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8 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016

CONTENTS

Th ank you Vancouver

1 1

# #

Rain painting, Granville Street. Biman Shrestha photo.

BOOKS

Author Sunil Yapa talks to the Straight about the role of compassion and generosity in his turbulent, politically charged debut novel, Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist. > BY ALE X ANDER VART Y

URBAN LIVING

Heather Rossâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;an artist, photographer, and stylistâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;offers her coastal-chic design philosophy in her Fairview retail shop.

BEST SPANISH FOOD BEST TAPAS

> BY LUCY L AU

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COVER

Our 19th annual Golden Plates issue brings you readersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; picks for the best in everything food-related; plus, hidden gems, feeding hungry kids, our best bartender, and more.

THE BOTTLE

Government liquor stores might be handy, but some private wine vendors are really moving grape culture forward in Vancouver. > BY KURTIS KOLT

ARTS

Paris-born Medhi Walerski muses on life as a visiting choreographer and why he loves Ballet B.C. and Vancouver so much. > BYJANE T SMITH

59 70 57 51 15 66 70 71 53 54

Confessions I Saw You Movie Reviews Music News Real Estate Savage Love Straight Stars Theatre Visual Arts

TIME OUT 56 Arts 64 Music

SERVICES

MOVIES

It took a shaman and a conversation with the Amazon itself to make conditions right for Colombian filmmaker Ciro Guerraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rainforest odyssey, Embrace of the Serpent.

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67 Careers 16 Healthy Living 65 Real Estate

MUSIC

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BOOKS

Empathy flows in Heart > BY A LEX A NDER VA R TY

n an entertainingly roundabout way, we have happy puppies to thank for Sunil Yapa’s powerful debut novel, Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist. Not for him a life of charting urban animal lovers’ interactions—although that, he says, was thesis material for some of his fellow Penn State University students in the field of economic geography. “The sociology of dog parks is interesting, but, like, for an afternoon, not for six years,” the amiable author says with a laugh, reached at home in Woodstock, New York. “You know what I mean? I was just not into it, so I left and I started travelling. I went to China to teach English, and as soon as I got to China I started writing. I still didn’t know how I was going to be of service, but I knew it was what I wanted to do.” The world is already a better place for that decision. A grippingly fastpaced and vivid first effort, Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist is both an intellectually stimulating novel of ideas and a cheering story of connection—and, even more astoundingly, it’s lit from within by the author’s rage while simultaneously espousing an ethos of love. The book takes place, barring occasional flashbacks, during the course of the so-called Battle of Seattle on November 30, 1999, and is built around the story of Victor, a homeless teenager who gets drawn into that real-life clash between Seattle cops and political activists protesting World Trade Organization policies. The WTO is meeting in the Emerald City; charged with protecting the delegates is Victor’s father, the chief of police. (It’s an unlikely coincidence made easier to accept by the clarity with which Yapa views the bittersweet bonds of family.) “When I found this idea of writing about the WTO protests, writing about recent American history, I got really excited,” the author explains, noting that it seemed a good way for him to explore what it means to belong to a family, or to a cohesive group of activists, within a politically charged context. “I thought, ‘Maybe this is an opportunity for both of those interests, those very close-to-my-heart interests, to come together in a really interesting and dramatic and moving way.”

While working on his fierce debut novel about a real-life political clash, Sunil Yapa began to realize that “outrage has a way of burning you out.” Gilbert Chong photo.

They did just that, but in a form that Yapa hadn’t envisioned when he sat down to write. “I was drawn to the subject from a feeling of outrage and anger, primarily,” he admits. “The world is fucked, and we know who it’s fucked by, and it’s the bad men and the capitalists and the corporations. I guess I felt that way all through my 20s— and some part of me was thinking like that as I started writing the book, although I never meant for it to be a me-on-my-soapbox kind of thing. But very quickly, anger exhausts itself. Outrage has a way of burning you out. And I realized when I was writing the book, and even in my personal life, that you need something else to sustain you in the world, if you continue in the struggle. And part of that is love. “To me, now, it’s almost an act of love to write a book that has a great story at the heart of it, has an emotional story at the heart of it, but also, underneath it all, has this politics of compassion, and of caring about people, and of caring about the world that we live in. That’s really vital to this book.” Understandably, Yapa is puzzled by reviews—even positive ones—that have focused on the book’s violent scenes, or on the backpack of marijuana that Victor hopes to sell to the protesters. Your Heart Is a Muscle’s brutal passages are potent but short; Victor discards his pot early on and it never reappears, not even as a plot

device. More important, he says, is that his novel is seen as an invitation to connect with others—even those we might see as enemies, like the police with their rubber bullets and riot gear. “My dad is a nonpractising Buddhist and my mom is a nonpractising Christian, and I’m somewhere in between,” he says. “I wouldn’t call myself a Buddhist, because I haven’t studied it.…But I think that ideal of compassion and empathy is part of the writer’s religion. The writing I like best brings news of the world but it also comes with a very generous heart. So one of the rules that I set for myself was ‘No easy villains.’ But that was after a couple of drafts. At first it was very easy to write cops who were monsters, so we had a very easy dramatic setup: the righteous protester versus the monstrous cop. But not only did I find that kind of boring, it wasn’t honest.” This may well be why Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist rings so true, and it’ll be fascinating to see how Yapa brings that clarity to bear on his next novel, which will delve into the curious and largely unexplained phenomenon of U.S. college basketball. “I’m very interested in a $10-billion industry that has unpaid athletes,” he notes. Taking aim at a favourite American pastime should ensure that Yapa’s literary star continues to rise—and that his inner sociologist stays happy. -

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The Georgia Straight | Vancouver’s News and Entertainment Weekly | Volume 50 Number 2515 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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Gregory Adams, Nathan Caddell, David Chau, Jack Christie, Jennifer Croll, Ken Eisner (Movies), George Fetherling, Tara Henley, Michael Hingston, Ng Weng Hoong, Alex Hudson, Kurtis Kolt,

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URBAN LIVING

Ross shares secrets to unique West Coast style > BY L UC Y LAU

hey say never judge a book by its cover, but the earthy image that adorns Heather Rossâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s newly released coffeetable hardback, The Natural Eclectic (Figure 1 Publishing), perfectly encapsulates the essence of what lies within its pages. Atop an abstract, blue-grey painting, a delicate birdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nest, still entangled in its branch, cradles a Tiffany-blue robinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s egg; a white lotus bowl, holding a Japanese fishing float, sits beside a sea urchin shell and a worn, barnacleencrusted bottle; and, front and centre, a vintage porcelain plate, washed in muted shades of azure and green, serves as a vessel for a blooming succulent. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s my signature palette, sort of watery, soft, ethereal,â&#x20AC;? Ross says of the coverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s carefully curated vignette during an interview at the Straightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I describe it as where the sea meets the shore and all the colours in between.â&#x20AC;? Rossâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment to this West Coastâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; inspired colour range is but one of her claims to fame. The local artist, photographer, and stylist has been crafting her design ethos for more than 20 years, though it was a two-year stint in Paris during the late â&#x20AC;&#x2122;90s that led her to expand her background in fine arts to the worlds of antiquing and foraging. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always loved antiquing and treasurehunting,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I tease that I was a picker before they even came up with the expression. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just what Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always been doing.â&#x20AC;? After returning to Vancouver, Ross fell serendipitously into photography and her creative interests soon manifested themselves in the opening of a brick-and-mortar shop, Heather Ross [in house], which these days is known to design-savvy locals as Fairviewâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Heather Ross {the natural eclectic} (2170 Fir Street). Here, Ross joins the old with the new and the found with the natural, forwarding a serene coastal-chic design philosophy through a mix of antique and organic dĂŠcor finds that the store is named for. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more sort of diverse, layered, interesting juxtapositions of things,â&#x20AC;? she explains. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Not

choosing things because of their pedigree or lineage, but more just for their beauty, patina, texture, and form. I find it really interesting to bring together different things in that way.â&#x20AC;? The Jill-of-all-trades is now sharing her insights in a gorgeous debut tome thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one part art book, one part design-and-lifestyle guide. Packed with more than 200 pages of interiors advice and vibrant, full-colour imagery, the hardcover was written, produced, and photographed entirely by Ross. Her personal colour story echoes in vivid glory from front to back, though it commands the spotlight in one particular chapter where the artist speaks of dreamy mollusk blues, elegant linen greys, and mellow lavenders, among other hues, in poetic detail. Elsewhere, Ross offers guidance on the art of dĂŠcor arrangement, where seemingly washed-ashore pieces and petrified woods have a place alongside antique French tableware and shiny, handmade vases. Another chapter walks readers through six stunning homes, including a charming Savary Island cabin, a restored 18th-century sugar mill in Maui, and a rustic Italian farmhouse that once belonged to Rossâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sister, each an embodiment of the designerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s West Coastâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; meetsâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;European aesthetic. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I want the book, hopefully, to be an experience for people where it sort of encourages them to find what they find beautiful, what theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re drawn to,â&#x20AC;? she says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;and to create personalized spaces, to go out and antique and forage and not be so worried about setting trends.â&#x20AC;? Flipping through The Natural Eclecticâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pages, each brimming with a visual philosophy inf luenced by the tranquil timelessness of nature, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find that Ross has done exactly that. But just because it has the potential to stand the test of time doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean the creator is done sharing her vision with the world. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was a massive undertaking and a labour of love,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And I definitely have to do more than one book, because I learned so much. So, hopefully, this is the first of many.â&#x20AC;? -

'27 TBMF

Heather Rossâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new The Natural Eclectic book explores the art of juxtaposing colours and objects.

CRIB SHEET OLĂ IKEA! What do you get when you send a group of IKEA designers from their home base in Sweden to the sizzling streets of SĂŁo Paulo? IKEAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new limitededition TILLFĂ&#x201E;LLE collection, which merges playful motifs from Brazilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arts-and-culture scene with the simple, no-fuss shapes of Scandinavian design. Graphic palm fronds decorate comfy throw pillows, punches of turquoise and kelly green break up solidbirch cabinets, and curvy geometrics transform rugs and pared-down furnishingsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;like this eucalyptus coffee table ($249)â&#x20AC;&#x201D;into groovy optical illusions. > LUCY LAU

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n Thursday (March 10), Vancouverites can be forgiven for thinking there are a couple of humanoid wild animals on the loose in the downtown core. They’ll actually be models made up to look like a giraffe and an octopus, and they will be scampering around Nordstrom, Telus Garden, and possibly the SkyTrain, according to publicist Pamela Saunders. She told the Straight by phone that their mission is to draw attention to the final days of the Body Worlds: Animal Inside Out exhibition, which concludes on March 28 at Science World. Two artists from the John Casablancas Institute, Jenika Wallis and Samantha St. John, will paint the models. “It will be highly visual,” Saunders promised. The first two Body Worlds displays in Vancouver featured human beings who had been preserved through plastination, which was developed by German anatomist Gunther von Hagens in the 1970s. This process involves removing water and soluble fat from the body and replacing it with polymers such as silicone rubber. Science World curator Friderike Moon told the Straight by phone that the exhibit of more than 100 animal specimens also involves preserved skeletons. But unlike with the human exhibit, in which all the creatures essentially looked the same, there’s far greater diversity in this show because each animal is different. Visitors to the show can learn how animals’ muscles, tendons, ligaments, nervous systems, respiration, digestion, and reproduction differs. She noted that people have been most impressed by the large bull, but a preserved camel has also generated a great deal of discussion, particularly among school groups. According to Moon, the students often ask what’s inside the camel’s hump, believing that it might be where the animal keeps its water supply. It’s actually mostly made up of fat, which helps them store energy. However, camels have evolved in other ways to retain water as they live in the desert. “If humans drink too much water, our red blood cells would pop,” Moon explained. “But the camel’s red blood cells expand and they keep all the water. Kids are fascinated by that.” Visitors to the exhibition might wonder where the animal specimens came from. Saunders said that Body Worlds, which was founded by von Hagens, has established partnerships with zoos and veterinary clinics that donate animals’ bodies after they die. Also on Thursday, visitors to Science World are being encouraged to bring drawing materials. That’s because an artist will be at the Animal Inside Out exhibit from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. for what is being billed as a “life drawing evening”. MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 15

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SUPPORT GROUPS Anorexics & Bulimics Anonymous 12 Step based peer support program which addresses the mental, emotional, & spiritual aspects of disordered eating Tuesdays @ 7 pm @ Avalon Women's Centre 5957 West Blvd - 604-263-7177 SEXAHOLICS ANONYMOUS - Vancouver, BC For those desiring their own sexual sobriety, please go to www.sa.org for meetings times and places. We are here to help you from being overwhelmed. Newcomers are gratefully welcomed. Women Survivors of Incest Anonymous A 12 Step based peer support program. Wed @ 7pm @ Avalon Women's Centre 5957 West Blvd 604-263-7177 also www.siawso.org Anxiety? Depression? Free Mental Wellness Support Group held on Saturdays (10:30 am – 12:30) Promotes a holistic approach to healing (body, mind & spirit). Networking and interactive learning experience in a safe, non-judgmental environment. For more information call 604-630-6865 or visit www.mentalwellnessbc.ca

Anxiety? Depression? Free Mental Wellness Support Group held on Saturdays (10:30 am – 12:30) Promotes a holistic approach to healing (body, mind & spirit). Networking and interactive learning experience in a safe, non-judgmental environment. For more information call 604-630-6865 or visit www.mentalwellnessbc.ca ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION Looking to start a parent support group in Kitsilano. Please call Barbara 604 737 8337 Distress Line & Suicide Prevention Services NEED SOME ONE TO TALK TO? Call us for immediate, free, confidential and non-judgemental support, 24 hours a day, everyday. The Crisis Centre in Vancouver can help you cope more effectively with stressful situations. 604-872-3311

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.

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.

LIVING THROUGH LOSS COUNSELLING facilitated support group for people who are grieving the death of a significant person. Monthly drop-in- last Wed of every month YLTLC #201 – 1847 W. Broadway Van. 604-873-5013 www.ltlc.bc.ca

Equal Parenting Group - North Vancouver Support group for fathers going through the divorce process needing help. Call 604-692-5613 Email:nspg@mybox.com

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

Join a FREE YWCA Single Mothers support group in your local community. Share information, experiences and resources. Child care is provided for a nominal fee. For information call 604-895-5789 or Email: smacdonald@ywcavan.org

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

LifeRing - Sobriety your Way

Sound Different? Men & Women supporting each other in a friendly, non-judgemental environment based on abstinence, secularity & self-help Van: @ Vancouver Daytox 377 E. 2nd Sat @ 4pm Maple Ridge: @ The CEED Centre 11739 - 223 St Sundays 1:30pm www.liferingcanada.org or www.lifering.org Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA) Do you have a problem with sex and love relationships. You are not alone. SLAA is a 12 Step 12 Tradition oriented fellowship for those who suffer from sex and love addiction. Leave a message on our phone line and somebody will call you back for meeting time and locations. 604 515-5423 Is your life affected by someone else's drug use? Nar-Anon Family Group Meeting Every Friday 7:30-9:00 pm at Barclay Manor, 1447 Barclay

Nar-Anon 604 878-8844

The Compassionate Friends (TCF) Burnaby TCF is a grief support group for parents who have experienced the loss of a child, at any age. Meet the last Wednesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. For location call Grace: 778-222-0446 "We Need Not Walk Alone" compassionatecircle@hotmail.com Burnaby@TCFCanada.net www.tcfcanada.net Support, Education & Action Group for Women that have experienced male violence. Call Vancouver Rape Relief 604-872-8212

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Vancouver Society for Sexuality, Gender & Culture Educational group with monthly meetings are planned for: 1st Tuesday of each month, 6:30 PM 8:30 PM Vancouver Public Library - Firehall Branch 1455 W 10th Ave (by Granville St next to the Firehall) All are welcome, and we are looking for Board Members from the Health, Counseling, Education, and Business Professions Info: Michael or Darren: VSSGC@yahoogroups.ca

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 Parkinson Society BC

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. 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 Drug & Alcohol Problems? Free advanced information and help on how quit drinking & using drugs. For more information call Barry Bjornson @ 604-836-7568 or email me @livinghumility@live.com

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

www.saavancouver.org

Are you living with HERPES? Need Support? Join our Vancouver (Lower Mainland) social group and come out and meet others in the same situation. All ages. Lots of different events (pub night/brunches/ bowling/ movie night/ etc.). We also run a bimonthly support group. Join our Meetup site 'vancouverhfriends' or contact vancouverhfriends@yahoo.ca for more info Concerns of Growing Old? If you are 60 plus and find yourself alone, let's talk and support each other 604-682-3269 ext 7101 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

Suffering from OCD?

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder The BC OCD support group meets most Saturday afternoons from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Central Vancouver Public Library on Level 6. For more info call:Mon to Fri 9:30 am to 8 p.m. Suggested that you have actual diagnosis first before calling and attending the group. Arte - (604) 325 - 6290 WAVAW - Rape Crisis Centre has a 24-hour crisis line, counselling, public education, & volunteer opportunities for women. All services are free & confidential. Please call for info: Business Line: 604-255-6228 24-Hour Crisis Line: 604-255-6344 A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY A working guide for healing using the 12 Steps and references to Biblical teachings. More info: marylou@canadianmemorial.com

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Suffering from Chronic Pain?

Join the Vancouver Chronic Support Group to learn pain management skills. Every second Tuesday at the Waves Coffee House (private meeting room), 900 Howe Street (see site for details). vanchronicpain@gmail.com

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RECOVERY International FEAR? DEPRESSION? PANIC ATTACKS? Feelings that keep you from really living your life? A way out is where we come in. Weekly meetings. Call for info: 9am - 3pm Phyllis 604-931-5945 www.recoverycanada.org

411 Seniors Centre Society

704 – 333 Terminal Ave. Van 604 684 8171 An inclusive centre for older adults, 55+ on low income, and those with disabilities, offering year-round educational, health-related, recreational activities. Information & Referral to assist seniors with resources & services in the community ie seniors benefits, income tax preparation & government services. Hours: Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm AFTER SUICIDE SUPPORT GROUP Meetings every other Wednesday 7pm Call Sylvia Cust, RCC, Counsellor at CHIMO Crisis Service in Richmond 604-279-7077 Richmond Caring Place, 7000 Minoru AL-ANON FAMILY GROUPS Does someone else's drinking bother you? Al-Anon can help. We are a support group for those who have been affected by another's drinking problem. For more information please call: 604-688-1716 Battered Women's Support Services provides free daytime & evening support groups (Drop-ins & 10 week groups) for women abused by their intimate partner. Groups provide emotional support, legal information & advocacy, safety planning, and referrals. For more information please call: 604-687-1867 BC Balance & Dizziness provides information & support for persons with balance, dizziness & vestibular disorders. Bi Monthly info meetings @ St. Paul's Hospital. Call for info. 604-878-8383 www.BalanceAndDizziness.org Heart of Richmond - AIDS Society operates a confidential support group for persons with HIV/AIDS, or persons affected (family, friends or care givers) by the disease. For info - 604-277-5137 www.heartofrichmond.com

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GOLDEN PLATES

Bistro Sakana executive chef Etsuko Needham says that sharing plates of food, like black-sesame-encrusted tuna (above), can bring family members or coworkers together. Amanda Siebert photo.

Shared plates go mainstream

At Bistro Sakana, as at other Japanese restaurants, food-sharing is the norm: order up plates of sashimi and sushi and pass them around. In other cultures, it’s the same, whether it’s dim sum or tapas. Fragrant bowls are passed around When food is shared, people feel connected; now, this Asian the table in India; in Ethiand African tradition is finding its way into western cuisine opian restaurants, diners literally break bread Growing up in Kobe, Japan, Etsuko Need- together, using spongy injera to scoop up meat and ham remembers her mom bringing out plate after vegetables from a big centre dish; platters of aroplate at dinnertime, her family members passing matic stews and saffron-steamed rice for communal BY GAIL JOHN SON and sharing dishes, usually sitting around the table consumption are present at Persian dining tables. for hours. When she moved to Canada with her hus- Italians call it dining alla famiglia. band, Peter, the Bistro Sakana sushi chef was struck In those and many other cultures, the old way of by the predominant North American style of dining: doing things remains. And that simple tradition of a more formulaic experience, with people ordering communing over shared food is finding its way into their own appetizer, main course, and dessert. It just western cuisine. It used to be mostly appetizers and wasn’t the same. desserts that were intended to be shared; now it’s the “In Japan, people share a whole bunch of food whole meal. Restaurants are catering to those who together, and that helps people feel more connected,” want to experience a wider variety of dishes and a Needham says on the line from the pair’s Yaletown dynamic way of dining out, one that’s more particirestaurant. “Eating dinner with your family or patory, celebratory, and fun. friends or coworkers is our main social event, and Consider some of the local spots where shared eating at home or at a restaurant is the same thing: plates star. At Salt Tasting Room, people pick from people share a whole bunch of dishes together. People a selection of artisanal cheeses, cured meats, and focus on the food and talk about it together. You get condiments to design their own charcuterie boards. excited every time someone passes you a new dish.” Tuna poke and pork rillettes are among the share Peter adds: “Interactively, you’re more involved. plates at the Grain Tasting Bar at the Hyatt Regency In Kobe, sharing a meal is a very big part of business, hotel. Skewers of grilled lobster tail, halloumi cheese, as well. Most of Etsuko’s customers on weeknights wild mushrooms, beef tongue, and other items make [at her izakaya there] were groups of businessmen up Glowbal’s robata platter, a hands-on indulgence sitting together, eating and drinking. There’s more meant for a group. Check out the mixed bruschetta of a feeling of connectedness rather than everyone plates at Uva Wine and Cocktail Bar, Chill Winbeing focused on their own plate of food.” ston’s platters (including one called the Beast, with

roasted lamb rack and a whole duck and chicken), and the “tackle box” options at YEW seafood + bar, with items like Viking Bay mussels, We Wai Kai scallops, and poached Selva shrimp. The shift to share plates reflects Vancouver’s hybridization. The food scene is one of the strongest demonstrations that the city is truly international, with more and more western restaurants morphing into fusion joints. We’ve moved beyond being a city of silos when butter chicken is on the menu at Urban Fare, Indian-style Chinese restaurants are more common, and Chinatown is home to a place like Union, with its bánh mi bibimbap. Even White Spot has a large Asian repertoire. Hong Kong native Curtis Luk remembers his family sharing dishes like steamed whole fish, sweetand-sour pork, and beef-brisket curry while he was growing up in Toronto. At Mission Kitsilano, the chef puts the focus on tasting menus, but another option is share plates. “I like the diversity [of sharing]. You can have a lot of tastes without feeling the need to commit to a single plate of food, and, obviously, if you want more you can always order more,” Luk says by phone. “You can try a bit of everything. “It’s great for a gathering of friends, because there’s more a feeling of togetherness,” he adds. “You can talk about the experience and you have something to reminisce about.” The sense of conviviality is exactly what the team behind Belgard Kitchen was aiming for. Chef Reuben Major’s dinner menu is all share plates, like Ruby Red beet dip, mushroom-and-bacon pâté, and a grilled-sausage board. “One of our main goals was to create a really social dining atmosphere,” Major says on the line from the Railtown restaurant, brewery, and winery. “Whenever you’re sharing food, the social aspect see page 19

READERS’ CHOICES OF BEST... CHEF

BURNABY

RICHMOND

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1. ARMS REACH BISTRO

4390 Gallant Ave., North Van 604-929-7442 2. Olive & Anchor 6418 Bay St., West Van 604-921-8848 3. Canyon 3135 Edgemont Blvd., North Van 604-987-8812

1. TASTY INDIAN BISTRO

8295 120th St., Delta 604-507-9393 2. My Shanti 15869 Croydon Dr., Surrey 604-560-4416 3. Central City Brew Pub + Restaurant 13450 102nd Ave., Surrey 604-582-6620

2117 Whistler Rd. 604-932-5565 2. Red Door Bistro 2129 Lake Placid Rd. 604-962-6262 3. Araxi Restaurant + Oyster Bar 4222 Village Square 604-932-4540

RESORT RESTAURANT 1. THE POINTE RESTAURANT AT THE WICKANINNISH INN

500 Osprey Lane, Tofino 250-725-3106 2. The Great Room, Long Beach Lodge Resort 1441 Pacific Rim Hwy., Tofino 250-725-2442 3. The Wildflower Restaurant at Fairmont Chateau Whistler 4599 Chateau Blvd., Whistler 604-938-2033

NEW WESTMINSTER, PORT MOODY, COQUITLAM, PORT COQUITLAM 1. PAJO’S

2800 Murray St., Port Moody 604-469-2289 2. Cockney Kings Fish & Chips 66 10th St., New West 604-522-6099 3. Thai New West (tie) 424 East Columbia St., New West 604-544-7947 3. My Greek Taverna (tie) 946 Brunette Ave., Coquitlam 604-525-5351

BARTENDER 1. MATT VAN DINTHER (NOMAD)

2. H (Notturno) 3. Julia Diakow (Tacofino)

MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 17

18 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016

This Bistro Sakana shared plate, aji tataki, is created with Japanese horse mackarel imported from the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. Amanda Siebert photo.

Shared plates

from page 17

goes up dramatically. I find that in so many circumstances there are so many distractions: there are 20 TVs on in a restaurant and everyone’s on their phone. We really wanted to eliminate that and get people back together and get people communicating. “We deliver food as it comes up, as it’s ready, so a group of people will get one dish at a time, maybe two, even though they’ve ordered eight or 10,” he adds. “It gives people the opportunity to experience that particular dish, to savour each dish and talk about it, versus cramming down your appetizers because you know your entrée is just around the corner, and then all of a sudden your eating experience is done.

We wanted to create that dinner-party atmosphere. When I have people over at my house, I like them to eat for two or three hours.” People can still order their own starter, main course, and dessert at Juniper, which specializes in Cascadian cuisine, but executive chef Sarah Stewart encourages ordering a bunch of dishes and having everyone dig in. “I suggest sharing; it’s just such a fun way to eat,” Stewart says on the phone. “It creates dialogue: it opens up conversation around the ingredients, around cooking, around the seasons… It opens up storytelling. “It also helps you really be mindful when you’re eating,” she adds. “When everyone around the table experiences it together, that makes it more memorable.” -

READERS’ CHOICES OF BEST... PACIFIC NORTHWEST

ITALIAN

1. ANNALENA

1. ASK FOR LUIGI

1809 West 1st Ave. 778-379-4052 2. Blue Water Cafe 1095 Hamilton St. 604-688-8078 3. Bishop’s (tie) 2183 West 4th Ave. 604-738-2025 3. Hawksworth Restaurant (tie) 801 West Georgia St. 604-673-7000

305 Alexander St. 604-428-2544 2. CinCin 1154 Robson St., 604-688-7338 3. Anton’s Pasta Bar 4260 East Hastings St., Burnaby 604-299-6636

CONTINENTAL 1. CHAMBAR RESTAURANT

568 Beatty St. 604-879-7119 2. Tuc Craft Kitchen 60 West Cordova St. 604-559-8999 3. Bauhaus Restaurant 1 West Cordova St. 604-974-1147

FRENCH 1. LE CROCODILE

100–909 Burrard St. 604-669-4298 2. Bistro Pastis 2153 West 4th Ave. 604-731-5020 3. Les Faux Bourgeois 663 East 15th Ave. 604-873-9733

GREEK 1. THE GREEK BY ANATOLI

1043 Mainland St. 604-979-0700 2. Stepho’s Souvlaki Greek Taverna Various locations 3. Takis’ Taverna 1106 Davie St. 604-682-1336

MEDITERRANEAN 1. MEDINA CAFE

780 Richards St. 604-879-3114 2. Nuba and Café Nuba Various locations 3. Cioppino’s Mediterranean Grill & Enoteca 1133 and 1129 Hamilton St. 604-688-7466

1ST BEST RESTAURANT OVERALL 1ST BEST European 1ST BEST Mid-price restaurant 1ST BEST Pre-theatre restaurant 1ST BEST Restaurant for lingering over dinner 2ND BEST Restaurant Interior Design 2ND BEST Imported Wine List 2ND BEST Romantic 2ND BEST Atmosphere 3RD BEST Restaurant Service 568 BEATTY ST. CROSSTOWN 604 879 7119 chambar.com chambar_restaurant

SPANISH 1. ESPAÑA

1118 Denman St. 604-558-4040 2. The Sardine Can 26 Powell St., 604-568-1350 3. Cabrito–Tapas Bebidas 2270 Commercial Dr. 604-620-7636

MEXICAN 1. LAS MARGARITAS RESTAURANTE Y CANTINA

1999 West 4th Ave. 604-734-7117 2. La Taqueria, various locations 3. La Mezcaleria 1622 Commercial Dr. 604-559-8226

LATIN AMERICAN 1. LA TAQUERIA

Various locations 2. Cuchillo 261 Powell St., 604-559-7585 3. Chicha 136 East Broadway, 604-620-3963

MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 19

GOLDEN PLATES

Last year, more than 4,500 people converged on Canada Place for the annual Dîner en Blanc, but thousands more were stuck on a waitlist. Andrew Chin photo.

