary, genderless, agender, nongender, third-gender, two-spirit, bigender, trans men, and trans women,” adds Racquel Belmonte, also a festival organizer and improviser with Nasty Women. “This has been a learning experience for us.” Those same Nasty Women open the weekend with a show at the Biltmore along with the standup of Julie Kim, followed by a dance party. Subsequent nights at Little Mountain Gallery will see a sketch and improv sampler, a sleepover-themed show (featuring improv inspired by games like Truth or Dare), and even comedy karaoke, with various workshops held during the day at LMG. Belmonte got the comedy bug in high school, but it’s only in the past five-and-a-half years that she’s gone all in. Even in that short time,
The improvisers of Nasty Women open up the weekend. Photo by Nolan Sage.
she’s noticed an improvement. “Nothing is perfect,” she says. “I know before it was much worse, but I do think over the past five years I’ve seen more of an effort from the people within the comedy community to make it more of an inclusive space.” “I think something special about our festival is that it is all local performers, and we’re able to sell three days’ worth of content, eight shows, with all amazing, Vancouver-specific comedians,” says McLachlan. “We have a wonderful pool of talent here. With so many shows, there are one or two women in the lineup. I think it’s cool to be able to show that you can actually fill a whole show with amazing talented women; it’s not just a token gesture.” She describes her experience working with women as a “joy”, not taking anything away from her time on-stage with guys the rest of the year. “I’ve been very fortunate in my comedy career to never feel like men were getting me down or that guys were particularly awful, but it’s just a different experience sharing the stage with all women,” she says. “There’s a real confidence and playfulness and comfort.” g
Tickets from $25—Students get $15 tickets with TD All Access Pass
.ca
604-876-3434
COMING UP AT THE VANCOUVER SYMPHONY FEB 1/2
TOVEY CONDUCTS BRUCKNER & DEBUSSY
FEB 7/9
THE MOLDAU & GRIEG’S PIANO CONCERTO
MASTERWORKS GOLD Maestro Bramwell Tovey conducts Bruckner’s towering Symphony No. 6, Debussy’s Danses sacrée et profane, plus the “exquisite, luminous” Couloir duo: former VSO Principal Cello Ariel Barnes, and harpist Heidi Krutzen.
SURREY NIGHTS | MUSICALLY SPEAKING Andrew Von Oeyen tackles Grieg’s much-loved Piano Concerto, in a concert that also features guest conductor Brett Mitchell and two of the best-loved Czech pieces: Smetana’s The Moldau and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8.
FEB 8 CZECH BEAUTY: THE MOLDAU
INSIDE THE SYMPHONY The second concert in the VSO’s fun new afterwork series, featuring guest conductor Brett Mitchell and two of the best-loved Czech pieces: Smetana’s The Moldau and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8. Join us for Happy Hour and a post-show mix and mingle with the musicians. ANDREW VON OEYEN PIANO
FEB 13 STRINGS, SONATAS & SEXTET 14/17 VSO CHAMBER PLAYERS
The Chamber Players shine a spotlight on strings with Gorecki’s highly virtuosic, Bartók-inspired Sonata for Two Violins, Ravel’s strikingly spare Sonata for Violin and Cello, and Dvořák’s energetic Sextet for Strings, written during the composer’s Slavic period.
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The Smash Comedy Fest runs Thursday through Saturday (January 24 to 26) at the Biltmore Cabaret and Little Mountain Gallery.
Audiences keep eating up Jeremy Hotz’s angst
J
by Guy MacPherson
eremy Hotz is a Canadian comedy institution. Or he belongs in one. Or both! Audiences eat up his angstridden persona, who’s always complaining about something. Thirty-plus years into his career and he still kinda sorta enjoys it… with a caveat. “Yeah, I like it,” he says by phone from his home in West Hollywood. “I mean, I don’t like anything, you know that. It’s not so much of an act. Like, I’m a really miserable fuck. So I don’t like a lot of stuff. My best day is when I don’t have to do anything and I wake up and I just get to fucking stand there. That’s the greatest thing that can happen. So whenever I have anything to do, it annoys me on some level.” While other comedians’ stars rise and fall quickly, Hotz’s has been a steady incline for decades. At 55, he’s able to fill theatres across the land. He has a theory as to why that is. “For some reason, when I get upset about something, people find that extremely amusing. And I think I understand it now,” he says. “When I was a kid and my dad got really upset, I thought it was hilarious. I think that’s what it is.” Years of experience have him on top of his game. He’s one of the most in-the-moment comedians working today. His crowd work isn’t of the perfunctory “What do you do? Where are you from?” variety. Nor does it feel like filler for a half-baked act. He’s got his material, but he’s ready, willing, and able to deviate from it when the moment arises. “Most guys have the whole thing in a row and they work it in the same
order and ‘There’s my show, thank you very much, good night.’ It’s essentially a script,” he says. “I go off-book all the time and I’m hearing a lot of it for the first time too. Jesus, I’m not going to follow any rules! Christ! That’s why I do this in the first place.” The tour he’s bringing to town, Dangerously Handsome (a prerelease DVD will be available at the show), is his comment on all the good-looking standups on the scene today. It’s distracting to the audience, he finds. “They don’t even listen to the jokes,” he says. “That’s what standup’s turning into. For an old guy that’s been in it for a really long time, it’s really sad, honestly.” Or maybe he’s just paranoid. That’s completely possible too. “You realize in the olden days, with my anxiety and all this stuff, I would probably have spent my life in a mental institution, right?” he says. “They wouldn’t have known what was wrong with me. You should have seen what my teachers said about me in fucking school, for Christ’s sake. They thought I was mentally challenged.” Which raises the question: after all these years, is his mental health improving? “Oh, it is what it is,” he says. “That’s a good question. You’re just used to it. It’s up and down; there’s no judging it. I would say it works on an even, unpleasant keel for me, waiting around the corner to jump out and grab me when I’m not paying attention. That kinda shit.” g
Program 2 Feb 28 Mar 1 2 Choreography Jorma Elo 1st Flash Adi Salant New Work Crystal Pite Solo Echo
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Jeremy Hotz’s Dangerously Handsome tour plays the Vogue Theatre on Friday (January 25).
JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 23
ARTS
Shows serve up seething silence and weird beauty by Robin Laurence
Anne Low’s Chair for a woman shows how an intervention can intrude on fine craftsmanship, raising questions about the effect of disruption on perceptions.
VISUAL ARTS
MEMORIES OF WAR PEOPLE OF NO CONSEQUENCE At the Contemporary Art Gallery until March 24
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24 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019
d BORN IN GROZNY, Chechnya, in 1991, artist Aslan Gaisumov was three years old at the start of the First Chechen War, and eight at the start of the Second. He spent most of his growing-up years in refugee camps, and when he returned to Grozny, where he is still based, it had been largely destroyed. It seems clear that these early experiences, along with the stories told by his elders of other wars and other displacements, bind his art to themes of conflict, exile, absence, and the brutal exercise of power. Gaisumov’s solo show at the Contemporary Art Gallery is composed of two quite different works. At first, both seem quiet and understated; on closer viewing, however, they seethe beneath their silences, commanding the viewer’s act of witness. Memories of War consists simply of a small page from a found book, its text entirely redacted by thick black ink with the exception of a single word. By contrast, People of No Consequence is a singlechannel video. Projected in a darkened gallery, it opens with a précis of the history that underlies it. In February 1944, the Russians, under Stalin, deported entire populations of Chechen and Ingush peoples from their North Caucasus homes, to forced labour camps in Central Asia. During their exile, which ended in 1957, more than half the Chechen population perished. In 2016, Gaisumov arranged for 119 aged returnees—survivors of the mass expulsion—to come together in Grozny, and filmed them as they assembled in a municipal hall set with rows and rows of empty chairs. In the video no one speaks, and the only sounds are the shuffling and subdued hubbub as the aged people, many of them stooped and leaning on canes, enter the room and take their seats. Men come in first, wearing plain tunics and astrakhan
hats; women follow, dressed in long skirts, patterned blouses, and kerchiefs. When they are all seated, the video ends—again, without a word. It’s an immensely powerful work, in which the ghosts of the dead and lost seem to take their place among the silent survivors, upon whose elderly bodies are written the terrible truths of history. If those truths can ever be known. Also on view at the CAG is Anne Low’s intriguing show Chair for a woman. Based in Montreal, Low established her reputation in Vancouver as a textile artist committed to learning historic weaving techniques and investigating the knowledge “embedded” within them. Here, her interest has shifted to furniture and related decorative arts, her references ranging from ancient Egypt to Edwardian England. The show includes a little writing desk, a low wooden chair, a decorative fire screen, a stool, and a set of upholstered bed steps, all mounted on a specially constructed plinth. As well, there’s a large wall piece, Bedchamber of a paper stainer (wall). In many of these works, the fine craftsmanship is undermined by formal interventions (shifts in scale in Chair for a woman; cutaways in the wall and door of Bedchamber) or the insertion of odd, anachronistic, or, as curator Kimberly Phillips describes them in her brochure essay, “uncanny” elements (two pencils hovering a centimetre above the top of the writing desk, Ancestress). Invested in these objects are histories of gender and class, as well as endangered or obsolete forms of artisanship. Low also makes a few somewhat arcane cultural references (to filmmaker Ingmar Bergman and novelist Edith Wharton, for instance). Taken together with their mode of display, the artist also asks us to consider how museum practices of exhibitry and curation influence our reading of these objects. And while many of her references may sail right past us, the weird beauty of the work continues to compel our interest. g
FESTIVAL IS ON NOW!
