The Georgia Straight - Folk Fest - July 12, 2018

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4 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JULY 12 – 19 / 2018

CONTENTS

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CANNABIS

The members of the Tragically Hip rock group are getting into cannabis legalization in a big way by partnering with an Ontario-based company that featured them in a “glamping” getaway last week. > BY PIPER COURTENAY

9

REAL ESTATE

The cofounder of Pets OK B.C. and the rentalhousing industry are at odds over whether tenants should be permitted to keep animals. > BY CARLITO PABLO

15

COVER

From slapping back at creeps to freaking out over fossils, folk-fest headliner Neko Case finds excitement everywhere. > BY ALE X ANDER VART Y

19

FOOD

A new Granville Island restaurant with one of the best patio views in Vancouver is the brainchild of four of the city’s top chefs. > BY TAMMY K WAN

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START HERE 12 20 29 24 20 27 31 13 7 25

Books The Bottle Confessions Dance I Saw You Movie Reviews Savage Love Straight Stars Straight Talk Visual Arts

TIME OUT 25 Arts 19 Music

SERVICES 29 Careers 9 Real Estate

ARTS

Cabin Fever at the Vancouver Art Gallery and The Blue Cabin at grunt gallery invite you to escape to the woods without leaving town. > BY ROBIN L AURENCE

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6 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JULY 12 – 19 / 2018

straight talk NPA COUNCIL ROSTER LOOKING PRETTY SLIM

The president of the Non-Partisan Association is putting to rest speculation that NPA Vancouver city councillor Melissa De Genova may jump ship. “Melissa is running with us,� Gregory Baker told the Straight by telephone. Baker said the NPA board has approved De Genova as a candidate for councillor. However, as of the July 9 interview, there were no others yet on the party’s council slate. Baker said Coun. Elizabeth Ball has not informed the party if she’s interested in a fourth term. “I don’t think she’s going to run,� he said about Ball. In November last year, NPA councillor George Affleck declared that he will not run in this year’s October 20 civic election. Hector Bremner, who won a council seat in the 2017 byelection as an NPA candidate, has formed the Yes Vancouver Party and will run for mayor under its banner. There had been some speculation that De Genova might join Bremner’s camp. Baker said park-board commissioner Sarah Kirby-Yung has told the party that she wants to run for council. He noted that KirbyYung has yet to get the green light on that, and he added that she is already approved to go for another term on the park board. Her husband, Terry Yung, is on the NPA board of directors. Park commissioner John Coupar sought but failed to secure the NPA’s nomination as its mayoral candidate. He has yet to tell the party if he wants either another term on the park board or a shot at city council. “I’m expecting that it will be park board,� Baker said about Coupar’s decision, noting that Coupar is currently on vacation. Businessman Ken Sim won the NPA’s mayoral nomination, defeating Coupar and West Side resident Glen Chernen. According to Baker, Chernen has not advised the party if he plans to run for council. Chernen did not return a call by the Straight. As with the last municipal election, NPA directors will pick the party’s candidates instead of a nomination vote.

Baker said the other approved candidates are incumbent education trustees Fraser Ballantyne and Lisa Dominato, who will seek new terms on the school board. NPA park commissioner Casey Crawford has been authorized to go for another term, Baker said. Baker also said that people interested in running with the NPA have until July 20 to apply. > CARLITO PABLO

91-YEAR-OLD SCIENTIST PATENTS CANCER DRUG

Dr. Pat McGeer has achieved many milestones in his lifetime. He competed as a Canadian basketball player in the 1948 Olympics. He’s a UBC- and Princeton University– educated neuroscientist. McGeer, a UBC professor emeritus, also served in the B.C. legislature for 24 years, leading the B.C. Liberal party from 1968 to 1972. He was a Social Credit cabinet minister for 10 years, and during that time he helped kick-start B.C.’s high-tech sector. But the 91-year-old Vancouver resident’s greatest claim to fame could end up being as a cancer researcher. In 2012, he and his wife, Edith McGeer, founded Aurin Biotech Inc., which created a drug called aurintricarboxylic acid complex (ATAC). Last week, the company received a U.S. patent for the way in which it cuts the blood supply to a tumour, preventing it from growing. According to an Aurin Biotech news release, the oral medication accomplishes this “by preventing the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which induces capillary formation�. The news release states that “no other anti-cancer agents are known to arrest the progression of malignant tumours�. Initial tests have shown no side effects in research subjects. “The most exciting aspect of this discovery is the unique way in which ATAC works,� McGeer said in the news release. “It starves the tumour of its needed blood supply by preventing the complement system from inducing it. A starved tumour may not disappear, but if it is arrested, it is no longer lethal. In other words, individuals doomed to die from a cancer can be rescued by this drug.� > CHARLIE SMITH

OPIOID EPIDEMIC MAY GET ROYAL COMMISSION

How did Canada fall victim to an opioid epidemic that killed almost 4,000 people across the country last year? It’s a big question, and a pioneer of Vancouver’s harm-reduction movement wants an answer. Last May, Dan Small, a cofounder of North America’s first supervised-injection facility, Insite, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau requesting the appointment of a royal commission “to examine the variables that have accounted for the dramatic overdose tragedy�. It was a long shot, Small told the Straight. But now the Canadian government has responded with a letter that, he said, suggests it is possible his royal commission could actually come to fruition. “While a Royal Commission specifically has not been considered to date, I would suggest that you contact the Governor General’s office to identify your concerns and your ideas on the matter,� Heidi Jackson, executive director of Health Canada’s opioid-response team, wrote to Small on behalf of Health Canada on July 9. In a telephone interview, Small, a medical anthropologist and adjunct professor at UBC, outlined his next steps. “A royal commission would allow us to look backwards at the mistakes we’ve made,� he said. “Ms. Jackson is recommending that I follow it through to the Governor General. And I will.� If a royal commission is established, it will likely focus on the years when former prime minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative party held power in Ottawa. In B.C., the first province hit by the fentanyl crisis, there were roughly 200 fatal overdoses each year during the first half of Harper’s time in office. Then, nearing the end of his term as prime minister, in 2013, there were 333. Then 368 in 2014 and then 522 in 2015, the year that Harper was defeated by Trudeau and the Liberals. Statistics show that Canada’s epidemic of overdose deaths began on Harper’s watch, Small maintained. > TRAVIS LUPICK

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CANNABIS

Up Cannabis has joined the Tragically Hip’s Gord Sinclair, Paul Langlois, and Rob Baker as partners in five new strains of weed. Up Cannabis photo.

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n a rare appearance since the death last year of frontman Gord Downie, the Tragically Hip rock group took over an organic farm in Creemore, Ontario, to officially unveil their newest venture: pot. Last week, attendees of a two-day “glamping” getaway braved a heat wave to gather at the New Farm, which consists of 40 hectares of agriculture, wildlife, and walking trails, just a two-hour drive from Toronto. Despite a feast of freshly picked vegetables, dill-dusted cocktails, weed smoked by a roaring bonfire, and a barn concert under the stars, the biggest draw was the promise of hanging with the Hip. Band members Gord Sinclair, Paul Langlois, and Rob Baker didn’t just make an appearance, either. The three investors joined in the festivities alongside attendees, all playing a role in promoting their partners in their soon-to-be-legal weed-production company: Up Cannabis. After a comprehensive cannabis introduction by two of the firm’s scientists, Sinclair took the microphone to unveil five strains poised to launch with legalization in October. “Since we started working with these guys a few years ago, Up has been about the best,” he said to the crowd. The Hip officially announced their partnership with Newstrike, the publicly listed owner of Up Cannabis, last May. Because direct celebrity endorsement of cannabis is illegal, Up’s products pay homage to the band by replacing the strains’ traditional nomenclature with hints at some of the Hip’s iconic tracks: Eldorado, Gems, 50 MC, Grace, and Morning Moon. Strain by strain, Sinclair took guests through a blueprint of each of the musically themed flowers. “It hits you really hard, but after the initial buzz goes and you get to the indica, you’re going to be glued to the couch playing guitar,” Sinclair said of Gems, the sativa-dominant hybrid named after the song “The Last of the Unplucked Gems” off the band’s 1991 album, Road Apples. “When was the last time you

RICHMOND WE NERIC P

actually listened to all four sides of Physical Graffiti? Because this is what you’re looking for,” he quipped. The company’s product lineup covers the standard spectrum of cannabis offerings: indica, sativa, indica-dominant hybrid, sativadominant hybrid, and a cannabidiolheavy strain. Newstrike CEO Jay Wilgar told the Georgia Straight at the Creemore event that the company is focused on simplifying the diverse array of cannabis products available. “When we started talking to people, what we started noticing, with the exception of B.C., was that most Canadians don’t know what they’re smoking or using, or very little about weed itself,” Wilgar said. The company narrowed down 10 of the “most popular” North American phenotypes, ultimately settling on five that would best represent each type of strain. “We decided to come up with, for example, the one best indica we believe will work in the marketplace and that people will understand… We’re simplifying the process with high-quality product.” Up Cannabis currently has two grow sites: one in Brantford, Ontario, and a 506,000-square-foot facility nearby that holds about 160,000 plants. The five strains announced last week are just the company’s entry into the marketplace—it has more planned for the near future. Wilgar said that much of Up Cannabis’s technique is reminiscent of B.C.’s grow style. Eldorado (its “gold standard” sativa), for example, comes from a Ghost Train Haze phenotype that boasts a high THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) level, achieved by growing under indoor conditions they adopted from western growers. During a heartfelt speech before a banquet-style dinner, Langlois reminded everyone that the date set for cannabis legalization will be the first anniversary of Downie’s death. “He would have loved that,” he said, rousing diners to a toast. Although a distribution deal has yet to be announced, Up Cannabis expects to have strains available in at least four provinces by October 17. -

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8 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JULY 12 – 19 / 2018

STARTER HOME

HOUSING

Pets OK B.C., a group working to end restrictions on animals in rental units, says low-income people are often forced to choose between their homes and their pets.

Animal lovers and the rental industry at odds

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andlords and tenants typAn online petition by the group ically fight over rent, repairs, states that 75 percent to 97 percent and noise. of rentals have no-pet policies. AcAnd there’s also the issue cording to Galán, pet restrictions of pets. hit low-income renters the hardest. In B.C., landlords are the boss They have to choose between losing when it comes to companion ani- a home and giving up their pets. mals. Landlords can prohibit pets; “I just consider that, you know, they can also restrict the size, kind, unconscionable,” he said. and number of pets. They can even A. G. Kemp and Associates Inc. is demand a pet deposit and impose a Victoria-based outfit that provides pet-related rules. various services to the rental indusLandlords have the law on their try. Company president Al Kemp side. Until legislation is changed, ten- wrote to the Rental Housing Task ants can only plead Force to suggest that they be althat landlords lowed to have pets. should retain the This is why it ability to decide Carlito Pablo will be interesting about pets. In his to see what pet-related recommenda- letter, Kemp noted that current legistions will be made by the Rental Hous- lation provides landlords “flexibility” ing Task Force formed by the B.C. to “accommodate the needs and deNDP government last spring. sires of all their renters”. The panel had to come up with Asked to comment, Kemp exsuggested improvements on a range plained that forcing landlords to of issues pertaining to both the Resi- accept pets puts them in an undential Tenancy Act and the Manu- tenable situation, especially when factured Home Park Tenancy Act. they have several tenants, as some Spencer Chandra Herbert, NDP people are extremely allergic to or MLA for Vancouver–West End, terrified of animals. heads the task force, which has two “There are tenants who don’t like other members, Ronna-Rae Leon- animals, and when they go looking for ard (NDP, Courtenay-Comox) and a new place, they want a pet-free buildAdam Olsen (B.C. Greens, Saanich ing,” Kemp told the Straight by phone. North and the Islands). “So there is no difference in wanting a The panel wrapped up public pet-free building or wanting a smokconsultations on July 6 and will be ing-free building, in my opinion.” working over the summer to come In 2000, then B.C. NDP Vancouverup with proposals by the fall. Kingsway MLA Glen Clark introduced Not surprisingly, animal lovers a member’s bill to ensure tenants could and the rental industry are at odds have pets, with some limits. Clark, who in their respective representations to had resigned as premier the previous the Rental Housing Task Force. year, stood on the floor of the legislative Chandra Herbert and Leonard had assembly to say that his measure “ends a phone consultation with a group discrimination against pet owners by that has been working to end restric- landlords”. tions on pets. Eliot Galán, cofounder “It’s an issue of fairness,” Clark said. and Vancouver-based organizer of “If a pet or owner is not responsible, Pets OK B.C., said the province can they can still be evicted. The bill allows follow Ontario, where tenants have a landlords to remove pets for end-tendefault right to have pets. ancy agreements if the animal is noisy, “It’s nearly impossible to find a place aggressive, destructive, or flea-ridden.” to live just by having a dog or a cat,” The NDP government of the day Galán told the Georgia Straight in a didn’t consider Clark’s bill beyond phone interview. first reading. -

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n the ongoing debate over Metro the footloose jet-setting wealthy Vancouver’s housing challenges, portrayed in the media. Now that the trust is broken in the the Vancouver Sun’s populist columnist, Douglas Todd, has once name of sovereignty, what other betrayal lies ahead? again played the nationalism card. When in opposition, the NDP critiIn a recent commentary, Todd warned that Canadian sovereignty cized the B.C. Liberal government for is under threat from a lawsuit filed the harshness of the law, in particular by some foreigners against the Brit- for its failure to consider a “grandish Columbia government for im- father” exemption for those snared posing a tax on their purchase of by the timing of the tax between announcement and implementation. homes in parts of the province. But once voted into power, the NDP The NDP minority government, propped up by the B.C. Greens, recent- government not only retained its predecessor’s position, ly raised the tax to it went further to 20 percent and betray the trust expanded where and goodwill. Toit will be applied. Ng Weng Hoong day, it has extended It started in Metro Vancouver at 15 percent in August its target to include Canadians with 2016 under the previous B.C. Liberal an unexpected school tax for high-end homes and the extension of the emptygovernment. Who can argue against the sover- home tax beyond Vancouver. Some have argued that the school eignty cause when the housing story is often framed as an unfair contest tax is a small sum for the lucky few, between Canada’s hard-pressed but it completely ignores the point middle class and the invading horde about breaking trust and setting the precedent for more and worse measof wealthy foreigners? Certainly, the B.C. government is ures to come. This leads to the third considerawell within its right to impose without warning a tax on foreigners buying tion: the rule of law. Desperate to “do real estate—and just about anything— something” about the housing issue, the Clark government imposed the within the province. This is what sovereignty is about. knee-jerk tax to appease populist Case closed, if we accept the argu- sentiments without improving affordability for anyone. As nonvotment presented by Todd. ers, these foreigners had few rights Not so fast. Here are four factors to consider, and no political representation to especially in the manner and cir- counter this decision. No reasonable person begrudges cumstances in which the B.C. government of then premier Christy the state’s right to tax, but the B.C. Clark dropped the tax on unsuspect- government’s heavy-handed decision was bound to invite a challenge. ing foreign buyers. First, nationalism is a game that Jing Li’s lawsuit is her only recourse, others can play. Throughout history, and law-abiding Canadians should governments have used the principle applaud that. Even more importantly, and conof sovereignty and nationalism not only to impose taxes on foreigners trary to Todd’s assertion, the suit without warning but also to seize deeply affirms Canadians’ sovereignty by underlining that this country and nationalize their assets. The unpredictable Trump admin- operates on the rule of law. The B.C. government is not runistration would be within its right to introduce new special taxes on Can- ning Venezuela, but it has shown adians for owning property in the that it has just as much power to United States. The states of Florida appropriate the wealth of investors, and Arizona could impose a “snow- foreign and local. The lawsuit—by bird tax” or an empty-home tax on foreigners, ironically—serves to Canadians for “exploiting” their warm defend Canadians’ sovereign right weather during the winter. B.C. should to wealth protection against the be warned that it has laid the argu- encroaching and arbitrary powers ment for America’s numerous debt- of the state. Lastly, the wrong evocation burdened states to hit Canadians with of sovereignty will only encourfuture arbitrary taxes. Secondly, trust and goodwill: when age further pig-headed Canadian Chinese national Jing Li bought her populism emboldened by years of townhome in 2016, she did so in com- unbalanced reporting in the mainplete trust and good faith that the B.C. stream media. While government government did not distinguish her as failure brought about the afforda foreigner. Indeed, up to the middle able-housing problem in Vancouof 2016, the government had given ver and Toronto, the media played no signs that it was blaming foreign accomplice by directing public andemand for Metro Vancouver’s rising ger at the most identifiable target: home prices. Then, in a show of un- foreign investors and offshore cappredictability that would make Trump ital, particularly those from China. Anyone who thinks that blaming proud, it hit Jing Li and many middleChinese migrants and capital has class foreigners with the tax. Let’s be clear: this tax was born no impact on race relations in Canout of resentment and anger. It cul- ada is deluded. The discussion on Chinese capminated a rising political tide that blamed foreign buyers for Metro ital needs to happen within a broad framework, taking into account CanVancouver’s housing problems. The influential group of journal- ada’s growing need for funding, and ists and academics who sold this how it ought to manage trade and story line to the world have down- investment with the world’s secondplayed, even ignored, a host of other largest economy. Sadly for Canada, the simpletons factors in the region’s runaway housing prices—supply constraints by in- are in charge. They have reduced competent government at all levels, all discussion on Chinese capital restrictive regulations on construc- to that of a national threat to Cantion, surging domestic demand from ada’s sovereignty. The call to rally the people within Canada, B.C.’s strong economy, the intergenerational transfer of against Jing Li’s lawsuit is a serious wealth, the lending practices of Can- threat to Canada’s sovereignty. It ada’s banks and secondary mortgage serves to entrench belligerence in lenders, the prolonged low-interest- government and encourage jingoism among Canadians at a time rate environment, et cetera. For foreign investors, the sudden when the country’s uncompetitive tax represents innocence lost. B.C. economy badly needs to attract actively courts foreign capital and talent and investment, both local skills to grow its economy, but, hypo- and foreign. Canada’s sovereignty is at risk critically, it harbours distrust and ill will toward the same foreigners who when its economy is weak and its want to invest and live in the province. policymaking is guided by public Many of those affected had in- anger built on unbalanced media tended to become Canadians, hardly reporting. -

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Four reasons to use a carshare for your teen Car-free families now have an affordable and convenient way to get their teens more practice hours and a driver’s licence (This story is sponsored by Modo.)

