The Georgia Straight - Chill Out - Jan 30, 2020

FREE | JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 6 / 2020

Volume 54 | Number 2714

GARY SHTEYNGART Humanizes American crisis

BEGONIA Goes deep with zero fear

DAN SAVAGE

How to dump a cruel boyfriend

Chill Out In our midwinter entertainment guide, playwright Carmen Aguirre and rapper Shad join forces for Anywhere but Here; plus, cold-weather fests, Ronnie Burkett, and more

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CONTENTS

February 8–13, 2020

January 30 - February 6, 2020

13 COVER

Carmen Aguirre got a little help from her friends for a large-scale play set on the U.S.-Mexico border.

By Janet Smith Cover photo by Emily Cooper

6 HIGHLIGHTS GARY SHTEYNGART TERRY KURGAN JAMIE BERNSTEIN SARAH LEAVITT ALEJANDRO FRID ALEX LESLIE DANIEL KALLA MICHAEL D. LUKAS

EDUCATION

The Beach District will get a new campus; automotive technicians need creativity; and yoga training for trauma.

By Charlie Smith

8

ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY NORMAN RAVVIN RHEA TREGEBOV HEIDI J. S. TWOREK

BOOKS

Gary Shteyngart opens the Jewish Book Fest with his novel Lake Success, a savage critique of social decline.

By Alexander Varty

23 MOVIES

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Poland vies for the Oscar with Corpus Christi while classic horror flick Rabid gets a twisted makeover.

By Ken Eisner and Adrian Mack

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Trans activist says racist pamphlets were distributed in East Van.

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EDUCATION

New campus going into Beach District

T

by Charlie Smith

his week, as part of the Straight’s continuing coverage of postsecondary education, we’re shining a light on a new university campus, an automotive program that could appeal to artists, and a yoga program that helps address trauma.

Edge and Eli Sopow—had successful careers in the media before obtaining their PhDs and becoming scholars. Yet another, Karen Tankard, was a CBC News reporter for 22 years.

The undergraduate-program chair at University Canada West, Charles Carroll, has a PhD in comparative literature from City University of New York, as well as an MBA in marketing from Boston University, an MFA in poetry from Emerson College, and a BA in philosophy from Vassar College.

“We’re a business institution that also teaches the humanities,” Carroll said in a video on the university’s website. “So one of the goals of the undergraduate program has been to integrate the humanities and the social sciences into the teaching of business.”

UNIVERSITY CANADA WEST INCLUDES HUMANITIES IN BUSINESS EDUCATION d WHEN MOST PEOPLE see Westbank’s shimmering, twisty tower under construction on the north end of the Granville Bridge, they immediately think about condos. But for Brock Dykeman, president of University Canada West, the Bjarke Ingels–designed Vancouver House complex will become an educational beacon. That’s because in July, University Canada West will occupy more than 90,000 square feet of podium space in what’s being called the Beach District, offering an inviting new campus for prospective students.

“That’s going to be a very, very special place,” Dykeman told the Straight by phone. “It will be a great experience for the students.”

He explained that with more than 2,000 students, University Canada West needed a second Vancouver location to complement its existing campus, which occupies five storeys in the historic London Building (626 West Pender Street).

“We’re developing some more graduate programs—a master’s in innovation and entrepreneurship, a master’s in marketing, and a master’s in emerging technology,” Dykeman said.

University Canada West is the largest private university in Vancouver, and last summer it celebrated its 15th anniversary. Founded by former University of Victoria president and vice-chancellor David Strong, it offers several career-focused programs. According to Dykeman, there’s a strong emphasis on learning that can be applied to future careers.

“Our biggest program is our master’s of business administration,” he said. “We have specializations in leadership, marketing, and finance.”

VCC AUTOMOTIVE STUDENTS PAY ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS

The podium at Westbank’s Vancouver House (right) will include University Canada West’s new campus.

Dykeman added that there are plans for an innovation lab in the new campus at Vancouver House, which will be useful for students who specialize in the future of emerging technology.

The Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs has accredited the MBA program, which has also been approved by B.C.’s Ministry of Advanced Education. One of University Canada West’s objectives is to prepare students for leadership on the global stage. Courses are offered on a quarterly basis.

“All the programs are offered online and in class, which makes them flexible for local students,” Dykeman said. “Part-time students could choose to take a course online or they could take it face to face in a given semester.”

In addition to the MBA program, University Canada West also offers three undergraduate programs: a bachelor of commerce, a bachelor of arts in business communication, and an associate of arts.

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Broadway campus 1155 East Broadway across from VCC/Clark SkyTrain station.

6 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 6 / 2020

Those who graduate with a BCom gain a broad and comprehensive understanding of contemporary business practices. Dykeman said there’s an opportunity for them to pursue a specialized BCom degree in accounting.

The bachelor of arts in business communication is an interdisciplinary program, offering students deep insights into media, cultural studies, and business. According to University Canada West, this program is relevant to anyone working as a professional writer or in journalism, public relations, communications, and advertising.

The associate of arts degree is a 20-course program designed to prepare students for additional postsecondary education or to join the workforce. There’s an emphasis on critical thinking and problem-solving, written and oral communication, research skills, and mathematical and scientific reasoning.

To date, most of University Canada West’s students have been international, with about 20 percent tracing their roots back to Iran.

Dykeman said the school has also attracted many students from India. But with the development of the new campus at Vancouver House, the president is hoping to draw more local students in the future who will be attracted to both the facility and the burgeoning neighbourhood near the seawall.

“We’re not aspiring to be a research university like UBC,” Dykeman emphasized. “But we are aspiring to prepare people for their careers.”

He is particularly proud of the university’s faculty, which includes a lot of young academics from diverse backgrounds. As an example, he cited Naïma Cherchem, who obtained her PhD in business administration in France and then pursued a postdoc at HEC Montreal. Cherchem’s research focuses on strategic entrepreneurship in family and nonfamily firms, as well as entrepreneurship in emerging countries.

“She’s working in lots of collaborative projects across the university,” Dykeman said.

Another faculty member, Elsie Chan, once won the University of Victoria’s highest teaching honour. Diep Nguyen, an expert in finance, accounting, and risk management, obtained her PhD from the University of Western Ontario. Other faculty members—such as Marc

d THERE’S NO SHORTAGE of poorly paid artists in Vancouver. But Tate Westerman studied fine art and still managed to earn a decent living, thanks to his passion for automobiles.

In 1995, he studied to become an automotive technician at Vancouver Community College because it was a pathway for him to express himself creatively and escape poverty.

“I was a starving artist for a while and I realized I couldn’t raise a family on it,” Westerman told the Straight by phone.

He had learned some things about the automotive trade from his father and grandfather.

His two options were to become an auto mechanic or an autobody-repair specialist—and autobody seemed to be the more creative option. While in his 30s, he bought his own shop in Port Moody—and similar opportunities exist today for those who obtain interprovincial Red Seal accreditation.

“There are lots of opportunities to buy into existing body shops [and] to open up your own restoration shops, even at home.”

Twenty-two years later, Westerman returned to VCC to become an instructor in transportation trades. He said that anyone interested in enrolling can visit the college and take a free tour and learn how to become an automotive collision repair or refinishing technician. According to him, those with an artistic eye can really excel if they’re also attentive students who show up on time and try to do their best.

Westerman pointed out that a technician can do a beautiful repair in a customer’s vehicle yet leave greasy handprints on the steering wheel. And that’s what the customer will notice, no matter how well the job was done.

He added that women are far more prominent in the industry in the 21st century, which is a big change from when he entered the business.

“Women tend to take a bit more attention and care,” Westerman said, “but having an artistic eye and good hand-eye coordination is very important [in] this industry to become successful.”

With baby boomers retiring, Westerman said there is increasing demand for technicians. Companies like BMW and B.C. Transit ask about the best students before they’ve even completed their coursework.

“When they exit the program, they are already either signed up as an apprentice or offered a scholarship or offered an apprenticeship or a job,” he said. “So right now the see next page

Vancouver Community College offers career training to aspiring automotive collision repair and refinishing technicians.

Langara offers a certificate program in therapeutic yoga for pain management.

industry is really strong and is actually paying to have these students come.

They’re paying good wages and are willing to pay incentives, like signing bonuses.”

The automotive collision repair technician program will accept its next group of students in September.

It’s a full-time, eight-month certificate program at VCC’s Broadway campus. The automotive refinishing prep technician program is a fulltime five-month certificate program, also at the Broadway campus. Students can also enroll in apprenticeship programs and obtain a B.C. trade certificate while earning a living in the industry.

For Westerman, it has been a natural progression from being a VCC student to working in the industry, owning his own shop, and then coming back to school to teach the next generation of automotive technicians.

“I think the thing that sticks with me the most—being a graduate and being alumni with the college—is when you start a program at this college, it’s a relationship,” Westerman said. “That sticks with you throughout

“I became very interested in supporting other folks who were struggling with the aftermath and particulars of traumatic experiences, and…in helping them to learn how to use their bodies as a resource for self-regulation,” Marcia said.

She began teaching in 2004, and she obtained a master’s degree in yoga therapy studies from Lesley University in Boston. From 2008 to 2017, Marcia was director of therapeutic yoga programming at the Provincial Health Services Authority’s Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addictions.

She pointed out that Langara is the only B.C. postsecondary institution that offers certificate programs to become yoga instructors. “All of our instructors are very highly qualified, both academically and in terms of their breadth and education in yoga,” Marcia said. “I think that Langara itself just has a track record of excellence and a reputation for delivering very accessible, high-quality programming for students.”

Langara offers an 80-hour certificate program in therapeutic yoga

your whole career and for your life.

From the day I set foot at VCC, I always felt welcomed by my instructors.

“I could always come visit, even if I wasn’t a student anymore,” he continued. “I can reach them for advice, for job opportunities, even to come into the shop [when I] need a piece of equipment that I can’t find anywhere else. I’ve always felt welcome there. And most every student that comes through here comes back to visit.”

There are lots of opportunities to buy into existing body shops.

– Tate Westerman

LANGARA’S YOGA PROGRAMS HEAL MIND, BODY, AND SOUL d MANY PEOPLE THINK of yoga as simply a set of physical and breathing exercises to relieve stress. But Nicole Marcia, interim coordinator and instructor in Langara College’s yoga teacher training and yoga therapy program, says that the 5,000-yearold spiritual practice can also help people struggling with serious health issues, including addiction.

Trauma is what led Marcia into yoga. After surviving a violent sexual assault many years ago, she resorted

to alcohol and other substances to manage her nervous system.

“I was introduced to yoga, sort of by accident,” she told the Straight by phone. “And after a couple of years of pretty regular practice, I started to notice a shift in my substance use and the other kind of behaviours that I was engaging in.”

She learned over time that yoga helped bring balance back to her nervous system, which was disregulated in the aftermath of the assault.

for pain management. There’s also a 60-hour certificate program in therapeutic yoga for trauma and resilience. In addition, the school has a 250-hour yoga teacher training certificate program, as well as an 800-hour certificate program in yoga therapy for integrative health.

According to Marcia, the programs are not just for people who have taught or practised yoga. The school also welcomes health-care professionals, including registered massage therapists and nurses, who are interested in applying yoga tools and techniques in their work.

Marcia pointed out that it’s not unusual for physical therapists or psychotherapists to enroll in therapeutic yoga for trauma and resilience, even if they’ve never practised yoga. “I think that the western medical system has come to increasingly understand the benefits of yoga as a complementary therapeutic modality for people living with a wide range of health conditions,” she said. g With files from Carlito Pablo.

JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 6 / 2020 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 7

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t’s rarely appropriate to open an interview by asking what the person at the other end of the line is wearing. Sure, you might conceivably pose that to Anna Wintour, not that you’re ever going to get to talk to her. Someone like Gucci’s Alessandro Michele would also be fair game. And it seems a reasonable enough question to ask Gary Shteyngart—but only because you know that he shares a fetish with Barry Cohen, the hedge-fund-manager protagonist of the Russian-American writer’s new book, Lake Success.

Watches. Very expensive watches.

“Today is a Rolex Air-King day,” Shteyngart relates, reached at home in New York City. “This is one of the very basic models, and I got it a couple of years ago, when I became obsessed with watches. This watch is very low-key, and in fact I wore it on the very long Greyhound trip that I took across the country when I was researching Lake Success, because it’s a watch that doesn’t pick up any attention. But it’s a very cute watch: very small, and suitable for my small wrists—as well as Barry’s small wrists.”

Watches, for the novelist, are “very melancholy objects”. “They hold the passing of time,” he explains, “and we’re not getting any more time with every second. So Barry’s obsession with watches is, I think, twofold. One is that he’s wasted some parts of his life, as many of us do. He’s not happy with how his childhood worked out, and he was hoping for the perfect wife, the perfect job, the perfect child, and none of that came to pass as well, so the watch is a constant reminder of that passing. But also, he desperately needs something to take his mind off things—which is why I got into watches. I got into watches

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As he’ll discuss on opening night of the JCC Jewish Book Festival, Gary Shteyngart has mixed searing critique with a streak of optimism in his new novel Lake Success.

when I realized Trump was going to win, and I needed something to read other than more election news. So for Barry as well as me, it’s a way to self-soothe, and to self-regulate.”