PRINCE HAMLET Radically updated! Wildly inclusive!
JAN 23-27 | FR EDER IC WOOD TH EATR E
PANCHO VILLA FROM A SAFE DISTANCE Part Rock. Part Opera. All Mexican Revolution!
JAN 31 | V OGUE TH EATR E
L’HOMME DE HUS
Acrobatic Slapstick! Whimsical Fun!
JAN 31, FEB 1 | VANCOUVER PLAYHOUSE
JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 25
The endlessly inventive artists of Manual Cinema tell the life story of beloved Chicago poet Gwendolyn Brooks, the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize.
ARTS
Dance loops in on itself in new Company 605 work by Janet Smith
DANCE LOOP, LULL
A Company 605 production, presented by the Dance Centre and the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. At the Scotiabank Dance Centre on Monday, January 21. Continues until January 29
DAIRAKUDAKAN MARCH 8 & 9 @ 8PM VANCOUVER PLAYHOUSE
d ON ONE LEVEL, Company 605’s new Loop, Lull is like an elaborate game of tag, where a touch or a word sets off ever more complex, circling patterns of movement. On another, it’s a chance for the audience to both watch the show and witness its creation at the same time. The Vancouver troupe heightens the effect by seating viewers in the round, in a loop of chairs around the edges of the white Faris Family Studio floor. On one side of the stage is a sound board where the five performers can activate different looping tracks; on the other is a controller where they can trigger the lights. And at either end is a bench where they can rest, sip water, and take respite from the pummelling exercise. What happens at centre stage falls somewhere between a dance conversation and an ever-evolving system. Dancers gently call out cues— “Time!” “Travelling!”—that shift the patterns of lunging, holding, wrapping, and turning each other around. At the same time, the performers comment on the actions. (“I don’t want to push you too hard,” dancer Bynh Ho tells his partner each time he circles in to shove her shoulders, propelling her body backward.) Choreographers Josh Martin and Lisa Gelley have orchestrated a challenging game. The repetitions build on and unravel what’s come before. As the dancers accept new layers of difficulty it becomes impossible to carry out the
In Loop, Lull, dancers build on complex repetition patterns. Photo by David Cooper.
looping tasks, so that they sometimes miss their cues and exert themselves beyond exhaustion. Sitting close to them, we can see them sweat, watch them try to learn and adapt, and notice them smile when they bump into someone or struggle to add yet another revision to the pattern. The effect is often hypnotic. At some moments it feels, not surprisingly, like an extended studio exercise. At its best, its energy builds into a dizzying, dazzling swirl of bodies, lights, and sound. Loop, Lull is a rare behind-thescenes look into the quick learning and camaraderie that exist in dance, but it also carries metaphors about our larger community and how we adapt to one another. Amid all this, the strong ensemble of dancers—Ho, Laura Avery, Francesca Frewer, Jessica Wilkie, and Sophia Wolfe—is committed and resilient in the face of the difficult tasks. This is not dance that hides behind polished façades, it lays the process and its people bare. g
Mrs. Krishnan’s Party serves up food and fun by Kathleen Oliver
21 SURREAL SENSATIONAL DANCERS INFO & BOX OFFICE: 604.662.4966 VIDF.CA
Dairakudakan photo by Hiroyuki Kawashima
26 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019
THEATRE
MRS. KRISHNAN’S PARTY
By Justin Lewis and Jacob Rajan. Directed by Justin Lewis. An Indian Ink Theatre Company production, presented by the Cultch. At the VanCity Culture Lab on Thursday, January 17. Continues until February 3
d THIS IS A PARTY you won’t want to miss. The title is misleading: it’s not Mrs. Krishnan’s party—at least, not at first. It’s her boarder, James, a student from New Zealand connected to Mrs. Krishnan through distant relatives and friends, who wants to celebrate the festival of Onam, which, in his words, is “like Christmas, Easter, and Diwali all in one”. He’s dressed up in harem pants, a spangly vest, and a golden hat, like the legendary King Mahabali, whose sacrifice Onam honours in the Hindu celebration, and he’s keen to practise his DJaying skills. We’re all his guests, and we’re instructed to surprise Mrs. Krishnan when she comes in. She’s surprised, all right, and flustered—she’s planning to sell the shop and a buyer is coming tomorrow—but she reluctantly agrees to let us stay, with a grudging “They break, they buy.” Her gruff persona gradually yields to her natural hospitality, as she fills in the story of her family, flirts on the phone with a church friend, and prepares a feast for her guests. A simple plot synopsis of Justin Lewis (who also directs) and Jacob Rajan’s script can’t adequately convey
the enormous pleasures of being in the room with Mrs. Krishnan and James. Much of the show’s success comes from the unvarnished charms of its performers, Kalyani Nagarajan as Mrs. Krishnan and Justin Rogers as James, whose openhearted, spontaneous engagement with the audience is the soul of the piece. On opening night, Nagarajan asked the only kid in the audience about his favourite Indian food, and the look of contained offence on her vegetarian character’s face when he announced that it was butter chicken was priceless. There was also an extended improvised comic scene when another audience volunteer, assisting in the preparation of the dahl, couldn’t manage to work the can opener. Nagarajan seamlessly inhabits her character’s contradictions; her story is both funny and poignant, and she even has a chance to show off her Indian classical dance skills. Rogers is just as charismatic: for all his character’s mistakes—and James makes some whoppers—he’s essentially playing the straight man in this comedic duo. He’s also an amiable rabble-rouser, working the crowd from the show’s opening moments to its conclusion. John Verryt’s set transforms the Vancity Culture Lab into the back room of a corner store, with overlapping patches of patterned wallpaper and crates of stock—but it’s been decorated for the party, festooned with red flower garlands. It’s fabulous. And the dahl they make on-stage? You can have some after the show. It’s delicious. Get yourself a ticket. g
ONGOING PUSH INTERNATIONAL PERFORMING ARTS FESTIVAL Startling theatre, innovative dance, and genre-defying music. To Feb 3, Various Vancouver Venues. MRS. KRISHNAN’S PARTY Mrs. Krishnan’s boarder invites a few friends into the back room of the corner shop as a special surprise to celebrate Onam. To Feb 3, 8 pm, Vancity Culture Lab. Tix $24-$59. CIRCLE GAME: REIMAGINING THE MUSIC OF JONI MITCHELL The music of Joni Mitchell is featured in a play by Andrew Cohen and Anna Kuman. To Feb 9, Firehall Arts Centre. Tix from $25. DOUGLAS COUPLAND’S VORTEX Douglas Coupland’s radical art installation takes an
imaginative journey to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, immersing viewers in the ocean-plastic pollution crisis. To April 30, 2019, Vancouver Aquarium. $22/39. LION IN THE STREETS Canadian playwright Judith Thompson’s seminal play. To Feb 2, 7:30 pm. $24.50. THE FIGHTING DAYS Sidekick Players presents Wendy Lill’s play about the polarities of public and private lives. To Feb 2, 8 pm; Jan 27, 2 pm, Tsawwassen Arts Centre. $18/$15. THE (NOT SO) LITTLE MERMAID Community theatre production of a British panto. To Feb 2, 7:30 pm, St Martin’s Hall. $14-$21. A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY Ensemble Theatre Company’s epic fantasy about the power of a single voice. To Feb 9, 8 pm, Pacific Theatre. $20-36.50.