IT’S AFFORDABLE Modo members pay about

S

chool’s out for summer. As teens rejoice everywhere, moms and dads face the daunting task of adding being a taxi driver to the list of parental duties. Oh, the sunshine and long days! But also the sunshine and long days of keeping your teens entertained. And summer is often when they start nagging you to get their own learner’s licence. Before now, you were faced with dead ends—figuratively speaking. If you didn’t own a car, you simply couldn’t teach your kids. If you use carshare, they weren’t allowed to drive them. And if you did choose to buy a car or you already owned your own, you’d then have to pay a hefty sum and risk your clean-driving record. But before you get heart palpitations at the thought of your kid driving, there is an alternative, which is both safe and affordable—whether you have your own car or not. That’s because, for the first time in North America, our very own local carshare, Modo, has made it possible for young learners to take the wheel. While other carshare operators require drivers aged 19 or over with an N licence, Modo’s new and inclusive Green Program puts teens aged 16 or older—with an L licence—in the driver’s seat. This new initiative, which launched on July 1, means you can also enjoy all the great benefits that come with carsharing. It’s more sustainable, convenient, and affordable while also making learning and driving accessible to your teen. And surely there could not be a better time than now to get some practise in. Below, we list all the reasons why you’ll want your teen to use carshare to get driving this summer.

$600 a year to use the service, compared to the average cost of $9,500 to own and operate a vehicle in the Lower Mainland. Under the new program, Green members aged 16 or older with an L licence can be added to a primary member’s Modo Plus (shareholding) account if they live at the same address and the primary member is 25+ with a full licence. And having access to 600 Modo vehicles across the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, and the Okanagan means you can practise with your teen along with a handful of professional lessons instead of doling out hundreds of dollars for practise hours solely with a driving school. Furthermore, you can benefit from the best insurance possible—$5 million of third-party liability—without having to pay the hefty premium to insure your teen on your own personal car. Not to mention the expense of gas and repairs.

IT’S SAFE AND LOCAL With a mixture of professional lessons and lots of practise with Mom and Dad, you know that your teen is learning to drive in the best possible way. And since Modo is a co-op, your dollars are going toward supporting a local, member-owned business, which helps with local economic and social growth. It’s convenient and f lexible. Once your teen has got their licence, they can help with the driving duties without commandeering your car and without the expense of buying them their own. There’s also the f lexibility in making sure you get the type of vehicle you need: Modo has pick-up trucks, SUVs, and minivans. IT’S SUSTAINABLE In the next 20 years, Metro Vancouver is expected to welcome another one million residents, which will translate into an additional 700,000 privately owned cars, at today’s rate of vehicle ownership. Scary stuff if

“It’s much cheaper, but still a dependable way to get around. Plus, Modo is local and the first carshare to let young people like me drive!” says Nick DeYoung, a learner driver and future Modo member.

you think about how bad traffic, congestion, and parking are already. So with population and car ownership on the rise, carshare offers a more sustainable way to get around. Even better, of the 600 Modo cars available, one in five is electric or hybrid. And by teaching your teen in a carshare vehicle, you’re instilling these behaviours in a future generation, which benefits both the membership and society at large. After all, every Modo takes approximately nine to 13 private vehicles off the road. Modo has been driving change for more than 20 years—pun intended. Although driving might not be the rite of passage that it once was, it is still a useful skill for

IT’S INCLUSIVE

young people to have. Beyond giving them independence, it also teaches them valuable lessons on responsibility, and it may even help with employability. So consider Modo as offering all the benefits of having a car without the costs or hassle. This is definitely the time to let your teen take you for a ride. And these days, with more multigeneration families as well as kids staying home for what might feel like forever, your 30-year-old with an L can join too! If you’re not already a Modo member, you can join today. Use the promo code Straight50 at www.modo.coop/ to get $50 in free drive time. And learn more about the Green Program at www.modo.coop/green-members/.

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BOOKS

Mystery glows in Hearts > B Y DAVID C HAU

L

ate in the writing of her debut novel, Our Animal Hearts, Dania Tomlinson happened upon the Mabinogion, the historic text from Britain’s Middle Ages. Full of myth and legend, it resonated with her own work in progress, which was a magic-realist tale set in the early-20th-century Okanagan. Parallels between the manuscripts unnerved Tomlinson. This sense of the supernatural at play, however, inspired her to further explore an imagined past for the area where she was raised. Unfolding the life of Iris Sparks, daughter of an English blue blood and a Welsh bohemian, the new novel follows Iris from youth, surrounded by spirits in the fictional Okanagan town of Winteridge, into middle age, as external forces grip the world. Tomlinson was originally interested in writing about the link between experience and narrative but her novel, she notes, has “changed forms as I have taken on new roles. I’ve been writing it for about 10 years. I became a university student, an adult, a wife, a mom—all while writing this book. “I think my ideas in the story have really shifted,” she adds, speaking to the Straight from her Kelowna home, “and then adapted as I have changed.” The impact of storytelling is crucial here as Iris uses her mother’s fables to frame the everyday. Tomlinson, whose grandmother arrived in Canada from Wales in the 1920s, wanted to address how the Indigenous population and settlers from Wales, Japan, and Scotland might project personal and cultural mores onto Lake Okanagan. The perspectives of newcomers “really became quite interesting for

Dania Tomlinson says her debut novel changed during a decade of writing.

me,” she says. “How much of this is just projecting? It’s also a kind of colonialism—going somewhere new and projecting something of your own.” The novel grew out of a short story she wrote about two elderly women who loathed each other, and it initially took place in Chile and Victoria. (This South American plot was ultimately cut, though its protagonist briefly appears in the finished book in the form of a young maid.) Choosing the Okanagan came after research led Tomlinson to “a photo of some women, wearing trousers, in an apple orchard with ladders. The write-up at the bottom was ‘Women taking to the ladders. All the men are at war.’ And it was dated during World War I. “I don’t know what it was about that photo,” she says, “but I looked at that photo and imagined the lives of these women taking on a role that they were quite unfamiliar with, and how their worlds must have changed.” In the novel, Iris fi nds her objectives shift once her father and brother leave for England, eventually joining the Allied forces, and her

mother’s health deteriorates back in Winteridge. Unease encroaches on Iris, reflecting her path from adolescence to adulthood, and larger concerns from the era. It is no boon that she “tends to follow a very selfish part of herself that destroys things around her”. Fostering an adversarial relationship with Azami, a Japanese-Canadian whose family has ties to the Sparkses, Iris also embroils herself in a love triangle with Viktor and Yuri, brothers of Ukrainian heritage who toil in the Sparkses’ orchard. These threads allowed Tomlinson to broach global events and national injustices, including the internment of ethnic communities during the world wars, and the theft of Indigenous land. Winteridge, she remarks, “soon became a microcosm of Canadian history. Looking at the story through a micro lens—or a macro lens—changes what the story’s about. It was really important to me that all these historical scars were laid bare.” Writing, for Tomlinson, begins with images often unconnected to a greater whole. The process is one of discovery and develops over time. The assuredness of Tomlinson’s prose supports the novel’s sweep and sensibility. She writes with equal confidence about the struggles of the period, the human condition, and the natural world. “We are beasts, crude and cruel, but aglow, nonetheless, aflame with something so brilliant it cannot be seen,” she observes in Our Animal Hearts. “It cannot be known or ever understood.” Th is idea, the title suggests, fuels the novel. According to Tomlinson, people “can act beastly and I think that amidst those actions we still have spirit. We still have something more. That’s the mystery of it.…It’s just a matter of how we choose what we choose to take on in that moment. What we choose to acknowledge within ourselves.” -

Crowdfunding gives game industry a boost > B Y V. S. WELLS

“W

hen we went to Kickstarter, people were starting to write articles that Kickstarter was dead,” said Chris Bourassa, cofounder and creative director of Red Hook Studios. He was speaking to the Georgia Straight by phone from his Vancouver office, where the Red Hook team is working on new downloadable content for its Kickstarter-backed game Darkest Dungeon. Bourassa and his business partner Tyler Sigman started the game’s crowdfunding campaign in February 2014. They were looking for $75,000, which they raised within 24 hours of launch. “If people are decrying the end of something, you can slip in and try to do it properly,” Bourassa said. “I have some fond memories of that time, but it was definitely really intense.” The game racked up 9,639 backers—the most of any Vancouver crowdfunded project. In all, successful Kickstarter campaigns have raised $20.4 million for Vancouver businesses. They vary from sketch-show web series to public-art displays and include kids’ books, kebab makers, and a man who raised $10 to make baby food. A data analysis of successfully funded and currently running Vancouver-based Kickstarter projects shows that games get the most backers of any category. Games racked up almost 60,000 total supporters. Product-design campaigns counted more than 56,000 benefactors, while design projects got more than 47,000 fi nancers. Projects on Kickstarter can be listed in multiple categories, meaning

a campaign labelled as “product design” and “design” would count its backers (or money earned) in both categories. Bourassa feels that the game industry has got a noticeable boost from Kickstarter. “I do think Kickstarter’s a great platform for smaller games studios, or even individuals who want to make something,” he said. “It’s wonderful for the game-development ecosystem, especially indie games.” The project on the site with the most backing is a card game named Exploding Kittens, which has more than 219,000 financers. Shenmue III holds the record for the most-supported (69,320 backers) and mostfunded (US$6.3 million) video game on the platform, and it is also the seventh-most-funded project ever. But having a lot of backers doesn’t necessarily correlate to making a huge profit. Darkest Dungeon, for instance, isn’t even one of the 10 mostfunded local projects, coming in at 11 with $313,337. Vessi Footwear’s waterproof shoes were the only local Kickstarter to earn more than $1 million—one of only 300 projects ever to do so on the site—and they boasted the secondhighest number of backers, with 7,654. But shoes are more expensive than a video game, meaning Vessi had a much higher average donation per supporter ($134.08) than Darkest Dungeon ($32.51). In total, Vancouver-based games have earned more than $3 million in donations, while product-design projects have raised over $7.3 million. Film and video projects are the most numerous local Kickstarters, with 281 campaigns and 112 successful projects listed. Design (92 successful see page 14

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July 12 to 18, 2018

hursday delivers the first of three eclipses for this season, two partial (super new moon) solar eclipses (July 12, August 11) and one total lunar eclipse (July 27). Drawing extra turbo from Mars in Aquarius retrograde, the eclipses will pack a punch, whether they hit your chart directly or not. This is no ordinary passage along destiny’s time line. Thursday’s solar eclipse in Cancer continues to put the children and the vulnerable in the spotlight. All matters to do with safety, security, protection, food production, and domestic and national interests fall under Cancer’s jurisdiction too. Pitted against (in exact opposition to) Pluto in Capricorn, the subject du jour is readily demonstrated by several examples: U.S. president Trump’s immigrationpolicy enforcement that has separated children from their parents; the Thai government’s and international responses to the trapped boys; a conservative U.S. Supreme Court lockup that could impact abortion laws and civil rights; the Canadian provinces versus the federal government regarding financial responsibility for new immigrants and asylum seekers‌ The list goes on. An Earth grand trine accompanies the eclipse that allows for what is weak, missing, untapped, unclaimed, underrated, or undervalued to be brought to the light of day. Once exposed, it sets the opportunity for the necessary correction, healing, repair, and improvement to begin. A new cycle begins regarding reaching limits, moving past the past, reprioritizing, the challenges of regaining control and of meeting up with consequence or reward. It is a fermenting time regarding the shaping of reality, along with its evolving needs and dictates. With a few critical points along the way, the eclipse sets a work-in-progress timetable that extends to 2020.

ARIES

March 20–April 19

LEO

July 22–August 22

Soak it in and cozy up Thursday/Friday. It’s all good through mid–next week too. Although Thursday’s eclipse is not front and centre for your sign, potent emotional undercurrents are stirring. Feel your way along; watch for signals and clues. That which stirs with new life now will be more fully out in the open by the lunar eclipse at the end of the month.

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

August 22–September 22

A major lifestyle overhaul has been in the works for some time now. While there is still more to process and sort out, Thursday’s solar eclipse positions you at the next checkpoint threshold. Sunday is your best day for action for a fresh initiative, upgrade, update, and test drive. September 22–October 23

Venus, your ruler, is a major contributor to Thursday’s solar eclipse. It favours all action-taking or intention-setting toward healing, repair and renovations, improvement, regaining control, and moving past the past. The eclipse sets an auspicious backdrop for undertakings and ambitions directed toward building greater material, professional, or emotional security. Someone or something from your past can resurface and/or springboard you. October 23–November 21

They may live far away, but the bond is never broken. Thursday’s solar eclipse is ideal for a catch-up with your past, whether you do that through memories or you pay a visit to places and faces you haven’t seen for a while. The eclipse also previews the future in some subtle, indirect, obvious, or special-event way.

SAGITTARIUS

November 21–December 21

Thursday’s solar eclipse can spark something unexpected. It could be a great idea or an inspired impulse, a moneymaker, a chance to connect with a special someone, or it could uncover or reveal something more. Emotions and/or needs can run deeper than has been evident so far. The eclipse favours nesting, putting down new roots, growing better bonds, and greater security.

A new level of security, a new comfort zone, new options, new safety measures, new personal priorities, and new concerns and insecurities make the list too; the evolving reality has been in the works for a while now. The partial solar eclipse CAPRICORN officially announces the start of a December 21–January 19 new home, family, and living-withThursday’s solar eclipse yourself chapter. Tackle repairs and upgrades now. Time is of the essence. puts an added spotlight on loved ones and what they need from you. Your TAURUS social world and involvement with the April 20–May 20 public also gain more of your attenSome options may be total- tion. It also draws added attention to ly off the table now; some need to be the arenas of your life where you feel reworked; others simply require more insecure or incomplete. Added attentime. Don’t worry so much about the tion to safeguards and self-preservalong range. Thursday’s solar eclipse tion is to your advantage. is best used to explore new ideas, to AQUARIUS plant new seeds, and to feel your way January 20–February 18 along. Outside support may be misWhile Mars in Aquarius sing or out of reach right now. Find it within. Put mind/will over chatter. continues in retrograde, a vacation or a time-out is well timed. Take it moGEMINI ment to moment for now. Thursday’s May 21–June 21 solar eclipse could produce someHow much/how much more thing unexpected regarding work or are you willing to invest? Is it worth the health. It sets a favourable backdrop extra time, money, or emotional com- for trial runs, restarts, secondhand mitment? Are you getting your needs buys, refurbishing, and new ventures met? Do you feel secure or stuck? directed toward upgrading health, Thursday’s eclipse prompts a deeper wealth, or emotional security. dive into the rising undercurrents. A PISCES new inner voice speaks to you now. February 18—March 20 The eclipse sets fertile and profitable Reflecting on the past; conditions for taking on a new life. eyeing the future: a special event, anCANCER nouncement, child, lover, or someJune 21–July 22 thing entirely unexpected can strike Thursday’s eclipse will a deep emotional chord. Thursday’s hold greater springboard sway if your solar eclipse can hold significant or birthday happens on it or near it. subtle impact. It’s a threshold-crossOtherwise, you may simply feel more ing time for matters of heart, health, energized, motivated, responsive, or family, self-care, and security, and triggered. No matter how challenged for gaining ground on yourself. you may feel, do not underestimate the value in the act. Rework, reclaim, or re- B o o k a re a d i n g o r s i g n u p f o r start it now. Even a small step/attempt Rose’s free monthly newsletter at rosemarcus.com/. can set you up for great gain.

