The Georgia Straight - Trevor Noah - Feb 18, 2016 by The Georgia Straight

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4 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FEBRUARY 18 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 25 / 2016

etsy.com/shop/EraDesignJewellery eradesign.ca Inspiration updated daily @EraDesignJewellery

CONTENTS pacific centre for reproductive medicine

pacificfer tility.ca

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

Gray jay, Cypress Mountain. Sonika Arora photo.

THE BOTTLE

Some B.C. gems from Okanagan vineyards in Kelowna, Summerland, Oliver, and Naramata (with a little detour into the Similkameen Valley). > BY KURTIS KOLT

IVF and Infertility

Reproductive Genetics

URBAN LIVING

Rooms you can taste, touch, and smell? That’s the approach of a BC Home and Garden Show expert. Plus, a thriving new ‘hood pops up on South Cambie, and wireless stereos take off.

FOOD

Eating out too often can break the bank, so read what the experts say will make home dining an affordable restaurant experience. > BY GAIL JOHNSON

Fertility Preservation

START HERE 50 51 37 46 44 50 51 33

Confessions I Saw You Movie Reviews Real Estate Red Meat Savage Love Straight Stars Theatre

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Multilingual and well-travelled, comedian and Daily Show host Trevor Noah has a genuine affection for all the cultures he teases. > BY TR AVIS LUPICK

35 Arts 40 Movies 43 Music

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At the Chutzpah Festival, the young, all-male Madboots Dance fearlessly tackles male identity, queer experience, and bullying. > BY JANE T SMITH

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6 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016

FOOD

Find great wines on a drive Motorists may want to visit the Okanagan and fill up the trunk with tasty beverages CORCELETTES

ST HUBERTUS 2014 FRIZZANTE ROSĂ&#x2030; ($18.50, www.st-hubertus.

bc.ca/) Whether as a bright contrast to winter root vegetables, illuminating Indian takeout, or riding sidesaddle with grilled salmon, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not forget to drink pinkâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;even this time of year. In the northern, more cool-climate part of wine country, perched on Okanagan Lake, is St Hubertus Estate Winery, going strong for over 30 years now. A winery with such deep roots is likely to have vineyards with pretty deep roots, too. Here we have a dryish pink made from Gamay grapes, many from vines planted as far back as 1990. Those are pretty old vines for this corner of the world. (Vineyard workers would have heard acts like Wilson Phillips, Roxette, and Milli Vanilli on the radio at the St Hubertus 2014 Frizzante RosĂŠ has time.) With just a hint of fizz in the a drop of sweetness on the finish. bottle, the wine carries ripe raspberry, sorrel, lemongrass, river and a whisper of smouldering sage, rock, and salty sea air on the nose, on the palate. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s graceful and silky then vibrant cherry fruit, alpine with fine polished tannins. (Made strawberries, and gravelly f lavours for Okanagan Crush Padâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in-house Haywire label, the on the palate. wineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not curItâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s refreshing, rently on its webwith just a drop site, but reach out of sweetness on Kurtis Kolt directly and the the finish. Once itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opened, those tiny bubbles will staff can work a little magic.) dissipate quickly, so itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recommended you and yours polish this one off in HAYWIRE 2014 GAMAY NOIR ($26.90, www.okanagancrushpad. one sitting. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll happen with ease. com/) Sticking with Haywire for our HAYWIRE 2014 WATERS & next selection, we head even further BANKS PINOT NOIR ($39.90, www. south to the hotter climate of Oliokanagancrushpad.com/) Crossing ver, where scrubby sagebrush and over the bridge to West Kelowna, cacti begin to dot the landscape. You then heading south to Summerland, would think that the light-on-its-feet we find ourselves at the Waters & Gamay variety might get a little too Banks vineyard on Happy Valley ripe or extracted in the areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s deRoad in Summerland. How charm- sert climate, but this higher-altitude ing, right? This Pinotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a sultry and vineyard prevents that from hapcomplex take on the grape, full of pening. Pretty and floral juicy sips dark fruit, clove, cardamom, thyme, carry candied cherry, red apple skin, and cinnamon, with more spices a slight walnut note (and texture), swirling together as aromatics, then and then a nice little dusting of papall of those things, along with black- rika, bringing a whisper of earth and berry, peppercorn, anise, bay leaf, fruit. Serve with a hint of a chill.

The Bottle

2014

TRIVIUM

($18, www.corceletteswine.ca/) Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re actually going to detour from the Okanagan for a brief Similkameen Valley adventure. Going over the Richter Pass connecting the two valleys, note the mountains get a little steeper and more jagged; if you squint, it could be Switzerland. The limestone-rich soil in the Similkameen lends itself well to this aromatic blend of 50 percent Chasselas, 25 percent GewĂźrztraminer, and 25 percent barrel-aged Pinot Gris. Fresh-peeled yellow grapefruit and litchi vie for pole position on the nose and palate, by Golden Delicious apples carried with good mineral character and a sprig or two of jasmine. Sunshine in a bottle.

MASTER

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STAGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S HOLLOW 2014 HEARLE VINEYARD VIOGNIER ($19.99, www.

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stagshollowwinery.com/) Back in the Okanagan, and beginning to head back north, we find ourselves at the Stagâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hollow winery in Okanagan Falls, sipping on its 2014 Hearle Vineyard Viognier, a fuller-bodied wine with echoes of apple pie, Tahitianvanilla ice cream, some sweet orange notes, musk, cedar, sun-drenched baskets of stone fruit, and just a drop or two of really good bourbon.

Learn more at a Thursday 5pm info session:

February 18 or March 24

City University of Seattle in Vancouver, BC 789 West Pender Street, Suite 310, Vancouver

UPPER BENCH ESTATE WINERY 2013 PINOT NOIR ($28, www.upper

bench.ca/) Further north, and now back on the east side of Okanagan Lake, we pull in to Upper Bench Estate Winery in Naramata, and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re stoked to see that they make fantastic artisan cheese, because weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re famished. This side of the lake gets a lot of late-day sun, so we have ourselves a bigger, bolder Pinot. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a distinct barbecue-sauce note on the noseâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;maybe weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re just hungryâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and then a little grape soda to wash that down. A few more swirls and sips bring brambly black and red fruit, forest-floor notes, lightly roasted coffee beans, mulberry, and a bit of that sweet-savoury note you get from dried Kalamata olives. Great length here, too; this wine will heartily cheer along any steak.

RSVP to 1.800.663.7466 www.CityUniversity.ca The term â&#x20AC;&#x153;universityâ&#x20AC;? is used under the written consent of WKH 0LQLVWHU RI $GYDQFHG (GXFDWLRQ HÎ?HFWLYH $SULO KDYLQJ XQGHUJRQH D TXDOLW\ DVVHVVPHQW SURFHVV DQG EHHQ IRXQG WR PHHW WKH FULWHULD HVWDEOLVKHG E\ WKH PLQLVWHU SP3909

ack your bags and load up the car, because winter be damned, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going on a little Okanagan road trip! This week, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re catching up with a few local gems starting in Kelowna, and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll work our way counterclockwise around the Valley.

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Prices listed are winery-direct, but you can find any of these wines here in the city at private wine stores for just a few bucks more. -

#504 - 1367 West Broadway (near Granville)

604-734-7911

The Georgia Straight | Vancouverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s News and Entertainment Weekly | Volume 50 Number 2512 1635 West Broadway, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1W9 www.straight.com Phone: 604-730-7000 / Fax: 604-730-7010 / e-mail: gs.info@straight.com Display Advertising: 604-730-7020 / Fax: 604-730-7012 / e-mail: sales@straight.com Classifieds: 604-730-7060 / e-mail: classads@straight.com Subscriptions: 604-730-7000 Distribution: 604-730-7087 EDITOR + PUBLISHER Dan McLeod ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Yolanda Stepien GENERAL MANAGER Matt McLeod EDITOR Charlie Smith SECTION EDITORS

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Dr. Elicia Maine

Tuesday Feb. 23, 2016 7PM Segal Graduate School 500 Granville St., Vancouver

Canada has an excellent record in scientific invention, but these inventions often languish in the lab, rather than make it to markets. To help solve this problem, Professor Maine will offer commercialization strategies for scientist-entrepreneurs, drawing on her research in nanotech, biotech, clean tech, and advanced materials as well as experience in technological innovation and entrepreneurship.

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Local interior designer Kendall Ansell stresses the importance of decluttering and combining an eclectic mix of colours, textures, and patterns to produce a more inviting and feel-good room.

Design makes sense of home

great, too? First things to surround yourself with “touchable” objects— first: ditch the match- ones that look more inviting than sterile and will ing furniture. draw you in after a long day. “I think a lot of The same goes for elements related to sound, people go and they smell, and taste: these items should ideally enbuy showroom furni- hance your environment, creating a more pleasture, like, ‘This set here ant or relaxing ambiance. Ansell suggests playing looks great, so we’ll buy music to help drown out disruptive noises like that,’ ” Ansell says. “But traffic or construction or lighting aromatic there’s so much more candles to combat unpleasant odours. to it.” Of course, where there’s an alluring scent, Interiors expert Kendall Ansell creates beautifully balanced The designer encour- there’s occasionally an appetizing treat, which spaces by appealing to sight, touch, sound, smell, and taste ages mixing and match- can make almost any place feel more like home— ing your furnishings for so much so that it’s become a starting point for When it comes to designing your dream a cozy, lived-in appearance that’s all your own. An Ansell’s Balanced Home, a multidimensional, space, there’s no doubt that the final product assortment of vintage chairs can be placed around seven-bedroom space designed to appeal to all BY LUCY LAU should look good. But it’s also worth considering a more contemporary dining table, for example, or five senses while offering plenty of décor ideas, how your home will affect your perceptions of you can combine a patchwork of textured throw which will be showcased from Wednesday to touch, sound, smell, and, yes, even taste. pillows on your sofa. The trick is to choose objects Sunday (February 17 to 21) at the B.C. Home + “A lot of my clients will say, ‘Come see my house. that you actually like, rather than ones that Garden Show at B.C. Place Stadium. There’s just something that’s not right about it. are simply trending or ripped straight “A lot of it was inspired by my parSomething is just off,’ ” says local interior designer from the pages of a magazine. ents’ home, which really ticks all Check out… Kendall Ansell by phone. “It’s amazing that we acIf you live in a smaller space, esSTRAIGHT.COM these ‘sense’ boxes,” she says, refertually need to engage all the senses in a home to pecially a condo, considering your ring to the almost 2,000-squareHave an opinion? make it feel good for human beings to live in.” sightlines is also important. Take foot feature. “It’s like that cozy Visit our website to comment on According to Ansell, who serves as principal of into account which other rooms are home with the pantry that’s full this story her eponymous design firm, the way that a home visible from your space: chances are of food.” is set up has the potential to affect our emotions that spotting a muddled office from In addition to offering samples of greatly. Because of this, it’s important to evaluate your living-room couch won’t evoke the freshly baked goods from Vancouver’s even minute details, like the positioning of fur- same feeling of ease as the image of a spotless bed- Lemon Square, the Balanced Home will include a niture and the coordination of different colours, room with a gorgeous, immaculately made bed. medley of engaging design elements like textured, textures, and fabrics, when putting together or “The biggest thing is decluttering your space,” two-tone wallpaper; pipe-and-plank shelving; a revamping a space. Ansell says. “That’s the one thing that people don’t reupholstered antique chair reminiscent of the “Interior designers look at the bigger picture,” realize that’s really hard on the psyche: piles of Victorian furnishings from Beauty and the Beast; Ansell explains. “How are you actually going to mess or just piles of things that don’t belong.” and a life-size nursery mobile hung from a large feel in the space? How do you move around in it? In terms of touch, the designer advises using tree branch. In other words, it’s a far cry from the What’s the function of it? And all of these things, only those materials and textures that make you generic fi xtures and finishes of your typical model you can definitely hit with the senses.” feel comfortable at home. For some, this may home. So, how do you create a home that not only is mean opting for a chenille fabric over leather or “I’m trying to show people that you can kind of aesthetically pleasing, but feels and functions avoiding velvet, full stop. Essentially, you want think outside the box a little bit,” adds Ansell. -

HOME AND GARDEN OVERHAUL spring well on its way, it’s high time to prep your space 2 With for the months of patio parties, barbecuing, and outdoor

entertaining that lie ahead. Luckily, the B.C. Home + Garden Show holds court at B.C. Place Stadium this week (February 17 to 21) with enough home and design inspiration to last you until your next bout of hibernation. Ahead, we’ve rounded up four must-see features to scope at this year’s show.

B.C. HYDRO MAIN STAGE A star-studded lineup of home renovation, design, and real-estate pros is taking to the B.C. Hydro Main Stage all weekend with an arsenal of expert tips that will guarantee a season of fuss-free overhauls. Watch for HGTV stars Bryan Baeumler and Carson Arthur, who will offer advice on how to renovate both the indoors and outside of your home, plus design-and-lifestyle gurus Leigh-Ann Allaire Perrault and Amanda Forrest, who will dish on hot DIY and colour trends. Local interior designers like Jamie Banfield, Sarah Gallop, and wallpaper whiz Markella Mildenberger will also be on hand. To see the full list of speakers and the stage schedule, visit www.bchomeandgardenshow.com/show-features/stage-schedules/ . WESTCOAST SMART HOME There’s a new way to craft the eco-friendly cabin of your dreams, as B.C.–based home-building business Trinity Post & Panel Inc. will demonstrate with its Westcoast Smart Home. The 1,200-square-foot bungalow has been built on-site at B.C. Place using the company’s patented integrated post-and-panel construction system that drastically cuts down

> BY LUCY LAU

building time while maintaining some of the highest energy-efficiency levels in the biz. Tour the cozy recreational space this weekend and you may find yourself considering an early retirement. ULTIMATE UPCYCLE CHALLENGE One of the show’s most popular features, the Ultimate Upcycle Challenge, will task 10 local tastemakers with updating a “pre-loved” planter from the Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver ReStore. Among the upcyclers are Shaw TV’s Dunia Tozy, interior designer Kendall Ansell, and bloggers Meagan Faye and Jennifer Pistor, who will need to stretch a $50 budget and a mystery box of Rust-Oleum paint products to create a styling planter that’s suitable for indoors and out. The upgraded pieces will be exhibited and auctioned off at the five-day event, with all proceeds going toward Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver and its ReStore shops. PORTOBELLO WEST Get your shop on at the Portobello West pop-up market, where local makers will be hawking a variety of one-of-a-kind goods that includes everything from handmade décor and serving ware to children’s apparel and jewellery. Enliven your home with Bowen Island Glass’s beautiful recycled bottles, up your style game with an array of Laughing Sparrow’s delicate sterling silver and gold pendants, or prep for dinner with an array of artisanal gourmet sea salts from the Salt Dispensary, available in flavours like smoked-applewood-bacon-and-maple-syrup and the widely loved sriracha. -

Get a head start on your spring gardening and renovation plans at B.C. Place this weekend.

FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 9

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Business in wireless stereos is booming > B Y M IKE USING E R

ellingly, Pure Image Design Lab’s Homer Street showroom isn’t centred around an acoustically flawless listening room filled floor-to-ceiling with rows of stereo equipment. Instead, there’s a mock kitchen, complete with a giant concrete counter, an expansive open-plan faux living room, a small boardroom that could easily double as a home dining room, and a sleek-andchic modern bathroom. The reason for all the set-decorating is simple: in 2016, home stereo systems are no longer relegated to a single room, so it only makes sense that the Yaletown space (at 1251 Homer Street) reflects that. Whether you’re renovating a 1908 heritage house in historic Strathcona or moving into a just-completed two-bedroom condo in Yaletown, chances are good the hi-fi system will be all about zones. That means speakers in the bathroom, kitchen, home office, living room, and bedroom. Pure Image’s mock rooms are there to help give you ideas, because the days of walking over to the Marantz and cranking it loud enough to be heard three rooms away are over. Thanks to the magic of industryfavourite systems like Sonos, apps enable audiophiles to control all aspects of their sound systems remotely. Who thought we’d ever be able to change the mood music from the Geto Boys to Barry White while lounging in the tub, use an app to crank the Daft Punk in the kitchen while making lunch, or turn down the Black Flag when it’s drowning out the conversation at a dinner party? “Some people say ‘It’s fine to just have a single speaker over there and I’ll just turn it up louder,’ ” says Pure Image cofounder Drew Galvin, interviewed in the back of the company’s showroom. “But it’s really a

Planning a home entertainment system has become just as important as mapping out plumbing and heating. Wireless speakers provide invaluable options.

far more pleasant experience with better sound quality if you’ve got one speaker over here, one over there.” Hard-core audiophiles and casual music fans have bought into that idea, which explains why—after 10 years of operating Pure Image from

home—Galvin and his partners have been able to set up shop in a physical location. “Basically, we’re totally slammed,” he says with a laugh. “The construction in this city is totally going crazy, and every home is getting this stuff.”

Mapping out an entertainment system has become as big a part of a home’s planning as the electrical, plumbing, and heating. For new projects and renos where things are taken down to the studs, wires are run in the walls to a main amp and speakers are

embedded in the ceiling. Where that isn’t possible—finished condos and homes—wireless technology becomes invaluable. Leading the charge on the indemand front is Sonos, and not just at see next page

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Pure Image. Interviewed across town at the stylish Hi-Fi Centre (433 Carrall Street) in the Downtown Eastside, general manager Igor Kivritsky says Santa Barbara–based Sonos has helped revolutionize the stereo market since it was founded in 2002. The appeal is obvious: pure-sounding speakers that don’t need unsightly tangles of cables. “The Sonos ecosystem is affordable, it’s good-quality, it’s easy to use, and it’s easy to install,” Kivritsky says, in a Hi-Fi Centre stereo room. “As a result, it’s just exploded. Literally exploded—I think that the company has grown something like fourfold in the last four or five years.” That’s brought about a revolution in the way music is enjoyed at home. Kivritsky says that hi-fi stereos took off in the ’70s and ’80s, a time when systems were all about obtrusive Stonehenge-size speakers and amps and giant cords and cables. The late ’90s and early 2000s, he argues, brought stereos with remotes that sounded great in theory, but didn’t always work perfectly in practice. “There were all these proprietary systems that—although I don’t want to name any names—were all bad,” Kivritsky says. “Customers had horrible experiences with these systems that were really expensive. You still had a touch panel, but for that eight-inch touch panel you’d pay four grand.” What Sonos locked onto early was the fact that systems could be operated by a free app.

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Wi-Fi router connection to communicate with the rest of the system. For those who love to annoy the neighbours, that could include a wireless amp the size of a lunch box capable of powering f loor speakers that connect with wires. For those who’d rather go wireless, Sonos speakers—including the compact Play:1 ($220), the bookshelf-sized Play:3 ($329), and the foundation-rattling f lagship Play:5 ($549)—are connected via Wi-Fi, enabling streaming from iTunes or mobile devices. “People have always wanted music in their house,” Kivritsky says. “In the ’70s and ’80s you had no choice but to have a huge stereo in your house. In the ’90s and 2000s, the systems didn’t work half the time. Nowadays, you can have sound everywhere and it can all be controlled harmoniously with an app. If you’re having a party, you can play the same music throughout the house. During a regular day, if Mom’s in the bedroom, Dad’s in the workshop, and the kids are doing homework in the bedroom, you can all have different music playing.” The best part, adds Galvin at Pure Image, is that no matter what decade a Sonos user might be stuck in, things are intuitive enough that no one will end up longing for a simpler time. A time, perhaps, when wireless speakers in the bathroom seemed like something from Blade Runner. “It’s one thing to have an amazingsounding system, but the other thing is ‘Can everybody use it?’ ” he says. “Sonos’s app is easy to control and understand. I can put it in the hands of a client that maybe didn’t grow up with this kind of technology, and they’ll still be confident with it.” FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 11

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TV and video producer Kevin Li is happy with the amenities on his doorstep at Marine Landing (Amanda Siebert photo); at right, the new Marine Gateway is expected to house about 750 new residents alone.

Parks, beer, transit: a ‘hood is born at south Cambie > BY GA IL JOHNSO N

ost people save downsizing for their retirement years, but Vancouver’s Kevin Li recently went from a house to a condo at age 37. He swapped the bigger space his home offered for a place that came with built-in community, one that’s springing up around Marine Drive at the south foot of Cambie Street in Vancouver—an area that, until recently, consisted mostly of a scattering of low-rise offices and barren industrial land. Li was one of the first people to move into Marine Gateway, an 830,000-square-foot mixed-use development that anchors the burgeoning neighbourhood known by the City of Vancouver as Marine Landing. At his doorstep are a T & T Supermarket, Dublin Crossing Irish pub, Winners, Starbucks, Shoppers Drug Mart, liquor store, and other shops, services, and restaurants, including Pink Elephant Thai, an 11-screen Cineplex VIP movie theatre, and a Steve Nash Fitness World. Then there’s the Canada Line’s Marine Drive Station and the South Vancouver bus exchange. Coming soon are a car-share program and a bike mobility centre for service and repairs. “I grew up seven minutes away at Fraser and 49th and I work two blocks away, so I was familiar with the area,” says Li, a TV and video producer who is coproducing Omni TV’s new House My Style show. “I really like areas where you don’t have to commute. I downsized from

a house to be in 500 square feet to be able to get what I need when I need it without driving and polluting the environment. “It feels like a neighbourhood,” he adds. “I’m overlooking a school [Laurier Annex] and a big park [Ash Park]. If I decided to get a dog, it would be a great place to take my dog to. The area is pretty bustling. I went inside the pub the other night and there were so many people having a nice beer. People from the neighbourhood didn’t have a pub before, and this is their place now. If we want to see a more green Vancouver, we do have to build communities like these, where there’s density and where businesses can survive.” More homes, businesses, and amenities are coming to the neighbourhood within Marpole that’s bordered by 64th Avenue to the north and the Fraser River to the south, and roughly between Heather and Manitoba streets. The Peninsula Group is opening a new Chinese restaurant at Marine Gateway in late spring. Several other housing developments are under way, including projects by Onni, Intracorp, Concord, and Marcon. From Marine Drive Station, it’s a 15-minute ride on the Canada Line to downtown and a nine-minute trip to the airport. The area is just one that is included in the city’s Cambie Corridor Plan, with rapid transit being the catalyst for significant change. Among the principles outlined in the plan are to create walkable and cyclable neighbourhoods seamlessly linked to public transit, to provide a range of housing choices and affordability, and to create complete communities—defined as

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a land-use mix “that offers a variety of opportunities to work, live, shop, play, and learn”. “The Marine Landing area is quickly transforming from an area that has lacked neighbourhood shops and services into a highly walkable, vibrant urban area that responds to its evolving residential context, adjacent industrial area, and relationship to the Fraser River,” says Anita Molaro, assistant director of planning at the City of Vancouver. “New walking and cycling routes through the neighbourhood will provide safe and attractive connections to transit, shops, parks, and other key destinations. “A new 10-acre park at the foot of Cambie, as close to the Fraser River as possible, is planned for the area,” she adds. “Improvements to existing parks in the area, including Winona Park and Ash Park, are also planned.” Other amenities to come include a nonprofit space that supports families with young children and two 37-space child-care facilities for two of the new developments (the Northwest and Marine Gardens). Public art is part of the plan too. Marine Gateway, for instance, features baskets by Coast Salish artist Susan Point, a member of the Musqueam First Nation, and a statue of Simon Fraser by Ken Lum, among other works. The city also identified ensuring job space and diversity as part of the Cambie Corridor Plan. The land where the Marine Gateway development now sits used to consist of a vacant lot and an ICBC office employing about 60 people. With the project’s office tower, more

than 2,000 people will be working there. Between the Canada Line station and the bus exchange, the site will generate approximately two million transit trips per year. “One of the strong arguments made for approval [of Marine Gateway] was placing that number of jobs right on transit,” says Andrew Grant, president of PCI Developments Corp., which developed Marine Gateway. “Transit was the draw. We believed that the Canada Line would be transformational for the city. The station site together with buses made it a natural place to take density. “This area has never had a real village or town centre before,” Grant says. “The energy that transit brings to the neighbourhood is something that existing homes are going to benefit from.” About 750 people are expected to live at Marine Gateway (which has 461 residential units, including 46 rental homes), while the Marine-Cambie intersection alone will be home to about 2,000 residents once other projects are complete. Though he’s still getting used to his smaller space, Li enjoys the area’s convenience and vibrancy. He can walk to other nearby shops like Superstore; he can be gone in a flash if he wants to hit the highway for a weekend south of the border; and it’s easy for friends to meet him for dinner and a movie via the Canada Line. “It’s been a big adjustment, but I don’t have to drive anywhere; everything is right downstairs,” Li says. “I like the density. I’m very happy with where I am.” -

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Left to right, B.C. designer Shawn Place; a solid walnut dining table crafted by Place for EQ3; and an Art Deco–inspired dressing table by Zoë Mowat from the EQ3 Assembly collection.

Bike industry pro finds beauty in furniture > BY L UC Y LA U

or furniture designer Shawn Place, a gutsy move from central Canada to the West Coast offered more than a change of scenery: it was just what he needed to kick-start a new career, too. Originally from Brampton, Ontario, Place relocated to Prince George in 2005 and was cycling through Gastown during a trip to Vancouver when he stumbled across a contemporary-furniture store. Intrigued, he stepped into the shop, and with a little bit of luck and some hard work, the rest has serendipitously fallen into place—pun intended. “I’d been working as a bicycle-part designer, was looking for a change, and saw some of the furniture,”

Place recalls, speaking to the Georgia Straight by phone during a stop in town. “And I was like, ‘Huh, I think I’ll be a furniture designer.’ ” Though he possessed little knowledge of furniture-making, Place quickly began work on his first prototype: a strikingly simple wood rocking chair that he hoped would mimic the Danish-modern style— all clean lines, warm timbers, and scaled-back silhouettes—that he was so smitten with in-store. The self-taught designer immersed himself in research in order to properly craft the entire chair by hand, from its intricate, cane-entwined seat and back to the smooth, exposed wood joinery. “I just assumed I’d be able to find people to do that for me, but no such luck,” he remembers with a laugh.