Organizers announce bigger Dîner en Blanc > B Y TA MMY KWAN

ancouver’s most anticipated outdoor picnic, Dîner en Blanc, will return to the Vancouver on August 18. Once again, it will involve an open seating plan, according to an email sent this week by the Social Concierge, which organizes the event. The concept of Dîner en Blanc is taken from a Parisian picnic event with the same name. Participants are required to follow an elegant all-white dress code, and bring their own seating, table, food items, and dishware. The location remains a secret until a few hours prior to the event. There’s a tradition of waving of white table napkins and sparklers. In celebration of Dîner en Blanc’s fifth anniversary, a third more seats will be added. The extra capacity means more “leaders” will be re-

cruited to help with organizing the dinner party. It doesn’t come without perks—leaders get a seat for themselves and a guest, along with five coveted invites. It’s only possible to attend this event is with tickets ($37 plus an $8 membership), which are in high demand and difficult to obtain for those who are not returning guests or have not been nominated by a returning guest. Last year, more 4,500 participants attended the classy soiree, which was held at Canada Place. Waitlists in previous years have reached over 30,000 people. Last year’s Dîner en Blanc spawned a rival event, Ce Soir Noir, at CRAB Park in the Downtown Eastside. Organizers billed that event as a “no chicpicnic” and urged guests to bring a nonperishable food item to donate to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. -

READERS’ CHOICES OF BEST... OVERALL

MIDPRICED

1. CHAMBAR RESTAURANT

568 Beatty St. 604-879-7119 2. Hawksworth Restaurant 801 West Georgia St. 604-673-7000 3. Forage 1300 Robson St. 604-661-1400

HOTEL RESTAURANT 1. HAWKSWORTH RESTAURANT

801 West Georgia St. 604-673-7000 2. YEW seafood + bar 791 West Georgia St. 604-692-4939 3. Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar 845 Burrard St. 604-642-2900

HOTEL CAFÉ 1. BEL CAFÉ

801 West Georgia St. 604-673-7000 2. giovane cafe + eatery 1038 Canada Place, 604-695-5501 3. Beyond Coffee 1015 Burrard St., 604-687-0575

FINE DINING 1. HAWKSWORTH RESTAURANT

801 West Georgia St. 604-673-7000 2. Bishop’s 2183 West 4th Ave. 604-738-2025 3. Le Crocodile 100–909 Burrard St. 604-669-4298

SERVICE 1. HAWKSWORTH RESTAURANT

801 West Georgia St. 604-673-7000 2. Bishop’s 2183 West 4th Ave. 604-738-2025 3. Chambar Restaurant 568 Beatty St. 604-879-7119

20 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016

568 Beatty St. 604-879-7119 2. The Oakwood Canadian Bistro 2741 West 4th Ave. 604-558-1965 3. CactusClub Cafe Various locations

BREAKFAST 1. YOLK’S RESTAURANT AND COMMISSARY

Various locations 2. White Spot Various locations 3. Catch 122 Cafe Bistro 122 West Hastings St. 604-731-3474

BRUNCH 1. MEDINA CAFE

780 Richards St. 604-879-3114 2. Nomad 3950 Main St., 604-708-8525 3. Fable 1944 West 4th Ave., 604-732-1322

BUDGET 1. LA TAQUERIA

Various locations 2. The Naam Restaurant 2724 West 4th Ave., 604-738-7151 3. Meet on Main 4288 Main St., 604-877-1292

CHAIN RESTAURANT 1. CACTUS CLUB CAFE

Various locations 2. Earls Restaurant Various locations 3. White Spot Various locations

12properties, properties,22golf golfcourses, courses,22shopping shoppingcenters, centers,spas, spas,and andan anendless endlessarray arrayofofactivities activitiesand anddining diningoptions options 11 Homeofofthe theHawaii Hawai‘iFood Food && Wine Festival Home FestivalKa‘anapali Ka‘anapali www.kaanapaliresort.com @KaanapaliResort

Stop the Growl Help kids and families access healthy and affordable food. Get involved at StoptheGrowl.ca

MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 21

22 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016

GOLDEN PLATES

Chef Michael Robbins takes creative lead

> B Y LUC Y L A U

hough he technically serves as owner and executive chef, Michael Robbins can perhaps best be described as AnnaLena’s creative director. The Vancouver-born chef, who previously held positions at Glowbal, Coast, Sanafir, and the Oakwood Canadian Bistro, has launched the restaurant into nothing short of superstardom since opening its doors in Kitsilano last year. His mind-bending, Pacific Northwest– inspired dishes have earned praise from casual diners and critics alike, with Robbins and AnnaLena racking up an impressive set of accolades that includes being voted best new restaurant in the Georgia Straight’s 20th annual Best of Vancouver survey; a spot on enRoute magazine’s list of the top 10 new restaurants of 2015; and now, being named best chef and best new restaurant in our 2016 Golden Plates. “I don’t like just cooking food,” he says during an interview with the Straight in the minimalist, black-andwhite room, where a hip-hop–heavy playlist of Drake, Kanye West, and Kendrick Lamar reverberates ahead of dinner service. “I like the whole thing: I like the branding, the conceptualizing. I like designing the restaurant.” Anyone who’s familiar with Robbins outside the kitchen should recognize the thoughtful touches he’s introduced to AnnaLena. The selfdescribed sneakerhead is very much a product of his East Vancouver roots, and though the restaurant’s name is a tribute to his two grandmothers, he’s taken care to imbue his own urban aesthetic into almost every crevice of the space.

block motifs add visual interest to a moody, wood-panelled bar; an espresso-stained bookshelf showcases Lego art built by Robbins, Toy Story–themed Bearbricks, and a selection of coffee-table art books that feature works by Douglas Coupland, Banksy, and KAWS, among others. Some of these are nostalgic relics from Robbins’s childhood, but they’re mostly just things that he likes. “I designed the room based on the idea of, like, going to your grandma’s house as a kid and bringing all your toys,” he explains. “And because the room is that way, then you challenge yourself in the kitchen to be creative to match the room.” For Robbins, the plate is the canvas, spoons and palette knives the brushes. Swirling strokes of earthy sunchoke, jade-green watercress, and deep-violet eggplant purées act as paints, forming exquisite foundations for tender, flavour-packed proteins like wagyu short rib, meltin-your-mouth bison tartare, and seared sablefish. Desserts receive equally pleasing treatments: delicately crumpled slices of carameltruffle apple are sprinkled with thyme and placed artfully atop blondie squares; creamy panna cotta is layered with banana mousse and crunchy, house-made cereal. The result is a menu that’s as photogenic as it is tasty, each dish crafted with an attention to detail and negative space that would make any graphic artist weep with glee. But as successful as he’s been in carrying out his vision, Robbins is More Georgia Straight readers voted for Michael Robbins as the Lower not a one-man show. With general Mainland’s chef of the year than for any other cook. Tracey Kusiewicz photo. manager Jeff Parr and bar manager A recently installed pop-art boys and Stormtrooper figurines at Kevin Brownlee, the chef constantly unit houses rows of recast Game- the eatery’s entrance; playful Tetris- drives the imaginations of those in

his kitchen by swapping out menu items that have run their course. A visit to AnnaLena today will likely be drastically different, at least sustenancewise, from one that takes place three months from now. “I honestly believe that if you really enjoy and care about what you’re cooking, anyone that doesn’t care about it can’t make it taste as good as you do,” stresses Robbins. “So we allow that creative freedom and we challenge ourselves to keep cooks inspired so that they enjoy coming to work. Then the food’s better.” Vigilant diners and social-media sleuths may notice another envelope-pushing facet emerging from AnnaLena’s kitchen. One word is emblazoned proudly in whiteon-red lettering across each chef ’s chest, the same phrase inscribed on snapbacks slung nonchalantly onto heads: Cooklife. The branded gear, designed by the fashion-conscious Robbins and sous-chef Mark Singson, allows the back-of-house crew to forgo ill-fitting chef jackets and pants, though it goes deeper than a way of dressing. “You really feel more like you’re a part of something when your kitchen is branded almost separate from your restaurant,” says Robbins. “So we’re creating this family of like minds.” Unsurprisingly, a perfectionist of Robbins’s pedigree is his own toughest critic, and the chef considers Cooklife—whatever it is—a work in progress, like AnnaLena. “I would love to come in to work someday and think, ‘Man, this is absolutely perfect,’ ” he adds. “That’s my goal for next year: to just impress myself, for once.” In the meantime, it’s safe to say that he’s affected plenty of others. -

READERS’ CHOICES OF BEST... CASINO FOR EATS

INTERIOR DESIGN

1. RIVER ROCK CASINO

1. CACTUS CLUB CAFE

8811 River Rd., Richmond 604-273-1895 2. Edgewater Casino 760 Pacific Blvd. South 604-687-3343 3. Hard Rock Casino Vancouver 2080 United Blvd., Coquitlam 604-523-6888

VIEW 1. SEASONS IN THE PARK

Queen Elizabeth Park (West 33rd Avenue at Cambie St.) 604-874-8008 2. Cactus Club Café 1790 Beach Ave., 604-681-2582 3. Salmon House on the Hill 2229 Folkestone Way, West Vancouver 604-926-3212

Various locations 2. Chambar Restaurant 568 Beatty St. 604-879-7119 3. Earls Restaurant Various locations

ATMOSPHERE 1. EARLS RESTAURANT

Various locations 2. Chambar Restaurant 568 Beatty St. 604-879-7119 3. Cactus Club Cafe Various locations

USE OF LOCAL INGREDIENTS 1. EDIBLE CANADA

PRETHEATRE

HANGOUT ON A SUNNY DAY

1. CHAMBAR RESTAURANT

1. LOCAL PUBLIC EATERY

568 Beatty St. 604-879-7119 2. Siena 1485 West 12th Ave. 604-558-1485 3. Cibo Trattoria 900 Seymour St. 604-602-9570

1596 Johnston St., Granville Island 604-682-6681 2. Forage 1300 Robson St. 604-661-1400 3. Fable 1944 West 4th Ave. 604-732-1322

PATIO

FOR A WORKING LUNCH

1. DOCKSIDE

1. TAP & BARREL RESTAURANT

Various locations HANGOUT ON A RAINY DAY 2. Cactus Club Cafe Various locations 3. Rogue Kitchen 1. BURGOO, various locations & Wetbar 2. Earls Restaurant, various locations Various locations 3. Cactus Club Cafe, various locations

2210 Cornwall Ave. 604-734-3589 2. Tap & Barrel Restaurant Various locations 3. Cactus Club Cafe (tie) Various locations 3. Earls Restaurant (tie) Various locations

CONSIDERED A VANCOUVER LEGEND

1253 Johnston St., Granville Island 604-685-7070 2. Tap & Barrel Restaurant Various locations 3. Bridges Restaurant 1696 Duranleau St., Granville Island 604-687-4400

1. JOE FORTES SEAFOOD & CHOP HOUSE

777 Thurlow St. 604-669-1940 2. Bishop’s 2183 West 4th Ave. 604-738-2025 3. White Spot Various locations

The warmth of the island.

Thank you for voting us

#1 BEST

PATIO

in VANCOUVER

in the Granville Island Hotel

The heart of the city.

Book a table at docksidevancouver.com

1253 Johnston Street, Vancouver | 604.685.7070 MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 23

GOLDEN PLATES

Please don’t Tug and drive! Between Kingsway and 49th Avenue, Fraser Street offers everything from tacos at Sal y Limón to Pakistani naan and beef-foot soup at Al-Watan Tandoori.

Neighbourhoods offer some dining hot spots International cuisine can be found off the SkyTrain grid, along Hastings and Fraser streets and Victoria Drive > B Y A LE XAN DER VAR TY

roof positive that Vancouver is neither a melting pot nor a mosaic can be found by tracking our city’s ethnic restaurants, which suggest that it is instead a combination of both. You won’t find a Burmese district or a Honduran quarter on any civic map; instead, immigrant restaurateurs tend to cluster together in economically cohesive but ethnically diverse hot spots. Not coincidentally, these tend to offer affordable retail space for rent, most likely because they’re well away from the rapid-transit lines that have been a financial boon to other, posher neighbourhoods. Among the most promising zones for cut-price culinary tourism are Hastings-Sunrise in East Vancouver, Fraser Street between King Edward and 49th, and the corresponding low-rise retail strip on Victoria Drive. You can’t take the SkyTrain to any of these areas, but here are a few neighbourhood delights that will make an expedition more than worthwhile. Change is already coming to Hastings-Sunrise, although the community has successfully resisted a business-driven initiative to rebrand it as the East Village— which we all know exists only in New York City. Hipster eateries like Red Wagon Café (2296 East Hastings) and Tacofino Commissary (2327 East Hastings) boast lines out the door most days, and for good reason: their overkill breakfasts and upscale tacos are expensive by area standards, but boast top-quality ingredients. The same can certainly be said for the neighbourhood’s top Vietnamese eatery: Mr. Red Café (2234 East Hastings) offers unusually fresh and light Southeast Asian food, perhaps because it leans toward the leaner, greener fare of Hue and Hanoi rather than the more familiar Saigon style. Those looking for umami-bomb pho might want to go elsewhere, but Mr. Red’s version of the iconic Vietnamese soup is sparklingly fresh-tasting, and the restaurant also boasts an array of rarely found dumplings and stickyrice dishes. A little further east on Hastings you’ll find what’s probably Vancouver’s only Palestinian restaurant, Tamam (2616 East Hastings). Ultrafriendly service neutralizes the 24 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016

rather rundown dining atrium, but the real attraction here is Tamam’s assortment of dips. If there’s a better hummus or mutabal in Vancouver, it’s probably being made in someone’s home kitchen—and the lamb freekeh is excellent too. (Tamam is currently closed for renovation, although it’s slated to reopen at the end of March.) If you’re looking for spicier fare, Laksa King (2546 East Hastings) is a better option; we haven’t delved far into the Burmese side of this bicultural operation, but its Malaysian-style laksa— a coconutty seafood soup with noodles, bean sprouts, prawns, chicken, and a hard-boiled egg—is a reliably revivifying lunch on a rainy spring day. Burmese cooks have also established an outpost in Kensington– Cedar Cottage at Amay’s House (5076 Victoria). This is an excellent place to go for Myanmar tea-leaf salad, and if that leads to a craze for caffeinated greens we’re all for it. Also on the menu are an array of unusual noodle dishes, with bean powder, lime leaves, and catfish among their components. While in the vicinity, you can support Turkish émigrés by dining at Istanbul Lounge and Gourmet (5552 Victoria). It’s definitely the place to go if you like your coffee thick, black, and sweet, and note that it opens for Turkish breakfast—featuring sucuk, a spicy beef salami—at 10 a.m. most days. The family-run El Caracol Café, on the other hand, is the go-to locale for Honduran-style cheese-beanand-pork pupusas: thick, stuffed cornmeal patties that come with a serve-yourself carafe of vinegary coleslaw. Judging by what others were eating on our last visit, it might almost be worth courting a hangover in order to rehydrate with a large bowl of sopa de mondongo, or tripe soup. Over on Fraser, it’s worth pointing out that Sal y Limón (701 Kingsway, at Fraser) is no longer the chaotic hole-in-the-wall it once was, having expanded into a larger and brighter but still busy space. Best tacos in Vancouver? Quite probably—at least according to Georgia Straight readers, and we wouldn’t dare disagree. Further south, enjoy a rare opportunity to eat excellent Pakistani naan and spicy beef-foot soup at Al-Watan Tandoori (6084 Fraser). Haleem, a porridgelike mix see page 26

MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 25

S O P H I E ’S

Thank you for voting us your best!

1 Best Retro Diner

1st

RUNNER

UP!

for Best Diner

Neighbourhoods

from page 24

of shredded beef and ground lentils, is probably an acquired taste, but we can see why those who have acquired it consider it the perfect comfort food.

OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK

THAI

CHINESE (CANTONESE)

KOREAN

1. SALATHAI THAI RESTAURANT

1. KIRIN

1. SURA KOREAN ROYAL CUISINE

Various locations 2. Sun Sui Wah Seafood Restaurant Various locations 3. Hon’s Wun-Tun House Various locations

102–888 Burrard St. 604-683-7999 2. U & I Thai 3364 Cambie St. 604-875-6999 3. Maenam (tie) 1938 West 4th Ave. 604-730-5579 3. Bob Likes Thai Food (tie) Various locations

604-731-8750 • Hours: 9:00 am - 11:00 pm

1. BANANA LEAF

Various locations 2. Kaya Malay Bistro 1063 West Broadway 604-730-9963 3. Tropika Various locations

244 East Georgia St. 604-734-8898 2. Green Lemongrass (tie) Various locations 3. Baoguette Vietnamese Bistro (tie) 1184 Denman St. 604-563-2468

1. VIJ’S

Vancouver’s Destination Liquor Store:

Offering Kitsilano’s best selection of Craft Beer & Whiskey. Extensive selection of Cider, Spirits & Wine. Select items below Government Store Pricing.

7 days per week

Liquor Delivery to your Home, Event, Wedding or Office as fast and easy as ordering a pizza. Order online at www.darbys.pub/shop or by phone 604-731-8750.

LEBANESE

163 Keefer St. 604-688-0876 2. Dinesty Dumpling House Various locations 3. Chef Hung Taiwanese Beef Noodle Various locations

1. AFGHAN HORSEMEN RESTAURANT

JAPANESE 1. MIKU RESTAURANT

AFRICAN

70–200 Granville St. 604-568-3900 2. Minami Restaurant 1118 Mainland St. 604-685-8080 3. Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen + Sushi Bar (tie) 2054 Commercial Dr. 604-255-5550 3. Guu (tie) Various locations

MIDDLE EASTERN

SOUTH INDIAN

1. EAST IS EAST

1391 Kingsway 604-875-1283 2. Chutney Villa 147 East Broadway 604-872-2228 3. Dosa Corner 8248 Fraser St. 604-324-3672

PERSIAN

202–1833 Anderson St., Granville Island, 604-873-5923 2. Zeitoon Various locations 3. Cazba Restaurant Various locations

3106 Cambie St. 604-736-6664 2. Indian Oven 2006 West 4th Ave. 604-730-5069 3. Maurya Indian Cuisine 1643 West Broadway 604-742-0622

1. HOUSE OF DOSAS

LIQUOR DELIVERY

1. PEACEFUL RESTAURANT

1. BAO BEI CHINESE BRASSERIE

1. PHNOM PENH RESTAURANT

NORTH INDIAN

CHINESE (SHANGHAINESE + NORTHERN-STYLE)

Various locations 2. Damso Modern Korean Cuisine 867 Denman St. 604-632-0022 3. MDG Ma Dang Goul 847 Denman St. 604-688-3585

Various locations 2. Dinesty Dumpling House 1. NUBA RESTAURANT AND CAFÉ NUBA Various locations 3. Shanghai River Restaurant Various locations 7831 Westminster Hwy., Richmond 2. Babylon Café 604-233-8885 Various locations 3. Saj&co 813 Davie St. CHINESE (TAIWANESE + 604-559-2447 OTHER)

VIETNAMESE

2001 MACDONA LD STREET VA NCOU V ER, BC @darbys_in_kits www.darbyspub.ca

the Rice Fields Bowl and its accompanying litchi-date broth absolutely rule. But not before trying the salted-caramel ice cream at the original Earnest Ice Cream location (3992 Fraser), where long summer lineups suggest that salt and sugar are soul foods for all. -

READERS’ CHOICES OF BEST...

MALAYSIAN

2095 WEST 4TH AVENUE (AT ARBUTUS) 732-6810

So by now we’ve loaded up on pork, beans, sausage, noodles, horchata, Turkish delight, and baklava. If you need a healthier option, head back to Kensington– Cedar Cottage for the Vietnamese Buddhist specialties at Chau Veggie Express (5052 Victoria), where

Various locations 2. Afghan Horsemen Restaurant 202–1833 Anderson St. 604-873-5923 3. Tamam Fine Palestinian Cuisine (tie) 2616 East Hastings St. 604-620-7078 3. Afghan Chopan (tie) Various locations

1. SIMBA’S GRILL

825 Denman St. 604-974-0649 2. Harambe Ethiopian Restaurant 2149 Commercial Dr. 604-216-1060 3. Fassil Ethiopian Restaurant (tie) 5–736 East Broadway 604-879-2001 3. Axum Ethiopian Restaurant (tie) 1279 East Hastings St. 604-253-2986

CARIBBEAN 1. CALABASH BISTRO

428 Carrall St. 604-568-5882 2. The Reef Various locations 3. Havana 1212 Commercial Dr. 604-253-9119

VCC .CA

Go ahead. Get skilled. . . . i n C U L I N A RY A R T S

31 Beers on Tap • Cask Beer • Locally Sourced Comfort Foods • Kitsilano’s Best Rooftop Patio

Come see why Vancouver Community College has been voted one of the Golden Plates’ best professional culinary schools for 6 straight years.

VCC.CA/CULINARY 26 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016

MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 27

WE WON! S! U R O F G N I T O V ANK-YOU FOR

R E N I D E D I S T S A E S â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Y C U L

w w w. l u c y s e a s t s i d e d i n e r. c o m

1st

BEST DINER

2nd BEST RETRO DINER 3rd BEST RESTAURANT FOR A 3am MEAL

+0)1 F:BG LM% >:LM O:G

$QQXDO WK

$SULO Â² WK

ZZZ RVR\RRVR\VWHUIHVWLYDO FRP 28 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 17 / 2016

GOLDEN PLATES

Grills GONE The Jericho Sailing Centre houses the Galley Patio and Grill, which offers wide-ranging and seafaring menu options.

Finding unexpected eateries > BY CRAIG TAKEUCHI

hen you’re trying to think of somewhere to go eat, institutions and centres aren’t the first places that come to mind. That’s why there are a number of unexpected eateries peppered throughout the city that have only

become known through word of mouth (or, rather, word of Internet). The unfortunate recent closure of UBC’s upscale Perch restaurant in the new Nest building after only six months of operation is an example of how not to run a hard-to-find establishment. Though many of the examples below may not be well advertised, they’ve bucked intuitive thinking by

managing to thrive. Although these places are housed within buildings belonging to companies, organizations, or institutions, they are all open to the public. Ambiance and décor aren’t the strong points of most of these places. But if you’re on a budget (who isn’t in Vancouver?), many of them have see next page

READERS’ CHOICES OF BEST... CHICKEN

STEAK

TAPAS

1. HOMER ST. CAFE AND BAR

1. KEG STEAKHOUSE & BAR

1. ESPAÑA

898 Homer St. 604-428-4299 2. Nando’s Various locations 3. Phnom Penh Restaurant 244 East Georgia St. 604-734-8898

DIM SUM 1. SUN SUI WAH SEAFOOD RESTAURANT

Various locations 2. Kirin Various locations 3. Pink Pearl Chinese Restaurant 1132 East Hastings St. 604-253-4316

FISH/SHELLFISH 1. BLUE WATER CAFE

1095 Hamilton St. 604-688-8078 2. Coast 1054 Alberni St. 604-685-5010 3. Rodney’s Oyster House (tie) Various locations 3. Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House (tie) 777 Thurlow St. 604-669-1940

APPETIZERS 1. CACTUS CLUB CAFE

Various locations 2. Romer’s Burger Bar Various locations 3. Nomad 3950 Main St. 604-708-8525

IZAKAYA 1. HAPA IZAKAYA

Various locations 2. Kingyo Izakaya 871 Denman St. 604-608-1677 3. Guu, Various locations

NOODLES 1. PEACEFUL RESTAURANT

Various locations 2. Legendary Noodle House 1074 Denman St. 604-669-8551 3. Shaolin Noodle House (tie) 656 West Broadway 604-873-1618 3. Noodlebox (tie) Various locations

Various locations 2. Gotham Steakhouse & Bar 615 Seymour St. 604-605-8282 3. Black+Blue (tie) 1032 Alberni St. 604-637-0777 3. Hy’s Encore (tie) 637 Hornby St. 604-683-7671

SUSHI 1. TOJO’S RESTAURANT

1133 West Broadway 604-872-8050 2. Miku Restaurant 70-200 Granville St. 604-568-3900 3. Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen + Sushi Bar (tie) 2054 Commercial Dr. 604-255-5550 3. Minami Restaurant (tie) 1118 Mainland St. 604-685-8080

TACOS 1. LA TAQUERIA

Various locations 2. Tacofino 2327 East Hastings St. 604-253-8226 3. Sal y Limón (tie) 701 Kingsway 604-677-4247 3. Gringo (tie) 27 Blood Alley Square 604-721-0607

HOT POT 1. FATTY COW SEAFOOD HOT POT

5108 Victoria Dr. 604-568-6630 2. Won More 201–1184 Denman St. 604-688-8856 3. Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot Various locations

SALADS 1. TRACTOR EVERYDAY HEALTHY FOODS

Various locations 2. The Foundation 2301 Main St. 604-708-0881 3. Railtown Cafe 397 Railway St. 604-428-0800

1118 Denman St. 604-558-4040 2. Bodega on Main 1014 Main St. 604-565-8815 3. The Sardine Can 26 Powell St. 604-568-1350

RAMEN 1. HOKKAIDO RAMEN SANTOUKA

1690 Robson St. 604-681-8121 2. Jinya Ramen Bar Various locations 3. Kintaro Ramen 788 Denman St. 604-682-7568

SEAFOOD 1. BLUE WATER CAFE

1095 Hamilton St. 604-688-8078 2. Coast (tie) 1054 Alberni St. 604-685-5010 2. Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House (tie) 777 Thurlow St. 604-669-1940 3. YEW seafood + bar 791 West Georgia St. 604-692-4939

KID-FRIENDLY 1. WHITE SPOT

Various locations 2. Old Spaghetti Factory Various locations 3. Tacofino 2327 East Hastings St. 604-253-8226

PLACE FOR FOOD ON CAMPUS 1. BIERCRAFT WESTBROOK AT UBC

3340 Shrum Lane, UBC 604-559-2437 2. Mercante Cucina Italiana 6488 University Blvd., UBC 604-827-2210 3. Doughgirls Comfort Kitchen & Bakeshop 3322 Shrum Lane, UBC 604-333-5474

FOOD TRUCK 1. TACOFINO

2. Vij’s Railway Express 3. Mom’s Grilled Cheese

MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 29

Unexpected eateries

from page 29

subsidized or very reasonable prices. Whether you’re seeking French, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, pan-Asian, or West Coast cuisine, there’s plenty to pick from. ADESSO BISTRO This one’s off the

Thank you for voting us “Best Kid-Friendly Restaurant”! We’ve been making families happy since 1928. From our award-winning burgers and signature fries, to our fresh salads, BC chicken, pastas, Spot Classics, and of course our famous Pirate Paks. At White Spot, there’s something for everyone. Thank you for making our restaurant your family favourite.

ORDER ONLINE

CALL 310-SPOT

KITSILANO WHITE SPOT 2518 West Broadway 604-731-2434

CARDERO WHITE SPOT 1616 West Georgia 604-681-8034

at whitespot.ca

7768

MARINE & ROSS WHITE SPOT 1126 SE Marine Drive 604-325-8911

OAKRIDGE WHITE SPOT 613-A-650 41st Ave 604-261-2820

DUNSMUIR WHITE SPOT 405 Dunsmuir Street 604-899-6072

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Vancouver Restaurant Brokers Group is licensed with RECBC at Royalty Group Realty Inc.

30 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016

beaten track. While it’s not notable for a restaurant to be housed within a hotel, this one is smack-dab in the middle of the residential zone west of Denman, on the ground floor of the Buchan Hotel (1906 Haro Street). Adesso’s modern Italian menu covers all the Italian bases: pasta (with gluten-free options), pizza, salads, and specialties such as LiguFujiya Takeout draws long lineups for rian seafood stew, braised rabbit, lunch despite its cloistered location. and red-wine-braised beef. Visit during warmer weather to truly pansive, wandering from the likes enjoy neighbourhood dining on the of Thai noodle chicken salad and Mexican pulled pork on griddled tranquil patio. sourdough to classic beach faves CAFÉ SALADE DE FRUITS Just such as fish and chips and wild B.C. off the lobby of the Centre Culturel salmon burgers. The patio? A mustFrancophone de Vancouver (1551 do when Summercouver pays a visit. West 7th Avenue), this bustling spot packs people into its cozy, casual GROUNDS FOR APPEAL When space thanks to its gratifying, afford- you’re hankering for Indian curry, ably priced lunch, brunch, and din- do you yell “Let’s go to a cappuccino ner menus. Dishes include salade de bar!”? No? This unassuming, nondesaumon fumé (smoked salmon salad), script café, housed in the Law Society escargots à l’aïl (garlic snails), cuisse de of B.C. lobby (845 Cambie Street), canard confit (duck confit), and pista- will convert you. In addition to sandchio sablefish. It’s a great place to dust wiches, pastries, and a coffee menu off your high-school français while that includes matcha, there’s a variety relishing generous servings of moules of Indian dishes (yes, there is a South (mussels) and some of the most addic- Asian staff) such as butter-chicken curry, aloo paneer, dal, and lamb curry, tive frites in town. served with naan and rice, with prices THE CENTRE CAFÉ Located in the ranging from $7.50 to $9.50. Vancouver school board building (1580 West Broadway) next to its 10th H-MART DOWNTOWN Although Avenue entrance, this airy lunch-hour H-Mart Downtown (200–590 Robson cafeteria boasts a salad bar with three Street) runs a café on the ground daily offerings (such as artichoke, floor, on the second floor, if you chickpea, or sunomono salad); a daily walk past the cashiers toward the warm entrée such as salmon burger, Robson Street windows, you’ll chicken cordon bleu, or spinach pie; discover a plentiful Korean food a daily soup (the Thai curry chicken court. Zac-Zac offers Japanese cursoup is killer); and panini and classic ries, while Zac Baran serves varisandwiches. Nothing is priced over ous donburi. E-Mo Noodle House $10. Extremely efficient staff keep the covers classic Chinese stir-fry and Wang Ga Ma serves up Korean soup line moving when it gets busy. and noodles. Masarang, H-Mart’s EH! RESTAURANT This casual, deli counter, offers Korean fare counter-service Canadian restaurant such as tteokbokki (spicy rice-cake is located on the second floor of 1050 stew) and soondae (Korean sausAlberni Street, next to the Canadian age with vermicelli). For lunch on College of English Language. Accord- the go, your best bet is Masarang’s ingly, it mostly caters to ESL students. reasonably priced Japanese and Despite hit-and-miss offerings, it’s Korean bento boxes or its premade most notable for its cheap prices for sushi rolls. What’s more, almost all salads, sandwiches, burgers, and pasta dishes are less than $10. dishes (plus a coffee bar)—almost HI GENKI Intended as a dining everything is priced under $10. room for residents of the New SaFRIDAY NIGHT SUPPER (PEROGY kura-so and Nikkei Home seniors’ NIGHT IN VANCOUVER) Raven- residences (located at 6680 Southous diners descend upon this popular oaks Crescent in Burnaby, next to event held on the first Friday of every the National Nikkei Heritage Cenmonth at the Ukrainian Orthodox tre), this informal Japanese resCentre (underneath Holy Trinity taurant situated in a lobby found a Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral at 154 following through word of mouth East 10th Avenue). Besides potato and for its reasonably priced homecheddar-cheese perogies—also known style menu. It’s run by the aforeas varenyky or pyrohy—there are hol- mentioned Fujiya company. Sorry, ubtsi (cabbage rolls), borscht, kovbasa folks, sushi isn’t served here. But (ham sausage), and sauerkraut. All generous servings of comfort foods foods are prepared by volunteers and include tempura, korokke (croare available as takeout, either freshly quettes), Japanese curry, and doncooked or frozen, to tide you over until buri, with prices from about $8 to the next month’s event. Go early (5 $12. Timewise, factor in lineups and p.m. to 8 p.m.). full houses, which can slow service. FUJIYA TAKEOUT Cloistered from pedestrian view near the end of a row of street-level shops at the base of Bentall Tower 1 (112–1050 West Pender Street), this compact, weekday Fujiya operation (far smaller than their Clark Street grocery store) draws long lunch-hour lineups of Coal Harbour business zombies. It’s no wonder. With competitively priced items such as sushi and bento boxes, the coolers are ransacked to almost empty after lunch. A selection of Japanese snacks will satiate your Glico jones.