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from page 12

fundraisers), product design (89), games (77), and music (76) follow close behind. Technology projects have some of the worst success rates: Vancouverites have listed 195 on Kickstarter since its inception, but only 40 reached their funding goals. In fact, the majority of Kickstarters fail. At the time of writing, only 742 local projects have succeeded (with 27 running) out of 1,946 listed on the site—a success rate of 38 percent. (Vancouver does slightly better than Kickstarter as a whole, where 36 percent of projects succeed.) Ansix Engineering has established three successful Kickstarter campaigns. The first two were for quick-change camera equipment (one listed as “camera equipment”, the other as “design” and “product design”), while the third was for a slim wallet. “The first two projects we started… we really did need Kickstarter, because we didn’t have that much money to produce a mould to create our product,” said Ron Chan, one of the three founders of Ansix, in a phone interview with the Straight. The camera projects each raised

about $34,000. But the most recent, Fantom Wallet, attracted almost 6,000 backers and raised more than $614,000. It was the secondmost-financially-successful Vancouver project. Chan credits the campaign’s success to being further along in the development process. “It was basically ready to go. We were ready to sell these,” he said. He pointed out that Kickstarter brought more eyeballs to the page than the company could have reached otherwise. Chan also noted that the company spent about $10,000 on a marketing company to help increase visibility. The Darkest Dungeon team didn’t employ any outside help but spent a long time preparing. Their game had been in development for eight months before the Kickstarter launched, and running the campaign became a full-time job for the duration of the fundraising. Both campaigns collected email addresses before the campaign so they had a large interest base before the launch, helping them meet initial funding goals quickly. Although these kinds of success stories may be uncommon, local companies continue to use the platform to fund their projects. Vancouverites’ Kickstarter dreams aren’t dead yet. -

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FOLK FEST

After seven studio records under her own B Y A L EX A NDER VAR TY

name and a further seven with the New Pornographers, Neko Case could be forgiven for being jaded. But she’s not. “I feel like I’m 19 years old and I’m about to go to college and I don’t know what’s going to happen to me, and I’m excited about it,” she says, checking in with the Straight from a Madison, Wisconsin, tour stop. “Even though that’s not even close to what my life is like, I still have that, and that’s one of those things that I hope to preserve about myself because, you know, I get excited about things. “I get excited about things like fossils,” she adds, laughing. “And things that you were excited about when you were a kid and you’re untainted by struggling with the world—the human part of the world.” Case’s enthusiasm is refreshing—and surprising, too, for a lot of her just-released Hell-On is about exactly that: struggling with destructive human forces both internal and external, wrestling with fate, and contending with memory. And when childhood experiences come to the fore, her lyrics don’t exactly brim with unsullied optimism. One of the new record’s most powerful songs— one of the most powerful she’s written, in fact—is “My Uncle’s Navy”. It opens with the lines “There’s memories I’d pay to remove/I’d cut them out myself/If that were possible/The kind you cry yourself blind about,” before Case goes on to introduce a sadist who “loved to scare all the little girls away”. “And if you’re tender-hearted,” she sings, “you should stop the tape. Stop the tape.”

Trusting in the free fall

Neko Case worked with Swedish musician Björn Yttling on her latest album, Hell-On, which also features contributions from k.d. lang and Laura Veirs.

Neko Case is excited about musical storytelling, fossils, and balancing beautiful sounds with ugly ones

going on.” them. They have everything mapped out ahead of And that, she adds, is time, whereas I have a third of it mapped out, and due in part to working another third of it halfway mapped out, and the The obvious inference is that it’s a song empow- with k.d. lang and Laura Veirs on their 2016 re- final third not mapped out at all as we go into the ered by #MeToo, but Case cautions otherwise. lease, case/lang/veirs. Although that album and studio.…But, you know, I was a lot more prepared “I mean, it is, if that’s what you feel when you the subsequent tour were billed as a one-off collab- for this record, and I did a lot more research than I hear it, but it wasn’t written from that perspec- oration, both lang and Veirs sing on Hell-On, with normally do. Ultimately, I got that from those two, tive,” she explains. “It was written kind of about the latter sharing songwriting credit for the gor- and I really enjoyed working that way. people who manipulate children, and who are geous and mysterious “Oracle of the Maritimes”. “I really tuned myself up for this record,” she competitive with children, which is a really creepy “I love trusting myself in the free fall,” Case says. adds, “and I think it paid off.” thing. People do it to be in power, and the power “I really do. But those two, they like having a plan for dynamic definitely crosses every gender line. It where the free fall goes should the free fall not work, Neko Case headlines the Vancouver Folk Music happens to lots of people, not just girls—but it’s and that was a really great thing to pick up from Festival main stage on Friday (July 13). open-ended enough that people could put their own experience in there, too.” There are autobiographical moments on HellNeko Case sounds off on the things that enquiring minds want to know. On, she confesses, “but nothing ever superfocused. I mean, my own perception of the world On writing eight of Hell-On’s 12 songs with Vancouver guitarist is my firsthand account, and the only one I have, Paul Rigby: “What we do is, I generally have snippets of songs written, and they so with a lot of it I’m trying to tell stories and I will be parts that don’t even relate to each other or are in the same key. So I’ll be end up in them. I come and go. But it’s generally like, ‘Paul, could you play me every possible note to go from here to there?’ So not like a straight-up memoir all the time. Somehe’ll do that, which he really enjoys.…Which is why he’s so great at what he does. Mostly, though, times, but I do enjoy telling stories the most.” we both have a superfandom for music that is just so geeky and over-the-top. We have the same Increasingly, Case also enjoys the technical sense of humour, and we make each other laugh like crazy, so we just have the best time making aspects of musical storytelling. Working with music together—which is what it’s all about.” Swedish musician Björn Yttling—of Peter Bjorn and John fame—she produced Hell-On, and sucOn what she took away from her studies at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and ceeded in her ambition to make a record that’s both Design: “The question that you pay for is ‘Did my piece of work say what I set out to say?’ And punchy and warm. “I have a lot of high-end hearsometimes you don’t know what you set out to say, so it becomes doubly hard to figure that out as ing,” she says, noting that the audio artifacts assoyou’re going along. Sometimes you have to adjust your song into some new language, to feel like ciated with Auto-Tune strike her as about as musical you got maybe 80 percent of what that grey area is that speaks to everyone. Does that make sense?” as a dog whistle. “But I also am really drawn to people who can sing really well, but who also make On her plans for headlining the folk festival’s opening night: “If I knew, I would have what are considered ugly sounds with their voices, to keep them a secret because I wouldn’t want to give them away just yet. But ‘I actually don’t know’ too. I’m always really drawn to that. So it’s not so is the correct answer to that question. Maybe there’s going to be a lot of nudity. There’s going to be much about being beautiful, per se, as it is about ‘Is a lot of horrifying nudity; that’s what’s going to happen. It’s going to be terrifying. People will run it saying everything I want to say, but not being too shrieking from the scene.” obvious?’ There’s so much delicate balancing that’s

in + out

LAS ESTREL LAS MAKE MARIACHI, VANCO U V E R- S TY LE >>> Michelle Cormier is having

2 fun, and why not? The leader

of Las Estrellas de Vancouver is in Mexico City, playing music, researching future collaborations, and buying new clothes for her allfemale mariachi ensemble. “More glitz!” she says, laughing. “Well, you know, a mariachi group needs to present itself as a mariachi group, so we do have to look the part.” It may come as a surprise to some that Vancouver has a resident mariachi orchestra, let alone one staffed exclusively by women. But over the past four years Las Estrellas have been establishing a good reputation for themselves—and an impressive collection of black, red, and silver stage wear. Building from her love of “the traditional music of pretty much everywhere”, VCC grad Cormier has gone from studying classical guitar, flamenco, and gamelan to

The local mariachi ensemble Las Estrellas de Vancouver will perform both on-stage and off- at this weekend’s Vancouver Folk Music Festival.

leading both a youth mariachi band, which came first, and this relatively new, fully professional ensemble. “I would often get calls for events that might not be appropriate for

the student group, so having a professional group also on hand was a good idea,” she says, noting that some—but not all—of those events might involve the consumption of

the occasional cerveza. “A mariachi band is often called for parties,” Cormier explains. “For instance, I was going to meet with a friend today, but he’s just gotten called for a gig. They’re always on call: it could be for a funeral, it could be for a wedding, it could be for a birthday party, it could be for anything at any time of day. So a mariachi ensemble functions as a social party band, and then there are a lot of pop singers that have a mariachi band. And with the ones at the party, the client requests songs, so you have no idea what songs you’re going to play—which is kind of frightening and also sort of cool, because you have to have a million songs in your head.” Most of those songs have a common theme, she adds: love. “They’re either love songs, or brokenhearted love songs. But there are also love songs about their place.

☞ It’s not exactly patriotism, but they sing songs about their town, about their state… That sort of thing.” Some modern mariachi bands mix things up a bit further; Cormier notes that she recently heard a group covering Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” and, rather pointedly, “Another Brick in the Wall”. Las Estrellas probably won’t go that far afield for their upcoming Vancouver Folk Music Festival appearances, which will take place both on-stage and off-. “We’ll be delivering a mix of romantic tunes, some that people can sing along to and some that people can dance to,” Cormier says. “And mariachi music is originally from the state of Jalisco, so we’ll have a couple of songs that are very specifically from there. “I try to create a nice mix of repertoire,” she adds. “And then, see page 18

JULY 12 – 19 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 15

Las Estrellas

from page 15

for when we’re walking around and playing within the crowd, it will definitely be more dance-y!�

> ALEXANDER VARTY

Las Estrellas de Vancouver play the Vancouver Folk Music Festival’s Stage 1 at 12:20 p.m. on Saturday (July 14).

Freeman finds catharsis in old-timey Americana For a good idea how steeped

2 in the traditions of old-timey

music Dori Freeman is, start with the relatively recent phenomenon known as YouTube, which is home to all sorts of videos featuring the Appalachian singer-songwriter performing Americana classics with her dad and granddad. The singer is just out of her teens in the clips, which range from a stripped-to-basics rendition of the folk standard “Hard Times Come Again No More� to the cowboy classic “I Ride an Old Paint�, but what stands out is the way that she sounds like an old soul. “Those are from 2011, so I would have been about 20,� Freeman says, on the line from her countryside home in Galax, Virginia. “I’d performed a bit with my dad when I was a teenager—in high school I’d go to shows that he was playing and come up for maybe one or two songs. Then, later on, I started playing at this little series that my dad and my grandfather did at this little framing shop and art gallery that my family owns. It was one of the first places that I really performed.� Fastforward eight years and Freeman has blossomed into one of the most buzzed-about singers in contemporary Americana. Last year’s critically lauded sophomore outing, Letters Never Read, showcased the singer as an artist who hasn’t forgotten her love of a sepia-toned time when gingham

After performing songs about heavy topics including racism, Cree-DeneIrish EDM producer and singer IskwĂŠ seeks ways to rejuvenate her spirit.

dresses were a thing and every parlour had a Philco 90 cathedral radio. But, smartly, Freeman also isn’t afraid to branch out on Letters Never Read’s 10 tracks, dabbling in easygoing twee pop for “Just Say It Now� and adding lounge-revival vibraphone to the Sunday-afternoon folk of “Turtle Dove�. Freeman was raised on Americana and folk on the stereo around the house, and at jam sessions held by her dad and grandfather. As is often the case, she pulled away from the music she was raised on in her teens, becoming a Warped Tour kid obsessed with the likes of Motion City Soundtrack, Hawthorne Heights, and Fallout Boy. “Then, when I was 15, I kind of took an interest in playing the guitar,� she says. “My dad had wanted me to do that for a while, and that’s when I started coming back around to traditional music. I fell back in love with country music and really got into exploring it more.� Letters Never Read covers of Jim Reeves’s “Yonder Comes a Sucker�

and Linda and Richard Thompson’s “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight� suggest Rufus Wainwright and Peggy Lee aren’t the only artists Freeman has an undying love for. Originals like “Lovers on the Run� and “Cold Waves�, meanwhile, suggest that life hasn’t been all honeysuckle and sunshine for the singer, the former exploring the many flavours of hell that are relationships, the latter coming at the issue of depression in a movingly languid fashion. At her best, she still sounds like an old soul. And if she’s found out anything since her 20s, it’s that she’s not alone. “I hate this word and using it, but it’s the only one I can think of using right now,� she says. “So I’ll say that it’s very cathartic to write songs, and to write about things you’ve experienced that were hard to work through, or traumatizing even. For me, it’s a way of cleansing myself of those emotions and feelings. Also I know how much songwriting from other people has helped me through hard times. So I hope, by being honest, that what I’m writing might help somebody else.� > MIKE USINGER

Dori Freeman plays the Vancouver Folk Music Festival’s Stage 5 at 10 a.m. on Saturday (July 14).

For IskwĂŠ, anger energizes the fight for social justice Although she works with

2 sounds that are far removed

July 14th ĂŤ?H NIH?

C=E ;N?LBIOM? B? FQCHM FN;G?>;

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B? F?P?H Q?FP?M MEET US UNDER THE WATER TOWER FOR THE

4TH ANNUAL TRUCK STOP CONCERT SERIES. GET YOUR TICKETS AT WWW.TRUCKSTOPCONCERTSERIES.COM 18 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JULY 12 – 19 / 2018

from conventional notions of folk music, there’s a good reason why the Cree-Dene-Irish EDM producer and singer known as IskwĂŠ is going to find herself at Jericho Beach Park this weekend: as folk performers have always done, she frequently concerns herself with the pressing issues of the day. And in this country, one of the most pressing issues is Canada’s shameful unwillingness to address the commonplace abduction, rape, and murder of Indigenous women and girls. It’s not that she’s a sloganizer: although her hit “Nobody Knowsâ€? was inspired by the 2014 death of 15-yearold Tina Fontaine, of Manitoba’s Sagkeeng First Nation, its message is cloaked in a gospel-inflected melody and delivered atop a booming house beat. But the energy in IskwÊ’s performance style, on record and onstage, comes directly from the anger she feels about the thousands of missing and murdered women whose killers have so far gone unpunished. “We have a hashtag that says ‘#AmI Next’,â€? the Hamilton-based IskwĂŠ tells the Straight from an Ontario highway, referring to a social-media campaign initiated by Inuit social-justice activist Holly Jarrett. “And my niece is two years old, so my immediate goal.‌ is that when my niece grows up, that hashtag is a thing of the past. “These are conversations that we have with our kids,â€? she continues. “These are conversations that I had with my grandpa. These are conversations I’ve had with my mom. And in these conversations we learned that

we had to protect ourselves in different ways than other demographics in this country, and that sucks.â€? Although confronting discrimination and racial crime makes for powerful art, it can, IskwĂŠ admits, take its toll on the artist. “These aren’t things that are happening to people ‘over there’ that I have no connection to,â€? she says. “So finding ways to continue talking about them without getting too run down by it is important. These are really heavy stories—and at the end of shows, more and more, I have people, mostly women, that will come up and share stories of their loved ones that haven’t come home, or that will never be coming home. “So finding ways to rejuvenate my spirit, like the sun-dance ceremony and being a part of community, these are the things that give me rejuvenation as we try to get rid of this problem—the problem of us being viewed as disposable.â€?

> ALEXANDER VARTY

I s k w Ê p l a y s t h e Va n c o u ver Folk Music Festival’s Stage 3 at 5:40 p.m. on Saturday (July 14).

Ranky Tanky moves to a traditional Gullah rhythm South Carolina’s Ranky Tanky

2 plays music rooted in the Gul-

a culture that oftentimes didn’t get a chance to express itself freely. When you’d go to a praise house, as it was called, you’d have people that would sing these songs, and they’d improvise—whether with rhythms or vocally. You could argue that’s the origin of jazz. It goes really far back.� > TONY MONTAGUE

Ranky Tanky plays the Vancouver Folk Music Festival main stage at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday (July 15).