Mechanical panaceas don’t solve Cohen’s problems, however. When we meet the financier, he’s recently learned that his young child is deeply autistic, and his marriage is imploding. His fund, This Side of Capital, is about to collapse, thanks to a high-risk investment in a shady pharmaceutical business.

His literary ambitions—note the F. Scott Fitzgerald reference in his company’s name—have long been in tatters. And his prized Universal Genève Tri-Compax no longer keeps accurate time, which, unbeknownst to Cohen, prefigures a deeper structural problem inside its mechanism.

Grabbing a forged passport, binning his high-end Visa card, and lighting out for the West Coast by bus seems like a reasonable choice.

With its explicit allusions to Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Jack Kerouac, Lake Success is clearly Shteyngart’s take on the Great American Novel. Except that these days America is not so great, and Cohen, like his country, is both addled by greed and paralyzed by his loss of promise. Nonetheless, the book delivers both a fantastically picaresque ride through the underbelly of the USA and a savage critique of that country’s moral and economic decline.

Shteyngart also achieves a small miracle by making the entirely reprehensible Cohen an engaging, almost sympathetic character. “Everyone’s a human being on some level, and everyone goes through the same questions,” the author explains. “Why am I here? What’s going on? How do I relate to my own mortality and to the difficulties of raising a family?”

Those, he says, were among the issues that kept coming up when he was researching Lake Success, which required a lot of late-night drinking with bond traders and

tech bros. “Over the years, some of them became very friendly with me, and I began to feel like I was their therapist, in a sense,” he explains.

“The hedge-fund whisperer, if you will. I would take them out of their lives, which are often so boring and circumscribed, and many of them would drink quite a lot and open up at 2 or 3 in the morning, so there was a feeling of getting to know them.

I wasn’t taking them on a Greyhound, but I was taking them on some kind of journey.”

And just as Shteyngart might have opened the eyes of some of his fellow Manhattanites, the other Americans he met on his crosscountry bus trip offered revelations of their own, which might explain the streak of optimism that runs through the otherwise dark fable that is Lake Success.

“Lots of the people that I met were kind of on the up. There’s an ascendancy to a lot of people— a lot of first-generation people, people who have just moved to this country, especially from Latin America,” says the Leningradborn Shteyngart, a first-generation American himself. “There was a kind of cynicism in hanging out with the hedge-funders, but there was sometimes a kind of buoyancy on the Greyhound. But there’s also a reality. There’s a line in the book where Barry says that on the Greyhound, people discuss where they went to jail the same way that people on the Acela [high-speed rail line] discuss where they went to law school. There was a feeling that there are better jails. So it was a kind of reality that a lot of people in my world don’t get, whether that world is writing or academia or TV. It’s very, very different.” g Gary Shteyngart opens the Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival at the Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre on February 8. For more information, visit jewishbookfestival.ca/.

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Modo offers convenient carshare options after closure of car2go

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(This story is sponsored by Modo.)

any Vancouver residents lead action-packed lives that require dependable transportation for where they live, work, and play.

It is for this reason that car2go’s announcement of its upcoming departure left many people feeling concerned about how they will get around. Amidst this uncertainty, local carshare company Modo wants Vancouver to know that it is here to stay.

With its co-operative business model, Modo is controlled by its members, meaning it prioritizes community betterment over profit.

Modo spearheaded the carshare movement back in 1997 and has been a community fixture ever since. Its commitment to Vancouver should comfort those looking to fill some of the gaps left by car2go’s approaching exit, on February 29.

For those yet to take the life- Modo’s carshare provides Metro Vancouver residents with affordable and sustainable transportation alternatives. changing leap into carsharing, there are a multitude of reasons that make it up and return it to the same place.

Because Modo has no designated asset that sits idle 95% of the time.”

The team at Modo understands joining Modo a practical alternative It’s yours for the full duration of the home zones, members can drive booking, making it easy to leave per- across provinces and borders. To re- that living in Vancouver is expento car ownership. sonal items in the car while running duce the stress associated with trip- sive, which is why they hope to ease IT’S CONVENIENT errands, attending classes, or even planning, the car can be reserved one the financial burden many people exNot only does using Modo reduce getting out of town. perience. By carsharing, money that year in advance or on the fly. greenhouse emissions and save users Modo members are able to avoid For those who prefer staying would typically go toward monthly thousands of dollars but it’s also very the stress often associated with one- closer to home, Modo vehicles can car expenses can instead help pay for convenient. way services when it comes to locating also be found at every major ferry housing, school, or travel.

Modo’s roundtrip service pairs and booking an available car, and find- terminal. By walking on and taking With Modo, rates start at just $4 nicely with transit and can be op- ing a place to park it when you’re done. a Modo on the other side, members per hour or $52 per day and include portunely combined with one-way gas and insurance. This can be made Modo also has an impressive fleet save time and money. carsharing, giving members more of more than 700 cars, trucks, SUVs, even cheaper by carpooling.

IT’S AFFORDABLE AND COST transportation options.

“Filling the car with friends is not and minivans.

“Roundtrip carsharing is the best only fun, but a great way to share the “Members really like the variety of EFFECTIVE alternative to owning a car,” says Sel- our vehicles,” McLachlan says. “If they “The average cost to own and operate cost of your booking,” McLachlan ena McLachlan, director of market- want to run a couple errands, they can a vehicle in B.C. is nearly $10,000 per says, “making an already affordable ing and communications at Modo. book a small hybrid, or a larger pickup year and rising,” McLachlan says, trip even cheaper.” Cost-sharing “that’s a hefty price to pay for an really comes in handy when you take When you book a Modo, you pick truck or cargo van for moving.”

on the open road for a daytrip or weekend adventure.

Additionally, you’ll be able to drive in the high-occupancy vehicle lane and reach your destination quicker.

IT’S SUSTAINABLE

“Using roundtrip carsharing reduces traffic and greenhouse-gas emissions by 30 to 50 percent,” McLachlan says.

With fewer cars on the road comes cleaner air and reduces travel times.

While not everyone can go completely car-free, there is no doubt that choosing carsharing over car ownership can reduce your carbon footprint. For families needing two cars, using Modo as the second car can make a lot of sense. With inevitable population growth we will see an increased amount of cars on the road, leading to more congestion and demand for parking.

Modo operates with the future in mind, which is why they are adding more electric vehicles to its fleet. This year alone it expects up to 30 percent of all new cars purchased to be zero-emissions. In the meantime, the environmentally conscious Modo team will continue to encourage Vancouver’s residents to choose active and sustainable transportation when possible.

“Roundtrip carsharing is designed to complement walking, cycling, and transit—not compete with it,” McLachlan says.

If you have not yet tried Modo, you can join online with the promo code STRAIGHT for $50 in free drive time to get you started. g For more information, visit www.modo. coop/ or connect with the company on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 6 / 2020 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 9

HOROSCOPES

T

by Rose Marcus

he rare and formidable alignment of Capricorn transits— most notably, Jupiter, Saturn, Ceres, and Pluto—has been putting and will continue to put the squeeze on reality. Pluto, agent for the soul, swings its wrecking ball on that which is past its due date. On Friday, Ceres leaves Capricorn for Aquarius.

In a karmic seeding-and-harvesting transit, for the next two months Ceres will “bring it to life”. Hopefully, the Ceres transit will fast-track the growth of climate-change activism.

The moon tours smooth-running Taurus for Super Bowl weekend. Indulge; enjoy while the getting is good.

A

ARIES

March 20–April 20

F

VIRGO

G

LIBRA

JANUARY 30 TO FEBRUARY 5, 2020 August 23–September 23

No matter what you get up to, it hits the spot right this weekend.

Saturday/Sunday, the stars set up a good-as-it-gets backdrop. Enjoy. Reward yourself. Monday/Tuesday sets you onto a next page. Go by feel; stay flexible; think creatively. Another talk, a revisit, or something new added to the mix could do the trick quite nicely.

September 23–October 23

You are a sharpshooter Thursday/Friday. Instinct and intuition serve you well. Saturday/Sunday, ease up and take your time. Romance or an indulgent weekend hits it right.

Mercury in Pisces, starting Monday, is better for putting creativity into play rather than signing yourself up for exacting or detailed work. Pump up on vitamins; wash your hands more.

Thursday/Friday keeps you going strong, but come Friday night, you are likely to feel inclined to park yourself somewhere. Saturday/Sunday, your timing is good. A full-toSCORPIO the-brim week lies ahead. Monday/ October 23–November 22 Tuesday can dish up extras or disThursday/Friday, quick is tractions. Mercury into Pisces can stir up potential or expose some- the best way to tackle it. Friday night through Sunday, take your time; enjoy thing that has escaped full notice. your time. The quality or pleasure of TAURUS it is worth the investment. Monday/ April 20–May 21 Tuesday can put extras, sidetracks, or Come Friday evening, you’ll more uncertainty in your way. One be ready for a change of scenery. The thing leads to another. Wednesday onTaurus moon keeps you feeling all ward, you’ll get a better feel for what’s right, pacing it right, and making the shaping up and how to play it next. most of it through the weekend. MerSAGITTARIUS cury in Pisces, starting Monday, helps November 22–December 21 you to navigate your way through a The moon in Taurus for the challenge or a stretch. weekend favours creative projects, GEMINI relaxation, good food, and good comMay 21–June 21 pany. Monday/Tuesday turns your Slow down; go by feel this attention to errands and loose ends. weekend. Aim for quality time with Good intentions can get waylaid. It is your lover or on your own. Monday/ easy to lose track of time. Go with the Tuesday, the moon in Gemini sets flow; feel your way along. wheels in motion. Even so, Mercury CAPRICORN in Pisces could diminish ambition or December 21–January 20 self-control. Rather than force or use Aim for quick and easy activtough love, you’ll fare better when you use inspiration, curiosity, creativity, or ities or solutions. Friday night through positive incentive as the driving force. Sunday keeps you/it humming along.

Monday/Tuesday, catch up on paperCANCER work, phone calls, studies, and erJune 21–July 22 rands. Double-check with folks; Spend your time on money- multitask if you can. Stay flexible. making, creative projects, or pracAQUARIUS tical everyday stuff; with another or January 20–February 18 on your own, you’ll get good qualFriday could get you going on ity out of the weekend. The future is still a mystery, but Mercury, starting something new. It could be lucrative or an extended tour of Pisces, will put a good pick-me-up. This weekend, slow down, relax, and enjoy. As of Monday, more of it into view soon enough. it’s time to get the show on the road LEO again. Through Tuesday, keep it casual July 22–August 23 and open-ended, stay noncommittal.

Take your time this weekPISCES end; do the job right and feel the February 18–March 20 reward. There’s no place better to be Friday night through Sunday, than right where you are. Monday/ Tuesday, go with the flow. Mercury call dibs on how you spend your time. in Pisces increases the changeability As of Monday, Mercury begins an exand uncertainty factor. For now, go tended tour of Pisces. Life, its a total with the flow. Keep open; keep game; immersion process. You’ll continue to keep exploring your options. Wed- sort your way through a circumstance, nesday onward, you’ll gain a better key relationship, or emotional track through mid-April. g sense of direction.

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10 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 6 / 2020

Get ready, pop-culture enthusiasts, FAN EXPO Vancouver is almost here (This story is sponsored by FAN EXPO Vancouver.)

F

AN EXPO takes over the Vancouver Convention Centre from February 15 to 17, bringing fun to cosplayers, “larpers”, congoers, and everyone in between over the Family Day weekend.

The festival is jam-packed with activities suitable for people of all ages and genders, as well as families.

Cosplay is strongly encouraged at the convention, so go ahead and dress as your favourite fictional character.

This year’s costume forecast predicts many fans dressed as the Witcher, Spider-Man, characters from My Hero Academia, the Joker, Harley Quinn, and possibly a Baby Yoda or two.

Fans brave enough to flaunt their getup can enter the costume contest, which is one of the several entertaining events happening over the weekend.

For those ready to proudly embrace their inner nerd, the following list of attractions is sure to excite you.

MEET FAVOURITE CELEBRITIES

At the expo, the opportunities to get autographs, take photos, and chat with inspiring celebrities are endless.

Actors who once played paper salesmen in The Office, Brian Baumgartner and Oscar Nuñez, will be making an appearance along with many others.

Fans of The Walking Dead will get the chance to meet heartthrob Chandler Riggs, who played one-eyed wonder Carl Grimes.

Those who once had an unhealthy crush on George from George of the Jungle can finally meet actor Brendan Fraser in the flesh.

Other celebrities visiting the convention include: LeVar Burton (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Bruce Campbell (Ash vs Evil Dead), Giancarlo Esposito (The Mandalorian, Breaking Bad), Corey Feldman (The

Expect to see some Star Wars cosplay at FAN EXPO Vancouver in February.