After receiving feedback for his rocking chair from the Gastown shop’s owners (his handiwork was ace but the proportions were off) and painstakingly constructing 13 more iterations, Place had perfected his prototype: a sublime vision of carefully carved rift-cut oak and handwoven binder cane that has captured the attention of design blogs and publications both at home and abroad. He’s since built an impressive selection of handcrafted furnishings from his Prince George digs, including a minimalist three-legged side table and a dramatic spindle-backed chair that takes after the ample shape of an owl, each showcasing the designer’s now-signature Scandinavian- and Japanese-influenced aesthetic. “They need to have some sensuality to

them,” Place says of his pared-down pieces, “things that you want to love and that sort of speak to you, not stark and with no personality.” The designer’s latest project, a glasstopped dining table with a beautifully curved, structural walnut frame for Winnipeg-based design company EQ3’s new all-Canadian Assembly collection, extends this need for a tactile connection. However, design buffs may also recognize elements from renowned Vancouver architect Arthur Erickson’s early post-and-beam constructions and coastal First Nations architecture embedded in the longhouses on Haida Gwaii, for example. “I wanted to do something a bit more geographically influenced, being the designer for the West,” Place says of the inspiration behind the

table, which joins 14 other pieces from Canadian creatives, like Montreal designer Zoë Mowat and Winnipeg-based artist Kenneth Lavallee, in the EQ3 Assembly line, now available at the company’s Vancouver showroom (2536 Granville Street). The designer has another five or six pieces planned for EQ3 this year, though details on these works are being kept under wraps. But Place has no reservations about comparing his new passion to his previous, slightly more mechanical gig in the bicycle industry. “There’s a lot more personality in furniture,” he notes. “There’s a chance of evoking more of a feeling and really having someone respond emotionally to your piece, as opposed to just focusing on the technicalities.” -

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Mezulejo’s Tere Antoni lovingly restores chairs through hand-painting and upholstery; she also crafts tile-topped tables with built-in containers (top right).

Artist makes salvaged furniture speak again > B Y JAN ET SMITH

or artist Tere Antoni, furniture is the canvas. She loves unlocking the creative potential of discarded antique chairs, meticulously restoring them with upholstery and hand-painting. A baroque-look chair with old white damask upholstery becomes a functional piece of art in her hands, its scrolling, carved back and claw feet intricately detailed in silvery paint, its bold upper gold-and-redstriped tapestry pairing playfully with the chintz on the seat. A delicate, wispy tassel serves as trim. “I love paintings and I have pieces in my home that I have hung on my walls, but for some reason I always felt attracted to the wood on furniture,” she explains, seated in the shared Powell Street artists’ studio where her Mezulejo line is based. It all started when Antoni, who is Venezuelan-born, was living in California in the 1990s and saw the whimsical, animal-themed painted furniture that was coming out of the U.S. Southwest at the time. Clearly, it spoke to her: “I went crazy for these things. I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is beautiful,’ ” she enthuses. She ended up studying with one of the leaders of the folklike form, Jim Wagner, in Taos, New Mexico, and then launched her own line and later studied the practice more at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. Following her husband here for his work in the film industry, the now Vancouver-based artist is setting up shop again—but this time moving into upholstery as well as painted wood. In fact, the fabrics are inspiring the painted parts: on one recent, sturdily square-backed colonial design, she plays off the print’s mod reds, chocolate browns, and golds in the designs she puts on the wood. In her hands, a dated piece can become sleek and contemporary: she gives the wood of one curving piece a white wash, then pairs it with a cool geometric print in taupe and white. A lot of artistic consideration goes into the pieces, which she sells for about $250 to $350, but she stresses: “These

are functional—they are to use!” They also play nicely off today’s design trend toward mixing and matching eras in a single room, somehow feeling antique, contemporary, and artfully handmade all at the same time. Antoni has also branched into painted bureaus, showing the Straight one refurbished piece where she’s painted around a framed antique portrait. She customizes each piece, drawing her inspiration from the furniture’s shape and feel. Mezulejo (a play on the Spanish words for tile [azulejo] and table [mesa]) is expanding into other areas too, drawing on her own heritage. Antoni plays on Latin-American tiled tables with her own version: customized wood mesas with sunken, tiled centres that open to containers that can hold herbs, decorative succulents, small potted cacti, a grill, or even ice and drinks. “As an artist I can work with a person if they want to match the counter with the tile,” she explains, showing one version that mixes contemporary grey glass with beiges and soft green tiles. The base is chunky and pedestal-style. “You can close it off if you’re having a big dinner and need to use the centre for serving space.” She’s working with a carpenter who can also craft traditional benches to go around the sides of the mesa. “The beauty of them is you can seat eight people and they can all look at each other,” she says, adding such seating saves space by tucking in neatly under the table. At the same time, she’s developing a line of reproduction tinajeros—antique furnishings that are particular to Venezuela. The decorative wood stands were used in colonial times to collect fresh water, filtering it through a special porous rock on the top and down into a pottery vessel held in the bottom. Now Antoni, who will hand-paint them in her signature styles, says the open structures can be used purely decoratively, holding plants and displaying objects on shelves inside. Antoni debuted at the Eastside Culture Crawl last year, and you can find info on all her creations— restored to new life and custompainted—at www.mezulejo.com/. -

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who want something smaller, there are shower baskets ($7.99 to $14.99, various locations) for things like soap, razors, and perhaps rubber ducks. Need tidying outside the shower? The Grundtal corner shelf unit ($24.99) holds all things bathroom-related— from body lotion and moisturizers to hair ties and eyelash curlers.

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SUPPORT GROUPS Healthy & loving relationships alluding you? CODA: Co-dependency Anonymous 12 step Recovery: 604- 515-5585

Healing Our Spirit B.C. First Nations AIDS Society has volunteer opportunities for hospital visitation, information booths, office assistance & preparation of pamphlets & condoms for distribution. We offer volunteer orientation, training & recognition & bus tickets. If interested, please call 983-8774 Ext. 13. We are dedicated to preventing and reducing the spread of HIV in the aboriginal communities of B.C. Infertility Awareness Assoc. of Canada (IAAC) provides educational material & support to individuals or couples experiencing infertility. Meetings: 7 pm the 2nd Wed of the month. Richmond Library & Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate. Info 523-0074 or www.iaac.ca

Sex Addicts Anonymous

12-step fellowship of men & women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other, that they may solve their common problem and help others recover from their sexual addiction. Membership is open to all who desire to stop addictive sexual behaviour. For a meeting list as well as email & phone contacts go to our website at

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Fertility Support Group Discover new perspectives make positive changes and learn simple tools to take charge of your reproductive wellness while connecting with other women. The meetings provide a space for open discussion. 2nd Tuesday of each month 7:45 - 8:45pm (Sign up required) Reg & Info call: 604-266-6470 or www.familypassages.ca

1807 Burrard St (@ 2nd) • 604.336-4448 1232 Burrard St (@ Davie) • 604-428-2420 2580 Kingsway (@ 34th) • 604-336-0420 2619 W. 4th Ave (@ Bayswater) • 604-336-6420 6657 Main St (@ 51st) • 604-336-7420 866 East Broadway • 604-876-2163

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offers over 50 volunteer-led support groups throughout BC. These provide people with Parkinson's, their carepartners & families an opportunity to meet in a friendly, supportive setting with others who are experiencing similar difficulties. Some groups may offer exercise support. For information on locating a support group near you, please contact PSBC at 604 662 3240 or toll free 1 800 668 3330.

MOOD DISORDERS

SUPPORT GROUPS We have peer-led support groups all over the Lower Mainland for people with depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety led by well-trained facilitators. Group sessions during days, evenings, or Saturdays. For location and times of groups:

www.mdabc.net 604-873-0103

IBD Support Group Suffer from Crohn's and ulcerative colitis? Living with IBD can often be overwhelming, but you're not alone! 3rd Wed of each month the GI Society holds a free IBD support group meeting for patients & their families to come together in an open, friendly environment. 7:00pm at RavenSong Community Health Centre (2450 Ontario St). or more information call 604-875-4875. PFLAG Vancouver Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered and Questioning People Call for meetings or individual info: 604-626-5667 or info@pflagvancouver.com www.pflagvancouver.com

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FOOD

Dine well in small spaces

ocal artist John Ferrie’s live/ to have someone else do the cooking work studio is an open- and cleaning. Dining out can be esconcept space that not only pecially difficult to resist for people functions as a workspace living in small spaces, who don’t and gallery; it’s also where, over the have gourmet kitchens like you see last 15 years, he has honed his cook- on the Food Network. ing skills. It doesn’t matter that his The good news is people can take kitchen is tiny. The painter is almost steps to make cooking and eating at as passionate about home more pleasurwhat he comes up able—while easing with in the kitchthe strain on their en as what he crecash flow. Gail Johnson ates on canvas. Start by making “My counter space is a foot and a the most of your own surroundings. half wide, but I love cooking and I’ve “The thing I really enjoy the most, become really, really good at it,” says sometimes more than the actual food, Ferrie, whose next show, If ONLY I is creating the ambiance,” says Shelley Had a Helicopter, runs at the South Robinson, regional executive chef for Main Gallery in March. “I do this Coast Hotels and chef instructor in age-old thing: I follow a recipe. My sig- the Vancouver Community College nature dish is a roasted poblano and culinary program. “You don’t have to tomatillo chicken enchilada.” spend a lot of money. I’ll go to IKEA Ferrie genuinely enjoys cooking and get nice, inexpensive dish sets and and entertaining, but he’s motivated set a nice table with cool plates. Put out to eat at home in part because of the some place mats, light candles, put on cost savings. “Lattes and dining out: some music, and make it relaxing. Part they’ll skyrocket your credit card into of why people go out is because they oblivion,” he says. “I try and make don’t like their space, it’s not comfortsure I always have food in the fridge. able. You can re-create that restaurant I’ll make a big Crock-Pot of chili or ambiance even in a small space. Clear chicken noodle soup or taco mix so the crap away, clear the clutter.” I’ve got those things as leftovers” Having an organized kitchen In a city where there are so many will make it more likely that you’ll appealing dining options, it can be want to channel your inner chef. hard for Vancouverites to avoid the “Minimizing is key,” says chef David temptation to go to a restaurant sev- Robertson of Dirty Apron Cooking eral nights a week. It’s always nicer School. “At the end of the day you can

Best Eats

THINGS TO DO

cook any meal anywhere in the world with two knives. Look at what’s in the knife drawer, and if there’s anything you haven’t used in three or four years, maybe it’s time for a garage sale or to give it to your neighbour.” Ditto for spices that have been sitting in your pantry for years without being used: get rid of them or, if they still have their pungency and flavour, find recipes that call for them. Robertson says you shouldn’t need more than four pots and pans, no matter how big your kitchen is. “Clean out your pantry and you’ll feel like cooking lots of meals,” he advises. “My go-to things are butter, bacon, fresh herbs, salt, and mustards. It doesn’t matter how small my kitchen will be, there will always be room for those things.” Robinson’s must-have items include good olive oil, Italian tomatoes, lemons, garlic, pasta, and lentils. When she used to live in a studio apartment in Coal Harbour, she had a single countertop. Here’s her solution for anyone with a barely there galley kitchen: invest in a raised faucet for the sink and a large cutting board—one big enough to fit right over the sink so that you have an instant workspace. Or place a cutting board over your stovetop to do your prep. Many pieces of equipment can do triple duty, Robinson notes: a pie plate could be used for roasting vegetables

Meal ticket ISLAND FOOD Granville Island’s annual Winterruption festival takes place this weekend (February 19 to 21), with plenty of food and drink activities involved. The renowned Lee’s Donuts in the public market will be offering special doughnuts made for the winter festival. Or check out the Granville Island Market Tour, where guests will be taken on a walking tour and introduced to fresh and local gastronomic treats. Tickets are $49 and available online at www.foodietours. ca/. The David Suzuki Foundation is hosting a free walking tour, focused on sustainable seafood. It starts at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday (February 20) in Triangle Square. Celebrate Friday by going to a free winetasting at Liberty Wine Merchants from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Guests must be 19 or over. Winter doesn’t have to be dreary when you have this many food-related events to revel in. -

Five cool kitchen gadgets to spice up your culinary haven.

CUISINART ICE CREAM MAKER It also makes frozen yogurt and sorbet, so you’ll be a pro by summertime. Find it at Ming Wo (various locations).

DANESO COOKING TORCH Melt grated cheese on French onion soup or caramelize sugar on crème brûlée. Find it at Cook Culture (various locations).

PHILIPS SMART PASTA MAKER No more overpriced dishes at restaurants. Find it at Williams-Sonoma (2903 Granville Street).

SIMPLE HUMAN COMPACT SENSOR PUMP

Touch-free soap pump makes it easy to wash hands in the kitchen. Find it at Motiv (various locations). KUCHEWERKS DIGITAL INSTANT READ

An instant-read thermometer to measure temperature of foods to prevent overcooking. Find it at House of Knives (various locations).

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and toasting nuts; you don’t necessarily need a roasting pan as well as several cookie sheets. That said, there are some gadgets that may be worth squeezing into your cupboards, according to Vancouver registered dietitian Lindsay Jang. “A microplane is great for citrus, ginger, garlic, nutmeg, and all of those add a lot of flavour and make things more interesting,” she says. “A two-in-one blender/food processor—something like a Ninja or a Magic Bullet can be great. You can use them as a blender to make smoothies or to blend soups or sauces, and as a food processor

if you’re wanting to make your own salsas or nut butters.” Jang likes to double up recipes so she has leftovers, which she freezes in plastic Ziploc bags. If you’re new to cooking, the pros recommend starting out slowly, trying one new recipe a week. And enjoy the fruits of your labour. “Social media are on at all times,” Jang says. “Turning off your computer helps you to eat more mindfully, which can help with your overall enjoyment. If you’ve taken time to prepare a meal, you don’t want to be distracted by a bunch of different things.” -

FOOD High five

BOB LIKES THAI FOOD

The regional executive chef for Coast Hotels, Shelley Robinson, recommends re-creating the ambiance of a restaurant in a small apartment. Kevin Clark photo.

Cocktail of the week

MOSAIC SOUR BELGIAN WHEAT ALE Powell Street Craft Brewery’s latest sour brew may just be the most unabashedly tart installment yet of its Kettle Sour series. The dry-hopped ale is soured with lactobacillus—the same bacterium present in the equally refreshing Berliner Weisse—resulting in an intensely sharp flavour that’s enough to kick you out of your cold-weather funk. As its name suggests, Belgian yeasts and Mosaic hops round out the limited-edition offering, imparting an irresistible aroma of tropical fruit and citrus. Sample the Mosaic Sour at Powell Street’s tasting room (1357 Powell Street) or by the bottle ($8.56 for 650 mL) from Darby’s Liquor Store (2001 Macdonald Street). -

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NOURA MINT SEYMALI • FEB. 28 @ 8 PM Ancient and modern worlds collide in this hypnotic mix of Mauritanian Afro-desert rock

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ARTS

When the Georgia Straight

BY TR AVIS LU PI CK

reaches Trevor Noah at Comedy Central’s world news headquarters in New York, the 31-year-old has a show to rehearse in six hours. And before rehearsal, he still has to write it. That’s a team effort, of course. But the new host of The Daily Show—still climbing a learning curve on America and the quirks of its politics— dispels the notion he relies entirely on veteran staffers left behind by long-time host Jon Stewart, who left the show in August. “You have to create a show in your voice,” Noah says in a telephone interview. “And so you have to be hands-on, otherwise it just doesn’t work.” After rehearsal, the episode will be rewritten within a tight, 90-minute window, and then taped in front of a studio audience at 6 p.m. It’s an intense schedule, Noah concedes, one that’s taken some getting used to. “I’m not a morning person,” he says. “But the day starts in the morning, so I have to start with it.” On-screen, Noah never appears anything but confident, at ease, and don’t even get me started on those dimples. But he’s conceded that a rapid rise to inherit one of late-night television’s most engaged audiences has come with pressures. Just as unnerving, he’s relocated from his birth country of South Africa to a nation engulfed in gun violence and racial tension (where some of his best jokes emphasize the two countries’ sometimes very similar challenges). All of that might lead Noah to reserve any time off for rest and relaxation. But when he does have a short vacation this month, he’s chosen to spend it on-stage in Vancouver. Noah headlines the inaugural JFL NorthWest comedy festival at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre this Friday (February 19, the night before his birthday). “This is going to be my first time [visiting Vancouver], so I’m really excited,” he says, pausing to ask: “Is it cold there?”

Identity meets hilarity

Star Trevor Noah says he doesn’t consider himself a political comedian. He prefers to call his jokes on everything from race to the U.S. “social observation”.

and I comment on my “I can’t say I see myself as part of that movement, world,” he says. “I think specifically, because the movement has its memcomedy is beautiful in bers,” he says to the Straight, speaking slowly. “But that you can get a mes- I am a black person, and I hope and I believe that sage across without our lives matter. So I can rather say, ‘I stand behind directly seeming to go the movement or the cause and what it stands for.’ Before hitting JFL NorthWest, The Daily Show ’s Trevor Noah muses after that thing.” That is what it is really about.” on Africa versus America, political comedy, and Black Lives Matter On the January 26 Ticket-holders for the sold-out show can expect edition of The Daily Show, Noah did take a more WHETHER YOU CALL specific jokes political or a standup routine heavy on ethnic comedy, but direct approach, hosting DeRay Mckesson, a prom- not, Noah’s funniest and most poignant moments with jokes that display genuine affection for the inent figure in the Black Lives Matter movement. since taking over The Daily Show—the instancultures Noah teases. During that interview, Noah played devil’s advocate ces where he’s approached Stewart’s laboriously honed capacity for laser-sharp indignaHis relatively recent but international fame al- to let Mckesson burn down just about every tion—have often focused on race, inlowed him to travel much of the world before he straw-man argument there is against the equality, and injustice. settled down in Pasadena five years ago. Since then, campaign that calls attention to AfriCheck out… Toward the end of his January 18 Noah says, a travel bug has stuck with him. Go- can-Americans killed by police. STRAIGHT.COM interview with the creators of Netflix’s ing back further, he’s long embodied South Africa’s “A lot of the time, you bring up Visit our website megahit documentary Making a Murpostapartheid character as a rainbow nation. Noah Black Lives Matter,” Noah said in the for morning-after derer, Noah remarked: “I saw people is fluent in six of the country’s 11 official languages bit, “and then immediately someone reviews and local arts news getting so angry. And I think that’s what (including “the one with the clicks”, he’s joked) goes, ‘Well, white lives matter.’ And you were successful in doing, is getting and understands more than a smattering of several then someone else goes, ‘Well, all lives people to realize that there are problems in others, including German, Japanese, and Spanish. matter.’ How do you respond to that?” the system. Getting white people to realize. Because In the 2011 documentary You Laugh But It’s It was a question Mckesson had heard before. True, he revisits humble beginnings in Johan“If you were at a breast-cancer rally and some- white people were like, ‘This can’t be happening. nesburg’s Soweto township, where he grew up in body yells, ‘Colon cancer matters’… We’re not Oh, my God. How is an innocent man being opa two-bedroom house crowded with extended saying colon cancer doesn’t matter,” he responded. pressed by the system?’ And black people were like, family. Conceived by a Swiss-German father and “We’re not saying that other lives don’t matter. ‘Exactly! That’s the shit I’ve been talking about!’ ” Is that political? a Xhosa mother in 1983 apartheid South Africa, What we are saying is that there is something “Some would consider that a political point,” Noah was literally born a crime, goes the punch unique about the trauma that black people have line of one of his favourite early standup bits. experienced in this country, especially around Noah answers. “I would consider that a general social observation.” Yet Noah claims he doesn’t consider himself policing, and that we need to call that out.” Other standout moments have focused on the a political comedian. Does Noah consider himself a member of the see next page “I am a person that is living in a political world, Black Lives Matter movement?

THINGS TO DO

ARTS High five

Editor’s choice FOLLOW THE BAT SIGNAL He’s taken on both Star Wars and Lord of the Rings solo. Now the ever-geeked-out Charles Ross is delving into Batman. He’s repeatedly watched the Dark Knight trilogy and read the Batman comics and graphic novels, and the Fringe-fest favourite is ready to debut One Man Dark Knight: A Batman Parody. Word has it he’ll manage to bring the Caped Crusader to life sans utility belt, Batmobile, or costumes. But Ross does not need such accoutrements to wildly entertain viewers and make fanboys cheer. Winterruption and the Fringe Presents bring One Man Dark Knight to Waterfront Theatre from Thursday to Sunday (February 18 to 21).

Five events you just can’t miss this week

BIGMOUTH (At the York Theatre to February 21) Absolute rave reviews for this man and his microphones.

TETZLAFF TRIO (At the Chan Centre on February 21) Dazzling piano with strings, courtesy of the Vancouver Recital Society.

WINNERS AND LOSERS (At the Cultch to February 27) If you haven’t seen this theatrical debate game, you’re in for an explosive treat.

887 (At SFU Woodward’s to February 21) Travel with genius Robert Lepage into his childhood apartment.

BETROFFENHEIT (At the Vancouver Playhouse from February 25 to 27) Pity if you don’t have tickets to Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young’s mindblowing, sold-out dark carnival.

Guest pick

DANCE DOUBLE BILL Mirna Zagar, executive director of the Dance Centre, is our guest expert this week, and one of her choices is Kidd Pivot’s sold-out Betroffenheit, running from February 25 to 27 at the Vancouver Playhouse. Chances are you can’t find tickets to it, so she also recommends a Chutzpah Festival double bill: “Shay Kuebler [above] is a local dance artist and choreographer with a physical, visceral energy that excites, especially for younger audiences. Madboots has a beautiful piece by male dancers. We’ve seen them here with Sidra Bell at Chutzpah and they were amazing.” The Chutzpah Festival presents Dance Double Bill at the Norman Rothstein Theatre from Saturday to Monday (February 20 to 22).

FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 23

JFL NORTHWEST

Nick Thune ditches the guitar

“Every time we hear him, he impresses us as better than we remembered, surprising us, surpassing our expectations and communicating perceptions that stay in the mind.”

> B Y G U Y M A C P HE R S O N

- Gramophone

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RICHARD GOODE

piano

Sun February 28 at 7:30pm I VANCOUVER PLAYHOUSE Hailed for music-making of tremendous emotional power, depth and expressiveness, Richard Goode has been acknowledged worldwide as one of today’s leading interpreters of Classical and Romantic music.

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VANCOUVER MARCH 10- 17 Special pre-festival concert w/ Ireland’s chart-topping folk music hero DAMIEN DEMPSEY w/ special guests Vagabonds SATURDAY, MARCH 5, IMPERIAL 19+ THE IRISH ROVERS THURSDAY, MARCH 17, VOGUE THEATRE Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with the international ambassadors of Irish music! VANCOUVER WELSH MEN'S CHOIR w/ De Danaan Irish Dancers, piper Tim Fanning & Ballyhooley FRIDAY, MARCH 11, ST. ANDREW'S WESLEY CHURCH CELTICFEST CEILIDH • SATURDAY, MARCH 12, IMPERIAL w/ Blackthorn, Mairi Rankin, BC Regiment Irish Pipes and Drums, Pat Chessell, Shot of Scotch dancers + many more! 19+

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PROGRAM GUIDES AT VANCOUVER’S NEW ROCK

24 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016

Seattle native Nick Thune is taking more risks in his comedy these days.

his absurd one-liners (“C-sections are like the DiGiorno of pregnancy. Because it’s not delivery. But it’s gonna still smell like a delivery”). But don’t expect anything like that when Thune comes to town for the JFL NorthWest festival. When asked how his current show compares to the special, he says, Nick Thune plays the Biltmore Caba“In zero ways. I guess in the sense ret on Saturday (February 20) as part that it’s still funny, but it’s not me of the JFL NorthWest comedy festival.

NINE SHOWS FOR SURE LAUGHS can’t list every show or artist. Impossible. The 2 We JFL NorthWest comedy festival is just too damn

big. You’re going to have to check out the full lineup at its website, www.jflnorthwest.com/, on a computer near you. But here are some acts worth checking out.

WANDA SYKES (February 24 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre) She was once chastised on-air by Bill Cosby. We know who ultimately won that battle. Her act today explores being a black woman married to a French woman raising two white kids.

HASAN MINHAJ (February 20 at the Rio Theatre) Senior Daily Show correspondent Minhaj hits town the day after his more famous boss, Trevor Noah.

EDDIE PEPITONE (February 25 at the Comedy MIX) The man was born to rant, elevating it to an art form, directing it both inward and outward.

MIRANDA SINGS (February 20 at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts) Does YouTube translate to the stage? Can 60 million views be wrong? Find out with Colleen Evans’s talentless narcissist character Miranda Sings. Haters back off!

THE HERO SHOW (February 25 at the China Cloud) A mainstay on the local scene, this is solo sketch involving various comedic artists and disciplines.

PHANTOM SIGNAL (February 22 at the Fox Cabaret) Old-timey horror radio played for laughs, with a special-guest performer. 10 SPEED (February 24 at the Improv Centre on Granville Island) Ten-minute sets from the best improvisers in the land: Vancouver TheatreSports League, the Sunday Service, Hip.Bang!, Matterhorn, and Little Mountain Improv.