IK2GO Tucked inside the Burrard Building lobby (1049 Alberni Street), this is the counter-service offshoot of Glowbal Group’s Italian Kitchen restaurant around the corner. It’s perfect for the on-the-run crowd to grab nicely priced, quality Italian fare for breakfast or lunch takeout. (Seating isn’t available.) Snatch the likes of cauliflower alla Siciliana, panini, prosciutto croissants, baked timballo with lamb sausage and macaroni, pizza slices, or tiramisu. Even better, place an order online the day before to acTHE GALLEY PATIO AND GRILL celerate the already speedy process. Perched on the second floor of the Jericho Sailing Centre (1300 Discov- LA PIAZZA DARIO RISTORANTE ery Street), this casual dining spot ITALIANO This fine-dining best-kept (open since 1990) offers a visual buf- secret is housed in the Il Centro Italian fet of the seascape from Bowen and Cultural Centre (3075 Slocan Street). Vancouver islands to downtown With a rustic yet elegant dining room, see next page Vancouver. The menu is equally ex-

this family-run restaurant (open for lunch and dinner) embodies the secrets of longevity, having operated since 1977. Entrées cover variations upon the Italian culinary canon, such as salmone La Piazza (wild salmon fillet with white wine, capers, and black olives), scaloppine al portobello (veal medallions in mushroom sauce), linguine ai gamberoni (sautéed prawns in a garlic, cherry tomato, and white wine sauce), and even gluten-free quinoa pasta. LAW COURTS INN Secluded on the fifth floor of the Vancouver Law Courts (800 Smithe Street), this restaurant remains little known outside the law community. Open to the public for lunch (11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.), it features outdoor patios and overlooks a pond and gardens, with a picturesque view of the downtownscape. While the not-for-profit restaurant, operated by the Lawyers’ Inn Society, had slid in quality during the past few years, it is undergoing a revitalization project. In January, new management took over, which included a new executive chef, Jack Eng. The plateware and current menu—which covers everything from chicken-andBrie burgers and mac and cheese with meatballs to pan-seared salmon with sweet-peas quinoa pilaf and puttanesca sauce—have room for improvement, and there are some dated folding dividers marring an otherwise

amazing and well-lit dining space with great potential. One to watch for good things to come. RED PAGODA Even though this weekday-only Vietnamese restaurant is hidden at the back of a high-rise at 1130 West Pender Street and faces an alleyway plaza, it has garnered a loyal following from the Coal Harbour business district. Chalk that up to its affordably priced, tasty dishes like charbroiled lemongrass chicken vermicelli noodle bowls, yellow curry with rice, sate peanut pho, and Vietnamese shaking beef (bo luc lac) with salad. Be warned: expect lineups at lunch hour. TOKO FOODS While Toko Foods (223 West 7th Avenue) manufactures Asian noodles and specializes in Chinese tea, it also runs a casual restaurant on their premises, isolated within the Mount Pleasant industrial district. Most dishes run within the $8 to $12 range (seafood being the exception). Chinese dishes—lettuce wraps, bean curd, wonton, chow mein, seafood hot pot, fried rice, tan tan noodles, and more—are the bulk of the pan-Asian menu. Sprinkled among them are items from Japan (gyoza, ramen, teriyaki), Korea (kimchi), Thailand (tom yum koong, Thai chicken with cashews), Singapore (fried rice vermicelli), and Malaysia (curry, laksa) to round things out. -

READERS’ CHOICES OF BEST... ROMANTIC

RETRO DINER

1. BLUE WATER CAFE

1. SOPHIE’S COSMIC CAFE

1095 Hamilton St. 604-688-8078 2. Chambar Restaurant 568 Beatty St. 604-879-7119 3. Adesso Bistro (tie) 1906 Haro St. 604-568-9975 3. Bishop’s (tie) 2183 West 4th Ave. 604-738-2025

PEOPLE-WATCHING

2095 West 4th Ave. 604-732-6810 2. Lucy’s Eastside Diner 2708 Main St. 604-568-1550 3. The Templeton 1087 Granville St. 604-685-4612

DINER 1. LUCY’S EASTSIDE DINER

Various locations 2. Cactus Club Cafe Various locations 3. Chill Winston 3 Alexander St. 604-288-9575

2708 Main St. 604-568-1550 2. Sophie’s Cosmic Cafe 2095 West 4th Ave. 604-732-6810 3. The Templeton 1087 Granville St. 604-685-4612

3 A.M. MEAL

BISTRO

1. THE NAAM RESTAURANT

1. TABLEAU BAR BISTRO

2724 West 4th Ave. 604-738-7151 2. Denny’s Restaurant Various locations 3. Lucy’s Eastside Diner 2708 Main St., 604-568-1550

1181 Melville St. 604-639-8692 2. Au Comptoir 2278 West 4th Ave. 604-569-2278 3. Medina Cafe 780 Richards St. 604-879-3114

1. TAP & BARREL RESTAURANT

RESTAURANT TO CURE A HANGOVER 1. DENNY’S RESTAURANT

Various locations 2. Yolk’s Restaurant & Commissary Various locations 3. Joe’s Grill Various locations

COMFORT FOOD 1. BURGOO

Various locations 2. liquids + solids café & market Various locations 3. Romer’s Burger Bar Various locations

FRIES 1. FRITZ EUROPEAN FRY HOUSE

718 Davie St. 604-684-0811 2. Belgian Fries 1885 Commercial Dr. 604-253-4220 3. Frites Vancouver 1011 Granville St. 604-559-0550

POUTINE 1. LA BELLE PATATE

1215 Davie St. 604-569-1215 2. Fritz European Fry House 718 Davie St. 604-684-0811 3. Belgian Fries (tie) 1885 Commercial Dr. 604-253-4220 3. The Spud Shack Fry Co. (tie) 352–800 Carnarvon St., New West 604-553-2582

RESTAURANT FOR FIRST DATE WITH SOMEBODY YOU MET ONLINE 1. 33 ACRES BREWING COMPANY

15 West 8th Ave. 604-620-4589 2. The Flying Pig Various locations 3. Torafuku 958 Main St. 778-903-2006

MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 31

GOLDEN PLATES

Charity helps hungry kids > B Y C HA R LIE S M ITH

THE IRISH HEATHER Best Pub Food (1st place)

210 Carrall Street • 604.688.9779 irishheather.com

ven though Canada is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, more than 850,000 of its residents rely on the help of a food bank every month. Of those, more than onethird are children or youths, according to Food Banks Canada. This problem hasn’t escaped the attention of one of the region’s most important registered charities, the United Way of the Lower Mainland. March is National Nutrition Month and to coincide with this, it has initiated a new campaign called Stop the Growl (www.stopthegrowl.ca/). The name refers to that feeling that hungry kids experience in their stomachs As part of its Stop the Growl program, the United Way is publishing recipes when they haven’t had enough to eat. that cost $15 or less, like the yam, artichoke, and chickpea stew on page 33. “We’ve launched Stop the Growl that cost $15 or less and that can feed to raise awareness about food in- the Georgia Straight by phone. As part of Stop the Growl, the United a family of four. Some are written by security and to also fundraise for food-related initiatives,” United Way Way of the Lower Mainland is publish- well-known local food writers; others spokesperson Jennifer Young told ing a series healthy, nutritious recipes see next page

READERS’ CHOICES OF BEST... FARMERS MARKET

RETRO CAFÉ/GROCER

ORGANIC DINING

1. TROUT LAKE

1. LE MARCHÉ ST. GEORGE

1. BISHOP’S

2. Nat Bailey 3. Kitsilano

4393 St. George St. 604-565-5107 2. The Mighty Oak 198 West 18th Ave. 604-558-0722 3. Harvest Community Foods 243 Union St. 604-682-8851

2183 West 4th Ave. 604-738-2025 2. The Acorn 3995 Main St. 604-566-9001 3. Heirloom Vegetarian 1509 West 12th Ave. 604-733-2231

VEGAN-FRIENDLY

VEGETARIAN

1. THE NAAM RESTAURANT

1. THE ACORN

2724 West 4th Ave. 604-738-7151 2. The Acorn 3995 Main St. 604-566-9001 3. Heirloom Vegetarian (tie) 1509 West 12th Ave. 604-733-2231 3. Meet on Main (tie) 4288 Main St.,604-877-1292

3995 Main St. 604-566-9001 2. The Naam Restaurant 2724 West 4th Ave. 604-738-7151 3. Meet on Main 4288 Main St. 604-877-1292

SPECIALTY GROCER 1. URBAN FARE

Various locations 2. Whole Foods Market Various locations 3. Bosa Foods Various locations

STORE TO BUY ORGANIC PRODUCTS

SALT TASTING ROOM Best Wine Bar (2nd place)

45 Blood Alley • 604.633.1912 salttastingroom.com

1. WHOLE FOODS MARKET

Various locations 2. The August Market 3958 Main St. 778-889-7278 3. Choices Various locations

GROCERY STORE CAFÉ 1. WHOLE FOODS MARKET

Various locations 2. Urban Fare Various locations 3. Meinhardt Fine Foods Various locations

GLUTEN-FREE DINING 1. THE ACORN

3995 Main St., 604-566-9001 2. The Wallflower 2420 Main St., 604-568-7554 3. Meet on Main (tie) 4288 Main St.,604-877-1292 3. Panne Rizo Bakery & Cafe (tie) 1939 Cornwall Ave. 604-736-0885

VEGGIE BURGER 1. MEET ON MAIN

4288 Main St. 604-877-1292 2. Romer’s Burger Bar Various locations 3. The Naam Restaurant 2724 West 4th Ave. 604-738-7151

SHEBEEN WHISKEY HOUSE Best restaurant for a stiff drink (3rd Place) 210 Carrall St • (604) 688-9779

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GùÖÝù J þþ, F½ Ã Ä Ê, TÙ ®ã®ÊÄ ½ P ÙÝ® Ä

R Ý Ùò ã®ÊÄÝ: 604-565-4401

Thank you for your votes! 32 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016

WWW.EASTISEAST.CA

2 Tbsp flour have been provided by employees of 2. Add onion, garlic, ginger, cin2 medium yams, washed, peeled, namon, turmeric, salt, and pepper. organizations that partner with the and cut into cubes United Way of the Lower Mainland, Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 1 19-ounce can chickpeas, which raised $25.1 million last year. five minutes or until onion is soft. The website also enables donors drained and well-rinsed 3. Sprinkle with flour and stir for to target their contributions, which 1 green pepper, washed and cut about a minute. This will help thickare eligible for tax receipts. A $50 gift into one-inch pieces en the stew. will provide 10 mothers with one1 19-ounce can chopped tomatoes 4. Stir in yams, chickpeas, pepper, on-one nutrition counselling; $100 3 cups vegetable stock tomatoes, and veggie stock. Bring to enables one family to learn how to 1 six-ounce jar artichoke hearts, a boil. Lower heat and simmer for eat well and access nutritious foods; drained and cut into small pieces about 30 minutes or until yams are $250 will pay for a workshop to help 1 Tbsp lemon juice tender, stirring occasionally. a family learn how to buy healthy Handful fresh parsley 5. Add artichoke hearts and lemfood on a fixed budget; $500 will fion juice; stir gently for another 10 nance two children’s participation in METHOD minutes. a food garden; and $1,000 will cover 6. Serve topped with parsley. 1. Heat oil over medium heat in a the cost of one community-kitchen large, heavy saucepan. session for 10 people. Yield: six servings. It’s part of the United Way of the Lower Mainland’s ongoing efforts to promote food security, which have READERS’ CHOICES OF BEST... included supporting community gardens and community kitchens. DESSERTS FROZEN YOGURT Young pointed out that her organization funds 22 separate food initia1. THOMAS HAAS 1. QOOLA FROZEN tives in the region. CHOCOLATES & PATISSERIE YOGURT BAR According to one study cited on Various locations Various locations the Stop the Growl website, it costs 2. 720 Sweets 2. Menchie’s $938 per month to provide a “nutri3278 West Broadway Various locations tionally adequate, balanced diet for 778-229-9278 3. Pinkberry (tie) a family of four” in B.C. “We know 3. Thierry Various locations there are a lot of families that can’t 1059 Alberni St. 3. Yogen Früz (tie) afford that,” Young said. 604-608-6870 Various locations Georgia Straight food writer Gail Johnson is one of those who submitICE CREAM CHOCOLATE SHOP ted a recipe to www.stopthegrowl.ca/. She wrote that the ingredients in her 1. EARNEST ICE CREAM 1. THOMAS HAAS yam, artichoke, and chickpea stew CHOCOLATES Various locations cost $15 and feed a family of six. & PATISSERIE 2. Rain or Shine Homemade According to Johnson, this meal is Ice Cream Various locations easy to prepare and it’s healthier and Various locations 2. Purdy’s Chocolates less expensive than a heavy beef stew. GAIL JOHNSON’S RECIPE FOR YAM, ARTICHOKE, AND CHICKPEA STEW

INGREDIENTS

2 Tbsp olive oil 1 onion, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 tsp freshly grated ginger ½ tsp cinnamon ½ tsp turmeric Pinch salt and pepper

3. 720 Sweets 3278 West Broadway 778-229-9278

GELATO 1. BELLA GELATERIA

Various locations 2. Mario’s Gelati 88 East 1st Ave., 604-879-9411 3. La Casa Gelato 1033 Venables St. 604-251-3211

To all our customers for voting us

“Best

Mexican Restaurant”

MUCHAS GRACIA

OVER 31 YEARS And still serving you a great Mexican experience in the heart of Kits!

@lasmargaritasbc @lasmargaritasbc

Various locations 3. Beta 5 (tie) 413 Industrial Ave. 604-669-3336 3. Mink, a Chocolate Café (tie) Various locations

@lasmargaritasbc

FOOD FESTIVAL/EVENT

LasMargaritasVancouver

1. DINE OUT VANCOUVER

2. Food Truck Festival 3. Eat! Vancouver

@lasmargaritasbc

1999 West 4th at Maple

604 734-7117

w w w.lasma rga r it as.com

MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 33

GOLDEN PLATES

Mixologist Matt van Dinther says that restaurants must serve outstanding food and really good drinks to thrive in Vancouver.

Nomad partner takes prize Matt van Dinther voted best bartender in the city by Georgia Straight readers > B Y C HA R LIE S M ITH

att van Dinther has no difficulty remembering when he decided he wanted to make drinks for a living. In a phone interview with the Georgia Straight,

he recalled his days as a young kitchen worker and seeing bartenders walking out with women’s phone numbers and money in their pocket. “I was scrubbing lemon underneath my fingernails wondering what I was doing with my life,”

READERS’ CHOICES OF BEST...

THE

OPEN

HOURS

Naam Restaurant

Golden Plate Awards

Best Vegetarian 17 years running

Winner

Best Vegan Friendly

Winner

Best Restaurant for a 3am Meal Runner-Up

Best Veggie Burger Runner-Up

Best Vegetarian Runner-Up

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

2724 W. 4th Ave. / 738-7151 / www.thenaam.com 34 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016

SANDWICHES

PIZZA BY THE SLICE

1. THE DIRTY APRON COOKING SCHOOL & DELICATESSEN

1. STRAIGHT OUTTA BROOKLYN PIZZERIA

540 Beatty St. 604-879-8588 2. Finch’s Tea & Coffee House 353 West Pender St. 604-899-4040 3. liquids + solids café & market Various locations

TAKEOUT/DELIVERY 1. PEACEFUL RESTAURANT

Various locations 2. Next Noodle Bar (tie) 560 Robson St. 604-681-6398 2. Bob Likes Thai Food (tie) Various locations 3. Hon’s Wun-Tun House Various locations

PIZZA TAKEOUT/DELIVERY 1. PIZZERIA FARINA

350 Robson St., 604-559-3500 2. Nat’s New York Pizzeria Various locations 3. Pizza Garden (tie) Various locations 3. Goldies Pizza (tie) Various locations

FISH AND CHIPS 1. GO FISH

1505 West 1st Ave. 604-730-5040 2. Cockney Kings Fish & Chips Various locations 3. The Fish Shack 1026 Granville St. 604-678-1049

BAGEL 1. SOLLY’S BAGELRY

Various locations 2. Siegel’s Bagels, various locations 3. Rosemary Rocksalt Various locations

915 Main St. 604-681-9334 2. Pizza Garden (tie) Various locations 2. Pizza Carano (tie) 4241 Fraser St. 604-877-1270 3. Uncle Fatih’s Pizza Various locations

SOUPS

PIZZERIA

BURGER

1. NICLI ANTICA PIZZERIA

1. ROMER’S BURGER BAR

62 East Cordova St. 604-669-6985 2. Via Tevere 1190 Victoria Dr. 604-336-1803 3. Pacifico Pizzeria 970 Smithe St. 604-408-0808

1. BURGOO

Various locations 2. The Stock Market 1689 Johnston St., Granville Island 604-687-2433 3. liquids + solids café & market Various locations

Various locations 2. Vera’s Burger Shack Various locations 3. Cannibal Café (tie) Various locations 3. Fatburger (tie) Various locations 3. White Spot (tie) Various locations

van Dinther said with a laugh. “So I decided to get into it. One thing led to another and I started doing cocktails.” It’s been a remarkable odyssey for the 28-year-old bartender and part owner of Nomad, a bright and hip Main Street restaurant that has attracted as much attention for its sustainable, local cuisine as for its craft cocktails. This year, Georgia Straight readers voted van Dinther the city’s best bartender in the annual Golden Plates awards. (H at Notturno took silver and Tacofino’s Julia Diakow captured bronze.) “I just want to pass along my thanks to all the readership,” he said. “It was an absolutely humbling experience.” It’s not his first bartending honour. Van Dinther took first place in Havana Club Canada’s Los Maestros del Daiquiri competition. Last year, his team won an international competition sponsored by Hennessy involving 45 participants from 18 countries. According to van Dinther, one of the biggest misconceptions about bartending is that people do this work while pursuing another career. He emphasized that it’s becoming more of a profession with the rise of cocktail culture and the growing popularity of craft drinks. “A plethora of restaurants are investing in that,” van Dinther stated. “You can no longer just offer really good food or really good drinks. You need to offer both.” He added that while wine pairs extremely well with food, not everybody wants to drink it with dinner. Some prefer a mixed drink or craft beer. Van Dinther also pointed out that some customers are becoming very sophisticated because the Internet makes it easy to gain access to information. “People are starting to learn more about their drinks just as they’re starting to learn more about their food,” he said. “They know where their spirits are coming from. They know which brands they like.” In the past, he worked behind the bar in Gastown at the Diamond and Wildebeest. Van Dinther said that he has noticed a difference in the clientele between that part of town and Nomad, which is near the intersection of Main Street and King Edward Avenue. In Gastown, see page 37

Hi-fives to everyone who voted for us this year. Much Love, The Gringo Crew

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more customers were interested in what van Dinther calls “eccentric cocktails”. “Here, the cocktail crowd isn’t as diverse,” he acknowledged. “So you definitely want to tailor your menus and your offerings toward that.” As much as van Dinther enjoys the craft of creating drinks, he doesn’t prefer making any one over the others. As for drinking alcohol, his personal tastes lean toward the classics, like a brandy crusta, Manhattan, or Tom Collins, or just sitting down and having a beer or a whisky. Born in St. John, New Brunswick, van Dinther grew up in the Millstream area outside of Victoria. He trained in the famed Bengal Lounge in the Empress Hotel, which is kitty-corner to the B.C. legislature. From there, he moved to London

to work in the Beaufort Bar in the Savoy Hotel. He explained that was because he was eager to get his career started and there isn’t as strong a tradition in the United Kingdom of working as a bar back before getting a chance to tend the bar. “It was an opportunity to get my foot in the door without having to go through all the precursor steps that I wanted to skip,” van Dinther revealed. The Beaufort Bar is no small fry in the world of cocktails. Last year, it was named the best international hotel bar at Tales of the Cocktail. Canada is no slouch in this area either, according to van Dinther. He pointed out that bartenders in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal are getting noticed in international competitions, noting there has been a proliferation of great drinking establishments in these three cities. “They’re rivalling some of the best bars in the world,” he said. -

READERS’ CHOICES OF BEST... PREGAME RESTAURANT

BREWPUB RESTAURANT

1. LIBRARY SQUARE PUBLIC HOUSE

1. STEAMWORKS

300 West Georgia St. 604-633-9644 2. Red Card Sports Bar + Eatery 560 Smithe St. 604-689-4460 3. The Pint Public House 455 Abbott St. 604-684-0258

RESTAURANT TO WATCH THE GAME 1. BOSTON PIZZA

Various locations 2. Shark Club Various locations 3. Local Public Eatery 2210 Cornwall Ave. 604-734-3589

RESTAURANT FOR A BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION 1. EARLS RESTAURANT

Various locations 2. Cactus Club Cafe Various locations 3. Nomad 3950 Main St. 604-708-8525

RESTAURANT FOR LINGERING OVER DINNER 1. CHAMBAR RESTAURANT

568 Beatty St. 604-879-7119 2. Bauhaus Restaurant 1 West Cordova St. 604-974-1147 3. Pourhouse 162 Water St. 604-568-7022

LOCAL DISTILLERY 1. ODD SOCIETY SPIRITS

1725 Powell St. 604-559-6745 2. The Liberty Distillery 1494 Old Bridge Rd., Granville Island 604-558-1998 3. Long Table Distillery 1451 Hornby St. 604-266-0177

PUB 1. DOOLIN’S IRISH PUB

654 Nelson St. 604-605-4343 2. Bimini Public House 2010 West 4th Ave., 604-733-7116 3. Storm Crow Tavern Various locations

BARBECUE 1. GYU-KAKU

Various locations 2. Great Wall Mongolian BBQ Various locations 3. Memphis Blues Barbeque House Various locations

375 Water St. 604-689-2739 2. Yaletown Brewing Co. 1111 Mainland St. 604-681-2739 3. Steel Toad Brewpub & Dining Hall 97 East 2nd Ave. 604-709-8623

PUB FOOD 1. THE IRISH HEATHER GASTROPUB

210 Carrall St. 604-688-9779 2. The Charles Bar 136 West Cordova St. 604-568-8040 3. Mahony & Sons Public House (tie) Various locations 3. St. Augustine’s (tie) 2360 Commercial Dr. 604-569-1911

WINGS 1. WINGS TAP & GRILL

Various locations 2. Library Square Public House 300 West Georgia St. 604-633-9644 3. Baoguette Vietnamese Bistro 1184 Denman St. 604-563-2468

RESTAURANT FOR COCKTAILS 1. THE KEEFER BAR

135 Keefer St. 604-688-1961 2. Pourhouse 162 Water St. 604-568-7022 3. Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar 845 Burrard St. 604-642-2900

RESTAURANT FOR DRINK SPECIALS 1. COLONY MAIN STREET

2904 Main St. 604-565-6246 2. Cascade Room 2616 Main St. 604-709-8650 3. Granville Room 957 Granville St. 604-633-0056

RESTAURANT FOR A STIFF DRINK 1. THE BLACKBIRD PUBLIC HOUSE & OYSTER BAR

905 Dunsmuir St. 604-899-4456 2. Pourhouse 162 Water St. 604-568-7022 3. Shebeen Whisk(e)y House Behind 212 Carrall St. 604-688-9779

MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 37

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Independent shops offer unique finds like Bonny Doon’s 2012 A Proper Claret and Chateau Bonnet 2009 Entre-Deux-Mers Sauvignon Blanc/Sémillon/Muscadelle.