Lost Boys, The Goonies, Stand by Me), Christina Ricci (The Addams Family), and Tom Welling (Smallville).

There will also be voice actors from shows like Dragon Ball Z, comic creators like Todd McFarlane, cosplayer guests, Internet celebrities, and more.

STOP BY THE NEW FAMILY ZONE

Children love superheroes and princesses, which is why FAN EXPO offers family passes so that you can enjoy all of the attractions with your kiddies.

At the Family Zone, you’ll find kidfriendly activities like the Sorting Hat Ceremony and Quidditch for Harry VISIT ARTIST ALLEY Potter fans, dance parties, colouring, Aspiring comic artists, writers, crafts, and science experiments. and graphic designers can immerse themselves in creative aspects of MINGLE AT THE MEETUPS pop culture. At the alley, guests can The convention is an excellent place to admire original art, limited-edition meet people who love the same things prints, sketches, and comics, all cre- as you do. Themed meetups will be ated by successful artists working in hosted at FAN EXPO to connect fans and cosplayers who share a passion for the industry.

Guests can also attend workshops movies like Star Wars and Frozen or shows like Game of Thrones. on comic animation and drawing.

“Being a fan is what helps you SHOP ’TIL YOU DROP AT connect to other people—we’re all THE EXHIBITOR AREA fans of something, and that fandom If cosplay, art workshops, and ce- can unite us and help us make conlebrities aren’t enough to tickle your nections,” says managing director fan-cy, there will also be retailers of Fan Expo HQ in Western Canada selling every type of pop-culture Kandrix Foong. “FAN EXPO Vanmemorabilia imaginable. couver is the mothership for that: we Guests can purchase comic books, exist to provide a gathering place for T-shirts, commissioned art, videos, celebrating fandom.” g toys, collectable figurines, and more.

Perhaps you’ll finally find those FAN EXPO Vancouver takes place from Rick and Morty socks you’ve been February 15 to 17. For tickets and more info, visit www.fanexpovancouver.com/. dreaming about.

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by Kurtis Kolt

ast Monday (January 20) marked the sixth annual B.C. Sommelier of the Year competition put on by the B.C. Chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers. Held in various event spaces of Rogers Arena, it’s an all-day affair that begins with local sommeliers who threw their respective hats into the ring. There were 15 candidates in all this year.

Their very long day began with a sit-down exam, which included an essay on the business of wine, a blind tasting, and a service component.

There were three adjudicators for the day’s events, Sebastien Le Goff (Cactus Club Cafe vice-president of service and head sommelier), Master of Wine Barb Philip (B.C. Liquor Stores category manager), and Jason Yamasaki (JOEY Restaurant group sommelier). To ensure that no bias entered the fray, written exams were handed in anonymously, with each candidate having an identification number randomly assigned.

After exams and service were graded, the next phase of things began in the arena’s second-floor Captain’s Room. With well over 100 local sommeliers, wine importers, and media in attendance, the 15 candidates were paraded in to rousing applause. It was time to announce the top three sommeliers, who would then have to perform a series of tasks in front of the audience to determine the overall winner. One by one, each candidate’s number was called out.

First to step forward was Christina Hartigan, who is the wine director of Gooseneck Hospitality, the restaurant group behind places like Wildebeest, Bufala, and Bells & Whistles.

This was her second time on the podium, as she came in second in last year’s edition.

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Leagh Barkley, Christina Hartigan, and Peter Van de Reep. Photo by CAPS BC

Second was Leagh Barkley, the wine director of Il Caminetto up in Whistler, who also stood on last year’s podium, finishing third. Last year’s winner, Matt Landry of Stable House Bistro and fiore restaurants, bowed out of competition and hosted this year’s events.

The third to step up, for his maiden voyage in the full competition, was Peter Van de Reep, wine director and bar manager of Campagnolo Upstairs on Main Street.

The tasks at hand are tweaked each year so competitors never know what they’re walking into.

Laid out for them were seven stations. At the first, they had to craft a Boulevardier cocktail, followed by Champagne service of a Taittinger magnum to a table of colleagues, where (curve ball!) one of the guests purported to be deaf in their right ear so preferred service on their left.

When 100 percent of studying and training over the years has always been from the right, this could be rattling: with nerves at fever pitch once the bottle and glasses are collected, instinct could take over and the request could easily be neglected. The next table approached needed a Rioja wine

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from previous page

decanted while peppering competitors with questions, and the following table wanted a six-course menu presented on a screen paired with six different sparkling wines, all from France but from six different regions.

Next up was a wine list projected on the screen, filled with many errors—from typos to misplaced regions—where as many mistakes as possible had to be called out within three minutes. That screen then flashed 20 different images of winemakers, regions, winery instruments, and such, requiring description at quite a rapid pace.

And then the dreaded blind tasting: a couple of whites, a red, a fortified wine, a spirit, and a cocktail.

Barkley drew the first-to-compete spot while the others were cloistered in private suites with no phone and no Internet access, just time to sweat it out with their thoughts. He sailed through with confidence, seeming to barely break a sweat. There were a couple of errors caught by the

crowd, a slip of the tongue put a New Zealand wine region in Australia, and time running out on one of the screen challenges resulted in a quick drop of an F bomb. How that doesn’t happen more often is beyond me. (I’d be throwin’ them out left and right.)

Hartigan followed, with visible nerves and stressful breathing caught by her headset microphone. Last year’s unexpected cocktail challenge of a New York Sour threw her off her game right off the bat, but she was ready and amped for it this year. She was able to confidently answer most of the peppered questions, and service was on point, although the clock ran out on her blind-tasting portion.

Finally, Peter Van de Reep stepped up. The cocktail component didn’t even see him blink, and his service skills were strong, although there were challenges with the screen components. There were a couple of questions he couldn’t properly answer.

The ones he could answer, he slayed.

The guy has a geology degree from UBC, so speaking to the benefits of

British soils for sparkling wine was something he could do in his sleep.

And his background in the coffee trade has only enhanced his palate for blind tasting.

Postcompetition, there was a reception for competitors and those in attendance in the venue’s Encore suite, where most were on edge while the judges tabulated the results.

Eventually, they emerged from their deliberations, announcing Barkley in third place, Hartigan in second place, and Peter Van de Reep as British Columbia’s sommelier of the year, each of them receiving a bottle of Champagne and a commemorative Canucks jersey.

Largely self-taught and having only recently joined the fray of certification by the Court of Master Sommeliers, Van de Reep told me by phone the next morning he simply wants to always improve and be the best he can be at any mission he takes on. For right here and right now, I think he can consider that mission accomplished. g

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12 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 6 / 2020

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arts Rap adds to Anywhere but Here’s Latinx magic

I

by Janet Smith

t’s 1979, and a father and his two daughters are driving the long road back from Canada to Chile, the place they once fled as refugees.

But when they arrive at the border between the U.S. and Mexico, they come up against a towering wall, and hey, is that 19th-century Bolivian revolutionary Juana Azurduy de Padilla?

Yes, the present melts into the future and past in the epic new work Anywhere but Here, with local Chilean-Canadian playwright Carmen Aguirre interweaving rap, magic realism, and projections to explore the events that have haunted that desert frontier throughout history. Touchpoints include the rise of multinational maquiladora assembly plants in border cities, and self-appointed American vigilantes who patrol the southern reaches of Arizona and Texas today.

“It’s always important to contextualize the stories we tell,” Aguirre tells the Straight over the phone from her Vancouver home. “If you’re going to tell a story about a bunch of refugees at the U.S.–Mexican border, it’s really important to take a wide shot about why and how it is that we got here.”

“All of Latin America and the Caribbean have such a huge amount of historical complexity that people don’t really know about,” adds actor Michelle Rios, who plays several roles in the work, speaking in a separate interview from Edmonton. “I believe we have to tap into that historical context to understand why things are happening in the first place. There’s a reason why migrants are leaving Guatemala and Honduras.”

The ambitious, years-in-the-making project will result in the largest premiere on a main stage by Canada’s Latinx theatre community. (Aguirre and Rios use the gender-neutral Spanish term for the Latin-American community—pronounced “Latin-ex”.) The show pulls together a cast of nine artists of colour, all of whom are first- or second-generation immigrants, as well as Canadian-via-Rwanda hip-hop artist Shadrach “Shad” Kabango, celebrated Mexican-American director Juliette Carrillo and designer Christopher Acebo, and Kenya-raised, Vancouver-based composer-percussionist Joelysa Pankanea.

Aguirre, who developed the work through the Playwrights Theatre Centre, found the venue she needed when Electric Company Theatre invited her to come onboard as a core artist. And they encouraged her to fulfill her vision for Anywhere but Here on the large-scale Vancouver Playhouse stage, a space the Electrics are looking to reestablish for theatre.

“This project demands a main stage,” says Aguirre, who’s written 25 plays, including The Refugee Hotel,

a 1970s, early-rap vibe for his rhymes here. And he had fun working with actor Alen Dominguez on rapping style.

“I had to find out what works for his voice, because I have kind of my own style and tone—just meeting the actor and getting a sense of his style and then trying to adjust it,” Shad notes.

Playwright Carmen Aguirre reached out to Shad when it came time to pen rhymes for a Honduran character. Photo by Emily Cooper

The Trigger, and Broken Tailbone, as well as autobiographical books like Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter. “Having been in the business for 30 years, I think it’s about time.…I think we’ve earned the right to be on main stages without compromising.”

AGUIRRE TRACES Anywhere but Here back 30 years, explaining it’s based on dreams she had in the early 1990s, when she was in theatre school at Studio 58.

“I wrote them all down in my journal and illustrated them,” she says. “It was my psyche trying to work out my cultural identity, having spent my entire life in exile. And that’s where the surreal and magic parts of the play come in.”

The plot reflects some of Aguirre’s life experiences. In 1973, Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s coup forced her family to flee Chile for Canada.

And then, in 1979, when Aguirre was 11 years old, her mother and stepfather decided to take her and her younger sister back to South America to join the resistance.

She bounced between strife-torn

This project demands a main stage.

– Carmen Aguirre

Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina, interspersed with return visits to Canada, over the next seven years.

That story was recounted in detail in Something Fierce, the winner of CBC’s Canada Reads 2012—a book championed in the contest’s debate format

by Anywhere but Here collaborator Shad. “I chose Carmen’s book, and then I found out she lived just up the street and we became acquainted,” says the Toronto-based rap artist, who had a place off the Drive in Vancouver at that time, joining a conference call with Aguirre.

Aguirre immediately thought of

Shad when she was struggling to write the dialogue for an Anywhere but Here character who escapes Honduras to make his way to the American border.

“I was going to write a monologue and it came out as a kind of spoken word, and I thought, ‘That doesn’t sound like him, but it would sound great as rap,’ ” recounts Aguirre.

Shad, who stepped in to cowrite those sections with Aguirre, had never penned words for theatre before, let alone raps for someone other than himself. But Anywhere but Here’s reverse-refugee story immediately hit home for him.

“The thing I love about Carmen’s play is it’s about going back to Chile.

That’s something I have familiarity with, because my parents retired and went back to Rwanda about 10 years ago, and a lot of Rwandans are doing that,” Shad explains. “There’s that complicated feeling of home when they’re forced to flee wherever they’re from. And then the character, he’s talking in that typical hip-hop voice—he’s a voice who’s not heard.”

Shad, whose historical knowledge is obvious when he hosts HBO Canada’s Hip-Hop Evolution, decided to dig into

RELATIONSHIPS cultivated across North America and beyond have helped fuel Aguirre’s wildly collaborative project since the beginning.

It was through her well-developed circles of Latinx artists that she reached Michelle Rios, a Broadway and film veteran who now stars in Netflix’s Frontera.

“She’s such a huge trailblazer in Canada,” says Rios, who adds she also had huge admiration for Oregon Shakespeare Festival regular Juliette Carrillo. “The director being a woman, the dramaturge being a woman, the playwright being a woman—just having that energy in the room helped.”

Rios tackles some of the fantastical, or deceased, characters in a play where, as Aguirre describes it, “the veil between this side and that side is very thin.” Rios transforms into not only revolutionary de Padilla, but an elaborately costumed Virgin del Carmen, the patron saint of Chile, and even one of the play’s symbolic monarch butterflies.

“I was exploring how big I wanted to play these characters,” explains Rios. “They are characters who are larger than life, pretty much occurring in the imagination of the young girl in the desert.”

With those magic-realist figures, as well as through comedy and music, Aguirre aims to celebrate traditions of Latin storytelling as well.

“That’s what’s beautiful but very Latinx about it—our oral-history background has a lot of humour to it, finding light in oppressive situations,” Rios observes. “It’s what we’ve been doing for centuries. And bringing music into it allows the audience to have some breath. Even though the story line is heavy, the audience will have a sense of hope.”

So, despite all its dark references— from bloody revolutions against colonial forces to exploitive maquiladoras to that ever-expanding border wall—laughter and joy flood Anywhere but Here. It’s a point Aguirre goes out of her way to emphasize, too.