Trevor Noah

from previous page

absurdities of American exceptionalism, with Noah pointing out ways in which the United States is not so different from a continent associated with endemic poverty. On January 15, he did a bit on a state of emergency declared in Flint, Michigan, where cost-cutting measures led to a degradation of the city’s plumbing so severe the tap water was poisoned with lead. “I want to call out to all my people in Africa right now watching The Daily Show,” Noah said with a look into the camera. “Because, my friends, for only a hundred dollars a day, we can save a village in America and get these people drinking the water that they so badly need.” But more often, Noah positions himself as a citizen of the United States, albeit one still curious about his new surroundings.

MOLL Irish playwright John B. Keane’s uproarious comedy ST. JAMES HALL: MARCH 10, 12, 14 DENTRY’S IRISH GRILL: MARCH 11, 13, 16

CELTIC VILLAGE March 12 & 13 ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE Sunday, March 13

ebruary is not a time when many Californians think about heading north. Listen to comedian Nick Thune talk from his home in L.A.: “With El Niño, it’s treacherous down here. I mean, we’re dealing with overcast skies and 70-degree weather,” he says. “It’s tough. Everyone’s kind of bearing down and staying together and we’ll get through it.” But the rains won’t deter him. The Seattle native grew up with them, and spent a lot of time in his youth skiing at Whistler and Blackcomb and fishing in Tofino, where he caught a 32-pound king salmon when he was 13. “I gotta look back and think that my dad probably played a major role in me catching the fish,” he recalls, joking that he’s still eating it. “Still have it in the freezer. Just every year, one bite. Savour the memory.” Thune started out as a guitarist in a jokey cover band doing songs by Latin artists like Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias. Like many a musician turned comedian before him, when the banter started overtaking the music he knew a transformation was in order. “I started doing my first—without knowing it—standup sets at kind of dive bars around Seattle,” he says. “And that’s when I realized that’s the direction I needed to go in.” For years, he incorporated the guitar into his act, as you can see in his 2014 Netflix special Folk Hero, using it as soothing background for

holding a guitar and telling oneliners, it’s me standing there talking about my life.” That’s a big change for a guy who really wanted to be a musician. But having a baby can do that to a fella. Or at least this fella. “I think having a son is what kicked me into gear,” he says. “And also finishing my last album. I don’t want to just make the same thing again with different words. I just want to try and take a risk and do something different.“ He’s not afraid of making changes in his career. For a while, he imagined he’d be working at a nonprofit organization with teenagers for the rest of his life, as he did with the Boys and Girls Club. “I really liked it and was good at it, I think,” he says. But after travelling around Europe, he suddenly felt he needed to stretch his wings. “I just said, ‘I gotta change, I gotta try something new whether I fail or whether I don’t.’ ” Ditto the change in his comedic stylings and content. “Not that I hated playing guitar anymore and felt like I had anything to prove,” he says. “I just really thought it was getting too easy and I just needed to challenge myself, because I figured growth isn’t going to happen if I just kind of stay in this lukewarm water.” And he’s not talking about the rain. But that fits too. -

EARLIER IN HIS INTERVIEW with the Straight, before

TODD BARRY (February 25 to 27 at Yuk Yuk’s) One man, three different shows. Barry records an episode of his podcast on Thursday, delivers a headlining set of prepared material in Friday and Saturday early shows, then does all crowd work during the late shows. MICHAEL CHE (February 27 at the Biltmore Cabaret) Let’s see how funny he is out from behind the Weekend Update desk on Saturday Night Live. > GUY M AC PHERSON

you just stay vigilant and you try and stay safe. When it’s police, you feel like you almost don’t stand a chance. It’s a scarier proposition. How do you avoid the law? It’s a very strange feeling.” It’s a revealing conversation about where Noah sees himself in America and how that has changed in the four years since his breakthrough appearance on U.S. television, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, in 2012. “I’ve heard African-Americans, and oh, the way they speak, they pay no regard to punctuation whatsoever,” he said then, with Leno laughing behind him. “Just cruise through sentences like poetry. I don’t even understand half of it, but it sounds great.” Four years later, the pronouns they and them have been replaced with we and us, a transition that Noah said was not conscious but also not surprising. “It was about me realizing that the black experience was more universal than I thought,” he explained. “African-American culture, as the name suggests, has shared a lot in common with African culture. You must remember, I’ve grown up black, and the black experience in most parts of the world is very, very similar. So it is just about exploring a slightly different, almost a permutation of the black experience.” Noah maintained that sort of transition transcends race. “When you travel and you live with people and you are in their world, things are happening to all of you, and it becomes an ‘us’,” he said. “People try and make you believe there is an ‘us’ and a ‘them’. But you will find, in more cases than not, at the end of the day, it’s an ‘us’.” -

discussing Black Lives Matter, Noah delivered a telling response when asked to what extent he has come to identify with African-American culture. The first reference point he described was a hypothetical encounter with law enforcement. “I’m walking down the street, and let’s say there is a policeman or something,” he said. “It’s not like I feel any less in danger than an American black person walking next to me.” Does he feel less safe in Johannesburg—where the murder rate is down in recent years but still staggeringly Trevor Noah plays the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Friday high—or in New York City? “It is a different feeling,” Noah said. “When it’s crime, (February 19) as part of the JFL NorthWest comedy festival.

JFL NORTHWEST

Jay Oakerson gets nasty

CALL MR. ROBESON

The big Philadelphian comic is set to gross out Vancouver at JFL NorthWest > B Y GUY M A C PHER SO N

a life, with songs Written and Performed by

Tayo Aluko “A triumph!”

While most comedians are told to tone things down, the Nasty Show asked Big Jay Oakerson to make things even dirtier—which was not a problem for him.

the New York Comedy Festival, and San Francisco SketchFest. “It’s tons of fun because that’s the only chance it really gets to be as funny to the comedian as it is to the audience, because we don’t know what we’re going to say either,” he says of the crowd work. “You don’t have any idea what you’re going to say until seconds before you say it.” Some comics unaccustomed to walking that unnetted tightrope fret about going on later in the show, when it seems there’s no one else left to talk to in the audience. But Oakerson gives them a pep talk. “The beauty of going at the end of a crowdwork show is the joke’s pretty much been written for you; all you gotta do now is kinda hit punch lines, because you know this couple’s been married for this many years, you know he thinks her sister’s attractive. You’re

given all these tools to work with.” He sees audience-spritzing as a good skill to have in your back pocket. He says comics just have to tap into that time in their lives when they were hysterical off-stage, before the craft took over. “They find that they are actually all good at crowd work,” he says. “They’re all funny people. They all never prepared their jokes before they did comedy. When you were just being funny with your friends, you never really overprepared for that. I kinda, like, trick them into finding that spot.” Big Jay Oakerson is in the Nasty Show at the Rio Theatre from Tuesday to next Saturday (February 23 to 27) and hosts What’s Your Fucking Deal?! at the Comedy MIX on Wednesday (February 24).

Photo of Paul Robeson by Yousuf Karsh

Broadwayworld.com

Anvil Centre Photo: Grant Mattice

ig Jay Oakerson looms large over the JFL NorthWest comedy festival. Then again, at six foot three, he looms large over most things. The Philadelphia-born and -raised standup will be as nasty as he wants to be for five shows at the Rio Theatre when Montreal’s infamous Nasty Show hits the fest. He’ll also be hosting a night of crowd work at the Comedy MIX. If anything, comics are told to tone it down when it comes to material, but Oakerson remembers his audition for his first Nasty Show. “I went there and did a pretty dirty set and the only feedback that was given to me was ‘Can you possibly be a little dirtier?’ Sure! That’s no problem at all, whatsoever,” he says on the phone from his home in New York City. “I thought that was insane. That was such a weird thing for such a prestigious festival to say: ‘Hey, can you actually gross this up a little more?’ ” The Vancouver version will be hosted by Bobby Slayton, who’s known for his ferocious wit and who’s been on the Nasty bill off and on (mostly on) since the ’90s. It will also feature Oakerson in a shared bill with Jersey boy Kurt Metzger, Tony “One Shot” Hinchcliffe, and Vancouver’s own Kathleen McGee. Oakerson’s own show, What’s Your Fucking Deal?!, which is coming to the Comedy MIX during the fest, isn’t necessarily as shocking as the Nasty, but it can be. No one knows ahead of time how it will play out, since the only rule is that each comedian coming to the stage cannot do prepared material. Oakerson first mounted it in Montreal in 2012 and has since performed it at SXSW,

February 25-28 Anvil Centre Theatre 777 Columbia St, New Westminster

anvilcentre.com

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604.521.5050

FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 25

Dance Double Bill

MADBOOTS DANCE USA

“Sharp, elegant movements, dark theatricality and unashamed intimacy.” The New York Times SHAY KUEBLER / RSA BC “So fully embodied entertainment and artistry at such high levels.” Vancouver Weekly Feb. 20 – 22 > NRT

ROTEM SIVAN TRIO USA/Israel

“A remarkable talent.” DownBeat Magazine Feb. 21 > Frankie’s Italian Kitchen

VICTORIA HANNA Israel

“The freshest, edgiest, weirdest artist on the Israeli airwaves today.”

Public Radio International

Feb 23 > NRT

SPELLBOUND CONTEMPORARY BALLET Italy

“Dancers of such chameleon-like suppleness, they were not only spellbinding, but breathtaking.” The Philadelphia Inquirer Feb. 27 – 29 > NRT

THE ANDY STATMAN TRIO USA “Andy Statman, clarinet and mandolin virtuoso, is an American visionary.”

The New Yorker

Feb 24 > NRT

ODESSA/HAVANA Canada/Cuba “A perfect example of an act that has struck gold with its sonic experimentation.” CBC March 1 > NRT

OPENING NIGHT Two hilarious standup comics JESSICA KIRSON USA

Nightlife Award winner for Best Standup Comedian in New York City. & JON STEINBERG Canada A perennial favourite of CBC’s The Debaters. Feb 18 > NRT

KLEZMERSON Mexico

MARIA KONG Israel

“Brimming with an erotic charge, sensuality, desire… exquisite sense of humor and even irony.” INFANT Festival, Novisad, Serbia March 5 – 7 > NRT

“A remarkable band out of Mexico City taking the Jewish tradition to some fresh and uncharted new places.”

John Zorn – Tzadik

March 3 > NRT

GALLIM DANCE USA

“Voluptuously polyglot choreography.” The New York Times March 10 – 13 > NRT

Chutzpah!PLUS BALLET KELOWNA BC

A mixed program with live music from Toronto’s Continuum Contemporary Music. May 4 – 6 > NRT

A-WA Israel

Sweeping and uncompromising music will take you on an exciting journey! March 12 > The Biltmore Cabaret 19+

BALADINO Israel/Germany

“Lively, engaging, enthralling and mystical.” ChicagoNow March 5 > The Fox Cabaret, 19+

Chutzpah!PLUS AVISHAI COHEN QUARTET Israel

“An extravagantly skilled trumpeter.” The New York Times

May 7 > NRT

tickets: chutzpahfestival.com 604.257.5145 NRT = Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre at the JCC 950 W 41st Avenue

A VERY NARROW BRIDGE Canada by Itai Erdal, Anita Rochon, and Maiko Yamamoto. This funny and insightful chamber-sized play, takes a personal look at leaving love and a country behind. March 5 – 13 > JCC - Dayson Board Room

Chutzpah!PLUS An Evening with

JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN Canada The former host of the celebrated CBC program Wiretap brings us his wry, self-deprecating humour. “The Wes Anderson of podcasting.” The Atlantic March 31 > NRT

SPECIAL PRESENTATION JENNIFER TEEGE

Germany In conversation with Marsha Lederman about her new memoir My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me, learning to come to terms with the horrifying fact that Amon Goeth, the Nazi “butcher of Plaszow,” who was chillingly depicted by Ralph Fiennes in Schindler’s List, was her grandfather. April 2 > NRT

Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver

26 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016

FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 27

Dance Double Bill

MADBOOTS DANCE USA

ROTEM SIVAN TRIO USA/Israel

“A remarkable talent.” DownBeat Magazine Feb. 21 > Frankie’s Italian Kitchen

VICTORIA HANNA Israel

“The freshest, edgiest, weirdest artist on the Israeli airwaves today.”

Public Radio International

Feb 23 > NRT

SPELLBOUND CONTEMPORARY BALLET Italy

“Dancers of such chameleon-like suppleness, they were not only spellbinding, but breathtaking.” The Philadelphia Inquirer Feb. 27 – 29 > NRT

THE ANDY STATMAN TRIO USA “Andy Statman, clarinet and mandolin virtuoso, is an American visionary.”

The New Yorker

Feb 24 > NRT

ODESSA/HAVANA Canada/Cuba “A perfect example of an act that has struck gold with its sonic experimentation.” CBC March 1 > NRT

OPENING NIGHT Two hilarious standup comics JESSICA KIRSON USA

Nightlife Award winner for Best Standup Comedian in New York City. & JON STEINBERG Canada A perennial favourite of CBC’s The Debaters. Feb 18 > NRT

KLEZMERSON Mexico

MARIA KONG Israel

“Brimming with an erotic charge, sensuality, desire… exquisite sense of humor and even irony.” INFANT Festival, Novisad, Serbia March 5 – 7 > NRT

“A remarkable band out of Mexico City taking the Jewish tradition to some fresh and uncharted new places.”

John Zorn – Tzadik

March 3 > NRT

GALLIM DANCE USA

“Voluptuously polyglot choreography.” The New York Times March 10 – 13 > NRT

Chutzpah!PLUS BALLET KELOWNA BC

A mixed program with live music from Toronto’s Continuum Contemporary Music. May 4 – 6 > NRT

A-WA Israel

Sweeping and uncompromising music will take you on an exciting journey! March 12 > The Biltmore Cabaret 19+

BALADINO Israel/Germany

“Lively, engaging, enthralling and mystical.” ChicagoNow March 5 > The Fox Cabaret, 19+

Chutzpah!PLUS AVISHAI COHEN QUARTET Israel

“An extravagantly skilled trumpeter.” The New York Times

May 7 > NRT

tickets: chutzpahfestival.com 604.257.5145 NRT = Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre at the JCC 950 W 41st Avenue

Chutzpah!PLUS An Evening with

JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN Canada The former host of the celebrated CBC program Wiretap brings us his wry, self-deprecating humour. “The Wes Anderson of podcasting.” The Atlantic March 31 > NRT

SPECIAL PRESENTATION JENNIFER TEEGE

Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver

26 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016

FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 27

Dance Double Bill

MADBOOTS DANCE USA

ROTEM SIVAN TRIO USA/Israel

“A remarkable talent.” DownBeat Magazine Feb. 21 > Frankie’s Italian Kitchen

VICTORIA HANNA Israel

“The freshest, edgiest, weirdest artist on the Israeli airwaves today.”

Public Radio International

Feb 23 > NRT

SPELLBOUND CONTEMPORARY BALLET Italy

“Dancers of such chameleon-like suppleness, they were not only spellbinding, but breathtaking.” The Philadelphia Inquirer Feb. 27 – 29 > NRT

THE ANDY STATMAN TRIO USA “Andy Statman, clarinet and mandolin virtuoso, is an American visionary.”

The New Yorker

Feb 24 > NRT

ODESSA/HAVANA Canada/Cuba “A perfect example of an act that has struck gold with its sonic experimentation.” CBC March 1 > NRT

OPENING NIGHT Two hilarious standup comics JESSICA KIRSON USA

Nightlife Award winner for Best Standup Comedian in New York City. & JON STEINBERG Canada A perennial favourite of CBC’s The Debaters. Feb 18 > NRT

KLEZMERSON Mexico

MARIA KONG Israel

“Brimming with an erotic charge, sensuality, desire… exquisite sense of humor and even irony.” INFANT Festival, Novisad, Serbia March 5 – 7 > NRT

“A remarkable band out of Mexico City taking the Jewish tradition to some fresh and uncharted new places.”

John Zorn – Tzadik

March 3 > NRT

GALLIM DANCE USA

“Voluptuously polyglot choreography.” The New York Times March 10 – 13 > NRT

Chutzpah!PLUS BALLET KELOWNA BC

A mixed program with live music from Toronto’s Continuum Contemporary Music. May 4 – 6 > NRT

A-WA Israel

Sweeping and uncompromising music will take you on an exciting journey! March 12 > The Biltmore Cabaret 19+

BALADINO Israel/Germany

“Lively, engaging, enthralling and mystical.” ChicagoNow March 5 > The Fox Cabaret, 19+

Chutzpah!PLUS AVISHAI COHEN QUARTET Israel

“An extravagantly skilled trumpeter.” The New York Times

May 7 > NRT

tickets: chutzpahfestival.com 604.257.5145 NRT = Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre at the JCC 950 W 41st Avenue

Chutzpah!PLUS An Evening with

JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN Canada The former host of the celebrated CBC program Wiretap brings us his wry, self-deprecating humour. “The Wes Anderson of podcasting.” The Atlantic March 31 > NRT

SPECIAL PRESENTATION JENNIFER TEEGE

Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver

26 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016

FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 27

Dance Double Bill

MADBOOTS DANCE USA

ROTEM SIVAN TRIO USA/Israel

“A remarkable talent.” DownBeat Magazine Feb. 21 > Frankie’s Italian Kitchen

VICTORIA HANNA Israel

“The freshest, edgiest, weirdest artist on the Israeli airwaves today.”

Public Radio International

Feb 23 > NRT

SPELLBOUND CONTEMPORARY BALLET Italy

“Dancers of such chameleon-like suppleness, they were not only spellbinding, but breathtaking.” The Philadelphia Inquirer Feb. 27 – 29 > NRT

THE ANDY STATMAN TRIO USA “Andy Statman, clarinet and mandolin virtuoso, is an American visionary.”

The New Yorker

Feb 24 > NRT

ODESSA/HAVANA Canada/Cuba “A perfect example of an act that has struck gold with its sonic experimentation.” CBC March 1 > NRT

OPENING NIGHT Two hilarious standup comics JESSICA KIRSON USA

Nightlife Award winner for Best Standup Comedian in New York City. & JON STEINBERG Canada A perennial favourite of CBC’s The Debaters. Feb 18 > NRT

KLEZMERSON Mexico

MARIA KONG Israel

“Brimming with an erotic charge, sensuality, desire… exquisite sense of humor and even irony.” INFANT Festival, Novisad, Serbia March 5 – 7 > NRT

“A remarkable band out of Mexico City taking the Jewish tradition to some fresh and uncharted new places.”

John Zorn – Tzadik

March 3 > NRT

GALLIM DANCE USA

“Voluptuously polyglot choreography.” The New York Times March 10 – 13 > NRT

Chutzpah!PLUS BALLET KELOWNA BC

A mixed program with live music from Toronto’s Continuum Contemporary Music. May 4 – 6 > NRT

A-WA Israel

Sweeping and uncompromising music will take you on an exciting journey! March 12 > The Biltmore Cabaret 19+

BALADINO Israel/Germany

“Lively, engaging, enthralling and mystical.” ChicagoNow March 5 > The Fox Cabaret, 19+

Chutzpah!PLUS AVISHAI COHEN QUARTET Israel

“An extravagantly skilled trumpeter.” The New York Times

May 7 > NRT

tickets: chutzpahfestival.com 604.257.5145 NRT = Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre at the JCC 950 W 41st Avenue

Chutzpah!PLUS An Evening with

JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN Canada The former host of the celebrated CBC program Wiretap brings us his wry, self-deprecating humour. “The Wes Anderson of podcasting.” The Atlantic March 31 > NRT

SPECIAL PRESENTATION JENNIFER TEEGE

Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver

26 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016

FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 27

CHUTZPAH FESTIVAL

In (Sad Boys), New York’s Madboots Dance explores vulnerability and confronts homophobia. Skye Schmidt photo.

Madboots redefines masculinity > BY JA NET SM IT H

he idea of an all-male dance troupe brings to mind muscles, athleticism, and power. But a fast-emerging troupe from New York City seeks to push past those stereotypes of masculinity, blending that physical energy with moments of vulnerability, tender sensuality, and heartfelt emotion. Dancers Jonathan Campbell and Austin Diaz formed Madboots Dance in 2011 with the idea of pushing beyond the clichés of male identity. They also mined their own experiences as gay males, as well as the political climate growing in the U.S. New York, after all, is the place that spawned Donald Trump. “It does seem like our work has a little political charge,” explains Campbell from New York City, sharing the line with Diaz before the company heads here for its West Coast debut at the Chutzpah Festival. “That comes with our personal experiences growing up and being bullied, but also living in New York. And now, with this political election, topics of civil rights and equality seem like a daily topic. It’s a constant, and it’s really hard not to let that come into creation time.” The duo met while working with Sidra Bell Dance New York, the bold company that Chutzpah has brought to town in previous years. “Sidra thought Austin and I looked really good together, and we ended up dancing a lot together. We had this immediate connection and chemistry dance-wise,” Campbell explains.

“Then one day we just decided to rent out a space and work together. We seemed to be on the same wavelength of what we wanted to do.” When the pair started working with a larger ensemble, themes of masculine identity really started to emerge. The five-dancer piece the troupe brings here takes a fearless look not just at queer identity and homophobia, but at the feelings men are forced to repress. (Sad Boys), which debuted at the Jacob’s Pillow dance fest in 2015, is inspired by an Allen Ginsberg poem, “Song”, in which the writer longs to return “to the body/where I was born”, before society forced its expectations on it. The costumes range from nude briefs to leather chest harnesses to white, gauzy masks that stretch eerily over the whole head; at certain points, giant homophobic epithets are projected onto the floor. In one of its signature theatrical touches, Madboots fills one side of the stage with 300 pounds of shredded mulch that later spreads onto the dancing surface. “It stems from just wanting to enter a new space, just reimagine what a theatre is and take someone out of their lives for just an hour,” Diaz says of the pair’s love of dramatic settings. Campbell stresses (Sad Boys)’s messages spread beyond the queer experience. “Everyone at some point in time must have felt pressured to be what they’re not,” he says. “It’s not an uncommon thing, and that’s where I think people can relate beyond the sexuality topic. We don’t come into the studio every day saying, ‘What’s the gay issue today?’ ”

28 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016

“We’re all human,” Diaz adds. “In a way it’s just a different perspective on male dance.” The work is obviously striking a chord. Diaz and Campbell report receiving support after shows and through Facebook from others who have experienced bullying. They are also receiving notice for their intricate, viscerally expressive choreography: Dance Magazine named Madboots one of 25 companies to watch in 2014. The creative process seems to come easily to the duo, who have found an almost eerie synchronicity. “Sometimes we’ll go to opposite ends of the room and make work, and kind of do a show-and-tell where we’re very honest with each other,” Campbell relates. “We both keep notebooks and often have the same thing written down—which is kind of scary!” The pair, still in their mid-20s, realize it’s almost unheard-of for such a young company to have such a fast rise. “This is a big moment for us,” Campbell agrees with a laugh. “It’s been fast! It’s been a wild ride. Looking back at it now, it seems like a crazy thing. I don’t think we had our heads wrapped around what we were doing. There’s still a lot we’re learning, having our own company. We love what we’re doing and wouldn’t have it any other way.” The Chutzpah Festival presents Madboots Dance with Shay Kuebler Radical System Art at the Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre from Saturday to Monday (February 20 to 22).

Maria Kong returns to the Chutzpah Festival with Open Source, a multimedia piece that uses wireless digital gloves to control sound. Marijn Alders photo.

Chutzpah fest builds world-class web of dance The impressive roster of international dance programming you see at the Chutzpah Festival this year is the result of an intricate web of relationships carefully built over the event’s 16 years. And relationships aren’t one-offs. “I feel it really does stem from my years as a dancer and dance teacher,” artistic general director Mary-Louise Albert, who danced for the likes of Judith Marcuse and Karen Jamieson, tells the Straight over the phone. “It’s a process that’s ongoing and you bond with the artists. It’s been good to support that talent and drive out there.” Case in point: this year sees the return of Maria Kong, the brazenly theatrical, genre-defying Tel Aviv troupe that Chutzpah-goers caught at a downtown club with a live rock band last year. For 2016, Albert has invited it back with a work that shows a different side of the company: Open Source, a multimedia, high-tech fantasy about a virtual game of love and memory. “This time it’s in a proscenium theatre, there’s no live music, and there’s this technology they’ve invented,” she says, referring to wireless digital gloves a dancer wears to control the show’s real-time sound. Elsewhere, audiences can check out the development of other companies they’ve been introduced to at Chutzpah. New York City’s Gallim Dance, run by Batsheva Dance alumna Andrea Miller, marks the third return of its strange and fearlessly edgy work—this time, the wolfpack-inspired Wonderland. “To understand the depth of some companies, you can’t show them one time,” Albert explains. “Live dance is such a living, breathing, at-themoment form.” Albert likes to help get work out there, but she also likes to develop it. In the case of Shay Kuebler, this means the debut of Telemetry Volume 1, a riff on radio science that he’s worked on as artist in residence at the Norman Rothstein Theatre. And Madboots Dance, run by two young dancers who have appeared at the fest in the past as part of Sidra Bell Dance New York, makes its West Coast debut. (See story at left.) Chutzpah is also launching a new relationship for 2016, introducing local audiences to Spellbound Contemporary Ballet—an Italian company known for its intricate, virtuosically gorgeous contemporary dance—in a copro with Arts Umbrella. “We’re getting to see three of his [artistic director Mauro Astolfi’s] works, so it’s been a couple of years of getting to know each other,” Albert says. And, of course, we can probably expect Spellbound, like others, to come back again another year. > JANET SMITH

FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 29

ARTS

Phantom of the Opera gets a modern-day score > B Y A LE XAN DER VAR TY

t’s a tradeoff: those attending the Vancouver Bach Choir’s upcoming presentation of The Phantom of the Opera won’t get Andrew Lloyd Webber’s garish musical, but they will get the 1925 film version of Gaston Leroux’s 1909 novel, along with an evocative modern-day score by bassist and composer Andrew Downing. They’ll also be treated to a true when-worlds-collide experience, with the venerable choir joined by seven exceptional improvisers, including Downing himself on upright bass, François Houle on clarinet, and Chris Gestrin on that all-important organ. And to think that it all came about due to wine. It’s not that Downing’s inspiration for updating Rupert Julian’s cinematic masterpiece came to him in a drunken stupor, however. Instead, it was suggested by the organizers of the Jackson-Triggs winery’s summer concert series, which pairs silent-film classics with contemporary music. “I had never really thought about doing this kind of thing, but the opportunity to play a concert came up,” Downing relates by phone from his Toronto home. “So I just decided to write a bunch of music for the film that they were doing, and it happened to be Phantom of the Opera.” Since debuting his Phantom score in 2004, Downing has gone on to write music for the German expressionist classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari as well as the obscure Lon Chaney vehicle The Shock. “I just liked the way the medium lent itself to my compositional style,” he reports. “It was an opportunity to play my music for people who were interested in other things. I would get some people who were really into silent film, and other

Composer-bassist Andrew Downing likes writing music that tells a story.

people who were really into music.” Part of the appeal, he adds, is that using a soundless movie cuts out a lot of the grunt work of composing. “That’s for sure!” he enthuses. “It not only gives you the narrative, it also gives you a time line. It’s kind of weird to say, in that it sounds a little bit too pragmatic, but sometimes if there’s a scene that’s six minutes long, I know that I have to write six minutes of music. As a composer, I really like writing music that feels like storytellin. So when there’s already a story being told that has no other sound to it, it’s really nice to craft music that will present that—or represent that, I guess.” As a bonus, Julian’s vintage footage includes several scenes that call out for musical accompaniment, including the Phantom’s love-crazed organ solo. While Downing’s scores tend to be subtle and textured, that sequence will likely let Gestrin chew the musical scenery with feverish abandon. “When the Phantom plays the organ, it’s a bit of a cliché,” the composer admits. “But it’s unavoidable!” The Vancouver Bach Choir presents Phantom of the Opera at the Orpheum on Saturday (February 20).

