The Georgia Straight - Storming City Hall - July 19, 2018

Page 1

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CONTENTS

Lost Lagoon, Stanley Park. Michael Schmidt photo.

6

START HERE

CANNABIS

As marijuana legalization comes closer, cannabisenhanced yoga has become a thing, but don’t call it a fad—practitioners say the concept is actually traditional and dates back thousands of years. > BY PIPER COURTENAY

11

COVER

Coun. Hector Bremner explains why he is running for mayor with Yes Vancouver, as well as the reason for choosing that name. > BY CHARLIE SMITH

ARTS

19

As summer theatre fests hit full swing, our critics review everything from a chilling serial-murder mystery to a retro Broadway hit and a bawdy new adaptation at Bard.

17 21 17 17 22 24 9 27 15

Confessions Dance Food I Saw You Movie Reviews Pop Eye Real Estate Savage Love Straight Stars

TIME OUT 21 Arts 25 Music

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Enhancing yoga with ganja > B Y P IP ER C O U R TE NAY

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ealth-conscious Vancouverites can downward-dog to just about anything these days. Yoga fanatics are dangling from curtains, sipping craft beer, jamming to old-school hip-hop, and laughing their way through the practice. There’s even naked yoga for those daring enough to bare it all. As the concept of legal weed settles into Canadian culture, pot is filtering into the West Coast health scene, and, of course, there’s a yoga class for that, too. But practitioners of the discipline say cannabis-enhanced yoga is more than a fad—rather, it’s a reimagined concept dating back thousands of years. “Incorporating cannabis is one of the oldest methods of the practice found in ancient texts. Sadhus and spiritual guides used to use ganja as a part of the practice of yoga to form union,� says Celina Archambault, a Vancouver certified yoga practitioner. After three years of organizing the Spirit Plant Medicine Conference, held at UBC, Archambault dedicated some of the proceeds toward becoming a certified instructor. In January, she graduated from the School Yoga Institute in Bali, where she took mystical yoga teacher training and learned how to incorporate traditional plant medicines, like cannabis and cacao, into healing ceremonies. Archambault began by hosting private weekly cannabis meditations out of her residence for close friends. Recently, she launched a series of public yoga classes out of the Avicenna Holistic Centre on Robson Street. “I think many people don’t understand how to give their bodies the space they need to move and heal, which can be enhanced by the plant medicines,� Archambault told a Georgia Straight reporter attending one of her classes. The session she calls “intuitive flow� hosts about 10 or 15 yogis at varying levels of experience. At the beginning of the two-hour class, students consume a low dose of cannabis oil, either a 1:1 ratio of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) or a CBD-only tincture, which has fewer psychoactive effects. Archambault guides her students through a series of low-impact movements and deep stretches to release stored tension. “Traditional teachers would con-

Vancouver yoga fanatics are rediscovering centuries-old practices that employ cannabis to open paths to relaxation and heightened mindfulness.

sume before [their practice] so they could deeply meditate afterwards. Once you’ve done the movements and you’ve cleared all that energy out, you’ve emptied your vessel, so you are much more open to receiving information.� The class has many of the trappings of an ancient ceremony, elements she has adopted over years of studying plant-enhanced rituals. She incorporates burning sage and sweetgrass, traditional music, and singing bowls, and closes with a long shavasana, or deep meditation. Archambault also asks her students to leave in silence—an intentional gesture meant to preserve the information gained during the ceremony as they return to their daily routine. San Francisco–based instructor Dee Dussault has taught ganja yoga for nine years and was one of the first instructors to offer consumptionfriendly classes in North America. She says “enhanced� classes—although drastically different than what was practised 3,000 years ago in places like India—are a tool to access an elevated state of consciousness. “With the busyness of our culture, the distractions and cellphone addictions, when you get to your yoga mat, there is still a lot of shedding to do before you can actually start to have mindfulness,� she told the Straight by phone. “It helps you let go of surface tensions so that you’re starting your yoga immediately from a higher base line of relaxation.�

In her book Ganja Yoga: A Practical Guide to Conscious Relaxation, Soothing Pain Relief, and Enlightened Self-Discovery, she details the historic practice, from the worship of the Indian deity Shiva to the evolution of psychoactive plants in rituals. “Using cannabis is a sign of human adaptability,� she said. “Over thousands of years, we have used it as tool to help guide our spiritual practice. And we’re still growing with it today.� Dussault also offers ganja classes online for yogis in regions where marijuana is not legal. For those who are uncomfortable with experimentation, Flower and Freedom, a Vancouver-based cannabis lifestyle brand, offers consumption-free consumer education through yoga and fitness. Cannabis-curious attendees participate in classes and outdoor excursions, like hiking and snowshoeing, led by health ambassadors who discuss their personal experience with pot. Although they don’t facilitate or provide cannabis, attendees are welcome to explore personal use. “I realized if we could explore and explain and show how cannabis could be a part of an active lifestyle, without pressure to consume, we could change the negative narrative around the plant,� Bethany Rae, Flower and Freedom founder, said in a phone interview. For those looking for practices that facilitate consumption, Archambault posts monthly events on her Facebook group and is launching weekly classes beginning in September. -

The Georgia Straight | Vancouver’s News and Entertainment Weekly | Volume 52 Number 2636 1635 West Broadway, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1W9 www.straight.com Phone: 604-730-7000 / Fax: 604-730-7010 / e-mail: gs.info@straight.com Display Advertising: 604-730-7020 / Fax: 604-730-7012 / e-mail: sales@straight.com Classifieds: 604-730-7060 / e-mail: classads@straight.com Subscriptions: 604-730-7000 Distribution: 604-730-7087 EDITOR + PUBLISHER Dan McLeod ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Yolanda Stepien GENERAL MANAGER Matt McLeod EDITOR Charlie Smith PRODUCT DIRECTOR

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Janet Smith (Arts/Fashion) Mike Usinger (Music) Steve Newton (Time Out) Adrian Mack (Movies) Brian Lynch (Books) EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATOR Doug Sarti ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Gail Johnson, John Lucas, Alexander Varty STAFF WRITERS

Piper Courtenay, Tammy Kwan, Lucy Lau, Travis Lupick, Carlito Pablo, Craig Takeuchi, Kate Wilson SENIOR EDITOR Martin Dunphy PROOFREADER Pat Ryffranck CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Gregory Adams, Nathan Caddell, David Chau, Jack Christie, Jennifer Croll, Ken Eisner (Movies), George Fetherling, Tara Henley, Michael Hingston, Ng Weng Hoong,

Alex Hudson, Kurtis Kolt, Robin Laurence (Visual Arts), Mark Leiren-Young, John Lekich, Amy Lu, Bob Mackin, Michael Mann, Rose Marcus, Beth McArthur, Verne McDonald, Allan MacInnis, Guy MacPherson, Tony Montague, Kathleen Oliver, Ben Parfitt, Vivian Pencz, Bill Richardson, Gurpreet Singh, Jacqueline Turner, Andrea Warner, Jessica Werb, Stephen Wong, Alan Woo CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Alfonso Arnold, Rebecca Blissett, Trevor Brady, Louise Christie, Emily Cooper, Randall Cosco, Krystian Guevara, Evaan Kheraj, Kris Krug, Tracey Kusiewicz, Kevin Langdale, Shayne Letain, Matt Mignanelli, Mark “Atomos� Pilon, Carlo Ricci, William Ting, Alex Waterhouse-Hayward LEAD WEB DEVELOPER Jeffrey Li WEB ADMINISTRATOR Miles Keir

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8 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JULY 19 – 26 / 2018

HOUSING

City searches out options for affordability

A

s of June this year, a typical But it all depends on the province, East Vancouver condo unit according to Karen Hoese, acting ascost $573,800. sistant director of planning for downNow imagine getting a town Vancouver. 35-percent discount, or $200,830 off. In a report to council, Hoese exThe condo can plained that the B.C. now be bought government needs for $372,970. to amend the VanIt’s a bargain, couver Charter so Carlito Pablo and this illusthe city can authorize trates how the math is meant to work resale covenants. out all the time for three of the 12 units Hoese also noted that another apin a new Vancouver cohousing de- proach would be for B.C. Housing to velopment. enter into a covenant under the Land At the proposed Tomo House, three Title Act. She explained that the covenunits will be priced 35 percent below ant could be registered on the titles of market value in perpetuity. the three units, “restricting sale prices The project is at the southwest cor- and ensuring that the units are sold to ner of Main Street and Ontario Place. income-tested buyers, thereby assurVancouver city planners like the idea ing affordability over time”. of having three affordable homeBecause these two options depend ownership units as a public benefit on the “discretion and timing” of from the 3.5-storey building. the province, Hoese reported that

Real Estate

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Vancouver planners are proposing three units priced below market value in Main Street’s Tomo House development. Marianne Amodio Architecture Studio photo.

another possible method is to have two or three units dedicated to moderate-income rentals. The project’s architect, Marianne Amodio, said that this third approach was identified due to the exigency of time. The rezoning application for 5809–5811 Main Street was up for public hearing on July 17.