Master tunesmith Crowell remains resolutely tireless Forget Tony Robbins: if you’re

2 a songwriter in need of posi-

tive thinking you need only consult Rodney Crowell, who not only has developed an effective, commonsense philosophy of songwriting, but is battling back from a disease that could easily have crippled a lesser human. This, it’s true, is not necessarily surprising, coming from a Nashville veteran who’s capable of rubbing shoulders with former father-in-law Johnny Cash while also quoting the Stoic philosopher Epictetus in song. When the Georgia Straight reaches the 67-year-old Crowell, he’s taking it easy on his Tennessee patio. And although his voice is soft, his spirit is strong. Despite being diagnosed last year with dysautonomia—a miscommunication between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems that can result in extreme fatigue—he’s recently started his own record label; released Acoustic Classics, an unplugged look at a dozen of his greatest songs; and is about to head west to play the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. After that he’ll go to Carmel, California, to host the first edition of Adventures in Song, a masterclass in songwriting in which he’ll be assisted by Elton John lyricist Bernie Taupin and Tom Petty keyboardist Benmont Tench, among others. Crowell is resolutely modest in explaining why he, as much as anyone else working in the Americana genre, has the ability to make commonplace tropes—love, heartbreak, and bad behaviour—seem vividly fresh. It’s all thanks to his parents. “Neither of my parents were educated, but my mother played with words and she twisted things around and she rhymed things,� he explains. “My father, on the other hand, was not a writer, but he was a savant, in a way. Somehow if he heard a song once on a dry-cell radio—the Grand Ole Opry, or something—he’d have it, and he’d know it. And he had a real deep repertoire of songs that he knew—mostly country, from Roy Acuff to Hank Williams and a little later. Being around them, and I guess sharing their DNA, was the perfect combination for me to be a natural-born songwriter.� The Texas native adds that he was also lucky to move to Nashville in the early 1970s, where he was quickly adopted into the songwriting clan. It was then, Crowell continues, that he developed one of the exercises he’ll be teaching at Adventures in Song: the “Eye to Eye� technique, in which one writer reads his or her lyrics to another. If the reader can’t maintain eye contact, it’s a sure sign that something needs improvement. “It depends on whose the other set of eyes are,� he allows. “In my case, it was Guy Clark, and those were some pretty piercing, look-into-your-soul eyes. Early on, when I had the opportunity to bring him something new, he’d say ‘Okay. Don’t play it. Just look me in the eye and tell me those words.’ I learned a lot from that, because whenever I wanted to avert my gaze, I knew it was a weak couplet, or I’d lost the thread of the narrative. It was a really good exercise, and he’d do it with me, too, the other way around. But I’d venture to say that with him being nine years older than me and having a more intense set of eyes, it was easier for him than for me!�

lah communities of the coastal lowlands and islands of the southeastern United States. Descended from black slaves who survived the harsh conditions of the rice fields, the Gullahs created a resilient hybrid culture out of their diverse African origins. Ranky Tanky takes traditional Gullah songs and rhymes, and gives them bold contemporary settings and arrangements. Late last year the quintet’s excellent self-titled debut topped the Billboard, iTunes, and Amazon jazz charts. Based on a children’s game, “Ranky Tanky� is also one of the tracks. The Gullah expression is clearly a key to the band and the music, so what does it signify? “The loose translation is ‘Work it!’ � says trumpet player Charlton Singleton, reached in Awendaw, near Charleston. “If you listen to the chorus of the song—‘Pain in my hands, ranky tanky’—you work it, you move your hands to get that pain out. ‘Pain in my legs, ranky tanky’— so you shake your legs. ‘Pain in my head, ranky tanky’—you move your head around. ‘Pain all over me’—you dance around. You’re trying to get rid of that pain. You work it. You get funky with it. You move. You groove. “We gave the rhyme a melody, put chords behind it, and added our rhythm—and now it’s a song,� Singleton continues. “With our instrumentation of standup bass, trumpet, guitar, drums, and our influences as jazz musicians and gospel musicians and folk musicians, rhythm-and-blues musicians, and all of those experiences that we’ve had playing in other formations—when you wrap them all up, and put it into the Ranky Tanky ensemble, it comes out as something unique.� Ranky Tanky formed in late 2016, after Singleton and three Charleston friends, who had played some years previously as jazz outfit Gradual Lean, got together with powerful local singer Quiana Parler. Their aim was to explore new musical territory for what Singleton calls the “Gullah rhythm�, which pervades the local soundscape. “In songs like ‘Join the Band’ you can hear the rhythm clearly,� he says, then hums it—syncopated, and accented on the first beat. “Dum ti dum-dum, dum ti dum-dum. It could be a fast song, a midtempo song, a slow song. Our drummer Quentin [Baxter] maintains, and I agree, that the Gullah rhythm is almost impossible to write down, because it’s not just notes on the page, it’s a feel—with different nuances here and there. I grew up listening to it in church and it always seems to be present—even in the way that people around Charleston would > ALEXANDER VARTY play other music. You would find that beat someplace in there.� Singleton sees Gullah influence Rodney Crowell plays the Vancouver deeply and subtly ingrained in African- Folk Music Festival main stage at 8:40 American music. “We’re celebrating p.m. on Saturday (July 14).

FOOD

Popina aims to serve fast food with integrity

W

hen a notable chef in town announces plans to open a new restaurant, it’s a food lover’s natural instinct to get excited. Now imagine how Vancouver’s gastronomically obsessed felt when word got out that four of the city’s top chefs were coming together to collaborate on a culinary concept—“overwhelmed” might be an understatement. Popina Canteen is the culmination of four-and-a-half years of location scouting, brainstorming, research, and menu development by local chefs Angus An (Maenam, Fat Mao, Sen Pad Thai), Robert Belcham (Campagnolo, Monarch Burger), Hamid Salimian (culinary consultant for Earls, instructor in Vancouver Community College’s culinary-arts program), and Joël Watanabe (Kissa Tanto, Bao Bei). Their long-awaited project doesn’t even have an address on Google Maps (yet) because it’s located in the middle of a former parking lot on the northwest side of the Granville Island Public Market. Characterized by its unique exterior made from repurposed shipping containers (which formerly belonged to the now defunct outdoor market business Hawkers Wharf), the healthyfast-food eatery also boasts one of the best patios in Metro Vancouver. But this highly coveted spot with beautiful, unobstructed views of False Creek wasn’t even an option in Popina’s early stages of planning. It wasn’t until the all-star team applied to the Granville Island office of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) for a spot at the market over a year ago that this unprecedented and unconventional locale became a possibility. The window-service counter with an outdoor seating area fits in perfectly with the initiatives of CMHC’s Granville Island 2040 plan: expand the public market to create space for

music/ timeout CONCERTS 2JUST ANNOUNCED THE PARK SHOW A Tribe Called Red and Charlotte Day Wilson are featured at the first Vancouver Mural Festival concert. Aug 11, 6 pm, Jonathan Rogers Park. Tix on sale Jul 6, 10 am, $30/4-packs $100 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

Granville Island’s Popina Canteen is the culmination of four-and-a-half years of brainstorming. Tammy Kwan photo.

new food stalls, and offer sustainable first sort of idea of a restaurant for food, local food, and innovative culin- the people,” explained Belcham. “We ary arts and programming. want to bring really great food to the “They were trying to build differ- masses. That was the whole idea, and ent things all over the island to bet- that’s what this is all about.” ter utilize underutilized spaces and In case you’re wondering, deto bring more vibauchery is not brancy back to the going to hapisland,” Belcham pen at Popina. told the Straight But you will find Tammy Kwan in an interview tasty bites and alongside his three business partners satisfying beverages. outside Popina. “They’re trying to Those who walk up to the boldbring the locals back to the island. We coloured structure (its branding was were the perfect cog for the wheel, to done by popular local agency Glaskick-start all of that.” furd & Walker) will see a light-pink So what does the name Popina menu off to the side, which showcases mean? It’s defined as an ancient everything from lobster rolls to crispyRoman wine bar that served simple chicken sandwiches, gourmet salads to meals and alcohol to lower classes of fresh seafood trays, and avocado toast Roman society. “It was a tavern for to puffcream—a signature treat of softyou to get food and wine. Debauch- serve ice cream in a cream puff, with ery would happen, and it was the rotating flavours and toppings. There

Best Eats

PSYCHE + RATIONAL YOUTH Darkwave/ synth-pop bands, with guests Weird Candle, In Mirrors & Void Mirror, and DJ Nikki Nevver. Jul 14, 8 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $20 (plus service charge), info www.rickshawtheatre.com/.

KING PRINCESS Pop singer-songwriter from Brooklyn, New York. Jul 20, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Biltmore Cabaret (2755 Prince Edward). Tix $20 (plus service charges and fees) at www.live nation.com/.

WYE OAK American indie-rock duo tours in support of fifth album The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs. Jul 14, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Biltmore Cabaret (2755 Prince Edward). Tix $20 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

PANIC! AT THE DISCO Rock band from Las Vegas, with guests Hayley Kiyoko and Arizona. Aug 11, 7 pm, Rogers Arena (800 Griffiths Way). Tix at www.ticketmaster.ca/.

WE FOUND A LOVEBIRD Vancouver indie-rock band. Jul 14, 8 pm, Railway Stage and Beer Café (579 Dunsmuir). $8, info www.showpass.com/we-found-a-lovebird-railway/. MIQAYEL VOSKANYAN AND FRIENDS Armenian ethno-jazz and folk band makes its Vancouver debut. Jul 14, 8-10 pm, The Cultch (1895 Venables). Tix $35, info www.acaofbc.ca. MARK FARINA Nordic Trax presents DJ from Chicago. Jul 14, 9:30 pm, The Imperial (319 Main). $25, info www.facebook. com/events/970704813088706/?active_ tab=discussion/.

are two windows to order from: one for hot foods, the other for the dessert and grab-and-go items. “When you look at Granville Island as an iconic place in Vancouver, there aren’t a lot of iconic food moments,” said An. “We wanted to link up with places like San Francisco, like when you go to Fisherman’s Wharf you get the steamed crab and lobster.” The chefs emphasize that Popina is a fast-food concept, minus all the crap that usually comes hand in hand with this type of dining establishment. “It is fast food with integrity, that’s what it is,” explained Salimian. “When you look at the salads, it’s not what any other fast food [spot] is serving. You put the salad in a white china bowl, you’ll find it at a restaurant. It just happens to be in a takeout container that is compostable here.”

Guests will be paying the market price for some of the seafood options, such as whole Dungeness crab and whole East Coast lobster. If you want a mix of the best, there are seafood trays ($120 to $180 each) that include the whole crustaceans, as well as shrimp ceviche, pink scallops, and tuna crudo served with house-made sauces. “When people think about fast food, they think it’s unhealthy and terrible,” added An. “But when people come here and try the food here, they’re going to be pleasantly surprised. It’s delicious, healthy, and you get to sit at one of the most beautiful sceneries in Vancouver.” Featured libations include red and white wines, specially brewed beer, bottled cocktails (think negroni and caesars), and classic sodas. Many Vancouverites may be familiar with the renowned team behind Popina, thanks to each chef’s career in the city, but they couldn’t be less bothered if you don’t recognize their names. The four of them are aiming to create delicious food that will blow away their guests—many of whom will be tourists—and it doesn’t matter to the chefs if their involvement is known or not. “I crave all those things that everybody craves, like the fried-chicken sandwich and the great burger and the ice cream, but I won’t go to some of those places out there that serve these things because I know it’s terrible,” said Watanabe. “It would be nice to have a place where you know there’s integrity in the food, but it’s also those guilty pleasures that you really want to have. Hopefully, the food speaks for itself.” Popina is now open and serving up a select number of items; it will make its full menu debut by the end of the month. The chefs just have to wait a little longer to see if they can reap the fruits of success: smiling customers who are enjoying every last bite of their dishes. -

BURNABY BLUES + ROOTS FESTIVAL The 19th annual celebration of blues and roots music features Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats. Also includes familyfriendly activities and local food vendors. Aug 11, doors 2 pm, show 3 pm, Deer Lake Park (6344 Deer Lake Ave., Burnaby). Tix $180/50/40 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticketmaster.ca/. JACK WHITE Former member of the White Stripes performs tunes from new solo album Boarding House Reach. Aug 12, 8 pm, Rogers Arena (800 Griffiths Way). Tix at www.livenation.com/.

PNE SUMMER NIGHT CONCERTS Featuring performances by Boyz II Men (Aug 18), Air Supply (Aug 19), Dean Brody (August 20), Goo Goo Dolls (Aug 22), I 2THIS WEEK LOGIC American rapper, singer, songwritLove the ‘90s Tour (Aug 23), Wilson Phillips er, and record producer performs on (Aug 24), Marianas Trench (Aug 25), Lost SPARTA Alt-rockers from El Paso, Texas. his Bobby Tarantino vs. Everybody Tour, ‘80s Live (Aug 26), 112 (Aug 28), Kool & Jul 12, 8 pm, Biltmore Cabaret (2755 Prince with guests NF. Jul 15, doors 6 pm, show Edward). Tix $19-$24 at www.ticketfly.com/. 7 pm, PNE Amphitheatre (2901 E. Hastings). the Gang (Aug 29), Jann Arden (Aug 30), Burton Cummings (Aug 31), Chicago Tix $69.50 (plus service charges and fees) (Sep 1), Village People (Sep 2), and Cyndi VANCOUVER FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL at www.livenation.com/. Lauper (Sep 3). Aug 18 to Sep 3, PNE Forty-first annual folk fest features performAmphitheatre (2901 E. Hastings). Free with ances by Neko Case, Ry Cooder, Rodney KINA GRANNIS American pop singerPNE admission; reserved seats available at Crowell, Wallis Bird and Mick Flannery, songwriter, guitarist, and YouTuber, with Melingo, Wazimbo & Banda Kakana, Archie guest Imaginary Future. Jul 17, doors 7 pm, www.pne.ca/. Roach, Kacy & Clayton, Mariel Buckley, show 8 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 SKOOKUM FESTIVAL Three-day music Carole Pope, Gordon Grdina’s Haram Granville). Tix $29.50 (plus service charfestival features performances by and Dawn Pemberton, Skye Wallace, Alex ges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. headliners the Killers, X Ambassadors, Cuba, Petunia and the Vipers, Art Bergmann, and Florence + the Machine, plus 2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS Guy Davis, and James McMurty. Jul 13-15, Metric, Arkells, the War on Drugs, St. Jericho Beach Park (3941 Point Grey Rd.). Tix Vincent, Father John Misty, Blue Rodeo, SUPERSUCKERS Garage rockers from and info www.thefestival.bc.ca/. Mother Mother, Chromeo, Bahamas, Arizona perform on their 30th anniversary Stereophonics, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, CHUCK RAGAN Folk singer-songwriter, tour, with guest Charlie Overbey. Jul 19, 8 Cold War Kids, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Matt formerly of Hot Water Music. Jul 13, 7 pm, pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix Andersen, Matt Mays, Current Swell, Biltmore Cabaret (2755 Prince Edward). $20 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Dear Rouge, Said the Whale, Yukon Tix $21.50-$25 at www.ticketfly.com/. Cat, Zulu, and www.rickshawtheatre.com/. Blonde, the Zolas, Hey Ocean!, Delhi 2 RICKSHAW THEATRE 9TH ANNIVERSARY 31ST ANNUAL MISSION FOLK MUSIC Dublin, Barney Bentall, Crystal Shawanda, PARTY The Rickshaw celebrates nine years FESTIVAL Featuring performances Belle Game, the Matinee, and more. Sep with the Mad Alchemy Liquid Light Show by David Francey, the Matinée, James 7-9, Stanley Park. Tix at www.skookum and performances by Art d’Ecco, Sunbathe, Keelaghan, Elage Diouf, Nathan Rogers, festival.com/. the Intelligence Service, and Cartoon Viper Central, Early Spirit, Pharis, Jason Lizard. Jul 13, 8 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Romero, and more. Camping, artisan marTIME OUT MUSIC LISTINGS Hastings). Earlybird tix $9, info www.rick ket, Wee Folks Area, bistro. Jul 20-22, Fraser are a public service provided free of charge, based shawtheatre.com. River Heritage Park (7494 Mary St.). Tix $55on available space and editorial discretion. We 100 at www.missionfolkmusicfestival.ca/. CAR SEAT HEADREST Indie-rock can’t guarantee inclusion, and we give priority to band from Virginia, with guests Naked BLIND PILOT Portland folk band perevents taking place within one week of publication. Giants. Jul 13, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, forms its album 3 Rounds and a Sound in Submit listings online using the event-submission its entirety. Jul 20, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). form at straight.com/AddEvent. Events that don’t Tix $28 (plus service charges and fees) at The Imperial (319 Main). Tix $25 (plus sermake it into the paper due to space constraints vice charge) at www.ticketweb.ca/. www.livenation.com/. will appear on the website.