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Bramwell Tovey conductor/piano Sarah Fryer mezzo-soprano+ Jeanette Jonquil clarinet* Grace Huang piano* Christopher Gaze actor Dean Paul Gibson actor BRAHMS Clarinet Sonata No. 1 in F minor* WAGNER Five songs for Voice and Piano, Wesendonck Lieder+

2 SATURDAY, APRIL 9 BEETHOVEN’S NINTH

Bramwell Tovey conductor/host Jeanette Jonquil clarinet* Monica Huisman soprano+ Sarah Fryer mezzo-soprano+ David Pomeroy tenor+ Alfred Walker bass+ UBC University Singers UBC Choral Union+ Graeme Langager chorus director WAGNER Lohengrin Prelude to Act III BRAHMS (ORCH. BERIO) Clarinet Sonata No.1 in F minor* BEETHOVEN (ARR. MAHLER) Symphony No. 9 in D minor+

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Bramwell Tovey conductor/host WAGNER Die Meistersinger Overture WAGNER Tristan and Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod BRAHMS Symphony No. 1 in C minor

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THE CONSERVATIVES: BRAHMS REQUIEM

Bramwell Tovey conductor/host Tracy Dahl soprano* James Westman baritone* Phoenix Chamber Choir* UBC University Singers* Vancouver Cantata Singers* Graeme Langager chorus director BRAHMS A German Requiem*

5 MONDAY, APRIL 18

THE PROGRESSIVES: WAGNER’S RING WITHOUT WORDS

Bramwell Tovey conductor/host LISZT Les Preludes WAGNER Der Ring Ohne Worte (The Ring Without Words)

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TALKING STICK FEST

Mining truths out of myths With Battle of the Birds, Kevin Loring makes an ancient legend speak to today > BY A LEX A NDER VA R TY

APRIL VERCH singer

Playwright Kevin Loring found urgent messages about the need to address power, abuse, and domestic violence in an old First Nations tale. Ian Redd photo.

have been composed to accompany the script, which will be presented in N’lakap’amux’tsn and English. And 30 Lytton residents will also be onstage, making this battle as much of a celebration as a cautionary tale. “What this play is saying is that the community needs to rally around the victims, and that the community has to address these family-violence issues, just as much as the family itself has to,” Loring says. With a little push from an ancient legend, the N’lakap’amux are clearly on-side—and there’s no reason for the rest of us not to follow. The Talking Stick Festival presents Battle of the Birds at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre on Friday and Saturday (February 19 and 20).

step-dancer fiddler “Absolutely captivating!”

April Verch Photo by Parker J Pfister

humble and kind to his wife.” Abuse and resurrection: there’s a clear parallel to First Nations life under colonialism, and Loring readily admits that there’s a political side to his work. “As aboriginal artists, we’re like warriors, right?” he says. “We’re constantly having to standard-bear, right? Wherever we go and whatever we do, we have to hold the flag—and not the Canadian flag, but the aboriginal flag. We have to represent our people, and we have to do it in the best way possible.” With Battle of the Birds, Loring and Savage Society have assembled a strong cast of singers and actors, including Sandy Scofield, Renae Morriseau, Sam Bob, and Ronnie Dean Harris. Seven original songs, inspired by Teit’s cylinder recordings,

Anvil Centre Photo: Grant Mattice

n an oral culture, tales handed down from time immemorial are more than just myths and legends: they’re also maps for living. “Traditional stories contain our laws and our moralities,” explains N’lakap’amux actor and playwright Kevin Loring, on the line from the Fraser Canyon community of Lytton. “They’re all parables, right?” Uncovering the truths embedded in those parables is part of the mandate of his Savage Society theatre company’s Songs of the Land project, which looks at First Nations language and culture through the prism of the wax-cylinder recordings made by ethnologist James Alexander Teit almost exactly a century ago. And it was during one of those sessions that Loring first heard the story that has since become the centrepiece of Savage Society’s new production, Battle of the Birds. It wasn’t on the Teit recordings, but listening to those artifacts led N’lakap’amux elder Jimmy Toodlican to recall the tale, as it was told to him by his own forebears. “That was pretty remarkable,” Loring says, pointing out that some researchers consider “The Battle of the Birds” to be one of the four core narratives of the Interior Salish. “It deals with power abuse and domestic violence and how the community deals with that—at least traditionally,” he explains. “And it’s set in the Bird Nation, in this mythical time, this legendary time, when animals were like people. And so in the Bird Nation, Eagle is hosting a slahal game, a gambling game which is also known as the bone game. He’s being really abusive to his wife in front of everybody, and so Golden Eagle gets all the other birds together to rescue Eagle’s wife, and they steal her away to Golden Eagle’s house.” The intervention does not go well. “Eagle is very upset, so he goes and he challenges all the birds to battle to the death for his honour and his wife,” Loring continues. “And they come out of the house and he slaughters them all; he decapitates them all, from the littlest birds to the biggest birds, including Golden Eagle. And then at the very end this little Red Hawk comes in, sees the devastation that has been done to his community, challenges Eagle, and defeats him. And then he sings his medicine song, which heals all the birds—except for Eagle, whose head he leaves completely white, to remind him to be

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EXHILARATING SOUNDSCAPES

FRIDAY & SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19 & 20 8PM, CHAN CENTRE, UBC MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22 8PM, BELL PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE, SURREY Bramwell Tovey conductor MILHAUD The Creation of the World BRITTEN Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10 STRAVINSKY &RQFHUWR LQ ( Ĺ´DW Dumbarton Oaks PHILIP GLASS Symphony No. 3

Maestro Tovey conducts a magnificent concert that explores a world of exhilarating soundscapes. French composer Darius Milhaudâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s The Creation of the World is rich, exotic music written for a ballet based on African folk mythology. The Third Symphony of American composer Philip Glass is a fascinating piece of sonic architecture for string orchestra, and Stravinskyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dumbarton Oaks is a beautiful neo-classical Chamber concerto. MEDIA SPONSOR

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Ballet BC presents Program 2, featuring a world premiere by French choreographer Medhi Walerski

Simons Community Balcony Simons celebrates our partnership with Ballet BC by sponsoring select balcony seating at the exclusive price of $15 per ticket.

Queen Elizabeth Theatre | March 17, 18, & 19 Starting February 18, members of The Simons rewards program can pick up a voucher at Customer Service in the Park Royal South store for purchase of up to 2 tickets at $15 each. To become a member, sign up in store or online at simons.ca/activate, then stop by Customer Service for your discounted ticket voucher. * Ballet BC dancers Kirsten Wicklund, Peter Smida, Tara Williamson, and Gilbert Small are pictured here in clothing available at Simons.

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Park Royal South 32 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FEBRUARY 18 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 25 / 2016

ARTS

The Birth of Modern Culture 371 ARTWORKS 156 ARTISTS 30 CURATORS 3 YEARS IN THE MAKING

OUR BIGGEST EXHIBITION YET Opens February 20, 2016 SPECIAL RATES ON ADVANCE TICKETS FOR A LIMITED TIME

Famed creator-performer Robert Lepage shares multimedia memories of Quebecâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Quiet Revolution and his own family history in 887. Erick LabbĂŠ photo.

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Lepage takes a trip into memory you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget TH E AT RE 887 Written, directed, and performed by Robert Lepage. An Ex Machina production, presente by SFU Woodwardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and ThĂŠĂ˘tre la SeiziĂ¨me. At the Milton and Fei Wong Experimental Theatre in the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts at SFU Woodwardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on Friday, February 12. Continues until February 21

Vancouver, you have been given

2 an incredible gift. 887 is a rare

experience, a play about memory that those lucky enough to see it will never forget. The play features the type of theatrical wizardry that creator-performer Robert Lepage is internationally famous for, but the first hint that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s made something more intimate with 887 comes when he walks on-stage to give the curtain speech himself. He then segues into a story about being asked to performâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and therefore memorizeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;an iconic poem from Quebecâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Quiet Revolution in the 1960s. Invoking the concept of the memory palace, Lepage brings out a scale model of the apartment building in Quebec City where he lived as a child. (The playâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s title comes from the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s address.) As Lepage describes his neighbours, we see themâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;through a combination of props and projectionsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;coming to life inside the miniature apartments. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impossible to overstate how dazzling and delightful these effects are. But the details in Lepageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s downto-earth storytelling work their own simple magic: the unruly boys in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;gorilla familyâ&#x20AC;? one floor down are rumoured to have been conceived while their mother was working at the zoo; an aspiring young pop star upstairs was born in front of a crowd of medical students, leading to his lifelong taste for an audience. And in his building, Lepage finds a microcosm of Quebec society at the time: 80 percent francophone, 20 percent anglophone, the residents equally divided in political affiliation. This marriage of simplicity and complexity, of the personal and political, drives the entire show. Lepage shares his familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s storyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;his father worked as a taxi driver to support his wife, four children, and the grandmother stricken with dementia who shared their apartmentâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; alongside a brief primer in Quebec history and highlights of its 1960s

transformation, culminating in the militant separatism of the FLQ. Much of his narration is delivered in subtly rhymed verse, in contrast to the automatiste style of the poemâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;MichĂ¨le Lalondeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Speak Whiteâ&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;&#x201D;that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s struggling to learn by heart. One of the playâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s central motifs is transformationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;historical, personal, and narrativeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a notion that underpins its staging. Lepage turns the apartment building to one side and unfolds the walls of his spacious, contemporary kitchen. Another spin and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in a lonely 1960s diner late at night. A projected illustration of the brainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hemispheres morphs into a blueprint of two adjacent apartments; fireworks thicken into neurons; a bunk bed becomes a theatre. The surprises never stop, but theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re always on a human scale. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an incredible tenderness in the way Lepage interacts with the dollhouse world, sometimes with the camera on his phone, sometimes by reaching in his hand, treating memory with the gentlest of caresses. 887â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two hours are packed with indelible images and thoughtprovoking reflections on the nature of family, identity, and culture. These memories started as Lepageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, but now theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re ours, too, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m deeply, deeply grateful.

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THE VSO NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL

featuring the KRONOS QUARTET, MAESTRO BRAMWELL TOVEY, STANDING WAVE, and VSO COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE JOCELYN MORLOCK $ YLEUDQWbfour-day festivalbFHOHEUDWLQJ WKH H[FLWLQJ ZRUNV RI FRQWHPSRUDU\ FRPSRVHUV DQG IHDWXULQJ WKH ZRUOG UHQRZQHG Kronos Quartet $QG HQKDQFH \RXU PXVLFDO H[SHULHQFH ZLWK SUH FRQFHUW WDONV DQG SRVW FRQFHUW JDWKHULQJV ZLWK 0DHVWUR 7RYH\ FRPSRVHUV DQG 962 PXVLFLDQV

> KATHLEEN OLIVER

BIGMOUTH Directed and performed by Valentijn Dhaenens. Produced by SKaGeN and Richard Jordan Productions, presented by the Cultch. At the York Theatre on Thursday, February 11. Continues until February 21

Wow. BigMouth is a mind-blow-

2 ing celebration of the power of

the human voice. Belgian solo performer Valentijn Dhaenens drew on over 1,000 speeches to compile this script, ranging from the ancient Greeks to George W. Bush, and spanning the political spectrum from Osama bin Laden to Ann Coulter. In this diversity, Dhaenens found the same recurring human preoccupations. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s freedom: Patrice Lumumba celebrating Congolese independence in 1960. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s loss and sorrow: Periclesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s funeral oration from 431 B.C. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pride, principle, and a lot of political manipulation. At one point, see next page

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Sacred and Profane

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FEBRUARY 18 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 25 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 33

Belgian performer Valentjin Dhaenens drew upon over 1,000 famous speeches to create his powerful, perfectly polished one-man show, BigMouth.

BigMouth

Tickets start at

$45.

THE (POST) MISTRESS from previous page

Dhaenens splices together late–World War II speeches by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and U.S. army general George S. Patton as they rally their respective troops. In Dhaenens’s seamless transitions, Goebbels is all ingratiating charm and Patton is all macho bluster, but they demand the same thing of their listeners: courageous sacrifice and total annihilation of the enemy in hopes of a brighter future. And there’s humour—albeit grim— here, too: Dhaenens is very funny as Frank Vanhecke, leader of a racist Belgian political party, apologizing for his imperfect English while he tries to explain European politics to a group of right-wing Americans, and as George W. Bush going dangerously off-book in his 2002 state of the union address. Dhaenens’s virtuosic switching between voices, mannerisms, and languages (he speaks about half a dozen here) is a huge part of the show’s success, but it’s his musical voice that makes BigMouth so compelling theatrically. To transition between speeches, Dhaenens builds aural collages by singing a phrase into a microphone, looping it, and adding layers of harmony until we’re engulfed in a gorgeous sonic structure. Some of these pieces evoke a specific historical period, others set the mood, but all of them are bewitching. In one memorable sequence, Dhaenens creates haunting irony by underscoring a rapidfire montage of late-20th-century U.S. political and civil-rights leaders with a snippet of West Side Story’s “America” and recurring gunshot sounds. The show’s design concept is simplicity honed to perfection: a row of microphones sits on a long table in front of Dhaenens and a blackboard upstage lists the speakers’ names and dates—a handy reference that will send you to the Internet after the show. Dhaenens is in his fourth year of touring BigMouth, and though it is polished, it feels fresh and inspiring. Go, listen, think, and marvel at the power of what Dhaenens calls “this little hole in our face”. > KATHLEEN OLIVER

34 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016

Book and music by Tomson Highway. Directed by John Cooper. An Arts Club Theatre Company production. At the Goldcorp Stage in the BMO Theatre Centre on Wednesday, Februar y 10. Continues until Februar y 28

The performance is terrific, but

2 the play lacks drama.

The title character in Tomson Highway’s The (Post) Mistress is Marie-Louise Painchaud, who has spent her whole life in the small northern Ontario town of Lovely, and served as its link to Canada Post for many of those years. As she sorts the mail, Marie-Louise gossips about her neighbours and their relationships, frequently telling their stories in songs. Highway’s quirky humour permeates the script: Marie-Louise reports that it’s so hot in Brazil that people “wear nothing but dental f loss—even to go shopping”, and complains that a local woman’s makeup “makes Tammy Faye Baker look like a nun”. There’s also a strangely lascivious song about a couple who like to play checkers. Highway also delights in playing with language, infusing the townspeople’s francophone names, which Marie-Louise recites like talismans, with rhythm (“Roland Painchaud”) and rhyme (“Yvette Paquette”), and offering songs in English, French, and Cree. Under John Cooper’s direction, Patricia Cano is a charming and assured Marie-Louise, and a powerhouse of a singer who switches effortlessly among the play’s languages. But her talent isn’t enough to sustain the show, especially in the first act, which builds virtually no narrative tension. Marie-Louise simply tells us a story, sings a song, pulls another letter off the stack, and repeats. Ted Roberts’s set of towering mailboxes roots Marie-Louise in the local, while his video projections allow her imagination to travel far and wide. There are so many strengths in this production. If only there were more of a story. > KATHLEEN OLIVER

straight choices

ar ts/ timeout THEATRE DANCE MUSIC COMEDY LITERARY EVENTS ET CETERA GALLERIES MUSEUMS OUT OF TOWN

< < < < < < < < <

2OPENINGS POSTSECRET: THE SHOW An immersive, poignant journey through the humour and humanity of the personal stories we keep to ourselves, and on rare occasions share with others. Created by Frank Warren, TJ Dawe, Kahlil Ashanti, and Justin Sudds. Feb 17–Mar 5, Firehall Arts Centre (280 E. Cordova). Tix from $23, info www.firehallartscentre.ca/. BRIGHT BLUE FUTURE Hardline Productions presents a play that explores one pivotal night in the lives of four 20-somethings and the decisions they make that will affect their futures forever. Feb 17–Mar 5, 8-9:30 pm, Pacific Theatre (1440 W. 12th). Tix from $15, info tickets.pacifictheatre. org/TheatreManager/1/login/. ONE MAN DARK KNIGHT: A BATMAN PARODY The Vancouver Fringe Festival presents a one-man tribute to Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. Feb 18-21, 8-9 pm, Waterfront Theatre (1412 Cartwright St., Granville Island). $25, info www. vancouverfringe.com/fringe-presents/.

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DISCOVER DANCE! MODUS OPERANDI Young dancers of Modus Operandi present a program of contemporary dance. Feb 18, Scotiabank Dance Centre (677 Davie). Tix $14, info www.thedancecentre.ca/.

THE ART OF THE INAPPROPRIATE Ari Shaffir grew up Orthodox Jewish and spent two full years in a yeshiva in Israel. So he has some catching up to do when it comes to letting loose—the reason his comedy is so, frankly, filthy, perhaps? The now-American standup comic is truly gifted when it comes to skewing blue, and it seems to be working: with two-hour standup specials and his own late-night TV series coming up, he’s a force onstage. As our own Guy MacPherson said in a review when he came here a few years ago, “Shaffir voices his darkest thoughts and shares squirminducing stories from his personal life to great comedic effect.” If we have you curious now, rest assured, the guy kills. Squirm for yourself at the Comedy MIX from Thursday through Saturday (February 18 to 20). PRIDE & PREJUDICE The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Sarah Rodgers’s version of Janet Munsil’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel. To Feb 28, Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage (2750 Granville). Tix from $29, info 604-687-1644, www.artsclub.com/. THE (POST) MISTRESS The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Tomson Highway’s one-woman cabaret-style show about the lone postal worker in a fictional North Ontario town. To Feb 28, Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre (162 W. 1st). Tix from $25, info www.artsclub.com/.

MANDOLIN AND MORE How good is Andy Statman? Good enough that Vancouver’s resident mandolin maestro, John Reischman, has been heard quoting his lines on occasion. Good enough, too, that avant-garde guitarist Henry Kaiser has compared him to the very finest of Hindustani masters. And good enough that David Grisman, who essentially invented modern mandolin music during the 1980s, will duet with him at the drop of a hat. Even more remarkable is that Statman’s every bit as good on the clarinet as he is on the mandolin. Genius, for once, isn’t too strong a word. Don’t miss this master of Jewish music when he and his jazzy rhythm section play a Chutzpah Festival show at the Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre on Wednesday (February 24).

MUSIC

Orpheum Annex (823 Seymour). Tix $20-45, info www.vi-co.org/.

2THIS WEEK

EXHILARATING SOUNDSCAPES Bramwell Tovey leads the VSO in a concert of music by Milhaud, Britten, Stravinsky, and Philip Glass. Feb 19-20, 8 pm, Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (6265 Crescent Rd., UBC). The event also runs Feb 22, 8 pm, at the Bell Performing Arts Centre, info www. vancouversymphony.ca/.

TRACY DAHL Music in the Morning presents the Canadian soprano. Feb 17-19, 10:30-11:30 am, Vancouver Academy of Music (1270 Chestnut). Tix $35/33/16, info www.musicinthemorning.org/. GLOBAL SOUNDSCAPES: NOTES FROM THE ARAXES BASIN The Vancouver InterCultural Orchestra presents virtuoso soloists from Turkey, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, and Iran, visiting Canadian ensembles from Victoria and Montreal, and musicians and composers from B.C. Feb 19-29,

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA The Vancouver Bach Choir presents Canadian composer Andrew Downing’s original work, accompanied by the silent film. Feb 20, 8 pm, Orpheum Theatre (601 Smithe). Tix $29-65, info www.vancouverbachchoir.com/.

2ONGOING ROBERT LEPAGE’S 887 New creation by Robert Lepage and Ex Machina. To Feb. 21, 7:30 pm; matinee added Feb. 20 at 2 pm, SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (149 W. Hastings). All evening shows SOLD OUT, tix available for Feb. 20 matinee, info www.sfu.ca/sfuwoodwards/events/ events1/2015-2016Fall/Lepage887.html. CLOSER THAN EVER Director Jovanni Sy’s modern two-act musical examines the challenges and titillations of adulthood. To Feb 20, 8-10:30 pm, Gateway Theatre (6500 Gilbert Rd., Richmond). Tix $45/20, info www.gatewaytheatre.com/closerthanever/.

$29!

TETZLAFF TRIO The Vancouver Recital Society presents pianist Lars Vogt, violinist Christian Tetzlaff, and cellist Tanja Tetzlaff in a program of music by Schumann, Dvorák, and Brahms. Feb 21, 3 pm, Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (6265 Crescent Rd., UBC). Tix $25-75, info www.chancentre. com/whats-on/tetzlaff-trio/. LA BOHEME Burnaby Lyric Opera presents Giacomo Puccini’s opera about a poor seamstress who falls in love with a poet. Sung in Italian with English subtitles. Feb 22-27, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts (6450 Deer Lake Ave., Burnaby). $15-35, info www.shadboltcentre.com/.

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2016VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL DANCEFESTIVAL COMPAGNIE VIRGINIE BRUNELLE MARCH 3 - 5 ROUNDHOUSE

CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG Align Entertainment Inc. presents an all-ages Broadway-style musical based on the 1968 film. To Feb 20, Michael J. Fox Theatre (7373 MacPherson Ave., Burnaby). Tix $37.50/25/15, info www. alignentertainment.ca/.

THE GIFT Johnny Aitken tells the story of his childhood as a boy of mixed Coast Salish and Scottish descent. Feb 19-21, Presentation House Theatre (333 Chesterfield Ave., North Van). Tix $15-28, info www.phtheatre.org/show/the-gift/.

—Jo Ledingham, The Vancouver Courier

2THIS WEEK

LAMONDANCE AND FRIENDS DANCE GALA Celebrate Vancouver’s dance community with a silent auction and a show hosted by Conni Smudge. Feb 20, 7 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts (2055 Purcell Way). Tix $20, info www.lamondance.com/.

THEATRE

“A delightful show”

straight choices

DANCE

BIGMOUTH Valentijn Dhaenens weaves together seminal speeches by everyone from the Grand Inquisitor and Socrates to Muhammad Ali and Osama Bin Laden, paying tribute to 2,500 years of oration. Presented by SKaGeN and Richard Jordan Productions Ltd. To Feb 21, York Theatre (639 Commercial). Tix from $20, info www.thecultch.com/events/bigmouth/. WINNERS AND LOSERS Neworld Theatre presents a conversation that embraces the ruthless logic of capitalism, and tests its impact on our closest personal relationships and our most intimate experiences of self. To Feb 27, 8 pm, The Cultch (1895 Venables). Tix from $20, info www.thecultch.com/winners-losers/.

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Arts time out

from previous page

THE SZYMANOWSKI QUARTET The Friends of Chamber Music present the European classical ensemble performing works by Waclaw of Szamotuly, Franz Joseph Haydn, Karol Symanowski, and Antonin Dvorák. Feb 23, 8-10 pm, Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton). Tix $48, info ow.ly/XVbJ5.

straight choices

COMEDY 2ONGOING THE COMEDY MIX 1015 Burrard, Century Plaza Hotel & Spa, 604-684-5050, www. thecomedymix.com/. Comedy club with pro-am night Tue at 8:30 pm, showcase Wed at 8:30 pm, and featured headliners Thu at 8:30 pm and Fri-Sat at 8 and 10:30 pm. Cover $8 Tue, $10 Wed, $15 Thu, $18 Fri, $20 Sat. 2ARI SHAFFIR Feb. 18-20 YUK YUK’S COMEDY CLUB 2837 Cambie, 604-696-9857, www.yukyuks. com/vancouver. Comedy club with Top Talent Tue at 8 pm, amateur night Wed at 8 pm, and professional headliners Thu-Fri at 8 pm and Sat at 7 and 9:30 pm. Cover Tue $10, Wed $7, Thu $10, and Fri-Sat $20.