“Magic and humour,” she ruminates, “that’s how we survive.” g Electric Company Theatre presents Anywhere but Here at the Vancouver Playhouse from Tuesday (February 4) to February 15 as part of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.

Chill Out guide: a flurry of winter arts fests

by Janet Smith

I

n Vancouver, everybody knows by now that festival season isn’t confined to the summertime months.

Well into February, artful lanterns light up the long nights, the city hosts one of the country’s most daring performance series, and Indigenous creations take centre stage around town.

Here are some of the midwinter arts celebrations warming up the damp chill over the next few weeks.

Nanette’s Hannah Gadsby hits the Orpheum February 24 and 25 at JFL NorthWest.

and lays herself bare in Cutlass Spring (February 6 to 8 at the Scotiabank Dance Centre).

LUNARFEST (At Jack Poole Plaza until February 9 and at Oakridge Centre until February 10) This event has been celebrating the Year of the Rat in diverse style, with everything from music performances to family-friendly activities. Highlights: Indigenous art PUSH INTERNATIONAL PERFORMING ARTS meets Asian culture in a mesmerizing array of Coastal FESTIVAL Lunar Lanterns, at Jack Poole Plaza. Check out Musqueam (At various venues to February 9) artist Thomas Cannell’s Salish Sea and Tsleil-Waututh The interdisciplinary festival continues, saving some of its artist Zachary George’s Protector of the Mountain—two most buzzworthy shows till last, from across Canada and inspiring examples of local Indigenous culture. the globe. Highlights: Monday Nights offers up interactive b-ball action on the court (February 6 to 9 at New West- WINTER WANDER minster’s Anvil Centre); Dana Gingras and Animals of (At Vanier Park on February 8) Distinction’s Frontera brings a blast of sculpted light and The Vancouver Maritime Museum, Museum of Vancoualternative-electro-rock sound to the Queen Elizabeth ver, City of Vancouver Archives, Vancouver Academy of Theatre stage (January 30); and for the truly avant-garde, Music, and H.R. MacMillan Space Centre come together see next page Canadian dance artist Dana Michel crawls, rolls, vocalizes,

JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 6 / 2020 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 13

Chill Out

from previous page

to throw a seasonal celebration, complete with special activities, musical performances, and even food trucks on-site. Highlights: Haida interpreter Lia Hart brings to life the Haida Now exhibition at the MoV all day, and you can check out winter-sky presentations at the planetarium and the VAM Symphony Orchestra’s open-door rehearsal.

JFL NORTHWEST (At various venues from February 13 to 25) The fifth edition of the comedy fest serves up big standup names like Bill Burr, Hannah Gadsby, Patton Oswalt, and Jessica Kirson, alongside live podcasts, an intimate In Conversation Series with the likes of Margaret Cho and Bobcat Goldthwait, and more. Highlights: If you watched the 2018 Netflix hit Nanette, you know why the fest has added an extra show

by Tasmanian monologist Gadsby (February 24 and 25 at the Orpheum), who puts her own storytelling twist on standup and takes on thoughtprovoking ideas of gender and sexuality. The Daily Show’s Ronny Chieng (February 22 at the Vogue) just gets better and better, Paper Tiger star Bill Burr is the hands-down big ticket (February 20 at the Orpheum and February 21 at the Queen E.), Magic for Humans star Justin Willman gets tricky (February 13 at the Vogue), and Middleditch & Schwartz (February 15 at the Orpheum) push improv into warped new terrain.

TALKING STICK FESTIVAL (At the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre and various other venues from February 18 to 29) At this year’s multidisciplinary celebration of Indigenous culture, look for powwow action, an artisan fair, Virago Nation burlesque, and the 2-Spirit Ball, alongside family theatre, a film series, and slam poetry.

Highlights: Meegwun Fairbrother’s one-person play Isitwendam (An Understanding), about a half-Ojibway man hired to discredit a residential-

TIP SHEET

HERE ARE FOUR more picks worth heading outside in the pelting rain for. c NOISES OFF (To February 23 at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage) Scott Bellis directs and the hilarious Andrew McNee heads up the cast for Michael Frayn’s finely crafted farce—one that recognizes that the antics backstage are often funnier than those going on on-stage. c SHUVINAI ASHOONA:

MAPPING WORLDS

At the Talking Stick Festival, Tlakentli Dance-Theatre draws on the ancestral traditions of two Indigenous artists from Mexico.

school survivor’s claim, has been called “chilling” and “heartbreaking”; catch it February 26 to 29 at the Roundhouse. And check out Tlakentli Dance-Theatre (February 21 to 23 at the same venue), in a show about two Indigenous artists from Mexico.

COASTAL DANCE FESTIVAL (At the UBC Museum of Anthropology and New Westminster’s Anvil Centre from February 25 to March 1) The Dancers of Damelahamid present artists from B.C.—like the Rainbow Creek Dancers (featuring powerhouse Haida artists Robert Davidson and Terri-Lynn WilliamsDavidson)—and from as far away as New Zealand (the young Tuakana and Teina Leadership Academy Group) in their 13th annual fete for Indigenous dance. Highlights: Inuit artists Tooma Laisa and Leanna Wilson from Canada’s Arctic bring

throat singing and drum dancing to dazzle to Kuebler’s hyperenergized, the Anvil, joining the fest for the first ma r t ia l-a r ts-a nd-st reet-d a ncetime (March 1). influenced choreography.

VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL DANCE FESTIVAL (At the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre and various other venues from March 6 to 28) Kokoro Dance’s annual smorgasbord throws the spotlight on both rising Vancouver talents (like those from Modus Operandi) and international experimentalists (Hungary’s Ferenc Fehér). Highlights: Don’t miss powerhouse Vancouver dance innovator Shay Kuebler’s new Epilogos (March 6 and 7 at the Vancouver Playhouse), his Radical System Art troupe’s dizzying play on the theme of rhetoric, featuring the magnetic performer as a bowler-hatted “orator”.

A galaxy of light projections generated by biomechanical sensors adds

(February 22 to May 24 at the Vancouver Art Gallery) The inspired Inuk artist uses simple pencil crayons and ink to conjure wild worlds that mash up traditions like ice fishing and igloos with fantastical ghosts and creatures. (See her Composition: People, Animals and the World Holding Hands, shown here.)

FESTIVAL DU BOIS (At Mackin Park in Maillardville from March 6 to 8) French-Canadian and francophoneinfluenced folk, roots, and world c GRUPO CORPO (February 28 and 29 at the Vancouver music hits the bandstands alongside Playhouse) Catch the poutine and maple-taffy stands, a jam rhythms as Brazil’s hottest tent, and other exhibits. Highlights: contemporary-dance company Hands down, the all-ages contra dance brings two local premieres to in the Grand Châpiteau, with live the DanceHouse roster. music from the Sybaritic String Band, c STEVEN OSBORNE AND and featuring caller Maureen Collier.

PAUL LEWIS (February 23 Other musical draws include the soulat the Vancouver Playhouse) ful singing of Manitoba’s Beauséjour What happens when you get duo; Haitian-Canadian electro-poptwo of Britain’s most brilliant pers LeFLOFRANCO; the Acadian pianists at the keyboard meeting the Celtic in the accordion, together? Full-on fireworks, fiddle, and piano sounds of Tipsy 3; care of the Vancouver Recital and the traditional Québécois renaisSociety. g sancers of the Yves Lambert Trio. g

March 4 5 6 7 Choreography by Medhi Walerski

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JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 6 / 2020 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 15

ARTS

Ronnie Burkett conjures a secret camp

W

by Alexander Varty

e can’t tell you where you can see Ronnie Burkett’s next creation, but we will tell you that it’s something you won’t want to miss.

As in previous years, the Cultch is presenting the Ontario-based puppeteer’s next local appearance. That’s no big surprise; earlier productions such as Tinka’s New Dress and The Daisy Theatre have generated long runs of packed houses. But on the august facility’s website, Burkett’s new venture into interactive theatre, Forget Me Not, is advertised as taking place at a “secret location”.

With so much history and so much success behind this pairing of artist and venue, why change now?

“I wanted to take away the impulse to sit and watch, which is what a theatre space encourages you to do,” Burkett says in a telephone interview from Sydney, Australia—where, he reports, the air is clear and the temperature moderate. “It’s what we’re trained to do when we walk into a theatre.

“The premise of this piece is that the audience are people who have found an illegal camp, a secret camp of this old crone who writes love letters,” he continues, adding that the action takes place in a dystopian near future, where writing is outlawed and people communicate by governmentsanctioned emojis. “So part of that adventure is just finding the space, and not putting the audience in danger, but taking some of their preconceived comfort away around what it is to enter a performance space.”

The idea, one imagines, is to remove a layer of psychic skin from the audience, so that they will be more open to the ideas and emotions Burkett and his cast of 100 puppets will project.

MAR 8, 2020

Ronnie Burkett reveals one of Forget Me Not’s 100 puppets. Photo by Dahlia Katz

“Oh, absolutely,” he concurs.

“And it’s very interesting that you say I’m taking a layer of skin from them, because what I’ve actually done is that I’ve taken away all my comfort zones, too. I have none of my old familiar touchstones of what it is to go on-stage and do a show, which is very presentational. You will sit there, you will watch… Here, I’m in the middle of 100 people, so not only am I doing the whole show and corralling all these ceremonies, I have to be really aware of all these other bodies in the room. And it’s very interesting for me not to have my old tricks to rely on. This is a whole other way of performing.

“You can’t overperform this crap when you’re that close to people,” he adds, with one of his trademark cackles. “You have to have a layer of sincerity with them, because you’re

right there. They see you sweat.”

The audience may do some sweating of its own. Although Burkett respects most personal boundaries— he’s not out to shame the shy or mock the awkward—part of his intent is to actively engage viewers in the process of making theatre.

“This is not a passive immersive thing,” he stresses. “This is the audience working to create and populate the scenes. There’s really no scenery.

There’s an instance where small marionettes are on a journey, and the audience has to put their hands out as the puppets walk, and they have to become a mountain, and they have to become a valley. So it’s really interesting to see civilians getting up and becoming a mountain so a puppet can walk up them.”

And there will be puppet touch, he cautions. Cheeks will be stroked, perhaps even kissed. But all of this rich strangeness is in the service of something serious: Burkett is alarmed by the loss of social literacy he sees among the cellphoneobsessed, and he envisions Forget Me Not as a ceremony that will unlock our ability to feel and express real emotion.

“This play is about loss. It’s about the loss of freedom. It’s about the loss of written language, our personal language,” he says. “And what’s interesting to me, right now, is creating community with strangers, because I think that’s what theatre has always been. We’re still able to do that, if we put our damn phones down. And we’re still able to play—if we give ourselves permission.” g The Cultch presents Forget Me Not at a secret location from Tuesday (February 4) to March 1.

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TICKETS AT VANARTGALLERY.BC.CA [Left to right] Cindy Sherman, Untitled #588, 2016/2018 (detail), dye sublimation metal print; Untitled #415, 2004 (detail), chromogenic print; Untitled #602, 2019 (detail), dye sublimation metal print; Untitled #574, 2016 (detail), dye sublimation metal print. All images: Courtesy of the Artist and Metro Pictures, New York.

16 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 6 / 2020

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2020VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL DANCEFESTIVAL MARCH 6 –28

Featuring: Shay Kuebler / Radical System Art · Kokoro Dance · InDANCE Ichigo-Ichieh · Farouche · Olivia Shaffer · Ferenc Fehér FakeKnot · Modus Operandi · Boogaloo Academy & Now or Never Crew

A month of World-Class Dance Performances, Free Events, Classes & Workshops, and More

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ARTS

Flying White makes calligraphy move

F

by Alexander Varty

UPCOMING PASAZERKA (THE PASSENGER) Jan 30 - Feb 1, 7:30pm + Feb 2, 2:00pm

Presented by the UBC School of Music The UBC Opera Ensemble performs Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s moving WWIIcentred opera in honour of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

UBC CHOIRS: HER SACRED SPIRIT SOARS Sat Feb 8 at 7:30pm

Presented by the UBC School of Music Choral concert exploring themes of feminine power and social justice, featuring a newly choreographed ballet

by Kirsten Wicklund.

lying White, a new collaboration between Wen Wei Dance, Turning Point Ensemble, and members of Taiwan’s Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra, is guaranteed to be full of surprises—as one might expect from such an international and interdisciplinary cast of characters. But the biggest surprise of all might be that the idea of mixing calligraphy with music and dance didn’t come from Wen Wei Wang.

“Because I’m Chinese, everybody thinks I should know, or I have to know, calligraphy,” the Beijing-trained dancer turned choreographer explains in a phone interview from his Mount Pleasant home. “But I grew up during the Cultural Revolution times, so mostly when we went to school we just studied Mao’s book, the red book.…They banned everything, so calligraphy was part of what had been banned—everything cultural. So, actually I don’t know much about calligraphy, but it is part of our history, our culture.”

For Wang, Flying White—the title refers to a stark and expressive form of Chinese calligraphy—is a chance

Wen Wei Dance’s Flying White flows like ink and brush. Photo by Emily Cooper

to pick up some new moves based on the centuries-old art of ink on paper.