Private stores propel our city’s wine culture

hen I write about many wines unavailable elsewhere, specific wines in you never know what you’ll discover. this column, I’m al- Just last week I stepped up to the maways striving for bal- chine for a few splashes, and here are ance. While I love exposing readers two of my favourites that were on offer. to wines found off the beaten path, I understand that it’s not always con- OTTOVENTI 2014 ZIBIBBO SEvenient to traipse across town to the LECTION BIANCO (Sicily, Italy; one or two private stores that may $34.89) Zibibbo is the regional carry them. There’s something to be name for the grape more commonly said for the convenience of B.C. Li- known as Muscat di Alessandria, quor Stores having locations through- known for lively and aromatic floral notes. It certainly out our market, but is a pretty wine, there’s a certain a little on the dry ubiquity or averside, spilling over ageness to most Kurtis Kolt with jasmine, lemof what’s found on their shelves, unless you’re shop- on zest, green grape, pink grapeping at Signature Stores like the ones fruit, and a touch of earthiness. at West 39th and Cambie, or Alberni Quite the charmer. and Bute, two government stores with impressive selections. Often, you’ll CHATEAU BONNET 2009 ENTREfind broader, more interesting wine DEUX-MERS SAUVIGNON BLANC/ (Boroptions when visiting private stores. SÉMILLON/MUSCADELLE For this Golden Plates edition of the deaux, France; $17.89) A white blend Straight where we’re celebrating all from Bordeaux at a great price point things delicious, I thought to cast a and carrying with it a few years of spotlight on a couple of private stores age I can’t guarantee this wine will that are doing things right, bringing be everybody’s cup of tea, but if the exceptional wines and experiences to mention of salty sea air and river rock your table, and propelling Vancou- character on the nose, along with sorrel, lemon balm, lime leaf, and dusty ver’s wine culture forward. Marquis Wine Cellars (1034 Davie pomelo notes on the palate, makes you Street, Marquis-Wines.com/) is cele- perk up, this may just float your boat. brating its 30th year in business and Speaking of Enomatic machines, owner John Clerides shows no signs of stopping, regardless of B.C. liquor I’m also a big fan of Firefly Fine Wines policy ebbs and flows. I’d venture to and Ales (2857 Cambie Street); its say Marquis is the most user-friend- Enomatic holds eight different, conly wine store in the city. First off, its stantly rotating bottles. The store is website is kept remarkably up-to- my go-to for the solid, already-chilled date with new arrivals and blog posts selection of wine and craft beer that’s by staff who source a good amount of kept in its public walk-in cooler. I was their wine selection from journeying recently elated to learn that toward all over the world. Marquis will de- the end of this year, Firefly will be liver any online orders under $200 moving just up the same block to the for an extra $9 anywhere in B.C.; if corner of its building at 500 West 12th you cross that $200 threshold, then Avenue, doubling in size, with a bigger cooler and a larger tasting room, delivery is free. For those visiting the store, it’s a which is currently just a sliver. While it has a great selection breeze to navigate. Wines are categorized by region, but there are also spe- of beer and wine from all over cial sections for styles like rosé and the world, the British Columbian sparkling. The store’s programming wine selection is laudable, as is its includes educational seminars and California section, where I spotted plenty of free tastings. In fact, if you Bonny Doon’s 2012 A Proper Claret hop to it, you can hit the store this Fri- (California, USA; $33.75), a Califorday (March 11) between 3 and 6 p.m. nian ode to casual Bordeaux made for a tasting with the proprietors of from 62 percent Cabernet SauviVancouver Island’s Emandare Vine- gnon, 22 percent Petit Verdot, 8 peryard, and enjoy sipping their cool-cli- cent Tannat, 7 percent Syrah, and mate, terroir-driven offerings. Finally, 1 percent Petite Sirah, and worthy a big perk of visiting Marquis is staff of scooping up next time you’re in. I could go on, talking about providing samples of any of the 16 different wines they have available for Kitsilano Wine Cellar at 2239 West tasting daily in their temperature-con- 4th Avenue, with its healthy inclinatrolled Enomatic machine. With the tion towards geekier selections and store having incredible selection and see next page

102- 888 BUR R A R D S TR EE T | 604.683.7999

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The Bottle

MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 39

Private stores

from previous page

natural wines, or Legacy Liquor Store at 1633 Manitoba in Olympic Village for its incredibly large selection of wine, beer, and whisky, or any of the various Liberty Wine Merchants locations, each with its own

individual character and selection. All of these stores also have very savvy staff and interesting programming to guide you along your vinous journey; always take the opportunity to ask questions, attend events, and enjoy samples. That’s usually how I find my new favourites, and how you’re quite likely to find yours. -

READERS’ CHOICES OF BEST... HOTEL LOUNGE 1. LOBBY LOUNGE TERRACE + RAWBAR AT THE FAIRMONT PACIFIC RIM

WINERY/VINEYARD RESTAURANT 1. MIRADORO RESTAURANT, TINHORN CREEK WINERY

1038 Canada Place 604-695-5502 2. 1927 Lobby Lounge at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia 801 West Georgia St. 604-682-5566 3. Opus Bar 322 Davie St. 604-694-2107

537 Tinhorn Creek Road, Oliver 250-498-3742 2. Old Vines Restaurant, Quails’ Gate Winery 3303 Boucherie Rd., Kelowna 250-769-2500 3. The Sonora Room, Burrowing Owl Estate Winery 500 Burrowing Owl Pl., Oliver 250-498-0620

BAR LOUNGE

B.C. WINE/WINERY (RED)

1. THE KEEFER BAR

135 Keefer St. 604-688-1961 2. Pourhouse 162 Water St. 604-568-7022 3. UVA Wine & Cocktail Bar 900 Seymour St. 604-632-9560

RESTAURANT WINE LIST (B.C.) 1. EDIBLE CANADA

1596 Johnston St., Granville Island 604-682-6681 2. Vancouver Urban Winery 55 Dunlevy St. 604-566-9463 3. Notch8 Restaurant & Bar (Fairmont Hotel Vancouver) 900 West Georgia St. 604-662-1900

RESTAURANT WINE LIST (IMPORTED) 1. BLUE WATER CAFE

1095 Hamilton St. 604-688-8078 2. Chambar Restaurant 568 Beatty St. 604-879-7119 3. Hawksworth Restaurant 801 West Georgia St. 604-673-7000

WINE BAR

1. BURROWING OWL ESTATE WINERY

500 Burrowing Owl Pl., Oliver 250-498-0620 2. Blasted Church Vineyards 378 Parsons Rd., Okanagan Falls 250-497-1125 3. Le Vieux Pin 5496 Black Sage Rd., Oliver 250-498-8388

B.C. WINE/WINERY (WHITE) 1. JOIEFARM WINERY

2825 Naramata Rd., Naramata 250-496-0073 2. Blasted Church 378 Parsons Rd., Okanagan Falls 250-497-1125 3. Burrowing Owl Estate Winery (tie) 500 Burrowing Owl Pl., Oliver 250-498-0620 3. Le Vieux Pin (tie) 5496 Black Sage Rd., Oliver 250-498-8388

PRIVATE WINE STORE 1. LEGACY LIQUOR STORE

1633 Manitoba St. 604-331-7900 2. Firefly Fine Wines and Ales 2857 Cambie St. 604-875-3325 3. Everything Wine Various locations

1. UVA WINE & COCKTAIL BAR

WINE FESTIVAL/EVENT

900 Seymour St. 604-632-9560 2. Salt Tasting Room 45 Blood Alley 604-633-1912 3. Grapes & Soda 1541 West 6th Ave. 604-336-2456

1. VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL WINE FESTIVAL

2. Cornucopia (tie) 2. Naramata Bench Wineries Spring and Fall Events (tie) 3. Okanagan Wine Festivals

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Craft brew collaboration bonds community > BY A M A NDA SIEBE R T

Left to right: Chris Lay, Diana McKenzie, Adam Chatburn, Chester Carey, and Adam Henderson work cooperatively at Vancouver’s Callister Brewing Company to create four different brands under one roof. Amanda Siebert photo.

Belgian or wild-ferment-styled beers, maybe a little bit more approachable and widespread than Adam’s cask ales, but they’re quite niche,” says Carey. In addition to his culinary and sommelier experience, Carey was the first Canadian to become a certified cicerone (like a sommelier, but with beer).

Representing Machine Ales are brewers Adam Henderson and Matt Kohlen. Like Carey, Henderson is a certified cicerone. He’s also the owner of Copper & Theory, an international beer-import agency. His brand, Machine Ales, tends to focus on hoppier beers like India pale ales and extra special bitters.

“We all had a lot of beer-industry and homebrewing experience, so coming in, we knew enough to be dangerous,” says Henderson of the venture. Chatburn says that although the initial learning curve was difficult, the overall experience has been positive. “There’s a lot of creativity and freedom that’s been afforded to us,” he says.

READERS’ CHOICES OF BEST... EATERY WITH LIVE ENTERTAINMENT

BREWERY TASTING ROOM

LOCALLY BREWED BEER

NEW BREWERY

1. BRASSNECK BREWERY

2148 Main St. 604-259-7686 2. Granville Island Brewing 1441 Cartwright St., Granville Island 604-687-2739 3. 33 Acres Brewing Company 15 West 8th Ave. 604-620-4589

1. GRANVILLE ISLAND BREWING LIONS WINTER ALE

1. BIG ROCK URBAN BREWERY

1. TEN TEN TAPAS

1010 Beach Ave. 604-689-7800 2. Libra Room 1608 Commercial Dr. 604-255-3787 3. East Is East (tie) Various locations 3. Guilt & Co. (tie) 1 Alexander St. 604-288-1704

RESTAURANT B.C. BEER SELECTION 1. ALIBI ROOM

157 Alexander St. 604-623-3383 2. Craft Beer Market 85 West 1st Ave. 604-709-2337 3. BierCraft Restaurants Various locations

B.C. BEER BREWED OUTSIDE VANCOUVER 1. DRIFTWOOD BREWERY FAT TUG IPA

2. Phillips Brewing Blue Buck 3. Four Winds Brewing Company IPA

Thank You Vancouver!

NT BEST RESTAURAILS FOR COCKTA

PRIVATE BEER STORE 1. THE BREWERY CREEK LIQUOR STORE

3045 Main St. 604-872-3373 2. Legacy Liquor Store 1633 Manitoba St., 604-331-7900 3. My Liquor Store, Various locations

PRIVATE LIQUOR STORE 1. LEGACY LIQUOR STORE

1633 Manitoba St. 604-331-7900 2. The Brewery Creek Liquor Store 3045 Main St. 604-872-3373 3. Darby’s Liquor Store 2001 Macdonald St. 604-731-0617

1441 Cartwright St., Granville Island 604-687-2739 2. Parallel 49 Gypsy Tears Ruby Ale 1950 Triumph St. 604-558-2739 3. Postmark Brewing Blonde 55 Dunlevy Ave. 604-699-1988

BEER FESTIVAL/EVENT 1. VANCOUVER CRAFT BEER WEEK

2. Hopscotch 3. Brewery and the Beast

310 West 4th Ave. 604-708-8311 2. Doan’s Craft Brewing 1830 Powell St. 604-559-0415 3. Callister Brewing Company 1338 Franklin St., 604-569-2739

LOCAL BREWERY 1. GRANVILLE ISLAND BREWING

1441 Cartwright St., Granville Island 604-687-2739 2. Postmark Brewing 55 Dunlevy Ave. 604-699-1988 3. Central City Brewers + Distillers 11411 Bridgeview Dr., Surrey 604-588-2337

CANADIAN BEER BREWED RESTAURANT IMPORTED OUTSIDE B.C. BEER SELECTION 1. STEAM WHISTLE

2. Mill Street 3. Alexander Keith’s

1. BIERCRAFT RESTAURANTS

IMPORTED BEER 1. DESCHUTES

2. Guinness 3. Sierra Nevada

Various locations 2. Craft Beer Market 85 West 1st Ave. 604-709-2337 3. Alibi Room 157 Alexander St. 604-623-3383

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t was during a 2012 trip to Houston that the idea of creating a collaborative brewery first crossed the minds of Chris Lay and Diana McKenzie. While stopping in for a meal at the now-defunct League of Extraordinary Brewers, a kitchen commissary/ brewpub in the Texan city, Lay and McKenzie were struck by the establishment’s beer service. Instead of serving up pints from big-name brands or even local microbreweries, the pub sourced all of its beer from homebrewers in the Houston area. “We thought it would be a really great way to engage more of the community and give more access to people looking for experience,” says McKenzie to the Straight as she, Lay, and three other brewers seat themselves around one of Callister Brewing Company’s long wooden tables. Callister operates on an unprecedented model that allows four different brands to brew beer under the same roof. Lay is responsible for brewing Callister’s beer, while McKenzie creates the brewery’s handmade sodas and tonics. Three of the tasting room’s 10 taps are dedicated to Callister, while the other seven are shared among up-and-coming breweries Real Cask Ales, Brewery Creek Brewing, and Machine Ales. “Our idea from the beginning was that we wanted to bring in the wealth of talent that the Vancouver homebrewing scene has, both to create a kind of community hub of brewing but also to create this incubator experience for those that are looking to go further with their brewing careers,” Lay explains. He says that as far as the government is concerned, all beer brewed at 1338 Franklin Street is Callister beer, but he allows the additional brewers to brew, name, and brand their beer however they like. Each brewer is also a temporary shareholder in the company, allowing them to brew under Callister’s licence. After a one-year term, Lay will search for new startup breweries to incubate. The idea began to take hold in 2013, when Lay and McKenzie shared it with fellow members of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ales) and the Vancouver Homebrewers Association. Adam Chatburn was president of CAMRA at the time and was instantly interested in taking part. His brand, Real Cask Ales, was the first addition to Callister’s lineup. “The styles that I want to make are very niche, and as a consequence it wouldn’t be possible to do them at a full brewery myself,” says Chatburn, who began brewing British cask ales in the U.K. at age 15. Chester Carey, who is heading up Brewery Creek Liquor Store’s venture into craft brewing, was the second brewer onboard. “The styles I focus on are largely

With each brewer focusing on different styles, Lay notes that the risk of overlap at any given time is very low. “Everyone is working on two or three beers at once, so we’re all doing what we know. That’s one of those things that regular breweries fall into by trying to hit so many different styles, whereas we’re focusing very intently on our specialties, and as a result, there’s some amazing quality across the board,” he explains. “Once people find us, they love it. Not only is our model new to us, it’s new to the consumer, and that makes it a hidden gem.” According to Lay, their primary goal is to sell beer out of the tasting room. Presently, no beer from Callister or any of the incubated breweries is available for purchase at the retail level, although certain brands and styles can be found on tap at a few restaurants and pubs throughout the city. As for the impending end of Real Cask, Brewery Creek, and Machine Ales’ first terms? While Chatburn, Carey, and Henderson say they all plan to continue brewing once they leave Callister, Lay is on the lookout for eager homebrewers who have what it takes to be featured on tap at Callister come July. “It’s now more of an audition-type role. Bring me your beer and let’s see if you’re any good.” -

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Steamworker gets the pint > B Y A M A NDA SIEBE R T

traight to the Pint taps those on the frontlines of our booming local craft-beer industry for stories about their biggest brewing successes, dream vacation spots, and which brand was always in the family fridge.

WHO ARE YOU

I’m Julia Hanlon. I am the brewmaster for Steamworks Brewing Co.’s William Street location.

YOUR DAD’S FAVOURITE BEER

When I was growing up, I would see the occasional six-pack with red labels and a ship on the front, which I later came to know as Molson Export. My dad must have sought out Steamworks Brewery Co.’s Julia Hanlon says that after she tried her first this brand, because I don’t think it Trappist beer in Bruges, Belgium, she was hooked. Amanda Siebert photo. was sold in many places in Western Canada. These days, my dad goes for volved beer that changed everything. Their reverence and appreciation for After university, I backpacked in Eur- beer was completely contagious! a Steamworks Heroica Red Ale. ope for a few months and our stop FIRST GO-TO BRAND in Bruges, Belgium, led us to a bar DREAM DESTINATION I drank my fair share of beer in called ’t Brugs Beertje, where we were I always crave a nice cold pint when university (which is to say, a lot of presented with a menu listing pages I am somewhere hot and sunny… beer), but I was pretty unaware of and pages of bottled Belgian beers. I and I love the Caribbean. I think if beer styles and was swayed by clever tried my first Trappist beer, my first I win the lottery one day, I would branding. I would say my go-to was kriek, each served in its own unique pack up my family and move us Sleeman Honey Brown—I liked my glass, and with that, I was hooked. A all to somewhere in the Caribbean beer sweeter back then. And there few years later and a couple of years and start a little brewery. It would was something about the clear bottle into my brewing career, I had the op- have to be on a beach. I don’t know that seemed cool. portunity to visit the Bavarian region if there are any other breweries on of Germany and also Prague. Beer is beaches, but as long as I win the lotLIFE-CHANGING BEER such a big part of the culture there, tery I’m sure anything is possible! I don’t know if there was one beer to the point I remember going for that changed everything for me. I breakfast and ordering tea to drink FIRST BEER BREWED would say it was more like a couple and the server giving me a sideways Unlike many craft brewers, I got my of life-changing experiences that in- look because I didn’t order a beer. start at brewing with a large brewing company—Molson. I was hired into a program that Molson used to train brewers, called the production trainee READERS’ CHOICES OF BEST... program. During this two-year apprenticeship, after which I wrote my DOUGHNUT SHOP FAIR TRADE Institute of Brewing and Distilling COFFEE SHOP (IBD) diploma exams, I worked in 1. CARTEMS DONUTERIE every aspect of brewing, from raw Various locations 1. ETHICAL BEAN COFFEE materials and brewing right through 2. Lucky’s Doughnuts 1315 Kootenay St. to packaging and distribution. It was Various locations 604-431-3830 very hands-on, so I got to climb in 3. Lee’s Donuts 2. Trees Organic Coffee tanks to push out yeast and run pack122–1689 Johnston St., & Roasting House aging equipment. I also got to create Granville Island Various locations my first recipe and brew it at the old 604-685-4021 3. Revolver Coffee Rickards Brewpub in what was then 325 Cambie St. GM Place. I made a maple cream ale 604-558-4444 INDEPENDENT COFFEE and I remember buying jugs of maple SHOP syrup from Costco. TEAHOUSE 1. REVOLVER COFFEE

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Probably my two daughters. But as it relates to beer, getting my IBD diploma in brewing, and winning the Crisp Malting Award for the highest grade on one of my exams was definitely a highlight because I got to visit Germany to receive the award. In more recent history, I am so happy about making the leap from big brewer to craft brewing and to be making beers that my friends and family are excited to drink.

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I’D LOVE A BEER WITH

Lauren Salazar, who manages the wood cellar and blending at New Belgium Brewing, because I love sour beers and I would love to pick her brain on the dos and don’ts of starting a sour program. And maybe also Larry David, because I think he is hilarious. I would hope to make a beer that he would say is “pretty, pretty good”. This is a condensed version of Straight to the Pint. Go to Straight.com for the full article and a bonus video feature.

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ARTS

Petite Cérémonie has become an audience BY JANET SM IT H

favourite in the Ballet BC repertoire—a quirky essay on the way we box ourselves in that has been remounted several times and travelled across the country since it debuted five years ago. It’s a journey, ironically, that its own creator has not been able to enjoy firsthand. “I haven’t seen it since 2011,” muses Paris-born Medhi Walerski, speaking to the Straight at the Scotiabank Dance Centre during a break from rehearsals. “It’s like you have a child and say, ‘Okay, here you go,’ ” he explains, gesturing like he’s pushing a beloved toddler out the door. Reflecting on the brief but powerful process of working as a visiting choreographer halfway around the world, he candidly adds: “Sometimes I want to cry because it is so intense. You spend all this time with these people, and then you have to leave.” Walerski, who is based at the acclaimed Nederlands Dans Theater, says he needs several days to decompress, or perhaps detach himself, between making a piece here and immersing himself in the Dutch company again. Working with a visiting choreographer is equally intense for the dancers. Ballet BC performer Peter Smida, who joins Walerski on the break, reframes the separation that comes after creation in a more positive light. An eight-season veteran of the company, he’s used to adapting to the different choreographers that come through Ballet BC’s studio doors each season. “Usually, the choreographer will stay for the premiere and then leave in the middle of the run,” Smida says. “There’s a sense of ownership: you say, ‘It’s our responsibility now,’ and it is important to uphold what’s important for the choreographer and the integrity of the work.”

Celebration and separation

Medhi Walerski works with dancers Scott Fowler and Rachel Meyer on Prélude (Amanda Siebert photo); below left, Peter Smida (Michael Slobodian photo).

together, so there’s some only here. He’s choreographed at other compersonal stuff in there.” panies, but this is the one he keeps returning to. Possibly because he is “Here, it felt like home,” he explains, adding he a dancer himself, Waler- loves the versatile dancers at Ballet BC as much ski draws heavily on the as he does the city. “It was a side turn from what European choreographer Medhi Walerski opens up about the intense ideas of his performers I was doing and I had fun and wanted to do it process of creation at Ballet BC—and having to leave a work behind when he builds a work again—there’s something in Canada that I need. Having had several sessions of working together like this one. “Peter is giving me so much—I get so I can try different things. I can be myself.” this season, Walerski and the company are in the much from all these dancers,” the choreographer Prélude, too, will show another, wholly different midst of that deep journey again. Ballet BC’s entire says. “I have so much fun with them. I love that, side to his talent. A run-through at rehearsal reveals Program 2, in fact, is devoted to Walerski’s cre- myself, as a dancer: to be that involved. I believe the it as a deeply humanistic piece about society closing ations. The first is an expanded, reinvented Prélude, piece is as much their voice as my own.” in on individuals. Wall-like rows of dancers stride a poetic exploration of chaos and order and the inHe relates that at the beginning of this process, against individuals, and out of the group, Rachel dividual versus the group. (It debuted in its original he asked all the dancers to write down different Meyer and Scott Fowler enact a yearning, anform in 2014.) The Ballet BC corps is being boosted concepts of celebration. “I’m around 30 and that’s guished pas de deux. The work often explodes from to 25, thanks to the addition of members of Arts when people start to die or people get married, order into chaos. But even in the bursts of disorder, Umbrella. The second is an unnamed piece Waler- so I had a lot of celebrations in my life,” he Walerski, perched atop a rehearsal-hall chair, ski’s been inventing with the dancers—an offbeat, explains. “And then I had this baroque watches closely for details, seeking clarity theatrical work that’s being kept a mystery, not music from [Henry] Purcell that relates in the moving mass of 20-odd dancers Check out… least because it, like the choreographer’s previous to certain celebrations and funerals. STRAIGHT.COM who pack the studio. “Don’t be affected creations, will change up until the last minute. So that’s where we started.” by the power of the music,” he calls out Visit our website “The whole thing is a journey and I guess The troupe came up with many to the troupe. “Listen to the group and for morning-after you could say I’m a bit of a guide,” hints Smida, ideas on the theme. “It ended up being pay attention to the energy between reviews and local arts news who plays a prominent role in the piece. a lot related to death and also about the each other.” Like Petite Cérémonie, the new work requires energy of celebration. There is love, sadEarlier, in the interview, he says of the the dancers to speak. It’s a job Smida, who had ness, joy,” the choreographer notes. massive moving parts of the piece: “In the to deliver a warped speech on men and women As Smida observes, the ballet-trained Walerski studio, it’s overwhelming and it’s a lot to digest and while juggling three balls in Petite, welcomes. “I is unafraid to draw on whatever stylistic methods to articulate.” actually did theatre before dance, and in Grade he needs to express his ideas. As audiences saw in In other words, it’s intense—all the more so, no 11 I got a drama award in high school,” says the eclectic Petite Cérémonie, dancers are as likely doubt, because he knows he will be leaving this the well-spoken, Royal Winnipeg Ballet–trained to speak, juggle, or shuffle their feet to the rhythm piece behind, in the hands of these dancers, in dancer with a laugh. “It’s always been something as they are to pull off balletic moves. “I love to go in just a few weeks. I’ve been interested in. There’s a comfort with being many different directions and then I find through able to stand in front of a room and speak. There’s editing that it makes sense,” Walerski says. “It just Ballet BC presents Program 2 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre next Thursday to Saturday almost something empowering about it. You can get reveals itself. It’s like mind-mapping.” super honest with no inhibitions. We built the text It’s a freedom, he reveals, that he discovers (March 17 to 19).

THINGS TO DO

ARTS High five

Editor’s choice MUST-SEE DANCE We have great expectations for the new work by 605 Collective, now renamed Company 605—but then, expectations have been high ever since the hip young dance crew exploded into existence in 2006 out of the apartment it’s named after. With works like Inheritor Album and AUDIBLE, it’s made a name for hyperathletic, street-inflected contemporary dance that speaks to the urban, the young, and the here-and-now. The upcoming premiere at the Vancouver International Dance Festival, Vital Few, promises to showcase its physical strengths. The piece is a constantly moving sculpture of six dancers, exploring group dynamics and the individual impulse. The Vancouver International Dance Festival presents Company 605 from next Thursday to Saturday (March 17 to 19) at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre.

Five events you just can’t miss this week

MADAMA BUTTERFLY (At the Queen Elizabeth Theatre to March 13) Vancouver Opera’s outstanding cast is drawing tears and standing Os.

TYLER TOEWS: TRAFFIC (At the Back Gallery Project from March 12 to 31) Brushily expressive work by Attila Richard Lukacs’s studio assistant.

REDPATCH (At Presentation House Theatre to March 12) Hardline Productions’ compelling play follows a Métis soldier in World War I.

YOUR FUTURE HOME (At the Museum of Vancouver to May 15) A creative way to work through your real-estate stress.

WONDERLAND (At the Norman Rothstein Theatre from March 10 to 13) NYC’s edgy Gallim Dance rocks the Chutzpah fest with its latest surreal vision.

Guest pick

UNTITLED SHOW: VOL II Our arts fan this week is Chris Bentzen, graphic designer and owner of indie gallery Hot Art Wet City, where the Antisocial Media show of street art is now on view. Here’s one of the events he’s looking forward to this week: “The Untitled Show: Vol II at Untitled art space is a huge show that features some great installation and illustrative work from about 20 artists squeezed into the tiny gallery.” (Lauren D. Zbarsky photo.) The Untitled Show: Vol II runs at Untitled art space (436 Columbia Street) until Sunday (March 13), with a closing event Thursday (March 10).

MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 47

ARTS

PRESENTS

Theatre for Living’s David Diamond makes the politcal personal by involving audience members in the new Reclaiming Hope. Wolfgang Rappel photo.

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48 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016

Reclaiming Hope takes on nagging voices of fear > B Y A LE XAN DER VAR TY

ince the electoral defeat of the Conservative party, less has changed than many on the left might like. On the symbolic level, however, Canada’s mood has lifted considerably, a fact that’s not lost on Theatre for Living’s artistic director, David Diamond. “It’s like the country took a big breath,” the activist and forumtheatre pioneer observes, on the line from his company’s Vancouver headquarters. For Diamond, though, that breath was also accompanied by a sigh. It’s not that he misses Stephen Harper, but he had been working on a project that was “grounded in Harperism”, and the loss of its villain also meant the end of its relevance. “We were calling it Freedom,” he explains, “and it was about the rise of economic freedom—the corporate sector’s ability to do anything to make money, and how that has really permeated the culture. “We couldn’t raise money for it, ironically,” he adds with a laugh. “And around the same time the election happened, so that coupled with the fact that we couldn’t raise the money meant that we had to rethink how to do this. We let go of the big project and focused on an aspect of the big project, which was how we’re being asked to be afraid, in lots of different ways.” The resulting work, Reclaiming Hope… from a culture of fear, explores the negative voices that have colonized our heads. In it, three audience members will be asked to volunteer stories about how they’ve had to make choices that have involved confronting fear. The audience will vote on the most compelling, which will then be developed, using the techniques of forum theatre, into an interactive parable of hope. “We use the theatre to identify those voices of fear that permeate the culture, and then change our relationship to them,” Diamond says, “i.e., we reclaim hope, not as a noun but as a verb. Hope isn’t sitting in your living room wishing things were different; it’s an action, somehow.” It’s not hard to find evidence that fear is actively being used to transform society for the worse. “Look what’s happening south of the border,” Diamond says. “It’s jaw-dropping.” But if the director is genuinely worried about the rise of American

fascism, he’s also convinced that it can be defeated by imagining a more just society. “As an activist, I got really tired of fighting against the world I didn’t want, and a decision got made to work towards the world that I do want, and that other people I know want,” he says. “And in order to do that, you’ve got to find ways to put up events where all of the characters are honoured for all of their complexity. “It’s not about having sympathy for people who are doing terrible things, but if we want to create real transformation in the world we have to have the courage to get inside why those things are happening,” he continues. “Donald Trump isn’t the monster. Trump is the manifestation of something terrible. And the only solution for that is to dig into why that’s happening.” Making the political personal through the use of audience memories is one strategy. Taking theatre into community centres is another. During its Vancouver run, Reclaiming Hope… from a culture of fear will play nine different venues, from cafés to community centres to churches, with performances often sponsored by seemingly incompatible groups. Jews and Muslims host one, Christians and LGBT activists another. An interesting side effect of this is that Theatre for Living has somehow achieved what most other local theatre groups have struggled to do: represent real diversity on-stage. Diamond allows that he has to take a deep breath before addressing this hot-button topic. “All of our work has that built in, and it has had it built in for decades,” he says, after a significant pause. “I don’t understand what the problem is for people. We live in a very diverse city.…It isn’t rocket science to make the work that theatre companies do reflect that diversity. “At the heart of it is ‘Whose stories are being told?’ ” he continues. “And ‘Who’s getting to tell those stories?’ So we’re partnering with really diverse organizations in the hope that they have the ability to mobilize their own constituencies, because in the end it’s about bringing a really diverse group of people into the room.” Theatre for Living presents Reclaiming Hope… from a culture of fear at various Vancouver venues from Thursday (March 10) to April 2.

BALLET KELOWNA BC A mixed program with live music from Toronto’s Continuum Contemporary Music. Featuring work by James Kudelka, Simone Orlando, Heather Myers and John Alleyne. May 4 – 6 > NRT GALLIM DANCE USA “Voluptuously polyglot choreography.” The New York Times March 10 – 13 > NRT

tickets: chutzpahfestival.com 604.257.5145

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

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

AVISHAI COHEN QUARTET Israel “An extravagantly skilled trumpeter.” The New York Times

May 7 > NRT Design: BigWaveDesign

SPECIAL PRESENTATION JENNIFER TEEGE Germany Discusses her new memoir, My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me – coming to terms with the horrifying fact that her grandfather was Amon Goeth, the “butcher of Plaszow.” April 2 > NRT

Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver

MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 49

ARTS

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presents

an intimate evening of theatreâ&#x20AC;Ś without a play

Joked by David Diamond â&#x20AC;&#x153;David Diamond LV DQ LQWHUQDWLRQDO WUHDVXUH Â¨ Mark Leiren-Young, Vancouver Sun

"Theatre for Living LV RQH RI WKH PRVW SUROLĂŽF OLIH FKDQJLQJ KXPDQLW\ DÇ¸UPLQJ DQG SRZHUIXO WKHDWUH FRPSDQLHV LQ WKH FRXQWU\ 7KLV LV ZKDW WKHDWUH LV WR PH ÂĽ Jenny Magenta, audience member

Reservations Recommended at 604.871.0508 or rsvp@theatreforliving.com more info:

March 10 to 27 various Vancouver venues 7:30pm April 1 & 2, Scotiabank Dance Centre 677 Davie St

Developer and philanthropist Michael Audain now has an impressive new home for his stellar collection of B.C. art. Bob Frid/Audain Art Museum photo.