DANCE THAT POPS Dance pops up in all shapes and sizes on Granville Island this weekend as part of Winterruption festivities with Pop Up! Dances. Presented by New Works, the free event features Julie Lebel’s Hello Hello (shown here), Lorita Leung Dance Company’s classical Chinese–style Flying Apsaras, Gabriel and Monica Monty’s Tango Lab, and more. Look for performances on Saturday and Sunday (February 20 and 21) starting at 1 p.m. and running on the hour until 4 p.m. each day.

LAFFLINES COMEDY CLUB 530 Columbia St., New Westminster, 604-525-2262, www .lafflines.com/. 2STEVE HYNTER Feb 19-21 VANCOUVER THEATRESPORTS LEAGUE Some of the world’s most daring and innovative improv. Improv After Dark (every Fri and Sat, 11:15 pm); Off Leash (every Wed and Thu, 9:15 pm); Rookie Night (every Sun, 7:30 pm); TheatreSports (every Wed, Thu, Fri, and Sat, 7:30 pm; every Fri and Sat, 9:30 pm). Feb 17-24, The Improv Centre (1502 Duranleau, Granville Island). Tix $8-22, info www.vtsl.com/.

2THIS WEEK JFL NORTHWEST Comedy festival presents performances by headlining talent Trevor Noah, Wanda Sykes, Lewis Black, Miranda Sings, Jeremy Hotz, Janeane Garofalo, David Cross, Ron Funches, Todd Barry, Kyle Kinane, Hasan Minhaj, Nick Thune, This Is That Live, Hari Kondabolu, and the Nasty Show With Bobby Slayton, Big Jay Oakerson, and Kurt Metzger. Feb 18-27, various Vancouver venues. Tix at www.jflnorthwest.com/. STEVE HYTNER American comic, noted for the role of Jerry Seinfeld’s nemesis Kenny Bania on TV’s Seinfeld. Feb 19, 8:30 pm; Feb. 20, 8 & 10:30 pm, Columbia Theatre (530 Columbia St., New Westminster). Info www.lafflines.com/.

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WHOSE LIVE ANYWAY? Comedians Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Jeff Davis, and Joel Murray perform improv games seen on the TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway?. Feb 19-20, 8 pm, Hard Rock Casino Vancouver (2080 United Blvd., Coquitlam). Event also runs Feb 21 at the River Rock Casino Resort. Tix $49.50/39.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticketmaster.ca/, info www. hardrockcasinovancouver.com/.

straight choices

LITERARY EVENTS 2THIS WEEK OUR STORIES, YOUR STORIES The Talking Stick Festival presents an afternoon of stories that depict the history of the First Nations. Feb 20, 2 pm, Alice MacKay Room (Vancouver Public Library, 350 W. Georgia). Free admission, info www.talkingstickfest.ca/.

ET CETERA 2THIS WEEK TALKING STICK FESTIVAL City-wide celebration of First Nations performance and art features dance, concerts, slam poetry, a visual-arts exhibition, theatre, workshops, artist talks, and panel discussions. Performers include Zoey Pricelys Roy, Byron Chief-Moon, Jerry Longboat, Brian Solomon and Red Sky Performance, Savage Society, Sandy Scofield, Sister Says, and Niska Napoleon. Feb 18-28, Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre (183 Roundhouse Mews). Info www.talkingstickfest.ca/. CHUTZPAH FESTIVAL Dance, theatre, comedy, and music highlight this year’s festival with performances and workshops by international, Canadian, and local artists. Performers include Jon Steinberg and Jessica Kirson, Jonathan Goldstein, Spellbound Contemporary Ballet, Maria Kong, Gallim Dance, Ballet Kelowna, the Rotem Sivan Trio, Victoria Hanna, the Andy Statman Trio, Odessa/Havana, Klezmerson, Baladino, A-WA, the Avishai Cohen Quartet, and Jennifer Teege. Feb 18–Mar 13, various Vancouver venues. Tix $21-36, info www.chutzpahfestival.com/.

GALLERIES VANCOUVER ART GALLERY 750 Hornby, 604-662-4719, www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/. 2MASHUP: THE BIRTH OF MODERN CULTURE (exhibition offers an international survey of mashup culture, documenting the emergence and evolution of a mode of creativity that has grown to become the dominant form of cultural production in the early 21st century) Feb 20 to June 12, members opening Feb 19, 8-10 pm

ONE MAN SHOW Before it hits New York City’s Carnegie Hall next year, Call Mr. Robeson: A Life, With Songs is warming up with a weekend of shows at the Anvil Theatre (777 Columbia Street, New Westminster) from February 25 to 28. A timely performance for Black History Month, the monodrama recounts the life of celebrated American singer, actor, and civilrights campaigner Paul Robeson and his eventual blacklisting by the U.S. government due to his radical and outspoken views. Tayo Aluko pens and plays the piece, which spotlights Robeson’s powerful testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, in a landmark performance in his career.

MUSEUMS MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY 6393 NW Marine Dr., UBC, www.moa.ubc.ca/. 2(IN)VISIBLE: THE SPIRITUAL WORLD OF TAIWAN THROUGH CONTEMPORARY ART (works by seven contemporary Taiwanese artists who explore the coexistence of modernity and tradition while showcasing the significance of the spiritual world of Taiwan) to Apr 3

OUT OF TOWN 2THIS WEEK GALIANO LITERARY FESTIVAL Featuring George Bowering, Audrey Thomas, Aislinn Hunter, and William Deverell. Feb 19-21, Galiano Oceanfront Inn (Galiano Island). Info www.galianoliteraryfestival.com/.

TIME OUT ARTS LISTINGS are a public service provided free of charge, based on available space and editorial discretion. Submit listings online using the event-submission form at straight.com/AddEvent.

Time Out New York

SIX BRAND NEW SHORT FILMS MADE IN JUST EIGHT DAYS BY VANCOUVER’S HOTTEST NEW FILMMAKERS!

VIOLENCE, FRIGHTENING SCENES

SEE IT FIRST TONIGHT, EVERYWHERE TOMORROW! Check theatre directory for locations and showtimes

36 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016

featuring: LITTLE INDIA / dj k-tel dj dubba g / dj ahtz / dj emilita vova bedzvin / imi oto / crazy dancers

MOVIES REVIEWS ZOOLANDER 2 Starring Ben Stiller. Rated PG. For showtimes, please see page 40

Kristen Wiig is unrecognizable in Zoolander 2,

2 a Donatella-gone-wild fashion diva with leath-

ery, perma-tanned skin, lips that look like they’ve been pumped with a tire-inflater, and the ability to literally float across the room. She’s out-there, over-the-top, and a monstrous mess—a lot like this sequel. In the follow-up to his cult hit, director-star Ben Stiller piles on the recycled jokes and the celebrity cameos like Wiig’s Alexanya Atoz trowels on the orange foundation. But there are enough warped, beyond-random moments of idiocy that you’ll laugh even as you condemn its throw-it-against-the-wall mayhem. At least the first Zoolander focused its satire on the fashion industry. Here, we get a string of gags, tied together to showcase a mind-blowing Rolodex of A-list celebs. Among the standouts: Benedict Cumberbatch as a transgender supermodel and Kiefer Sutherland as a lovelorn member of the 10-person orgy Owen Wilson’s Hansel considers his life partner. Justin Bieber has a memorable

Great-looking but so stupid

Penelope Cruz lends some star power to the celeb-stuffed Zoolander 2 while handsome and handsomer (Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson) look on, moronically.

run by your standard-issue stud muffin (Anders Holm). With her unfussy comic timing, Johnson really does stand out from the pack, and Zoolander 2 ’s inspired lunacy gets buried in A-list cameos; Mann is much less brittle Dakota Johnson proves herself in pleasing How to Be Single than what we’ve seen in her opener, getting riddled with bullets and managing Judd Apatow movies. Where Single surprises most to post a selfie—even fiddling with his filters. is in its nonjudgmental view of female sexuality, The setup is that rock stars are being murdered and its literal interpretation of the title, expressing around the world, part of an incomprehensibly genuine interest in the agency of its heroine, with devious plan that involves pulling our dumb-and- or without a dude. > KEN EISNER dumber male models Derek (Stiller) and Hansel out of retirement. Alas, things really don’t get cooking until Will Ferrell finally appears as poodle-haired THE WITCH baddie Mugatu, starting with a truly hilarious es- Starring Ralph Ineson. Rated 14A. For showtimes, cape from a Silence of the Lambs–like compound. please see page 40 The rest of the movie is a jumble of throwback The Witch is a smartly shot, well-acted, jokes (Wham!, flip phones, Blue Steel pouts), atatmospheric fright flick that aims to shed tempts at hipness (selfie-stick car crashes), and cameo after cameo after cameo. When it’s not pan- light on humanity’s dark history of religious perdering, Zoolander 2 gets close to twisted genius. secution and paranoia. There’s just way too much talking goin’ on, is all. And then Katy Perry or Willie Nelson appears. > JANET SMITH It opens with patriarch William (Ralph Ineson) being exiled from his 17th-century New England HOW TO BE SINGLE village by a Puritan court at odds with his fundamentalist ways. His forlorn family depart with all Starring Dakota Johnson. Rated 14A. For their worldly possessions and settle down on the showtimes, please see page 40 edge of a dense wood. Somehow, they manage to How to Be Single makes numerous self- acquire livestock, including a goat named Black inoculating shout-outs to Sex and the City, Phillip that winds up being an unholy pain in the Friends, and even Seinfeld. Even so, it does man- ass (and other areas) later on. age to get off an unexpected number of witty Despair begins to engulf the clan after baby exchanges and features career-solidifying per- Sam disappears during a peekaboo session with formances from Dakota Johnson and Leslie teenage daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy). Mann as unalike sisters adrift in the Big Apple. The titular hag has stolen him away for someThe story begins when Johnson’s charmingly naive thing unspeakable, but precious little else hapAlice moves in with big sibling Meg (Mann). At a pens in the first hour of the film, which mostly new paralegal job, she’s taken under the sweaty wing depicts the group’s day-to-day struggle to get by of colleague Robin (Rebel Wilson), instantly deter- as they solemnly blather on about faith and judgmined to make the new gal as party-hearty as she is. ment and Christ the whole time. Director Christian Ditter for some reason can’t No wonder they got banished. resist the quartet formula. That’s weird, because Prepubescent son Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw) fourth subject Lucy (Alison Brie) doesn’t know gets consumed by the thought of Sam being in the others, and her subplot adds little but time to hell, but that doesn’t stop him from sinfully eyethe almost two-hour movie. The link is a local bar ing Thomasin’s cleavage.

WEEK IN WIDESCREEN

SOUTHBOUND An empty highway stretching through the desert provides Southbound with its setting, but hell is the real destination in this five-story anthology flick. Writerdirector David Bruckner provided by far the best segment in 2012’s V/H/S , and his work here is no less impressive (and gnarly). Unlike V/H/S , this team-assembled effort maintains its impressive quality across the board, with a special mention going to Jesus Lizard frontman David Yow for his role as a doomed redneck. Starts at the Vancity Theatre on Friday (February 19). Visit Straight.com for our full review. -

> STEVE NEWTON

TOUCHED WITH FIRE Starring Katie Holmes. Rated PG. For showtimes, please see page 40

Everyone says there’s a fine line between

2 genius and madness, and many would-be

artists have touted illness as a mark of vast talent. In Touched With Fire, two poets meet in a psychiatric hospital and decide to go off—and off their meds—together, in search of greatness. When Katie Holmes marshals her talents to get out from under the squeaky-girl voice she’s known for, she impresses as Carla, a New Yorker whose bipolar mood swings often end in panic attacks. The movie founders on the casting of Luke Kirby as Marco, a fellow graphomaniac whose doodles fill countless notebooks in his hydro-free flat—as seen in the most arresting sequence, with Griffin Dunne as Marco’s flummoxed father looking on, aghast. Marco convinces Carla that they’re both from another planet, but Kirby, a similar lead weight in Take This Waltz, is a charisma-free presence who manages to produce almost nothing of interest to watch—let alone make the ladies risk everything for him. To be fair, Kirby has been handed something weak, if well-intentioned, by writer-director Paul Dalio, who proceeds to obscure everything with lots of handheld-camera twitching. Marco is obsessed with the titular, real-life book by Kay Redfield Jamison, who shows up in a flat, doclike sequence. He loves that she claims almost every great person in history as schizophrenic, but isn’t keen on her advocacy of chemicals. Roughly half the movie consists of Marco making increasingly manic arguments against drugs—when not sulking dully. Sadly, this Fire burns out before it can leave any lasting marks. > KEN EISNER

MOVIES

The projector

What to see and where to see it

CITADEL In VIMFF’s closing film, two of the U.K.’s best climbers attempt a giant in Alaska’s formidable Neacola range, all of it captured in jaw-dropping 4K. Screens at the Centennial Theatre on Saturday (February 20).

CAROL Here’s another chance to see Cate Blanchett’s Oscar-nominated turn in Todd Haynes’s latest, making a return visit to Vancouver with best-picture nominee Spotlight. Both films screen at the Rio Theatre on Monday (February 22).

MY AMERICAN COUSIN Thirty years on, Sandy Wilson’s Okanagan-set film has only grown in charm and stature. Margaret Langrick suffers through a ’50s adolescence once again at the Cinematheque on Monday (February 22).

Damnation road

Like their pious parents, the kids are adept at jabbering endlessly in Olde English, but just before you OD on thee, thine, and thou art, some more freaky witch shit happens. It’s too little too late, though. And nothing from a coven could be quite as scary as all that godforsaken chatter anyway.

Festival forever

TURKISH STAR WARS This loony 1982 flick is the apo-

theosis of zero-budget Turkish cinema, whose filmmakers used footage from pirated American blockbusters to shore up their own poverty-stricken work. Originally titled The Man Who Saved the World, Çetin Inanç’s film throws zombies and mummies into the mix, not to mention Jesus, Muhammad, and the soundtrack from Raiders of the Lost Ark. And it’s still better than The Force Awakens. Screening as part of the JFL NorthWest comedy festival at the Vancity Theatre on Monday (February 22). FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 37

MOVIES

Race star hits his stride > B Y K E N E IS NE R

TICKET PACK

f there’s one breakout Canadian actor to watch for this year, it’s Toronto’s Stephan James, who stars as Olympic legend Jesse Owens in Race, opening here Friday (February 19). Only 22, James (first name pronounced “ste-PHAN”) began acting in high school and spent a couple of years on DeGrassi: The Next Generation, followed by one-offs on numerous shows and a bigger role in CBC’s The Book of Negroes. In 2012’s Home Again, James was a British teenager wrongly exiled to Jamaica, and in 2014 he played young civil-rights leader John Lewis in the Oscar-nominated Selma. That same year, he was a California football player in When the Game Stands Tall, and he will soon be seen as a racially hemmed-in hockey player in Across the Line, helmed by hip-hop specialist Director X. The theme of sports and ethnic striving reaches its apex in Race, which finds him perfectly cast as Owens, the legendary sprinter and all-around track star who took home four gold medals from the 1936 Olympics, held in Hitler’s Berlin. That’s a lot of history, and responsibility, for one youngster to bear. “It was so much work,” James says, calling from Toronto. (He divides his time between Los Angeles and his hometown.) “I had to get inside a man we know very little about, apart from his main accomplishments as the fastest man on the planet. I played some sports in school but had no experience with track and field, so there was a lot to learn.” The 130-minute Race is the kind of mixed bag you get from an underfunded international copro—this one shot mostly in Montreal and Berlin—that takes on too much. Some of it focuses on Jason Sudeikis as Owens’s coach at Ohio State, and other parts shift to Jeremy Irons as incipient IOC head Avery Brundage. “There are probably 10 movies inside this movie,” James agrees. “It could have been a miniseries, easily.” The constant is the intensity of its star’s screen-grounding performance. In the midst of some iffy performances and fragmented scene-setting, the actor—sporting Owens’s

For Stephan James, one of the toughest parts of his role in the film Race was getting comfortable with 1930s footwear.

trademark ridge of hair—stays true to the Depression-era body language and stubborn optimism of a young black man barely tolerated by the white establishment. In James’s case, getting onto the playing field meant studying not just the attitudes of the period but also the specifics of contemporary track competition. “I knew it wouldn’t do any good to look at runners and sprinters today, because the technique is totally different. So I had to go back to footage of Jesse and then work with coaches to really pull it off. Believe me, there are lots of Jesse experts out there who would let me know it if I got something wrong in his start or his stride. And I still have nightmares about those leather shoes with their three-inch cleats.” The handsome newcomer takes a break from sports and social activism for his next effort, an ’80s-style slasher flick called Lost After Dark. And then he hopes to parlay his new status into meaningful roles of all types. “I certainly don’t want to be limited by genre or colour,” he concludes. “I’ve been an actor and a storyteller my whole life, starting with impersonations to entertain my family. At some point I got comfortable doing that in the outside world, and now I just want to find out what else I can do.” -

Witch director gets religion > B Y A D R IA N M A C K

on’t go to The Witch looking for an allegory. Robert Eggers’s film, depicting a Puritan family grappling with evil in 17th-century New England, reclaims a period in American history that was remapped into a more symbolic, contemporary space by Arthur Miller’s 1953 play The Crucible. But the witch was very real to 17th-century Puritans, and it’s very real in Eggers’s remarkable debut feature (opening Friday [February 19] ). “They really believed that they were these fairy-tale ogresses who were capable of doing all the things that this very primitive, primal witch in my film does,” the filmmaker says, calling the Georgia Straight from Los Angeles. Eggers remains circumspect about his own beliefs on the matter, but he is more than satisfied that his film is being released “when there’s something witchy in the air”. Indeed, The Witch arrives—complete with an endorsement from the Satanic Temple—in a time of growing hostility between those who defend a strictly rational view of the world and those who would rather not. If the Richard Dawkins–led crowd of scientific materialists take an ever more bullying

Filmmaker Robert Eggers wanted to honour 17th-century belief systems.

tone with anyone who disagrees with them, Eggers’s film feels like a shot across the bow. “To really understand the full weight of that different belief system was so eye-opening and really brought me into this film,” he says. “It made me wanna re-create the 17th century and the mindset of these English Calvinists so that the audience can be immersed in that world. Then they can believe in that evil witch again, and she can be scary and have power again.” To that end, the dialogue, costume, and farming methods of the period were painstakingly researched and recreated by Eggers and his team, along

with the story’s gradually surfacing supernatural elements. Eggers chuckles when he remarks that he’s “articulating each frame as if it’s my memory of my own childhood as a Puritan”, but it’s tempting to consider that this near ritual aspect to the film’s production has an impact on the viewer in ways that probably can’t be measured. In every sense, The Witch seems to cast a spell. A less inhibited interviewer might even suggest that the very act of making The Witch was a kind of magical rite. Quite rightly, Eggers prefers to let the Straight make that kind of speculation. But he offers a follow-up that isn’t exactly a denial. “Chris Marker did a great documentary on [Akira] Kurosawa’s Ran,” he says, “which I watched more recently, not before I made The Witch. But Kurosawa spent years making sure that even all the extras’ costumes were made to be not only authentic-looking but made with all the traditional techniques, like all the samurai armour. And when they were shooting that film, he would just rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse—and then there’d be one take, no matter what. No matter what happened, it’s one take. Now talk about magic. Talk about that. That’s, like, religious filmmaking, you know?” -

single bill $11

AActnandaiorcnhy the films of

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double bill $14

“One of Japanese cinema’s greatest innovators” –Jim Jarmusch

㋈ᧁ ᷡ 㗅

10 FILM RETROSPECTIVE

Tickets + Info theCinematheque.ca 38 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016

February 20 – March 12 theCinematheque.ca

10.3

SECONDS

JESSE

OWENS

CHANGED THE WORLD

SUBJECT TO CLASSIFICATION

Facebook.com/eOneFilms

www.RaceTheFilm.ca

S TA R TS F R I DAY

#RACEMOVIE

#LIKEJESSE

CHECK THEATRE DIRECTORY FOR LOCATIONS AND SHOWTIMES FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 39

to metaphysical mysteries. Feb 20–Mar 12, The Cinematheque (200 - 1131 Howe Street). Info www.thecinematheque.ca/.

VANCOUVER BADASS FILM FESTIVAL Event celebrates the new, the different, the shocking, the memorable, and the upsetting in style and content. Films include Madre de Dios, House of VHS, and The Evil in Us. Feb 21, 3-11:35 pm, Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour). Info www.vbaff.com/.

movies/ timeout NEW THIS WEEK REPERTORY CINEMAS SPECIAL EVENTS FIRST-RUN SHOW TIMES

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NEW THIS WEEK

1109 109

Contest Ends February 29t

RACE Stephan James and Jason Sudeikis star in director Steven Hopkins’s historical drama about track-and-field athlete Jesse Owens’s performance at the 1936 Olympic Games, held in Nazi Germany. Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas and others RISEN Joseph Fiennes, Tom Felton, and Peter Firth star in writer-director Kevin Reynolds’s drama about the Biblical story of the Resurrection, as seen through the eyes of a non-believer. Rated PG. 108 mins. Cineplex Cinemas Langley, Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas, Cineplex Odeon Meadowtown Cinemas, Galaxy Cinemas Chilliwack, Landmark Cinemas 10 New Westminster, Landmark Cinemas 12 Guildford Surrey, Landmark Cinemas 6 Esplanade North Vancouver, SilverCity Coquitlam & VIP Cinemas, SilverCity Mission and SilverCity Riverport Cinemas TOUCHED WITH FIRE Katie Holmes, Luke Kirby, and Christine Lahti star in writer-director Paul Dalio’s drama about two people with manic depression who meet in a psychiatric hospital and begin a romance. Rated PG. 102 mins. Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas THE WITCH Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, and Kate Dickie star in writerdirector Robert Eggers’s horror flick about a family in 1630s New England that’s torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic, and possession. Rated 14A. 92 mins. Cineplex Cinemas Langley, Cineplex Odeon Meadowtown Cinemas, Landmark Cinemas 10 New Westminster, Landmark Cinemas 12 Guildford Surrey, Landmark Cinemas 6 Esplanade North Vancouver, Scotiabank Theatre Vancouver, SilverCity Coquitlam & VIP Cinemas, SilverCity Metropolis Cinemas, SilverCity Mission and SilverCity Riverport Cinemas

REPERTORY CINEMAS Times are current as of Friday, February 19

THE CINEMATHEQUE 1131 Howe St., Vancouver, 604-688-3456, www.thecinematheque.ca 2BRANDED TO KILL Wed 6:30 2CARMEN FROM KAWACHI Thu 8:15 2FIGHTING ELEGY Sat 8:15; Sun 6:30 2MY AMERICAN COUSIN Mon 7:00 2THE CALL OF BLOOD Wed 8:15 2THE WAR OF THE WORLDS Sun 1:00 2TOKYO DRIFTER Sat, Thu 6:30; Sun 8:15 VANCITY THEATRE 1181 Seymour St., Vancouver, 604-683-3456, www.viff.org/ theatre 22016 OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS: ANIMATED Mon 3:30 22016 OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS: LIVE ACTION Mon 1:00 2DRONE Fri 10:30 2FOOD CHAINS Sat 10:30 2FRACTURED LAND Sat 5:30 2IVORY TOWER Sat 2:00 2NORTHWEST COMEDY FESTIVAL Mon 6:30, 8:45; Wed 6:30, 9:00 2PEACE OFFICER Fri 5:30 2SOUTHBOUND Fri-Sat 9:10 2TANGO NEGRO, THE AFRICAN ROOTS OF TANGO Tue 6:30, 8:30 2THE EMBARGO PROJECT Thu 8:30 2THE MASK YOU LIVE IN Fri 2:00

SPECIAL EVENTS VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL Program of local and international outdoor-adventure films and guest speakers. Other highlights include music, food door prizes, Q&A sessions, and life presentations. To Feb 20, Centennial Theatre (2300 Lonsdale Ave., North Van). Event also runs at The Cinematheque, Rio Theatre, and Inlet Theatre. Tix $9-19, info www.vimff.org/. THE COMEDY FILM SERIES JFL NorthWest and VIFF present screenings of Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of The National Lampoon, comedy shorts, Entertainment, Turkish Star Wars, Waiting for Guffman, The Lobster, and Roadhouse. Feb 18-27, Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour). Info www.jflnorthwest.com/. KDOCS: DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL Documentary-film festival features six films, guest speakers, filmmakers, panel discussions and Q&A sessions. Feb 19-20, 10:30 am–8:30 pm, Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour). Tix $5, info www.kpu.ca/ kdocs/. SOUTHBOUND Eerie anthology film featuring five spooky tales taking place on and around a dusty highway going nowhere. Feb 19-25, Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour). Tix $11/9 (plus membership fee), info www.viff.org/theatre/. ACTION AND ANARCHY: THE FILMS OF SEIJUN SUZUKI Retrospective of Japanese director Seijun Suzuki’s films, which range from B-movie potboilers

40 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016

TANGO NEGRO: THE AFRICAN ROOTS OF TANGO Dom Pedro’s film explores the expression of Tango’s Africanness and the contribution of African cultures in the creation of the tango. Feb 23, 6:30 pm, Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour). Info www.viff.org/ theatre/. HAIDA GWAII: ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD Director Charles Wilkinson’s documentary tells the story of a group of characters living on Haida Gwaii. Feb 20, 1 pm, Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway). Tix $12/10, info www.riotheatre.ca/. THE DARK VALLEY Vancouver premiere screening of a Western film set in the Austrian Alps. Feb 23, 7:30-9:30 pm, The Cinematheque (200 - 1131 Howe Street). Tix $10, info www.vanforfilm.org/. THE RAIN CITY OSCAR PARTY 2016 Georgia Straight film editor Adrian Mack and CBC film critic Kim Linekin host a celebration of the Academy Awards. Highlights include red-carpet fashion commentary from Steven Schelling, popcorn, Oscarsballot bingo, and prizes. Feb 28, 3:30 pm, Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour). Tix $15, info www.viff.org/theatre/.