And for Turning Point’s cofounder and conductor Owen Underhill, who joins Dorothy Chang in composing music for the piece, it’s an opportunity to expand on his burgeoning love of the calligraphic arts.

“Turning Point went to Taipei and Shanghai in the last two years,” Wang explains, “and somehow Owen got all these books and magazines about calligraphy. So when we started to talk about this project, he said ‘I really want to use calligraphy.’

He feels that the energy, the movement, it reflects sound. And I said,

‘Oh, wow, it’s like movement, too.’ ” Working with six dancers, Wang is primarily exploring negative space, with the sculptural void between the performers standing in for the unmarked paper between strokes of the calligrapher’s brush.

“I asked each dancer to look at which calligrapher they feel connected to in their body,” he explains. “Some [styles] are more fluid, some are more curved, some are like lines, straight and clear and short. Some are thin and some are thick. So I asked them to just look at those textures to create a movement, improvising to start.”

Wang reiterates how nervous he was when he first started working with such an ancient and revered art form.

“I was going ‘Okay, this is my culture, but I don’t really understand. I don’t know how to pull all this together,’ ” he says. “But I believe that when you’re really honest, you find what you really want to speak.” g Wen Wei Dance and Turning Point Ensemble present Flying White at SFU Woodward’s from Friday to Sunday (January 31 to February 2), with the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.

SEA SONGS AND SHANTIES Sat Feb 22 at 7:30pm

Presented by Early Music Vancouver La Nef and Chor Leoni Men’s Choir perform music of the sea with capstand shanties, halyard shanties, laments, forecastle songs, and short haul shanties: the rich songs that accompany a sailor’s work and play.

WE SHALL OVERCOME FEATURING DAMIEN SNEED Sat Feb 29 at 8:00pm

Presented by the Chan Centre Pianist and composer Damien Sneed leads a program of gospel and civil rights music honouring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Featuring Vancouver’s Universal Gospel Choir.

THE SIMON & GARFUNKEL STORY Tue Mar 3 at 7:30pm

Presented by Quatro Entertainment This immersive concert-style theatre show chronicles the amazing journey shared by the folk-rock duo Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

DIANNE REEVES: BELEZA BRAZIL Sun Mar 8 at 7pm

Presented by the Chan Centre This brand new project sees Dianne Reeves celebrate the sounds of Brazil with guitarist Romero Lubambo, pianist John Beasley, bassist Itaiguara Brandão, and drummer Rafael Barata.

RIDGE

Thu Mar 26 at 7:30pm Presented by the Chan Centre Slam poet and musician Brendan McLeod explores the Vimy Ridge battle in a work commemorating Canadian soldiers while taking a searing look at the futility of war.

Telus Studio Theatre

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Young dancer gets to the pointe at Les Ballets Trockadero

by Janet Smith

G O D ’ S

Despite the laughs, the drag ballet requires serious technique. Photo by Zoran Jelenic

A

s a boy growing up in the disciplined world of classical-ballet training in Lausanne, Switzerland, Ugo Cirri was clear on what the expectations were.

“You wanted to do traditional male roles,” he says, speaking to the Straight from New York City. “They push you so hard and expectations are so high.

“At first I didn’t like ballet because I thought it was very intense, and the teacher was very strict and yelling at us,” he continues, adding his height also became a challenge later on, as he fell just short of the European classical ideal of 180 centimetres.

“Eventually, I grew to like it, but my mom had to push me.”

As a small act of rebellion, Cirri would sometimes don a ballerina’s satin-y pink slippers and dance in the studio. “From as long as I can remember I was putting pointe shoes on,” he says. “I would piqué on them, go straight up on the toes, which makes it easier. But I could only do it for, like, 10 minutes at a time.”

These days, though, Cirri finds himself in the unexpected position of wearing pointe shoes almost every night on-stage. As a new member of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, he performs with an all-male troupe that wears tutus and wigs to send up some of the world’s most famous ballets. And the San Francisco Ballet School alumnus, who also did a more traditional stint as a dancer with Los Angeles Ballet, is here to tell you that as light and fun as the Trocks’ shows are, they involve some of the most demanding work he’s ever had to do.

“Not only do you have to have the technique, but you have to carry that whole Trockadero thing on-stage,” he says. “I have to be funny, and then I have a wig on my head. And you have to put your own makeup on; nobody tells you how hard drag makeup is.”

Cirri had been exposed to the Trocks’ antics at about 12 or 13, but his old-school training made him dismiss them as a career option. He came to the U.S. to study, and it wasn’t until he left the L.A. troupe that he saw his opportunity to apply. In June of last year he was taking a holiday at home in Switzerland when one of the male ballerinas got injured, and he had to drop everything to join the Trocks on a tour of Germany and Austria.

“At first, I was so overwhelmed,” he recalls. “You’re learning so many things at one time. I went from being on holiday to suddenly being onstage in a tutu and pointe shoes.”

As Cirri has travelled with the troupe to Thailand, Japan, and now Canada for the first time, that intense learning curve has continued. When the Trocks return to town, watch for him under the noms de ballet Minnie Van Driver and William Vanilla, and in some of his favourite pieces, such as the classically elegant Paquita and the Jerome Robbins send-up Nightcrawlers.

As for his family, they’re happy that he’s happy—especially his mom, who pushed him to continue with ballet.

“She was the one who’d always be saying I should apply there,” he says of Les Trockaderos. “She had always loved the comedy and the drag side of it. She would be the one saying, ‘Fuck ballet and what they want.’ ” g Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo is at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Saturday (February 1).

L DORIC STRING QUARTET WITH MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN PIANO SUN FEB 16 at 3pm I VANCOUVER PLAYHOUSE Together for the first time in a landmark musical event curated by the Vancouver Recital Society. Hear the Sibelius Quartet and Hamelin and Dvořák Piano Quintets.

An exciting afternoon of music making!

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Works by Schubert, Webern, Dorothy Chang, Ka-Shu Tam, Vivier, Purcell, Cage, & Babbitt

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New works written for Bowers Fader by Vancouver composers Rodney Sharman, Frank Brickle, Stephen Chatman, setting new poems by Tara Wohlberg, and works by Erin Rogers, Paul Salerni, Judith St. Croix, Martin Rokeach, David Claman

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ARTS

Refugee songs and a gift from the North THEATRE

OLD STOCK: A REFUGEE LOVE STORY

Created by Christian Barry, Ben Caplan, and Hannah Moscovitch.

Directed by Christian Barry. A 2B Theatre Company production, presented by the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, Touchstone Theatre, and UBC Theatre and Film. At the Frederic Wood Theatre on Friday, January 24. Continues until January 30

d IT’S MORE THAN the sum of its parts, but Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story is also less than what it might have been—and similar dualities and contradictions run through the entire show.

Old Stock’s subtitle is apt: this musical tells the true story of Chaim and Chaya, Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe who meet, in 1908, in Halifax’s squalid immigrant processing centre, Pier 21. They’re survivors: we quickly learn that his whole family has been slaughtered during one of the pogroms that prefigured the Holocaust, while her husband and infant child perished on a gruelling overland trek out of Romania.

The two are played by Eric Da Costa and Shaina Silver-Baird, who are musicians as well as actors: he performs on clarinet, saxophone, and f lute in the powerful on-stage band; she’s a keeningly effective violinist. Da Costa brings simple, moving awe and humility to Chaim, who hopes only for a new life free from horror. Chaya’s role is more static—and, I think, underwritten—but Silver-Baird can say with a glance or a smile what the text only implies. Their courtship

In Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story, singer and bandleader Ben Caplan plays a carny-chronicler-narrator-shaman called the Wanderer. Photo by Stoo Metz

is halting, awkward, cursed by ghosts, and tender.

That tenderness, however, is underscored by writer Hannah Moscovitch’s entirely justifiable anger at anti-Semitism. Her script takes its title and its subtext from Stephen Harper’s slickly bigoted 2015 campaign reference to “old-stock Canadians”, a coded call for whites to reject multiculturalism in favour of the patriarchal, corporate status quo.

The rage here is embodied by singer and bandleader Ben Caplan, as a carny-chronicler-narratorshaman called the Wanderer, whose outsized presence tends to obliterate Chaya and Chaim’s pain and growth, reducing the two protagonists to illustrative stereotypes.

He shouts a lot, sometimes through a bullhorn; dances maniacally in theatricalized Ashkenazi garb; and makes the mistake of thinking that outrage, in the 21st century, is effectively conveyed by swearing. And yet he also provides Old Stock’s one

truly transcendent moment: donning a tallith, or fringed prayer shawl, he sings a cantorial melody that’s so gorgeous I could have listened to it all night. It’s powerful magic—and seems, in the context of the script, to have convinced God to spare Chaim and Chaya’s young son, Sam, from a fever death.

After that, things quickly gallop to a conclusion. Chaim and Chaya have more children; those kids grow up, go to war, go to university, and continue the line; the elders die. Early incidences of anti-Semitism in Canada are apparently overcome, and little is said about bigotry’s 21st-century resurgence. There’s also no attempt to link the experience of Jewish refugees to more recent influxes of Tamils, Somalis, and Syrians, which is puzzling.

But maybe not all art has to contain a teachable moment. Maybe honouring the ancestors is enough.

by Alexander Varty

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UNIKKAAQTUAT

An Artcirq, 7 Fingers, and Taqqut production. A Cultch and DanceHouse presentation.

At the Vancouver Playhouse on Wednesday, January 22. No remaining performances

d ALTHOUGH THIS PRODUCTION from Canada’s Far North contains acrobatics, it would be entirely misleading to expect some kind of epic Inuit circus. That’s because, thanks to a certain touring megacompany, that term might make you think the show is about glitz and razzle-dazzle, when its biggest strength is that it feels so movingly real, even intimate.

That’s not to say this coproduction by two northern companies (Iglulik’s community-based Artcirq and film studio Taqqut Productions) and one southern one (Montreal’s 7 Fingers) doesn’t hold some transcendently beautiful moments. At one point ghostly souls become the northern lights dancing across the night sky; two women dangling upside down from silks vividly evoke figures sinking through the frigid blue depths of the Arctic Ocean; and two hunters use small orange flames to chase a human-size rabbit in the dark. The projected animated drawings of well-known Inuit artist Germaine Arnaktauyok add to the mystical

Unikkaaqtuat draws from age-old Inuit origin myths. Photo by Alexandre Galliez

feeling, with their stylized figures in amauti parkas and mukluks, narwhal-women, and flames glowing against the 24-hour dark.

But here’s betting those weren’t the only moments that caused the audience to jump up for an extended standing O on the opening night of this stop on the show’s cross-country tour. The response probably had just as much to do with the authentic pride that comes across when its young Inuit performers beat their walrus-skin

qilaut drums, hold each other arm in arm to sing ancient throat songs, listen to an elder tell a story in Inuktitut, and pull off traditional games like the onefoot high kick. And with the unspoken fact that it’s a small miracle that those traditions have survived. In the finale, when the entire cast turns to us to sing while Joshua Qaumariaq strums the guitar he used earlier as a kayak paddle, it feels authentic, generous, and profound in ways so much overproduced culture doesn’t.

The show’s transitions could flow better, especially regarding the framing device of a modern-day Inuit man (Levy Tapatsiak) stuck in a southern hospital. As for the untranslated soundtrack of an elder telling the creation myths, you don’t need surtitles to feel the wonder of women turning into sea creatures, ravens and crows creating the sun and moon, and huskies becoming stars in the sky. (You can easily scan the short stories in a display in the Playhouse lobby beforehand.) Expect macabre touches and ample humour, too.

More than anything, Unikkaaqtuat feels like a gift from the North—a sharing that not only redefines, once again, how “circus” arts can be used, but adds to the ever-growing wealth of original storytelling emerging from Canada’s Indigenous voices.

by Janet Smith

“Faust and Melnikov seemed to perform with one nervous system, and their ability to manipulate these infinitesimal silences elevated their performance from great to exquisite.”

— The Boston Globe

FAUST QUEYRAS MELNIKOV TRIO

NOT TO BE MISSED!

SUN FEB 9 at 3pm I VANCOUVER PLAYHOUSE

A super-trio! Violinist Isabelle Faust and pianist Alexander

Melnikov received critical acclaim for their recording and performances of Beethoven’s Complete Violin Sonatas. The celebrated artists will make a rare appearance with renowned cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras, playing a selection of Beethoven Piano Trios to mark the composer’s 250th anniversary year.

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STRANGERS ON A TRAIN

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I SAW YOU AT COSTCO IN LANGLEY

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 19, 2020 WHERE: Costco in Langley Passing by the freezer section far right of store. You army green coat, short perfect hair, steel blue eyes. I couldn't look away. Me all black with fur collar long black hair. Our eyes locked. I would live to know what you were staring at. I was transfixed by your beauty.

BRIEF, RAINY MONDAY EVENING.