MURDER ON RESERVE Police procedure sets a trap with comedic results. To Feb 9, 7:55 pm, Metro Theatre. $25/$22. COMPANY 605: LOOP, LULL New collaboration explores concepts of looping and transformation. To Jan 29, 7 pm, Scotiabank Dance Centre. Tix $37/$29. POWER BALLAD An angry, feminist, live-art investigation of language and its sometimes hidden ideologies. Jan 22-26, 8 pm, Historic Theatre. Tix $24-$51. THROWDOWN—INTERNATIONAL THEATRESPORTS FESTIVAL 2019 Vancouver TheatreSports’ annual improv celebration. To Jan 27, The Improv Centre. From $10.75. MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY AT UBC aIN A DIFFERENT LIGHT: REFLECTING ON NORTHWEST COAST ART to spring 2019 aMARKING THE INFINITE: CONTEMPORARY
ARTS LISTINGS WOMEN ARTISTS FROM ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIA to Mar 31 aSHAKEUP: PRESERVING WHAT WE VALUE to Sep 1 MUSEUM OF VANCOUVER aWILD THINGS: THE POWER OF NATURE IN OUR LIVES to Sep 30 aHAIDA NOW: A VISUAL FEAST OF INNOVATION AND TRADITION to Dec 1, 2019 aIN/FLUX: ART OF KOREAN DIASPORA to Jan 27 VANCOUVER ART GALLERY aA CURATOR'S VIEW: IAN THOM SELECTS to Mar 17 aDANA CLAXTON: FRINGING THE CUBE to Feb 3 aTHE METAMORPHOSIS to Mar 7 CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY aKAMEELAH JANAN RASHEED to Mar 17, 12-6 pm VANCOUVER ART GALLERY’S OFFSITE aPOLIT-SHEER-FORM OFFICE to Mar 31 TECK GALLERY aEYE EYE to Apr 27
PENDULUM GALLERY aKLUSTERFLUX: STEFANY HEMMING & CAROLE SINCLAIR to Feb 1 MORRIS AND HELEN BELKIN ART GALLERY aHEXSA'AM: TO BE HERE ALWAYS to Apr 7 DR. SUN YAT-SEN CLASSICAL CHINESE GARDEN aSUK-FONG, HOW ARE YOU? to Feb 24 SEYMOUR ART GALLERY aCANDY BAR, ELECTRIC LIGHTS: THE SCROLL STORIES OF SEAN KAREMAKER to Feb 23, 10 am–5 pm SFU GALLERY aANN BEAM AND CARL BEAM: SPACES FOR READING to Apr 18, 12-5 pm POLYGON GALLERY a10,000 SHIPS to Mar 17 aKEVIN SCHMIDT: RECKLESS to Mar 10, 4-11 pm
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18/19
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Chambar
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Based on the play by John Van Druten and Stories by Christopher Isherwood
31 Here, life is beautiful! FEB
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Book by Joe Masteroff | Music by John Kander | Lyrics by Fred Ebb
24
TICKETSTONIGHT.CA | 604.684.2787 | STUDIO58.CA TIC #Studio58Season53 | #Cabaret58 | @studio58theatre | 100 W 49th Ave, Vancouver BC #Stu Image by Emily Cooper | Poster by Markian Tarasiuk
JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 27
from previous page
FEDERATION OF CANADIAN ARTISTS GALLERY aWORKS ON PAPER Jan 22–Feb 3 THE BOMB SHELTER STANDUP COMEDY OPEN MIC Standup comedy open mike Jan 24, 31; Feb 7, 14, 21, 28, 7-10 pm, Goldies Pizza. Free. TINDER TALES Comedy storytelling about online dating Jan 25, 7:30-9:30 pm; Jan 25, 1011:55 pm; Feb 22, 7:30-9:30 pm; Feb 22, 10-11:55 pm, Goldies Pizza. $10-12 adv/15 door. TOP TALENT SHOWCASE Vancouver comics develop their craft. Jan 22, 29; Feb 5, 8 pm, Yuk Yuk's Comedy Club. $10. FATALE FRIDAYS—ALL LADYISH STANDUP COMEDY All-femme and nonbinary standup comedy. Feb 1, 8, 7-8:45 pm, Goldies Pizza. TIx $5/7/10.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 24 SMASH COMEDY FEST Comedy fest spotlighting Vancouver women/trans*/femme/+ performers. Jan 24-26, Little Mountain Gallery. $10-$50. THE MATCHMAKER The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Thornton Wilder's uproarious play of forbidden young love and mistaken identity. Jan 24–Feb 24, Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage. From $29. MUSIC MOVES Expressive rhythms for Baroque violin and harpsichord. Jan 24, 1-2 pm, Laura C. Muir Performing Arts Theatre. Free. A BOOK LAUNCH AND READING Local authors Miriam Clavir and John Donlan present their new works. Jan 24, 6:30 pm, Massy Books. NASTY WOMEN COMEDY Kickoff of the Smash Comedy Festival features standup guest Julie Kim. Jan 24, 7:30-9:30 pm, Biltmore Cabaret. $10/$14. LIU KUAN-HSIANG: KIDS Tribute by Taiwanese choreographer-dancer to his late mother. Jan 24-26, 8 pm, Scotiabank Dance Centre. $37/$29. JOEL KIM BOOSTER L.A.-based comedian and writer performs three nights of standup. Jan 24, 8:30-10 pm; Jan 25, 8 and 10:30 pm; Jan 26, 8 and 10:30 pm, The Comedy MIX. $15/$18/$20. JOKES PLEASE! Standup comedy show hosted by Ross Dauk. Jan 24, 9-10:45 pm, Little Mountain Gallery. $7.
TICKETS SELLING FAST!
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.
Scan to confess The Prettiest Girl in the World A long time ago in a land far far away (from where I am now) I met the prettiest girl in the world. It took me by surprise because I had already known her for some time. But at some point something changed and I saw the real her for the first time. And I wasn’t in the position to ask her out or express how I felt so I kept those thoughts hidden away, until one day they leaked out anyway as contained feelings tend to do, and it turned out the prettiest girl in the world didn’t see me the same. And I didn’t live happily ever after. But I hope she did.
Following the new Canada food guide A couple geese, some maple syrup, salmon and I’m good!
I’ve Missed The Rain Sometimes I feel I could just spend hours in and out of the woods far away from the city just breathing in that cool, rainfresh air.
Leave me alone I have no interest in having children. I don’t want kids. It’s just not within my hearts desire. I don’t hate children. I’m just not interested in being a parent, that’s all. But what really bothers me is when people ask, and I say no because all they do is criticize me for it, as if I’m some horrible selfish person. Mind your own business and worry about your own lives.
You’re welcome, your majesty Someone holding the door open for you is a nice thing to do. Say ‘thank you,’ you asshat.
Visit
to post a Confession
28 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019
FRIDAY, JANUARY 25 JEREMY HOTZ Canadian comedian performs a night of standup. Jan 25, Vogue Theatre. $45-55. SMASH COMEDY FEST: IMPROV & SKETCH COMEDY WORKSHOPS Comedy workshops with Amy Shostak, Rae Lynn Carson, Jenny Rubé, and Racquel Belmonte. Jan 25-26, Little Mountain Gallery. $30-$40. DESIGNING DEATH Exhibition looking at design related to mortality. Jan 25–Apr 21, Libby Leshgold Gallery. Free. BOOBIES AND WIENERS SIX Immature and dirty nude-art show. Jan 25, 6 pm, The Arts Factory. Free. CARTOON CABARET Burlesque and cabaret performers pay tribute to animated personalities. Jan 25, 7 pm, Rio Theatre. $20/25. STORYTELLING FOR THE MODERN WORLD Featuring storytellers Kira Van Deusen, Carol Belanger, and Philomena Jordan. Jan 25, 7-9 pm, Canadian Centre for Peace. $7. MUSIC ON THE POINT Pianist Corey Hamm performs works by Prokofiev, Gao, and Dutilleux. Jan 25, 7:30-9:30 pm, Roy Barnett Recital Hall. $20/10. ARDEN MYRIN Comedian and actress performs two nights of standup. Jan 25, 8 and 10:30 pm; Jan 26, 7 and 9:30 pm, Yuk Yuk's Comedy Club. Tix $25. VANCOUVER CHAMBER CHOIR: LOVE & MERCY Featuring Erick Lichte, artistic director of Chor Leoni Men’s Choir. Jan 25, 8 pm, Shaughnessy Heights United Church. $29/$33.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26 LUNAR FESTIVAL Event includes Chinese Lion Dance and calligraphy and Korean drum performance. Jan 26, 11 am–2:30 pm, The City of Lougheed. Free. BROCK HOUSE/KERRISDALE CHOIR A variety of four-part music by 60 experienced voices. Jan 26, 3 pm, Marpole United Church. $10 (children free). LIVE FLAMENCO Live theatrical flamenco production. Jan 26, 3-4 pm, 5-6 pm, The Improv Centre. $12. LEFT OF PUSH Experiments-in-process and tour-ready performance by local artists. Jan 26, 4 pm; Jan 27, 7 pm, Left of Main. By donation. SFU ROBBIE BURNS DINNER & SILENT AUCTION Evening commemorating the life and works of Scotland’s iconic cultural voice. Jan 26, 6 pm, Executive Plaza Hotel & Conference Centre. $80. BURNABY PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY'S 23RD ANNUAL SHOWCASE Slide shows set to music. Jan 26, 7 pm, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. $20. THE COMIC STRIPPERS Male stripper parody and improv comedy show. Jan 26, 8 pm, York Theatre. $44.25. TABOO REVUE Screaming Chicken Theatrical Society's monthly burlesque show. Jan 26, 8-11:30 pm, WISE Hall. $20/$25. THE COMIC STRIP—STANDUP COMEDY Standup comedy by Myles Anderson, Sean McDonnell, and headliner Sam Tonning. Jan 26, 9 pm, Tyrant Studios. $18.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 27 HIGH SPIRITS CHOIR Program includes a dramatic setting of text from Dante's Inferno. Jan 27, 3:30 pm, West Point Grey United Church. $15/$20/$25.
THE SCRAWNY SHOW Monthly standup comedy show features headliner Aba Atlas from Montreal. Jan 27, 7 pm, ANZA Club. $10/7. PRO NOVA ENSEMBLE Quartets by Haydn, McLean, and Debussy. Jan 27, 30, 7:30 pm, Mt Seymour United Church. By donation. EAST VAN IMPROV LEAGUE Instant Theatre presents competitive improv comedy. Jan 27, 7:30-8:30 pm, Havana Theatre. $12.