Authentic Greek Food Extensive Wine & Bar List

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www.apolloniagreekrestaurant.com CLOSED MONDAYS

HAVE YOU BEEN TO... Red Card Sports Bar

Cibo Trattoria

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JULY 12 – 19 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 19

FOOD

*Limited quantity, while supplies last

Watch the final game Sunday, July 15, 8am. Bring in this ad and get a free World Cup original glass*

Enjoy a Burger and beer for $15 during the games!

Ladurée international pastry chef Mickaël de Monte has moved from Paris to create Ispahan (right) and pastries in Canada.

Ladurée’s taste of France

OPEN FOR LUNCH FROM 11:30am EVERY DAY

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> Go on-line to read hundreds of I Saw You posts or to respond to a message < LUMMI ISLAND LOVELY

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KEITH MOON LOOKALIKE

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 9, 2018 WHERE: Greens Market

Greens Market. We talked about how awesome this city could be if we could all just chat with people we had a connection with. I want to chat more. Hoping you do too.

CONSENT & CAESAR

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 8, 2018 WHERE: Legacy Liquor store lineup

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I saw you and was stunned because you are the exact likeness of the adorable and crazy Keith Moon! You had a huge dog, too. Want to meet?

THAT SMILE..

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 7, 2018 WHERE: Skytrain between Columbia and Braid

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 8, 2018 WHERE: Everywhere..

We sat across each other on the last Skytrain. You complimented the Consent button on my backpack. I really enjoyed our conversation. Would love to hang out and talk about Daniel Caesar and more!

You: Change your hair colour a lot. Pout when you sleep. Love your cats. You’re stubborn. Have great taste in movies. Can easily clear a room... You also look great in shorts. <3 Me: Just a guy who saw you.. And sometimes cuts your hair.

HOTTIE IN ORANGE SHORTS @CARNIVAL DEL SOL TODAY

DETOX/REHAB

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 8, 2018 WHERE: Detox

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 8, 2018 WHERE: Downtown Vancouver I saw you at the Carnival del Sol. You wore some orange shorts, beautiful legs. Long beautiful brown hair and a sexy nose ring to go with that great smile. I would love to meet you again maybe see where it goes.

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You were long and had blond hair running the massage students at the 2nd floor detox. I was the mental health worker disheveled wearing black. Love to know more about you. This is weird.

NEW NEIGHBOUR DAVE

TAIWANESE BEEF NOODLES ON VICTORIA DRIVE

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 4, 2018 WHERE: Burnaby

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 8, 2018 WHERE: Taiwanese Beef Noodles on Victoria Drive You were elegant in a cool dark blue summer dress with spaghetti straps. You had the smallest of possible band-aid strips on the inside of your forearm. I wanted to ask you why? Instead, I asked you what was the name of the dry noodle dish you had ordered. I watched you go for preserved green vegetables and a dark red sauce. You told me the name of the dish, finished your noodles, paid the bill, and left your boy and girl to finish their lunch alone. The girl will look like you when she grows up. Lucky girl.

YOU LOOKED LIKE IGON FROM GHOSTBUSTERS (BUT SERVING ME BEER INSTEAD OF GHOSTS.)

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You introduced yourself in the elevator. I thought you were cute, got flustered, and made an awkward joke about living on opposite sides of the building (so make as much noise as you want- party time!). What I should have said was “Welcome to the neighbourhood. If you need any recommendations I’d be happy to share.” and opened the door to have an actual conversation. Since I missed that opportunity, I took to the “I Saw Yous” to see if maybe you would be interested in a real conversation. Surprisingly, it seemed like a less embarrassing way to find this out than in person.

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 7, 2018 WHERE: Yellow Dog Brewery You served me my High Five Hazy IPA. We talked about events happening today, mostly that Khatsalano street party was happening. You said you liked my choker. I saw you were holding Cam's cute pup outside. If you'd like to see a local show or hang let me know!

AIR CANADA HOTTIE

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 5, 2018 WHERE: Yew & York

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You Air Canada employee. Blonde, blue eyes, tall-very nice energy. Me, the interested guy at the Ellis. Couldn’t take my eyes off you. Lucky we were sitting close. My heart took off on a supersonic flight. Let’s land together.

URBAN PLANNING TALKS IN BEER LINEUP AT FVDED

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 6, 2018 WHERE: Fvded In the park We met in line for drinks at fvded, you complimented my tattoos and we somehow found our way into discussion about social housing. You and your friends headed to see kaskade, i regret not tagging along.

LUNCHTIME DOG WALK IN COAL HARBOUR.

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 5, 2018 WHERE: Pender @ Thurlow Lunchtime in Coal Harbour. You wore a floral dress and walked an adorable pup. I was in green stripes, and just about walked into traffic as we made eye contact! The two of you must have run around the block pretty quick, because we just about ran into each other again on the next corner! I should have taken out my ear buds and said hello. Maybe tomorrow?

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HAVE YOU BEEN TO... Granville Island

El Santo

Brewing

Restaurant

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elsanto.ca

20 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JULY 12 – 19 / 2018

ince opening its doors in 2016, Ladurée in Vancouver has been offering its worldfamous macarons in a variety of flavours, as well as chocolates, teas, accessories, and exquisite service at its tea salons. Now, for the first time in Canada, the highly anticipated full range of Ladurée cakes and pastries will be launched in Vancouver. Ladurée has been a passionate purveyor of pastries and cakes since it was founded in Paris in 1862. And surely there is no one else in the world who better understands the creativity that goes into patisserie than the French. Connoisseurs can now experience the Ladurée signature, Ispahan—an elevated rose macaron, filled with rose-petal cream and litchies and decorated with fresh raspberries. Or perhaps you’d prefer to indulge in the pastry perfection that is the Rose Raspberry Saint Honoré, the Pistachio Religieuse, or the Plaisir Sucré. There will also be the entire selection of Viennoiseries such as croissants, pains au chocolat, brioches, palmiers, and more.

But behind every Ladurée dessert are years of tradition and a Ladurée executive chef, who uses precise techniques to lead the entire process. And Vancouver is delighted to welcome a Ladurée international pastry expert, Chef Mickaël de Monte, who has moved here from Paris especially to share his mastery and ensure that every cake meets Ladurée’s exacting standards. Chef Mickaël will work his magic from a purpose-built pastry laboratory where science combines with creativity to bring you exactly the exquisite taste and quality you would enjoy à Paris. And with more than 15 years of experience, five of which he has spent with Ladurée, he is the quintessential pastry chef. While every recipe must be approved by the Paris headquarters, Olesya Krakhmalyova, owner of Ladurée Canada, hints that Chef Mickaël may create an exclusive dessert especially for Canadians. In the meantime, the chef has spent the past month sourcing the very best ingredients so that visitors to Ladurée can get a taste of France, without having to leave Vancouver.

Cakes! Pastries! Ice creams! Teas! And as always, the macarons—the handcrafted little biscuits with smooth ganache or jam fillings that have now become synonymous with Ladurée. And while the macaron continues to delight all those who try it, visitors are treated to something extra special with the new launch of cakes and pastries. In Vancouver, you can enjoy this sweet little morceau of Paris at one of the two Ladurée locations (Robson Street and Holt Renfrew), where every effort has been made to ensure a truly authentic French experience. It’s only apt, then, that the luxury tea salon’s creations are treated with the respect of jewels—presented atop a tiered cake stand or wrapped in turquoise-and gold-embossed boxes. A petit cadeau from France and the Ladurée chef who created them. Go to straight.com/contest/ and enter to win a Ladurée afternoon tea for two people valued at $50 per person. Visit Ladurée Robson at 1141 Robson Street (604-336-3030) or Ladurée Holt Renfrew at 737 Dunsmuir Street (604-681-3121).

Northern Italy does the trick

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’m currently in Italy, sitting in a little bar tucked on to contain the filling. (Plin translates to “pinch”.) They’re a side street in the Navigli neighbourhood of Milan, most often served with a brown-butter sauce and fresh Lombardy, mere steps from the touristy stretch of sage. Seconds are commonly offered, and I accepted them buzzy restaurants and shops along the Naviglio Grande at every opportunity. I must have had this dish a dozen canal. The early-afternoon vibe here is quite similar to what times in the past couple of weeks. Each time was a fresh I’ve experienced during my past three weeks in Italy, most experience, as it was always served with a different regional of it spent in the neighbouring territory of Piedmont. wine, all of them pitch-perfect and further evidence of why The hot July sun is beaming across the half-dozen the dish works so well in the area. I highly recommend givtables outside while 20-odd daytime ing it a whirl, or two, or three, at home— revellers sit inside, where the music whether through Googling a recipe is loud and the air conditioning hums and diving in or picking up various along; most are on couches at coffee styles of the pasta from local shops. Kurtis Kolt tables, or chairs at tables, with a handOnce it’s plated, do play around with ful of others at the bar next to me. People come in and a local varietal wine or two and be instantly transported out at a good clip for a quick pull of espresso, while the to this lovely corner of the world. bartender is kept busy putting out Apérol spritzes and Campari sodas, along with local white and red wines for TENUTE DEL VALLARINO BARBERA D’ASTI SUPERIthose opting to hang out. About a third of the patrons ORE LA LADRA DOC 2013 ($20 to $25, Marquis Wine are smoking, something that still prompts a double take Cellars and other private liquor stores) is aged at least six months in oak, per the DOC regulation for Superiore from this West Coast Canadian guy. wines. That gentle oak frames Barbera’s plummy, cherryOh, and there’s two dogs in here; I love that. There is loud discussion, much laughter, and a fair laden, high-acid nature, giving the fruit a nice bit of oomph. bit of smooching in one corner. I probably don’t have to mention that, yup, many are tucking into plates of pizza CASTELLO BANFI LA LUS ALBAROSSA MONFERand pasta. I am clearly the foreigner here, made obvious RATO DOC 2015 ($30 to $35, Everything Wine and other not only by my horrific attempts at speaking Italian but private liquor stores) offers the best of both worlds exhibited also because I’m probably quite the buzzkill as the only by Barbera and Nebbiolo, the two varieties that were initially thought to have been crossed to make the Albarossa one with an open laptop, working away. Today’s work is sharing what resonated with me at the variety. Turns out it wasn’t Nebbiolo in the initial crossing beginning of my trip in late June, as I spent a few days in but Chatus—a lesser-known indigenous variety that offers Monferrat, the area spanning the provinces of Alessan- a similar expression. It’s delicious nonetheless! Think soft dria and Asti. Although the area is often in the shadow of tannins, red and purple berry fruit, a touch of earthiness, neighbouring wine regions Barolo and Barbaresco, the and a nice chew of black licorice on the finish. wines here matter and offer a distinct sense of place. And what a place. The soils of the rolling hills (per DOC GATTO PIERFRANCESCO RUCHÉ DI CASTAGNOLE and/or DOCG appellation law in Piedmont, any recog- MONFERRATO DOC 2016 ($29.99, B.C. Liquor Stores) nized growing region must have its vineyards planted on a is a great example of the recently revived Ruché variety, hill) are mainly composed of calcareous marl, sandstone, bringing textbook aromas of rose petals and red fruit, then and clay, each bringing minerality and structure to the purple fruit and fresh-ground pepper on the palate. The elegrapes grown in the sun-bathed vineyards. Hazelnut and gance of a Pinot Noir with a little more body and length. peach groves occupy much of the nonvineyard landscape, and I ate plenty of each on this trip, but there was one local MICHELE CHIARLO LA VESPA MONFERRATO ROSSO 2014 ($17.99, LTO $16.49 until July 28, B.C. Liquor Stores) delicacy that struck my fancy more than any other. Agnolotti del plin are flattened pieces of pasta filled with is a crushable blend of Dolcetto, Barbera, and Nebbiolo, meat (veal, pork, beef, et cetera) and vegetables (spinach, loaded with Coronation grapes, Kalamata olives, oregano, chard, and others), then folded and pinched at the edges and thyme. Put a bit of a chill on it and pour liberally. -

The Bottle

ARTS

Artist Al Neil, sitting at the Blue Cabin, a home celebrated in grunt gallery’s summer show (Jim Jardine photo); right, Henrik Bull’s Flender Residence, Stowe, VT in the VAG’s Cabin Fever show.

Catching cabin fever

today, when we’re constantly connected to our phones and inundated with images and information.” In some cases, she points out, access to cabin life is more virtual than actual. “With the website Cabin Porn and all the coffee-table books that show beautiTwo exhibitions explore the rugged getaway—one a big survey ful images of cabins in at the VAG, the other a focus on a single, special blue structure the landscape, there’s this huge cabin culture,” Ah, the little cabin in the woods. So close she says. “You don’t even have to own a cabin or to nature, so far from the madding crowd. Place build a cabin to participate in it.” Rebick points to Porn, a section of the exhibB Y ROBIN LA UR E NCE of solitary reflection, philosophical inquiry, and quiet communing with the wild. Site, too, of rug- ition that alludes to that phenomenon of fantasy ged individualism—or something resembling it. and desire. Some displays examine the ways “asTh is summer, two separate exhibitions take on pects of cabin culture have been appropriated to the cabin as subject. Occupying the entire second sell different items of clothing and other things,” floor of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Cabin Fever she says. Plaid shirts, sturdy boots, and leather is a sweeping survey of an evolving architectural backpacks, by the likes of Roots, Sitka, and Herform. From its early association with westward schel Supply, communicate an “aesthetic of rugexpansion by European settlers, as the show gedness”. Never mind that this apparel is more demonstrates, the cabin has come to function likely to be worn while shopping at Whole Foods as a powerful symbol within North American on 4th Avenue than while skinning a moose in culture. Across town, at grunt gallery, The Blue the wilderness. Cabin is an examination of a very specific small Before gallery visitors arrive at Porn, they make structure, one that connects us to a particular their way through two other expansive and intime, place, and creative life. triguing sections of the show. The first is Shelter, Curated by California-based Jennifer M. Vol- which, the intro panel tells us, “introduces the cabland and the VAG’s Bruce Grenville and Stephanie in as practical and provisional solution for the reRebick, Cabin Fever features both exquisite archi- quirements of westward expansion and emergency tectural models and full-size sculptures of famous relief”. The second is Utopia, which examines the (or infamous) one-room structures. The show also cabin “as the ideal locale to practise introspection includes historic and contemporary photographs, or to escape the conventions of society”. architectural renderings, fi lms, videos, paintings, Within the Utopia section are references to and an array of objects, old and new, that relate to the cabin as the locus of individual inspiration the cabin way of life. and creativity, and it is here that the VAG show On a humid weekday morning, Rebick speaks may happily segue to The Blue Cabin at grunt. to the Straight about why Cabin Fever resonates This multicomponent installation documents so strongly with contemporary audiences. “There’s the painstaking restoration, by Jeremy and Sus such an interest in the cabin as a site of escape,” she Borsos, of a legendary structure that was located says, seated on a bench in the gallery. “Especially from 1932 to 2015 on an intertidal flat at the edge

THINGS TO DO

of North Vancouver’s Cates Park. Known as the Blue Cabin, it was occupied for much of the past four decades by the late interdisciplinary artist and musician Al Neil and his partner, the visual artist and writer Carole Itter. During a recent public talk at grunt, Itter spoke about the 10 years, during the 1960s and ’70s, when the impoverished Neil lived alone in the rudimentary cabin, and then the period she and Neil spent together, from the late 1970s forward, using the place as a studio and retreat. “We were real recluses,” she said, adding that the location, on the north shore of Burrard Inlet, powerfully influenced their practices. She and Neil worked individually and collaboratively on a series of projects there, including assemblages of found materials they installed in, on, and around the cabin. The Blue Cabin, now temporarily located at Maplewood Farm, was saved from demolition by a dedicated group of artists and activists, including Esther Rausenberg, Barbara Cole, and grunt’s program director, Glenn Alteen. Speaking to the Straight on the lawn outside the gallery, Alteen says, “It was such a magical place… and such an anomaly.” He describes walking through the woods to get to it—and then wonders how Neil managed to move a piano there. What the Borsoses’ restoration revealed, he adds, was how well-constructed the cabin is. “When Al was in there, it was so full of stuff you never realized what a little architectural gem it is,” Alteen says, “how much work was put into making it.” Then he continues: “The thing about this little cabin is that it contains so many histories.” Among them are the stories of the builder and subsequent occupants of the place, along with the associated stories of all the artists, writers, and impoverished folk who squatted on the foreshore of Burrard Inlet through the first half of the 20th century. “The idea of saving this, just as a conduit to talk about history, that’s why I think it’s important.” The Blue Cabin is at grunt gallery until July 28; Cabin Fever is at the Vancouver Art Gallery until September 30.