Audain Art Museum enjoys a forest setting Whistler galleryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s location is well-suited to many of the indigenous pieces in the world-class collection > B Y R O B IN LAUREN CE

s a photographer stands on Whistlerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Blackcomb Way, trying to frame a shot of the entrance to the new Audain Art Museum, two young guys walk by. Their colourful snowboards, tucked under their arms, proclaim their sporty intent on this cool weekday morning. The museum sign behind them, tastefully lettered in red and white on sombre grey, poses a quite different intention: the housing and exhibiting of a stellar collection of British Columbia art, assembled over the past few decades by developer and philanthropist Michael Audain and his wife, Yoshiko Karasawa. Together, boarders, building, and benefactors suggest a provocative social experiment, siting a Class A art museum in a world-renowned mountain resort. When the museum opens to the public on Saturday (March 12), it will vie for the attention not only of Whistlerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 10,000 residents but also of an estimated 2.7 million annual visitors. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re the visitors who, until now, have been drawn to the place by its Olympic-class ski runs in the winter and its hiking and cycling trails in the summer. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re also the visitors whose more hedonistic desires have been serviced by an array of highend hotels, shops, restaurants, pubs, and spas. The boarders scarcely seem to notice the brand-new, 60,000-squarefoot museumâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which might be considered a good thing. Clad in dark metal, it has been designed by Vancouverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Patkau Architects to disappear into its forested site, at the end of the Village Stroll. At the museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s media preview, John Patkau tells the Straight that he and Audain wanted the building to be â&#x20AC;&#x153;subordinateâ&#x20AC;? to its natural setting. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At the initial phase of construction, we removed only one tree on this site,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The whole plotting of the building was to slide it into the existing forest.â&#x20AC;? The exterior cladding, he adds, â&#x20AC;&#x153;is an intentionally recessive colourâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;it recedes into the shadows, and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s our view of the appropriate relationship between it and the [natural] contextâ&#x20AC;?. Still, a different aesthetic will prevail at night. The pale gold hemlock panels that line the exterior entranceway and also the walls and ceiling of the large lobby will be lit in such a way that the museum will glow â&#x20AC;&#x153;like a lantern in 50 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 17 / 2016

the forestâ&#x20AC;?, Patkau asserts. As for building an art museum in Whistler, a move that surprised many in the Vancouver art scene, Audain explains: â&#x20AC;&#x153;For me, the important thing is the landscape. Without this landscapeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the beautiful spruce trees and cedar we have on the siteâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think we would be here.â&#x20AC;? He and Karasawa wanted to open their collection to the public in an â&#x20AC;&#x153;indigenousâ&#x20AC;? setting. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what we like ourselves, and we also felt that our art would be most comfortable in it,â&#x20AC;? he says of the facility, whose construction has been funded by the Audain Foundation and whose operation will be partly supported by admission fees, a growing endowment, and public and private grants. The art theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve donated ranges from rare 19th-century First Nations masks to modernist landscapes and landscape-based abstractions by West Coast painters such as Jack Shadbolt, Gordon Smith, and Takao Tanabe, and on to big, contemporary photographs by leading Vancouver artists including Dana Claxton, Stan Douglas, and Rodney Graham. Also on permanent display are the largest private collection of Emily Carr paintings and watercolours and an equally impressive group of paintings by the late E. J. Hughes. Carr is famous for her early identification with the First Nations subjects and the dense rainforests of the British Columbia coast. Many of Hughesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s folk-realist works depict scenes of mid-20th-century life on the same coast, characterized by fishing boats and tugboats, logstrewn beaches and lumber mills. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The thing that I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t appreciate at the outset, which I appreciate much more now, was how significant this forest context is for the oldest pieces in Michaelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collection,â&#x20AC;? Patkau says. He observes how many of the featured artists are strongly connected to the B.C. landscape and marvels at how their work speaks to the museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s setting. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Having the ability to look at the art, step out, back into the glazed walkway overlooking the forest, I think is just a spectacular juxtaposition.â&#x20AC;? The Audain Art Museum in Whistler opens to the public on Saturday (March 12). In addition to its seven permanent exhibition galleries, the museum will also feature a show of Mexican modernist paintings until May 23 in its temporary exhibition space.

ARTS

Piano and turntable combine creative forces > BY A LEX A NDER VA R TY

and live performer than anyone else I’ve come across.” Lizée also has unusually eclectic tastes when it comes to instrumentation. Earlier works have featured cheap synthesizers, toy pianos, and typewriters, and for House of Stylus Iwaasa’s playing partner will be scratch turntablist DJ P-Love. “Nicole and I have this relationship that goes back to, like, 1998 or something, when she first started doing pieces that involved turntable stuff,” says the DJ otherwise known as Paolo Kapunan, reached at his Columbia University office in New York City. “At first, there was a lot of back-and-forth— like ‘Oh, could you do this? Is it possible to do these kinds of scratches? How long does it take to switch a record?’ But with this one, she’s pretty knowledgeable about what can be done, technically, so she has a lot more freedom to write closer to what she feels.” Lizée’s thirst for experimentation hasn’t diminished, however. “There’ll be a lot of interplay between the piano and the turntables,” Kapunan explains. “Nicole will often have me do something with two copies of the same record, kind of looping a four-bar passage and then adding occasional skips and glitches, and then she’ll have the piano kind of imitate that.” In fact, House of Stylus features Iwaasa and Kapunan swapping more than musical ideas: at one point they’ll also trade instruments, a switch made easier for the DJ by his early training as a classical musician. Neither performer wants to get too deep into the details, but they’re both up for the challenge. “I’m excited and curious to see how it all plays out,” says Iwaasa, and there are many good reasons to agree. -

ocal audiences have been hearing a lot from Nicole Lizée of late, most notably when the Montreal composer’s work was featured twice in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s recent New Music Festival. And we’ll be hearing more in the fall, when she picks up the reins as Music on Main’s composer in residence. Even before that, though, we’re going to get another chance to experience her multimedia soundscapes through a Vancouver New Music–sponsored concert at the Orpheum Annex this weekend. Featuring the world premiere of House of Stylus along with Lizée’s earlier Kubrick Etudes and Cinemaism, the show is a great opportunity to find out why she’s both an unusually exciting composer and a true child of the digital age. “[Flute virtuoso] Mark McGregor described Nicky Lizée as ‘Canada’s It girl right now’, and I think that’s a pretty fair assessment,” says pianist Rachel Iwaasa, one of the two soloists in House of Stylus. “People are very excited about her music, and I think partly that comes from this kind of immersive experience that she offers. “I mean, she has so many works where she’s doing mashups with electronics and instruments and film clips,” Iwaasa continues, in a telephone interview from the Queer Arts Festival’s Yaletown office. “She chooses films that are not just classics, but cult classics, from directors that people feel very strong attachments to.…which gives a way in, I think, to the music. And I find the music quite accessible as well, I have to say. It’s not easy, particularly in its quick changes of tempi, but I’m finding it a fascinating experience, working on her music. Vancouver New Music presents She seems to think differently about House of Stylus at the Orpheum the integration of electronic music Annex on Saturday (March 12).

CHOR LEONI Erick Lichte

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THE LIST

By Jennifer Tremblay • Translated by Shelley Tepperman Directed by Jack Paterson • A Ruby Slippers Theatre Production IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE BOUCHEWHACKED THEATRE COLLECTIVE

MARCH 10–19, 2016 • Studio B

MEDIA

“A STUNNING EXAMINATION OF OBSESSION AND GUILT, love and family, friendship and sacrifice…a powerful performance by Perras.” SADmag.ca

Madama Butterfly flies with stellar soprano MUSIC MADAMA BUTTERFLY By Giacomo Puccini. A Vancouver Opera production. At the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Saturday, March 5. Continues until March 13

A remarkable thing happened the unusually loud, extended standing O at Madama Butterfly on opening night. The Vancouver audience was so taken with the title character that it not only leaped to its feet to cheer soprano Mihoko Kinoshita, but also booed the dastardly Lt. Pinkerton who destroyed her. Good-humoured American tenor Richard Troxell, fortunately, didn’t take it personally, mouthing “I’m sorry!” and earning big laughs from a crowd that only moments beforehand had been yanking out the Kleenex for the devastating final scene. Kinoshita simply owns the role, finding even more depth in the wronged geisha than she did in a highly stylized version of the opera here six years ago. It is a taxing marathon for the singer. Endowed with a particularly lustrous soprano, she never rushes it, eking every last emotion out of each word. At times she is delicate and restrained, matched beautifully by Allyson McHardy’s Suzuki (and the admirably light touch of the orchestra) in “Tutti i fior”. She finds new shades of hope and barely disguised anguish in the famous “Un bel dí”. And you simply can’t prepare for the heartwrenching finale, her goodbye to her small son and a death scene abetted by ghostly ancestral forces. The characters all come through in this production, directed by Michael Cavanagh, perhaps because it is staged so classically. Production designer Patrick Clark sets it in a stark, traditional

2 during

Japanese house framed by multiple shoji screens that open and close on the action. Visual interest comes from a real-looking cherry tree out the back, and the pink petals that float magically through the air and form a gorgeous, fluffy pastel carpet in the second half. This production emphasizes the spiritual, historical, and cultural divisions of its main players, and baritone Gregory Dahl, as the American consul Sharpless, does strong acting and singing work as the empathetic go-between who foresees the disaster the impulsive Pinkerton will create when he takes a temporary bride in late-19th-century Nagasaki. The role reversal in this Madama Butterfly is striking, with Pinkerton the weak and immature one, and Cio-Cio-San, often stereotyped as a shy, helpless 15-yearold, the centre of power here. The orchestra, under Leslie Dala, supports all this by finding the full range of Puccini’s dynamics, from whispering strings to the pounding horns of doom. The chorus, too, deserves praise, especially for the fury of the wedding guests renouncing Cio-Cio-San and for the difficult-toexecute “humming” scene, turning Butterfly’s all-night wait for Pinkerton into a mesmerizing, moonlit dream. The entire show serves as a reminder of why Butterfly, despite its disastrous debut at La Scala in 1904, remains one of the most popular operas; when it is sung with passion and commitment, it can still move audience members who have seen it countless times. Note that Kinoshita is alternating the role with Korean soprano Jee Hye Han, while Troxell switches with Adam Luther as Pinkerton. Whether they’ll elicit the same cheers and appreciative boos remains to be seen. Better bring the Kleenex just in case.

France Perras • Moe Curtin, photo

604.270.1812 gatewaytheatre.com

> JANET SMITH

MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 51

2016VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL DANCEFESTIVAL

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Distinguished conductor Christopher Seaman leads the orchestra in a program featuring Beethovenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s PDMHVWLF Emperor Piano Concerto performed by highly-decorated pianist Alexander Melnikov, and Waltonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intense and powerful Symphony No. 1. PRE-CONCERT TALK 30 )5(( 72 7,&.(7+2/'(56 Explore the Air Canada â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Travel through Musicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; display pre-concert and during intermission in the :HVWFRDVW (QHUJ\ +DOO OREE\

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ARNOLD Brass Quintet No. 1 Larry Knopp trumpet Chris Mitchell trumpet Dave Haskins horn Andrew Poirier trombone Peder MacLellan tuba SCHNITTKE String Trio Rebecca Whitling violin Emilie Grimes viola Olivia Blander cello BRAHMS 3LDQR 4XDUWHW LQ & PLQRU 2S Jason Ho violin Emilie Grimes viola Olivia Blander cello Jane Coop piano

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Tania Miller conductor Victoria Symphony

Stewart Goodyear piano*

7KH 962 SUHVHQWV WKH Victoria Symphony for a very special SHUIRUPDQFH DW WKH 2USKHXP +HDU RXU VLVWHU RUFKHVWUD with outstanding Canadian pianist Stewart Goodyear DQG 9LFWRULD 6\PSKRQ\ 0XVLF 'LUHFWRU DQG IRUPHU 962 $VVRFLDWH &RQGXFWRU WKH ZRQGHUIXO Tania Miller. VICTORIA SYMPHONY 75TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON AND TOUR SPONSOR

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In a concert dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare WKH RUFKHVWUD performs Mendelssohnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s incidental music for A Midsummer Nightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dream and an excerpt from Waltonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dreamy music for Henry V $ SLDQLVW RI H[WUDRUGLQDU\ YHUVDWLOLW\ DQG UDQJH Gilles Vonsattel performs Mozartâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Piano Concerto No. 9, called â&#x20AC;&#x153;perhaps the first unequivocal masterpiece of the Classical period.â&#x20AC;? GILLES VONSATTEL MEDIA SPONSOR

Memory Wax/Danza Teatro Retazos photo by Miguel Azcue

52 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 17 / 2016

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Joined by his sister, Talia, on cello, Itai Erdal (right) recounts the details of his Israeli divorce in A Very Narrow Bridge. Emily Cooper photo.

Narrow Bridge takes subtlety to extremes

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NORMA WINSTONE • APR. 1 @ 8 PM British jazz vocalist extraordinaire with Capilano University’s own “A” Band and NiteCap

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Tickets: 604.990.7810 • Online: capilanou.ca/centre Capilano University • 2055 Purcell Way • North Vancouver

CATS

TH E AT RE A VERY NARROW BRIDGE By Itai Erdal, Anita Rochon, and Maiko Yamamoto. Directed by Anita Rochon and Maiko Yamamoto. An Elbow Theatre production, presented by the Chutzpah Festival. At the Jewish Community Centre on Saturday, March 5. Continues until March 13

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Based on T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Directed by Ryan Mooney. Presented by Fighting Chance Productions. At the Jericho Arts Centre on Wednesday, February 24. Continues until March 12

This production of Cats is

2 downright heroic. The effort

Sometimes a light touch is a involved is huge, and so are the accomplishments. Very Narrow Bridge, performer Itai Cats is an odd musical, and I Erdal’s presence is pleasingly under- confess that, going into this show, stated. But sometimes you want art- I wasn’t a fan. Based on T.S. Eliot’s ists to use a firmer hand: Erdal shares Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, the writing credits on this piece with Cats has only the most minimal of directors Anita Rochon and Maiko stories. A bunch of felines convene Yamamoto, and the script they’ve in a junkyard. At dawn, Old Deutercome up with is so quiet and vague onomy, the head cat, will choose one that it almost doesn’t exist. of them to be reborn. In the meanFor Erdal, A Very Narrow Bridge is time, the critters sing and dance in autobiographical. In the play’s central a series of character sketches. In Anaction, he obtains a get, a divorce, from drew Lloyd Webber’s music, only one his wife and former childhood sweet- song, “Memory”, stands out. heart. The central subject of the piece But this mounting won me over. is Erdal’s discomfort, as a secular Jew, Under Ryan Mooney’s direction, with the incursions of religion into Fighting Chance Productions’ interthe operations of the state of Israel: to pretation is massively impressive and obtain his divorce, he has to endure a consistently entertaining. four-hour grilling from a rabbinical For starters, under Adam Da Ros’s court; religious leaders question him baton, it sounds frickin’ fantastic. about his identity and intentions before The harmonies in the songs are like engaging in an elaborate ritual that in- a production line of layer cakes: volves writing out the get on a piece they’re insanely rich and they just of leather. In A Very Narrow Bridge, keep coming. Many individual perthe most potent statement is the pres- formances are strong. Doug Thoms, ence on-stage of Erdal’s younger sister, who plays both Deuteronomy and a Talia, who plays her cello throughout dapper cat called Bustopher Jones, the piece. Erdal, who has moved to has a huge, warm bass voice. And Canada, worries that, as Talia ventures mark my words, Ian Backstrom, who deeper into a religious life, they will plays a kitty called Munkustrap, is lose the intimacy they once shared. going to be a star: his tone is clear On paper, this is all quite cool and and his performance is a charmsubtle. But in the theatre, the stakes ing combination of relaxation and are so low and the storytelling so focus. As Grizabella, a formerly nonspecific that nothing really mat- glamorous cat, Lisa Ricketts sells ters. Erdal and his wife have been “Memory” for slightly more than separated for a long time. That re- it’s worth—she overacts a bit—but lationship is over; it’s not like love she brings admirable passion and is on the line. Erdal speaks fondly an impressive range. of the hummus in Israel, and he inThere’s talent all over the stage, includes a few vivid sensual details— cluding: Lucia Forward and Amanda walking barefoot on tiles, the smell Lau in the acrobatic showpiece, of mushrooms in the forest after the “Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer”; first rain—but he also complains so Randy McCormick in “Gus: The much about religious restrictions Theatre Cat”, a moving number and Israeli militarism that leaving about an old theatrical trouper; and Israel doesn’t seem to have been Kyrst Hogan (Demeter) and Shayna much of a wrench for him. Cru- Holmes (Bombalurina) in the torchy cially, the relationship that we see “Macavity: The Mystery Cat”. live on-stage lacks detail. Erdal tells But wait. There’s more. Fairlith us that Talia used to share all of her Harvey, who appears as Jennyanysecrets with him, but we don’t hear dots, designed and made all of the any of those secrets. Because we costumes and wigs herself. Get out don’t get a concrete sense of the love of town, girlfriend! There is one they shared, it’s hard to empathize misstep—a tinselly red number— with Erdal’s fear of losing it. but the overall accomplishment is Talia is a skilled cellist, but the huge, especially on this small comlong solo that she plays about two- pany’s budget. thirds of the way through the piece And, in her first big gig, choreogfeels more like a musical interlude rapher Rachael Carlson knocks it out than a solidly contextualized narra- of the park, filling every square inch tive or emotional progression. with playful, complex movement, The comic bits in which the and giving Grizabella a dancing rabbis are played by Patti Allan, younger self: the lovely Lyndsey BritAnton Lipovetsky, and Tom Pickett ten, who also plays Cassandra. are effectively absurd. If you’re interested, try to buy I wanted more. tickets now; they won’t last.

2 good thing: in his new show, A

> COLIN THOMAS

Tickets from

$45.

> COLIN THOMAS

MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 53

ARTS

Art meets environmental threat

The Firehall Arts Centre presents a Twenty Something Theatre production The World Premiere of

V IS U AL AR T S IN THE FOOTPRINT OF THE CROCODILE MAN At the Museum of Anthropology at UBC until January 31, 2017

In the Footprint of the Croco-

2 dile Man is a small show on a

A Modern Fable Steeped in Maritime Lore by Julie

McIsaac

Tickets from $23

604.689.0926 280 East Cordova

firehallartscentre.ca

2015/16 Season 30th Anniversary Season Program 2 March 17 18 19, 2016 Choreography Medhi Walerski Queen Elizabeth Theatre balletbc.com | ticketmaster.ca GOLD SEASON SPONSOR

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DANCER TARA WILLIAMSON. PHOTO MICHAEL SLOBODIAN.

54 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016

Christina Cuglietta

Emily Cooper Photography

MAR 16-26

large theme. The work on view— including carved and embellished wooden sculptures, ceramic vessels, and handwoven fibre bags known as bilums—was created by contemporary artists living in the Sepik River region of Papua New Guinea. Rather than focusing entirely on the ancestral stories, religious practices, and customary functions on which the masks, musical instruments, finials, house posts, and suspension hooks are based, Museum of Anthropology curator Carol Mayer has chosen to also present these objects within the context of environmental threat from logging and mining. Of particular significance here is the mammoth Frieda River copperand-gold mine under development near the headwaters of the Sepik, one of the largest unpolluted river systems in the Asia-Pacific region. The Sepik River basin is also one of the most biologically and ethnically diverse areas in the world. From the Northwest Coast to the Amazon basin, the negative impact of resource exploitation on indigenous peoples, cultures, and livelihoods is hardly a new story. Still, In the Footprint of the Crocodile Man introduces us to an isolated area few of us will ever visit. The visually and culturally fascinating objects on display are supplemented by videos and photographs that attempt to locate us in this distant and difficult environment. Interviews with artists expand on the subjects they employ and the personal interpretations

Lucas Tangun’s How Tambanum Grew in the Footprint of the Crocodile

they apply to them. Depictions of origin myths and ancestors prevail; figures of crocodiles, mythical sisters, clan mothers, eagles, cormorants, and cassowaries dominate the artwork. As in the art of Northwest Coast First Nations, representations of animal-human transformation are also present. Visitors are ushered into the exhibition by a video of two men from Korogo village drumming a welcome on a garamut, or slit drum. The video plays behind an actual

garamut, whose sides are deeply incised with curvilinear patterns (perhaps mimicking a crocodile skin) and whose protruding ends are carved to represent masks. On display nearby are a roof finial depicting an eagle carrying an ancestral mother figure, made by Kaua Gita, and a ritual f lute in the form of a water spirit and cormorant, by Sylvester Tungi. Two wooden suspension hooks, one functional and the other purely decorative, speak to the evolution of Sepik art forms for the art market. (According to Mayer, the sales of art and crocodile hides to outsiders are essential elements of the Sepik River’s otherwise subsistence economy.) As the exhibition title suggests and the didactic panels tell us, the Crocodile is an essential character in the legends of the Sepik region, and is invoked in the initiation rituals of young men. As represented by Belden Minjan’s large wooden sculpture, young men undergo skin-cutting on their backs, arms, and legs, the resultant scarring intended to imitate the pattern of crocodile skin. Toward the end of the exhibition, a f lock of f lying foxes made of gourds, clay, and woven fibres by Angelina Gumowe threatens to swoop down on visitors. While the individual creatures are amusing, the overall effect is a tad apocalyptic. In direct reference to the Frieda River mine project, a video presents statements from government, mining-company, and environmental spokespeople. These alternate with a video interview with Teddy Balangu, a master carver in Palembei village. “This is the land of my forefathers,” he says. “I cannot leave my village. I cannot leave my culture. I cannot leave my tradition.” > ROBIN LAURENCE

ARTS

Brutal ballet puts sex and betrayal en pointe The Vancouver International Dance Festival opens with panache, thanks to the gutsy, provocative Foutrement DANCE FOUTREMENT A Compagnie Virginie Brunelle production. A Vancouver International Dance Festival presentation. At the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre on Thursday, March 3. No remaining performances

Romance isn’t just dead in Fouit’s stamped into the ground by a pointe shoe. You’ve never seen the balletic footwear used in the extreme ways it is in Virginie Brunelle’s striking yet brutal exploration of the perils of lust. The two half-naked female dancers, stripped down to white panties, teeter and tiptoe precariously, using pointe to show their vulnerability and the tenuousness of their relationship at one moment, jackhammering their toes into the ground in a frenzy of rage at the next. Ballet moves feed the sexually charged but rarely tender moments in this tortuous love triangle. The sole male dancer pulls Isabelle Arcand’s long leg high over his shoulder, then pushes her down into splits. A two-person grand plié, with her in front and him behind, becomes hot and heavy. And watch SimonXavier Lefebvre’s hands as he hoists his partner into powerful lifts, placed aggressively on an ass cheek or edging lewdly between her legs. But ballet technique is just one of the tools this exciting new choreographic force has at her disposal. In the opening’s looping beginning, Arcand and Lefebvre don hockey pads to prepare for coupling. He strides onto the stage to do sexual battle with her; sometimes she throws her head into his torso or

2 trement,

he lifts her and she collapses at his feet, and then he leaves again. The scenario, set ironically to the melodramatic strains of a Vincenzo Bellini aria, repeats—always ending with him leaving again—until the pads come off. Likewise, there’s a coolly metaphorical scene with multiple belts— cinched fetishistically around the women’s bare torsos, thrown down in a mountain at the back of the stage, and whipped around by one person in a fit of frustration. Just the undoing of belts symbolizes something sexual, but here they also work as images of constriction and bondage (of the relationship kind). As for the dance itself, it’s as physically and emotionally racking as it gets, underpinned, of course, with rigorous technique. It’s almost scary how much Arcand, in particular, gives of herself here, arching off her partner ecstatically; holding his neck and flailing her legs out horizontally in the air; or doubled over, hanging limp and lifeless on his outstretched arm. Dancer Claudine Hébert shows equal commitment, at one point running and leaping across the stage into Lefebvre’s arms—unbelievably, while he’s lying on his back on the floor. Nothing ends well here, with the dancers caught in a self-destructive loop of animal attraction and betrayal. It’s as unsettling as it is audaciously honest, the kind of work that feels like it has the guts to say what so many other dance works tiptoe around. Props to the Vancouver International Dance Festival for showing equal guts, bringing us a talent who is making a buzz with such provocative work in Europe. > JANET SMITH

WAR ROMANTICS OF THE

THE MUSIC OF BEETHOVEN, BRAHMS & WAGNER

APRIL 7 to 18, 5-CONCERT SPRING FESTIVAL 1 THURSDAY, APRIL 7 SETTING THE STAGE

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

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 JOHANNES BRAHMS

RICHARD WAGNER

ALL CONCERTS 8PM ORPHEUM

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+

3 MONDAY, APRIL 11 WAGNER VERSUS BRAHMS

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

4 SATURDAY, APRIL 16 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) MEDIA SPONSOR

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Ticketmaster.ca 1.855.985.ARTS (2787) choreography Mark Godden | based on a story by Joseph Boyden music Christos Hatzis | featuring the music of Tanya Tagaq (winner of the 2014 Polaris Music Prize) and Steve Wood & The Northern Cree Singers

April 7 - 9 / 2016 at 8pm Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver

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rwb.org MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 55

Wanna Yuk?

“Blazingly truthful production” —Time Out Chicago

(8th floor, 581 Cardero). Tix $25, info www.littlemissglitz.ca/.

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2ONGOING FIVE WOMEN WEARING THE SAME DRESS Metro Theatre presents director Don Briard’s version of Alan Ball’s comedy about female friendship and the power of the uniform. To Mar 12, 8 pm, Metro Theatre (1370 SW Marine). Tix $24/21, info www.metrotheatre.com/.

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REDPATCH Hardline Productions presents the story of a young Métis soldier who fights for Canada in World War I. Mar 9-12, Presentation House Theatre (333 Chesterfield Ave., North Van). Tix $15-28, info www.phtheatre.org/show/redpatch/. ANTHROPOCENE, OR THE NATURE OF WONDER Play explores the story of Homo sapiens, including what they did and the stories they told, after they changed everything and were the only ones left. Mar 9-13, Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre (149 W. Hastings). Tix $15/5, info www.facebook.com/events/1107640785914276/. THE HOOKER MONOLOGUES Production sees Vancouver sex workers and their allies bring audiences straight into the hidden world of sex work. Mar 9-13, 8 am, Firehall Arts Centre (280 E. Cordova). Tix $15, info www.hookermonologues.ca/. MOLL As part of CelticFest Vancouver, Standing Room Only Theatre presents Irish playwright John B. Keane’s comedy about the goings-on in a rural Kerry presbytery. Mar 10-16, St. James Hall (3214 W. 10th). Tix $20, info www.celticfestvancou ver.com/event/moll-play/. THE LIST Ruby Slippers Theatre presents director Jack Paterson’s production of Jennifer Tremblay’s play that explores how to deal with guilt you can’t admit you feel. Mar 10-19, Gateway Theatre (6500 Gilbert Rd., Richmond). Info 604-2701812, www.gatewaytheatre.com/. RECLAIMING HOPE Theatre for Living presents an interactive-theatre piece starring David Diamond. Mar 10–Apr 2, 7:30 pm, various Metro Vancouver venues. Info 604-871-0508, www.theatreforliving. com/present_work/reclaiming_hope/ reclaiming_hope_index.html. 4000 MILES Arts Club on Tour presents the story of a sprightly 91-year-old New Yorker who becomes the unlikely roommate of her 21-year-old grandson. Mar 10-11, 8 pm, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts (6450 Deer Lake Ave., Burnaby). Tix $29-44, info www.shadboltcentre.com/. LITTLE MISS GLITZ Musical parody of child-beauty pageants tells the story of a young girl who discovers that the cutthroat world of pageants takes no prisoners. Mar 11-26, 8-10 pm, PAL Theatre

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RED Play about American abstract painter Mark Rothko, who was commissioned to create murals for the posh Four Seasons restaurant in New York in 1958. To Mar 12, 8-10 pm, Deep Cove Shaw Theatre (4360 Gallant Ave., North Van). Tix $18/16, info www.firstimpressionstheatre.com/. GO, DOG. GO! Carousel Theatre for Young People presents a stage-musical adaptation of P.D. Eastman’s classic children’s book. To Mar 20, Waterfront Theatre (1412 Cartwright St., Granville Island). Tix $18-35, info www.carousel theatre.ca/production/go-dog-go/. THE GAY HERITAGE PROJECT Damien Atkins, Paul Dunn, and Andrew Kushnir present a moving homage to the gay people who came before us and the events that continue to shape our lives. To Mar 19, The Cultch (1895 Venables). Tix from $20, info www.thecultch.com/. A VERY NARROW BRIDGE Itai Erdal, Anita Rochon, and Maiko Yamamoto’s play sees Erdal relive a trial in order to obtain a divorce document. Presented as part of the Chutzpah Festival. To Mar 13, 7 pm, Jewish Community Centre (950 W. 41st). Tix $29/25/21, info www.chutz pahfestival.com/. GA TING The frank theatre company presents Minh Ly’s story about an immigrant Chinese couple trying to come to terms with the death of their son. To Mar 19, Vancity Culture Lab (the Cultch, 1895 Venables). Tix $25, info www.thecultch. com/events/ga-ting-family/.

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TU TE SOUVIENDRAS DE MOI François Archambault’s play tells the story of a retired history teacher who has started to lose his memory. To Mar 12, 8-9:45 pm, Studio 16 (1545 W. 7th). Tix $25-28, info bit. ly/1PAHdWA.

DANCE 2THIS WEEK VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL DANCE FESTIVAL Annual celebration of dance features performances by Circadia Indigena, Compagnie Virginie Brunelle, Sujit Vaidya, Natsu Nakajima, Memory Wax/Danza Teatro Retazos, Project Soul, EDAM, Dumb Instrument Dance, Company 605, Kokoro Dance, Mascall Dance, and Raven Spirit Dance. To Mar 19, Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre (181 Roundhouse Mews). The event also runs at Vancouver Playhouse and Woodward’s Atrium. Tix start at $20, info www.vidf.ca/.