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 20, 2020 WHERE: Dunbar On 41st and Dunbar, I was walking with a friend. It was misty, cold, dark and the rain was coming down heavy! You wore a toque, blonde shoulder length hair and you were walking on your own, I spotted you! It was brief, a split second exchange of eye contact, I looked at the ground... mainly from the rain blasting at my face... But then like that, you were gone! As I said, it was brief but memorable :)

MY FAVOURITE IRISH BARTENDER IN MY FAVOURITE IRISH BAR

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HELLOS AND SMILES IN THE FREEZER SECTION

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 18, 2020 WHERE: IGA (4th and Collingwood) You were wearing a toque and had nice eyes. I was dressed full west coast in black leggings, puffer vest and check shirt, and I’d just got my (strawberry blonde) hair cut so it was looking goooood. You said hi to me in the freezer section and we smiled at each other in the condiment aisle. I was hoping to run into you in produce, but I didn’t see you again.

I SAW YOU IN THE SKYTRAIN

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 17, 2020 WHERE: SkyTrain-ing I saw you in the SkyTrain, you caught my attention and I couldn’t stop looking at you. We took the same 99 bus. You had a black backpack and I guess a yellow jacket. We smiled at each other when you left the bus. I wonder if we could go for a walk.

I WAS PASSING GLANCES AT YOU ON THE R5

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 17, 2020 WHERE: Hastings Street, Hythe

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 19, 2020 WHERE: Seattle to Vancouver Train Ride

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 18, 2020 WHERE: Johnnie Foxes Snug

Dear Chad, (No last name, but your mom's name is Simone).

We met during a train delay from Seattle to Vancouver. I know we connected but I was too shy to give you my number.

Maybe you'll see this?

He always seems happy, tapping a Guinness, God - you’re The sweetest, best-looking, and funniest bartender in the city! Every time I’m in there you always make me feel special.

Will you meet me for a cocktail sometime? :)

It was 11 am, and I got on the Rapid Bus on Gilmore and that’s when I saw you. You were very tall - you were wearing a brown jacket, had lovely long hair and the most gorgeous eyes I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure if you were looking at me, but I gave you a smile. I was wearing a black hoodie with a green overcoat.

BALD HEAD, NICE SMILE

WARM AND FUZZY

RICHMOND DYKE

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 18, 2020 WHERE: International Village Cineplex Me: black hoodie, coral scarf looking for my friend after we saw a movie You: bald man about to go into a movie? We made eye contact and you smiled at me. It was a nice smile and I’m curious.

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 15, 2020 WHERE: King Ed

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 16, 2020 WHERE: Richmond Dyke

Me: red winter jacket with hood and patterned scarf. You: Gold rimmed glasses, blond hair and a killer smile. You smiled warmly and I swear you could’ve melted all the snow. I smiled back and moved aside to let you pass. I wished I’d said hi. Tea?

I was on my E-bike riding in the snow on the Dyke in Richmond Thursday afternoon. You were the beautiful woman that started an amazing conversation about bike riding in the snow and e-bikes. Would love to continue that conversation.

Visit straight.com to post your FREE I Saw You _ JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 6 / 2020 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 21

ARTS LISTINGS ONGOING PUSH INTERNATIONAL PERFORMING ARTS FESTIVAL Annual interdisciplinary arts fest features 27 works from 24 companies, including six world premieres by local artists.

To Feb 9, various Vancouver venues.

Arts

HOT TICKET

THE CHANGELING Thomas Middleton and William Rowley’s sensual and dark 17thcentury English tragedy. To Feb 1, 7:30-9:30 pm, Telus Studio Theatre. $11.50-24.50.

GRAMMA A poetic new tale of human connection in the loneliest of circumstances. To Feb 1, 8-9:15 pm, Pacific Theatre. $20-36.50.

NOISES OFF Farce about the egos and insecurities of a second-tier acting troupe putting on a show. To Feb 23, Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage. From $29.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29 THE BELIEVERS ARE BUT BROTHERS Multimedia show weaves together a story of masculinity, fantasy, violence, and reality. Jan 29–Feb 1, 8 pm, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. $15-36.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 30 VETTA PRESENTS THE IMMORTAL FLUTE Flutist Lorna McGhee is featured in a program of works by Mozart, Villa-Lobos, Debussy, Beethoven, and Dvořák. Jan 30, 2 pm; Jan 31, 7:30 pm, West Point Grey United Church. $20/25.

FRONTERA The PuSh Festival presents the Western Canadian premiere of Dana Gingras’s multimedia experience of motion, sound, and light. Jan 30, 8 pm, Queen Elizabeth Theatre. From $39.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 31 PEKING ACROBATS Famed acrobatics team performs trick-cycling, precision tumbling, somersaulting, and gymnastics. Jan 31, 7:30 pm, Kay Meek Arts Centre. $29-59.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1 LES BALLETS TROCKADERO DE MONTE CARLO Show One Productions presents all-male ballet company. Feb 1, 8 pm, Queen Elizabeth Theatre. From $25.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3 HAN, FINCKEL, SETZER TRIO David Finckel (cello) and Wu Han (piano), artistic directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and Philip Setzer (violin) of the Emerson Quartet, are one of the most satisfying ensembles we present, always playing with great elan and sensitivity. The program chosen has Beethoven Opus1 #2, Mendelssonh Opus 49, and Schubert Opus 100. Feb 3, 3 pm, Vancouver Playhouse. $60 early, $70 door.

VIFF‘19

22 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 6 / 2020

BECKY’S NEW CAR (January 30 to February 1, February 5 to 8 and 12 to 15 at Hendry Hall) Expect a few U-turn plot twists in Steven Dietz’s gently comedic look at middle-aged Becky Foster (Colleen Brow), who falls for a millionaire and a chance at a new life. Expect longing, regret, and laughs, presented

by North Vancouver Community Players. g

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4 SONGRISE IMPROV CHOIR: COME SING AT ONE OR ALL SESSIONS! Your voice is the instrument in a spontaneous vocal orchestra! Sing soulful grooves, heavenly harmonies, and body-shakin’ rhythms, all created in the moment. Nothing to rehearse, just sing what is sung to you. Build music skills, connect with others and have fun!

Inspired by Bobby McFerrin. Come to one or all sessions! Tix: SongRise.ca Feb 4–Apr 7, 7-8:30 pm, Kitsilano Neighbourhood House.

Advance $18, door $22.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5 GOD’S LAKE Documentary theatre about the strength of the people in the remote fly-in reserve of God’s Lake Narrows, Manitoba. Feb 5-8, 8 pm, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. $15-36.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6 STRAIGHT WHITE MEN Western Canadian debut of Young Jean Lee’s satirical comedy about three brothers who return home for the holidays. Feb 6-15, Gateway Theatre. From $29.

ARTS LISTINGS are a public service provided free of charge. Submit events online using the event-submission form at straight. com/AddEvent.

MOVIES

The journey from juvie to priesthood REVIEWS CORPUS CHRISTI

Starring Bartosz Bielenia. In Polish, with English subtitles. Rating unavailable

d WHAT, EXACTLY, is the Body of Christ? Is it a metaphorical concept representing the physical presence of God on earth or, more carnally, the symbolic essence of human suffering?

Has it come to stand in for a kind of innocence sullied by Catholicism’s own sins? Such questions are asked, subtly and without much resolution, of course, in Corpus Christi, a beautifully crafted Polish film that has garnered an Academy Award nomination and many prizes at international festivals.

Directed by Jan Komasa and written by frequent collaborator Mateusz Pacewicz, the story begins in a most ungodly place: a Polish juvenile-detention centre. It’s packed with skinny, shaven-headed youngsters and run by priests, so the place does have a monastic feel at times. That’s particularly true when the camera rests on Bartosz Bielenia as Daniel, a hauntedlooking 20-year-old who comes to life when Father Tomasz (Lukasz Simlat) leads the lads in prayer.

Daniel displays a beautiful singing voice for hymns of redemption. Indeed, he’s interested in joining a seminary. But on release, he’s told his record won’t allow it, and is packed off to a sawmill in a remote area near the Slovakian border. One look at the place, staffed by violent toughs who look just like him, and Daniel walks off, towards a distant church. This place has only one worshipper, the worldly Eliza (impressive Eliza Rycembel), understandably skeptical of his insistence that he’s a newly ordained priest.

His impulsive gesture sets off events that find our blue-eyed interloper not only subbing for the troubled old-timer who normally runs the place, but attracting a younger, more engaged crowd in the process. He’s a natural performer, and what starts as a lark becomes more serious when he sees that the town is riven by a terrible accident that occurred years earlier, with factions still angry at each other.

There are also signs of corruption and cover-up. But this is no routine melodrama, and the narrative conflicts allow these young filmmakers to explore the many guises people wear, and what role religion can have in community life—especially in a place, like ex–Iron Curtain Poland, where the church had been associated with both repression and resistance to it.

This may sound like heavy going, but Corpus Christi is surprisingly entertaining, sometimes funny fare, with a soft colour palette, smart dialogue, and enough graceful repose to provoke deeper thought. Here, you won’t have to suffer for your cinema.

by Ken Eisner

THE GENTLEMEN

Starring Matthew McConaughey.

Rated 14A

d THE GENTLEMEN is a date movie for bros. Fans of Guy Ritchie’s U.K.–based Tarantinoisms should know that this is more of the same, for better or worse. The better part is that the cast has so much fun with familiar material it’s not difficult to simply yield to their judgment in picking scripts and packing heat.

The head gentleman is Mickey Pearson, a Yankee expat played by Matthew McConaughey with the kind of poise and introspection he usually saves for piloting a brandnew Lincoln. Mickey was a Rhodes scholar who realized selling weed to students was more rewarding than studying Chaucer. By the time we meet him, in today’s multi-culti London, he’s been on the job so long, he’s ready to cash out and join the landed gentry—who remain his best clients,

and hosts to his vast operations—in their green and pleasant indolence.

Returning to the Cockney-upstart roots of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels after glossier hits and fizzles, Ritchie is, as always, more interested in form than story. And the central tale-spinner here is not MickeyMickey-you’re–so-fine but a tabloid photojournalist called Fletcher. A goateed Hugh Grant here channels middle-aged Michael Caine as a trickster character who’s really a stand-in for the filmmaker. You see, Fletcher is pushing his own screenplay while attempting to extort extra poundage from Pearson’s number two, Charlie Hunnam’s bearded, bespectacled Ray—a kind of exec-producer with access to serious funding, you might say.

The movie is built around the awkward pas de deux between these hirsute hustlers, with Ray only listening because the greedy paparazzo has genuine intel on another Ritchie rich guy, an effete American aristo played

by Jeremy Strong. The latter has an Asian rival for purchase of the bush biz, although Henry Golding’s character has less to do with the Chinese mafia than with the Chinese market for action movies. There are side-trips with a very amusing Colin Farrell as a boxing coach trying to teach innercity toughs good values while being himself expert at the old ultraviolence.

Fletcher’s ongoing patter allows the director to deploy all sorts of cinematic digressions, including stand-alone music videos and a literal sequel pitch at The End. (Or is it?) The frameswithin-frames device also gives Ritchie plausible deniability for the casual racism and random homophobia that ripple through the otherwise good-natured film. And women? Fuggeddaboudit. The only female character of note is Mickey’s wife, “a Cockney Cleopatra” dutifully embodied by Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery.

She plays an ornamental property whose bluntly presented almost-rape gets Mickey’s blood boiling for the last act. Because bros don’t like other bros messin’ with their toys, do they?

treat their film’s mayhem as the fate of a world already weakened by inhumanity. Incredibly, it ends on an even bleaker note than the original.

But it’s also outlandish fun, with lashings of gore and extravagantly disgusting practical effects compensating for the ripe dialogue and Mackenzie Gray’s camped-out performance as fashion honcho Gunter.

You could make the case that a certain lack of polish is the exploitation filmmaker’s historical privilege.

But when the Soskas drop the gloves, as when that soap stud is overcome by infection and his rage is triggered by a younger rival—it’s a ferocious, superbly staged sequence—you see what they’re really capable of.

OSCAR SHORTS: ANIMATION In English, French, and Mandarin, with English subtitles. Rating unavailable

d ANXIOUS ANIMALS, problematic puppets, and grieving girls dominate this latest fistful of Oscar ’toon contenders: the usual five plus four extras that arrive with Academy commendation.

There’s both a “Daughter” and a “Sister” here (plus another “Sister” in the live-action shorts package), so you know there’s a theme a-brewin’.

One of many stop-motion items here, “Daughter” is a Czech-made callback to the Jan Švankmajer style of wordless

by Adrian Mack Eastern European animation. Here,

via purposely crude paper puppets, a woman tending her dying father recalls her emotional connections to him when she was a small child.

Another little girl entreat her dad in “Hair Love”, a spunky item (execproduced by Jordan Peele) about the travails of coping with African hair, with some help from a mom voiced

by Issa Rae. Unfortunately, cheesy music, corny comedy, and a cloying finish make this a sweetly drawn disappointment. In China’s “Sister”, fiber-fuzzy puppets represent a cozy family, with big brother recalling the most trying traits of his little sibling.