“That’s how come the other option is in place so that we can move forward with some affordability model in case the [provincial] government doesn’t move forward with the revisions to the [Vancouver] charter in a timely manner,” Amodio told the Georgia Straight by phone. Tomo Spaces Inc. is the developer

that bought the land; it manages design and construction and is collaborating with Our Urban Village, a group whose members will buy the units. It’s a development model that Hoese referred to as “cohousing lite”. In conventional cohousing projects, future neighbours work together to purchase land, manage the construction, and run the strata corporation. Tomo House is the third cohousing venture in Vancouver. According to the project’s facilitator, Kathy McGrenera, it’s the first in the city to feature affordable homeownership. “In an expensive city, it’s a little bit that we can try and work for,” McGrenera told the Straight by phone. McGrenera is also a consultant with Driftwood Village, a cohousing project whose rezoning application was approved on July 16 by the City of North Vancouver council. -

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FEATURE

Sitting on the Gallery Café patio in his

BY CHAR LIE S M IT H

formfitting cadet-blue shirt, cargo shorts, sunglasses, and perfectly parted hair, Hector Bremner looked more like a GQ model than an insurgent ready to take over the government. But once he started speaking, as he overlooked Robson Square, it was clear that this first-term city councillor has grand ambitions to transform Vancouver. He took this opportunity to reveal to the Georgia Straight that he’s running for mayor with a new party, Yes Vancouver, which aims to increase the supply of housing and transform the way city hall is run. Later this month, the party will choose its slate of six or seven council candidates, as well as park- and school-board hopefuls. Bremner opened the conversation by recalling his role as a B.C. Liberal government political aide in the consultations leading up to an official apology to Chinese Canadians. During this time, he visited eight cities and heard innumerable tales from those whose families experienced horrific discrimination in the past. “You sit through that and you come out of it a changed person,” Bremner said.

Bremner wants city to say Yes

Hector Bremner’s mayoral ambition was thwarted by the NPA, so this October he will be at the top of the ballot with a new civic party called Yes Vancouver.

he concluded that no one was really in charge. “I literally had tears in my eyes,” Bremner recalled. “It really touched The rookie councillor thinks he has the right stuff to become me emotionally.” Housing is an issue mayor of Vancouver with an unconventional campaign message that hits close to home He added that this experience convinced him that for Bremner because he knows what it’s like to be it’s everyone’s job to call out racism when they see it. homeless. Born in Edmonton, he initially grew It has led him to challenge those who are scapegoat- up in comfortable circumstances in Saskatoon, ing immigrants, particularly those from China, for where his father had a company that installed sathigh housing prices in Vancouver. And he wonders ellite dishes. In the 1980s, this involved putting why there isn’t nearly as much attention on bureau- a five-metre metal disc on top of a cement pole, cratic obstacles to increasing the supply of housing. which was drilled into the ground. In many cases, “If it’s taking you five to seven years to get a Bremner accompanied his father as they placed multiresidential building through application these dishes on First Nations reserves across the to complete it, why don’t we start with that?” he Prairies. asked. “You know, if it takes you half to three- “It was a tremendous experience because it quarters of a decade to build something because taught me a lot about the inequity between what of red tape—and silliness and back-and-forth we could call mainstream Canadian society and about a spindle on the balcony—good Lord, we our Indigenous people,” Bremner said. just need to get our priorities straight.” But when interest rates soared in the early 1990s Elected for the first time as an NPA politician in and his parents separated, the 12- and 13-year-old a by-election last October, Bremner was blocked Bremner found himself couch-surfing with either from seeking that party’s mayoral nomination for his mom or his dad as they would stay with friends reasons that still haven’t been disclosed by him or or move to different cities in search of opportunities. the NPA board. As the mayoral candidate with It led Bremner to live in Calgary, Kelowna, Yes Vancouver, Bremner has promised that one of and finally Vancouver, where his father was livhis first moves will be to conduct a “core review”. ing in a motel above a strip bar. It will be overseen by an as-yet-unnamed former “There was a series of things that occurred where provincial deputy minister. we essentially went from having a beautiful home “It’s long overdue and I want to be clear: core in the suburbs, satellite dish, two cars, vacations… reviews are not about cutting,” Bremner insisted. to being homeless,” he said. Rather, he declared that it’s about taking Bremner told these stories with a remarkable destock of an organization. gree of openness, noting that his family’s homelessFor instance, he openly wondered if there is any ness was not due to drugs, alcohol, laziness, or any need for an urban-design panel, telling a tale about other stereotypes associated with poverty. Rather, a globally recognized architect who was offended by he attributed it to a “series of circumstances”. the feedback that he received. He believes there needs to be more housing per“I think our job is to make sure we’re curating mitted in the 76 percent of the city that is zoned for the neighbourhood effectively,” Bremner said. “But single-family dwellings. He also supports the crewhen we start to tinker with the design of an artist’s ation of “workforce housing” on False Creek Flats. work, I think we’ve crossed a line.” “There is a lot of people that own and rent in the In another example, he cited the city’s oversight city of Vancouver that are actually in a really vulof its social-housing assets. He said that shortly after nerable position,” he said. “It’s a crisis that I don’t he was elected, he asked for a briefing from staff. As think is appreciated enough.” soon as he saw the horizontal organizational chart, He chafes when he hears comments about

new housing being built for people who feel “entitled” to live in Vancouver. “It’s not a sense of entitlement,” Bremner said. “There are people who’ve lived their entire lives in the city of Vancouver that are riding this razor’s edge.” Going back to his own life, he said that as the 1990s progressed, fortunes gradually improved for his parents. His dad moved into a bedroom in a home and then rented an apartment. Bremner said he tried to help out as best he could, working in retail during the days and at restaurants at night. He became a manager at Aldo, helping turn around distressed stores. “I never went in there and just fired everybody and was draconian about it,” he said. “I learned very early on that you have to invite people ‘on the bus’ to a better way. And when you invite them to be part of it, sometimes those really unhappy employees—those negative employees, those negative actors—they actually become your most positive employees, your most positive actors.” He said this is especially so “if you give them a forum in which they can succeed and they feel the respect and recognition and compensation for their behaviour and their action”. He launched a marketing company in 2007, ran for the B.C. Liberals in New Westminster in 2013, then spent a year and eight months working as an executive assistant to cabinet ministers Teresa Wat and Rich Coleman. Bremner joined the Pace Group as its vice president of public affairs in 2015. He and his wife, Virginia, have two sons. Bremner has some things in common with Gordon Campbell, who became mayor of Vancouver at the age of 38 after just two years on city council. Like Bremner, Campbell had previously been a political aide. And both were raised in comfortable circumstances until a sudden change of fortunes left their families facing hard times. He said that Yes Vancouver includes people with previous ties to the federal Conservatives, federal Liberals, and federal New Democrats. Campbell, too, used to like to talk about his municipal party having a left-wing component. Bremner even sounded like a young Campbell as he talked about not playing politics, taking good ideas, bringing people together, and getting the job done. But Bremner is also more

N PA AND VI SI ON VANCO UVE R C AN’ T B E C O M PL AC E N T >>> Never before have Vancouver’s

2 old-line civic parties been beset

by so many serious challengers in a mayoral race. The NPA, which was founded in 1937, has elected 11 mayors, but its current standard-bearer, businessman Ken Sim, has never been elected to any public office. He has told party members that he wants to run the city like it’s a business. On the right and centre-right, Sim will face former Conservative MP Wai Young and NPA councillor Hector Bremner. Young’s group is called Coalition Vancouver and her campaign revolves around how much money is being wasted by city hall on a variety of initiatives—but, most specifically, on bike lanes. Bremner’s primary focus is on increasing the housing supply. Neither of them is fazed by the number of candidates running for mayor. Vision Vancouver has held the mayor’s chair since 2008, when Gregor Robertson won his first civic election. But the party’s council candidate came fifth in a by-election

Three candidates with high public profiles—former Conservative MP Wai Young, SFU professor Shauna Sylvester, and NDP MP Kennedy Stewart—are running for mayor without seeking a nod from either of the city’s two largest civic parties.

last year. And that was followed by four Vision Vancouver councillors and Robertson announcing that they won’t be seeking reelection. It’s left an impression that the ruling party is struggling, even after it nominated Squamish hereditary chief Ian Campbell as its mayoral candidate. He’s taken a leave of absence from serving as a councillor with the Squamish Nation as he campaigns to replace Robertson. Campbell has promised to triple

the empty-homes tax and speed up permit approvals at city hall. But Campbell faces stiff opposition from centre-left and left-wing candidates who are eager to gobble up Vision Vancouver’s traditional vote. Kennedy Stewart, a two-term NDP MP in Burnaby, has announced that he’ll resign his parliamentary seat this summer as he pursues the mayor’s chair. Stewart is on leave from his job as an associate professor of public policy at Simon Fraser University.