ARTS High five

Editor’s choice SPREADING IT THICK Vancouver TheatreSports League is taking a loving yet biting look at our hometown in its latest improv sendup, Avocado Toast. After all, they have a lot to work with—yoga pants, coffee addiction, bike lanes, craft-brew craziness, and sky-high rents, off the top of our heads, not to mention the summer dish for the health-obsessed that gives the newest show its title. Bring your own ideas and a sense of self-deprecating humour: as usual, the team relies on audience suggestions for its unscripted material. Avocado Toast—Vancouver-Grown, Organic Free-Range Comedy is at the Improv Centre on Granville Island until September 1.

Five events you just can’t miss this week

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AS YOU LIKE IT (To September 22 at Bard on the Beach’s BMO Mainstage) The joyous indisputable hit of the summer. Wear your Beatle glasses.

2

GAVIN MATTS AND IAN LARA (July 12 to 14 at the Comedy MIX) A rare double feature of standup laughs at the downtown comedy club.

3

I MISS DOING NOTHING (July 11 to 14 at 211 Keefer Street) Bodies, light, and sound shift in an immersive dance work where time stands still.

4

THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE (July 14 to August 15 at the Jericho Arts Centre) A mother-daughter stunner from the Irishman who gave you Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

5

WRECK BEACH BUTOH (July 14 and 15 at Wreck Beach) Get naked and take to the sand with Kokoro Dance.

In the news

MUSIC MEETS MURALS Hannah Georgas will headline the Vancouver Mural Festival’s Mount Pleasant Street Party on August 11 on the main stage at Main Street and East 11th Avenue. The songstress will be joined by the Belle Game, Schwey, and Shamik at the celebration, which starts at 1 p.m. The free all-ages and licensed show will precede the Park Show, VMF’s ticketed concert in Jonathan Rogers Park, featuring A Tribe Called Red and Charlotte Day Wilson. Tickets are now on sale at LiveNation.com and Red Cat Records. The afternoon concert adds to festivities that span more than 13 blocks and alleyways in the neighbourhood, which is readying for more than 125,000 visitors. Look for food trucks, live art, markets, craft beer, and, of course, murals. JULY 12 – 19 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 21

ARTS

Moths inspire midnight dance

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> B Y JA NE T S M ITH

nspired by the fascinating life cycle of moths, Rachel Meyer’s new dance work Transverse Orientation is all about transitions. And that makes it almost impossible not to read her personal story into it. After training in classical ballet at the University of Utah and dancing for companies like Houston’s Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, Meyer cut off her bun in 2011 and became an expressive, crop-haired standout at Ballet BC. But then, last season, she became pregnant. And everything changed. Suddenly, a devoted dancer who had never wanted to be a choreographer felt the need to create. And she says that has everything to do with having her daughter, Stella. “I felt like I wanted to make my own decisions and I wanted to be in charge of how I dance and what I dance,” says the artist, standing in the gaping, wood-beamed Railtown industrial warehouse where Transverse Orientation will be staged. “It felt like Stella was pushing me toward choreography and I needed to be heard and express myself in some way. And I loved the idea of dancing with her in my belly.” In March of last year, a mere month before giving birth, Meyer choreographed and performed in her first creation, Quartet, with Ballet BC alumnae Makaila Wallace and Maya Tenzer. “It was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had,” Meyer recalls. “And after that I said, ‘Okay, am I a choreographer?’ ” The answer, it appears, is a resounding yes. For Transverse Orientation, Meyer is staging an ambitious five-dancer show. (It includes her as a performer, back in unbelievably lithe and muscular shape.) She’s had to convert the warehouse into a performance space. Lighting designer James Proudfoot has hung industriallooking bulbs around the beams, and set big spotlights around the giant storehouse, which has been made dance-friendly with Marley f looring. She’s had to bring in a sound system and stadium seating, and she says there’ll be a bar

Dancers Stéphanie Cyr, Ria Girard, and Maya Tenzer. James O’Mara photo.

serving cider. She’s also staging the show at midnight—the magical hour of transformation in so much legend and storytelling. But as much as the themes of transition ref lect her own journey, she stresses: “For me, it’s deeply personal—but also not. It’s also about the life cycle of the moth.” The imagery of moths, and the way they grow from caterpillar to cocoon to f lying adult, had been dancing around in her mind, and her dreams, for months. As she researched the insects, she turned to a local moth expert for help. “One of my favourite things was when he said, ‘I’m so glad you chose moths instead of butterf lies, because they’re way more interesting,’ ” she says. “People think of them as dark and creepy. Their bodies are heavier and they can’t see very well—they’re not agile like butterf lies. They struggle more, and I’ve played with that.” The title refers to the way moths orient themselves in the dark, keeping a fixed angle on a distant source of light. Meyer has found ample inspiration

in that idea of following the light. She’s also working multiple other aspects into the show. Violinist Janna Sailor provides live accompaniment, sometimes creating sounds like f lickering wings with her instrument, sometimes playing over the score. Sarah Armstrong has designed a range of mothinspired costumes, a few gauzy white dresses hanging ethereally from the warehouse ceiling. Fellow Ballet BC alumnus Christoph von Riedemann dances up and down a separate track off to one side of the stage, where there’s calendarlike numbered paper that he repeatedly rips off the wall. Meyer, too, performs a bit apart from her trio of mothlike creatures—Stéphanie Cyr, Ria Girard, and Tenzer. And a huge pile of apples sits at one end of the stage; when dancers tear into it in one scene, not only will you smell the fruits’ crisp fragrance, but the sounds of the performers chewing will be amplified. “I wanted it to be not just about what you see,” Meyer says. “I want touch, I want smell, I want the whole experience. I want the audience to feel more than just a dance show—like they get to come inside my world for a bit, or like I am taking everyone under my wing for an hour. I hope that has a greater impact than sitting in a theatre.” Meyer has clearly moved far away from the world of traditional ballet—one where pregnancy has, at least in the past, been seen as the end of a career. But for her, having a child appears to have marked the start of a new future. And a metamorphosis. But she’s reticent to divulge too much about what Transverse Orientation means. “Maybe it’s about finding your fate and understanding what you’re supposed to do,” she says cryptically, with a smile. “Or maybe it’s about undergoing great transformations and becoming a great new creature. Or maybe it’s about looking at your past and thinking about what you’ve gone through—and where you’re going.” Transverse Orientation takes place from Thursday to Saturday (July 12 to 14) at 395 Alexander Street; tickets via Eventbrite.

Jessie awards embrace change > B Y JA NE T S M ITH

T

wo waves of change are rocking the 36th annual Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards. The first, and most obvious, is their new setting. The ceremony this Monday night (July 16) takes place not at the Commodore Ballroom, where it has been held for years, but in the main-stage open-air tent of Bard on the Beach in Vanier Park. “Previous awards were traditionally held in theatre venues, and elsewhere in Canada that’s the case as well,” explains Jessies board of directors vice-president Breanne Harmon, one of several new faces at the organization. “Bard was, in a way, an obvious choice—it’s right in the heart of Vancouver and has those views.” The spacious indoor-outdoor venue not only takes the organization back to its theatrical roots, but adds space flexibility for musicians, a food truck, and catering. (Guests can order a picnic meal 48 hours in advance from Emelle’s Catering via bardonthebeach.com’s picnic section.) “Classy, sophisticated, theatrical—those are the key words this year,” Harmon adds, speaking over the phone before the big night. Sassy local theatre artists Cameron Mackenzie and Dave Deveau are on tap to host the evening. The site then shifts to an after-party at Progress Lab 1422 (1422 Williams Street) from 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. The capacious venue is Boca del Lupo, Electric Company, Neworld, and Rumble Theatre’s creation-and-development space. Where the other transformation is taking place is in this year’s nominations—a sign not only that the Jessies’ inclusivity mandate, launched in 2016, is bearing fruit, but that the theatre scene here is embracing diversity. Encompassing more than 35 companies, and over 57 productions, the nominations reflect both a variety of cultural backgrounds—in both content and artists—and an array of innovative styles. In the large-theatre category, Nine Dragons, Jovanni Sy’s story of murder and racism in 1920s Hong Kong, and Corey 22 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JULY 12 – 19 / 2018

Payette’s Children of God, about the residential-school system, are both up for significant-artistic-achievement awards. In the small-theatre category, SpeakEasy Theatre’s The Shipment, about black identity and racism, received five nominations. Also up for prizes: Tetsuro Shigematsu’s 1 Hour Photo; Mark Leiren-Young’s Bar Mitzvah Boy; and Japanese Problem, a site-specific play about internment set where it actually took place, on the PNE grounds. In the category of theatre for young people, local playwright Marcus Youssef’s Jabber, a Green Thumb Theatre and Neworld Theatre copro that centres on an Egyptian-born highschooler who wears a hijab, is up for six awards. Two of the year’s most subversive shows—the Arts Club’s graphic, risqué puppet extravaganza Hand of God and Rumble Theatre’s dark and deranged, bouffon-inspired The Society for the Destitute Presents Titus Bouffonius, written by Colleen Murphy—are up for multiple prizes. “We believe the change is happening directly from the theatre community,” Harmon says. “Our community is very diverse—not only in terms of individuals, but also the theatre companies as well. There’s a lot of daring work, and a lot of culturally diverse work. It’s a very exciting list of nominees this year.” Boosting the effort, the Jessies are bringing back, for the third year, their Vancouver Now Representation and Inclusion Award, aimed at highlighting a work that displays empathy, reciprocity, compassion, responsibility, and empowerment. And the Jessies will continue the recent tradition of ASL interpretation throughout the ceremony. As everything shifts, the Jessie trophy—a luminous glass pillar with its namesake’s face etched onto it—will be one thing that stays the same. “We believed it was important to keep those consistent for winners,” Harmon explains. Especially for those who are starting a bit of a collection. The Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards take place Monday (July 16) at Bard on the Beach’s BMO Mainstage in Vanier Park. The Awards After Party is at Progress Lab 1422 (1422 Williams Street).

INDIAN SUMMER

One of the pieces Mohamed Assani has written for Songs for Scheherazade is a lullaby in memory of his late mother.

Power of myth fuels Songs Composer and sitar virtuoso reflects on the strength of Middle Eastern women

> BY A LEX A NDER VA R TY

S

cheherazade had 1,001 stories while Songs for Scheherazade has only a handful, but we’re betting the latter has better music. Of course, we don’t know what kind of musicians the fictional King Shahryar had in his court, only that he was a homicidal despot until the lessons encoded in his wife’s bedtime tales taught him to be a just ruler. But we do know that sitar virtuoso Mohamed Assani is composing most of the music for Songs for Scheherazade, and that he’ll be joined by the all-female Allegra Chamber Orchestra and soprano Heather Pawsey—a sure recipe for success for this Indian Summer Festival presentation. The program grew out of discussions between Assani and Indian Summer artistic director Sirish Rao: the two wanted to celebrate the North Indian classical-music tradition, but in a new and cross-cultural fashion. And since Indian Summer’s theme, this year, is the power of myth, The Thousand and One Nights seemed like a good place to begin. “One of the essential themes was

clear, right from the beginning: this was going to be a representation of women in history. The project is about how women have been ingenious, and how they have changed things and left inspiration behind them,” Assani tells the Straight, reached on his cellphone while running errands in Mount Pleasant. “I’ve taken inspiration from Scheherazade, but Sirish also wanted to represent how Scheherazade comes from a Middle Eastern culture.… Often we hear stories about how women are treated unfairly [in the Middle East], and that’s a reality, but we miss out on some of the ways how strong women in those cultures have made landmark contributions. Like there was a character called Fatima al-Fihri, in Morocco, who founded the first-ever university in the world—which still stands in Fez.…Also there is an amazing woman called Rabia al-Adawiyya, who was born in Iraq, in Basra. She’s considered a qalandar, or one of the supreme saints in Sufism, which is all about love, the doctrine of love.” The sitarist points out that one of his three compositions—the fourth has been written by Allegra’s

composer in residence, Elizabeth Knudson, who has studied North Indian music with Assani—is based on the traditional Hindustani melody Raag Saraswati, dedicated to the goddess of music. And there’s another woman that Assani especially wants to honour. “There is one piece which is a lullaby, and I’ve written it for my mother,” he explains. “My mother always sang me lullabies, and she passed. And a lot of these wonderful stories, I heard of them from my mother. Nobody else would have told me those stories—and those stories, they do shape your mind and thinking from a very early age.” Scheherazade’s instructive tales are one example of that, Assani adds. But in the 21st century it’s not enough to simply keep ancient legends alive. “You know, this festival is not just about ‘Here’s a traditional thing preserved,’ ” he says. “It’s about moving forward, presenting things in a different way, and telling stories that people have never thought about before.” Indian Summer presents Songs for Scheherazade at the Ismaili Centre Burnaby at 4 p.m. on Sunday (July 15).

JULY 12 – 19 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 23

ARTS

Plastic wrap and looping dance launch Edge D ANC E DANCING ON THE EDGE At the Firehall Arts Centre on Friday, July 6. The Dancing on the Edge festival continues until July 14

For its opening weekend, Dan-

2 cing on the Edge quite fittingly

took us to the outer limits of what dance can be. The adventures included an exciting, ever-looping new work in progress from Company 605 and a haunting, genre-challenging vision from Montreal’s Lara Kramer. The Edge One double bill launched with a surreal and darkly comic appearance by young South Korean trio Dab Dance Project. Bomberman opened with the flash of fluorescent, light-sabre-like rods blinking inside the stifling, plastic-wrapped cube the dancers would perform in. The transparent cube was supposed to symbolize global pollution— our “environment in quarantine”. Inside it, the dancers morphed from robotic moves set to high-tech bleeping to organic, yogic sculptural forms. At one point, they conjured a multilimbed god; at another,

their intertwined arms joined into shifting heart shapes. While references like the latter were a bit literal, the work was fun, accessible, and, most of all, different. Choreographer Hoyeon Kim found a unique language that melded street style with contemporary. The ending, with the plastic steamed up from their workout and one dancer finally breaking through the membrane, was the highlight. Company 605 served as a good complement, influenced as it is by similar street moves and club beats, but taking those inspirations to a highly sophisticated and much more virtuosic level of contemporary-dance play. In the work choreographed by Lisa Gelley and Josh Martin, five dancers seemed to ride the ever-shifting currents sent out by the two sound-mixing boards that they monkeyed with intermittently on-stage, layering the driving beats. Patterns circled in on each other and morphed, the dancers often casually talking to each other about what they were doing. The effect put us inside the creation process, offering an intimate look at the repetition and rehearsal a work of art takes. At one point, two dancers

In Bomberman, Dab Dance takes to a plastic cube. Ok Sang Hoon photo.

discussed how they could “calm” their partnering movement as they did it, one commenting “It’s hard to improve it when you’re in it.” The movement was so loose, it was easy to overlook the extreme technical skill and complexity of what was going on. The overall effect was hypnotic and dizzying—a clever live embodiment of the kind of layering, repetition, and sampling you hear in electronic music. The piece’s working title is Loop, Lull; watch for its premiere.