MUSIC 2THIS WEEK MADAMA BUTTERFLY Vancouver Opera presents Giacomo Puccini’s opera about a young Japanese girl who falls in love with an American naval officer. To Mar 13,

A LUST FOR LISTS Reviewing Jennifer Tremblay’s play The List, the Straight’s Kathleen Oliver called solo actor France Perras’s performance “heartbreaking” and “a marvel of containment”. Now audiences get another rare chance to see the actor take on the role. In Shelley Tepperman’s translation for this Ruby Slippers production, Perras plays a character struggling to hold chaos— and grief—at bay by making lists. It runs from Friday (March 11) to March 19 at Richmond’s Gateway Theatre. Queen Elizabeth Theatre (650 Hamilton). Tix from $45, info www.vancouveropera.ca/. TO SEE A WORLD The Phoenix Chamber Choir presents a collection of songs from different countries. Mar 11, 7:30 pm, Heritage Hall (3102 Main Street). Tix free to $25, info www.phoenixchoir.ca/. HUNGARIAN DANCES The UBC Symphony and UBC Opera Ensemble present the North American premieres of Emmerich Kálmán’s Endre es Johanna and Charles Kálmán’s La Parisienne, as well as works by Brahms, Ravel, Enesco, and Berlioz. Mar 11, 8 pm, Chan Shun Concert Hall (6265 Crescent Rd., Chan Centre at UBC). Tix $8, info www.music.ubc.ca/. MYVOICE AT THE CHAN This familyfriendly concert is presented as part of the VanMan Choral Summit. Mar 12, 4 pm, Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (6265 Crescent Rd., UBC). Free admission, info www.chorleoni.org/concerts-events/ events/myvoice-chan-2/. VANMAN MALE CHORAL SUMMIT CONCERT Music by Chor Leoni Men’s Choir, Chor Leoni’s MYVoice choirs, British Columbia Boys Choir, UBC Men’s Choir, and Vancouver Men’s Chorus. Mar 12, 7:30 pm, Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (6265 Crescent Rd., UBC). Tix $10-28, info www.chorleoni.org/concerts-events/ events/vanman-choral-summit-concert/. BEETHOVEN’S EMPEROR CONCERTO Christopher Seaman conducts pianist Alexander Melnikov and the VSO in a performance of Beethoven’s Emperor Piano Concerto and Walton’s Symphony No. 1. Mar 12, 14, 8 pm, Orpheum Theatre (601 Smithe). Info www.vancouversym phony.ca/. TAKACS STRING QUARTET The Friends of Chamber Music presents the classical quartet in a performance of music by Haydn, Beethoven, and Shostakovich. Mar 13, 3-5 pm, Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton). Tix $48, info ow.ly/YG3HO.

see page 58

ILLUSTRATION LYDIA AVSEC

at the Chan Centre

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56 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016

MOVIES

March 8-13, 2016 Produced with VIFF’s Vancity Theatre www.womeninfilm.ca

An aging shaman leads the search for a sacred psychedelic in director Ciro Guerra’s transformative Embrace of the Serpent.

Dreaming in the Amazon > B Y A DRIA N M A C K

lobal corporate capitalism is terminal, and its rational-materialist foundation is wheezing to death with it. Enter Embrace of the Serpent (now playing), a head movie with an unequivocal message for the developed world. “When you come back, you never look at things the same,” says filmmaker Ciro Guerra, talking to the Straight from Bogotá, Colombia, about his time in the Amazon. “And that is what I was looking for.” For his third feature, Guerra wanted to fulfill a lifelong dream of filming in Colombia’s Amazonia region, constructing a story around the diaries of two real-life explorerscientists, Theodor Koch-Grunberg and Richard Evans Schultes (loosely embodied by actors Jan Bijvoet and Brionne Davis, respectively). Both men are searching for a sacred entheogen called Yakrune; Davis’s character, in a crude but effective metaphor for western spiritual paralysis, seeks the plant because he “cannot dream”. Both are also accompanied by the shaman Karamakate, the last member of a tribe wiped out by Spanish rubber barons,

unforgettably played in older and younger iterations by nonactors Antonio Bolivar and Nilbio Torres. The luminous black-and-white photography is a technical marvel, but Guerra’s Oscar-nominated film derives its real energy from a much more numinous place. He eagerly admits that his yearning to “journey into the unknown” was directed inward as much as anything. “If I had to sum it up,” he says, “I would say I essentially lost a lot of weight: emotional, spiritual, intellectual weight. I learned to be transparent. But that’s just trying to put into words something that cannot be explained.” On a more concrete level, Guerra’s working relationship with the region’s indigenous people immediately transformed his project. “It was a three-and-a-half-year process in which the film became imbued with Amazonian myth, Amazonian storytelling, and translated by the people into indigenous languages,” he explains. “And in the process, it was rewritten.” As Guerra told the New York Times, he then hedged against any Fitzcarraldo-like disasters by asking a shaman to do some advance work on the film’s behalf, spending

a night alone in the jungle, “explaining the project to the forest”. “And even though it was a very demanding shoot, we felt that nature was helping us to make the film,” he continues on the phone. “We had no accidents; we had no diseases; we saw all kinds of animals, but nobody was bitten or attacked by anything; the weather was collaborating with us. Yeah, we felt that the world was allowing us to make the movie.” How audiences receive Embrace of the Serpent is, of course, outside of anyone’s control. Those looking for an exquisitely lensed Heart of Darkness– style yarn will hardly be disappointed, especially given some of the film’s more gruesome sequences. But Guerra is clearly delighted that viewers, “fatigued by the capitalist system”, as he puts it, are tuning in to something significantly deeper than that. “There’s so much violence in the world right now,” he says, “and so much hate, so much xenophobia, and we see all these crises. I feel that there’s a change, that people are more open to listening to traditional knowledge, which up until very recently was reduced to just folklore and superstition. But now I think people are just looking for different ways to be human, you know?” -

WHEN GIANTS FALL African elephants are tragically left with tiny parcels of land and nowhere to run as they face extinction. This documentary examines the constant threat against these charismatic giants from the worldwide yet illegal ivory trade. Revealing painful truths, this film not only points to the damage humanity is inflicting upon both elephants and itself, but furthers the discussion regarding conservation and sustainability. Sunday, March 13th at 3:00 PM KINDERWALD Lyrical and suspenseful, Kinderwald is set in 1854 Pennsylvania. Flora, her two children and her dead husband’s brother, John, have arrived to homestead. When the young boys disappear without a trace, life becomes a trial of faith for both Flora and John. With its stunning cinematography and perfectly calibrated performances, this film is a festival favourite. Saturday, March 12th at 6:00 PM BRIDES (PATARDZLEBI) Nutsa lives with her two children in the suburbs, while her partner Goga is incarcerated. A prison wedding grants them visitation rights, but the routine of prison visits begins to change the meaning of their separated lives. The stress becomes unbearable, and the conjugal visit acts to reinforce the bars between them. An austere yet compelling film where the characters are captured with sensitivity and compassion, Brides has screened at festivals and collected awards worldwide, proving itself an audience and jury favourite. Saturday, March 12th at 8:30 PM

Five Days of Female Driven Films #VIWIFF2016

1181 SEYMOUR ST. 604.683.FILM \ VIFF.ORG

Outta luck and on the lam RE VIEW S RIVER Starring Rossif Sutherland. In English, French, Lao, and Thai, with English subtitles. Rated PG

Rossif Sutherland is a volunteer doctor in Laos who

2 becomes an instant fugitive in this wired and gen-

of love for her; she snagged the rights to Chicago Tribune writer Kim Barker’s nonfiction memoir, The Taliban Shuffle, after Michiko Kakutani’s New York Times review said Barker came across as “a sort of Tina Fey character”. Fey produced the film with SNL honcho Lorne Michaels, and the script by Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt writer Robert Carlock changes the lead’s name to Baker, and makes her a TV reporter who shakes off her desk job by going to Afghanistan in 2003, where events are soon overshadowed by Bush’s invasion of Iraq. Political context is mostly avoided, aside from an ordinary marine who has read some history. (“You have to go back to the British Empire,” he says, suggestively.) And there’s no critique of the essentially compromised notion of “embedding” press in military units. The two-hour movie is less forgiving of the news establishment’s lack of interest in Baker’s reporting of how Afghan women, “wrapped in IKEA bags”, are experiencing the war. WTF is refreshingly nonjudgmental of Baker’s sexuality, and of the general weirdness of her colleagues, including Margot Robbie as a Kabul-loving bombshell, and Martin Freeman, working against type as a macho Scottish photographer. Billy Bob Thornton has a great turn as a marine commander who gradually warms to Baker’s involvement. Given the film’s general sensitivities, and the current climate in Hollywood, it’s surprising that directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (I Love You Phillip Morris) should give the only prominent Afghan roles to westerners: Girls’ Christopher Abbott, dignified as a shy translator, and Alfred Molina, cartoonish as a corrupt politician. The main thing missing, though, is the aura of extreme craziness that would have put Baker, and us, in an unforgettable place.

erally impressive thriller. Forced to take a little R&R after botching a leg amputation (gruesomely convincing, especially that nicked artery), John Lake goes deep into the jungle to regroup at a bucolic resort. He’s only a few beers into it before he’s gallantly having to remind the other white guests—an obnoxious Australian, principally—to play nice with the local girls. By the end of the night, Lake has stumbled across a rape, accidentally killed the Aussie, and lost his wallet. Written and directed by Canada’s Jamie M. Dagg, making his feature debut, River hits the ground running after that excruciating setup, with Lake escaping by foot, bike, stolen car, and whatever other conveyance might get him across the Mekong to Thailand, a mob of military police and Dagg’s superkinetic camera always close behind. Claustrophobically humid location aside, Sutherland is the film’s biggest asset. Providing more than just a necessary deconstruction of cinema’s hoary old Wrong Man shtick, he makes Lake’s billowing anxiety look painfully real once the cops confiscate his passport and start nudging him around at gunpoint. The arrival of an American embassy worker with a slightly ambivalent moral framework points to the film’s higher thematic ambitions, but if River’s brisk 95 minutes and nervous economy ultimately fall a tad short—this is a modestly budgeted Canadian movie, after all—it’s not because THE YOUNG MESSIAH Sutherland and Dagg aren’t willing to wade right in. > ADRIAN MACK

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT Starring Tina Fey. Rated 14A

Once you get past the fact that it’s not the comedy its trailers imply, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot has some unexpected strengths. The first is Tina Fey’s straight turn as a stateside reporter who gets addicted to dangerous action in a permanently fucked-up environment. Although the role blunts some of her comic energy, it’s clearly a labour

> KEN EISNER

Starring Sean Bean. Rated PG

It’s tempting to call The Young Messiah a Sunday

2 school movie of sorts.

The film—which takes place when Jesus is seven years old and returning to Palestine with his family—is based on Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, one of two Jesus-centred novels that Anne Rice wrote during the decade or so in which she self-identified as a practising Catholic. The film’s director, Cyrus Nowrasteh (The Stoning of Soraya see page 59

MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 57

Arts time out

“BRILLIANT.

ENTERTAINING AND TENSE,

THIS FILM COMES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!” - AIN’T IT COOL NEWS

“RIVER IS EXCELLENT.” - TWITCH.COM

“A TAUT, SMART AND ENGAGING FILM.” - SOCHANGE.CA

“AN INTENSE THRILLER.” - EFILMCRITIC.COM

from page 56

STANISLAV PRONIN AND ALEXANDER SEREDENKO Music in the Morning presents the classical musicians performing works by Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, and Piazzolla. Mar 16-18, 10:30-11:30 am, Vancouver Academy of Music (1270 Chestnut). Tix $35/33/16, info www.music inthemorning.org/. BRAHMS, BRASS, AND STRINGS The VSO, trumpeters Larry Knopp and Chris Mitchell, horn player David Haskins, trombonist Andrew Poirier, tuba player Peder MacLellan, violinists Rebecca Whitling and Jason Ho, violist Emilie Grimes, cellist Olivia Blander, and pianist Jane Coop perform works by Arnold, Schnittke, and Brahms. Mar 16-17, 7:30 pm; Mar 20, 2 pm, Pyatt Hall (843 Seymour). Info www.van couversymphony.ca/.

COMEDY 2JUST ANNOUNCED MAZ JOBRANI Iranian-American comedian, actor, author, and founding member of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour will be peforming a show entitled I’m Not a Terrorist, But I’ve Played One on TV. Jun 3, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Vogue Theatre (918 Granville). Tix on sale Mar 11, 10 am, $100/39.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. MARLON WAYANS American actor, writer, director, and comedian, known for films such as White Chicks and A Haunted House, will be performing on his SCANDAL-LESS tour. Jun 4, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Vogue Theatre (918 Granville). Tix on sale Mar 11, 10 am, $48 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. BRIAN REGAN American standup comedian performs a solo show. Aug 28, doors 6 pm, show 7 pm, Vogue Theatre (918 Granville). Tix on sale Mar 11, 10 am, $52.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

2ONGOING

WINNER BEST FIRST FEATURE

YUK YUK’S COMEDY CLUB 2837 Cambie, 604-696-9857, www.yukyuks.com/vancou ver. 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. 2RON JOSOL, JOHN PERROTTA, JAMES KENNEDY Mar 10-12 2STEVE BYRNE, GARY CANNON Mar 18-19 2AARON BERG, ALEX SPARLING Mar 24-26

CANADIAN SCREEN AWARDS

WINNER

BEST canadian FEATURE

whistler film festival

LAFFLINES COMEDY CLUB 530 Columbia St., New Westminster, 604525-2262, www.lafflines.com/. 2DARRYL LENOX Mar 18-19 2KRIS SHAW Apr 1-2

official selection

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. 2ANDREW GROSE Mar 10-12 2SIMON KING Mar 17-19 2DARCY MICHAEL Apr 7-9

toronto international film festival 2015

official selection

straight choices

fantastic fest 2015

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COLOUR IT CELTIC Arts happenings around town are taking on a definite green tinge in the days before St. Patrick’s. As CelticFest revs up, try to catch Moll, Standing Room Only’s rendition of Irish playwright John B. Keane’s witty parody of a presbytery in 1970s County Kerry. It’s the same troupe that brought the immersive The Weir to the fest last year. This time out, catch them in two locations: St. James Hall on Thursday, Saturday, and Monday (March 10, 12, and 14) and at Dentry’s Irish Grill on Friday, Saturday, and Wednesday (March 11, 13, and 16). Meanwhile, on Friday (March 11), the Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir fills St. Andrew’s–Wesley Church with its 80 voices, joined by the De Danaan Irish Dancers, piper Tim Fanning, and the band Ballyhooley. And don’t forget to hit the CelticFest parade on Sunday (March 13), starting at 11 a.m., along Howe Street, complete with marching pipe and drum bands, acrobats, Irish and Scottish youth dance groups, and much more. Commercial). Tix $25-30, info www.lecentre culturel.com/justepourrirevancouveren/.

LITERARY EVENTS 2THIS WEEK CBC LITERARY PRIZES AND THE FLAME True stories by Amanda Parris, Torquil Campbell, and Jane Silcott. Mar 10, 7-9 pm, Fox Cabaret (2321 Main). Tix $20/15, info www.facebook.com/groups/ flamevancouver/. INCITE: AN EXPLORATION OF BOOKS AND IDEAS Yann Martel will read from The High Mountains of Portugal and Claudia Casper will read from her novel The Mercy Journals. Mar 16, 7:30-9 pm, Alice MacKay Room (Vancouver Public Library, 350 W. Georgia). Info www.vpl.ca/.

ET CETERA 2THIS WEEK CHUTZPAH FESTIVAL Dance, theatre, comedy, and music highlight this year’s festival with performances and workshops by international, Canadian, and local artists. To Mar 13, various Vancouver venues. Info www.chutzpahfestival.com/.

GALLERIES

ROSSIF SUTHERLAND

A FILM BY JAMIE

M. DAGG

VIOLENCE, COARSE LANGUAGE, ACCIDENT TRAUMA

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58 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016

LIFT UP EVERY VOICE We’re willing to bet that the only place you’ll hear more men singing together is at a Whitecaps game—but these voices are in tune. Vancouver’s acclaimed Chor Leoni is hosting this year’s VanMan Choral Summit, which concludes with a gala performance at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on Saturday (March 12). With participants including the British Columbia Boys Choir, the UBC Men’s Choir, the Vancouver Men’s Chorus, Chor Leoni’s MYVoice youth ensembles, and the lions themselves, there will be nearly 400 voices on-stage for the finale, in what should be a glorious roar of choral sound. VANCOUVER THEATRESPORTS LEAGUE 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). Mar 9-16, The Improv Centre (1502 Duranleau, Granville Island). Info www.vtsl.com/.

2THIS WEEK GALA DES RENDEZ-VOUS DE LA FRANCOPHONIE: JUSTE POUR RIRE Annual francophone-comedy night brings together acclaimed and up-and-coming Franco-Canadian talents. Includes Virginie Fortin, Simon Gouache, and Laurent Paquin. Mar 11, 8 pm, York Theatre (639

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) to Jun 12

MUSEUMS MUSEUM OF VANCOUVER 1100 Chestnut Street, 604-736-4431, www.museumof vancouver.ca/. 2YOUR FUTURE HOME: CREATING THE NEW VANCOUVER (exhibition engages visitors with the bold visual language and lingo of real-estate advertising as it presents the visions of Vancouver designers about the cityscapes of the future) to May 15 THE MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY AT UBC 6393 NW Marine Drive, 604-822-5087, 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 2JUST ANNOUNCED ISLE OF THE ARTS FESTIVAL Sixty workshops and seven events over 10 days. Mar 31–Apr 10, Gabriola Island. Info www.artsfest.artsgabriola.ca/.

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

M.), also talked openly about becoming a baptized Christian while the film was still in development. But The Young Messiah would have difficulty getting into some church basements, thanks to its reliance on apocryphal legends. It is also more violent than its family-friendly title might suggest: a woman kills a rapist in self-defence, while a somewhat contrived subplot follows a Roman centurion (Sean Bean) who is haunted by his role in the biblical slaughter at Bethlehem, and is ordered by Herod to track Jesus down and finish the job. As in The Passion of the Christ, with which this film shares some personnel, Jesus is taunted regularly by a demonic figure (Rory Keenan) that no one else can see. Lars von Trier fans may get a kick out of the way that this character yells â&#x20AC;&#x153;Chaos rules, and I am its prince!â&#x20AC;? As Joseph and Mary, Vincent Walsh and Sara Lazzaro spend most of their time expressing various degrees of concern. Christian McKay (Me and Orson Welles), on the other hand, has some fun as Jesusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s outspoken, opinionated uncle Cleopas. But the filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest strength is young Adam Greaves-Neal, who, as the prepubescent Christ, pulls off the tricky balancing act of playing a believable kid who also has a destiny that is mysterious even to him. Every child has questions that parents are reluctant to answer, and one of the better things about The Young Messiah is how it manages to suggest that Jesus was just like the rest of us in that regard, only more so. > PETER CHATTAWAY

THE MERMAID Starring Yun Lin. In Mandarin, with English subtitles. Rating unavailable

Splash meets The Cove in this strange and ceaselessly entertaining box-office smash from China. Opposing impulses are pushed together with enough verve and good intentions to convince

2 genuinely

Scan to confess Pitchdork I am wildly attracted to men who have an intense, borderingon-obnoxious passion for music and film. The problem: my cultural knowledge does not run as deep, I absorb the arts in a measured, impressionistic way, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m afraid that these guys will write me off as slow and boring if they get to know me. Sub-confession: Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m terrified of being perceived as stupid.

CC: Christy Clark RE: Real Estate Crisis Solved I think foreign buyers in real estate in Vancouver (individual people or companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s without Canadian citizenship) need to be taxed either half of or the full price of their purchase in order to buy in BC. With that money the province can develop affordable housing solutions. And baby-boomers win. Also, put in a bylaw that the house canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be torn down for ten years. See how fast the market adjusts itself then.

Subway I have never gone to a Subway where the â&#x20AC;&#x153;artistâ&#x20AC;? has cut my sub fully in half. They always leave an inch or more attached. How hard is it to cut through bread and vegetables!? Not Very!!

I Love Him But.... I wish he would bathe and wear deodorant more often.

OUT! After 20 years, I have finally accepted myself as a lesbian. It is unfortunate that I rejected myself and all the â&#x20AC;&#x153;could have beenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;sâ&#x20AC;? for so long. I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wish this on anyone.

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classic with respect and imagination, with initially satisfying results. While not quite as deluxe as a Disney or Pixar venture, this partially French-funded featureâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;available in both French- and Englishlanguage versionsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;features some gorgeous animation and an ambitious structure. Plunking the simple postwar story in a modern context, Kung Fu Panda director Mark Osborne and his writers focus on an unnamed little girl (voiced by Mackenzie Foy) moving in next door to a retired aviator (Jeff Bridges) who delivers his tale one page at a time. The girlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life is scheduled to the last detail by her neurotic single mom (Rachel McAdams), but thanks to the latterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s benign neglect, the kid is able to learn about the flyerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s long-ago crash landing in the Sahara. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s where he met the titular princeling (Riley Osborne), later encountering creatures and people on other self-contained planets, with voices supplied by James Franco, Benicio Del Toro, and Ricky Gervais, among others. Made in the shiny CGI style of Inside Out and Up, the present-day sequences alternate with the pilotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s adventures, lovingly crafted out of paper for wonderful stop-motion magic, all supported by Hans Zimmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s uncharacteristically simple and jazzy score. The contrast is interesting, too, because the original is so male-centric, with female presence essentially limited to the abstraction of a single rose (here enlivened by Marion Cotillard). The new filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s girl-power message is refreshing, but even that gets lost in an ill-advisedly dark, long, and overly familiar action sequence that manages to pretty > KEN EISNER much wipe out the bookâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gentle message to keep childhood imTHE LITTLE PRINCE agination alive as long as possible. At 108 minutes that increasingly Featuring the voice of Jeff Bridges. drag, the movie will delight some Rated G children (or former children) and The makers of this animated make others wish they could have update of The Little Prince ap- stayed on their own little planets. > KEN EISNER proach Antoine de Saint-ExupĂŠryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

>JA$ E9J )0

from page 57

startled viewers to embrace its mix of slapstick comedy, brutal violence, and aroused environmentalism. Newcomer Yun Lin plays the titular Shan. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been chosen as the prettiest among merpersons living in an abandoned tanker in Green Gulf, at the foot of Guillotine Cliff. Her flippers have been modified so she can wear shoes (sort of), and both males and females wear tasteful bikini tops, including a dreadlocked octodude played memorably by pop singer Show Luo. Shanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s supposed to seduce and help get rid of rich guy Liu Xuan (the popular Chao Deng), a conscienceless bastard whose coastal developments are killing marine life, both rare and ordinary. Liuâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s much smarter business partner Ruolan (supersexy Kitty Zhang Yuqi) is into him, but heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s drawn to the oddly dressed, deeply accident-prone Shan, and she flips for her intended victim, too. Ruolan doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like the idea of him â&#x20AC;&#x153;chasing some tailâ&#x20AC;?, as she unknowingly puts it, and starts investigating. This leads to a gruesome change of tone foreshadowed by the filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quick snippet of the abovementioned Cove, a heartbreaking doc about the annual slaughter of trapped dolphins in Japan. Perhaps only Hong Kongâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;born writer-director Stephen Chow, maker of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle, could have pulled off such a Bass-o-matic venture, convincingly blenderizing cheesy special effects, effective sight gags, angry agitprop, and pop-culture references ranging from Red Army opera to â&#x20AC;&#x2122;80s Sinopop. (Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s even a cameo by Kris Wu, a musical sensation raised in Vancouver.) The filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a weird treat, but please leave your tadpoles at home.

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MARCH 10 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 59

60 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016

MUSIC

Zachary Gray covers a lot of ground in a

BY JOHN LUCAS

short span of time. Over the course of a 45-minute interview with the Georgia Straight, the singer and guitarist discusses—among other topics— green energy, heritage conservation, feminism, and the evolution of his band, the Zolas. That last subject is particularly germane because the Zolas have a brand-new album out, and it’s a corker. Swooner is a pop record, which is worth noting because the Vancouver-based Zolas have never really made one of those before. Previous outings Tic Toc Tic (2009) and Ancient Mars (2012) were both excellent LPs, but they showcased the artsy indie-rock side of Gray and his long-time collaborator, keyboardist Tom Dobrzanski. “I kind of think that we’ve always been trying to make a pop record,” says Gray, interviewed at a West Broadway coffee shop. “It took a lot of experience and it took a lot of time for us to get good at it. I just don’t think we were that good at making pop records before, so that albums ended up being a lot more difficult because we didn’t really know how to be simple.” The songs on Swooner are far too well-crafted to be called simple, but numbers like “CV Dazzle” and “Invisible” are built on infectious grooves that are relatively unadorned, with the hooks front and centre.

Something to say in a song

The notion has met with much derision from his bandmates, but the Zolas’ Zachary Gray (second from left) is convinced he can bring back vogueing.

to a body of friends”. The synth-buzzed “Molotov Girls”, meanwhile, was inspired by the take-nobull attitude of the balaThe Zolas have embraced their pop side, but that clava-clad Russian shit doesn’t mean they’ve watered down their message disturbers in Pussy Riot, “We wanted to make something where there’s and “Male Gaze” blasts misogynists—in paronly ever five elements going on at most,” Gray ticular members of a contingent Gray describes says. “That’s always the music I love the most, as “this new millennial wave of chauvinist asswhere the pieces leave room for each other, and holes”—who view women as the prizes in some that’s how you get real texture and aesthetic out real-life video game. of sounds and stuff. We’d never really focused If you haven’t picked up on the common on the aesthetic of our album before. We kind thread there, well, let’s just say Gray isn’t afraid of relied on a producer to do that. This time to use the F-word. we were like, ‘No, we know how we want it to “It’s definitely a feminist album, but it’s desound. We know what sounds we like. So let’s cidedly written by guys,” he says. “I can’t speak just find a few sounds that we really like and for women, I can’t speak for female feminists, leave them alone.’ ” but I hope they don’t mind us putting out an In fact, the band produced Swooner itself album like this. at Dobrzanski’s Monarch Studios. For the “When I talk to my friends in town who are first time, the core duo was joined by a bass- politically active, they’re mostly women,” Gray ist and a drummer who were actually members continues. “The people who give a shit about of the group as opposed to hired guns. Gray the world and want to make changes—in my gives four-stringer Cody Hiles and kit-basher group of friends, it’s mostly women. But that’s Dwight Abell much of the credit for redirecting not the stereotype. I wanted to make a fun rethe cerebral Zolas to the dance f loor. “This is cord about something that I felt passionately the first album where we’ve had a really solid about, and ‘Molotov Girls’ is basically saying, rhythm section right from the beginning,” he ‘No, girls don’t just want to have fun.’ You just says. “They’re in the band, and it means that we have to open your eyes and read the news to figget to write songs that are more rhythm-based ure that out.” instead of being melody-and-chords-based. Gray certainly has his eyes open, and he figures I feel like melody and chords were the domain it’s his duty to use whatever clout he might have to of the 20th century, and the 21st century has comment on what he’s seeing. “People need pershifted really hard to rhythm-based music. You spectives expressed out there in the world, in art can make a song that’s catchy because the beat and in culture and on the Internet,” he reasons. is catchy, with very little else going on, and we “The kind of assholes who I disagree with have wanted to try our hand at that.” no qualms with voicing their opinion, so I need Mind you, there’s a lot going on in these to do the same thing. I need to show the other songs, at least on the lyrical level. Gray is justi- side. I need to try to influence the same amount fiably proud of that aspect of Swooner, noting as them—although I don’t enjoy social media that this batch of songs contains “the best lyrics enough to actually be good at that.” I’ve ever written”. Propelled by a guitar riff that So Gray’s no Twitter champion. At least he bears a passing resemblance to the Stone Temple has the opportunity to reach people through his Pilots’ “Big Bang Baby”, the title track celebrates songs, which he’ll have ample opportunity to do women who make their mark on the world while when the Zolas hit the road for tour dates across still finding the time and energy to be “the spine much of Canada in a few weeks.

CHECK THIS OUT

LORD MAYOR MOZ Morrissey is considering running for

mayor of London, on a platform heavily weighted toward animal welfare and against the meat industry. Oddly, his love for the capital probably has his hometown of Manchester feeling like chopped liver.

CAN’T BEAT THE RAP As part of Meek Mill’s house arrest

JUSTIN BIEBER The days of Justin Bieber’s name being an instant punch line are in the past. The pride of Stratford, Ontario, has almost entirely outgrown his youthful assholery, and more importantly, he has also evolved past his teenie-pop beginnings. His most recent album, Purpose, is the work of a maturing artist, rather than an immature asswipe who pissed in restaurant mop buckets and held drag races in residential neighbourhoods. And you don’t have to be a screaming teenage fangirl to appreciate it. Does this mean that the audience for Bieber’s Rogers Arena concert on Friday (March 11) will be composed of anything but screaming teenage fangirls? Oh, fuck no. -

in + out

The Zolas’ Zachary Gray sounds off on the things that enquiring minds want to know.

On bonding with the new guys: “When we met Cody and Dwight, it just became really obvious that they were the ones we wanted to build the band with. The band’s changed a lot, and a lot of it is because of them. They have their own sensibility. It’s kind of cute. Tom and I grew up together; we’ve been friends since we were 13. And they’ve been friends since they were 10.” On making a feminist LP: “The album is a product of the kind of conversations that I’ve been having with friends. Not just conversations, but the kind of stuff that comes up when you live in 2015-2016. And feminism’s been a big part of that. There’s been a new feminist wave breaking online, and I’ve been reading a lot about it, because you kind of have no choice. It’s in the air, and it’s happening. People are kind of figuring out that some people—men and women—have a fucked-up way of looking at women sometimes, and that our stereotypes are wrong.”

On his influences: “When I was a kid, I only liked two kind of music. It was the ’90s, and I liked grunge, and I liked electro-pop music— like Much Music Dance Mix ’93. And those were two sort of musical movements that were happening at the exact same time. I wanted to see, can we make a dance-grunge song? That was a challenge. I wanted to see if we could combine the elements of ’90s alternative with elements of ’90s electro-pop. So on ‘CV Dazzle’ we were going for a Smashing-Pumpkins-meets-C+CMusic-Factory kind of sound.”