On July 17, Stewart secured an endorsement from the Vancouver and District Labour Council, marking the first time that this didn’t go to a Vision mayoral candidate since the party was founded in 2005. Stewart has promised to fight for affordable housing— “homes for regular people that are being pushed out of Vancouver”—and increase transparency. He’s not the only SFU academic in the mayor’s race. Public-practice professor Shauna Sylvester is on

see page 13

> BY CHARLIE SMITH

☞

administrative leave from the university’s Centre for Dialogue, where she serves as executive director. She’s on the board of MEC and the founder of Carbon Talks, and has been a director of Vancity, the B.C. Assessment Authority, and other organizations. She was the lead facilitator on Robertson’s task force on affordable housing and is a long-time advocate for a low-carbon economy. Another mayoral candidate is financial planner David Chen, who heads a new party called ProVancouver. In a recent phone interview with the Straight, Chen said the housing problem has been “orchestrated since 1986” and, as a result, he has “watched the city fall apart”. “When you look at our elected officials, most of them are really from the social elite,” Chen said. “If you look at literally all the candidates that are running against me, most of them actually live in downtown or in very expensive houses on the North Shore. I’m actually the only candidate that lives in the heart of the Downtown Eastside in Strathcona.” -

JULY 19 – 26 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 11

12 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JULY 19 – 26 / 2018

NEWS

Assisted injections could help isolated users > B Y TR AVIS LUPI CK

O

ne of the simplest ways to describe North America’s first supervised-injection facility, Vancouver’s Insite, is to say that it brought people out of the alleys. Marginalized people who were previously forced to inject drugs in hiding, where sometimes only filthy puddle water was available, were given a safe space, clean supplies, and the caring supervision of a nurse. But due to federal drug laws, Insite was forced to leave some of Vancouver’s most marginalized drug users outside: Insite has never allowed assisted injection. And so, for the 15 years since Insite opened in 2003, those who cannot inject themselves—people with physical disabilities, for example—have never been allowed to utilize the supervised space. Finally, that might change. This month, Health Canada initiated a trial that allows six supervised-injection facilities to make assisted injection available. However, none of these sites are in B.C. (Although six are allowed, only three have begun offering the service.) In a telephone interview, Michelle

Bremner

from page 11

charismatic, which could make him a potent mayoral candidate. Where they differ is in Bremner’s ease in talking about himself and his spiritual values. He said that a Catholic priest in East Vancouver, Father Martin Lotho, taught him an important lesson: that passion is something directed inward, whereas compassion evokes the same kind of energy directed outward. “I gave a speech not long ago where I said we don’t talk about love in politics,” Bremner said. “We need to truly love our city. Not just say ‘I love Vancouver.’ No. Demonstrate that you love the city. Put your needs second.” To him, this entails thinking about how neighbourhoods are changing and having “love for those that are going to come after you, and what you are leaving for them”. “It’s a total perspective change for us, even for me, and I work very hard at it every day,” he said. “At our [Yes Vancouver] meetings, 70 percent of what we talk about is character and why we’re doing what we’re doing. We work very hard on each other to remember that we have to have compassion for our city, love for our city.” He stated that homeowners need to love tenants, and vice versa, and the

The Overdose Prevention Society’s Sarah Blyth and Ronnie Grigg try to remove barriers for those seeking access to harm-reduction services. Travis Lupick photo.

Boudreau, director general of Health Canada’s controlled-substances directorate, described the experiment as a response to a gap in harm-reduction services deployed thus far. “The concern for us at Health Canada was that there was perhaps a population that was not accessing the services provided at supervised-consumption sites,” she told the Georgia Straight by phone. “We want to ensure that this service is there for all people who use drugs.”

The three locations currently offering assisted injection are ARCHES in Lethbridge, Alberta, and the Fred Victor Centre and South Riverdale Community Health Centre, both in Toronto. According to Boudreau, the trial should conclude this December. Decisions on whether to make assisted injection available at other locations will follow shortly after. Insite’s operator, PHS Community Services Society, and its funder,

Vancouver Coastal Health, both declined to grant interviews on assisted injection. Ronnie Grigg is general manager of the Overdose Prevention Society’s overdose-prevention site (OPS) on the unit block of East Hastings Street; he previously worked at Insite for nine years as the facility’s night-shift coordinator. In a telephone interview, he explained the need for assisted injection. “Some people have a variety of challenges finding a vein. They might have tiny veins or they might have large veins that roll,” Grigg told the Straight. “One of the most consistently marginalized groups that might need this kind of support is young women. “Often when young women are injecting, they are injected by their partner,” he continued. “That can create power dynamics around dependency for that individual. And that can create vulnerabilities, such as around quantities of drugs injected. If the dynamics of that relationship are negative, it can frequently become abusive.” Where assisted injection is offered, young women can be freed from such relationships and given a greater degree of power over their

drug use and addiction, Grigg said. As a supervised-injection site, Insite requires an exemption from federal drug laws. As an overdose-prevention site, the Overdose Prevention Society does not. Health Canada told the Straight that B.C.’s overdose-prevention sites are therefore free to offer assisted injection. OPS director Sarah Blyth confirmed assisted injection happens there. “We generally do whatever it takes to make sure that people receive the best care and the least harm,” she said. At an OPS, staff members are not required to perform assisted injection but can if they feel comfortable doing so. Assisted injection can also occur between two clients. In August 2017, Marilou Gagnon, president of the Harm Reduction Nurses Association and an associate professor at the University of Victoria, published an essay in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that noted the portion of intravenous-drug users who require assisted injection is estimated at between 25 percent and 50 percent. “Why is this important?” she asked. “It comes down to discrimination. Supervised injection as a service needs to be available to everyone.” -

rich must love the poor, and vice versa. “It’s not going to be easy,” Bremner acknowledged. “And it takes us a moment to say ‘I’ve got to park my pride; I’ve got to park my position on this issue and I’ve got to rise above and remember that we are in this together.’ There is no you and me. It’s just us. And that’s what Yes is.” He added that it’s easy to say “no” and often much harder to say “yes”. But according to him, “yes” can yield enormous rewards, whether you’re agreeing to marry, choosing a career, or doing voluntary activities. “We need to say ‘yes’ to the good ideas,” he stated. “We can argue about the how, but when we start with ‘no’ and then argue about getting to ‘maybe’, that’s a negative thing. That’s where we’ve been. “What we need to do is really lean into one another, really show some love for our city and really say ‘yes’ to one another—and have compassion.” It’s not a conventional campaign, and Bremner is not a conventional politician. In his view, the city is “broken” and there’s no longer a sense that things are getting better in Vancouver. And Yes Vancouver has a marketing message that it’s going to “fix” problems around housing, transportation, and other issues. “We’re not doing this just to win,” he said. “There is a mission.” -

JULY 19 – 26 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 13

NEWS

Diabo rocks boat in race to be national chief > B Y C HA RL IE SM I TH

W

hen Russell Diabo was a 16-year-old Kahnawake Mohawk living in Pennsylvania, he became captivated by an American Indian Movement march on Washington, D.C. It was the culmination of a cross-country journey known as the Trail of Broken Treaties, resulting in an occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters. “I hitchhiked down to see what was going on,” Diabo recalled in a phone interview with the Georgia Straight. “When I got there… the building had been trashed and graffiti was painted over the walls.” The next year, Diabo travelled to Wounded Knee, South Dakota, where AIM leaders and Oglala Lakota members staged a 71-day occupation of the town. These tumultuous events ignited Diabo’s lifelong interest in researching Indigenous history and understanding the ways in which governments have suppressed Indigenous peoples on both sides of the border. He became a scholar, studying at several universities, and he later worked for the National Indian Brotherhood, the Assembly of First Nations, and the Interior Alliance of B.C. Indigenous Nations, among other organizations. Almost 46 years removed from the Trail of Broken Treaties and Diabo is one of four Indigenous people running against incumbent Perry Bellegarde to become national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN). The other candidates are former CTV broadcaster and Grand Chief Sheila North, former Haida Nation president Miles Richardson, and former Manitoba AFN regional chief Katherine Whitecloud. The election will take place on Wednesday (July 25) at the

Former B.C. chief Art Manuel (left) was one of the Indigenous intellectuals who’ve influenced Russell Diabo, a candidate for Assembly of First Nations national chief.

Vancouver Convention Centre. Diabo is the radical in the race, claiming that under Bellegarde the AFN has been “weaponized” by the Trudeau government against the interests of Indigenous people. It’s a remarkable turn for a man who was once the vice president of policy for the Aboriginal Peoples’ Commission of the Liberal Party of Canada and who advised the ruling party in 1993 on its Aboriginal platform. Diabo described the Trudeau government’s 10 principles regarding its relationship with Indigenous peoples as “10 principles to recolonize us”. And he claimed that Trudeau and his government are merely implementing the agenda of his father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, whose controversial 1969 white paper aimed to assimilate all Aboriginal people into the Canadian state and abolish all treaties.

“They want to convert bands into municipalities and reserves into private property,” Diabo alleged. “That’s the objective.” WHEN ASKED HOW this is taking

place, Diabo launched into a detailed dissertation, touching on everything from the repatriation of the Constitution in 1982 to the illegitimacy of post-1990 Supreme Court of Canada jurisprudence to the objectives behind Ottawa’s comprehensiveland-claims policy. He maintained that the Trudeau government’s 10 principles are based, in part, on the doctrine of discovery, which European colonizers invoked to seize lands already occupied by Indigenous peoples. He added that these principles are preconditions that will guide upcoming legislation that will affect First Nations.