23rd Annual Wreck Beach Butoh Performances Saturday, July 14th @ 12:45pm Sunday, July 15th @ 1:30pm Wreck Beach at the foot of #4 Trail located just west of the UBC Museum of Anthropology ŽŶĂƟŽŶƐ ŐƌĂƚĞĨƵůůLJ ĂĐĐĞƉƚĞĚ͘ ůŽƚŚŝŶŐ ŝƐ ŽƉƟŽŶĂů͘ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞƐ ƚĂŬĞ ƉůĂĐĞ ƌĂŝŶ Žƌ ƐŚŝŶĞ͘ EŽ ƉŚŽƚŽŐƌĂƉŚLJ Žƌ ǀŝĚĞŽ ĂůůŽǁĞĚ͘

2006 Wreck Beach Butoh photo by Yuri Kikuchi

T H E L I V E

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M A S T E R

F L A U T I S T

C O N C E R T O R P H E U M

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24 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JULY 12 – 19 / 2018

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Artwork by Artist-In-Residence Sandeep Johal

Elsewhere on the roster, Kramer’s Windigo provided a contrast to the more choreographic pieces on the program, delving even closer to pure performance art than she did in the fest’s 2014 showing, NGS (“Native Girl Syndrome”). Kramer appeared on-stage at a sound board, live-editing a score that shifted from crickets to water rushing—sounds gathered from Ontario’s Far North, where her mother’s reserve is—sometimes weaving in the voices of small children talking about monsters. (Windigo, or wendigo, is a man-eating beast from Indigenous mythology that’s often associated with insatiable greed.) Meanwhile, dancers Peter James and Stefan Petersen used pocket knives to cut open and crawl into the mattresses lying about the stage. At one startling point, Petersen even appeared to cut out a chunk to chew and swallow it. Elsewhere, the men stuffed items from a junk pile at the back of the stage into the bedding. Inspired by her own Oji-Cree heritage, Kramer uses the violence inflicted on the mattresses to symbolize the violence perpetrated against Indigenous peoples and their land. But

that trauma is not carried out on-stage in a frenetic flurry; instead it’s a slow, painful process, punctuated by long pauses of boredom when the two men loll and lie lifeless on their “beds”. That tone takes you very close to the sense of despair, pointlessness, and weariness that plagues northern First Nations after generations of oppression, isolation, and residential schools. Also striking for Vancouver viewers are the inevitable associations with the Downtown Eastside: the trash pile evokes a Main-andHastings back alley; the men can’t help but remind you of the lost, homeless souls you see there. The effects are profound and disturbing, and sometimes utterly surreal: at one point, James bounces a pink-furred, springed toy bunny slowly around the stage for what feels like an eternity—an absurd and eerie evocation of the listlessness of lost hope. Even though Dancing on the Edge is now 30, programming like this makes it clear it’s still a rebellious teen at heart—highlighting the kind of indie work you don’t get the chance to see elsewhere on the Vancouver arts calendar. > JANET SMITH

ARTS

Drawing cartoons into high art VISUAL AR TS JEFF LADOUCEUR: PEARL PATH At the Burnaby Art Gallery until August 19

Jeff Ladouceur’s drawings evoke of both amusement and pathos, his cartoonish characters often engaged in imaginary situations that are clearly out of their control. Running madly atop a swirling tangle of mist or matter; tied in knots and carried off by a witch; bearing a battered and wordless placard in support of some undoubtedly hopeless cause. At the same time, Ladouceur presents us with occasional scenes of joy and elation: a figure blissfully upended in a bed of flowers; a sweetly smiling ghost emerging from a hole in a wooden floor; another figure, composed of flames and striding cheerily forward. The surreal and the existential, the sad and the frolicsome, the unfortunate and the blessed all come together in Ladouceur’s solo show of drawings (and a few oddly complementary sculptures) at the Burnaby Art Gallery. Born in Victoria and based in New York City, Ladouceur is a selftaught artist and extremely skilled draftsman whose influences cover the high-low spectrum, from William Blake to Mad magazine. His longstanding repertoire of characters and beings, finely wrought in ink, pencil, watercolour, and gouache, is suggestive of vintage cartoons and, at the same time, has become distinctively his over the course of his career. (An exception is a fat-cheeked, bulgy-eyed, cyclopean being that is a perhapstoo-literal homage to Philip Guston.) Among Ladouceur’s most notable characters is the bald, big-nosed, putupon everyman he calls Schmo, who appears here solo and in multiples. Subtitled Pearl Path, the show illustrates what the artist describes in the

2 feelings

Jeff Ladouceur’s Note a.k.a. Note to Self Composition #3 (A Gentle Reminder) suggests a vintage cartoon, but his finely wrought work is distinctly his own.

curatorial statement as “the slow path through life”, one in which pains and aggravations create, like grains of sand in an oyster shell, precious pearls of understanding. An indication of the essential sweetness of Ladouceur’s vision is his description of the pearlescent light that guides souls on their secret journeys. Many of his drawings depict scenes of movement, striving, and transformation, and his titles are long and expository. An example is ‘Stride’ a.k.a. ‘Sun Runner #23’ (Onwards!), a running Schmo figure in clown shoes with a brilliant sunburst for a head. ‘Wing’ a.k.a. ‘Eyes Wide for the Wind’ (O.K. Ultra) depicts a bright-eyed cartoon face conflated with the wings of a butterfly. Ladouceur’s pearly scenarios also employ anthropomorphized natural elements, such as clouds, trees, fire, and flowing water. An uneasily smiling tree trunk wears a string of pearls in ‘Stump’ a.k.a. ‘Yesterday’s Party’ (Holy Tree). A hand-shaped cloud holds a happy, multicoloured

orb in ‘Pearl’ a.k.a. ‘Cloud Hand #11’ (Beachcomber). But, again, there’s the grit that stimulates the production of the pearl. Elements of the grotesque occur here: a pilloried figure whose head is positioned on a plank of wood amid a pile of disembodied heads; a ghastly, ghostly head within which are set three smaller, headless figures. Ladouceur is one of a group of Canadian artists, including former members of Winnipeg’s Royal Art Lodge, whose primary medium is drawing and whose work is marked by “lowbrow” sensibilities, a Dadaistic fondness for absurdity, smallscale handmadeness, and imagery that seems to spring, surreal and unfettered, directly from the unconscious. Such work stands in pendulumswing opposition to the large-scale, theory-driven, photo-based work of the previous generation. For longtime viewers, clinging to that pendulum of art-world tropes and trends, well, it’s been quite the ride. > ROBIN LAURENCE

ar ts/ timeout THEATRE DANCE MUSIC COMEDY ET CETERA GALLERIES

< < < < < <

THEATRE 2OPENINGS THEATRE UNDER THE STARS Performances on alternating evenings of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella and 42nd Street. To Aug 18, 8-10:30 pm, Malkin Bowl (610 Pipeline Road, Stanley Park). Tix $50-$70, info www.tuts.ca/. LES MISERABLES Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Alain Boublil and ClaudeMichel Schönberg’s Tony-winning show. Jul 10-15, Queen Elizabeth Theatre (650 Hamilton). Tix from $30.50, info www.broadwayacrosscanada.ca/.

2ONGOING MAMMA MIA! The Arts Club Theatre Company presents a feel-good musical featuring the music of ABBA. To Aug 12, Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage (2750 Granville). Tix from $29, info www.artsclub.com/shows/2017-2018/ mamma-mia. BARD ON THE BEACH Annual Shakespeare theatre festival features repertory performances of As You Like It, Macbeth, Timon of Athens, and Lysistrata. To Sep 22, Vanier Park (1000 Chestnut). Tix from $24, info www.bardonthebeach.org/. ONCE The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Enda Walsh’s musical about a struggling Dublin street musician who chances upon a girl who challenges him to go for his dream. Extended until August 5. To

see next page

JULY 12 – 19 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 25

COMEDY

Arts time out

full-length and mixed-bill programs. To Jul 14, various Vancouver venues. Free to $28, info www.dancingontheedge.org/.

Aug 5, Granville Island Stage (1585 Johnston, Granville Island). Tix from $29, info www. artsclub.com/shows/2017-2018/once/.

I MISS DOING NOTHING Vancouver’s THE COMEDY MIX 1015 Burrard, Century plastic orchid factory presents a threePlaza Hotel & Spa, 604-684-5050, www. hour lived retrospective—installation thecomedymix.com/. Comedy club with created and directed by dance artists pro-am night Tue at 8:30 pm, showcase Natalie LeFebvre Gnam and James Gnam, Wed at 8:30 pm, and featured headliners in collaboration with Nancy Tam, James Thu at 8:30 pm and Fri-Sat at 8 and 10:30 Proudfoot, and Vanessa Goodman. Jul pm. Cover $8 Tue, $10 Wed, $15 Thu, $18 Fri, 11-14, 3-6 pm, Left of Main (211 Keefer). $20 Sat. 2GAVIN MATTS & IAN LARA Jul Pay-what-you-can, info www.plastic 12-14 2ANDY HAYNES Jul 19-21. orchidfactory.com/i-miss-doing-nothing/.

from previous page

2THIS WEEK THE JESSIES The 36th annual Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards Ceremony fetes work in the large-theatre, smalltheatre, and theatre-for-young-audiences categories. Jul 16, 6:30 pm, Bard on the Beach (1695 Whyte). Tix $30, info www.jessieawards.com/.

DANCE 2THIS WEEK MASCALLDANCE PRESENTS OW Vancouver’s Jennifer Mascall hits the stage with a new work aimed at cracking open the relationship between sound and movement. To Jul 14, MascallDance (1130 Jervis). Tix $28 (July 4 preview $20), info www.owmascalldance.com/. DANCING ON THE EDGE FESTIVAL Canada’s longest-running festival of contemporary dance features over 30 performances, with artists from Canada, Belgium, and South Korea performing in

23RD ANNUAL WRECK BEACH BUTOH Kokoro Dance gives a butoh performance with set, costumes, and lighting provided by Mother Nature. Clothing is optional; no photography or video allowed. Jul 14-15, 12:45-3 pm, Wreck Beach (6632 NW Marine Dr). By Donation, info www.kokoro.ca/.

MUSIC 2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS VANCOUVER BACH FESTIVAL Early Music Vancouver presents its third annual Vancouver Bach Festival, featuring 15 concerts with guest artists from around the world. Jul 30–Aug 10, Christ Church Cathedral (690 Burrard). Info www.early music.bc.ca/tickets/summer-festival/.

2ONGOING

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YUK YUK’S COMEDY CLUB 2837 Cambie, 604-696-9857, www.yukyuks. com/vancouver/. Comedy club with Top Talent Tue at 8 pm, amateur night Wed at 8 pm, and professional headliners Thu-Fri at 8 pm and Sat at 7 and 9:30 pm. Cover Tue $10, Wed $7, Thu $10, and Fri-Sat $20. 2JOHN BEUHLER Jul 13-14 2JANE STANTON Jul 20-21. AVOCADO TOAST – VANCOUVER GROWN, ORGANIC FREE-RANGE COMEDY Vancouver TheatreSports

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presents a comedy show that pokes fun at YVR and its stereotypes. To Sep 1, Thu-Sat. at 7:30 pm, The Improv Centre (1502 Duranleau, Granville Island). From $10.75, info www.vtsl.com/show/ avocado-toast/.

ET CETERA 2THIS WEEK TITANIC: THE ARTIFACT EXHIBITION Exhibition focuses on the legendary RMS Titanic’s compelling human stories through more than 120 authentic artifacts and extensive room re-creations. To Jan 11, 2019, Lipont Place (4211 No. 3 Road). Info www.titanicvancouver.com/. INDIAN SUMMER FESTIVAL Eighth annual festival features a wide range of artists, from the inheritors of ancient oral storytelling traditions to genre-defying musicians, acclaimed novelists, and provocative visual, performance, and culinary artists. To Jul 15, various Vancouver venues. Info www.indiansummerfest.ca/.

GALLERIES BILL REID GALLERY 639 Hornby, 604682-3455, www.billreidgallery.ca/. 2BODY LANGUAGE: REAWAKENING CULTURAL TATTOOING OF THE NORTHWEST (guest

curator Dion Kaszas of the Nlaka’pamux First Nation traces the deep-rooted traditions of Indigenous tattooing, piercing, and personal adornment) to Jan 13

VANCOUVER ART GALLERY 750 Hornby, 604-662-4719, www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/. 2DAVID MILNE: MODERN PAINTING (first major exhibition of Milne shown in the country in 30 years features close to 90 works in oil and watercolour, neverbefore-presented photographs, drawings, and memorabilia) to Sep 9

2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS THE SPIRIT OF CLOUD, THE SPIRIT OF RIVER Carly Belzberg’s abstract, mixedmedia paintings explore essence and the subtle core of natural forms as they continuously coalesce, transform, and dissipate. Exhibition on view to Aug 3. Sydney and Gertrude Zack Gallery, 950 West 41st. Free admission. www.carlybelzberg.com/.

TIME OUT ARTS LISTINGS are a public service provided free of charge, based on available space and editorial discretion. We can’t guarantee inclusion, and we give priority to events taking place within one week of publication. Submit listings online using the event-submission form at straight.com/AddEvent. Events that don’t make it into the paper due to space constraints will appear on the website.

MOVIES

A beautiful movie for the Beautiful Game The latest from talented filmmaker Jim McKay focuses on the lives of soccer-loving Mexican expats living in a pre-Trump New York. RE VIEW S EN EL SÉPTIMO DÍA Starring Fernando Cardona. In English and Spanish, with English subtitles. Rating unavailable

Maybe God can afford to rest

2 on the seventh day, but for the

Mexican-born helpers in the restaurants, flower shops, and bodegas of Brooklyn, Sunday means futbol! Beautifully told, without a hint of Hollywood gloss and using a mostly nonprofessional cast, En el Séptimo Día centres on José (Fernando Cardona), a bike-delivery guy for a classy Mexican restaurant. It’s unclear what his legal status is, but the men he hangs out with at an overcrowded but lively apartment, all from his part of Puebla, Mexico, have a generalized anxiety about their paperwork. (The film was made in 2016, before anxiety turned to terror.) His young wife, pregnant with their first child, is due to join him in New York, and he’s been at his job long enough that he’s due to be promoted to a better position. José’s big problem, when we meet him for what will turn out to be one eventful week, is that his boss (Christopher Gabriel Núñez) needs him to work the following Sunday—normally his day off—when he’s hoping to lead his soccer team of fellow Poblanos to victory in finals against another amateur team of Mexican expats. A handsome, gentle fellow with a deceptively severe haircut, José is their best player. And when another team member sustains an injury that will keep him from playing, he sets out to find a couple of subs while mollifying his boss, friends, and coworkers. Sometimes, a game is more than a game.

Fernando Cardona is an honest but undocumented immigrant who just wants to kick the ball around in En el Séptimo Dia.

There are some jerk moves here and there, but no real villains, and that’s it for dramatic conflicts in this judiciously low-key film. The naturalistic settings, pace, and acting belie the fact that writer-director Jim McKay has an advanced degree in big-budget TV drama, having helmed many episodes of The Good Wife, Treme, In Treatment, and the various Law & Order iterations. His three previous features (the most recent from 14 years ago) all dealt with the higher aspirations of working-class people in multiethnic America. Reportedly, this project came from him getting to know young immigrants in his own neighbourhood, listening to their stories, and workshopping them as actors.

Among the cast, our lead is quietly charismatic, but Abel Perez, who plays José’s most hotheaded teammate, seems ready for prime time. Also look for Veracruz singing star Zenén Zeferino Huervo, who gets the last word in this bittersweet love letter to everyone working eight days a week to make a home away from home.

> KEN EISNER

WHITNEY A documentary by Kevin Macdonald. Rated PG

Some real familiarity with Houston’s recorded repertoire is required to get the most out of Whitney, a two-hour doc that

2 Whitney

digs into everything but her music. Even true fans may feel cheated by a fairly well-made movie that seems to be missing its own star. In any case, spending this much time with the late singer’s too-brief life story is an exercise in ghostclutching. A sense of absence is evident right from a childhood apparently built on neglect, deception, and some pretty traumatic abuse. Her father was a philandering, wellconnected crook in Newark, New Jersey, and mother Cissy Houston was part of a musical family that also includes Dionne Warwick and her more troubled sister, Dee Dee. Cissy had a significant career singing backup for Aretha Franklin

and other top talents, was a lifelong church-choir director, and was never short of paying jobs. Real fame eluded her, however, and this drove relentless efforts to mould her only daughter into the perfect superstar. Whitney’s brothers and other relatives—all on the Houston payroll during its heyday—attest to the ruthlessness with which that shaping took place. Now 84, the elder Houston offers little here but tired platitudes, underlining the sense that she never really took interest in Whitney except as a vehicle for greatness. This obsessive yet essentially disconnected relationship was repeated in Whitney’s relationship with her own child, Bobbi Kristina, who only survived her mom’s 2012 death by three years, and weirdly died in the same location: a bathtub. (The movie doesn’t mention that Whitney was due that night at a Grammys tribute to mentor Clive Davis.) Husband Bobby Brown is even more tightlipped than Cissy, and comes across as a pathetic figure, even if it’s made clear that Whitney started snorting coke long before she met the New Edition singer, always destined to dwell in her shadow. Also notably silent is Robyn Crawford, Whitney’s lesbian best friend and sometime business manager and roommate, whom the homophobic brothers (who little resemble her) seem to blame for some of their problems. The implication that Bobby was used as a beard for Whitney’s more fluid sexuality remains unexplored in the new film, written and directed by Scottish-born (but Vancouver-connected) Kevin Macdonald. Crawford likewise didn’t address the camera in Nick Broomfield’s earlier Whitney: Can I Be Me, but she was likely one of see next page

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Louise Chevillotte and Esther Garrel bed down in black and white in director Philippe Garrel’s new wavey Lover for a Day.