Arts
HOT TICKET
MONDAY, JANUARY 28 MUTED WITH MONICA GERMINO Violinist performs MUTED, composed by Louis Andriessen, Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe. Jan 28-30, Orpheum Annex. $39/15.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 29 WINE AND PAINT NIGHT MIX AND MINGLE Learn the technique of fluid art. Jan 29, 5:307:30 pm, Pacific Arts Market. $50/$5 off with purchase. BOOK LAUNCH Public talk and launch of The Lac-Mégantic Rail Disaster. Jan 29, 7:30 pm, Lost + Found Cafe. Free. PRAZAK AND ZEMLINSKY QUARTETS Audience favourite the Prazak Quartet combines with fellow Bohemians the Zemlinsky Quartet in a program consisting of Dvorak's Sextet Opus 48, Schulhof Sextet (1924), and Mendelssohn's masterpiece The String Octet. Jan 29, 8 pm, Vancouver Playhouse. $55 early/$60 at door. THIS IS THE POINT A play about love, sex, and disability. Jan 29–Feb 2, 8 pm, Historic Theatre. $24-$51.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30 LIGHT AND PERSPECTIVE Contemporary music exploring light and perspective. Jan 30, 12-1 pm, Roy Barnett Recital Hall. $5. INDIGENOUS STORYTELLER IN RESIDENCE: LAUNCH EVENT Get to know Indigenous storyteller in residence Joseph A. Dandurand. Jan 30, 7 pm, Alice MacKay Room. UBC CONCERT WINDS—SCENES IV UBC Concert Winds performs works by George, Venter, Daugherty, Zdechlik, and Goldman. Jan 30, 7:30-9:30 pm, UBC Old Auditorium. Free.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 31 PANCHO VILLA FROM A SAFE DISTANCE Chamber opera inspired by the life of Mexican revolutionary Francisco “Pancho” Villa. Jan 31, Vogue Theatre. From $47.75. TRUE CRIME The Arts Club Theatre Company and Crow’s Theatre present a mindtwisting encounter created by Torquil Campbell and Chris Abraham, in collaboration with Julian Brown. Jan 31–Feb 24, Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre. From $29. COMPELLING REEDS Music for reed quintet by Corelli, Bizet, Fitkin, and Rivera. Jan 31, 1-2 pm, Laura C. Muir Performing Arts Theatre. Free. THE MAPMAKER'S SOUL: CAPTAIN VANCOUVER'S JOURNALS THROUGH AN INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVE Illustrated lecture by Coast Salish artist Wade Baker and Mary Tasi. Jan 31, 7-9 pm, Ferry Building Gallery. $15. THE MAGIC FLUTE (DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE) Mozart's best-loved opera for the whole family. Jan 31, 7:30 pm; Feb 1, 7:30 pm; Feb 2, 7:30 pm; Feb 3, 2 pm, Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. $15–$45. ROB ROSS Canadian comedian performs three nights of standup. Jan 31, 8 pm; Feb 1, 8 pm; Feb 2, 7 pm; Feb 2, 9:30 pm, Yuk Yuk's Comedy Club. $10/20. THE BLIND DATE Mimi goes on a blind date with a different man every night. Jan 31, 8 pm, The ACT Arts Centre. $49/$45/$29. STAND UP STONED Standup comedy in a marijuana lounge. Jan 31, 8-10 pm, Cannabis Culture Headquarters. $10. VICTORIA HUNT: COPPER PROMISES— HINEMIHI HAKA Australian dance artist. Jan 31–Feb 2, 8 pm, Scotiabank Dance Centre. $37/$29. CABARET Studio 58 presents a play set in 1929 Berlin at the notorious Kit Kat Club. Jan 31–Feb 24, 8-3 pm, Studio 58. From $12.50.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1
ZOLTÁN FEJÉRVÁRI (January 27 at the Vancouver Playhouse) Prepare to be wowed by another of Vancouver Recital Society’s young discoveries. Pianist Zoltán Fejérvári is one of an exciting new generation of Hungarian classical musicians, and he counts acclaimed Andreas Schiff as one of his mentors. On the VRS program here, the virtuoso displays his gifts in works by Béla Bartók, Leoš Janáček, and Robert Schumann, including what may be that last composer’s greatest piece for solo piano, the richly romantic Fantasie in C Major, Op. 17. THE MAGIC FLUTE (January 31 to February 3 at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts) Enchanted instruments, joyful love, and sublime music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s beloved singspiel has all the elements to break whatever midwinter spell has taken hold. UBC Opera’s rendition finds Neil Varon on the podium, Nancy Hermiston in the director’s chair, and members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra on hand to pull off the sparkling melodies. LOVE & MERCY (January 25 at Shaughnessy Heights United Church) The Vancouver Chamber Choir has been holding live auditions for a new conductor and is wrapping up the search with a concert by its final applicant, Erick Lichte, current artistic director of Chor Leoni Men’s Choir. And what a program he has: the globetrotting highlights include works by Latvia’s Ēriks Ešenvalds and Finland’s Einojuhani Rautavaara, along with what should be a transcendent performance of John Tavener’s Village Wedding. g MAKE A HEART OF GLASS Create a work of art out of molten glass. Feb 2, 10 am–6 pm, Terminal City Glass Co-op. $69. PAINT WITH A BRUSH FOR A FLOURISHING LUNAR NEW YEAR Artist Meng Xiaoping talks about six-thousand-year old Chinese brush painting. Feb 2, 2 pm, Vancouver Public Library. Free. FRAGILE FORMS MACHiNENOiSY Dance Company presents a 360-degree contemporary dance performance. Feb 2-7, 6-6:45 pm, 8:30-9:15 pm, Anvil Centre. $25/$15. PLEASANT COMEDY Standup comedy by Katie-Ellen Humphries, Ivan Decker, Randee Neumeyer, Kody Audette, and Emma Cooper. Feb 2, 8 pm, Our Town Café. $10. COMEDYPANTS: A STAND-UP SHOW Standup comedy hosted by Alistair Ogden. Feb 2, 8:30 pm, The Avant Garden. $10.
COMEDY SHOCKER IXI David Heti headlines comedy show hosted by Mark Hughes. Feb 1, 7 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. $25.
THE DANGER SHOW Stunt-based longform improv comedy. Feb 2, 10:30 pm, Little Mountain Gallery. $10/7.
THROUGH THE EYES OF ART Feb 1, 7-11 pm, Museum of Pop Culture . $15.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3
FANTASIES AND VARIATIONS Pianist Libby Yu performs works by Bach and Brahms. Feb 1, 7:30-9:45 pm, Bösendorfer Hall at the Loewen Piano House. $25-32. OPEN PERFORMANCE SHOWCASE A showcase of original pieces by young artists. Feb 1, 7:30-9:50 pm, Havana Theatre. Paywhat-you-can ($10 suggest). BRAIN & OTHER STORIES Brendan McLeod maps his experience with OCD. Feb 1, 8 pm, Surrey City Hall. $35/$25. ANNIE: THE MUSICAL Align Entertainment presents the escapades of orphan Annie. Feb 1-16, 8 pm, Michael J. Fox Theatre. From $29. THE DIRTY BETTY SHOW—SINGLE LADIES EDITION Comedians, improvisers, and drag queens. Feb 1, 8:30-10:30 pm, Café Deux Soleils. $10. BLIND TIGER COMEDY HOUSE TEAMS Long-form improv from house teams Szyslak, Reynolds, and Doctor Cousins. Feb 1, 8:30-11 pm, Little Mountain Gallery. $8.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2 GROUNDHOG DAY IN AFGHANISTAN Comedy fundraiser to help out a family of five in need. Feb 2, 7 am–9:30 pm, Inlet theatre. $22.
CAG ARTIST TALK Artist Diyan Achjadi speaks about her work aboard her wrapped bus as it tours through the city. Feb 3–Mar 3, 3-4 pm, Contemporary Art Gallery. Free. LUKÁŠ VONDRÁČEK PIANO RECITAL Feb 3, 3 pm, Vancouver Playhouse. $15-$50. THE NEW BUTTERFLY LOVERS New ballet featuring the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra and Coastal City Ballet. Feb 3, 7:30 pm, Queen Elizabeth Theatre. $20-$60. EAST VAN IMPROV LEAGUE Instant Theatre presents competitive improv comedy. Feb 3, 7:30-8:30 pm, Havana Theatre. $12. SOOSHI MANGO Australian comedy group performs its Ethnic Vacation to Canada show. Feb 3, 8 pm, York Theatre. Tix $50. MUSIC EVENTS are a public service provided free of charge, based on available space and editorial discretion. Submit events 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 film fest standouts, Rendez-vous tracks a revolution French from hobos to drug rackets by Adrian Mack
by Adrian Mack
N
ow in its 25th year, the Rendez-vous French Film Festival has long provided Vancouverites with the chance to catch some of the biggest and best movies coming out of Quebec. Here are three of this year’s most auspicious titles.