Diabo also claimed that the Liberal government is going to use that doctrine to assert its sovereignty and territorial integrity over the land. This is despite the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples’ recommendation that the government stop citing the doctrine of discovery and terra nullius—Latin for “nobody’s land”—to back up the Crown’s assertions. “Yet they’re cherry-picking other recommendations from the royal commission, like dissolving the Department of Indian Affairs and creating two new federal departments,” he noted. The Constitution Act, 1982, recognized and affirmed existing treaty rights, including “rights that now exist by way of land claims agreements or may be so acquired”. Sections 37 and 37.1, which have since been repealed, called for constitutional conferences that would define the scope and meaning of Aboriginal treaty rights. According to Diabo, premiers and former prime minister Brian Mulroney “ran out the clock arguing whether self-government was an inherent right or a conditional right depending on agreements with Crown governments”. “The national Aboriginal organizations said, ‘No, it’s an inherent right. It’s already in the Constitution; it’s already an existing Aboriginal right,’ ” Diabo said. “The premiers and the prime minister said, ‘No, no, no, you’ve got to reach agreement with us.’ ” In the absence of an agreement, the Supreme Court of Canada began interpreting Aboriginal rights under the Constitution, starting with the Sparrow decision in 1990. But Diabo insisted that judges on the country’s top court are in a “conflict of interest” because they’ve accepted that underlying title belongs to the Crown, even in the landmark

2014 Tsilhqot’in ruling. “That’s based on the doctrine of discovery,” he said. “They’re maintaining that legal position.” He also claimed that the court’s actions fall short of the international standard for Indigenous human rights, including the right to self-determination. From 1990 to 1994, Diabo tried to convince then Liberal leader Jean Chrétien to accept the inherent right to self-government. His party promised in 1993 that a Liberal government would act on the premise that self-government was already recognized in the Constitution. And in 1995, the Liberal government under Chrétien began negotiating with bands for selfgovernment. “But that policy has preconditions to it, which amount to basically agreeing to become municipalities,” Diabo said. One of Diabo’s intellectual inf luences over the years was Arthur Manuel, the B.C.–based former president of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples and the National Indian Brotherhood (now the AFN) who died in 2017. Diabo and Manuel have both argued that a key aspect of the comprehensive-claims policy is placing the burden of proof on First Nations. This forces them to borrow massive amounts of money to conduct the necessary research to prove their arguments. Rising debt loads then impose pressure on elected band councils to settle for less than that to which they are legally entitled. “The purpose of the policy is to extinguish Aboriginal title, which my friend Art Manuel equated to the evil of slavery,” Diabo insisted. “How can you ask Indigenous peoples to give up their birthright in exchange for recognized rights?” -

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straight stars > B Y ROSE MA RC U S

T

July 19 to 25, 2018

he sun enters fun-and-sun Leo on Sunday afternoon, but for many of us it could be a rocky road ahead. Overall, the stars are on the okay move-along through Sunday, so ride the good wave. Don’t force what isn’t coming naturally, though, and make sure to monitor for building tensions and breakingpoint triggers, yours or theirs. Tuesday, Venus/Neptune is good for letting it slide or taking it easy. On the other hand, the transit can set a backdrop for susceptibility, gullibility, blurred lines, blind spots, giving in to weakness or illusion, or missing the mark. Don’t bank on a promise, an expectation, or a sales pitch. Encompassing two eclipses, one next week and one next month, Mercury in Leo will travel retrograde from Wednesday evening through August 18. In general, the transit is a good one for personal review and recentring. Are you creating the life you want to live? Are you happy? In love? Thriving? If the answer is no, then you aren’t likely to keep the act up for long. Wednesday’s sun/Uranus and Thursday’s sun/Mars retrograde provide plenty of fuel for the fire. If you haven’t been able to get clarity, break free, or break through so far, you‘ll have a better-than-average, perhaps an exceptional, opportunity to get there now. Friday’s total full-moon eclipse in Aquarius, the longest eclipse for this century, is accompanied by Earth and Mars retrograde in their closest proximity to the sun and each other. Uranus, ruler of Aquarius, is also contributing to cracking the code. Amazing and opportune for some, jarring for others—it’s going to be a wild ride.

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

March 20–April 19

Mars is hot-wired through the end of the month and into the start of next. Hitting full-steam ahead as of mid–next week, Mars, Uranus, the sun in Leo, and next Friday’s lunar eclipse in Aquarius are sure to put life in the fast lane. Thanks to Tuesday’s Venus/Neptune, and the start of Mercury retrograde on Wednesday, you may not see it coming. April 20–May 20

Next Friday’s total lunar eclipse can hit you full force if it makes direct contact with your birth chart, especially if you are born on or close to April 22 to 26. Regardless, you’ll feel the impact. Watch for someone or something unexpected to dictate the action. Couldn’t do it previously? You will now. Don’t resist fate; get onboard with it instead. May 21–June 21

You could do with a break. Whether planned or unexpected, watch for Mercury and Mars retrograde and next Friday’s eclipse to cut you loose. A special event, added excitement, or volatility is in the mix. Something could suddenly go snap, hit you like a lightning bolt, rev you up, or overtake you like a freight train. A special someone could play a major role.

CANCER

June 21–July 22

LEO

July 22–August 22

Ready or not, here it comes. Leo month is going to pack a major punch, especially if your birthday falls on or near next Friday’s eclipse. If the relationship or prospect isn’t meant to be, you won’t be able to nail it down. Despite Mercury and Mars retrograde, watch for destiny to hit full-steam ahead as of Wednesday.

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

August 22–September 22

While the usual is to be expected out of Mercury retrograde (starting next Wednesday), it has positive applications, too. It’s best used for self-reflection, recentring, creative exploration, and getting back in touch with what or whom is most worthy of time, attention, and heart. Next Friday’s liberating eclipse can kick-start enlightenment, a sudden turnaround, an improvement track, or something much more. September 22–October 23

Beyond a good transit for reconnecting, Mercury retrograde could take you on another go-around with someone or something. Thanks to next Friday’s total lunar eclipse, there’s a major element of surprise regarding who shows up/bursts onto the scene or what comes your way. Don’t expect to go slow. Expect to hit a fast track right from the get-go. October 23–November 21

A vacation is ideally timed for the rest of the month. If it isn’t in the cards for you, then take full advantage of the getting while the getting is good. Tuesday/Wednesday and onward, be prepared for an onslaught, disruption, shakeup, wake-up, or sudden snap. The sun, Uranus, Mars, Mercury retrograde, and the lunar eclipse hit the anything-goes action switch. November 21–December 21

Leo month, starting Sunday, is one of your best for making hay while the sun shines, for pleasure, play, and travel. Even so, Mercury retrograde (starting Wednesday) and Friday’s bust-it-wide-open lunar eclipse, have their own agendas. This next week could springboard you unexpectedly. Someone or something could take you by surprise. Everything could change in a flash. December 21–January 19

Despite whatever backtrack Mercury retrograde may produce, things have a way of working out to an advantage. Wednesday to Friday, the eclipse could produce an eruption, added volatility, vulnerability, reactiveness, or inflammation. You could hit a financial or emotional brink. Venus/ Pluto can see you scoop a bargain, find, recoup, replace, clear it up, or fill it in.

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January 20–February 18

Mercury retrograde, starting late next Wednesday, turns an added spotlight onto your social matters and/or one special one. Mars continues its retrograde backtrack in Aquarius, but far from extinguishing the fire, passion, reaction, excitement, or volatility, the hot one is about to blow the lid off. It’s cut-to-the-chase, cutoff, cutloose, or breakthrough time.

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PISCES

February 18–March 20

One way or another, Mercury retrograde can put you back to work. Something you thought was finished or accomplished may require more time, attention, or dollars. To the plus, you could get a better price or more out of it this time. Next Friday’s eclipse can stir it up or inflame it, or it could rile, ignite, or surprise you. -

Thursday through Sunday, you are likely to find your motivation is up a notch. Don’t waste it. As of mid–next week, the stars will overwrite the good momentum with the unexpected. Tuesday, it is easy to get caught up or to overproject. Mercury retrograde, starting Wednesday, can see you hit a backtrack regard- B o o k a re a d i n g o r s i g n u p f o r ing confidence, options, or finances. Rose’s free monthly newsletter at rosemarcus.com/. Soon, a breakthrough.