don’t miss out! For up-to-the-minute, searchable Movies Time Out listings, visit

www.straight.com

FIRST-RUN SHOWTIMES Times are current as of Friday, February 19

CINEPLEX FIFTH AVENUE CINEMAS 2110 Burrard St., Vancouver, 604-734-7469, www. cineplex.com 245 YEARS Fri 1:10, 3:40, 6:25, 9:10; Sat 1:15, 3:45, 6:30, 9:15; Sun-Thu 1:15, 3:45, 6:30, 9:00 2BROOKLYN Fri 12:40, 3:55, 6:40, 9:25; Sat 12:45, 4:00, 6:45, 9:30; Sun-Thu 1:00, 4:00, 6:45, 9:30 2DEADPOOL Fri 12:10, 2:40, 5:10, 7:55, 10:40; Sat 12:15, 2:45, 5:15, 8:00, 10:45; Sun, Tue 2:00, 4:45, 7:45, 10:30; Mon, Wed-Thu 2:00, 4:45, 7:30, 10:00 2HAIL, CAESAR! Fri 1:55, 4:40, 7:25, 10:10; Sat 2:00, 4:45, 7:30, 10:15; Sun, Tue 1:30, 4:15, 7:15, 10:00; Mon, Wed-Thu 1:30, 4:15, 7:15, 9:45 2THE REVENANT Fri 11:55, 3:25, 6:55, 10:25; Sat 12:00, 3:30, 7:00, 10:30; Sun-Tue, Thu 1:00, 4:30, 8:00; Wed 12:45, 4:00, 9:40 CINEPLEX ODEON INTERNATIONAL VILLAGE CINEMAS 88 W. Pender, Vancouver, 604-806-0799, www.cineplex. com 2THE BIG SHORT Fri-Thu 1:05, 4:05, 7:05, 10:10 2BROOKLYN Fri-Sat, Mon-Tue 1:20, 4:00, 6:40, 9:25; Sun 4:00, 6:40, 9:25; Wed-Thu 1:20, 4:00, 10:05 2GOOSEBUMPS Sat 11:00 2HAIL, CAESAR! Fri-Sun 12:25, 2:55, 5:25, 8:00, 10:30; Mon-Thu 1:55, 4:45, 7:25, 10:00 2HOW TO BE SINGLE Fri-Sun 1:35, 2:20, 4:10, 5:00, 6:55, 7:45, 9:35, 10:25; MonThu 1:35, 2:20, 4:10, 5:00, 6:55, 7:40, 9:35, 10:15 2KUNG FU PANDA 3 Fri, Sun 5:05; Sat 11:15, 5:05; Mon-Thu 4:10 2THE LADY IN THE VAN Fri-Sun 12:20, 2:50, 5:20, 7:55, 10:30; Mon-Thu 1:50, 4:20, 7:10, 9:50 2RACE Fri-Sun 12:30, 3:40, 6:50, 10:00; Mon-Thu 1:10, 3:40, 6:50, 10:00 2RISEN Fri-Thu 1:30, 4:15, 7:00, 9:45 2ROOM Fri-Tue, Thu 1:40, 4:25, 7:15, 10:05; Wed 1:40, 4:25, 10:15 2TOUCHED WITH FIRE Fri, SunThu 2:10, 4:50, 7:35, 10:15; Sat 11:30, 2:10, 4:50, 7:35, 10:15 2WALANG FOREVER Fri-Thu 1:00, 3:50, 6:45, 9:40 CINEPLEX PARK THEATRE 3440 Cambie St., 3440 Cambie St., 604-709-3456, www. cineplex.com 2THE BIG SHORT Fri 3:50, 6:50, 9:40; Sat 1:05, 3:55, 6:50, 9:40; Sun 12:55, 3:50, 6:50, 9:40; Mon-Thu 5:00, 8:00 2GOOSEBUMPS Sat 11:00 RIO THEATRE 1660 E. Broadway, Vancouver, 604-878-3456, www.riotheatre. ca 2CAROL Mon 6:30 2HAIDA GWAII: ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD Sat 1:00 2MACBETH Sun 1:00 2SPOTLIGHT Mon 9:15 2THE WICKER MAN Fri 11:30 SCOTIABANK THEATRE VANCOUVER 900 Burrard St., Vancouver, 604-630-1407, www.cineplex.com 2DEADPOOL Fri 11:35, 12:15, 12:50, 2:20, 2:55, 3:45, 5:00, 5:35, 6:40, 7:35, 8:15, 9:45, 10:20, 10:55; Sat 11:00, 11:15, 11:35, 12:50, 1:55, 2:20, 3:45, 4:35, 5:00, 6:40, 7:15, 7:45, 9:45, 9:55, 10:35; Sun 11:15, 11:35, 12:15, 1:55, 2:15, 2:55, 4:35, 4:55, 5:35, 7:15, 7:35, 8:15, 9:55, 10:15, 10:55; Mon 11:35, 12:35, 1:00, 2:10, 3:30, 3:45, 4:45, 6:30, 7:00, 7:20, 9:25, 9:55, 10:30; Tue 11:15, 11:35, 12:15, 1:50, 2:20, 2:55, 4:25, 5:00, 5:35, 7:00, 7:45, 8:15, 9:35, 10:35, 10:55; Wed 11:35, 12:15, 1:00, 2:20, 2:55, 3:45, 5:00, 5:35, 6:30, 7:35, 8:15, 9:25, 10:20, 10:55; Thu 11:35, 12:15, 1:00, 2:20, 2:55, 3:45, 5:00, 5:35, 6:45, 7:35, 8:15, 10:15, 10:20, 10:55 2THE REVENANT Fri-Sun 12:10, 3:10, 3:40, 7:05, 10:00, 10:25; Mon 11:55, 3:10, 3:15, 6:40, 9:40, 10:10; Tue-Wed 11:55, 3:10, 3:15, 6:40, 9:45, 10:15; Thu 11:55, 3:10, 3:15, 6:40, 9:35, 10:05 2STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Fri-Sun, Tue 12:05, 6:45; Mon, Wed-Thu 12:05 2THE WITCH Fri-Tue, Thu 12:20, 2:50, 5:15, 7:40, 10:15; Wed 12:20, 2:50, 5:15, 7:40, 10:10 2ZOOLANDER NO. 2 Fri-Sat, Mon-Tue 12:45, 1:45, 3:30, 4:30, 6:30, 7:10, 9:30, 10:05; Sun 11:00, 12:45, 1:45, 3:30, 4:30, 6:30, 7:10, 9:30, 10:05; Wed-Thu 12:45, 1:40, 3:30, 4:20, 6:30, 6:55, 9:30, 9:45

TIME OUT MOVIE LISTINGS are a public service provided free of charge, based on available space. Every effort is made to acquire accurate weekly movie listings by press time, but info is subject to change without notice. To avoid disappointment, please confirm films and times by checking the cinema’s website.

MUSIC

In what can BY MIKE US IN G ER

be seen as an important commentary on the evolution of Monster Truck, Jeremy Widerman isn’t drunk when the Georgia Straight reaches him after band practice in Hamilton, Ontario. “Yeah, that doesn’t happen anymore,” the outgoing guitarist reports with a laugh, on the line from home. “I’m actually bummed that it doesn’t—I kind of wished that we practised in the night, when it would be more socially acceptable to be drinking. But we always jam in the afternoon. I did, however, get really drunk last night.” And as a result he’s proudly hungover thanks to catching up with old pals, something that Monster Truck’s packed touring schedule has left precious little time for over the past couple of years. “It was a friend’s birthday,” Widerman says. “And it was one of those things where I’d been putting off hanging out with this group of people for too long. I’d bailed on them multiple times, so I had to make up for it by getting really drunk. We were at a local bar that we used to play called Absinthe. We’ve played many shows there, so it was cool. They’ve been fans of the band for a long time and really great supporters. It’s one of those places where I don’t have to pay for a drink. And when I say ‘one of those places’, actually it’s the only place that I can go and not pay for a drink.”

Monster Truck is arena-ready

Someone in Monster Truck has what his bandmates like to colloquially call “a severe pocket-pool problem”. Being Canadian, they’re too polite to say who.

choice. Building on the momentum started with 2013’s Canadian-top-20 LP Furiosity, Sittin’ Heavy is a record that proudly throws As sure as Grand Funk Railroad ruled the ’70s, back to a time of feathered Straight Series headliners are out to have fun roach clips, nut-hugging If the staff at Absinthe are devoted fans, it’s be- bell-bottoms, and elaborately airbrushed panel vans. cause Monster Truck hasn’t forgotten where it came It’s also a classic-rock album in the purest sense from, even as it’s risen to become much more than of the term, in that it’s carefully constructed to have a bar band. As it gets set to release the razor-sharp, peaks and valleys. After hitting listeners between boogie-blasted sophomore album Sittin’ Heavy, the eyes with the self-explanatory “Why Are You Monster Truck has established itself as the best high- Not Rocking?” and the chugging “Don’t Tell Me wattage rock band to come out of Canada since, well, How to Live”, Monster Truck eases off the gas with ever. That’s been reflected by enthusiastic support the spawn-of-CCR “For the People”. “Black Forest” from radio programmers across the country and a gives a good idea of what the Black Keys might have stupidly packed early-2016 interview schedule. sounded like if they’d been more into Led Zeppelin And most of all, it’s led to Monster Truck leaving than Junior Kimbrough, while the druggy ghost of small clubs like Absinthe behind, the only down- ’90s grunge haunts “To the Flame”. side to that being there are legions of new converts It’s fucking awesome, mostly because it’s so who’ve been left thinking “I wish I’d seen them bombastically out of step with a world ruled by when…” When Widerman and his bandmates— indie-rock iconoclasts, sensitive folk-rock beardos, singer-bassist Jon Harvey, keyboardist Brandon and bass-dropping EDM warriors. Christ, when’s Bliss, and drummer Steve Kiely—land in Vancouver the last time you heard of a band whose primary for their upcoming Straight Series show, they’ll be reason for being was fanboy love for a ’70s also-ran? playing the Commodore instead of geared-to-up“The discussion that led to this band was about and-comers venues like the Cobalt or the Biltmore. early-’69-to-’71 Grand Funk Railroad and how they The guitarist has never lost sight, however, of were underappreciated,” Widerman reports. “It’s so how the band started, when a love of proudly retro weird how they were basically the biggest arena-rock ’70s classic rock inspired him to get together with band in the world for two or three years and they friends, blow off steam, and have a few beers. If don’t get remembered that way. People forget that Widerman, who spent six years playing in the they blew Led Zeppelin off the stage, that they held Ontario posthardcore band the Reason, was no the record for Madison Square Garden’s fastest sellstranger to staggering out of practice, it was be- out for a long time, and that they were such a huge, cause he was first and foremost having fun. influential part of the classic riff-rock scene. Now all “We started this band because the Reason was you hear about is Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.” in a legal battle over the release rights of a recWhat’s made Monster Truck more than a tired ord,” he reports. “Monster Truck was never meant retread of the Black Crowes, though, is that its love to be more than a side project. It was something of the past doesn’t stop at the year 1975. Widerman to do with downtime I had that I was really not did time in the punk-rock trenches, and counts enjoying. So I did both bands for a while and fell Kurt Cobain as a life-changing influence. But he totally in love with this one. It wasn’t the fact that and his bandmates are also smart enough to give I thought it was going to take off. It was more that Monster Truck fans what they want, which is, basicI really didn’t want to do anything else.” ally, songs that kick ass. Like, for example, Sittin’ Widerman’s not being sold at first on Mon- Heavy’s “The Enforcer”, a guitar-jacked behemoth ster Truck’s chances of world domination might that sounds like it was made for pumping up crowds have had something to do with the band’s genre of at hockey games. Which—as you’re tipped off by the

CHECK THIS OUT

WISHFUL THINKING “I feel like me and Taylor might

still have sex,” raps Kanye West on his new track “Famous”, clearly unaware the last thing a 26-year-old is interested in is a blowhard 38-year-old currently on diaper duty.

GOOD LUCK WITH THAT In case there were any

DIANE COFFEE Sometimes names can be misleading. Take, for example, Diane Coffee, which is bizarre for no other reason than that the person responsible for the act’s feel-good, paisley-splattered songs isn’t named Diane, and doesn’t come from any of the cities—Portland, Seattle, Vancouver—famous for coffee. Diane Coffee is California’s Shaun Fleming, whom you might know better as the drummer of Foxygen. Musically, the multitalented threat (he’s also acted in films like Jeepers Creepers 2) takes indie rock to glammy new heights with gold-standard numbers like the soaring “Everyday”. If you show up at the Cobalt on Saturday (February 20), Fleming might even answer to the name Diane. As for whether or not he has a thing for coffee, remember that, sometimes, names can be misleading. -

Monster Truck plays the Commodore Ballroom next Thursday (February 25) as part of the Straight Series.

in + out

Jeremy Widerman sounds off on the things that enquiring minds want to know.

On the hair of the dog: “I don’t subscribe to the hairof-the-dog thing. I just nurse my hangovers. I’ve read the science behind it and it doesn’t add up. So I drink lots of water, have a smoothie and maybe a salad.” On making Sittin’ Heavy: “It took too long, and it took too much money. But it was another learning experience that we’ll use for the production of the next album.” On hockey: “I started learning it last winter. But I was lucky that I was a relatively strong skater, so it wasn’t an absolute train wreck. The train wreck only occurs when I’ve got the puck. You only know I’ve just started playing when I go to shoot or make a decent pass.”

MUSIC Let’s talk about

You gotta see

“whoa-whoa-whoa” chanting and lyrics like “Before you drop the gloves/Say bye to those you love/And those teeth you remember”—it totally was. “I thought, rather than just fucking beating around the bush, let’s make the song about hockey,” Widerman says. “We love hockey, and we were like, ‘This one’s probably going to get played in arenas, so it doesn’t make sense to make it about anything else.’ ” Don’t go looking for heavy social commentary on the controversies surrounding fighting in the NHL. Monster Truck exists for one reason, and one reason only: to rock. “I don’t want to ever have to explain songs,” Widerman says with a laugh. “We’re not smart enough to be on a podium. We’ll sing about general discontent as opposed to specific solutions to problems that, really, we don’t have any answers for.” -

lingering doubts about whether Taylor Swift was interested in riding Yeezy’s johnson, the singer shit on Uncle Pervy at the Grammys for his line “I made that bitch famous” in “Famous”. Actually, Kanye, all you did was make yourself look stupid.

THIN WHITE JUKE(BOX) Sticking with the Grammys,

when Lady Gaga gets tired of performing “Poker Face” in Vegas 15 years from now, she might consider launching a David Bowie cover band. Her Grammys tribute to the late singer crammed nine of Bowie’s hits into six glam-tastic minutes.

OPEN FIRE Eagles of Death Metal singer Jesse Hughes told a French TV show that if everyone had guns, someone might have stopped the terrorists at Paris’s Bataclan nightclub. On the downside, imagine a world where everyone has guns.

Fresh and local CHRIS STORROW THE OCEAN’S DOOR Chris Storrow calls Montreal home these days, which explains why Jace Lasek (Besnard Lakes) plays on the former Bossanova member’s gorgeous new full-length. The Ocean’s Door was started in Vancouver, though, with ex New Pornographer Kurt Dahle providing guidance and musical support. The record is inspired by golden-era AM radio, songs bursting with sunshine-superman horns, gauzy guitars, and bright-eyed vocals. The lyrics, meanwhile, will hit home with those who wonder what the hell they’re doing with their life—i.e., anyone who, instead of moving to Montreal, is still living in a Vancouver that they’ll never be able to afford. FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 41

MUSIC

Struggles pay off for Hanna Available on iTunes

pearlcousins.com Now going viral on YouTube

Youtube: Pearl Cousins - Party Lovin Cowgirl to watch the music video

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42 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016

Childhood was not easy for Hanna, something that she’s not only at peace with as an adult, but in some ways sees as a strange blessing. Reached at home in Jerusalem, the singer, in-demand public speaker, self-described “voice artist”, and proud mother of three argues that, without the personal struggles of her youth, there’s no way she’d be where she is today. “I believe that in every cliché there is a very deep truth,” Hanna notes via telephone. “There is this cliché that in order to make an important creation, you need to go deep into something that is not easy. Think about Vincent van Gogh, who is kind of a symbol. He had all these terrible struggles, but for you, for us, he was the greatest artist.” For Hanna, born to an Egyptian father and a Persian mother, challenges started early. Her childhood was marked by an extreme stutter she didn’t overcome until adulthood. That made her an easy target for other children. As she grew older, she learned that to follow one’s dreams often involves shattering those of the people who are closest to you. Her ultra-Orthodox Jewish parents (her dad was a rabbi) hoped that she’d marry and choose a career like medicine. “They wanted me to be a good soldier, to devote my life to the Orthodox life,” Hanna says. “Which meant becoming a mother and having stable work. This is something many of us experience from our parents, even when we are not religious.” Instead, from an early age she found solace in the arts, painting as a child and embracing acting while in school during her teen years. “I was always in the main role—always—and no stuttering was there,” Hanna recounts. “With the stage it was like another dimension—almost as if the dimension of everyday life changed. I would say I’m an example of how art and music can be life-saving.” Her transformation continued as she began singing and, eventually, researching ancient Hebrew texts to set them to music. “I could have stayed a stuttering woman, very much traumatized or—I don’t know, suppressed,” Hanna says. “But I know now that things are not black-and-white. I can tell you that my childhood, which was filled with suppressed energy, also gave me a lot of gifts. Incredible gifts. Even now, I realize my stuttering was an incredible gift, because it allowed me to go deep into the roots of speech.” That exploration of speech and its patterns would pay off handsomely with “The Aleph-bet Song (Hosha’ana)”, which became a viral hit on YouTube, piling up over half a million views after its release in early 2015. A crazily infectious mix of bass-bombed hip-hop and beatboxed world music, the track has her singing the Hebrew alphabet, the accompanying video casting her in the role of both teacher and student. “The way this teacher in the video clip is teaching is the way I developed my research in the voice, developed my own language,” she says. “ ‘The Aleph-bet Song’ is the song that I sung to myself—I created it 15 years ago.” Hanna wasn’t new to the music industry when the world finally discovered her; career highlights have included playing for the Dalai Lama in 2003 and performing with the likes of jazz stalwart Bobby McFerrin. But “The Aleph-bet Song”, and its equally off-kilter, Bollywood-flavoured follow-up “22 Letters”, established the singer as a boundary-pusher in the mould of giants like Björk and Laurie Anderson. Those singles—which will be followed with a full-length this spring—represented a big psychological step for the artist. Even as an adult, her upbringing still weighs on her in ways that are deeply tied in to her family and cultural dynamics. Her religious upbringing, she notes,

2 Victoria

Having found huge success with her “Aleph-bet Song”, Victoria Hanna has been hard at work on a new number titled “I’m Sorry But I Can’t Hear You”.

frowns upon the idea of singing for mixed-gender audiences. “Orthodox women are not allowed to sing in front of men—this is the issue,” Hanna says. “So, if I go very, very deep inside me subconsciously, I can see myself sometimes feeling that I am a sinner. And that’s very heavy.” For years, she dealt with that guilt by concentrating on performing live—where there would be no official document of her performances. “I’ve performed all over the world, but I’ve never had a CD out,” Hanna reveals. “It’s been like I was hiding from documentation. Orthodox women are not supposed to sing, especially when using holy text. Even yesterday, I was inviting people on my Facebook to come to my concert in Jerusalem, and one person wrote and said, ‘I want to come very much, but what you are doing is wrong. It’s a sin.’ So that voice is always there, telling me that I’m doing something wrong, and playing with something forbidden. “People react like ‘The Aleph-bet Song’ is very new,” she continues. “It is new for them, but for me I’m allowing things to be explored in a documented way. I am forcing myself to do these things, and that’s making me very, very happy. I have all these things that I want to manifest, and they are coming like rain. Even in the years where everything was suppressed, I was still performing, still investigating things. There are all these levels inside me, and nothing got lost.” Except, perhaps, the feeling there was no silver lining to the traumas of her childhood.

> MIKE USINGER

Victoria Hanna plays the Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre on Tuesday (February 23) as part of the Chutzpah Festival.

Peeling back the mask no longer painful for Ribera When an album includes a

2 track explicitly inspired by the

writing style also demanded the use of her second language, Spanish, to mask some of her more intimate confessions. Now, though, she’s willing to peel back the mask. “There were a few things that were major markers,” Ribera reveals. “One of them was that my marriage ended—I got married when I was super young. The other was that my aunt—not my blood aunt, but a very close family friend—passed away of cancer. So those were two pretty major blows. In fact, all the Spanish songs on La Boca are essentially heartbroken songs, where I was able to say things about my broken heart that I couldn’t have in English. I just felt too vulnerable to be that exposed. “Essentially, that whole record is just about focusing on and trying to find that light that is so precious, that you can only see when you are in a profoundly dark place.” On La Boca, a sonically unclassifiable effort that swings from sweet pop to gritty avant-folk, Ribera references a mythic journey through the underworld in “Goodnight Persephone”, with her protagonist battling depression and drugs before eventually crawling out of a catacomb of hurt. But it’s with “I Want” that she sets out her own personal 12-step program. “I want the life force back in my blood again/I want the aching of a melody/I want my comrades to share this with me,” she sings, and from the way she sounds today, her prayers appear to have been answered. “Music is a kind of alchemy, and you can transform situations with songs,” she says. “I knew my life would come back, but I didn’t feel it at the time I wrote that song. And then I just sang it enough and it did, thank God. “Apparently, it helped some other folks, too,” she adds. “I’ve received really sweet letters and messages from people, saying, ‘This tune helped me get through a really dark time.’ So that’s the magic of it, right?” Ribera once compared the making of La Boca to “the gestation period of an African elephant”, and she’s taking a similarly unhurried approach to the creation of a follow-up. At this point, her as-yet-untitled third effort is set for a fall release, and although she’s reluctant to say more, she does allow that it’s loosely based on her experience of moving, postdivorce, to Montreal and then to Paris. A happier journey, no doubt, but one with similar potential for transformation.

myth of Persephone, it’s a sure sign that it explores dark and treacherous terrain. And in that regard, Alejandra Ribera’s sophomore effort, 2014’s La Boca, delivers. It’s all about falling into despair and then slowly struggling back into the light, and although the Toronto-born, Parisbased songwriter says that she used to resist this simple explanation, she > ALEXANDER VARTY no longer tries to hide the facts. “At first, I had to come up with fake stories for all the songs,” she Alejandra Ribera plays Winterruption admits in a telephone interview at Performance Works on Saturday from her birthplace, noting that her (February 20).

service charges and fees) at www.ticketfly .com/, info www.mrgconcerts.com/.

MARDI GRAS LIVE MUSIC SHOWCASE Music by JP Maurice and his Mardi Gras All Stars and guests Small Town Artillery. Feb 18-19, 8 pm–3 am, The Roxy (932 Granville). Free admission, info www.roxyvan.com/.

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

CONCERTS 2JUST ANNOUNCED THE BUMPER JACKSONS The Rogue Folk Club presents American traditional-folk ensemble. Feb 25, 8 pm, St. James Hall (3214 W. 10th). Tix $24/20, info www.rogue folk.bc.ca/concerts/ev16022520/. FIESTA AFRICANA Celebrate Black History Month with music by Israel Toto Berriel and Yoro Noukoussi. Feb 27-28, 10 pm–2 am, The Backstage Lounge (1585 Johnston, Granville Island). Tix $10, info www.facebook.com/ events/159361667763880/. BLACK SABBATH Legendary heavymetal band from Britain, featuring guitarist Tony Iommi, singer Ozzy Osbourne, and bassist Geezer Butler, with guests Rival Sons. Mar 7, 7:30 pm, Rogers Arena (800 Griffiths Way). Note: tickets purchased for the postponed Feb 3 show will be honoured. Tix also available at www.livenation.com/.

don’t miss out! For up-to-the-minute, searchable Music Time Out listings, visit

www.straight.com

STRONG WOMEN STRONG MUSIC SERIES Coastal Jazz presents music by Jennifer Scott, Laura Crema, Jaclyn Guillou, Sharon Minemoto, Karen Graves, and Jen Hodge (Mar 8), Karin Plato, Kate HammettVaughan, Daphne Roubini, Jillian Lebeck, Geeta Das, and Wendy Solloway (Mar 10), and Leora Cashe, Dawn Aitken, Andrea Superstein, Diane Lines, Wendy Solloway, and Mili Hong (Mar 11). Proceeds to go to Atira Women’s Resource Society. Mar 8, 10-11, 8 pm, Frankie’s (765 Beatty). Tix $20, info www.coastaljazz.ca/. GENERATION AXE Hard-rock guitar heroes Steve Vai, Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Nuno Bettencourt, and Tosin Abasi perform together and separately. Apr 6, doors 6:30 pm, show 7:30 pm, Queen Elizabeth Theatre (650 Hamilton). Tix on sale Feb 19, 10 am, $89/65/39 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. HOPSIN American hip-hop MC, producer, director, actor, and editor. Apr 14, doors 8 pm, show 9:30 pm, Vogue Theatre (918 Granville). Tix on sale Feb 19, 9 am, $35 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu Records, and www.ticketfly.com/. COLLECTIVE SOUL Georgia guitar-rock band, led by principal songwriter and frontman Ed Roland, performs on its See What You Started Tour. Apr 17, doors 7 pm, show 8:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix on sale Feb 19, 10 am, $49.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. SLOAN Toronto-based rock band, composed of guitarists Patrick Pentland and Jay Ferguson, bassist Chris Murphy, and drummer Andrew Scott, performs on its One Chord to Another 20th Anniversary Tour. Apr 20, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, The Imperial (319 Main). Tix on sale Feb 19, 10 am, $35 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation/. THE BIG PINK U.K. rock band tours in support of latest EP release Empire Underground and upcoming full-length release. Apr 25, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Biltmore Cabaret (2755 Prince Edward). Tix on sale Feb 19, 10 am, $18 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu Records, and www.ticketweb.ca/.