S
The statuesque Pauline Julien (left and below right) and Robert Charlebois were key figures in Quebec’s Quiet Revolution.
he was a statuesque beauty whose talent was matched only by her composure, so it’s shocking to see Pauline Julien’s mug shot. Appearing rattled but defiant, the Québécois singer and activist had been arrested, along with her partner, poet Gérald Godin, under the War Measures Act of 1970, two high-value targets in the federal government’s heavy-handed response to the October Crisis. Godin would become a Parti Québécois MP in 1976, while Julien, less well known in English-speaking Canada, assumed her role as one of the great artistic voices aligned with Quebec’s independence movement. As we learn in the fine NFB doc Pauline Julien: Intime et Politique— opening the 25th Rendez-vous French Film Festival next Friday (February 1)—Julien was a rising star in France, singing the songs of Quebec composers like Gilles Vigneault, significantly, before returning to Montreal in the early ’60s and taking a hard left into the radical politics of her home province. “She was beautiful, she was a great singer, and she could speak her mind,” Rendez-vous founder Régis Painchaud tells the Georgia Straight, explaining that Julien short-circuited her own career in some ways when she declined—unlike other Québécois artists—to merely translate American and British hits for the
French-speaking audience. “Once she started to be really involved in the sovereigntist movement, she wasn’t on Radio-Canada anymore but she was more with the people,” he says. “She had a lot of big, big hits, even if commercial radio wasn’t interested.” Painchaud reveals that his own entry into the arts, as a teenage impresario in his hometown of Saguenay, was inspired by the passionate chanteuse. “She was the goal,” he admits with a chuckle. “To have a cabaret where one day she would sing.” It never happened, but Painchaud became something of a player in his own right, opening a theatre in Montreal in 1972 where he hosted visits by William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, among other feats of countercultural daring. It was a lively decade for him and everyone else in Quebec. Pauline Julien concludes its second act with footage of the singer’s bittersweet performance to a disillusioned crowd at the climax of the failed 1980 referendum, before turning from the politique to the more intime part of her story (which is bittersweet in other ways: Julien took her own life in 1998, at the age of 70). In The Devil’s Share, screening at Rendez-vous later in the fest (date not yet confirmed), filmmaker Luc Bourdon loots some 200 NFB films to present a riveting and, frankly, unmissable portrait of La Belle Province
during the Quiet Revolution. Julien is there, naturally, along with figures as varied and indelible as Robert Charlebois, Nadia Comăneci, Guy Lafleur, Micheline Lanctôt, and René Simard. One of its most searing moments depicts a stricken René Lévesque reacting to the FLQ’s murder of Pierre Laporte. “I always tried to throw some light on ‘What is Quebec at this point in history?’ I tried to be accurate to that,” says Painchaud, who has elected, with The Devil’s Share, to give this year’s Rendez-vous attendees a massive dose of context. It feels right for the festival’s 25th anniversary, and there’s a wistful note to Painchaud’s voice as he recalls the stirring of political and cultural transformation in the early ’60s. “It was always a balance between conservative and progressive society,” he continues, pinpointing Lévesque’s tenure as minister of natural resources as a turning point. The Devil’s Share obliquely depicts the relationship between independence, secularization, and, in Painchaud’s words, “oppression through capitalism”. “But at the same time,” he concludes, chuckling again, “you look at the women in that film? It was done with style. The influence of New York and Paris was really, really present.” g The Rendez-vous French Film Festival runs from February 1 to 10.
LA GRANDE NOIRCEUR (THE GREAT DARKENED DAYS) The title calls out to the archconservative regime of Quebec premier Maurice Duplessis, but La Grande Noirceur strives to express something about the here and now—if not entirely successfully. Relieved of his cash by muggers in the film’s first few minutes, Charlie Chaplin impersonator Philippe (Martin Dubreuil) sets off hobo-style across an America that would look and sound like the 1940s if it weren’t for the R.E.M. song that blares from an old sedan at one point. Even worse than having to hear “Everybody Hurts” without being asked first, Philippe eventually ends up in the hands of a dangerously insane farm spinster (Sarah Gadon), and then a sadistic human trafficker (Roman Duris) who buries our luckless hero up to his neck in concrete. Opening with the climactic speech from The Great Dictator tells us that the Chaplin reference isn’t just another frivolous detail in a film straining too hard to present itself as a picaresque nightmare: with its pointed anachronisms and a background of war—Philippe is on the run from conscription—the film echoes Christian Petzold’s recent Transit along with any number of well-meaning cinematic attempts to ring the bell on our current political predicament. It’s a curious follow-up from filmmaker Maxime Giroux after 2014’s Felix & Meira, but Dubreuil keeps us invested, while cinematographer Sara Mishara’s chilly Nevada/California vistas are worth the price of admission. Auditorium Jules-Verne, February 2 (7:30 p.m.) CHIEN DE GARDE (FAMILY FIRST) Some serious problems aside, writer-director Sophie Dupuis’s debut feature is dazzling enough to have been fronted as Canada’s candidate for this year’s foreign Oscar. JP (JeanSimon Leduc) and Vincent (Théodore Pellerin) are brothers recruited into reptilian Uncle Danny’s small-time Verdun drug racket, although the
elder JP is losing his stomach for all that violence. Eighteen-year-old Vincent has no such qualms; like Johnny Boy from Mean Streets, he’s an exploding device in any situation and happy to become Danny’s favoured hit man. That’s Chien de Garde in a nutshell, with wrinkles provided by JP’s girlfriend and an alcoholic mom, Joe (Maude Guérin), who’s a little too scared to fully reject Vincent’s faintly incestuous White Heat overtures. This knotty business is handed exceptionally well by the film’s cast, maybe a little too well in the case of the astoundingly uninhibited Pellerin, a major up-and-coming talent whose fireworks almost consume the entire movie. On the other hand, maybe that’s for the best: it distracts from a scenario that smells more of screenwriter contrivance than reality. Auditorium Jules-Verne, February 3 (7 p.m.) UNE COLONIE Sullen kid Mylia must negotiate a new school in the rural outskirts of Montreal and a disintegrating family in this noteperfect coming-of-age drama from writer-director Geneviève Dulude-de Celles, making her feature debut. Une Colonie cleaned up when it played at the Whistler Film Festival last year, bringing in well-deserved Borsos awards for best Canadian feature and director, along with a nod for young Emilie Bierre in the lead role. She’s tremendously engaging as a 12-year-old who doesn’t always behave admirably, but that’s partly what distinguishes Une Colonie inside a done-to-death genre that stands or falls on its emotional honesty. The lives of adults remain mysterious to the girl, including the ones she shares a home with. An unhappy event that transpired at Mylia’s last school is similarly occluded by the film, as if by a sense of shame, all of which serves to put us square inside this sensitive preteen’s head. Mylia gradually develops a fitful bond with Jimmy (Jacob WhiteduckLavoie), a misfit Indigenous kid being raised down the street by his grandmother. Here’s where Une Colonie could tumble into liberal pandering. Instead, it triumphs by virtue of sheer poetic force. Fei and Milton Wong Theatre at SFU Woodward’s, February 5 (7:30 p.m.) g The Rendez-vous French Film Festival runs from February 1 to 10.
JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 29
MOVIES
Love warms brilliant Cold War REVIEWS COLD WAR
Starring Joanna Kulig. In Polish and French, with English subtitles. Rating unavailable
d Writer-director Pawel Pawlikowski’s last film, 2013’s Oscar winning Ida, was shot in Poland by the same DOP as Cold War, also in luminous black-andwhite with an old-fashioned squarish format and a terse running time. Set in the 1960s, that tale takes place within a couple of weeks, while this begins in a desolate snowscape of 1949. A small field unit travels by bus, collecting folksongs and dances from remote parts of the still war-torn country. They’re led by suavely handsome
Vancouver Foreign Film Society
Beyond the River
CRAIG FREIMOND, SOUTH AFRICA, 2017, 111 MIN.
THU 4:00PM Set in post-Apartheid South Africa, Beyond the River tells the true story of two men, separated by everything except their determination to win gold in one of the world’s toughest river races: the Dusi Canoe Marathon. One man yearns to escape the grinding poverty of township life, the other, a former champion canoe racer, struggles in the aftermath of tragedy. Only by pulling together they can triumph over adversity in this nail-biting and inspiring adventure.