MUSIC Let’s talk about

You gotta see

“At the core of it, our band really wants to be a weird, intelligent pop band that says something,” Gray concludes—which is a pretty accurate description of the sort of weird, intelligent pop band that the Zolas already are. -

for violating probation, a Philadelphia judge has issued an order prohibiting the MC from rapping for 90 days. In other news, Drake’s opinion of the American legal system has improved exponentially.

FOUR-STRING FRIEND Ex-Nirvana bassist Krist

Novoselic returns to the studio as a guest in sessions for the Melvins’ upcoming Basses Loaded, due this June. While it’s disappointing they won’t be covering “Love Buzz”, the good news is you won’t be subjected to a medley of Sweet 75 songs.

ON THE OUTS Graham Nash has described former

Crosby Stills & Nash bandmate David Crosby as being “fucking awful” as a friend and a person. “Fucking awful”, coincidentally, also describes everything Crosby Stills & Nash have done since 1971.

Fresh and local SHUYLER JANSEN THE LONG SHADOW Anyone can name-check Kyuss, Willie Nelson, the Cure, and My Bloody Valentine in their promo material, and Shuyler Jansen sure does on the press release for his new album The Long Shadow. What’s impressive is that the former Prairie mainstay isn’t talking out of his ass, with his latest longplayer showing that boundaries exist only to be blurred. Jansen— who has moved out west to North Van—shifts easily from desertshimmer pop to draped-in-strings folk to space-cowboy country, with the seamlessness of someone who actually listens to the Cure, Kyuss, MBV, and the Red Headed Stranger, as opposed to just name-checking them because it looks cool in a promo package. -

MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 61

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MAR 11: DEAD ASYLUM AND SAINTS OF DEATH WITH REVENGER, WITHOUT MERCY & EXTERMINATUS MAR 12: CARAVAN CABARET WITH LYNX & THE SERVANTS OF SONG, BASS CARAVAN, THE TAILOR & MORE MAR 20: THIS WILL DESTROY YOU WITH VINYL WILLIAMS MAR 24: GREENSKY BLUEGRASS WITH SHOOK TWINS MAR 26: *EARLY SHOW* COMEDY SHOCKER WITH CHRIS GASKIN, SAM LEE, CHRIS GRIFFIN & MORE

Get limber with DJ El Rizzy

l Rizzy confidently lays claim to being the “fourth-best fitness DJ in Vancouver”. Yes, DJs at yoga are a thing now, and don’t pretend it’s any weirder than those classes with kittens, bunnies, or owls. Admittedly, the Straight’s unflattering opinion of yoga is based entirely on the latest gaffes of Chip Wilson, the vapidness of anyone who speaks fondly of the Landmark Forum, and the ubiquity of goddesses doing King Pigeon poses on Tinder. The music being played in classes does little to improve this. At best, you’re getting the New El Rizzy ‘s Ascending Bunnies yoga Age–y sounds of humpback whales pose is a hit. Mark Gutnecht photo. mating and the dated electronic scores of Moby. It gets outright em- BEST GIG EVER Playing outdoor barrassing if you go further down festivals always has that danger of the yoga-playlist rabbit hole. Typ- the unknown. Everyone is dirty, most people are gooned ically, you’ll hear out of their brains, a folksy acoustic So Many DJs and you get the cover of “Trap types who you Queen” between Michael Mann would never meet a little Bon Iver and Krishna Das—the latter some- in a nightclub. Homeboy at this party how manages to sound like a whiter in the mid-2000s proceeds to create version of Eddie Vedder as he belts a large enough swath in the crowd to drunk-krump like a human teeterout Hindu devotional hits. Rob Station, as it reads on his totter. I kept my eye on him as he business card, is helping to change proceeded to vomit all over himself, this. He’s the music director and remove his shirt, and wave it around DJ for Distrikt Movement, and a his head like a helicopter rotor. It is fixture at yoga and fitness events very rare that you can connect with around town. (If your idea of work- someone on that level inside an estabing out is walking to the corner lishment on the Granville strip. store when you run out of smokes, you can frequently catch him TOP TRACK RIGHT NOW “Work” throwing theme parties at Fortune from Rihanna, only because everyone Sound Club’s Livestock Room as in the venue has their own idea of what well.) While chilled-out R&B and the lyrics are. A quick Google will tell rap from the likes of D’Angelo, you they are almost completely in BarDrizzy, Flying Lotus, and Lauryn badian Bajan and Jamaican Patois, outHill may not help you attain en- side of the reach of most stagette parties. lightenment, at least you won’t be totally overcome with shame the A SONG THAT CLEARED THE next time your instructor tells you DANCE FLOOR Felt that “Rapper’s to “bliss out while pointing your Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang was a fun crowd-pleaser to play at a friend booty to the heavens”. Namaste.

of a friend’s wedding, until I found out many of my friend of a friend’s uncles and aunts vocally did not want to “hear any very-bad-racialslur music”. That day taught me how important a “racism” crate of AC/DC and Creedence is. FAVOURITE

LOCAL

PRODUCER

Pomo is now a world-famous Vancouver producer in his own right, and deserves all the attention. He also just produced “Am I Wrong” for Anderson. Paak’s 100-percent bananas album Malibu—and it is easily the best track on the disc.

WHAT’S UP WITH DJING WHILE PEOPLE DO YOGA? It was never a

plan. I had gotten burnt-out on DJing and had virtually stopped for a few years until my friend Alex Mazerolle asked me to help out with a new yoga and fitness studio she was starting with her business partner Jian Pablico. The Distrikt opened and gave me complete creative control to play anything I wanted during class once a month. Playing in clubs is always fun, but it can get tiring and formulaic if you let it. Crafting a set for people to do yoga to is very interesting and uses a completely different selection of my music library. It’s kind of like making an embarrassingly honest mixtape for a girl you like in high school. It’s kind of built up to the point where last summer I’m playing D’Angelo tracks and Gucci Mane instrumentals to 8,000 yogis at Lululemon’s Seawheeze Festival. I hate to admit it, but I’m a way more successful “fitness DJ” than real DJ. Also, it’s nice to finally find a place I can confidently wear women’s stretchy pants and not feel like a weirdo.

ODDEST REQUEST YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED I got tipped $80 at an

NYC startup party to loudly declare over the mike that someone who arrived late “was a jackass”. -

VANCOUVER MARCH 10- 17 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+

D O O L I N ’ S COME SAMPLE AND IRISH PUB SAVOUR – A TASTE WHISKY TA S T I N G S ADVENTURE AWAITS!

19+

March 14: Whisky 101 – introduction March 15: Whisky 201 – intermediate March 16: Advanced – for connoisseurs

MOLL Irish playwright John B. Keane’s uproarious comedy ST. JAMES HALL: MARCH 10, 12, 14 DENTRY’S IRISH GRILL: MARCH 11, 13, 16 SHARON SHANNON • SUNDAY, MARCH 13, ST. JAMES HALL Irish trad-folk accordion legend • co-presented with Rogue Folk Club

THIS WEEKEND! TICKETS and INFO

CELTIC VILLAGE March 12 & 13 GRANVILLE ST. DOWNTOWN

ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE Sunday, March 13, 11am JOIN THE FUN!

FREE! DOWNTOWN

www.celticfestvancouver.com Premiere Media Sponsor

PROGRAM GUIDES AT

62 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016

MUSIC

Junior Boys happy to get a fresh new start When

Junior

Boys’

Shannon gets back to her roots in more ways than one

Jeremy

2 Greenspan and Matt Didemus

sat down to record their first album, 2004’s Last Exit, their top-of-the-line computer only had four gigabytes of memory, making the process “almost impossible”, according to Greenspan. He says lower equipment costs and increased computing power are to thank for the beautifully indulgent sound on their latest release, but it’s apparent that a certain level of self-control must have been employed when the duo recorded the meticulously produced 11-track LP, Big Black Coat. Their first album in more than five years sees the Hamilton, Ontario– spawned musicians homing in on exactly what it is that first made them successful: a fusion of melancholic yet seductive lyrics backed by experimental electro-pop. Over the phone from the Scottish lowlands, where the Boys are taking a break during their European tour, singer Greenspan tells the Straight that an entire album’s worth of new material had been abandoned a few years earlier, following the release of 2011’s It’s All True. At that time, he was investing his artistic energy into fellow Hamiltonian Jessy Lanza, producing her album Pull My Hair Back with a freedom that he says had begun to evade him as far as Junior Boys were concerned. Didemus was also focusing on another project, DIVA, and whatever music had been reserved for their next album wasn’t enough for either of them. “I just wasn’t into it,” Greenspan admits with disdain. “When Jessy’s album came out as a success, it gave me a whole new perspective on how I could do things in terms of working with another person, producer, or songwriter,” says Greenspan. “It taught me how to do things for myself, and how to have that freedom to have a small success.”

A quarter-century into a career

2 that has seen her perform with

If Jeremy Greenspan and Matt Didemus keep their band going long enough, they’ll eventually have to change its name from Junior Boys to Senior Men.

At that point, Greenspan says, they “scrapped most of the album material, except for a few little things”. Big Black Coat essentially started from scratch— but the pressure was off. “I didn’t feel like I had to worry about if people would like the album or not, or even if it would be a source of income,” he says. While Greenspan’s new outlook made all the difference in the studio, the notion that the album might not generate success was clearly illconceived: Big Black Coat has already been called an “over-the-top comeback” by the Resident Advisor’s Patric Fallon, with many critics dubbing it Junior Boys’ best album yet. When Greenspan talks about the duo’s dynamic in the studio, he makes their process sound effortless: “It’s not that much different than if you were to walk up to a synthesizer yourself,” he says. “I mean, I may have more anticipation, but there’s a degree of randomness there.” Trying to explain Junior Boys’ sad-but-dancey synth pop to the unexposed can be difficult, but their sound begins to make sense when Greenspan talks about the contents of his playlist during recording: modern R&B like Jeremih, the Detroit techno of Robert Hood, and the ’70s synthsoul of the Yellow Magic Orchestra. All of those can be heard in Big Black Coat’s layers of hollow industrial bass

and sparkling high-hats, topped with Greenspan’s sensual, whispery vocals. Take, for example, the album’s second track, “Over It”: a steady, pulsating beat awash in divine synthesizers makes it the perfect soundtrack for a midnight joy ride through the neon streets of Tokyo. Rumbling bass lines and accelerating synth riffs fill the instrumental interludes that pad tracks like “C’mon Baby” and “And It’s Forever”, which stand out as Junior Boys’ darker offerings on Big Black Coat. One can’t overlook the masterpiece that is the cover of Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do for Love”—a rendition that meets Greenspan’s criteria of not resembling the original in the slightest. “I like doing stuff that doesn’t sound like it should be covered by us—like, I would never want to do a cover of Depeche Mode, or something someone might anticipate,” says Greenspan. If evading anticipation is the game, Junior Boys have won: no one could have anticipated an album so rich, so introspective, and so complete from a duo that managed to fly under the radar for five years. > AMANDA SIEBERT

Junior Boys play the Imperial with Jessy Lanza on Thursday (March 10).

Shannon seems genuinely surprised at the notion that others might be entertained, too. She’s shy of talking about her own achievements, but when it comes to her new business venture she’s happy to take on a more promotional tone. First, though, she wants to explain that she’s loved animals all her life, having given up a promising career as a competitive showjumper to hit the road as a musician. “I’m very involved with animal rescue,” she says, noting that she currently shares her Galway home with eight dogs and nine cats. “I often take in injured animals and foster them and rehabilitate them and find new homes for them, so there’s animals coming in and out all the time.” This compassion for the four-legged has led to her adopting a vegan diet, and this summer she’s planning to hit Ireland’s busy festival circuit—not to play roots music, but to cook root vegetables. On her Garden of Vegan food truck’s menu will be vegetarian curries, vegan burgers, non-dairy ice cream, fruit smoothies—and, of course, a meatless Irish stew. “It’s all root vegetables like carrots and parsnips and turnips—and potatoes. I never have anything without a potato,” Shannon says. “And garlic— loads and loads of garlic. “There are a lot of people, animallovers especially, who I think would be really happy to go for the vegan option, as opposed to the meat option,” she continues. “People think, ‘Oh, what difference does it make if I go vegan?’ But it does—it adds up to billions of animals being saved if people make that effort, and, to me, there’s no sacrifice at all. Just to feel that so many animals are being saved makes it a very easy choice, really.”

everyone from John Prine to Sinéad O’Connor, Sharon Shannon is thinking about going back to her roots—in more ways than one. The Irish accordion, fiddle, and pennywhistle virtuoso is undeniably an innovator, introducing elements of bluegrass and dance music into the traditional sounds she grew up hearing as a child in County Clare. She’s also recorded material as diverse as the great Argentinian bandoneon master Astor Piazzolla’s “Libertango” and the Penguin Café Orchestra’s avant-Cajun “Music for a Found Harmonium”. But of late, as she relates from a Dublin hotel in advance of her upcoming CelticFest Vancouver appearance, she’s making a conscious return to a more traditional sound. “You know, I just love Irish music,” she says when asked if she’s made any new musical discoveries in the past few years. “I’ve been going back, listening to all my old records recently, the old recordings that inspired me so much growing up as a teenager. I’ve been listening to all those again an awful lot, just to kind of get back to the massive excitement that I felt when I heard all this music first.” This, she adds, is definitely going to influence her next solo project. “I’d really like to do a very simple little traditional album,” she explains. “Just the accordion and some very light accompaniment—maybe bouzouki or 12-string guitar or something like that. And I’ll just play traditional music: jigs and reels and a few slow airs and hornpipes. It’s something > ALEXANDER VARTY that’s been on my mind for some time—but it will be a labour of love, not a commercial-type album. It CelticFest Vancouver and the Rogue would just be for my own entertain- Folk Club present Sharon Shannon at St. James Hall on Sunday (March 13). ment really, I suppose!”

BLUEPRINTLIVE

presents

blueprint_live

Newfoundland’s

AMELIA CURRAN with special guest

Dominique Fricot Friday, March 11, 8:30pm Fox Cabaret 2321 Main Street

THU APR 28 |

“a bit like

VENUE

ON SALE FRIDAY

THU APR 14 |

VENUE

Leonard Cohen being channeled in a dusty saloon by Patsy Cline”

ELEPHANT REVIVAL Thursday, April 7, 8:30pm Mandolin Orange

SUN APR 02 |

FORTUNE

TUE MAR 29 |

FORTUNE

with special guests

Fox Cabaret

TUE APR 05 FORTUNE

TUE MAY 17 VENUE

2321 Main Street

“This is everything folk music

Tickets + Info

should be.”

www.thefestival.bc.ca

SAT MAR 19 | 03/10 03/23 03/25 03/27 04/12 04/16

SAT MAY 21 |

FORTUNE

THE REAL MCKENZIES KEITH APE JUST BLAZE IAMSU BILAL FILTER

VENUE VENUE VENUE VENUE FORTUNE VENUE

BUY ONLINE: www.BPLIVE.ca

04/21 04/23 05/02 05/04 05/21 05/28

ORPHEUM

ANAMANAGUCHI YELAWOLF NAPALM DEATH / MELVINS FLOATING POINTS BLACK MOUNTAIN AUTOLUX

VENUE COMMODORE VENUE CELEBRITIES COMMODORE VENUE

tickets instore: SCRAPE | ZULU red cat | NEPTOON MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 63

REVEREND HORTON HEAT Texas psychobilly trio, with guests Unknown Hinson, Legendary Shack Shakers, and Lincoln Durham. Mar 10, 8 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $26.50, info www.rickshawtheatre.com/.

ST PATRICK'S DAY PARTY

Get your Irish on

“2 Locations ! * 1 in Van., 1 in Lang.”

302 West 2 Ave.,Vancouver, BC 604.879.0521 ND

100 - 9420

MON MARCH 14

“Parts/Sales & Service"

200 A

St., Langley, BC 604.288.1553

with dancers, pipers, and green beer

NO COVER

“Motorcycle & Lifestyle Boutique"

Mar 11 RHYTHM ST. Mar 12 NIGEL MACK Mar 13 SONS OF THE HOE TUE: PEROGIE NIGHT • WED: KARAOKE IS BACK! THURS: POOL TOURNAMENT

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

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

CONCERTS 2JUST ANNOUNCED

M otorsports .com internatio nalM

FRI MAR 11

CHRIS WALTER BOOK RELEASE

FOR ‘LIQUOR & WHORES’ WITH GUESTS *

DAYGLO ABORTIONS * AND LOCALS *

MAR 15 ROSSI GANG

OBSCENE BEING * SEXY DECOY * THE TARLEKS SAT MAR 12 * HEAVY METAL TRIBUTES * SAINTS IN HELL [JUDAS PRIEST] * MAIDEN BC [IRON MAIDEN] * BATTALLION OF FEAR [BLIND GUARDIAN] * THURS MAR 17 * THAT FILTHY SHOW * HOSTED BY DAVID DJ ROY * * BLOODY BETTY * BUCK MOODY * DAN SCUM * $7 * 9PM * FOLLOWED BY KARAOKE * FRI MAR 18 * THE SHIT TALKERS * BOUND BY NONE * WAR AMP SAT MAR 19 * KILLER PUNK FOLKS WITH * CORNSHED * DR. TASTY & THE RED CHEF

DE DANNAN In collaboration with CelticFest Vancouver, the Rogue Folk Club presents Irish folk-traditional group touring in support of new album Wonderwaltz. Mar 22, 8 pm, St. James Hall (3214 W. 10th). Tix $36/32, info www. roguefolk.bc.ca/concerts/ev16032220/. STOP THE PIPELINES. START THE MUSIC Benefit concert in support of the Unist’ot’en Camp featuring Five Alarm Funk, the Boom Booms, and Jack Garton and the Demon Squadron. Apr 1-2, 7:30 pm–1 am, The Imperial (319 Main). Tix $25/20, info www.facebook.com/ events/1140920752605738/. MODERN SPACE Toronto indie-alt fivepiece band tours in support of debut EP Before Sunrise. Apr 15, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Cobalt (917 Main). Tix on sale Mar 11, 10 am, $12.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. LIGHTS Toronto-based electropop artist tours in support of latest acoustic album Midnight Machines. May 14, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Vogue Theatre (918 Granville). Tix on sale Mar 11, 10 am, $37.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. BARONESS Heavy-metal outfit from Savannah, Georgia, tours in support of latest release Purple. May 29, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix on sale Mar 11, 7 am, $25 (plus service charges and fees) at www. livenation.com/.

10 THE PHONIX 13 11 VANCOUVER 15 HOT JAZZ JAM & RUBGY 7’S 16 12 THURSDAY $2.75 DRAFT, $5.50 HEY Y’ALL HARD ICED TEA

R&B/SOUL COVERS

FRIDAY & SATURDAY

SUNDAY

BLAZING SADDLES W/ SNOMAN IN HEAT

TUESDAY $2.75 DRAFT, $5.50 HEY Y’ALL HARD ICED TEA

FEATURING ROSSI GANG WEDNESDAY $4.50 HI BALLS

MAIN EVENT OFFICIAL AFTER PARTIES MUSIC BY DJ SLIM

ADVANCDED TICKETS AVAILABLE

JANAYA SALMOND W/ SPECIAL GUESTS

FOOD. DRINK. LIVE ENTERTAINMENT.

• Eat sensibly: A healthy diet that is good for your heart and circulation is also good for your brain! High cholesterol is thought to lead to stroke and brain-cell damage. Diabetes is also thought to signiﬁcantly increase your risk of developing dementia.

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2THIS WEEK ROBYN HITCHCOCK English alt-rock singer-songwriter tours in support of latest release The Man Upstairs, with guest Emma Swift. Mar 10, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Biltmore Cabaret (2755 Prince Edward). Tix $20 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu Records, and www.ticketweb.ca/. JUNIOR BOYS Canadian electronica duo tours in support of upcoming release Big Black Coat, with guests Jessy Lanza and Borys. Mar 10, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, The Imperial (319 Main). Tix $20 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu Records, and www.ticketweb.ca/. CELTICFEST VANCOUVER Twelfth annual festival of Celtic culture features performances by Damien Dempsey, the Irish Rovers, Halifax Wharf Rats, Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir, Michael Viens and Blackthorn, Pat Chessell, Mary Brunner, Mairi Rankin, the Fight Outside, Shot of Scotch, Sarah Ann Chisholm, the Clanns, Elsay, West Coast Fiddlers, and Sharon Shannon. Events include the CelticFest Ceilidh, the Celtic Village, whisky tastings, workshops, and the theatre production Moll. Mar 10-17, various Vancouver venues. Tix at www.celticfestvancouver.com/.

JUSTIN BIEBER Canadian pop superstar performs on his Purpose World Tour. Mar 11, 7:30 pm, Rogers Arena (800 Griffiths Way). Tix $146.75/97.65/57.75 (plus service charges and fees). SOLD OUT. AZAE LO! Caravan World Rhythms presents Adanu Habobo Ghanaian Ensemble and Rhythm ‘n’ Roots Choir in a night of traditional music and dance. Mar 11, 8 pm, St. James Hall (3214 W. 10th). Tix $5-20, info www.caravanbc.com/. AMELIA CURRAN The Vancouver Folk Music Festival presents Canadian indierock singer-songwriter. Mar 11, 8:30 pm, Fox Cabaret (2321 Main). Tix $22, info www.thefestival.bc.ca/. SHARON SHANNON The Rogue Folk Club and CelticFest Vancouver present Irish folk multi-instrumentalist. Mar 13, 8 pm, St. James Hall (3214 W. 10th). Tix $40/36, info www. roguefolk.bc.ca/concerts/ev16031320/.

CLUBS & VENUES BACKSTAGE LOUNGE Arts Club Theatre, 1585 Johnston, Granville Island, 604-6871354. Vancouver’s only live-music venue on the water, with music nightly. Hot Jazz Jam night on Tue. 2HOT JAZZ JAM Mar 22 BILTMORE CABARET 2755 Prince Edward, 604-676-0541. 2ELAQUENT Mar 9 2ROBYN HITCHCOCK Mar 10 2SOL Mar 11 2RADIATION CITY & DEEP SEA DIVER Mar 17 2JEREMY ALLINGHAM Mar 18 2AN EVENING WITH GREG DULLI Mar 22 2CHAIRLIFT Mar 24 2RADIO RADIO Mar 26 2RA RA RIOT Mar 31 2SOPHIA DANAI Apr 1 2GOLDROOM Apr 2 2THE PROVINCIAL ARCHIVE Apr 15 2THE BIG PINK Apr 25 2WILD NOTHING Apr 26 2BLEACHED Apr 28 2AIDAN KNIGHT Apr 29 2COASTS May 8 2CATE LE BON May 12 2DAMIEN JURADO May 14 2TITUS ANDRONICUS May 28 2ISLANDS Jun 4 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. 2WHITE LUNG Mar 11 2THE LUDVICO TREATMENT Mar 18 2ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Mar 19 2COUNTERPARTS Mar 24 2ALEX G AND PORCHES Mar 26 2FREAK HEAT WAVES Mar 30 2LITTLE GREEN CARS Mar 31 2PRINCE RAMA Apr 2 COMMODORE BALLROOM 868 Granville, 604-739-4550. 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 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 2YELAWOLF WITH FEFE Apr 23 2ZHU Apr 28 2YEARS & YEARS Apr 29 2THE AGE OF ELECTRIC Apr 30 2FOUR TET May 1 2THE HEAVY May 2 2VIOLENT FEMMES May 15 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 2BARONESS May 29 2THE KILLS May 31 2AT THE DRIVE-IN

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THANKS VANCOUVER!

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

Steps to keep your brain healthy:

BENJAMIN FRANCIS LEFTWICH English acoustic-folk singer-songwriter tours in support of upcoming album After the Rain. Jul 22, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Media Club (695 Cambie). Tix on sale Mar 9, 10 am, $20 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.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 Atira Women’s Resource Society. Mar 8, 10-11, 8 pm, Frankie’s (765 Beatty). Tix $20, info www.coastaljazz.ca/.

64 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016

Jun 7 2 QUEER AS FUNK! Jul 29 2I MOTHER EARTH Oct 14

ST. Mar 11 2NIGEL MACK Mar 12 2SONS OF THE HOE Mar 13 268 LIPS Mar 14

11 2DIXIE CHICKS Jul 7 2ADELE Jul 20 2DEMI LOVATO AND NICK JONAS Aug 24

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.

LAMPLIGHTER PUBLIC HOUSE 92 Water, 604-687-4424. Pub trivia with Nice Guys Inc. Tue; bourbon and bingo Wed; Rocksteady with DJs Arems, Hoppa & Rexx Thu; FKYA DJs Fri; DJ Antonia & Friends Sat.

THE ROXY 932 Granville, 604-331-7999. House band Tattoo Alibi Sat & Mon; country band Locked & Loaded Sun; the Bulge and DJ Joe Pound Tue; Troys ‘R Us WedThu. 2ONES&ZEROS Mar 19

MEDIA CLUB 695 Cambie, 604-608-2871. Live music most nights. 2WE HUNT BUFFALO Mar 11 2NAP EYES Mar 26 2MOTHERS Mar 27 2THE SUBWAYS Apr 26 2STRIKER Apr 30 2KEVIN MORBY Jun 7 2BENJAMIN FRANCIS LEFTWICH Jul 22

ST. JAMES HALL 3214 W. 10th, 604-7363022. 2MOLL Mar 10 2AZAE LO! Mar 11 2SHARON SHANNON Mar 13 2DE DANNAN Mar 22 2DAVID FRANCEY Apr 7 2JONATHAN BYRD & CORIN RAYMOND Apr 17

ORPHEUM THEATRE 601 Smithe, 604-6653050. 2LEON BRIDGES Mar 15 2FATHER JOHN MISTY Apr 5 2CHICK COREA AND BELA FLECK Apr 22 2RAFFI Apr 23 2JAMES BAY Apr 27 2BRYN TERFEL May 4 2ANDREW BIRD May 21 2FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS Jun 23

VENUE 881 Granville, 604-646-0064. 2THE REAL MCKENZIES Mar 10 2IAN FLETCHER THORNLEY Mar 12 2SOJU SUNDAY Mar 13 2ULI JON ROTH’S ULTIMATE GUITAR EXPERIENCE Mar 19 2KEITH APE AND TOMMY GENESIS Mar 23 2VOPLI VIDOPLIASSOVA Mar 24 2ORJAN NILSEN Mar 24 2JUST BLAZE Mar 25 2MICHAEL BRUN Mar 26 2IAMSU/LNDN DRGS Mar 27 2THE WILD FEATHERS Mar 31 2ATLAS GENIUS Apr 2 2NIYAZ AND ADHAM SHAIKH Apr 7 2RED FANG Apr 14 2THE FACEPLANTS Apr 15 2FILTER Apr 16 2GIN WIGMORE Apr 26 2NAPALM DEATH AND MELVINS May 2 2KATCHAFIRE May 7

FORTUNE SOUND CLUB 147 E. Pender, 604-569-1758. 2SAM GELLAITRY Mar 11 2FRENCHIE BSM Mar 12 2YOUNG FATHERS Mar 19 2NORTHWEST DIVISION ALBUM RELEASE Mar 19 2POMO Mar 24 2STWO & SANGO Mar 26 2TROY AVE Mar 26 2FRENCH KIWI JUICE Mar 27 2YUCK Mar 29 2CULLEN OMORI Apr 2 2OPERATORS Apr 5 2A TRIBE CALLED RED Apr 6 2LAPSLEY Apr 26 FOX CABARET 2321 Main. 2AMELIA CURRAN Mar 11 2FATHIEH HONARI ENSEMBLE Mar 17 2RAPP BATTLEZ WEZT COAZT Mar 19 2FAST ROMANTICS Mar 24 2SARAH NEUFELD Mar 26 2MU “II” ALBUM RELEASE Mar 31 2ELEPHANT REVIVAL Apr 7 2ROCOCODE Apr 8 2SAID THE WHALE May 7

on the web!