This wonderfully imaginative work takes a twist at the end—one that might be misinterpreted by those see next page

by Ken Eisner

RABID

Starring Laura Vandervoort.

Rated 18A

d IF 1977’S Rabid is remembered as perhaps the least of David Cronenberg’s early efforts, this remake has prompted Vancouver’s Soska Sisters (American Mary) to produce their most fully realized feature to date.

Cronenberg’s film concerned a young woman turned vampiric disease-carrying monster, thanks to experimental plastic surgery. Its greatest strength was the treatment of Rose as a tragic figure (affectingly played by porn star Marilyn Chambers), and the Soskas extend yet more sympathy to the character, once again the victim of unethical science after a disfiguring accident.

Laura Vandervoort takes the lead, and she’s the best thing about this reboot, which places Rose inside a heartless fashion industry and surrounds her with victimizing men, most obviously Tim Atherton’s megalomaniacal surgeon, who sees Rose as little more than a lab monkey for his mad dream of transhumanism.

He’s named Dr. William Burroughs in one of the film’s many callbacks to the Cronenberg oeuvre. Blink and you’ll miss the desk photograph of Mrs. Burroughs, played here, as it were, by ’70s scream queen Lynn Lowry, whose iconic scene in Cronenberg’s Shivers gets replayed when Rose seduces and then bites a hunky soapopera star (Stephen Huszar) during a late-night visit to the pool. Thus begins the contagion that eventually brings extremely gory chaos to Toronto and Hamilton, probably playing New York.

If Cronenberg’s interest was society in breakdown, unleashed by a woman in sudden possession of an infectious armpit phallus, the Soskas

JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 6 / 2020 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 23

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who know little about recent Chinese family policies.

Another puppet ’toon, “Henrietta Bulkowski” is named for a grown woman, although her growth has been stunted by a spinal deformity that makes her stare at the ground. So naturally, she dreams of flying. With the help of a junkyard guard voiced

by Chris Cooper, she gets her wish, to very cloying effect. Much more effectively, France’s Bruno Collet uses claymation in the aptly titled “Memorable” to depict an aging painter whose slide into dementia finds his world, and his own visage, literally coloured by Van Gogh, Giacometti, and the other artists who influenced him.

Also from France, the funniest flickette here is “Hors Piste”, which follows a pair of helicopter medics who go through hella trouble when an Alpine rescue goes wrong, and wrong, and wrong. Elsewhere, critters large and small face stormy times in Ireland’s self-descriptive “The Bird and the Whale” and “Kitbull”, with the

latter’s dog-and-cat tale being Pixar’s fine first attempt at a hand-drawn style. With any luck, this curiously uneven program will be capped by the terrific “Maestro”, a French-made two minutes of Italian opera performed by nocturnal forest animals. Remember, it’s not over until the fat squirrel sings!

by Ken Eisner

QUEZON’S GAME

Starring Raymond Bagatsing. In English and Tagalog, with English subtitles. Rating unavailable

d MOST OF THE big stories of the Second World War have been told.

So it’s refreshing when tale-spinners find something new to say. There’s certainly a lot to admire about the makers of Quezon’s Game, which dramatizes a bold move by top-level Filipinos to save imperilled Jewish refugees just before the war.

TV veteran Raymond Bagatsing is certainly charismatic enough to play Manuel Quezon. The first modern president of the Philippines was

forward-thinking enough to plan a whole new city, and vain enough not to protest when his underlings wanted to name it after him. He was also preoccupied with speeding up the process of emancipation from the United States, which had been governing the place since the dubiously mounted Spanish-American War. Quezon himself grew up under Spanish rule, and was part Spanish.

The new leader quickly recognized the violently racist threat posed by the Nazi regime. At the time, though, he had to strike a delicate balance between European and Yankee higherups, the military and dissident members of his own government, and the looming Japanese army.

Unfortunately, the film’s telenovela lighting, stilted acting, and whistling synthesizer music don’t always suit the gravity of the story, while both Bagatsing and David Bianco, who plays future general and president Dwight D. Eisenhower, are at least 20 years too young for their parts.

There’s some fancy diplomacy afoot as Quezon, prodded by a Jewish businessman stranded in Manila (Billy Ray Gallion), butts up against German interference and blatant anti-Semitism in the U.S. State Department. The best parts of the movie have less to do with politics and history than with simple tourism. The wide-angle, colour-rich cinematography of exterior settings is enhanced by all the white suits and vintage cars.

All that said, the movie has an audacious streak, in that the filmmakers, led by transplanted Yank director Matthew Rosen, are genuinely interested in the politics of the period. Limits to the budget and acting ability dampen its vision, but the script is surprisingly frank about the island-packed country’s rocky road to independence, its tough spot in the war, and its subsequent relationship with the U.S. Clips of actual survivors are included in the credits, after a longish two hours that get most interesting toward the end.

by Ken Eisner

Begonia is not afraid of big questions

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by Mike Usinger

s one might rightly deduce from an album title like Fear, Winnipeg’s Begonia was working through some things while she was crafting her solo debut. Expectedly, then, peeling back the layers of the album’s 12 songs provides a window into the mind of an artist who understands the big issues are often as important as the small ones. This starts to become clear when the singer born Alexa Dirks breaks down the album’s slow-burning leadoff track, “The Other Side”.

“I wanted to be good growing up,” Dirks reveals, on the line from a Saskatoon tour stop. “I wanted to do good, and that brought about a lot of guilt and shame when I would do things that were perceived as bad when I was small. Things like sneaking an extra cookie from the cookie jar when I was a kid. Literally, I can remember doing that and crying myself to sleep. I had real conscience struggles, and ‘The Other Side’ is all about that—coming to terms with what that means as an adult. Like, still wanting to be a ‘good person’, but knowing that it’s not always that black-and-white.”

Because things aren’t always black-and-white, “The Other Side” isn’t just about the cookie jar, as evidenced by such lyrics as “And with my eyes closed I listen in the night/ Thinking it’d be nice just to see the other side.” Venture that might very well be read as one person wondering if there’s a world more appealing than this one, and Dirks makes no attempt to deflect.

“Yes, that song also absolutely came from a place of a bit more desperation,” she acknowledges. “I guess I just used the cookie analogy because it would be a little bit easier for people to access immediately. But I’m also not afraid to go deep in the lyrics, and I think it’s important to explore all of your emotions. That can be the lighter-side-of-life questions and also the deeper side. All are valid.”

Fear is as revealing as Dirks is open and engaging as an interview subject. Lyrically, she indeed goes deep, with “Cold Fire” suggesting that she’s had the strength to pull out of an unhealthy relationship with lines like “I will never go back to who I was before/Living in darkness, never feeling sure” and “Invited yourself over to my house/I wanted to love you, but I should have kicked you right out.”

The singer isn’t new to the game; before going solo as Begonia she spent years kicking around the Winnipeg music scene, perhaps most notably as a member of the progfolk unit Chic Gamine. With Fear, she decided to rip up her own playbook and push herself artistically, supported and guided by producers Matt Peters and Matt Schellenberg of ’Peg indie heroes Royal Canoe. Twoand-a-half years went into the writing and recording process, leading to Fear being hailed as an under-theradar masterpiece by tastemakers (NPR, CBC, The Line of Best Fit) around the world.

Quite rightly, Dirks has been lauded for her singing—“The Other Side”

starts out in the Church of Downbeat Soul and then builds to the spine-tinglingly powerful. But just as incredible is how the music on Fear draws on everything from fog-shrouded triphop (“The Light”) to synth-buzzed electro-pop (“Hanging on a Line”) to torch-flared neojazz (“Two Beers In”).

“In my creativity, when something feels ‘right’, that’s where I move from,” she says. “That doesn’t mean it always feels good. I’m not always a superscholastic writer. I don’t have any formal training, and that used to be something that really made me self-conscious. It was really painful for me—stepping out and becoming confident, knowing that I didn’t have the same language as my peers. Now I realize my own strength is my personal language.”

That journey, as one might deduce from the album’s title, came with a struggle.

“I’m not the kind of person who is ever 100 percent sure of myself,” Dirks admits. “I can be very confident, and I definitely lean towards the positive. But I’m never walking into a room going, ‘Everybody loves me.’ That’s not how I operate.”

Her self-doubts can be traced back to everyone having had an opinion on her career long before she became Begonia. It’s not lost on Dirks that she could have chosen a more straightforward path as a mainstream soul-pop singer, out to please rather than challenge.

“Right from when I started singing, I had people telling me what they think I should do artistically,” she says. “I think people heard my voice and were like, ‘Oh, you’re loud, so you should do this kind of music.’ People would always come up to the merch table telling me that they think that I sound like Adele. I totally understand the reference, and I totally understand that people want to compare you to someone who is really famous.

And I did feel pressure for a minute, thinking ‘I should try and write a torch song that’s going to be really radio-friendly.’ But that’s just not as easy for me, or maybe a better word is natural.”

After taking a quick second to note that her love of Adele is matched only by her respect for the British megastar, Dirks continues. “So because of that comparison, every now and then I would think, ‘What kind of artist do people want me to be?’

But I’ve definitely thrown that route out the window. Once I committed to making the record that I did, and also to putting it out on my own label independently, it really changed the game for me. It was like, ‘I am officially now doing me the most honest way that I can.’ ” Enjoy peeling back the layers, because with Begonia there are a lot of them. g Begonia plays the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts on Friday (January 31) and the sold-out Fox Cabaret on Saturday (February 1).

24 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 6 / 2020

MUSIC LISTINGS

MUSIC

Beaches branch out on Professional

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CONCERTS JUST ANNOUNCED THE STROKES New York City guitar-rock band, with guests Alvvays. Mar 5, 7:30 pm, Rogers Arena. Tix on sale Jan 31, 10 am, $125/99.50/75/49.50.

by Mike Usinger

o one wants a band to make the same record over and over again to diminishing returns, but the Beaches might have been forgiven if they’d done that with The Professional. After all, the past 24 months have seen the Toronto four-piece gain serious traction with 2017’s Late Show, a record that suggested rock wasn’t as dead as it seems in a world ruled by hip-hop.

On Late Show, the Beaches positioned themselves as capable of holding their own in a knife fight with the Strokes and the Runaways. The album landed the band breakthrough-groupof-the-year honours at the 2018 Junos and made an argument that guitars were cool again.

So how did singer-bassist Jordan Miller, her guitarist sister Kylie, keyboardist Leandra Earl, and drummer Eliza Enman-McDaniel decide to follow their breakthrough? That would be by showing they’re not one-trick ponies with The Professional, an EP that serves up disco burners (“Desdemona”), cascading electro-funk (“Want What You Got”), and teardrop postpunk (“Snake Tongue”).

“With Late Show, we knew that

audiences had been hearing the songs for a long time,” Jordan says, on the line from her Toronto home. “Some of the songs on that record were five or six years old, so we knew how we wanted them to sound. And the way that we recorded it was all about making those songs sound like they did live. What’s made The Professional a bit more scary but exciting is that they are all brandnew songs, except for maybe ‘Lame’.

I’m really curious how people are going to receive them.”

While the Beaches throw the glam stomper “Lame” into the mix to show they haven’t abandoned what got them here, open-minded fans won’t be disappointed. Jordan calls the decision to branch out on The Professional a calculated one; no one in the era of Spotify, Tidal, and Apple Music listens to one genre and one genre only, so there’s no point targeting a single audience.

Helping guide the Beaches was Irish producer Garret “Jacknife” Lee, a past collaborator who’s worked with everyone from U2 and the Killers to Bob Moses and Bat for Lashes.

“I had an idea of the direction that I wanted to go, but he really helped us focus,” Jordan says. “When we took

in songs like ‘Desdemona’ and ‘Want What You Got’, he was like, ‘Let’s do a rock ’n’ roll dance album.’”

Late Show took the Beaches to places they never dreamed when they began playing music in high school, including opening arena shows for the Rolling Stones and Foo Fighters. Jordan notes that one of the most important pieces of career advice she’s ever received came from Metric’s Emily Haines, who coproduced Late Show.

“She said, ‘If someone is telling you to do something because they think it will make you more money, or garner you more success and attention, don’t do it if it doesn’t feel right. Because at the end of the day, you are the one that’s going to have to perform the material and put your name on it.’ The message was ‘Listen to your gut, because it’s your body of work.’ Because of that, I always trust my instincts now whenever I’m pushing myself. I asked myself, ‘Am I comfortable with these songs?’ when we were working on The Professional. And the answer was ‘Yes, totally.’ ” g

PALAYE ROYALE Can-Am glam-rock band, with guests Arrested Youth and the Hunna. Apr 19, 8 pm, Venue. Tix on sale Jan 31, 10 am, $28.50.

THE CORONAS Indie-rock band from Dublin, Ireland. Apr 26, 8:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix on sale Jan 31, 10 am, $27.75.

DUNE RATS Rock band from Australia. May 5, 9 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. Tix on sale Jan 31, 10 am, $20.

CIRCLE JERKS Hardcore L.A. punk-rockers from the ‘80s, with guests the Adolescents.