Joanna Kulig’s manic force brings erotic tension to Cold War’s poetic vision.
pianist and conductor Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) and chain-smoking academic Irena (Agata Kulesza, the villain in Ida). They’re assembling a theatrical troupe, through a hasty audition process
during which Wiktor is taken with a young singer called Zula. She’s played by the overpowering Joanna Kulig, also of Ida and The Woman in the Fifth. Zula knows local folksongs along with more international fare, like a Russian movie tune that serves as a recurring theme here, in multiple languages. The team’s bus driver, called Kaczmarek (Borys Szyc), is actually a commissar with little interest in music but a mandate to start shaping the company (called Mazurka, after the national dance) in a manner that will please their new Soviet overlords. Irena finds the agitprop absurd, and says so, while Wiktor holds his tongue about this and much else. Kaczmarek also has his eye on radiant Zula, but you get the feeling she can protect herself; she’s on parole for having attacked her own father. “He mistook me for my mother,” she explains coolly when Wiktor asks. “And I showed him the difference with a knife.” The conductor’s taciturn nature and the singer’s manic intensity create an erotic push-pull that alternately drives them forward and forces them apart for just under 90 minutes, in the most ravishing tone poem since Wong Karwai’s In the Mood for Love. Pawlikowski is stingy with emotion, but enlivens things with sudden jump cuts to different times and locations, with a long section in 1950s Paris nightclubs and recording studios unfolding like an album of indelible jazz photos. To say more would spoil the reverie, but trust that Cold War, which views ideology as a rough canvas for romance, is one of the finest movies of the decade. by Ken Eisner
STAN & OLLIE
Starring Steve Coogan. Rated G
d The most remarkable thing about Stan & Ollie—a pleasant tonic for lovers of show-business lore—is watching two highly distinctive personalities meld with those of real-life figures who had their own lengthy heyday. In a fat suit and fairly convincing prosthetics, John C. Reilly plays Oliver Hardy, known as Babe to his muchpartying friends. He serves as the more punctilious of a duo that became famous after each appeared separately in hundreds of silent comedies. With little alteration to hide behind, Steve Coogan is Stan Laurel, the English-born writer-intellectual of the duo, but the hapless, infantile sap on-stage. The amber-hued film begins in 1937, during their long tenure with producer Hal Roach (Danny Huston), and utterly fabricates a contractual showdown with him, and with each other. It’s preposterous to think that Roach, also remembered for the Our Gang pictures, would go out of his way to break up his biggest cash cow over an on-set money dispute. Entirely shot in England, the movie accurately suggests they were by then overshadowed by the more verbal humour of Abbott and Costello, but neglects to show that Roach had already turned them into the Two Stooges, at the expense of their warmth and intrinsic humanity. On the eve of the Second World War, they looked downright primitive when compared to that all-new singing, dancing duo, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. Our thick-thin pals, therefore, took the road to oblivion, as depicted in director Jon S. Baird’s somewhat slow-footed telling. The determined miserablism here extends to a syrupy orchestral score that has the effect of having Stan and Ollie’s own sweet, Hawaiian-tinged numbers sound upbeat by contrast. Similarly, the tale depends on tiny Shirley Henderson and brassy Nina Arianda as the duo’s embattled mates, and Camping’s Rufus Jones as their sly tour impresario, for intermittent wake-up calls. But seriously, should a movie about Laurel and Hardy require comic relief? This one certainly does. by Ken Eisner
30 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019
ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINATION BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“THE WORK OF A MASTER IN FULL COMMAND OF HIS ART.
3
ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINATIONS BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM BEST DIRECTOR · BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
CINEVUE • EMPIRE • LONDON EVENING STANDARD • THE GUARDIAN • THE IRISH TIMES • THE SCOTSMAN • THE TIMES • TIME OUT
A work of such emotional delicacy, you’re barely prepared when it knocks you sideways.” JUSTIN CHANG
“A FILM THAT STEALS IN AND SNATCHES YOUR HEART.” ROBBIE COLLIN
“A MASTERPIECE.”
BE E ST FO O RE E I GN L ANGU UAGE FILM
W I N N E R N AT I O N A L B OA R D O F R E V I E W W I N N E R NEW YORK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE NOMIN NEE CRITICS’ CHOICE MOVIE AWARDS
WINNER
B EST T D IR R ECT TOR
FEST TIV VAL DE CA ANN NES
PA AWE EL PAWL PA LIKO OWSK KI
WINNER
BE EST CIN NEMA A. TOGR RAPH HY
CAMERIMAGE
L UK K A SZ ZA A L, PSS C
JOE MORGENSTERN
“SIMPLY ONE OF THE BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR, PERIOD.”
“Terrific, smoky-cool love story”
KAREN HAN
“An impeccably made star-crossed love story– haunting, atmospheric, passionate and tempestuous” “‘Cold War’... has enough heat to singe the screen. Oscar -winning filmmaker 3DZHÃ 3DZOLNRZVNL UHWXUQV with a love story that melds the personal, the political and the profound” ®
“A bona fide masterpiece”
FROM THE DIRECTOR OF AND
STILL WALKING, LIKE FATHER LIKE SON
NOBODY KNOWS
A F I L M B Y KO R E - E D A H I R O K A Z U MAGNOLIA PICTURES FUJI TELEVISION NETWORK GAGA CORPORATION AND AOI PRO. INC. PRESENT A KORE-EDA HIROKAZU FILM “SHOPLIFTERS” LILY FRANKY ANDO SAKURA MATSUOKA MAYU KIKI KILIN DIRECTOR OF MUSIC LIGHTING SOUND PRODUCTION PRODUCTION BY HOSONO HARUOMI (VICTOR ENTERTAINMENT) PHOTOGRAPHY KONDO RYUTO BY FUJII ISAMU BY TOMITA KAZUHIKO DESIGNER MITSUMATSU KEIKO BY AOI PRO. INC. CHIEF EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS ISHIHARA TAKASHI TOM YODA NAKAE YASUHITO PRODUCERS OSAWA MEGUMI ODAKE SATOMI WRITTEN, EDITED AND DIRECTED BY KORE-EDA HIROKAZU PRODUCERS MATSUZAKI KAORU YOSE AKIHIKO TAGUCHI HIJIRI © 2018 F U JI T E L E V ISION NE T W ORK / G A G A C ORP OR AT ION / A OI P RO. IN C . A L L RIGH T S RE S E R V E D.
EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT
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SEXUALLY SUGGESTIVE SCENES
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JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 31
music
Bob Sumner lights out on his own The Nashville-minded Vancouverite promptly strikes gold with Wasted Love Songs
B
by Mike Usinger
eautiful as the city he calls home is, Bob Sumner figures there are places that might understand him in a way Vancouver never totally will. This hit him big time during a recent, by all accounts blurry stint in Nashville, Tennessee. The White Rock–raised Sumner made the pilgrimage after attending a wedding—his sister’s—in Palm Springs. The side trip was partly for pleasure, and partly a reconnaissance mission. After years of making gold-standard country records as half of Vancouver’s Sumner Brothers with his older brother Brian, the singer-guitarist has struck out on his own with a magnificent solo debut, Wasted Love Songs. What’s most impressive about the fulllength is that it’s not another Sumner Brothers album—not that anyone would be complaining about that. “Brian has this thing where he likes to get pretty weird,” Sumner says, speaking from his East Van abode. “So our records can be pretty chaotic. I really love being pushed to do that. But I’m also such a junkie for melancholy ballads. I’m talking pretty extreme—98 percent of the time I’m listening to records with that kind of feel, stuff with typically a Townes Van Zandt kind of vibe.” Loaded with gorgeously downbeat vocals, dying-campfire guitar, and space-cowboy keyboard washes, Wasted Love Songs will be remembered as one of the great records of the year. From the plaintive, peyote-dusted “A Thousand Horses” to the ghostly “Ticket to Ride”, Sumner sets a mood and then sticks to it with an admirable determination. Forget Saturday punch-ups at the roadhouse, Wasted Love Songs is made for two hours past last call, when the only folks left are the bartender and nowhere-to-go regulars. Think Van Zandt hanging in the early hours with John Prine and post–Copperhead Road Steve Earle, which is another way of saying it’s not much like the work of someone from these parts. “I can’t be angry at Vancouver for not fully understanding where I’m coming from, ’cause it’s a pretty niche thing,” he says. “Like, Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark are my heroes—why would anyone from Vancouver know who they are or understand them?”
Bob Sumner left Nashville feeling that he locked onto something missing from modern country.
He left Nashville feeling that he locked onto something that’s missing from modern country—alternative or otherwise. “There’s shit music wherever you go,” he says. “I’d play a Guy Clark tune there in a bar, and some people wouldn’t know it. But the other side of the coin was that there were a lot of people who did get it. And that felt really good.” If you’ve ever drunk in a tavern, roadhouse, or grimy dive down south, you know everything is somehow different, starting with the incapacitating free pours. No one sits at a table when there’s a stool at the bar; jukeboxes always seem stocked by someone who knows Hank III is cooler than Hank II will ever be.
And that makes Sumner question what he’s still doing in Vancouver. Whether he was sitting in front of a beer or in front of a mike in Nashville, he couldn’t help but feel like he was home. “I can’t believe it took me 15 years to realize this,” he says, “but, man, everything I’m into is from another place.” Heavenly as it was, though, he could see things easily going to hell. “I don’t think I would want to relocate there,” he says with a laugh. “After spending two weeks there, I realized I would be dead in three months if I stayed too long, ’cause I love drinking and smoking. It’s just too easy there.”