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

www.straight.com

FUNKY WINKER BEANS 37 W. Hastings, 604-764-7865. 2DAYGLO ABORTIONS, OBSCENE BEING, SEXY DECOY, THE TARLEKS Mar 11 2SAINTS IN HELL (JUDAS PRIEST TRIBUTE), MAIDEN BC (IRON MAIDEN TRIBUTE), BATALLION OF FEAR (BLIND GUARDIAN TRIBUTE) Mar 12 2ST. PATRICK’S DAY WITH THAT FILTHY SHOW Mar 17 2VANARCHY Mar 18 HARD ROCK CASINO VANCOUVER 2080 United Blvd., Coquitlam, 604-523-6888. 2TONY ORLANDO Apr 9 2GEORGE THOROGOOD & THE DESTROYERS Apr 21 2JOE SATRIANI Apr 24 THE IMPERIAL 319 Main, 604-868-0494. 2JUNIOR BOYS Mar 10 2WE ARE THE CITY Mar 11 2KELTIC LANDING Mar 17 2ELECTRIC SIX Mar 23 2BAG RAIDERS Mar 24 2POLICA Mar 30 2STOP THE PIPELINES. START THE MUSIC Apr 1 2QUANTIC Apr 9 2AURORA Apr 10 2PETE YORN Apr 11 2THE STORY SO FAR Apr 18 2SLOAN Apr 20 2MAKE A DATE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE WITH ONE GIRL CAN Apr 21 2TORTOISE Apr 28 2BOMBINO Apr 30 2MAGIC MAN & THE GRISWOLDS May 3 2MAYER HAWTHORNE May 9 2LUCIUS May 10 2SAINT MOTEL May 22 2SAVAGES May 27 2YEASAYER May 28 IVANHOE PUB 1038 Main, 604-608-1444. Pool tourney Thu. No cover. 2RHYTHM

QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE 650 Hamilton, 604-665-3050. 2RETURN THE GRACE Mar 22 2GENERATION AXE Apr 6 2TWENTY ONE PILOTS Apr 10 2RAIN Apr 20 2PAUL SIMON May 26 2LAMB OF GOD Jun 1 2JOE JACKSON Jun 24 2MS. LAURYN HILL Jun 26 2SARAH MCLACHLAN Jun 27 2TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND Jun 28 2CASE/LANG/VEIRS Jun 29 2BRIT FLOYD Jul 16 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. 2REVEREND HORTON HEAT Mar 10 2DEAD ASYLUM AND SAINTS OF DEATH Mar 11 2CARAVAN CABARET Mar 12 2KYTAMI Mar 18 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 2BLACK RIVER KILLERS Mar 26 2WEEDEATER Mar 28 2DIARRHEA PLANET Apr 1 2LA FIN ABSOLUTE DU MONDE Apr 7 2HIVES FOR HUMANITY BENEFIT CONCERT Apr 8 2MODIFIED GHOST FESTIVAL 2016 Apr 9 2OTEP Apr 16 2SOUTH PARK TRIVIA Apr 26 2DUNCAN TRUSSELL STAND UP COMEDY BUS TOUR Apr 27 2KVELERTAK May 2 2KID CONGO & THE PINK MONKEY BIRDS May 7 RIVER ROCK SHOW THEATRE River Rock Casino Resort, 8811 River Rd., Richmond, 604-247-8900. Tix for all shows at www.ticket master.ca/. 2THE NYLONS Apr 9 ROGERS ARENA 800 Griffiths Way, 604899-7400. 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

VOGUE THEATRE 918 Granville, 604569-1144. 2THE IRISH ROVERS Mar 17 2DAUGHTER Mar 18 2RACHEL PLATTEN Mar 28 2ALESSIA CARA Mar 29 2JOANNA NEWSOM Mar 30 2YUNG LEAN Mar 31 2KILLSWITCH ENGAGE Apr 3 2TINASHE Apr 10 2SANTIGOLD Apr 11 2HOPSIN Apr 14 2BOYCE AVENUE Apr 15 2BEACH HOUSE Apr 30 2LIGHTS May 14 2CHE MALAMBO May 20 2MODERAT May 23 2JOHN PRINE Jul 9 WISE HALL 1882 Adanac, 604-254-5858. 2THE ANNUAL WISE ST. PADDY’S DAY BASH Mar 17 2FOOD NOT BOMBS VANCOUVER: FUNDRAISER FEAST FEST Mar 18 2SONGS FROM THE BLACK LODGE Mar 19 2LOCARNO Mar 26 2HAYSEED DIXIE Apr 16

OUT OF TOWN 2JUST ANNOUNCED BOB DYLAN American songwriting legend. Jun 4-5, 7 pm, Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery (14111 NE 145th, Woodinville, Wash.). Tix on sale Mar 12, 10 am, at www.ticketmaster.ca/.

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

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Restaurant broker says government reforms are great for business.

s a real-estate agent, Shane Morck spe- denoting greed and deceit on three streets in cializes in restaurants, bars, and pubs. a new condo development he opposed. When the coprincipal in Vancouver In February this year, a court ruled that Oddo Restaurant Brokers was reached for an had the authority to pick these street names: Cuinterview, he was working on seven different deals. pidity Drive, Fourberie Lane, and Avidity Place. The market is busy, according to Morck, John Atkin, chair of the city committee that who noted that liquor-law changes brought in recommends names of streets and civic faciliby the provincial government starting in 2014 ties to council (but not those of parks and have been good for business. libraries), read about Oddo in the news. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a great thing,â&#x20AC;? Morck told the Georgia The Vancouver historian thought it was Straight by phone about how a fun item and shared it in a B.C. is catching up with the meeting last month as part rest of the country in terms of the committeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s practice of its updated liquor laws. of including news about Carlito Pablo One of the changes he naming matters in the agenda. cited is that minors are now permitted in According to Atkin, committee memcertain liquor-primary establishments if bers had a good laugh about news of an they are accompanied by a parent or guard- elected politician going after a developer ian. This was intended to increase options by sticking unf lattering street names in for family dining in these places, which the builderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s project. should offer a selection of appetizers and However, Atkin said that he canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see somemain courses. thing like this happening in Vancouver. Another change is that although foodâ&#x20AC;&#x153;We would all see it as disrespectful, but primary licensees will continue to focus on also not in the spirit of how things should be food service, patrons are not obligated to order named in the city,â&#x20AC;? Atkin told the Straight in food if they just want a drink. a phone interview. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Plus, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see any of â&#x20AC;&#x153;The province isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t so concerned about this our politicians coming to us and saying â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;We foods-and-beverage split that you have to do want a whole bunch of names for greed and, with the food-primary licence,â&#x20AC;? Morck noted. you know, avarice,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; and stuff like that.â&#x20AC;? The result, according to the former restauraThe civic committee chair was asked why he teur, is that there are a â&#x20AC;&#x153;lot less liquor-primaries doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think Vancouver politicians are going being sold right now, because people are pretty to do an Oddo in the city. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our politicians are much able to use restaurants like a pub or better than that,â&#x20AC;? Atkin replied. pretty close to itâ&#x20AC;?. He also said that Vancouver has a good sysMorck said that although B.C. has ditched tem of selecting names for streets and other a number of its â&#x20AC;&#x153;archaicâ&#x20AC;? liquor laws, there are city facilities. According to the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cria few things that need some work. teria, assets should be named after deceased â&#x20AC;&#x153;For example, a customer on the street and noteworthy persons, events, and things buys a bottle of wine for the same price as related to Vancouver. a restaurant group,â&#x20AC;? Morck explained. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In â&#x20AC;&#x153;So if Mayor Gregor Robertson decided other parts around the world, that restaurant he was going to get back at a developer and group will get a discount from the vineyard suggests some names, it would actually come so they can make some money.â&#x20AC;? to us,â&#x20AC;? Atkin said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And we would actually probably turn it down. It wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t meet the THE CHAIR of Vancouverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s civic asset naming criteria that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve set for civic assets.â&#x20AC;? committee cannot imagine local politicians Of course, council could disregard the pulling a James Oddo on developers. committeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s advice to spite a developer, but Oddo, the president of Staten Island Bor- Atkin doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think the â&#x20AC;&#x153;systemâ&#x20AC;? will let ough in New York City, conferred names this happen. -

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MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 69

savage love I’m your average

straight 42-year-old white guy. Married for a little less than a year (second marriage for both). We have an active sex life and are both GGG. My wife wants to be forcibly fucked—held down and raped. Normally, I’d be all over this because I do love me some rough sex. My issue: she told me she was traumatically raped by a man she was dating prior to me. All I know is that it involved a hotel room and him not stopping when she said “No.” So for now, I play along, but I know I’m not taking things as far as she’d like. I’m over here wondering if her previous trauma was a result of her encouraging forceful sex and regretting it later, and I worry the same thing could happen to me. Or is she trying to relive the experience? Should I fear her motivation and the potential consequences? Am I overthinking things? > TREMULOUS HUSBAND IS NEEDING KNOWLEDGE

When it comes to rough sex—particularly when it involves role-playing forced-sex scenarios—overthinking is preferable to underthinking. But before we think through your specific issues, THINK, a few points of clarification. A woman who’s into rough sex, even forced-sex/rape-role-play scenarios, can still have been raped by a partner—and a rape can occur during what was supposed to be a consensual forced-sex/rape-role-play scene. If your wife withdrew her consent and her former partner continued, it was rape.

Also, THINK, lots of women fantasize about “rape”, which I’m putting in quotes here because these fantasies typically involve a woman being “taken” by someone she’s attracted to, and lots and lots and lots of women are victims of rape. Obviously, there’s going to be overlap between these two groups. Your wife’s forced-sex fantasies could have nothing to do with her rape—it could be a coincidence—or your wife may be one of those people (not all of them women) who have eroticized a past sexual trauma (not always rape), and playing with a partner she trusts provides her with feelings of control and catharsis, empowerment and pleasure. But what about you, THINK? You worry “the same thing could happen to me”. By that you don’t mean, “I could be raped!” You mean, “I could be falsely accused of rape.” That’s a pretty big and disrespectful leap. What you’re saying is, “I think my wife is lying when she says this other man raped her—and I don’t want her to do the same to me.” I’m not sure what to do with that. I mean, I don’t think your wife is lying, THINK, and I don’t know or love your wife. You presumably know and love your wife, and yet you’re worried she may be setting you up for a false rape accusation. That’s some dark shit—that’s some Gone Girl shit, that’s the plot of some horrible Kathleen Turner/Michael Douglas shit movie from the 1980s. If you’re really concerned about protecting your own butt, THINK, then have a nice long conversation with your wife about her fantasies over email. I’ve given that advice

> BY DAN SAVAGE to people negotiating edgy and/or forced-sex scenes with strangers or near strangers. It feels odd to give that advice to someone negotiating a fantasy role-play scenario with his spouse. But here we are. Don’t tell your wife you wanna chat over email because you’re worried about needing an alibi. I would suggest that you believe your wife, first off, and that you have this conversation over email—two anonymous accounts created just for this purpose—because it will allow you both to be more thoughtful and less inhibited. (Sometimes these things are hard to discuss face to face.) Tell her you don’t want to accidentally traumatize or trigger her, first and foremost, but you also don’t want to wind up traumatizing yourself. You would feel like a monster if you hurt her while attempting to fulfill her fantasies. Finally, THINK, this isn’t something your wife will wanna do just once. So take baby steps: increase the intensity gradually, from scene to scene, check in afterward, Google “sexual aftercare” and read the piece on Curve that pops up (it’s a lesbian website, but the lessons/advice/insight are generally applicable), and keep having long conversations—via email or face to face—about what’s working for her and what isn’t. Good luck.

I had given up on relationships

after a failed marriage and another partner trying to kill me (no joke). Then, after five years single, abstinent, and lonely, I met a man who frustrated me, turned me on, and

was understanding about my trust issues. I’m excited about a future with him—except for two things. First, he says he loves me but he’s not sure yet if he wants to spend the rest of his life with me—he’s not sure if I’m “The One”. He also has needs I’m not able to fulfi ll. It may not seem like a big deal to most people, but swallowing is out for me, as I was orally raped when I was a teenager. I’ve worked my way up to enjoying giving head, but come in my mouth makes me cry. And I can’t give head after anal. He says these are the things that make him come the hardest. I’ve asked him if my inability to provide these things is a “deal breaker” for him and he says no, but when we get into bed, he talks about me doing them the entire time we’re having sex. I’ve asked him to stop, and he says he will, but it doesn’t stop. He will also have sex only in the positions he likes, and if I ask for something different, he’ll just stop having sex with me, leaving me frustrated. If letting him go so he can find the right person to fulfi ll his needs makes him happier, then I feel it’s the right thing to do, as much as it would hurt.

own limits, to rule things in and out, and to slap “not open for discussion” labels on some things. Ruling two things out—swallowing and ATM— particularly for the reasons you cite, is perfectly reasonable. If he can’t accept that, if he’s going to hammer away at those two things endlessly, that should be a “deal breaker” for you. You see his inability to determine if you’re “the one” as a separate issue, FAIL, but it’s of a piece. He’s refusing to make you the one—“the one” is an act of will, not an act of God— in hopes that you will submit to his sexual demands. I have a hunch that swallowing and ATM aren’t really the things that make him come the hardest. If it was anal and cunnilingus you couldn’t do, FAIL, then those would be his favourite things. Because the issue here isn’t whether he’s “sure” you’re the one or the sex acts that make him come the hardest. Th is is about him controlling and degrading you. DTMFA.

Please ignore KISSES and write

as much as you want! I read your column because I like what you write!

> FAILING AT INTIMACY/LOVE

> DAN SHOULD GO ON AT LENGTH

You need to let this guy go for your own happiness and sanity. I know you were alone for a long time—alone and lonely—and you know who else knows that? Your shitty boyfriend, FAIL, and he’s leveraging your desire to be with someone against your right to sexual autonomy and your need for emotional safety. You have an absolute right to set your

I’ve obviously reverted to form already, DSGOAL, but thanks for your support! Listen to the Savage Lovecast recorded live on Valentine’s Day in Portland at www.savagelovecast.com/. Email Dan at mail@savagelove.net. Follow Dan on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ fakedansavage/.

> Go on-line to read hundreds of I Saw You posts or to respond to a message < WHOLE FOODS BABE

MAN BUN + BEER

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 8, 2016 WHERE: Whole Foods West 4th

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 5, 2016 WHERE: Parallel 49

I first saw you last week as I non-ironically bought kombucha. You were working behind what I think is the customer service desk. On my lunch break today, when the time came for me to purchase my cauliflower tabbouleh salad, you were the cashier with the shortest line. The young spin-class-beet-salad-mom in front of me exclaimed, “ALL THE WAY!” when you asked if she wanted to donate to charity. Her reply made me cringe, but you remained polite and professional. When it was my turn, you asked me if I wanted a paper bag and I said “No thanks, I’ll fit it in here”, referring to my bag and trying to impress you with the importance I place on saving paper. Then you gave me a last look, wished me a nice day, and I did the same. Why are you so cute? The sun makes me more daring, so when it gets warmer, I’ll ask you out.

I was outside spending time with a dog... big, white and friendly. You were on the phone and then also spent some time with the dog before going back in to join your friends. You have a nice smile.

EXPRESS LANE CASHIER, KITS SAFEWAY

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 6, 2016 WHERE: Kits Safeway

Sunday around 5PM, you and I made eye contact several times. I think you keyed on what my job is and you like it. I’m game if you are.

SCIENCE WORLD SNAPCHATTING CUTIE

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 7, 2016 WHERE: Near Science World you were wearing a grey dress with a lighter grey jacket. I was walking slightly behind you walking my dogs. You were walking home from work (I'm assuming you seemed very dress up to just be taking a stroll) and snapchatting. At one point you almost walked into a pillar and instead of acting embarrassed you seemed amused and just laughed it off. I like a woman who can laugh at herself. Normally I wouldn't find aloofness as adorable as I thought you were but your smile was endearing. Would love to see that smile again, maybe over a cup of coffee?

LOOKED AWAY TOO SOON...

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 5, 2016 WHERE: Pender Street & Carral Street Chinatown I was smoking in front of the record store, I saw you, you saw me, we half smiled at each other, I looked away too soon. Long brown hair, leather jacket, and slacks, those slacks! Ace style.

YOU PRESSED MY HAND IN NORTH VAN

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 7, 2016 WHERE: At 3rd and Forbes in North Van At nearly 5pm my friend and I were waiting to cross 3rd and Forbes in North Van. I wasn’t in the best mood, and you surprised me by pressing your hand over mine when I reached for the button and offered an easy smile. I’ve seen you before and now I’m really curious!

FIDDLING EMILY

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 1, 2016 WHERE: The Five Point Pub We met on Tuesday March 1st at The Five Point Pub on Main Street. We hit it off great and had a lot in common and we chatted about you playing fiddle and music. We left to go play music at your place. Unfortunately we got separated after we left the pub and my phone was dead so I didn’t get your number. I would love to meet you again and make some beautiful music. Your name is Emily and you play the fiddle. Me outgoing Irish fella! PW

I SWEAR IT’S NOT JUST YOUR BUTTON UPS THAT CAUGHT MY EYE.

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 23, 2016 WHERE: East Van I’m admitting my crush on you, your lovely, warm energy, and that killer grin. I really want to get to know you, and don’t want to be disrespectful about you being at work, so here’s to “ I saw You’s.” You have a tattoo, with a treble clef on the inside of your forearm and work at a shop that sells the best salted caramel donuts in the city. You surprised me by helping me to my seat once. Are you available? Interested? I’d say, “ Let’s go for coffee,” but you appear to have a wealth of it. Would you like to go to lunch and an outdoor show with me instead?

I WALKED AWAY TOO SOON

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 5, 2016 WHERE: First at Kirin and then at The Whip Without doubt the kindest stranger I’ve encountered in my 1.5 years in this city. First, he notices my friend and I couldn’t get into the Kirin at its busiest hour because we didn’t have a reservation and so, in consultation with his sister and out-of-town-visiting-friend, he directs us to two dim sum restaurants in the neighbourhood; 2.5 hours later, across the city, while my friend and I were having drinks at The Whip, this kind stranger walks up to our table to check in on how we fared in our dim sum adventure. As if his friendliness wasn’t already sexy, this man who wears a sweet smile and is calm in his handsomeness is also witty and smart. John: you and your kindness were the highlight of my weekend, let me buy you a drink.

BROADWAY TO WATERFRONT

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 1, 2016 WHERE: Waterfront Station, Westbound Platform We’ve seen each other before on the same route. You board at Broadway at around 8:30ish and I’m already on the train. I de-board at Burrard and you stay on until Waterfront. You’re tall, mixed ethnicity, curly dark hair, brown eyes. I’m taller than I should be for an Asian woman, long wavy dark hair. We’ve smiled at each other before, a long time ago. This time, I saw you boarding at Waterfront. I caught your eye a couple of times but couldn’t hold it. I’ve always wanted to ask you for a coffee but haven’t gotten close enough to ask or if I did, I chickened out. Even if you don’t feel the same about me, I wanted you to know that it’s always my pleasure to see you, even for a few brief moments on a crowded train.

LOOKING FANCY & ADORABLE

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 3, 2016 WHERE: Mount Pleasant You were hanging around a hotel lobby, walking a black panther and drinking homemade cough syrup. I was going to approach you but you farted and went outside and lit a cigarette. Classic!

HANDSOME AS ALL GET-OUT

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 2, 2016 WHERE: Lougheed

I was waiting for the bus on the Lougheed back to PoCo. There you were, slightly unshaven, with jeans that were made just for you. I would have paid Gold Dubloons to find out what cologne you had on... it was intoxicatingly sensual! You had an un-married swagger...

NINA IN MEDICAL DEVICES

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 18, 2016 WHERE: Houston Airport... I think I wanted to say ‘hello’ and introduce myself but forgot to ask for your number as I did so. No wonder I’m single...

COFFEE AND A CUTIE

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 2, 2016 WHERE: JJ bean on Bute and Alberni You were MIA for awhile there, I missed seeing the cute boy making my coffee. Totally made my morning seeing you again. cheers :)

BACK SEAT SKYTRAIN FROM SAPPERTON TO COLUMBIA

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 1, 2016 WHERE: Millennium SkyTrain: Between Sapperton & Columbia I was already seated at the back corner seat on the Millennium SkyTrain. I was the Asian guy with a navy blue fedora, long olive trench and blue backpack. You came on the train at Sapperton. I looked up at as you walked in. You smiled at me. I darted my eyes away. You sat across from me at the adjacent back corner seat. You had dark back-combed hair, black sweater, blue jeans and a turquoise unworn jacket with bright red-purple plaid lining. You had pale skin that contrasted your hair, but with rosy cheeks. I got off at Columbia. You looked up at me as I left. Maybe we can meet again sometime.

VANWINEFEST 2016

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 25, 2016 WHERE: Vancouver We met at the VIWF2016 water cooler & you lent me your pass so we could wander together with our enviably huge glasses sipping CabFranc for the rest of Thursday night of wine festival. Sorry for pulling a Cinderella. I had an incredible evening/festival & hope you did too!

THROUGH THE SUBWAY WINDOW

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: MARCH 1, 2016 WHERE: Cambie/Hastings Subway I was taking my first bite at the Cambie/Hastings Subway when you passed by on the sidewalk. You looked in through the window as you walked. Our eyes met. Spinach, tomatoes, and banana peppers fell from all sides of my poorly constructed foot-long egg salad on Honey Oat. You kept walking... I kept eating‚ I thought we shared a moment. Maybe I can interest you in a 6-inch?

BROWN GIRL IN GLASSES AT THE ULTIMATE TEXAS HOLDEM TABLE

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 23, 2016 WHERE: Starlight Casino You were sitting besides me at Starlight Casino, on Tuesday Feb 23 around 8PM. I didn’t stare at you much but you were besides me, weren’t doing that good on the table. You wore glasses, were quickly getting $100 bills from side pocket. I felt a connection, actually can’t stop thinking about you. There was no ring in your hand, you had a very cute smile, black jeans/top with a purple patch, I think. Me: Bulky fair guy, Mexican looking but I am Indian - you probably heard my name when dealer confirmed the encore card. I left as I wasn’t doing well. I don’t know your name, hoping destiny finds this post

ROYAL OAK BLOOPER...

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 18, 2016 WHERE: Edmonds Station I leapt back onto the SkyTrain just in time as I realized my mistake and ended up standing next to you. Only later did I wonder if you might have been flirting? It was an easy chat and we both have a similar safety dress sense, lol - coffee?

SHEEPDOGS CONCERT

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 18, 2016 WHERE: The Commodore We met at the concert on level 2 of the Commodore while the warm up band was still on. Your name is Joseph and your adorable young nephew introduced us. I looked for you on the dance floor as you suggested but didn’t see you. Hope you and enjoyed the concert! Would be great to see you again and chat further. :)

135 MEETS 160 LAST FRIDAY AFTERNOON

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 19, 2016 WHERE: Cambie/Hastings Waiting for the bus on the wrong side of town last week, we exchanged a few words before I left. You were friendly and handsome, I should have asked you out on the spot but... of course I didn’t or I wouldn’t be here now.

144 THIS AFTERNOON

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 23, 2016 WHERE: Metrotown Sat next you on the 144 this afternoon. I told you that you are pretty as I was getting off. Regretting not asking for your number now. Maybe you’ll see this?

PLUS SIZE QUEENIE

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 22, 2016 WHERE: Winners Beautiful big blondie trying on pants at Winners. I wanted to sweep you off your feet, but you disappeared into the changing rooms for over 45 mins and I had to get back to the hot dog stand. Hit me up through here - would love to buy you more than just some pants.

HOMESENSE GIRL.

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 11, 2016 WHERE: Robson Street I found every piece of garbage in my car so I can pretend to have to throw it and get myself out of my car to talk to you. You were with your friend who was being nice to me as I was trying to talk to you. I know you’re busy getting settled in the city but I really wanna grab a bite with you.

AT THE INUKSHUK ON THE SEAWALL ON SATURDAY

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 20, 2016 WHERE: Inukshuk Statue at English Bay You were sitting on a bench with a remarkably adorable and quiet black dog, and a friend who wouldn’t stop talking. I couldn’t stop *looking* - - - at you. Long dark hair, baseball cap, black (p?) leather jacket, eyes that pierced my soul, I didn’t even know that was a thing before I saw you...? Everything you were wearing was black, but your eyes were the brightest I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Your dog was shivering, and as you pulled him/her (I’m not the gender-specific-type), into your lap, you briefly met my eyes. I was too chicken to say it at the time, but... : “Wow. To be that dog...” I’d love to talk binaries with you.

WOMAN OF MY DREAMS. TWICE

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 20, 2016 WHERE: Open Studios We first met and danced together at Mark Farina at the Commodore Theatre. Five or so years later, this past weekend at DJ Heather. I love the way you move and I wish we could see where this could go. I’m now single. I can’t wait another five years to see you again.

UNICORN HORN

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: FEBRUARY 20, 2016 WHERE: Parkay Quartz @ Rickshaw I’d like ta get to know ya.

Did you see someone? Go to straight.com to post your FREE I Saw You _ 70 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016

straight stars March 10 to 16, 2016

dding Venus to the mix on Saturday, there’s a total of seven planetary influences gracing Pisces. It’s great influence for tuning in, creative musings, the spiritual quest, or a romantic escapade. If you lose your focus or your way, it’s only temporary. Mars, Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter, and Pluto are on mission through mid–next week. While it is a highly triggered time, for the most part the stars are on an easy delivery program. Friday night hits the spot well, but Saturday presents the best of the weekend. No matter how you choose to spend it, you’ll get your money’s worth. The only thing to watch out for is a lazy or self-indulgent streak. The clocks spring forward on Sunday and the stars hit a shift of pace. Covering the gamut, Monday’s stars are stacked. Mercury/Saturn has a piece of work to do, an important priority to address, an official step to take. What do you want; what do you need; what are you getting? Venus/ Mars, the relationship, net-worth, self-worth duo, also hit the action button. Some of the day comes to a full stop; some of it hits full go. What shapes up is to the plus. By evening, the stars are on an upswing. Early Tuesday, Mercury/Jupiter puts us into a much better know and loans us extra tools to work with. Jupiter’s trine to Pluto and the Cancer moon well aligned on Wednesday makes this day the best, the most opportune and satisfying of the week, perhaps of the month.

‫ﺎ‬

ARIES

March 20–April 20

> BY ROSE MARCUS

‫ﺑ‬

CANCER

June 21–July 22

The now holds rich potential. There is nothing extra for you to do but to allow the natural process to unfold and to reveal itself. Friday/Saturday, savour the moment: coast, enjoy, indulge. Your creative f low and attractive potential are good. Monday sets ideas and talks into action. There’s more to explore, to cover, to stage, or to handle. By Wednesday, it’s humming along.

Dream big. Whether showing up in the world, for the world, or for another, the rich Pisces lineup helps you to optimize your best assets and prospects. Once Monday’s out of the way, you’ll feel pumped full of seemingly unlimited creativity, inspiration, and intuition. You could tap into something quite lucrative, visionary, and/or fulfi lling. Wednesday/Thursday, meet; take action. The stars gift you.

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‫ﺒ‬

TAURUS

April 20–May 21

As of Saturday, Venus, your ruler, advances into Pisces. Through the first week of April, Venus helps to smooth out money matters, your communication flow, and the general day-to-day stuff. While there is a heave-ho, a reality check, or someone to face on Monday, by midweek you should find yourself on the plus side. Wednesday/Thursday delivers very well.

‫ﺐ‬

GEMINI

May 21–June 21

Doors are opening, walls and ceilings are disappearing. Career and personal potentials are on the rise. The recent solar eclipse and the concentration of planets in Pisces urge you to believe that all things are possible. Monday removes a block, doubt, or uncertainty. If you don’t know where to look or how to make it happen, simply go exploring and let it find you.

LEO

July 22–August 23

Venus in Pisces can make you susceptible to sweet talk or a sales pitch. Although you may initially face a loss or have difficulty seeing your way clear, watch for Monday’s stars to uncover something useful and to point you toward something of greater worth or potential. There can be a tough decision to make. Wednesday/Thursday, the work, healing, or correction runs smoothly.

‫ﺓ‬

VIRGO

August 23–September 23

Friday/Saturday should prove smooth running and meet with expectations. As of Monday, something more can open up or get the ball rolling for you. Too, you can move beyond a limitation or a mindset, theirs or yours. Mid–next week puts you on a great upswing regarding your social life, a key relationship, money prospects, or a legal matter.

‫ﺔ‬

LIBRA

September 23–October 23

Friday/Saturday, take your time, give it time, enjoy. While Pisces stars rule, it’s wise to pump up your immune system and to keep safeguards in place. It’s easy to be forgetful, absent-minded, or emotional: to lose track of items, details, reasonable limits, or time. A negative imagination can run wild, but creativity well employed can deliver beautifully. Monday’s a push; otherwise, it’s all good.

‫ﺕ‬

SCORPIO

October 23–November 22

You’ll get good value out of your talks, visits, or relaxation time this weekend. Time set aside for creativity or for your lover delivers beautifully. Through the start of April, Venus in Pisces boosts prospects in all areas. Monday, there’s sorting out to do, things to put in place, more to add or discuss. Wednesday/Thursday, you’re on a great roll.

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SAGITTARIUS

November 22–December 21

‫ﺊ‬

CAPRICORN

‫ﺋ‬

AQUARIUS

‫ﺌ‬

PISCES

December 21–January 20

Saturday is sweet. If it’s something you want to know, you’ll soak it right up. The rest you’ll easily forget. While Venus into Pisces increases your receptivity, the stars put you on a selective intake and discard. Monday, get it off your chest; take on more. Wednesday, you’ll gain advantage, time, news, results, or helpful advice. January 20–February 18

Money can simply evaporate. Your overhead, the debt, or the unavoidable extras may be a major concern, but even so, investment in family, your home, or yourself is time and money well spent. Friday/ Saturday are particularly smooth and easygoing. Monday is a full-on, tackle-it day. Wednesday/Thursday, needs are easily met; you’ll accomplish very well. February 18–March 20

Friday/Saturday, enjoy, socialize; love it or them up. Through the start of April, Venus in Pisces keeps you in a state of attraction. In general, you’ll sound good, look good, and feel better. Monday/Tuesday, there’s plenty to get through or tend to. Wednesday, the stars gift you. Luck, love, opportunity, and satisfaction are at peak. -

The weekend can be productive and work-filled or it can be relaxed. Either way, for the most part it’s smooth and straightforward. Despite a difference of opinion, a lack of motivation or direction, a misunderstanding, or some tension in the mix, Monday keeps a project, priority, or relationship matter on the move-along. Book a reading or sign up for Rose’s Optimize on Wednesday; great free monthly newsletter: www.rose marcus.com/astrolink/. gains can be made.

MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 71

72 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT MARCH 10 – 17 / 2016