Whitney

from previous page

very few people who could honestly confront the singer when she was falling apart from drugs and alcohol. In short, the new Whitney resembles other frustratingly compelling rise-and-fall sagas—especially the superior Amy—with added layers of race, class, and gender, most of which is only hinted at here. It still would have been helpful to include at least one complete song. > KEN EISNER

THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS

diverse households. It gets curiouser. Let’s not give away more about what happened, but the movie definitely delves into particularly EuroAmerican notions of class, genetics, and scientific study—or “some Nazi shit”, as one of the triplets succinctly puts it. Strangers gradually pulls you down this discomfiting rabbit hole, and for once even the obligatory recreations make sense. The director’s habit of repeating footage shows him getting carried away. Of course, you could lose your mind—when brothers are three of a kind. > KEN EISNER

LOVER FOR A DAY

declares that “Philosophy isn’t divorced from everyday life.” Because he’s a professor and everything. Honestly, all the dialogue in this draggy 75-minute film is similarly generic. Other than Gilles, more of a passive enabler than a character, no one has discernible interests, let alone jobs. That leaves time to fit plenty of lovers into a day. But poor Ariane never has a chance to change her top. Maybe Garrel thinks that makes her a fascinating archetype. Or maybe it just means he, or she, is incredibly lazy. > KEN EISNER

INFINITE FOOTBALL

A documentary by Corneliu A documentary by Tim Wardle. Rated PG Starring Esther Garrel. In French, with Porumboiu. In Romanian, with English subtitles. Rating unavailable English subtitles. Rating unavailable

When teen star Patty Duke improbably identical cousins—one from England and one who’d “only seen the sights a girl can see from Brooklyn Heights”—they at least knew they were related. The main joke of her Show, which ran for three seasons upon the advent of Beatlemania, is just how different twins could be. Three Identical Strangers runs in the opposite direction, and yet somehow ends up in the same place. Intriguingly well organized by British documentary director Tim Wardle, this new film tackles the exceedingly strange case of triplets separated at birth but raised within 100 miles of each other, in New York state. That state of mind is underlined by their resemblance to the young Billy Joel, as they discovered when the three bushy-haired, round-faced suburbanites found each other in 1980, almost by accident, after 19 years apart. Eddy Galland, David Kellman, and Bobby Shafran were all raised by Jewish families of different social standing—a factor that came into play later in their lives, and later in the doc, which takes darker, ever more unexpected turns as it covers its increasingly complex 90 minutes. Initially, the reunited siblings, their families, and media mavens of all kinds were delighted by their beyondcoincidental similarities. Their tastes in cars, music, clothes, cigarettes, and girlfriends were as alike as the colour of their eyes. Eventually, they cashed in on their notoriety by opening a triplet-themed restaurant in the coked-up Manhattan of the Studio 54 era. You can imagine how well that went. Let’s just say that the siblings and their adopted clans and lifelong friends—many of whom address Wardle’s camera frankly, and at length—didn’t find the reunion entirely joyful. One of the most interesting talkers here is Lawrence Wright, whose 1995 New Yorker piece on separated twins, “Double Mystery” (later spun into several books), was the first to examine a New York City adoption agency that placed a curious number of curiously separated twins into curiously

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Charles Bar

bananaleaf-vancouver.com thecharlesbar.ca 28 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JULY 12 – 19 / 2018

Don’t invite your noncinephile

Infinite patience is required of

if you don’t want them thinking all French movies are black-and-white talkfests about attractive people smoking Gauloises while discussing affairs in cute Parisian cafés. The effect is not entirely unintentional. Writer-director Philippe Garrel, born in 1948, has been making Godardy-looking movies since, well, the new wave was new. His recent efforts—like the similarly themed Regular Lovers and In the Shadow of Women—have been high-contrast, low-action character studies that centre on older, academic men who hook up with sprightly young women still finding themselves. C’est bizarre! Here, 50-ish philosophy professor Gilles (Éric Caravaca) is newly shacked up with Ariane (handsomely freckled newcomer Louise Chevillotte), one of his former students. The movie makes extravagantly clear that he resisted her seductions until the end of the school year. That matters little to Gilles’s daughter Jeanne, played by the excellent Esther Garrel, the neglected girlfriend in Call Me By Your Name and this filmmaker’s daughter, adding to the Freudian mix. Jeanne says she’s been dumped by her live-in boyfriend and needs a place to crash. The script allows for modernday cellphones, but these aren’t the kind of people who call ahead. She’s initially upset to find someone her own age with dear Papa, but both women eventually realize they should be BFFs, sharing secrets and even hooking up with random guys together. Ariane has a thing for boffing strangers while standing up in bathrooms and broom closets, and she really hopes that won’t be a problem for Gilles. He wants to be down with the young people, and impresses her with his open-mindedness. Still, she can’t quite understand why he loses his cool after accidentally stumbling onto one of her public assignations. When Jeanne asks him about such things, he says, “No one has ever come up with a real definition of infidelity.” Right. Rare topic! He also

ite Football, which struggles to find its cinematic feet, even at a paltry 70 minutes, all shot carelessly on a consumergrade camera. That said, followers of the Beautiful Game and eastern European history won’t be unduly penalized by time spent with a true eccentric who intersects both subjects. The film will garner some attention from fans of Romanian upstart Corneliu Porumboiu, who directed such festival hits as 12:08 East of Bucharest and Police, Adjective. The subject here is bland-looking, middle-aged Laurentiu Ginghina, a promising high-school footballer until two devastating injuries took him out of the game. He ended up a midlevel administrator in the post-Communist government. (We see him sitting passively as an elderly woman pursues her claim to regain seized property.) But his real passion has been refining and reinventing the game of soccer toward increasingly obscure ends. The director is happy to let him elaborate his ever-shifting theories. These include shaving off the corners of a standard field and putting a barrier between halves, with five players from each team cordoned into sections. It’s hard to know what the point might be, except that everything seems to restrict the motion of actual footballers, and increase what he calls “the freedom of the ball”. “I’m still working on how to get the ball from one half to the other,” he adds later, as an afterthought. He even gets some amateur players to try his alternate plans, to frustrating effect. “It’s clear that FIFA will never accept anything like this,” Ginghina admits. The film ends, unexpectedly, with a long disquisition on Plato and the perils of translation, with Jesus’s New Testament exhortation to “Repent!” actually intended to mean “Change!” This is followed by credits rolling over a Soviet-era cartoon. Rules, like religions and political systems, are meant to be bent and then broken.

2 friends to see Lover for a Day, 2 viewers who stumble upon Infin-

> KEN EISNER

MOVIES The Georgia Straight Confessions, an outlet for submitting revelations about your private lives—or for the voyeurs among us who want to read what other people have disclosed.

Scan to confess Shame On You Adopted triplets reunite and discover the shocking and mysterious forces that shaped their lives in Three Identical Strangers.

Strangers’ story finally told > B Y A DRIA N M A C K

W

atching Three Identical Strangers, opening Friday (July 13), the viewer is overcome more than once by a sense of vertigo. The first five minutes alone provide a euphoric, white-knuckle account of the bizarre coincidence that brought identical twins Robert Shafran and Eddy Galland together, at 19, for the first time since birth. Matters became even more hair-raising when the ensuing media sensation smoked out a third brother, David Kellman. For a brief but heady time, the likably goofy trio was the toast of ’80s New York. A knowing cameo appearance as three horny youths in Madonna’s Desperately Seeking Susan marked perhaps the zenith of the triplets’ flash celebrity. So far, so weird. But then the story gets dark—very dark, and even more mind-bending—as Three Identical Strangers tells an altogether different tale of scientific ethics gone awry and a massive cover-up that persists to this day. Without giving too much away, there’s a reason why the brothers were covertly adopted into separate

families and why their development was monitored so closely by the authorities. As one of them remarks onscreen: “This is like Nazi shit.” “There was a paranoia when we were making it, because so many of the people we met were like, ‘You’ll never be able to tell this story; it’s been shut down so many times,’ ” director Tim Wardle tells the Georgia Straight from Toronto. As work proceeded, the acclaimed filmmaker recalls, one interview subject after another bailed on him. “And we were never sure if someone had got to them or they’d changed their mind or what happened,” he says with a sigh. There have been, in fact, several attempts to tell the brothers’ story onscreen. “I‘ve spoken to a journalist who worked on one in the ’90s, a triplePulitzer-winning journalist who basically finished the film and then had it pulled from high up the network,” Wardle states. “And still, to this day, doesn’t know why.” With the kind of access afforded by CNN, which coproduced Three Identical Strangers, Wardle and his team arguably succeeded in their quest by not getting too close to the source of the mystery.

Wardle—whose dealings with some very distinguished quasi-government organizations in New York had to be conducted through crisis-management firms—concedes: “I don’t know how high up the food chain it goes.” Meanwhile, the film reveals that files related to the brothers’ case remain sealed at Yale until—get this—the year 2065. Enough is strongly implied, at least, that Three Identical Strangers can ultimately turn its attention to some of the no less intriguing questions raised by the triplets’ divergent life experiences. It becomes, in short, a meditation on biology and environment. And its conclusions are anything but simple, or reassuring. “I think that’s one thing that I really struggled with on this film,” Wardle says. “You discover that nature has much more impact than you might think. Me and [producer] Becky Read, every day we’d have a different debate about the relative merits of nature/nurture. But certainly, learning that nature is far more powerful than you thought, as a liberal person, is quite a scary thing. Making it challenged some pretty deep-seated views that I have.” -

People who think that economics and politics are more important than the environment don’t care about their children.

No Summer Sun? I don’t really care as long as we still have drinking water.

Tattoos in Vancouver What’s up with tattoos in Vancouver? It’s like you can’t go anywhere nowadays without seeing someone showing off at least one tattoo. There are so many people with tattoos that tattoos have now become the common norm. Well, as someone who doesn’t follow the pack, I’m proud to say that I am tattoo free. I know this post is gonna get a lot of hate, but I don’t care.

I love myself so much. It feels good. I just wish I could find some external validation.

BRAAAAAAAP! I live in a small town by the ocean where, every dry evening and weekend during the summer, scores of dudes on motorcycles ride up and down the waterfront road, over and over, with the exhaust on their motorcycles turned up to eleven. I understand that having a loud bike is a safety issue – “loud pipes save lives” – but there’s a difference between being heard by other vehicles on the road and being heard from five blocks away, making folks look skywards in alarm for the low-flying float plane. Please consider turning your pipes down a notch. We hear you, we really do! Thanks.

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savage love Long-time Savage Love fan-

boy with a bit of a conundrum—and it’s your fault! I’m a bi man in my 30s. To use Charles M. Blow’s word, my bisexuality is “lopsided”. This means that I fall in love with women exclusively, but I love to have sex with men occasionally. My current girlfriend not only approves, she likes to join in. We have a great kinky sex life, and at times we invite a hot bi dude to join us. You keep saying that to counter bisexual erasure, it is the duty of every bisexual to come out of the closet. If I were a “proper” bisexual, i.e., romantically interested in men also, that would be no problem—my family and work and social circles are extremely liberal. However, your advice to us kinksters and people in open relationships is that we probably shouldn’t come out to our parents or colleagues, since when it comes to sex, it’s advisable to operate on a needto-know basis. While I agree with this completely—my mother doesn’t need to know my girlfriend pegs me—the rule keeps me in the closet as well. Since I’m only sexually interested in men, wouldn’t I be revealing facts about my sex life if I came out as bi? I also wouldn’t want to mislead gay men into thinking that I’m available for romantic relationships with them. So which rule is more important: the duty to come out as a bisexual or the advice to operate on a need-to-know basis when it comes to your sex life? > BISEXUAL LEANING OUT WARILY

There’s nothing improper about your bisexuality, BLOW—or Charles M. Blow’s bisexuality, or the bisexuality of other “lopsided” bisexuals. While the idea that bisexuals are equally attracted to men and women sexually and romantically used to be pushed by

a lot of bi activists (“I fall in love with people, not genitals!”), it didn’t reflect the lived/fucked/sucked experience of most bisexuals. Like you and Blow (hetero-romantic bisexuals), many bisexuals have a strong preference for either women or men as romantic partners. My recently “gay married” bisexual friend Eric, however, is one of those bi-romantic bisexuals. This popular misconception—that bisexuals are indifferent to gender (and more highly evolved than all those genital-obsessed monosexuals)—left many people who were having sex with men and women feeling as if they didn’t have an identity. Not straight, not gay, and disqualified from bi. But thanks to bisexuals like Blow coming out and owning their bisexuality and their lopsidedness, a more nuanced and inclusive understanding of bisexuality has taken root. That nuance is reflected in bisexual activist Robyn Ochs’s definition of bisexuality: “I call myself bisexual,” Ochs says, “because I acknowledge that I have in myself the potential to be attracted—romantically and/or sexually—to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree.” Lopsided or not, BLOW, you’re a proper bisexual, and if you’re in a position to come out to your family and friends, you should. And rest assured, telling people you’re bi doesn’t mean you’re divulging details about your sex life. You’re disclosing your sexual orientation, not detailing your sexual practices. You can tell someone you’re attracted to men and women—at the same time, in your case, if not in the same way—without telling them about the hot bi dudes you and the girlfriend bed together. And if you

> BY DAN SAVAGE and the girlfriend are perceived to be monogamous and you want to keep it that way, you can allow people to continue to make that assumption. Finally, BLOW, most gay men are aware that bi guys usually aren’t romantically interested in other men. And that’s fine—so long as heteroromantic bi guys don’t mislead us, most gay men are down to fuck. (And gay men who won’t date homoromantic or bi-romantic men? You guys are missing out. My friend Eric was a hot, hung, adventurous catch. Congrats, Christian!) And since you’re partnered and presumed to be monogamous, you’re also presumed to be unavailable. But if you’re worried a gay friend might hire a hit man to off the girlfriend so he can have a shot at your heart, come out to him as hetero-romantic at the same time you come out to him as bi.

Bi married man here. I was al-

Here’s what you’re going to do, HUBBY: you’re going to ask your wife how she would feel if a friend of yours was sexually harassing her and you made excuses for that friend (“He was drunk!”) and then “accidentally” invited that asshole to her birthday party. Then if she won’t call her friend and retract the invitation, you do it. It will be awkward, that’s for sure, but your wife’s friend shouldn’t be spared that awkwardness. Lord knows she made things awkward for you—don’t hesitate to return the favour.

I am a 23-year-old bisexual woman and I have two questions for you: 1) Is it possible to fall in love differently with women than with men? I think I am bisexual because I have been in love with some women, despite never getting past a kiss. What I find strange is that whereas with men I feel immediate attraction, with women the attraction rises after a deep friendship is formed. 2) Is it possible that I was in love with two different people at the same time? I always thought that I could be in love with only one person at a time, but during that short span, I was in love with both a guy who made me suffer and my best friend, a woman, who helped me with that guy. After I found a new boyfriend, I stopped thinking about anyone else because our relationship is closed. But I don’t know if that’s just because I avoid thinking about others or because I wasn’t really in love with the two people (despite my surprisingly real heartbreak).

ways out to my wife, but two months ago I came out to our tight circle of friends. Everyone has been supportive, and I’m glad I took this step. But on three different occasions, my wife’s best friend has loudly asked me whose cock I would most like to suck out of all the other guys at the party. My birthday is coming up, and I don’t want her there. My wife doesn’t want to offend her oldest friend, and she makes excuses like “She was drunk” or “She was only joking.” I told my wife that I wouldn’t be coming to my own birthday party if her friend was invited, but she invited her anyway “by accident”. > BISEXUAL IN NEED AND (She sent the invite via group text.) She INQUIRING FINALLY doesn’t want to confront or disinvite her friend because that would be awk1. See my response to BLOW, above. ward. What do we do? > HER UNTHINKING 2. A person can love more than BUDDY BAD YUCKS one parent, more than one child,

more than one sibling, more than one set of tit clamps, and more than one romantic partner. Telling people they can feel romantic love for only one person at a time isn’t just stupid, it’s harmful. Let’s say Bill is partnered with Ted, and Bill believes romantic attraction/love is a one-at-a-time phenomenon because that’s what he was told. Now let’s say Bill develops a crush on Sandra. If Bill doesn’t question the one-at-a-time bullshit he was taught to believe about romantic love, Bill is highly likely to think, “Well, I must not be in love with Ted anymore, otherwise I couldn’t feel this way about Sandra,” and then he may dump tried-and-true Ted for shinyand-new Sandra. I’m not arguing that everyone should be poly—most people want only one partner at a time, and that’s fine. But telling people they can’t experience romantic attraction or romantic love for more than one person at a time sets longterm relationships up for failure. Because while stable, lasting love feels amazing, it’s less intoxicating than shiny, new, cum-drunk love. And while almost all stable, lasting loves were shiny, new, cum-drunk loves early on, very few new loves become lasting loves. If we don’t want people tossing lasting love overboard every time they develop feelings for someone new, people need to know that, yes, you can be in love with two different people at the same time. On the Lovecast , the author of Many Love, Sophie Lucido Johnson: savagelovecast.com . Email: mail@ savagelove.net. Follow Dan on Twitter @fakedansavage. ITMFA.org.

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