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Walled-village flavours arrive

H

ugo Man-To Leung can so each dish features some greens to at the helm of their kitchens, the walk down a street in Asia pair with the protein.” renowned chef makes it a point and unintentionally comAnother signature walled-village to visit Hong Kong’s wet markets mand every smartphone menu item that the charismatic (markets selling fresh meat and camera to point his way—his presence foodie recommends is lard rice, produce) twice a week to get a sense doesn’t go unnoticed, especially by which combines melted pork lard of what new dishes he will create. food lovers. Identified as the “Gour- and freshly steamed jasmine rice. As for his two cents on Vancoumet God” and affectionately known Mix it with a bit of quality soy ver’s food scene, Leung doesn’t as Toto throughsauce and you have single out his favourites. “In Vanout Hong Kong’s yourself a simple couver, I’ve eaten at many renowned culinary world, yet aromatic and restaurants, and each has its own the celebrity chef, highly addictive specialties and distinction. I usually Tammy Kwan cookbook author, concoction. go wherever my friends bring me and food critic has been featured in When Leung isn’t travelling to,” Leung said with a smile. a multitude of television, print, and around the globe for work or leiradio interviews, and he has even sure, he is tied up managing three Tickets ($88 per person) to the hosted his own food series. Nowadays, Tai Wing Wah locations and strik- Vancouver Chinatown Merchants he leads luxury food and travel tours ing up food-filled conversations Association’s charity dinner can be and acts as the director of the award- with guests. Although he’s no longer purchased by calling 604-351-3189. winning Tai Wing Wah restaurant group in Hong Kong. To say he’s a busy man would be an understatement, so it’s a pretty big deal RESTAURANT SINCE 1974 that he’ll be bringing his gastronomic expertise to Vancouver this week. Leung is in town to host and attend AWARD WINNING a charity dinner for the Vancouver AFGHAN Chinatown Merchants Association CUISINE on Thursday (July 19) at Floata SeaSINCE 2008 food Restaurant (180 Keefer Street). The 10-course menu—created by Leung and executed by the Chinatown eatery’s executive chef, Ho Lim Tso— NOW SERVING will be special because it features traditional wai tau choi, or walledvillage food, which cannot be found at dining establishments around for a Metro Vancouver. Reservation today So, what exactly is walled-village call 604.873.5923 food? It stems from the history of walled villages in southern China and Hong Kong that were built to ward off burglars who looted hum1833 Anderson St. (2nd Floor) Vancouver BEFORE THE ENTRANCE TO GRANVILLE ISLAND, RIGHT BEHIND THE STARBUCKS ble households. Its cuisine is characterized by the use of common meats Open 7 Days A Week | www.afghanhorsemen.com and produce (chicken, pork, and seasonal vegetables), with flavours enhanced by specialty sauces. “Walled-village dishes are unique because they are made according to seasonality, and only if the ingredients are fresh,” Leung explained. “When food is in season, it’s even more tasty. You can eat different types of dishes at different times of the year.” At its core, this type of cuisine is delicious, home-style comfort food that doesn’t empty your wallet. Leung’s customers aren’t the only ones who can vouch for its quality and affordability—the Michelin Guide has awarded Tai Wing Wah the Bib Gourmand distinction (recognizing exceptionally good food at moderate prices) for nine consecutive years. The dishes featured on Thursday’s menu (which can also be found at Leung’s restaurants) include walled five-spice chicken (soy sauce and bay leaves), hometown steamed taro paste (tender pork and scallions), stir-fried shrimp (dried mandarin peel and black-bean sauce), bamboo fungus soup (white fungus and fish paste), Chinese-sausage-andfish-paste rolls, and milky-egg-yolk steamed sponge cake. 1830 Fir St. Vancouver | 604.736.9559 “Vegetables are very important in walled-village cuisine because beef and chicken and geese are expensive,” Leung said. “Veggies are CLOSED MONDAYS the cheapest and most affordable,

Best Eats

AFGHAN HORSEMEN

It was sunset. You came into the dock at Wellington Point Park (I had to look up the name) on the Fraser river with your friend. You were lovely. We talked, and I was caught by your gaze. You: blue shorts and a black tank top, blonde hair. Me: middle-aged guy, sandy hair, gray sideburns-- and cute elderly mother in tow. I jokingly offered to give you a ride home to White Rock with your paddle board. Just FYI-- I’d like to get a paddle board lesson from you. But chances are you’ll never see this, and we’ll just be two paddle boards passing in the night...

WAITING AT THE GATES OF THE RICHMOND NIGHT MARKET

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 14, 2018 WHERE: Richmond Night Market You were the 30-something/ early 40’s guy that I locked eyes with and laughed at me when I yelled “this is NUTS! NUTS!” upon entering the Richmond Night market last night. I’m brunette who was wearing the teal, long dress who was with the tall blond woman and her daughter. You had a cotton tote bag and you looked like you were waiting for someone. I thought you were really cute. Bubble tea sometime?

AFTER ANTISOCIAL’S SHOW IN THE ALLEY, YOU GOT ON THE 99

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 13, 2018 WHERE: 99 Bus

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You look like a heavily tattooed Norman Reedus. My friend and I sat down close to you on the 99 after the antisocial party Friday night. I really noticed you when you got off at your stop but didn’t say anything. I doubt I would see you around again, so maybe this will work?

FOLK FEST

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 15, 2018 WHERE: Vancouver folk festival Ry Cooder, right side of stage near the wall We danced to Ry Cooder, the last set at the Vancouver folk festival. You: petite, shapely, gorgeous, tanned, brown hair and eyes, I think. British accent? Gold nose ring, head scarf sometimes, laces, tights and leather. Totally sexy but in a sort of introverted sense. You seemed to be in a beautiful state, dancing intimately within yourself. Me: blue bandana and pants and white dress shirt thoroughly enjoying myself in unusual extroverted fashion. I had a little girl on my shoulders often and I said watch out for that old man when you got bumped. I wasn’t sure if you were into me and I didn’t want t to make you uncomfortable especially in such an enjoyable experience but I would’ve loved to get to know you. You were tentatively dancing with me and joining our fun dance circle. I threw the cards into the ethers when I went for much needed water, and the show just ending on my return, you were gone. Never done this before! Trying to get dealt another hand. Connect with a unique Canadian? On any level?

DRIVE BY SMILE & WAVE

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 13, 2018 WHERE: Kingsway & Broadway I was wearing a black dress sitting in a coffee shop on Kingsway & Broadway by the window. You were in the passenger seat of a black moto car stopped at the light. We made eye contact and neither of us could hide our smiles. When the light changed and we waved at each other before you drove away I hoped you would come back to ask me for my number. I would love to see that smile again maybe you can ask for my number now?

MARK FARINA ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE STAGE

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 14, 2018 WHERE: mark Farina - the imperial we danced next to each other, you slender in a multi coloured dress/short outfit, slung around your neck, a stunning beauty with curls to your neck, and then you were gone, I a white beard before I should have one and maybe a bit sweaty. coffee?

BEN AT ROCKIN THE PARK

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 7, 2018 WHERE: Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park

We locked eyes at Rockin the Park while I was waiting in line at the bar. You told me your name is Ben and you said your dad was from Uruguay. We didn’t exchange numbers. How do I reach you?

COOKIES AND CREAM

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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: JULY 14, 2018 WHERE: Earnest Ice Cream Fraser Street So it was an early afternoon at Earnest Ice Cream. You came in claiming that it was your first time here when you lived in the neighbourhood, which surprised me because who hasn’t heard of Earnest Ice Cream??? We had a nice conversation about ice cream and gelato and honestly, I had a really hard time holding in a grin from ear to ear. You tried a bunch of our flavours and you just really had a hard time deciding on what to get. Eventually, you got a cookies and cream pint and you left. I was gonna ask you for your number as you walked out because I was sent on my break, but I was too shy to ask. Now I’m sitting here wondering if you were interested - I have a midterm on Tuesday and I can’t really focus with the thought in my head. Would like to give you my number and maybe go on a date???

Visit straight.com to post your FREE I Saw You _ 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.

LUNCH

Authentic Greek Food Extensive Wine & Bar List

www.apolloniagreekrestaurant.com

Scan to confess Whoops.. So when I accidently swipe right on tinder when I totally would have swiped a hard left.. the next person always gets that hard left... No matter what. It just happens. No control. Also because karma and irony can be one in the same sometimes.. I’m positive I’ve definitely left swiped my soul mate.. probably like nine soul mates at this point...

I would love To be a minimalist but stuff around me is very inviting to buy.

spiritual journey I was ghosted by my boyfriend shortly after I lost my mother. He said that my grief was interfering with his spiritual journey. So much for compassion.

Road Rules To all the drivers in this city who don’t understand that bikes are considered vehicles, here is a PSA: You’re not doing me or anybody else a favour by randomly stopping when YOU have the right of way. It’s unpredictable, dangerous and disrupts the flow of traffic. To all the cyclists in this city who don’t understand that bikes are considered vehicles: YOU ARE. Learn the rules of the road and act accordingly.

Ofce summer vacations Some colleagues overestimate the value of their vacations. I don’t even talk to these people on a daily or weekly basis, yet when they return from vacation, they will use up about an hour in the morning just telling people... (con’t @straight.com)

Visit

to post a Confession JULY 19 – 26 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 17

HAVE YOU BEEN TO...

The Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards Society presents Vancouver’s Professional Awards and Party

Ming Wo Celebrating 36 Years!

Congratulations to all Jessie Award winners saluting excellence in live theatre.

mingwo.com

Dockside Restaurant

docksidevancouver.com

Cioffi’s cioffisgroup.com

ON SALE NOW!