It hasn’t, however, always been easy at home. Thanks to the Sumner Brothers, the singersongwriter is regarded as one of Vancouver’s most stellar underground-country artists. That the duo largely continues to fly under the radar in Vancouver speaks volumes about the way art is treated in a city almost singularly focused on money. Still, leaving isn’t an option for Sumner. “I’m sure you can understand this,” he says. “Brian and I have been working so hard for so long, and we’re kind of like, ‘We’re born here, and we live here, so this is our city.’” While Wasted Love Songs is a solo record, Sumner is quick to note that he had help, starting with bassist about town Erik Nielsen, who proved invaluable in the producer’s chair. Brian was also on hand to provide input and feedback. But—unlike the dynamic in the Sumner Brothers—there was no disputing who was in charge. In the end Sumner had final say, the process teaching him that sometimes you have to declare yourself the boss. “There were tears, for real,” he says with a laugh, while politely declining to reveal who was shedding them. “This was the first time I was actually spending money in a studio—normally, we [the Sumner Brothers] will set up in a cabin. When you’re spending that kind of money, and you don’t actually have money—I’m a broke dude—there’s so much pressure. What if you spend $20,000, come out the other side, and just hate it? That makes tension super high.” The payoff, however, could not have been more worth it. If there’s a God—and she’s currently on her fourth bourbon in a sawdust-floor tavern somewhere in Nashville—Sumner will be getting plenty of rapturous attention in the months and years to come. And, yes, that includes in his hometown. “I’ve always wanted to make a record where you don’t have to skip a song,” he says. “The kind of record that you can put on, and nothing becomes offensive to your mood. That’s where this record came from. From doing this for so many years, I just had a batch of songs that worked really well together.” g Bob Sumner plays the WISE Hall on Friday (January 25).
Cherrie Laurel exorcises heartache d WHEN BRITTNEY RAND calls the Georgia Straight, she’s fresh from a rehearsal at the East Van jam space she shares with artists including Art D’Ecco and Actors. The common thread is drummer Adam Fink, who is surely one of the Vancouver music scene’s most valuable players. Fink plays with the aforementioned acts, and he’s one of the two people Rand called upon to help her bring the music of her latest project, Cherrie Laurel, to the stage. (The other is Jackie Bartel, guitarist for dreamy popsters Babe Corner.) “It’s been a challenge to interpret the songs live, because obviously I do everything in the box,” says Rand, who wrote, performed, and produced all of Cherrie Laurel’s six-song debut, A Furnace, A Fire, herself. “I’m using a lot of sampling, doing a lot of layering. Each song has maybe 80 to 150 tracks in it, so it’s like, what do I pull out? What do I keep in? I stripped them down a lot. I’m still doing the electronic part of it, Adam’s doing drums, and Jackie’s taking on some of the guitar parts I recorded, and adding texture to the songs.” In their recorded forms, the songs on A Furnace, A Fire already have plenty of texture. In that sense, Cherrie Laurel isn’t that far removed from the music Rand made in collaboration with Francesca Belcourt as Mu. In contrast to that duo’s more pastelhued output, however, Cherrie Laurel numbers like “A Little Noise”, “Pleases Me”, and “Alkaline” thrum with
Brittney Rand’s latest project, Cherrie Laurel, finds magic in an East Van studio.
darker synthesizer timbres and more propulsive beats. Rand tells the Straight that, although Mu hasn’t disbanded, the duo is on an indefinite hiatus reinforced by geographical distance. “Francesca is based out of London now,” she says. “We don’t want to put that to bed yet. We’re just taking
32 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 24 – 31 / 2019
a rest on it. We were really writing different songs, both of us, and hers became her album Buds, which just came out. I think it was an important exercise for us to do our own things for a little while. So it’s not necessarily dead, but it’s on hold for now.” Having said that, Rand notes that Mu fans won’t have long to wait for
something new from the duo. Well, sort of new. “We recorded a song that I had sort of intended to be on this album, and then we made it into a Mu song,” she reveals. “We made a beautiful music video with Jordan Findlay, the person who did ‘Pleases Me’. We shot it on film in this amazing house in Trout Lake. It took about two years to get this thing done, which is insane. It was supposed to be a single that was released two summers ago. It’s so beautiful and Jordan did such a good job that we kind of felt we should just release it to say ‘Okay, we’re on hiatus for a little bit, but here’s this thing.’ So we’re probably going to release that in a couple weeks.” In the meantime, there’s A Furnace, A Fire, a project into which Rand says she has channelled a great deal of “heartache, frustration, and anger”. “It’s weird the way that it came out, but I was reflecting a lot about my health and being a woman and what it meant,” she says. “At the time I was having a lot of medical problems. That’s where my frustration came from. I was in a really bad, dark place, so I guess I was using this as a way to explore where that anger was coming from, why I was feeling like that, and trying not to be overcome by it and have it put me into a bad place. I always think of songs as creating something out of the worst thing that can happen to you, especially when you’re writing aggressive music. I feel like
maybe this is my version of aggressive music without it being punk or whatever. I wanted to push through the veil of language that I used in Mu to sort of disguise whatever was happening to me at the time when I wrote whatever song, you know?” Rand says her new songs are “more direct and obvious” than her previous work, although she would prefer listeners to interpret them for themselves. Don’t expect her to provide a lyric sheet. “If you read the direct lyrics, then you’re already taken out of the story,” she says. “Whereas if you can pull out these little bits, it’s usually the bits that jump out to you that are the most meaningful to you, because you’re sort of wanting to hear them. But if you’re reading them, then it feels like you’re taken out of the magic of it.” Which brings us back to what Rand is trying to achieve in that East Van rehearsal space: magic, specifically the kind created when a performer makes an authentic connection with the audience. “I just want to play,” Rand says when asked about her goals for 2019. “I miss playing music. I just miss playing, so I’m going to try to play as much as I can.” by John Lucas
Cherrie Laurel plays a release show for A Furnace, a Fire at the Fox Cabaret’s Projection Room on Monday (January 28).
CONCERTS JUST ANNOUNCED
FRIDAY, JANUARY 25
THE POSIES Duo performance by Posies founding members Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow. Jan 31, 7-10:30 pm, St. James Hall. $28-$100.
TRAVIS SCOTT Rapper from Houston. Jan 25, Rogers Arena. $59.95-$129.95. DEATH SENTENCE Vancouver hardcore/ crossover band, with AC/DC tribute act Bonnie Scott. Jan 25, 9 am, Fairview Pub. $10. SILVERSTEIN Ontario posthardcore rockers, with guests Hawthorne Heights, As Cities Burn, and Capstan. Jan 25, 7 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. $24.99-30. BOBBY'S CANE Vancouver rock quartet, with guests Servo, the Segues, and Sail With Kings. Jan 25, 7:30 pm, Bourbon. $10. A TRIBUTE TO AFRICA WITH THE CAPU JAZZ ENSEMBLES AND FACULTY GUESTS Artist-in-residence Dr. Kofi Gbolonyo leads CapU's "A" Band and faculty guests in an exploration of African jazz roots. Jan 25, 8 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. $30/$27. BOB SUMNER Album-release party for Wasted Love Songs, with guests Leslie Stevens and Willy Tea Taylor. Jan 25, 8-11:30 pm, WISE Hall. $12/$15. THE TREWS Guitar-rock band from Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Jan 25, doos 8 pm, show 9:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix $35.
MATTHEW DEAR Late-night dance celebration with guests Dark Arps, Iain Howie, tokiomi, and Nathan Hall. Feb 9, 10 pm, Vancouver Art & Leisure. $25. DETH DAY METAL MASSACRE Performances by metal bands Aggression, Expain, Gross Misconduct, and Blackwater Burial. Feb 16, 7 pm, Astoria Pub. $15/$20. WINTER JAZZ ON GRANVILLE ISLAND Three days of free concerts. Feb 22-24, 8 pm, Performance Works. Free. BAILEN Melodic pop band featuring siblings Daniel, David, and Julia Bailen. Mar 1, 8 pm, Fox Cabaret. $12. TORI KELLY Pop singer-songwriter from California. Mar 16, 8 pm, Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Tix on sale Jan 25, 10 am, $46.50/36.50/26.50. FOALS Indie-rock band from Oxford, England. Mar 18, 8 pm, Orpheum Theatre. Tix on sale Jan 25, 10 am, $79.75/69.75/49.75/39.75/. NIGHT BEATS Psychedelic R&B band, with guest Calvin Love. Mar 29, 9 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. $15.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26
THE TWILIGHT SAD Indie-rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. May 24, 9 pm, WISE Hall. Tix on sale Jan 25, 10 am, $22.50.
ZIMMERS HOLE Former members of Strapping Young Lad. Jan 26, 7 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. Tix $29.50. WILD/KIND Indie-pop band plays an albumrelease show, with guests Devours and Babe Corner. Jan 26, 8 pm, Red Gate Arts Society. $10/pay-what-you-can. DEREK GRIPPER An exotic blend of contemporary classical and traditional kora music, Derek Gripper’s mastery of his 6-string guitar is nothing short of miraculous. Jan 26, 8 pm, St. James Hall. $25 adv/$30 door (cash only). SATURDAY NIGHT SOUL PARTY Worldmusic band Ardent Tribe performs. Jan 26, 9 pm, The Backstage Lounge. $10.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 24 INTERNATIONAL GUITAR NIGHT Performances by four acoustic guitarists. Jan 24, 7:30 pm, Massey Theatre. $39/$29. LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III The Rogue Folk Club presents American folk singer-songwriter ("Dead Skunk"). Jan 24, 8 pm, St. James Hall. $20-$40. PATSY KLEIN AND TONY WILSON BAND Original songs and covers by P.J. Harvey, Aimee Mann, and CCR. Jan 24, 8-11 pm, WISE Hall. $10. MOONDLE Jazz-inflected indie pop, with guests Parlour Panther and Tonye. Jan 24, 8-11:55 pm, WISE Hall. $15.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 27
THE KNOCKS Electronic-music duo from New York City. Jan 24, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Fortune Sound Club. $25.