May 6, 8 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix on sale Jan 31, 10 am, $35.

DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL Alt-rock band from Florida, led by singer-songwriter Chris Carrabba, with guests the Drew Thomson Foundation. May 24, 8:15 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix on sale Jan 31, 10 am, $39.50.

FUZZ Rock band from the States. May 31, 8 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. Tix on sale Jan 31, 8 am, $22.50.

CUB SPORT Indie-pop band from Australia.

Jun 6, 8 pm, Biltmore Cabaret. Tix on sale Jan 31, 10 am, $15.

FEMI KUTI & THE POSITIVE FORCE Afrobeat from Nigeria. Jul 1, 8:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix on sale Jan 31, 10 am, $39.50.

PEACH PIT Vancouver indie-pop quartet plays two shows, with guest Haley Blais.

Jul 11, 2 pm, 8 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix on sale Jan 31, 10 am.

LAUV Electro-pop artist from L.A. Aug 24, 7:30 pm, Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Tix on sale Jan 31, $69.50/45/29.50.

The Beaches play the Commodore Ballroom on February 7.

FEB

1 BISON

FEB

WITH BOB SUMNER, WAR BABY, HASHTEROID, KILLER DEAL

16 DAN BERN

FEB

WITH ARISE ROOTS, TANK GYAL

FEB

FEB

WITH BRIDGE CITY SINNERS, VIC RUGGIERO

FEB

2 ALBOROSIE & THE SHENGEN CLAN 6 THE WORLD/INFERNO FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY

FEB

7 THE BLACK HALOS

FEB

8 THE BLACK HALOS

FEB

11 ROSS THE BOSS

FEB

12 SOULFLY

WITH THE SPITFIRES, SORE POINTS

15 LUCKY CHOPS

FEB

16 CHERDLEYS

FRIDAY, JANUARY 31 THEORY OF A DEADMAN Hard-rock quartet from Delta. Jan 31–Feb 1, 9:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom. $42.50.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1 BISON Local heavy-metal band, with guests Bob Sumner, War Baby, Hashteroid, and Killer Deal. Feb 1, 7:30 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. $17.50.

EMILY KING R&B/soul singer-songwriter from New York City. Feb 1, 8 pm, Rio Theatre. $32.50.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2 LLOYD COLE English pop-rock singer-songwriter. Feb 2, 8 pm, Rio Theatre. $29.50.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4 TEMPLES Rock band from England, with guests Art d’Ecco. Feb 4, 8 pm, Fox Cabaret.

MUSIC LISTINGSare a public service provided free of charge. 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.

AT ’S LANALOU

*SOLD

WITH OUT* AT ’S DEAR FATHER LANALOU

20 DAVE HAUSE & THE MERMAID

21 ANTIBALAS WITH GUESTS FEB RICH HOPE, THE VICIOUS CYCLES M.C., 22 THE WILD NORTH FEB

29 THE MUSIC OF CREAM

MAR

50TH ANNIVERSARY WORLD TOUR

6 SMALL TOWN ARTILLERY

MAR

8 COCO MONTOYA

WITH JOHNNY WAKEHAM, DJ PENNY

WITH KÁRÀ-KÁTÀ AFROBEAT GROUP

7 THE REAL MCKENZIES

CLEMENTINE VON RADICS

*SOLD OUT*

WITH ORIT SHIMONI

MAR

WITH GUESTS RAINCITY

3

GIRLFRIEND MATERIAL Canadian indie-rock band featuring members of Tokyo Police Club and Hollerado. Jan 29, 9 pm, Fox Cabaret. $15.

28 POLYRHYTHMICS

WITH IRON KINGDOM, GREYHAWK, DAMSEL

MAY

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29

FEB

WITH BISHOPS GREEN, CHAIN WHIP

WITH TOXIC HOLOCAUST, INGESTED, VISCERAL DISGORGE, GUESTS

FEB

THE LUMINEERS Indie-folk band from Denver, with guests Gregory Alan Isakov and Daniel Rodriguez. Sep 8, Rogers Arena. Tix on sale Jan 31, noon.

ROGER WATERS British prog-rock legend and activist of Pink Floyd fame performs on his new tour This Is Not a Drill. Sep 14, 8 pm, Rogers Arena. Tix on sale Jan 31, 10 am.

WITH LITTLE DESTROYER, PHONO PONY

WITH REAL SICKIES, ATD, THE SHIT TALKERS

WITH GUESTS

MARTIN BARRE

*JUST ED* C ANNOUN

JETHRO TULL

PERFORMS CLASSIC WITH ORIGINAL MEMBERS: DEE PALMER & CLIVE BUNKER

Employment EMPLOYMENT

Education

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Drum Teachers Wanted Port Moody

Volunteers

Ontheway Travel Consulting Ltd

o/a Best Vancouver Tours is looking for Marketing Director. Permanent, F/T (35 h/w) Wage - $ 48.50 /h. Requirements: Good English, 2-3 years of experience, Bachelor's degree.

Main duties: Conduct marketing research and analyze competitive environment; Plan, develop, oversee, coordinate and evaluate implementation of marketing strategies and campaigns;Create marketing materials and manage social media presence; Report to management and provide recommendations for future tactics;Oversee and manage the company’s marketing budget.

Company’s business address and job location: 3-512 Sharpe St, New Westminster, BC, V3M 4R2 Please apply by e-mail: hr.onthewaytravel@gmail.com

SIBER FACADE GROUP INC.

is hiring Construction Assistant Manager Perm, F/T (30 h/w). Salary: $ 37.80 /h Experience 1-2 years, good English, college diploma in construction technology.

Main duties: Plan, organize and control construction projects; Create and oversee construction contracts, schedules, specifications, budget reports; Perform budget estimates; Monitor the execution of the project schedule; Prepare reports; Hire and supervise staff; Direct the purchase of materials, manage budget; Implement quality control procedures; Direct, control and evaluate daily operations.

Company’s business address and job location: Unit 230, 7270 Market Crossing, Burnaby BC, V5J 0A3. Please apply by e-mail: hr@siberconstruction.com

Crossroads Guitar & Drums is seeking qualified teachers. Must have experience. Pls. send resume crossroadsmusic17@gmail.com

Hospitality/Food Service

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is HIRING for 2 PERM & F/T Cook positions. $16/hr. 40 hrs./wk.10 days’ paid vacation.Cook food from menu. Min. 2 yrs. cook exp.

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26 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 6 / 2020

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Dump that boundary-disregarding jerk

by Dan Savage

b I’M A 33-YEAR-OLD woman in a relationship with a 43-year-old man. My boyfriend’s fantasy is to have a threesome with another man. He enjoys watching me have sex with other men and then intermittently fucking me. But he mostly likes to watch me get fucked. For a long time, my boyfriend would send nudes or videos of him fucking me to men we met on dating apps. We would talk dirty about it during sex. Recently, we met up with a man for the first time.

I don’t think it went well.

My boyfriend and I have had conversations about my fear of contracting an STI. So before the threesome started, I explained to my boyfriend and the other guy that condoms were required. They both agreed. This guy was really nervous and when he put a condom on, he went flaccid. He would try to fuck me with his flaccid, condom-covered penis, but it just didn’t work. He would take the condom off, jerk off, get semihard, put a condom back on, go completely soft again.

Even when I sucked the guy’s dick: nothing. (He actually told me to stop trying!) So my boyfriend, who was observing and jerking off, suggested we forget the condoms in the hopes this guy could stay hard. I said no and restated my boundary. The guy still couldn’t get it up, hopped out of bed, and started getting dressed. My boyfriend offered to let the guy cream-pie me if he would stay. I said fuck no and the guy left. He didn’t even say bye.

I don’t know why the guy couldn’t get hard. But I certainly don’t think my boundary should be compromised because a stranger can’t get it up.

My boyfriend keeps suggesting we meet up with this guy again so he can www.ClassicClassifieds.ca www.theswedishtouch.com

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“get closure”. He really wants to watch this guy at least come on me. My boyfriend and this guy have since texted about him fucking me again. I’m all for being GGG, but…what the fuck?

I thought this guy was kind of an asshole. My boyfriend was definitely an asshole. My questions are: if I’m uncomfortable during a threesome, how do I politely call it off ? I don’t want to embarrass anyone, but this went on for two hours and the guy never got it up. How do I terminate a threesome without sounding like a bitch?

- Threesome Obviously Dried Up My Pussy To politely call off a threesome, TODUMP, all you gotta say is, “Hey, this isn’t working for me—let’s take a rain check.” Say it while pulling up your pants and use your “fi nal answer” voice.

And the “rain check” thing doesn’t have to be sincere. It can be, of course, if you’re interested in trying again sometime, but it doesn’t have to be.

The “rain check” thing is mostly a nice, polite, face-saving, ego-sparing way to ease someone out of your pants/bed/playroom/apartment/ whatever. And if anyone starts arguing with you—if your third or your primary partner starts arguing with you—don’t worry about being polite, TODUMP. Go ahead and be a bitch: “This is over; you/they need to go; rain check rescinded, asshole/assholes.”

And while we’re on the subject of terminating things with assholes, TODUMP, you need to dump your incredibly shitty fucking boyfriend immediately—and there’s no need to be polite about it. Fuck him. Your boyfriend tried to coerce you into having sex without condoms when he knew

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you didn’t want to; you consented to having a threesome on the condition that condoms be used. Attempting to reopen negotiations about your stated boundaries once the threesome was underway was a violation of your consent. And your boyfriend knew you wouldn’t want to embarrass anyone and maliciously attempted to weaponize your consideration for other people’s feelings against you! Can’t you see that? He was hoping you wouldn’t embarrass him by refusing to have sex without condoms after he “offered” to let this guy cream-pie you (come inside you) to get him to stay! He was hoping you’d rather risk an STI than risk embarrassing or contradicting him! And on top of that, he spoke to this guy like it was up to him—up to them—what happened next, like you were a Fleshlight or tube sock or something!

And now your asshole boyfriend is pressuring you to get back together with a guy who couldn’t get it up with a condom on when he knows you don’t want to have sex without condoms? A guy who couldn’t be bothered to say goodbye after you sucked his fucking dick? And your boyfriend is claiming you owe him (or them) closure?

WTF? This relationship should have been over the moment your boyfriend made it clear some stranger’s dick was more important to him than your health, safety, and boundaries. In that moment—that moment he attempted to barter away your boundaries—he proved he can’t be trusted and you aren’t safe with him, TODUMP, alone or with a third.

DTMFA. This is every woman’s nightmare scenario when it comes to cuckolding

or hotwifing—that her boyfriend or husband will pressure her to do things she doesn’t want to do during a sexual encounter with another man. Guys like your boyfriend not only don’t deserve to have GGG girlfriends or their fantasies fulfilled, they ruin things for other wannabe cucks, stags, and hot husbands. He not only deserves to be alone forever, TODUMP, he deserves to be kicked in the balls forever. b ONE OF MY closest friends kissed me while very drunk, told his female partner, and now he’s not allowed to see me anymore, even in group settings. (I am also female.) I understand that cutting off contact is the universally recommended first step after someone cheats, but considering how close we are as friends, it is heartbreaking to think I might lose him over this one incident. We are former coworkers and we’ve been close friends and regular drinking buddies for 12 years. Nothing has ever happened between us before this one very drunk night. We ended up making out on the sidewalk outside of a bar and exchanged a few semidirty text messages later that night, which—unfortunately for all of us—his partner saw. He thinks we just need to be patient and one day we’ll be able to pick up our friendship where we left off. And while I know he needs to prioritize his partner now, I’m scared that we actually won’t be able to stay friends after this.

Do I just swallow my sadness about the likelihood of losing a best friend over a relatively minor infidelity?

Or is there anything I can do to help the situation? FWIW: I’m in a happy open marriage and have never once

tried to initiate anything with him.

I’ve never been attracted to him before and wouldn’t want anything to happen between us again, anyway, even if the kiss was hot. Complicating matters, my friend wanted to reraise the possibility of opening up his relationship with his partner, which he insists has nothing to do with me.

(My friend is male and his partner and I are both female.)

- Friend With No Benefits Hmm…I have a hunch you were some-

thing of a sore subject before this incident, FWNB, however isolated.

If the text messages your friend’s partner saw confirmed fears she’d already been told were irrational, your exile is likely to last as long as their relationship does. But take heart: if your friend decides to reopen discussions about opening up their relationship in the wake of this incident, your friend will likely be single again soon. If they do manage to stay together, FWNB, the only way to get back into her good graces—and back in your friend’s life—is to gracefully accept your exile. (Going to her and saying, “It only happened because we were so drunk!” isn’t quite the slam-dunk you think it is, seeing as you and her boyfriend are drinking buddies.) It’s a paradox, I realize, but if she sees that her boyfriend is willing to cut off all contact with you to set her mind at ease, FWNB, she may be willing to give your friendship her blessing down the road. g On the Lovecast—Raising children in a happy, poly home: savagelovecast.com.

Email: mail@savagelove.net. Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage.

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