Opening June 28, 2018 museumofvancouver.ca

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 22 7:30PM

TICKETS: TICKETMASTER.CA • 855.985.5000

18 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JULY 19 – 26 / 2018

Exhibition Co-producers

Exhibition Partners

Partners in Reconciliation

Nature Vancouver

Institutional Partners

Media Partner

ARTS LYSISTRATA By Aristophanes. Adapted by Jennifer Wise and Lois Anderson. Directed by Lois Anderson. A Bard on the Beach production. At the Howard Family Stage on Friday, July 13. Continues until September 13

Pool-noodle dicks, toxic masculinity, and a

2 powerful plea for decolonization—these are

just some of the things going on in Bard on the Beach’s bold, brilliant, and joyfully bonkers production of Lysistrata. Aristophanes’ 2,400-year-old classic is about Greek women banding together to stop an endless civil war by occupying the treasury and withholding sex from men until peace is established. Jennifer Wise and Lois Anderson’s adaptation is refreshingly contemporary and relevant. In their play, the cast is set to perform their popular allfemale Hamlet until they discover that Vanier Park, or Snauq, its traditional name, will be rezoned for development. As an act of protest, the women decide to stage Lysistrata instead—with no rehearsal and improvised costumes, props, and sets. The result is a show within a show that manages to cultivate that real spark of solidarity in collective protest, while also being hilariously over-the-top, thanks to almost nonstop sexual

The bawdy and the eerie From a boisterous, locally set Lysistrata to the chilling murder mystery Dark Road, new plays offer diverse pleasures innuendo, bawdy prop comedy, and probably the dirtiest and funniest fight/dance scene in the history of Bard on the Beach. The cast is exceptional, and their excitement about the material is palpable. Comedy is hard work, and this adaptation of Lysistrata zigzags at neck-snapping speeds. Ming Hudson and Adele Noronha are welcome newcomers to the Bard stage, and both bring a nicely subversive edge to their various performances. Quelemia Sparrow’s contribution is particularly generous: the Musqueam artist brought her lived experience to Wise and Anderson’s adaptation, and within the show she’s also often tasked with doing the labour of education, explanation, and persuasion for non-Indigenous people who need to be reminded, told, and educated about the effects of colonization. Sparrow is the one who has to ask tough, rhetorical questions about land rights and occupation, who’s sharing her traditional knowledge and stories with us, and then gets to slip into her mop wig and deliver a dick joke or two. Credit also to Anderson’s direction for maintaining the frenetic, unhinged buzz of creative chaos and tension that defines Lysistrata from start to finish. It’s impossible to know what will happen next in this unique production, and it’s not just the shock and awe of raunch and risqué humour, or the wildly creative costumes that Barbara Clayden has assembled with obvious glee. It’s the emotional terrain, too, the huge laughs and the crushing realization that Aristophanes was calling out colonialism and the patriarchy 2,400 years ago and we still have so much work to do. > ANDREA WARNER

THINGS TO DO

Lysistrata’s Luisa Jojic and Jennifer Lines call out patriarchy (Tim Matheson photo); below left, Rebecca Walters’s police officer is haunted by an old case.

DARK ROAD

the on-stage action appropriately claustrophobic, as does Patrick J. Smith’s gloomy lighting design. The whole show has an eerie undercurrent, exemplified by sequences where Isobel is stalked by an attacker wearing a fox’s head. As Isobel, Rebecca Walters is the maypole Broadchurch, The Fall, Happy Valley: we are around which all this creepiness spins. She shoulcurrently enjoying a renaissance of British ders this burden capably, offering a straight-ahead, crime drama. These shows tend to feature a dam- unfettered performance. Other roles were less conaged, middle-aged copper investigating the bar- sistent, though I did admire the cocksure menace baric murders of, almost always, young women. that Paul Herbert brought the role of Chalmers. The police protagonists are often haunted by unWhen actors struggle with dialogue, it’s usuresolved anxieties about a decades-old case. ally because of one of two things: they’re underEnsemble Theatre Company’s Dark Road is rehearsed or the script isn’t as fluent as it could be. very much in this vein. Chief Supt. Isobel Mc- Good dialogue has a rhythm that makes it easy Arthur (Rebecca Walters) has been on the force not only to say, but also to memorize. This is Ranfor 30 years. In the centralization of Scotland’s kin’s first-ever play. At two hours and 45 minutes police services, she’s been overlooked for a pro- long, it often lacks subtext and is burdened with motion and is contemplating retirement. long speeches that need an editor’s red pen. And yet she has nagging doubts about a 25-yearThe play also lacks a veteran dramatist’s savvy. old case. She made a name for herself by arresting For example, there are a couple of momentumserial killer Alfred Chalmers, responsible for the killing scenes where a character just listens to redeath of four young women. Meanwhile, Isobel’s corded police interviews. daughter Alexandra (Alysson Hall) is a handful If you can’t get enough of British police dramas, as she wraps up her film-studies degree. We later then you’ll enjoy this dark and spooky journey learn she’s made an unorthodox choice of subject into Isobel and Chalmers’s past. If not, opt for a for her final project. different path than this dark road. > DARREN BAREFOOT The play is written by famed Scottish crime novelist Ian Rankin and Mark Thomson, the artistic director of Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum The- TIMON OF ATHENS atre. Rankin has written 25 novels, most of which By William Shakespeare. Directed by Meg Roe. are police procedurals featuring Det.-Insp. John A Bard on the Beach production. At the Howard Rebus, who hunts bad guys in the grungy back Family Stage in the Douglas Campbell Theatre on alleys of the Scottish capital. So, storywise, Dark Tuesday, July 10. Continues until September 9 Road isn’t a stretch for Rankin. Timon of Athens is considered one of ShakeDirector Chris Lam stages the production in speare’s “problem plays”—but the challenges the thrust-style theatre at the Jericho Arts Centre. Audiences on three sides of the playing space make see next page

By Ian Rankin and Mark Thomson. Directed by Chris Lam. An Ensemble Theatre Company production. At the Jericho Arts Centre on Thursday, July 12. Continues until August 16

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ARTS High five

Editor’s choice OPEN YOUR EARS When Alexandra Wood’s The Human Ear opened at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2015, the Guardian called the play “fascinating, intricate and tricky”. And the eerie setup certainly sounds so: Lucy’s father was killed in the Gulf War and her mother’s just been murdered in an attack on a city bus. Now her brother is back after running away 10 years ago—but is he who he says he is? A young theatre company from Ireland, Untold Wants Theatre, stages this North American premiere in Vancouver. Prepare your brain for the puzzle. The Human Ear is at Pacific Theatre from Wednesday (July 18) to July 25.

Five events you just can’t miss this week

1

KEVIN SCHMIDT: WE ARE THE ROBOTS (To October 28 at the Vancouver Art Gallery) Interactive, DIY inventions are cool, hands-on fun.

2

A FEW GOOD MEN (To August 17 at the Jericho Arts Centre) For those of you who really can handle the truth.

3

AS YOU LIKE IT (To September 22 at Bard on the Beach) Real fake wrestling, 25 Beatles songs, and funky Fluevog shoes.

4

TITANIC: THE ARTIFACT EXHIBITION (To January 11, 2019, at Lipont Place) A quality display of 120 objects recovered from the wreck site, plus room re-creations.

5

BODY LANGUAGE (To January 19, 2019, at the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art) A thought-provoking dive into this region’s Indigenous tattooing.

In the news NEW THEATRE HUB Boca del Lupo, Carousel Theatre for Young People, and CMHC Granville Island have announced the launch of a new Granville Island Theatre District. The initiative is aimed at boosting arts programming at Performance Works, Festival House, and the Waterfront Theatre. Boca’s artistic producer, Jay Dodge, whose organization will be responsible for managing Performance Works, says the district will add to the scenes already established by the Arts Club Theatre Company, Vancouver TheatreSports League, and the Arts Umbrella. “Here we want to create a real identity for those venues, and build spaces that have a theme around them,” he told the Straight. Carousel will steer the Waterfront into a destination for family- and kid-oriented theatre and dance, and Festival House, true to its name, will focus on fest-related events and shows. The Theatre District is part of the larger Granville Island 2040 strategy, CMHC’s effort to produce a vision for the site for the next quarter century. JULY 19 – 26 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 19

ARTS

Korean percussionists Jessie Awards reflect bring the thunder increasing diversity > BY A LEX A NDER VA R TY

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oreum Machi, the South Korean troupe currently on a West Coast tour that touches down in Vancouver and Mission this week, is known for its extroverted virtuosity. Specializing in samul-nori, a form of percussion music in which gongs called kkwaenggwari and jing and drums named janggu and buk symbolize thunder, wind, rain, and clouds, respectively, the quintet bears comparison to taiko ensembles such as Japan’s famed Kodo or our own long-established Uzume Taiko. As with taiko, Noreum Machi’s music is generally loud and exuberant—the group’s name means, essentially, an act no one wants to follow—and its members dance as they play in ways that reflect both the codified gestures of the martial arts and the repetitive movements of farming and fishing: planting seeds, threshing rice, and pulling in catch-heavy nets. But there’s more to what this band does than Korean percussion. Its sound also reflects founding member Juhong Kim’s comprehensive training in pansori, a form of vocal music that combines incantation with bardic narrative, and his resolve to reach beyond the boundaries of tradition. “You can find traditional music in its truest form still being performed, whether it be music for shamanic rites or certain types of singing or instrumental performances,” says Noreum Machi’s tour manager and interpreter, Albert Kim, talking to the Straight from Grass Valley, California. “And of course, living in the 21st century, there’s a lot of people who will take the music and

reinterpret it for the modern generation, which is what Noreum Machi has done. “It’s not something that we would necessarily consider ‘fusion’ music,” he adds. “It’s just taking the basics of the music that Juhong Kim knows and that the other members know and have performed, and finding a way to reinterpret how we deliver that message.” One element that distinguishes Noreum Machi from other samulnori ensembles—including its famous predecessor SamulNori, which took its name from the style—is its use of the piri, a double-reed instrument related to the Indian shehnai and the Chinese suona. Youngjun Kim, the band’s piri player, has a loose, expressive approach that bears some similarity to free-jazz saxophone, and Juhong Kim’s vocals occasionally conjure up rap’s syncopated wordplay—but, as Albert Kim explains, the connection is largely coincidental. “Korean music is very rooted in a different beat system from what is used in western music,” he says. “We just use that as a base to develop certain types of new music.” And percussionist Howon Lee, speaking in Korean, adds that his band’s lyrical content is one thing that remains resolutely traditional. Most of its songs, he explains through Albert Kim, are benedictions, conferring “prosperity and good fortune” on its listeners. That message may be centuries old, but it’s also as timeless as thunder, wind, rain, and clouds—and no less welcome in what’s shaping up to be a long, dry summer. -