SNAIL MAIL American indie-rock singersongwriter and guitarist performs tunes from debut album Lush. Jan 27, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Imperial Vancouver. $17.50.
EMILY KING R&B singer-songwriter from New York City. Jan 27, 8 pm, Fortune Sound Club. $29.50. DOROTHY Rock band from L.A., with guests Spirit Animal. Jan 27, 8 pm, Venue. Tix $25. KAUMAKAIWA KANAKA'OLE The voice of Hawaii’s new generation. Kaumakaiwa Kanaka'ole's impressive vocal range mixes baritone chant and Hawaiian falsetto singing. Jan 27, 8 pm, York Theatre. $40.
MONDAY, JANUARY 28 OLAFUR ARNALDS Icelandic composer, musician, and producer performs two shows. Jan 28, 2019, 7 & 10:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom. $40. OLD MAN LUEDECKE The Rogue Folk Club presents folk singer-songwriter from the Maritimes. Jan 28, 8 pm, St. James Hall. $13-$26.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 29 EFRIM MANUEL MENUCK Member of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, with guests rrkkttss. Jan 29, Biltmore Cabaret. $14.50. DIERKS BENTLEY American country star, with guests Jon Pardi, Tenille Townes, and Hot Country Knights. Jan 29, 7 pm, Rogers Arena. $63-292.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30 THE LEMON TWIGS Rock band from Long Island, New York, fronted by brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario. Jan 30, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Venue. $30. MØ Pop musician from Denmark plays tunes from new album Forever Neverland. Jan 30, 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom. $32.50.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 31 MAD CADDIES California ska-punk band, with guests the Brass Action and Russian Tim and The Pavel Bures. Jan 31, 7 pm, Imperial . $23. KISS Glam-rockers from the '70s perform on their farewell tour. Jan 31, 7:30 pm, Rogers Arena. OZOMATLI Latin hip-hop/reggae-funk band, with guests Salsadancehall Collective and DJ SuCommandante Espinoza. Jan 31, 8 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. $26.50.
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Things move so fast these days. I thought the name “Lil Hank” referred to an 11-year-old boy named Mason Ramsey, who achieved fame after a video of him singing Hank Williams’s “Lovesick Blues” in a Walmart aisle went viral. Ramsey ended up on-stage at Coachella in 2018; by the time he’s in high school he’ll probably be back where he started, but instead of yodelling, he’ll be saying “Welcome to Walmart” 300 times an hour. Turns out there’s another Lil Hank, a DJ and producer of electronic music who happens to be an adorable little white Pomeranian. No, really. He’s a dog. And although he hails from either South INTERPOL New York City indie-rockers play tunes from new album Marauder. Jan 31, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Queen Elizabeth Theatre. $65/50/45/35. JIM BYRNES Local blues great performs a fundraiser for First Impressions Theatre. Jan 31–Feb 1, 8 pm, Deep Cove Shaw Theatre. $35.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1 CORROSION OF CONFORMITY Hardrockers from the States, with guests Crowbar, Weedeater, and Mothership. Feb 2, 6:30 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. $34.95.
Dakota or Beverly Hills, depending on which source you believe, he’s signed to Vancouver’s own Monstercat label, so we’re just going to call him local. (And when we say “signed”, we assume he put a paw print on a contract.) How’s the music? Well, it sounds like someone with a laptop made it in their bedroom. Which is, of course, a perfectly respectable way to produce EDM. That’s probably how Marshmello does it, and by all accounts he’s a human. So it’s even more impressive to think that a tiny ankle-biter is responsible for the banging trap of “Life of Dog” and the weird electro-pop of “Hank’s Happy Place”. Who’s a good boy? by John Lucas
ARKELLS Rockers from Hamilton, Ontario, with guests Lord Huron. Feb 2, 7:30 pm, Pacific Coliseum. $54.95-$100.70. ROY FORBES Canadian folk-rock veteran. Feb 2, 8 pm, Deep Cove Shaw Theatre. $35. MUSIC EVENTS are a public service provided free of charge, based on available space and editorial discretion. Submit events 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.
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SAVAGE LOVE
Furry porn porn intrudes intrudes on on married married life life Furry by Dan Savage
b I’M AN EARLY-30S hetero woman in a monogamous relationship with my mid-30s hetero guy. We’ve been together 10 years, married seven, no kids. We have a lot of fun—travelling, shared hobbies, mutual friends, et cetera. We have sex fairly regularly, and it’s not bad. However, his primary sexual fetish and main turnon is furry porn—namely, cartoon images. He doesn’t self-identify as a furry; he doesn’t have a fursuit or fursona. To his credit, he was up-front about this with me once we started getting serious. However, I think conflated the at that younger age, I conflated emotional openness and acceptance of his sexuality with actually being satisfied with the sexual component satisfied of our relationship. He seems only marginally attracted to me, and it bums me out that his more intense sexual drives are funnelled into furry porn. I feel somewhat helpless, as his fetish doesn’t allow me to meet him halfway. Real-life furry action (fursuits and the like) does not interoffered). We have sex est him (I’ve offered). regularly, but I always initiate, and his enthusiasm is middling until we get going, at which point I think we both enjoy ourselves. But I’ve found that this turns into a negative-feedback loop, where his lack of initial interest leads to me being less attracted to him, and so on. I consider myself a fairly sexual person and I get a lot of pleasure out of being desired. We’re talking about starting a family, and I’m scared that the pressures that come with parenthood would only make this worse.
fix this—and Nothing I write is going to fix fix him, nothing I write is going to fix FURS, not that your husband is broken. He is who he is, and he had the decency to let you know who he was before you married him. But nothing I write is going to put you at the centre of your husband’s erotic inner life. Nothing I write is going to inspire him to initiate more (or at all) or cause him to be more enthusiastic about sex. Nothing I write is going to make your husband want you the way you want to be wanted, desire you the way you want to be desired, and fuck you the way you want to be fucked. So the question you need to ask yourself before you make babies with this man—the question I would have urged you to ask yourself before you married this man—is whether you can live without the pleasure you get from being desired. Is that the price of admission you’re willing to pay to be with this man? Maybe it once was, but is it still? Because if monogamy is what you want or what he wants or what you both want, FURS, then choosing to be with this man—choosing to be with someone you enjoy spending time with, who’s “not bad” at sex, whose most passionate erotic interests direct him away from you—means going without the pleasure of being wanted the way you want to be wanted, desired the way you want to be desired, and fucked the way you want to be fucked. Your husband was up-front with you about his sexuality before you got married. Everyone should be, of course, but so few people are—particularly people who have been made to feel ashamed of their sexuality or - Fretting Under Relationship their fetishes or both—that we’re inShortcomings clined to heap praise on people who
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columns—even more—to umns—even more—to discussdiscuss cuckcuckolding its forms, unpack all olding in allinitsallforms, unpack all the the risks, game potenrisks, andand game outout all all thethe potential tial rewards. Since I can’tpossibly possibly do rewards. Since I can’t that, APC, I’m going to send you to Keys and Anklets (keysandanklets.
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manage to clear what should be a low bar. At the time, you mistook “emotional openness” and your willingness to accept his sexuality for both sexual compatibility and sexual satisfaction. I think you owe it to yourself to be up-front with your husband before you have kids. He’s getting a good deal here: decent sex with the wife and the freedom to take care of needs his wife can’t meet. And you’re free to ask for a similar deal: decent sex with your husband and the freedom to take care of needs your husband can’t meet. There’s a far greater degree of risk There’s involved in you going outside the relationship to feel desired, of course; you seeing another man or men comes bundled with emotional and physical risks that wanking to furry This isn’t an applesporn does not. This to-apples comparison. But if your shared goal as a couple is mutual sexfulfi llment—and that should be ual fulfillment—and every couple’s goal—and if you want to avoid becoming so frustrated that you make a conscious decision to end your marriage (or a subconscious decision to sabotage it), FURS, then opening up the relationship needs to be a part of the discussion.
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On the Lovecast, a case against Grindr for online harassment: savagelovecast.com. Email: mail@savagelove.net. Follow Dan on Twitter @fakedansavage. ITMFA.org.
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compatibility before marrying their partners. Settling down requires some settling for, of course, and everyone winds up paying the price of admission. But sexual compatibility is something you want to establish beafter. fore the wedding, not after. At the very least, WATER, don’t marry a man to whom you can’t make simple observations about sex and ask simple questions about sex. Like this statement/question/statement combo: “You joke about peeing on me, and I want to know if you would actually like to pee on me, because I would like to be peed on.” Pissing on you doesn’t make him R. Kelly, a man who has been credibly accused of raping underage girls and sexually and emotionally abusing— even imprisoning—adult women. If R. Kelly had raped numerous women and girls in the missionary position, WATER, all the other men out there who enjoy sex in the missionary position don’t become rapists by default. Where there is consent—enthusiastic consent—then it, whatever it is (missionary position sex, peeing on a partner), isn’t abusive. Sex play often involving pain or degradation often requires more detailed conversations about consent, of course, but jokes and hints are a shitty way to negotiate consent for any kind of sex. Always go with unambiguous statements (“I would like to be peed on”) and direct questions (“Would you like to pee on me?”). g
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