2THIS WEEK MATT ANDERSEN & THE BONA FIDE Canadian blues guitarist-vocalist performs in support of latest release Weightless, with guest Donovan Woods. Feb 18, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Vogue Theatre (918 Granville). Tix $42.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. THE SHEEPDOGS Saskatchewan guitarrockers tour in support of latest studio release Future Nostalgia. Feb 18-19, doors 8 pm, show 9:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix $32.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. MYSTERY SKULLS Dallas electronica artist, producer, and vocalist, with guest Boissinova. Feb 18, 7 pm, Biltmore Cabaret (2755 Prince Edward). Tix $12, info www. facebook.com/events/914511011952264/. DRALMS Vancouver experimentalelectronica artist with guest Mu. Feb 18, 8 pm, Fox Cabaret (2321 Main). Tix $10 (plus

INDIGENOUS SISTERS SOIREE Suzette Amaya hosts an opening-gala after party featuring performances by DJ Kookum, Fara Palmer, Carrie Lynn Victor, and Sadie. Feb 18, 10 pm, Media Club (695 Cambie). Tix $15/12, info www.talkingstickfest.ca/. TANGA Vancouver Afro-Latin dance band performs with Bazooka Picnic. Presented by Coastal Jazz as part of Winterruption. Feb 19, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Performance Works (1218 Cartwright, Granville Island). Tix $20, info www .coastaljazz.ca/tanga_winterruption/. SUMAC American-Canadian doom-metal band tours in support of debut release The Deal, with guests Endon. Feb 19, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Biltmore Cabaret (2755 Prince Edward). Tix $13 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Scrape Records, and www.ticketweb.ca/. HEF HOSTED BY ROY WOOD$ Canadian rapper and R&B artist performs with Rico Uno, Yurie, Raiel, Freeman Young, Cherchez, and LeChance. Feb 19, Fortune Sound Club (147 E. Pender). Info www.fortunesoundclub.com/. ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK Romanticpop vocalist from England (“Release Me”) performs two nights. Feb 19-20, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, River Rock Casino (8811 River Rd., Richmond). Tix $84.50/74.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticketmaster.ca/.

The ROGUE Best Roots Music

Vancouver’s Home of The

in the World

All shows at St. James Hall 3214 W. 10th Ave.

604.736.3022 • www.roguefolk.bc.ca

COMING UP

Thurs Feb 25

BUMPER JACKSONS

Fri Feb 26

EILEN JEWELL

Sat Feb 27

OLIVER SWAIN’S BIG MACHINE

Washington DC Sextet playing vintage New Orleans jazz and acoustic country blues. Alt country singer/songwriter with hot band Victoria songwriter with new CD, great band, and openers Twin Bandit

BUMPER JACKSONS

EILEN JEWELL

OLIVER SWAIN’S BIG MACHINE

CELEBRATION OF ABORIGINAL ARTS & CULTURE Music by First Nations rock band the Legendary Soundtribe. Feb 19-20, 8 pm, Ivanhoe Pub (1038 Main). Info www.cnnbackpackers.com/. JENN GRANT Halifax folk singer-songwriter, with guest Joshua Hyslop. Feb 19, 8:30-11:30 pm, Fox Cabaret (2321 Main). Tix $22, info www.thefestival.bc.ca/. ENEMY FEATHERS Vancouver indiepop band performs at an EP-release show, with guests Greg McLeod, Western Jaguar, and Zulu Panda. Feb 19, 9 pm, Media Club (695 Cambie). Tix $10, info www.imuproductions.com/. ALEJANDRA RIBERA Canadian pop-jazz singer-songwriter performs with Ayelet Rose Gottlieb’s Shiv’a. Presented by Coastal Jazz as part of Winterruption. Feb 20, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Performance Works (1218 Cartwright, Granville Island). Tix $23, info www .coastaljazz.ca/alejandra_ribera_live/. DIANE COFFEE American indie musician and Foxygen member tours in support of latest solo release Everybody’s a Good Dog. Feb 20, doors 8 pm, show 8:30 pm, Cobalt (917 Main). Tix $10 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu Records, and www.ticketweb.ca/. ELKHORN Vancouver jazz-rock band composed of Tom Wherrett, Meredith Bates, Sam Davidson, Russell Sholberg, and Mike Magnusson. Presented by Coastal Jazz as part of Winterruption. Feb 20, 12:30 pm, 1:45 pm, Performance Works (1218 Cartwright, Granville Island). Free admission, info www.coastaljazz.ca/. GRDINA/HOULE/LOEWEN Vancouver improv-jazz trio composed of Gordon Grdina, François Houle, and Kenton Loewen. Presented by Coastal Jazz as part of Winterruption. Feb 20, 3:15 pm, 4:30 pm, Performance Works (1218 Cartwright, Granville Island). Free admission, info www.coastaljazz.ca/.

LIVE AT

STADIUM CLUB FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26

BLUES CONCERT SERIES LADIES SING THE BLUES

FEATURING KRISTEN NASH, NADINE STATES, LISA ELLIOTT FENNELL & AMANDA DEAN, BACKED BY ROB MONTGOMERY & HIS ALL-STAR BAND Doors Open 7:30pm, Show Starts 8:00pm Tickets $10, plus get a $10 Food Voucher at the Show Available at StadiumClub.TicketLeap.com.

SATURDAY, MARCH 5

PARQUET COURTS New York City-based indie-rock band tours in support of latest EP Monastic Living. Feb 20, doors 8 pm, show 9:30 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $18 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu Records, and www.ticketweb.ca/.

UFC 196 DOS ANJOS VS MCGREGOR

AN EVENING WITH THE CHARLES LLOYD QUARTET American jazz saxophonist performs with pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist Joe Sanders, and drummer Eric Harland. Presented by Coastal Jazz. Feb 20, 8 pm, Vogue Theatre (918 Granville). Tix $64 (plus service charge) at www.ticket fly.com/, info www.coastaljazz.ca/.

Doors Open 5:30pm, Fight Starts 7:00pm Tickets $5

DJ HEATHER Chicago DJ performs on 15-year-anniversary tour of Tangerine, with guests Todd Omotani and Luke McKeehan. Feb 20, 10 pm, Open Studios (200-252 E. 1st). Tix $20/15, info www.face book.com/events/1518121545184644/. THE END TREE Vancouver chamber-pop trio composed of Aiden Brant Briscall, Elliot Vaughan, and Martin Reisle. Presented by Coastal Jazz as part of Winterruption. Feb 21, 12:30 pm, 1:45 pm, Performance Works (1218 Cartwright, Granville Island). Free admission, info www.coastaljazz.ca/. SICK BOSS Vancouver improv-rock band is joined by Montreal saxophonistclarinetist Ted Crosby. Presented by Coastal Jazz as part of Winterruption. Feb 21, 3:15 pm, 4:30 pm, Performance Works (1218 Cartwright, Granville Island). Free admission, info www.coastaljazz.ca/. TALKING STICK FESTIVAL MUSICAL COFFEE HOUSE OPEN MIKE Suzette Amaya hosts an open-mike session with Haida hip-hop artists Yung Trybez and Young D. Feb 22, 8 pm, Zawa Restaurant

PLUS HOLM VS TATE

Available at Guest Services. For booth and table reservations, please contact 778.833.0294

SATURDAY, MARCH 26

BLUES CONCERT SERIES THE ZIMMERMEN WITH JIM BYRNES

Doors Open 7:30pm, Show Starts 8:00pm Tickets $10, plus get a $10 Food Voucher at the Show Available at StadiumClub.TicketLeap.com.

760 Pacific Blvd. South Vancouver, BC V6B 5E7

Across from BC Place P 604.687.3343

EDGEWATERCASINO.CA

MUST BE 19+. MANAGEMENT RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHANGE, AMEND OR CANCEL PROMOTION AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE. CASH ONLY PAYMENT ACCEPTED. TICKETS ARE NON-REFUNDABLE AND MUST BE PRESENTED AT THE DOOR ON THE NIGHT OF THE SHOW TO RECEIVE ENTRY WRISTBAND.

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FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 43

Music time out

from previous page

The Legendary

SoundTribe NO COVER

Feb 19 & Feb 20 19+20 Feb: SOUND TRIBE RIBE

The Legendary All Native Band

21-Feb: SONS OF THE HOE

NO COVER • CELEBRATING ABORIGINAL ART & CULTURE • TUE: PEROGIE DAY WED: WINGS & BEER SPECIAL

1038 Main St • (604) 608-1444 1 block North Main St SkyTrain

(920 Commercial Drive ). Info www.talk ingstickfest.ca/.

HOT JAZZ JAM The Sky Lambourne Quartet performs New Orleans-style jazz. Feb 23, 9 pm, The Backstage Lounge (1585 Johnston, Granville Island). Tix $12, info www.facebook.com/ events/1568264446827236/. CRADLE OF FILTH British metal band tours in support of latest release Hammer of the Witches, with guests Butcher Babies and Ne Obliviscaris. Feb 24, 8 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $32.50, info www.rickshawtheatre.com/.

CLUBS & VENUES ALEXANDER GASTOWN 91 Powell, 778379-0407. 2DRE DAY WITH THE D.O.C Feb 18 2SAFE Feb 26 2NÜ MONTHLY POP-UP Feb 27 2REQUEST LINE Feb 28 2LE1F Feb 29 2J DILLA TRIBUTE Mar 3 2VINYL SWAP Mar 6 2LIL UZI VERT X PLAYBOI CARTI Mar 10 2KAWEHI Mar 19

604.873.4525 • www.bigsisters.bc.ca

BACKSTAGE LOUNGE Arts Club Theatre, 1585 Johnston, Granville Island, 604-6871354. Vancouver’s only live-music venue on the water, with music nightly. Live

band karaoke hosted by Sami Ghawi and Reuben Avery Tue at 9:30 pm.

BILTMORE CABARET 2755 Prince Edward, 604-676-0541. 2MYSTERY SKULLS Feb 18 2SUMAC Feb 19 2NICK THUNE Feb 20 2HARI KONDABOLU Feb 25 2KYLE KINANE Feb 26 2MICHAEL CHE Feb 27 2JOSEPH Mar 4 2AOIFE O’DONOVAN Mar 5 2RUN RIVER NORTH

Mar 8 2ROBYN HITCHCOCK Mar 10 2RADIATION CITY & DEEP SEA DIVER Mar 17 2AN EVENING WITH GREG DULLI Mar 22 2CHAIRLIFT Mar 24 2RADIO RADIO Mar 26 2RA RA RIOT Mar 31 2GOLDROOM Apr 2 2THE BIG PINK Apr 25 2WILD NOTHING Apr 26 2BLEACHED Apr 28 2AIDAN KNIGHT Apr 29 2ISLANDS Jun 4

BIMINI PUBLIC HOUSE 2010 W. 4th, 604733-7116. Twenty-four taps of rotating and interesting craft beers. Pub trivia Mon; beer club Tue; Wing Wed; dance party Fri-Sat; happy hour 3-6 pm. CINEMA PUBLIC HOUSE 901 Granville, 604-694-0202. Pub featuring craft beer and cocktails, pub food, late-night menu, and weekend brunch. DJs all night Wed-Sun. Happy hour 3-6 pm. COBALT 917 Main, 778-918-3671. 2DIANE COFFEE Feb 20 2SAM OUTLAW Feb 27 2REDRICK SULTAN Mar 3 2ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER Mar 4 2ANDERSON EAST Mar 5 2WHITE LUNG Mar 11 2ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Mar 19 2COUNTERPARTS Mar 24 2ALEX G AND PORCHES Mar 26 2LITTLE GREEN CARS Mar 31 2PRINCE RAMA Apr 2 2BANE Apr 5 2MATTHEW LOGAN VASQUEZ Apr 9 COMMODORE BALLROOM 868 Granville, 604-739-4550. 2THE MUSICAL BOX: SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND Feb 17 2THE SHEEPDOGS Feb 18 2RED...A POSITIVE DAY Feb 20 2MONSTER TRUCK Feb 25 2INDIGO GIRLS Feb 26 2CLASSIFIED Feb 27 2FRANK TURNER & THE SLEEPING SOULS Mar 3 2CANNIBAL CORPSE Mar 4 2DELHI 2 DUBLIN Mar 5 2REBELUTION Mar 6 2ANJUNABEATS Mar 10 2DISTURBED Mar 11 2THE WAILERS Mar 12 2MOTOWN MELTDOWN Mar 19 2WINTERSLEEP Mar 25 2WOLFMOTHER Apr 1 2THE DECIBEL MAGAZINE TOUR 2016 Apr 2 2CIARA Apr 5 2I MOTHER EARTH Apr 8 2MIIKE SNOW Apr 9 2THE ARCS Apr 11 2GARY CLARK JR. Apr 12 2SPIRIT OF THE WEST Apr 15 2COLLECTIVE SOUL Apr 17 2ST. GERMAIN Apr 18 2COURTNEY BARNETT Apr 19 2LUSH Apr 21 2ADAM CAROLLA Apr 22 2YEARS & YEARS Apr 29 2FOUR TET May 1 2THE HEAVY May 2 2AMON AMARTH May 16 2CHARLES BRADLEY AND HIS EXTRAORDINAIRES May 20 2BLACK MOUNTAIN May 21 2THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE May 23 2OH WONDER May 28 2AT THE DRIVE-IN Jun 7 2QUEER AS FUNK! Jul 29 DOOLIN’S IRISH PUB 654 Nelson, 604605-4343. Live music Sun-Thu, with acoustic soloist or duo Sun-Wed and live band Thu DJ Fri-Sat. FORTUNE SOUND CLUB 147 E. Pender, 604-569-1758. 2HEF HOSTED BY ROY WOOD$ Feb 19 2MIKE STUD Mar 3 2GOLDLINK Mar 4 2PROTOMARTYR AND CHASTITY BELT Mar 8 2YOUNG FATHERS Mar 19 2YUCK Mar 29 2CULLEN OMORI Apr 2 2OPERATORS Apr 5 2A TRIBE CALLED RED Apr 6 2LAPSLEY Apr 26 FOX CABARET 2321 Main. 2HELPA SQUID OUT Feb 17 2DRALMS Feb 18 2JENN GRANT Feb 19 2BIL CONFERENCE VANCOUVER 2016 Feb 20 2RAPP BATTLEZ WEZT COAZT Feb 20 2PHANTOM SIGNAL

44 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016

Feb 22 2THE ORCHID CLUB: GIRLS ON FILM Feb 23 2TEEN ANGST NIGHT Feb 25 2AMELIA CURRAN Mar 11 2FAST ROMANTICS Mar 24 2SARAH NEUFELD Mar 26 2SAID THE WHALE May 7

FRANKIE’S 765 Beatty, 778-727-0337. 2NIGHTCRAWLERS WITH DAWN PEMBERTON Feb 28 2HELEN SUNG QUARTET/JODI PROZNICK QUARTET Mar 2 2CHAMPIAN FULTON QUARTET PLUS MAYA RAE Mar 4 2HELEN HANSEN QUARTET Mar 6 2STRONG WOMEN STRONG MUSIC SERIES Mar 8 FUNKY WINKER BEANS 37 W. Hastings, 604-764-7865. 2THAT FILTHY SHOW Feb 18 2REDS, POT BELLY, THE REMEDIALS, YOU BIG IDIOT Feb 19 2POOR TRAITS, ONE AND THE SAME, DOUBLE STANDARDS, VILLAINS, THIEVES AND SCOUNDRELS Feb 20 2XANADUDES (RUSH TRIBUTE), KILLING MACHINE (JUDAS PRIEST TRIBUTE), RED LINES (TEENAGE HEAD TRIBUTE) Feb 26 2DESTROY THE DESTROYER, LUNGFLOWER, HALLUX, GANGLYON Feb 27 2S.K.A.M., THE BRASS ACTION Mar 2 HARD ROCK CASINO VANCOUVER 2080 United Blvd., Coquitlam, 604-523-6888. 2WHOSE LIVE ANYWAY? Feb 19 2LEWIS BLACK Feb 28 2ED KOWALCZYK Mar 3 2TONY ORLANDO Apr 9 2GEORGE THOROGOOD & THE DESTROYERS Apr 21 2JOE SATRIANI Apr 24 2TRACY MORGAN May 13 2PENN & TELLER May 20 2THUNDER FROM DOWN UNDER Jun 17 THE IMPERIAL 319 Main, 604-868-0494. 2THE 35TH ANNUAL HERITAGE B.C. AWARDS Feb 18 2LAKE STREET DIVE Mar 1 2BAG RAIDERS Mar 4 2DAMIEN DEMPSEY Mar 5 2SOAK. Mar 7 2SILVERSTEIN Mar 8 2JUNIOR BOYS Mar 10 2WE ARE THE CITY Mar 11 2ELECTRIC SIX Mar 23 2POLICA Mar 30 2QUANTIC Apr 9 2AURORA Apr 10 2PETE YORN Apr 11 2THE STORY SO FAR Apr 18 2SLOAN Apr 20 2TORTOISE Apr 28 2BOMBINO Apr 30 2MAGIC MAN & THE GRISWOLDS May 3 2LUCIUS May 10 2SAINT MOTEL May 22 2SAVAGES May 27 IVANHOE PUB 1038 Main, 604-608-1444. 2STARK RAVEN Feb 19 2STARK RAVEN Feb 19 2CELEBRATION OF ABORIGINAL ARTS & CULTURE Feb 19 2SONS OF THE HOE Feb 21 LIBRARY SQUARE PUBLIC HOUSE 300 W. Georgia, 604-633-9644. Free pinball Wed; Show Me Love ‘90s party Fri; Saturday Night Special dance party Sat. Canucks and Whitecaps pregame. MEDIA CLUB 695 Cambie, 604-608-2871. 2INDIGENOUS SISTERS SOIREE Feb 18 2ENEMY FEATHERS Feb 19 2HEY MARSEILLES Mar 4 2RIPPLE ILLUSION Mar 5 2NAP EYES Mar 26 2MOTHERS Mar 27 2THE SUBWAYS Apr 26 2KEVIN MORBY Jun 7 ORPHEUM THEATRE 601 Smithe, 604-6653050. 2HEART Mar 8 2LEON BRIDGES Mar 15 2FATHER JOHN MISTY Apr 5 2CHICK COREA AND BELA FLECK Apr 22 2RAFFI Apr 23 2JAMES BAY Apr 27 2ANDREW BIRD May 21 QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE 650 Hamilton, 604-665-3050. 2RETURN THE GRACE Mar 22 2GENERATION AXE

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Apr 6 2TWENTY ONE PILOTS Apr 10 2RAIN Apr 20 2LAMB OF GOD Jun 1 2JOE JACKSON Jun 24 2TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND Jun 28 2IL DIVO Nov 6

REPUBLIC 958 Granville, 604-669-3214. House, hip-hop, EDM, chart, and reggae. Open nightly from 10 pm to 3 am. RICKSHAW THEATRE 254 E. Hastings, 604-681-8915. 2PARQUET COURTS Feb 20 2CRADLE OF FILTH Feb 24 2BOWIE TRIBUTE NIGHT Feb 26 2BONGZILLA & BLACK COBRA Mar 4 2THE WHAMMYS: A NIGHT OUT FOR MUSIC HEALS Mar 5 2REVEREND HORTON HEAT Mar 10 2DEAD ASYUM AND SAINTS OF DEATH Mar 11 2CARAVAN CABARET Mar 12 2ANIMAL BODIES Mar 19 2THIS WILL DESTROY YOU Mar 20 2GREENSKY BLUEGRASS Mar 24 2NEW MUSIC SHOWCASE Mar 25 2COMEDY SHOCKER: THROUGH A BLACK LENS Mar 26 2WEEDEATER Mar 28

2DIARRHEA PLANET Apr 1 2LA FIN ABSOLUTE DU MONDE Apr 7 2MODIFIED GHOST FESTIVAL 2016 Apr 9 2DUNCAN TRUSSELL STAND UP COMEDY BUS TOUR Apr 27 2KVELERTAK May 2 2KID CONGO & THE PINK MONKEY BIRDS May 7 2LUCA TURILLIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S RHASPODY AND PRIMAL FEAR May 9 2BUZZCOCKS May 21 2KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD May 28

RIVER ROCK SHOW THEATRE River Rock Casino Resort, 8811 River Rd., Richmond, 604-247-8900. 2THE NYLONS Apr 9 ROGERS ARENA 800 Griffiths Way, 604-8997400. 2BLACK SABBATH Mar 7 2JUSTIN BIEBER Mar 11 2ELLIE GOULDING Apr 1 2IRON MAIDEN Apr 10 2RIHANNA Apr 23 2THE WHO May 13 2SELENA GOMEZ May 14 2HEDLEY May 20 2CITY AND COLOUR Jun 3 2JAMES TAYLOR AND HIS ALL-STAR BAND Jun 11 2DIXIE CHICKS Jul 7 2ADELE Jul 20 2DEMI LOVATO AND NICK JONAS Aug 24

THE ROXY 932 Granville, 604-331-7999. 2PRONG May 29 2PETER HOOK & THE LIGHT Nov 1 House band Tattoo Alibi Sat & Mon; country band Locked & Loaded Sun; the Bulge and DJ Joe Pound Tue; Troys â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;R Us Wed-Thu. VOGUE THEATRE 918 Granville, 604569-1144. 2MATT ANDERSEN & THE 2MARDI GRAS LIVE MUSIC SHOWCASE BONA FIDE Feb 18 2WES BARKER Feb Feb 18 2ECHO NEBRASKA Mar 4 19 2MARGARET CHO Feb 19 2AN ST. JAMES HALL 3214 W. 10th, 604-736-3022. EVENING WITH THE CHARLES LLOYD QUARTET Feb 20 2JEREMY HOTZ Feb 2THE BUMPER JACKSONS Feb 25 2EILEN 26 2VINCE STAPLES Mar 1 2THE IRISH JEWEL Feb 26 2OLIVER SWAINâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S BIG ROVERS Mar 17 2DAUGHTER Mar 18 MACHINE Feb 27 2RACHEL PLATTEN Mar 28 2ALESSIA VENUE 881 Granville, 604-646-0064. CARA Mar 29 2JOANNA NEWSOM 2LIARS AND LIONS Feb 20 2TRASH T Mar 30 2YUNG LEAN Mar 31 ALK Feb 25 2BEYOND THE CONFINES 2KILLSWITCH ENGAGE Apr 3 2TINASHE Feb 27 2ST. LUCIA Mar 1 2ERUPTION Apr 10 2SANTIGOLD Apr 11 2HOPSIN Mar 5 2THE REAL MCKENZIES Mar 10 Apr 14 2BOYCE AVENUE Apr 15 2IAN FLETCHER THORNLEY Mar 12 2BEACH HOUSE Apr 30 2CHE 2ULI JON ROTHâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ULTIMATE GUITAR MALAMBO May 20 2MODERAT May 23 EXPERIENCE Mar 19 2THE WILD FEATHERS 2COMEDY BANG! BANG! LIVE! May 26 Mar 31 2NIYAZ AND ADHAM SHAIKH 2JOHN PRINE Jul 9 Apr 7 2GIN WIGMORE Apr 26 2NAPALM WISE HALL 1882 Adanac, 604-254-5858. DEATH AND MELVINS May 2 2NADA SURF May 17 2AUTOLUX May 28 2THE CROOKED BROTHERS Feb 25

2DROP-IN STITCH & CRAFT Feb 29 2THE ANNUAL WISE ST. PADDYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S DAY BASH Mar 17 2LOCARNO Mar 26 2HAYSEED DIXIE Apr 16

OUT OF TOWN 2JUST ANNOUNCED BEYONCE American R&B/pop superstar performs on The Formation World Tour. May 18, CenturyLink Field (Seattle, Wash.). Tix on sale Feb. 22, 10 am, from US$45 to US$280 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticketmaster.ca/.

TIME OUT MUSIC LISTINGS are a public service provided free, based on available space and editorial discretion. Submit listings online using the event-submission form at straight.com/ AddEvent. Events that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make it into the paper due to space constraints will appear on the website.

Vancouverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Home to Live Jazz & Blues 765 BEATTY STREET

THURS FEB 18 * THAT FILTHY SHOW * BLOODY BETTY * COLIN LAMB * RON VAUDRY * HOSTED BY DAVID DJ ROY * $7 * 9PM * FOLLOWED BY KARAOKE FRI FEB 19 * REDS * POT BELLY [WSH] * THE REMEDIALS * YOU BIG IDIOT SAT FEB 20 * POOR TRAITS * ONE AND THE SAME * DOUBLE STANDARDS * VILLAINS THIEVES AND SCOUNDRELS * FRI FEB 26 HEAVY TRIBUTES * XANADUDES [RUSH] * KILLING MACHINE [JUDAS PRIEST] * RED LINES [TEENAGE HEAD] * SAT FEB 27 * DESTROY THE DESTROYER * LUNGFLOWER * HALLUX * GANGLYON * WED MAR 2 * S.K.A.M. * A SKA MONTHLY EVENT * WITH GUESTS * THE BRASS ACTION * S.K.A. * 7- 10PM *

Live Jazz & Blues every Thursday - Sunday evenings HAPPY HOUR Wednesday - Friday 4pm - 6pm with live music, food & drink specials

Live late night music Friday & Saturday till 1am

Reservations or Music Line up Visit coastaljazz.ca or call 778.727.0337

604.730.7060

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owntown Vancouver has experiHe noted that progress is being made, albeit enced astonishing changes during in small steps. Near the bridge, Spin Society the past three decades. In the early has opened a new gym. In addition, there’s a 1990s, Gastown was one of the least new Hungry Guys Kitchen in the 900 block desirable areas, fi lled with empty office space of Granville. “I think there’s still going to be a and dogged by a dismal retail landscape. But need for Doolin’s and a Lennox [Pub],” Gauthithe redevelopment of Woodward’s helped turn er said. “I think those really appeal to a certain things around. demographic. But can we start adding things Today, Gastown is Vancouver’s premier that have been tried elsewhere?” high-tech haven. The neighbourhood is also He’s noticed that independent businesses home to some of the city’s hippest restaurants, that have succeeded in other parts of Vancoubars, and shops. ver have recently opened second outlets in the Yaletown underwent a similar transforma- downtown. As examples, Gauthier cited Traction. Once a warehouse distor Foods and the clothing trict known mostly for its retailer 8th & Main. street-level sex trade, it’s “We look at that as an innow a centre for fine dining teresting trend that maybe Charlie Smith and expensive merchandise. fits in with that tech-strategy Now there are plans to try to do a make- approach for Granville,” he said. over of a similar magnitude on the section of Another independent business, Railtown Granville Street between Robson Street and the Cafe, opened in the Downtown Eastside in 2012. bridge. Charles Gauthier, president and CEO of Its second outlet will be in the new Manulife ofthe Downtown Vancouver Business Improve- fice building at 980 Howe Street, one block from ment Association, recently told the Georgia Granville Street. Straight that there’s an opportunity for neighNamed after the colonial secretary of the bourhood renewal with the arrival of Sony Pic- British Empire, Granville Leveson-Gower, tures Imageworks, Microsoft, and Nordstrom the thoroughfare grew into a major entertainin the former Sears store. With 2,500 employment destination in the 1920s with the rise of ees in the building, this could be a catalyst in vaudeville. The street was then known around converting the Granville Entertainment Dis- the world for its neon signage and became even trict into the city’s newest high-tech hub. more accessible with the completion of the “We realize there are some challenges on the Granville Street Bridge in 1954. street; I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” Gauthier In the 1970s, however, the blocks south of said by phone. “We have 20 vacancies in that Smithe Street fell on hard times as the new stretch between Robson and Drake [Street].” Pacific Centre Mall drew people away from the In November 2012, the closure of the Empire street. But the 800 block of Granville remained Granville 7 movie theatres in the 800 block re- vibrant well into the 1990s, thanks to the Capduced street vitality. Gauthier suggested that itol 6 and Granville 7 movie theatres, the Comthis building could be transformed into offices modore Ballroom, John Fluevog Shoes, and the for tech workers wanting to be near Microsoft now-defunct Granville Book Company. and Sony Pictures Imageworks. In an effort to revive the 900 to 1200 The DVBIA has studied what is necessary blocks, the City of Vancouver concentrated to make Granville Street more appealing to liquor-licence seats in a revived entertainthis sector. According to Gauthier, the en- ment district in the early 2000s. Although tertainment district needs more indie coffee that energized the area at night, there is reshops, restaurants, and retailers. The DVBIA’s markably little foot traffic during the day. research also indicated that tech companThe DVBIA has encouraged owners of buildies prefer areas with more health-conscious ings on Granville south of Robson to clean up businesses, such as juice bars and yoga stu- graffiti and dirty windows in preparation for the dios, as well as drinking establishments that street’s next evolutionary step. “Part of the proboffer a chance to mingle, listen to live music, lem is that some of them are basically just waitand sample craft beer. ing to sell the property,” Gauthier conceded. -

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redhotdateline.com 18+ FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 49

savage love My new girlfriend blurted out that she had a cuckolding past with her ex-husband. She says her ex badgered her into arranging “dates” with strangers and that he picked the guys. Her ex would then watch her having sex with a guy in a hotel room. The ex only watched and didn’t take part. I am really bothered by her past. She says she did it only because her ex pressured her into it and she wanted to save her marriage, so she agreed. But I suspect she may have enjoyed it and may have been testing me to see if I wanted to be a cuck. What should I do? I am really torn by my feelings toward her. > CONFUSED IN NOVA

You suspect she may have enjoyed fucking those other men? I hope she enjoyed fucking those other men—and you should too, CINOVA. Because even if cuckolding wasn’t her fantasy, even if she fucked those other men only to delight her shitty ex-husband, anyone who cares about this woman—and you do care about her, right?—should hope the experiences she had with those other men weren’t overwhelmingly negative, completely traumatizing, or utterly joyless. And, yes, people will sometimes broach the subject of their own sexual interests/fantasies using the passive voice or a negative frame because they’re afraid of rejection or they want an easy out or both. (“My ex was into this kinda extreme thing, and I did it because I felt I had to.” “That’s gross.” “Yeah, I totally hated it.”) But cuckolding is almost always the husband’s fantasy—it’s rare for

the wife to initiate cuckolding scenes/ relationships—so odds are good that your girlfriend is telling you the truth about those other men being her exhusband’s idea/fantasy and not hers. As for whether she’s testing you: That’s a pretty easy test to fail, CINOVA. Open your mouth and say, “Cuckolding isn’t something I would ever want to do. The thought of you with another man isn’t a turn-on for me. Not at all.” It’s an easy F. What should you do? If you can’t let this go, if you can’t get over the sex your girlfriend had with her ex-husband and those other men, if you can’t hope she had a good time regardless of whose idea it was, if you can’t take “I’m not interested in cuckolding you!” for an answer—if you can’t do all of that—then do your girlfriend a favour and break up with her. She just got out from under a shitty husband who pressured her into “cheating”. The last thing she needs now is a shitty boyfriend who shames her for “cheating”.

My husband is Native American.

I’m white. We’ve been together 16 years, raising a couple kids. We love each other very much, so this isn’t a deal-breaker. I’ve got a thing for his long black hair. He’s a drop-dead gorgeous man, and while I gave up asking that he wear leggings or a breechcloth once in a while, I wish he would grow out his hair. I’m willing to wear (and do) anything he asks. He’s somewhere to the left of Sherman Alexie when it comes to this stuff, but could you tell me why I’m so wrong? He keeps his hair short, and the one time I made

> BY DAN SAVAGE enough of a fuss, he grew it out and never washed it just to spite me. A long time ago, he participated in a sun dance, and he looked incredible. So I guess that makes me a blasphemous pervert, but really? Is asking for a couple of braids really so wrong?

way he looks with shorter hair. Because I am getting so grey, long hair would make me look like a warlock having a midlife crisis. Maybe this Indian dude is just sick of all the sociopolitical shit that comes with long hair. Maybe it kills his boner. Talking > WHITEY M C WHITE WIFE about it has certainly killed my boner.”

I forwarded your email to Sherman Alexie, the award-winning poet, novelist, essayist, and filmmaker. Your question must have touched a nerve, WMW, because Alexie’s response arrived while my computer was still making that woooosh-sending-email sound. Now I’m going to step aside and let Alexie answer your question… “What does ‘to the left of Sherman Alexie’ mean in this context? I doubt there are very many Native dudes more leftist than me! And long hair on Indian men is more conservative and more tribal, anyway—more ceremonial. More of a peacock thing, really. And a lot of work! My Native wife certainly misses my long hair. But I don’t miss the upkeep and I don’t miss answering questions about my hair. I mean, I cut my hair 13 years ago (more than 25 percent of my life ago), and some people still ask me about it! Thirteen years! Also, Native men tend to cut their hair as they age. Long hair is generally a young Indian man’s gig, culturally speaking. “I would venture that Native dude is tired of being romanticized, ethnocized, objectified. We Indians get enough of that shit in the outside world. Maybe this dude doesn’t want that in bed. Or maybe he just likes the

Why would you call blumkins “sexist”? Are you excluding the idea that gay, bi, and trans people might participate? There are many sexual practices that are degrading. If the partner consents, how is it “sexist”? Lastly, have you considered that a heterosexual female may want a blumkin of her own? I’m a heterosexual male, and I have no idea how you could defecate and remain erect— but to each his own! Your answer was irrational and sexist! > THE PROBLEM ISN’T ALWAYS SEXISM

Go to Urban Dictionary and read every definition for blumkin, TPIAS. There are nine of them. We’ll wait. While almost all of the proposed definitions—including the top one— are gendered (“Taking a nice shit while your woman is sucking your cock”), even definitions that aren’t gendered (“Getting a blowjob while taking a stinky shit”) include examples of usage that are gendered (“Anthony really enjoyed it when Christy gave him a blumkin last night”). While a gay dude could suck his man’s cock while he was taking a stinky shit, and while a trans man could go eat his cis girlfriend’s pussy while she

was dropping a deuce, the whole conversation about blumkins— and since blumkins are mythical, TPIAS, the convo is all we’ve got—isn’t about consensual degrading sex play. It’s about the symbolic degradation of women. And that’s sexist. It’s like gerbilling: everyone has a butthole, anyone can walk into a pet store and buy a gerbil, paper-towel tubes are everywhere. But gerbilling is always described as a gay sex act. The fact that straight, bi, asexual, or even deceased people could theoretically have their asses gerbilled doesn’t make joking about gerbilling not homophobic. The anatomical technicality doesn’t exonerate gerbilling. Same goes for blumkins. So my ruling is final: Joking about gerbilling is homophobic (but funny if done right), just as joking about blumkins is sexist (ditto).

It’s always a little frustrating to read columns where we hear only one side of the story. Maybe you could solicit letters from both partners? A couple would agree in advance what the problem was and both send in a letter, but they should not read each other’s letters. Keep up the great work! > JUST AN IDEA

I love this idea, JAI. Any game couples out there? Throuples welcome too! Listen to Dan’s podcast every week at savagelovecast.com/. Email: mail@ savagelove.net. Follow Dan on Twitter at www.twitter.com/fakedansavage/.

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To the plus, a potential of good promise or a saving-grace opporver the past week Mercury tunity could appear. Tuesday onand Venus have advanced ward, the stars are on the upswing. into Aquarius. Both will ARIES add a fresh energy spark March 20–April 20 and they’ll continue to keep the polLook around, put your itical headlines and social action on feelers out, experiment more. Over a lively track. At 9:34 p.m. on Thursday, the sun the next several weeks, Mercury and swims into Pisces. While in this sign, Venus boost ideas, insights, your sothe sun gives life to inspirations, cial life, and financial opportunity. dreams, romance, and creativity, and While the sun tours Pisces, a new to potential that is ready to be ac- love interest or passion taps deep cessed. When Pisces is featured, it is into the soul. Monday’s full moon better to allow, accept, and surrender can expose something that’s been forgotten, misplaced, or neglected. rather than to push or force. Overall, Friday’s stars should make There’s also a good opportunity to for a smooth finish to the workweek, heal, upgrade, or fi x. while setting up a pleasant kick-back TAURUS or love-’em-up start to the weekend. April 20–May 21 Continuing through Sunday, the Leo Change is good, change moon plans to make the most of it. Monday morning’s full moon in is necessary. While busting up the Virgo launches the new workweek. concrete can be hard work, the sun’s It could be difficult to stick to a tight advance into Pisces may go easier schedule. Noting the full moon on you. Pressure or confidence can forms tension with the karmic axis build Saturday through Sunday. and several Pisces transits—notably Time is your ally or your prod. Either Neptune, Ceres, and Chiron—ex- way, you stand to gain. Monday’s pect to get caught up by the unfore- full moon brings an opportunity to seen, and to be busied by things that speak up, apply, or address or correct need to be corrected, fi xed, healed, a long-standing matter. or improved upon. GEMINI Something can be revealed or exMay 21–June 21 posed that has previously escaped Although getting a better notice. Keep a close watch on work matters, privacy concerns, personal handle on it continues to require work information, details, your health, and effort, Mercury, Venus, and the and the health of your pets. The full sun on the move-along create a better moon will also draw added atten- flow and an easier go (at least for the tion to things that affect the masses most part!). Friday/Saturday are great and/or that are of global concern. for getting your entertainment fill.

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‫ﺐ‬

> BY ROSE MARCUS

Monday’s full moon can mess with challenging, but after the fact, it can your schedule. Something at the last give you an upper hand and a better minute or the unforeseen could make solution or result. you scramble. LIBRA CANCER September 23–October 23 June 21–July 22 Picking up from the sun’s Pisces month, starting good lead, Venus and Mercury Thursday, brings you better luck. Mer- freshly into Aquarius will continue cury and Venus in Aquarius are also to keep you inspired, energized, helpful in terms of dishing up new game, and hopeful. The Pisces sun creative ideas or financial avenues. boosts your creativity and intuition, Something or someone new could be but it can also increase sensitivity of great help. Saturday/Sunday can to environments and vulnerability boost your confidence. Monday’s to people or viruses. Put extra safeweed-it-out full moon can prove to be guards in place during full-moon a productive problem-solving, clear- Monday, especially regarding health it-up, and/or fix-it day. Heed warning or personal information. signals, don’t take unnecessary risks. SCORPIO LEO October 23–November 22 July 22–August 23 Home life can get much You’ve got game this busier now, especially if you are on weekend thanks to the moon be- the move or if there is a new family ing on a tour of Leo. For the most situation to deal with. A renovation part, that spotlight-claiming and project or new business venture is refreshed can-do spirit will do you also well-timed. Pisces month is one justice. As of Monday, you are wise of your most creative. It’s also great to tone it down. More caution is for affairs of the heart. Monday’s full advised; it’s easy to overshoot, moon could put something unforeoverspend, or lose sight of the im- seen into full swing. portant details. Tuesday onward, SAGITTARIUS you’re back on the upswing.

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VIRGO

August 23–September 23

For the next several weeks, expect to hit a much busier go. A new health kick, job, work project, or study schedule sets you onto a significant and rapid learning curve. Monday’s full moon in Virgo could expose something that’s initially

November 22–December 21

Full-moon Monday calls for extra troubleshooting; you’ll manage well.

‫ﺊ‬

CAPRICORN

‫ﺋ‬

AQUARIUS

‫ﺌ‬

PISCES

December 21–January 20

Communications, plans, and the daily get-go move into an ease-up trend. Thanks to Monday’s full moon, you’ll learn something useful or hear of something advantageous. Perhaps, you’ll get a better price or gain more leeway or leverage. Even if things don’t pan out to begin with, they should work out well in the end. January 20–February 18

Venus and Mercury in Aquarius continue to keep you looking and sounding your best. Go ahead, kick it up a notch. For the next couple of weeks, your popularity and opportunities are on the rise. Have fun this weekend. Full-moon Monday could produce strain or disappointment, or leave you drained. Stay alert, play it safe, and don’t bank on a promise. February 18- March 20

You’ll now hit a fresh and faster track. The revitalizing sun in Pisces infuses you with more energy, hope, and a can-do attitude. A new trend, perspective, or creative idea could be the “it” ticket. Monday’s full moon could put you on a rescue, recycling, or trouble-shooting mission, or a bargain hunt. Don’t accept partial information, hearsay, or opinions. -

While Venus and Mercury keep you actively out there and involved, the sun’s trek into Pisces will have you craving more breathing space for yourself and/or more quality time with family. Even so, the weekend is set up for fun and adventure. Enjoy sports or socializing, or take Book a reading with Rose Marcus at your special someone out on a date. www.rosemarcus.com/astrolink/.

> Go on-line to read hundreds of I Saw You posts or to respond to a message < WE WERE DRESSED THE SAME!

A 10 AT EIGHT AND A HALF

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 15, 2016 WHERE: JJ Bean - Woodwards Building

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 12, 2016 WHERE: Eight and a Half

I commented in line that we were dressed the same and my friend working said we looked like we were related. I guess if I find you attractive and we look alike, then I think I’m attractive. That’s cool. I wanted to let you know that was funny and it definitely made my day. I look forward to the family reunion as well.

You were sitting at the end of the bar with a guy who seemed like just a friend (at least I’m hoping he was just a friend). You drank red wine and had the most beautiful infectious laugh. You repeatedly caught my attention with your dark hair, dark dress (might I mention - wow) and high heels. Would love to see you again.

SUPER CUTE WINDOW WASHING GIRL KERRISDALE

DOYOUWANTFRIESWITHTHAT

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 11, 2016 WHERE: Kerrisdale You were washing windows at my job site and I was the painter guy who opened the door for you when you were leaving. I wish we had a chance to talk. Your beautiful smile made my day. Maybe we can have dinner sometime.

YOU WERE SO STUNNING

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 15, 2016 WHERE: JJ Bean You asked if you could sit at the table with me at JJ Bean while I was working on my laptop. I noticed we were having the same coffee! I was too shy to talk to you and tell you how gorgeous you are.

EXTRA MISO-LUCKY-TO-SEE-YOU

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 14, 2016 WHERE: The Naam I called in an order and you met me at the register. The first words you said were ‘are you here to pick up?’ - I must have blushed saying ‘yes’, as I was enchanted with how gorgeous you looked. Did we share a moment? I hesitated on asking you out, instantly regretting my choice of attire; jogging pants and hoodie, and worried that a man of your caliber must never be single long. Is there a chance that fate/ luck/timing would all work out for you to be single/interested/and reading this? I’ve never posted in I Saw You before, but I would love to see you again...

MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL ON THE BUS

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 13, 2016 WHERE: Commercial Drive I sat next to you on the #20 bus Saturday night and asked you if anyone had told you that you looked like Maggie Gyllenhaal. You said that you’d heard it before and would take it as a compliment. Then it was my stop.

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 11, 2015 WHERE: Driving west on Kingsway You road-raged at me from out of the window of your white SUV on Kingsway Ave. I was in the passenger seat of a 96’ Mercedes. You had the shrill voice of a falling angel and rich brown skin, so much like chocolate that I could almost taste you melting on the dash of your car. Needless to say I was speechless from the first words that left your rosepetal lips. “HUH??! YOU GOT SOMETHING TO SAY YOU UGLY ******** *****!!! YOU ******* CRACKHEAD!!” you yelled as we slowed our car to better see and admire at your beauty. “I ALREADY CALLED THE COPS YOU CRACKWHORE!!”, you cooed in my direction, while making eyes that were unmistakably on fire. I wanted you then and I want you now. At one point in your passionate speech you asked me if I “WANTED FRIES WITH THAT.” I can honestly say that from the moment we locked eyes I knew I wanted the whole meal. And with finality and vindication, you asked “DO YOU EVEN HAVE TWO-CENTS?!”. The windows rolled up and the cars behind continued to honk and I can honestly say, I like fire with my fries. I would love to meet you again; beautiful flames.

CUTE AND COMPASSIONATE NURSE

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 11, 2016 WHERE: Production Way skytrain station I saw you at production station: long brown hair with bangs, dark pink scrubs, a teal stethoscope in a pocket. You took a few steps off the train then sprinted to the end of the platform where a man was lying flat on his face. You crouched down and began talking to him. Curious, I came over and heard you speaking to him so kindly. The man was very drunk and asking you for smokes but you continued to make sure he was OK and speak to him with respect which is so rare. He made a joke and you smiled a beautiful smile, suggested he sit up on a bench, then left to find a skytrain worker. Let me buy you a coffee sometime?

POMPOM JEWELLERY AND ITALIAN RESTAURANTS?

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 12, 2016 WHERE: VCC downtown You and your classmates were selling jewellery for Valentine’s Day and I dropped by to pick something up for my mom’s birthday. It was the second time I’d seen you there and I really wanted to buy the jewellery you had made - and talk to you a little more - but unfortunately your pompom style just wouldn’t work for my mom. I mentioned an Italian restaurant that I was going to take her to that night and you said you had never been there. I was about to ask if you wanted to go with me sometime, but chickened out with all of the people around. Kicking myself for it now, but if you see this, I’d love to get to know you better.

HANDSOME TALL KNIGHT AT DENNYS

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 10, 2016 WHERE: dennys You were sitting at Dennys on Davie and Thurlow, u have amazing brown eyes and a soft voice, your skinny and tall and all around sexy, you had a skateboard with you and a computer bag, had headphones on and u came in dancing. Will you marry me?? I looked at you and instantly fell in love

MIDNIGHT ANGRY MAN

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 6, 2016 WHERE: Hawks You were the angry-looking man who said, "It must suck to have such an empty life" to me when we crossed paths in my neighbourhood. I was the girl deliberating on whether or not to engage, whether or not to say hello. Here it is: Hi.

FLYING FROM PHOENIX TO ARIZONA

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 11, 2016 WHERE: Phoenix to Vancouver I was boarding my flight home to Vancouver. An older lady was in front of me and I helped her put her bag in the over head. As I made my way to my seat you thanked me for the help and we started chatting while everyone else got seated. Our conversation ended abruptly as you needed to attend to your duties. I was hoping to chat with you again to ask you out before we landed but the opportunity never presented itself; although I did hear you say “bless you” when I started sneezing at the end of the flight. If you see this how about meeting over a drink?

YOUNG OPTIMUS PRIME

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 10, 2016 WHERE: Expo Line heading to Surrey Your voice cut through my Skrillex tape as soon as you came on at Royal Oak station. You were wearing an Optimus Prime shirt and had hair like a newborn baby duck. Are you into JRFM hip hop? Although you look a bit younger, I don’t mind. Can I be your chaperone?

HEART OF - PROBABLY - GOLD

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 10, 2016 WHERE: Lansdowne Centre foodcourt Doubt you’ll see this, but I saw you at the Lansdowne Centre food court volunteering with a group of elderly people. You wore a blue UBC hoodie and I was the one in the red sweater who flashed some smiles your way. I just really wanted to tell you how rare it is for someone our age to take the time to volunteer, so kudos! Maybe you can let me take you out a coffee or a bubble tea as a reward for your kindness (and of course to get to know you)

MISSED GLANCES

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 7, 2016 WHERE: Canada Line Oakridge -Granville I noticed you before I even walked onto the train. Black coat, blue jeans, red backpack, blonde hair and a beautiful face that made me feel a bit shy. You were chatting with an asian fellow with glasses. I was wearing black and grey sweats/hoodie and a black ballcap. We narrowly missed a number of glances in each others’ directions. I was working with a client, otherwise I would have come said hi. This method of reaching out seems a bit odd, but I really wanted to share a smile with you.

CROSSWORD CUTIE

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 6, 2016 WHERE: 99 bus You sat in the middle of the bus working on a book of crossword puzzles. I was the handsome (or so I’d like to think) Asian guy who kept blatantly stealing glances at you. I think you’re really pretty and I wanted to say hi and ask about your puzzle, but that’d be creepy, right? Posting an anonymous I Saw You is totally less creepy/weird/ desperate. Anywho, if you ever get stuck on a crossword, I’m pretty good with the movie stuff!

WERE THOSE ROSES FOR ME?

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 9, 2016 WHERE: Outside Canada Line station, Granville & Georgia You were standing at the entrance to Vancouver City Centre station with a few single-stemmed roses in both hands. Was this a pre-Valentine’s Day stunt? Are we women supposed to approach you to ask about them? Were you selling them? I don’t know what your deal is, but I commend you for your quirkiness.

COMMERCIAL STREET EYE-LOCK

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 9, 2016 WHERE: Commercial Drive (East side of the street) near Grandview Highway We walked past each other on the Drive just after Grandview Highway. You were the tall blonde bearded man (gave off the Lumber-sexual vibe, but I don’t think you were wearing plaid). I can’t remember what you were wearing because I just kept staring at your eyes. I was the 5’10 brunette in a royal blue wool coat and grey knit circle scarf. Coffee?

OUTSIDE MEC ON A RAINY MORNING

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 10, 2016 WHERE: MEC on Broadway You were waiting outside MEC before it opened, both of us a bit wet from biking in the rain. I should have stayed to continue chatting! Feel free to write if you felt similarly. And I hope you get some fenders for your nice bike.

BOOKS AND GLANCES AT PRADO

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 9, 2016 WHERE: Commercial drive I usually never do this, but we exchanged a series of glances this afternoon. You sat near me for a while before I had to head out. Me: tall, had a hat on, sitting in the sunshine. If you are interested in getting coffee, tell me what color touque you were wearing.

DQ LYNN VALLEY

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 8, 2016 WHERE: DQ Lynn Valley You - beautiful blonde with sultry blue eyes. You exchanged electrical glances with Me - grey hair blue eyes who was there with sister. I think you have a boy named Taylor as I have one too.

AUSTRALIAN AT SAVE ON

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 3, 2016 WHERE: Save On Cambie You were a rower and good at math. I was a blonde who couldn’t decide what to buy.

SCOTIABANK THEATRE - SOLO DATE NIGHT WITH SELF

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 5, 2016 WHERE: Scotiabank Theatre Colin, we are basically the same person, as you said. I wished I had come straight over to you after the film was done to ask what you thought hoping we once again had something in common. Can we run into one another again? I’d consider giving up my seat in the back next time and turn it into an actual ‘date’

DRIVING THE 402 BUS

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JANUARY 15, 2016 WHERE: 402 Bus to Brighouse Stn I was a little lost and trying to get back to Richmond centre. I hopped on your bus and we had a Chat about how much Compass gates and Ikea artwork sucks. I was on my way to an friend’s gallery show and I regret not getting your number. Meet up and keep talking?

PRINCETON PUB

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 4, 2016 WHERE: Princeton It was karaoke night and I was sitting with my neighbour by the bar. You were playing pool with your friends wearing a black hoodie and toque. Blue eyes. I kept staring at you. Wish we would have met

CHA CHA YOU’RE A FOLEY FASCINATING PEOPLE

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 7, 2016 WHERE: Seawall We locked eyes for a few seconds as you said “...fascinating people...” and walked by with your friend. I’m curious - let’s go for a walk!

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 5, 2015 WHERE: On our little screens We matched on tinder. You asked what I was doing because you like to hear about the mundane in peoples lives, I thought you were special, from our short couple chats. What happened?

Did you see someone? Go to straight.com to post your FREE I Saw You _ FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 51

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52 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FEBRUARY 18 – 25 / 2016