> B Y K ATHLEEN O LIV ER

T

he 2018 Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards were a celebration of the changing landscape of Vancouver theatre. First, there was the change in location of the ceremony itself, which took place on July 16 at Bard on the Beach’s BMO Mainstage, where a food truck and Porta Potties provided a more, um, pastoral counterpart to the glitz of the event’s previous venue, the Commodore Ballroom. Here, the glamour came from drag queen MCs Peach Cobblah (Dave Deveau) and Isolde N. Barron (Cameron Mackenzie). Then there was the change in scale, as we were reminded by Bill Millerd, who received a standing ovation upon accepting a life membership in the Canadian Actors’ Equity Association. The Arts Club’s artistic director emeritus noted that when he returned here from theatre school in the late 1960s, Vancouver had only three professional theatre companies; there are now 66. There has also been an expansion in what we see on our stages; diversity and inclusion were the evening’s recurring themes. “Guys, we did it!” exulted Omari Newton, pointing to the evening’s drag hosts, house band the Queertet, and his fellow black cast members in SpeakEasy Theatre’s The Shipment, for which he won the award for outstanding performance by an actor in the small-theatre category. Newton noted that he had stopped acting on-stage for 10 years because “I didn’t feel my voice was represented.” Things are changing. Accepting one of two Critics’ Choice Innovation Awards (the other Noreum Machi plays the Norman and went to Mind of a Snail’s Multiple Annette Rothstein Theatre on Thurs- Organism) with Yoshié Bancroft for day (July 19), and the Mission Folk Universal Limited’s Japanese ProbMusic Festival on Saturday (July 21). lem, Joanna Garfinkel echoed that sentiment: “We wanted to change the stories that were told, who was in them, and who told them.” The largetheatre category’s award for outstanding performance by an ensemble went to Neworld Theatre’s King Arthur’s Night, four of whose cast members— including key creator Niall McNeill— have Down syndrome. And Diwali in BC artistic director Rohit Chokhani, accepting the Vancouver Now Representation and Inclusion Award, expressed faith in the next generation’s firm rejection of racism and misogyny: “The future is in the hands of the millennials,” he said. The future is also in the hands of youth, and playwright Rachel Aberle thanked Green Thumb Theatre for

Omari Newton won an acting award for The Shipment. Jens Kristian Balle photo,

giving teens the opportunity to talk about complicated emotions. Aberle won the Sydney Risk Prize for outstanding emerging playwright for The Code, which shared the awards in the theatre-for-young-audiences category with Jabber, a Green Thumb–Neworld coproduction. Rumble Theatre’s The Society for the Destitute Presents Titus Bouffonius, an audacious take on Shakespeare’s bloodiest tragedy, took home more than half the awards in the small-theatre category, including outstanding performance by an ensemble, which cast members Craig Erickson and Pippa Mackie accepted in character as Fink and Leap, repeatedly substituting “Fuck you” for “Thank you” in the most original speech of the night. Director Stephen Drover snagged the outstandingdirection awards in both the smalltheatre (Titus) and large-theatre (the Arts Club’s Hand to God) categories. Hand to God earned three awards in large theatre, as did the Arts Club’s Misery; the outstanding-production trophy went to Pacific Theatre’s Outside Mullingar. Genevieve Fleming made the evening’s most memorable entrance, having sprinted from the portable toilets to accept the Ray Michal Award for outstanding emerging director. And Studio 58 technical director Bruce Kennedy was almost speechless as he picked up his Colin Campbell Award for Excellence in Technical Theatre to a standing ovation and adoring shouts of “Broooce!” from a house full of beneficiaries of his generous help. Also honoured for her generosity was Arts Club board member Bonnie Mah, who received the Patron of the Arts Award. A complete list of winners can be found at www.jessieawards.com/. -

Timon of Athens

from previous page

inherent in the script have given director Meg Roe the freedom to create a wildly original production. Shakespeare’s Timon is a wealthy Athenian who lavishes gifts on his so-called friends. They abandon him when his fortune runs out. The original script has only two female characters—and they’re prostitutes. Roe’s first emendation is to reverse the gender roles: all the major characters are women; the two male cast members here play “the Help”. Roe has also set the play in a glossy present-day world and drastically reduced Shakespeare’s text, combining characters, eliminating subplots, and compressing time, which gives the play a contemporary urgency. The opening sees Timon’s glamorous friends arrive at her ultrachic penthouse for a party. We’re immersed in a disorienting mix of party chitchat, air kisses, and cocktail piano as the guests doff their sunglasses and show off their jewels while the servants pass out flutes of Champagne. Call it The Real Housewives of Athens—minus the husbands, and with the occasional bit of Shakespearean dialogue. Enter Colleen Wheeler’s Timon, who receives tributes from a Poet and a Painter, then doles out jewels to her hangers-on. When the party ends, her servant Flavius tells Timon that she’s bankrupt. (Notices from creditors arrive with pings on smartphones.) Timon instructs Flavius to request help from her friends, but one by one they refuse, criticizing Timon’s improvidence—despite their having been its greatest beneficiaries. When Timon learns of her friends’ betrayal, she decides to throw them one last feast. This scene brings every element of Roe’s production exquisitely into sync. A glowing sunset filters through the vertical louvered blinds in Timon’s apartment as the Help set the table in silent, mesmerizing movements (choreographed by Amanda Testini) while jazzy piano plays gently in the background. The sumptuously attired guests take their seats as Timon, in a white pantsuit, recites a bitter grace—“With nothing bless them, as they are to me nothing”—and uncover their plates to find bowls of warm water. Timon tosses it in their faces, then smashes the dishes while the servants spring into panicked action to clean up. Timon then crawls under the stage and starts tearing the house from its foundations, ranting all the while. In an extraordinarily physical performance, Wheeler pries apart the joists under the stage floor, slipping in the bare dirt below and getting filthy. Her actions overpower the text; we can’t always follow the words, but we get their drift: Timon has lost faith in humanity, and nothing will bring her back. Wheeler’s knockout performance is supported by strong work from the other cast members. Moya O’Connell’s earnest Flavius and Ming Hudson’s mousy Flaminius are quintessential personal assistants, dressed smartly in black and perpetually clutching iPads. Quelemia Sparrow’s Ventidius nails superficial friendship: watch her oblivious blinks and head bobs when Timon’s servant asks her for a loan. Adele Noronha’s casually callous Isidore and Patti Allan’s haughty Sempronius are also standouts, while Marci T. House brings a restrained naturalism to Apemantus, the only one in Timon’s circle of acquaintances who refuses to flatter her. The production’s design elements are outstanding. The breakdown of Drew Facey’s extraordinary set, which transforms from slick opulence to the bare dirt of Timon’s exile, is supported by John Webber’s expressive lighting, which gets starker and shorts out with increasing frequency as Timon’s world collapses, and Roe and Alessandro Juliani’s sound design descends into cacophony. Mara Gottler’s costumes celebrate excess: the sheer abundance of colour on display adds to the atmosphere of the climactic feast. see page 22

20 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JULY 19 – 26 / 2018

ARTS

Improv masters send up city COM E D Y AVOCADO TOAST A Vancouver TheatreSports League production. At the Improv Centre on Granville Island on Thursday, July 12. Continues until August 31

I may not be a born and bred

2 Vancouverite, but I’ve been here

since 1993. How is it I’ve never skied, I’m not a vegetarian, can’t Rollerblade, don’t watch hockey, and have nothing against Toronto? Keeping that in mind, it’s no wonder I had no idea what Vancouver TheatreSports’ new show was all about. Avocado Toast? Never heard of it. Apparently, it’s all the rage here. Or at least enough of a rage that most locals will get the reference and immediately understand that the show is a spoof of our fair city. As with all TheatreSports productions, the overarching theme is just a hook to get you to buy a ticket. It matters not whether you’re familiar with the parody subject, it’s always a highly professional—and funny—perform-

ance. Avocado Toast is no exception. On opening night, concept creator Lauren McGibbon hosted, wearing fleece and carrying an umbrella as she introduced the Vancouverites, featuring Taz VanRassel, Margret Nyfors, Ken Lawson, Ed Witzke, Rae Lynn Carson, and Jullian Kolstee. It was my first time seeing the last three on-stage at the Improv Centre, which drove home just how deep and talented a roster they have down on Granville Island. The show forced a through line with a Vancouver angle. Early in the proceedings, two developers (played by VanRassel and Kolstee) interrupted the scenes to say they were going to tear down the theatre to make way for condos if the cast couldn’t make them laugh by 9 o’clock. Not exactly edgeof-your-seat stuff, given how everyone was already laughing, but just another fun goof on Vancouver living. We also saw a scene about hiking the Grouse Grind set in three different city neighbourhoods, from the pretence and wealth of Yaletown to the quirkiness and edibles of Main Street.

The cast even went back in history and showed us a scene, in Shakespearese, of Capt. George Vancouver’s voyage to Canada. They sent up baristas, Science World, lululemon, yoga, and our Hollywood North reputation. (The cast started a long-form movie of the week by “bragging” about their TV and film credits, such as nonspeaking roles and auditions that went nowhere.) One highlight was a camping scene with Lawson and Witzke playing their guitars to improvised songs from Carson, Nyfors, and VanRassel. No mention of avocado toast was made at all, curiously. The whole production was topnotch (as usual), with sound improviser Laura Skelton even putting together a soundtrack of Vancouver musicians and bands to play in and out each scene, which really added to the experience. The references will vary from night to night since they’re mostly audience suggestions, and whatever cast you happen to get will make it work. Because they always do. > GUY M AC PHERSON

Dance builds nocturnal mood D ANC E EDGE SIX A Dancing on the Edge presentation. At the Firehall Arts Centre on Thursday, July 12. Continues on July 14

TRANSVERSE ORIENTATION At 395 Alexander Street. Continues until July 14

Beguiling dance work filled the night with mystery

2 last week.

The journey started at the Dancing on the Edge festival’s Firehall Arts Centre, where the mixed Edge Six program brought together three intriguing duets. Filipino-Canadian contemporary dancer Alvin Erasga Tolentino opened, joining fiery forces with flamenco artist Kasandra “La China”. This glimpse of their work in progress Passages and Rhythms revealed an unexpected cultural stew—heightened by the presence of live, on-stage percussionist Jonathan Bernard, whose gongs, bells, and tablalike drums brought all the spices of the Far East to the piece. The dancers mixed flamenco’s pummelling feet with fans that bridged the worlds of Spain and Asia. What followed was a striking new duet from choreographer-performer Meredith Kalaman. Called for as long as I can remember, it featured identically clothed dancer Ellie Bishop as Kalaman’s doppelgänger, representing the younger self the artist yearns to speak to. The choreography, with its fragmented looping through time and space, was beautifully odd. And composers Stefan Smulovitz, Adam Taylor, and Daniel Pemberton’s haunting score, combined with Kyla Gardiner’s dim, moody lighting, bathed everything in a dark, cinematic tone. The final work, Alexandra Elliott Dance’s Here and Now, conjured its own haunting aura. Dressed in matching black uniforms and slicked-back hair, the Winnipeg dance artist and Hillary Anne Crist appeared stuck in a

kind of institutional purgatory, doomed to repeat their mechanistic motions. Exaggerated with long shadows, the work took on a cool German-expressionistic vibe, suddenly brightened by the ending’s glittery revelation. The slightly eerie vibe of the Edge program helped prepare us for the full-on nocturnal creepiness at a midnight showing of Rachel Meyer’s Transverse Orientation. Talk about atmosphere. Held in a historic Railtown warehouse, the Ballet BC alumna’s work took its inspiration from moths in all their fascinating nighttime mystery. Dancers Stéphanie Cyr, Ria Girard, and Maya Tenzer seemed to enact the creatures’ awkward, ethereal life cycle. Emerging as hungry caterpillars, they donned gauzy gowns to move into their cocoon stage and finally took flight. Sometimes their limbs would bend in broken, insectlike ways; at others, Girard might curve backward in an unearthly C. These are some of the city’s best young dancers. But the beauty of this work was that there were many other things to look at. Along a track in the back corner, Ballet BC alumnus Christophe von Riedemann danced his own strange piece, ripping off the pages of a calendar to mark the minutes, lost in his own existential space. Violinist Janna Sailor appeared in an upper loft, then came down to join the trio of “moths”, making her instrument buzz and squeak. And then there was the enigmatic Meyer herself, seeming to learn how to find her own freedom through their cycle. Huge props go to lighting designer James Proudfoot, whose menagerie of industrial spotlights and flickering sepia bulbs shaped the space. Sarah Armstrong’s costumes added to the gorgeous imagery of the piece, playing on the gauze of wings. Transverse Orientation was the kind of after-hours, underground-feeling work you never get to see in Vancouver. Berlin or Montreal? Maybe—if you’re lucky.

theme of facing identity when experiencing grief or shock. Jul 18-25, 8 pm; Jul 21, 2 pm, Pacific Theatre (1440 W. 12th). Tix $20/18, info www.untoldwants.com/whats-on/.

OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING! Fight With a Stick Performance turns its gaze on the iconic musical Oklahoma! and what has made it a propagandistic monument to American national identitybuilding. Jul 18-26, 8 pm, The Russian Hall (600 Campbell Avenue). Tix $30/20/10, info www.fightwithastick.ca/.

ar ts/ timeout THEATRE MUSIC COMEDY LITERARY EVENTS ET CETERA GALLERIES MUSEUMS

2ONGOING

< < < < < < <

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/. THE HUMAN EAR Untold Wants Theatre presents British playwright Alexandra Wood’s eerie drama, which deals with the

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. To Aug 5, Granville Island Stage (1585 Johnston, Granville Island). Tix from $29, info www.artsclub.com/shows/20172018/once/.

2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM Carousel Theatre for Young People’s Teen Shakespeare Program presents one of the Bard’s best-loved plays on an outdoor stage. Jul 27–Aug 11, 7:30 pm, Performance

As You Like It Lindsey Angell & Nadeem Phillip

BOOK TODAY!

> JANET SMITH

Works Outdoor Stage (1218 Cartwright Street on Ganville Island). Free (premium seating available in advance for $6), info www.carouseltheatre.ca/production/ateen-shakespeare-program/.

MUSIC Season Sponsor

2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS THE GESUALDO SIX Vocal consort composed of some of the U.K.’s finest young consort singers, directed by Owain Park. Jul 21, 7:30 pm, St. James’ Anglican Church (303 E. Cordova). Tix $30, info www.gesualdosix.eventbrite.ca/. 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/.

COMEDY 2ONGOING THE COMEDY MIX 1015 Burrard, Century Plaza Hotel & Spa, 604-684-5050, www. thecomedymix.com/. Comedy club with pro-am night Tue at 8:30 pm, showcase Wed at 8:30 pm, and featured headliners Thu at 8:30 pm and Fri-Sat at 8 and 10:30 pm. Cover $8 Tue, $10 Wed, $15 Thu, $18 Fri, $20 Sat. 2GAVIN MATTS & IAN LARA Jul 12-14 2ANDY HAYNES Jul 19-21. AVOCADO TOAST—VANCOUVER GROWN, ORGANIC FREE-RANGE COMEDY Vancouver TheatreSports

M A I N S TAG E

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JULY 19 – 26 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 21

MOVIES

To love and to die in Russia Boris Khlebnikov’s Arrhythmia depicts a troubled marriage inside a failing state REV IEWS ARRHYTHMIA Starring Aleksandr Yatsenko. In Russian, with English subtitles. Rated 14A

With its focus on medical crises

2 and young doctors in love, Ar-

rhythmia at first feels like a Russian Scrubs or ER—admittedly with a lot more vodka-fuelled benders. But then, about halfway through this Russian slice of life, something starts to happen; the mood shifts into a more intense gear. Thanks to the emotionally naked acting of its central couple, paired with director Boris Khlebnikov’s intimate lensing, you find yourself hopelessly tied up in whether their marriage is going to succeed. You’ll be especially invested if you’ve ever weathered a long-term relationship, squeezed by the day-today stresses of just making a living. By day, and by night shift, Katya (Irina Gorbacheva) and Oleg (Aleksandr Yatsenko) deal with emergency patients—she as a doctor in a hospital, he out in the higher-stakes world of paramedic work. They come home to a tiny apartment in an unnamed Russian city. It’s just a cramped bedroom and a kitchen, the latter the only place where Oleg can be booted to—with an air mattress, by the fridge—when their relationship hits the rocks. The main problem is that Oleg drinks to deal with the pressures of his job—especially with a new efficiency manager cracking down—by losing himself in the bottle with his rowdy colleagues. Yatsenko is beautifully developed here—a kind of curly-haired, hangdog-expression-wearing Sean Penn— and yet he’s a man of few words. His Oleg is as flawed as they come—selfdestructive, petulant, and often detached. But he’s a devoted medic, and at moments you can see real pain and passion in his eyes. In one viscerally affecting scene, an exhausted Katya finally agrees to drink with Oleg and his buddies, and when she lets loose and starts lip-synching a rock song from her teens, you feel him realizing, from across the tiny room, how much he needs her. Gorbacheva gives Katya a vivid inner strength too, refusing to nag or get angry even as she realizes she’s losing her husband. Aside from that compelling relationship, one of the best things that

Timon of Athens

Hangdog Aleksandr Yatsenko plays Oleg, a devoted but troubled paramedic facing bureaucratic paralysis in his profession and a home life in free fall.

Arrhythmia does is immerse us in the couple’s world. You enter the wallrug-laden communal apartments of Oleg’s older patients; the birch-treeenclosed country house where the couple feasts outdoors with Katya’s parents; the slushy, clogged streets where it’s almost impossible to get an ambulance through. On the face of it, there’s nothing political about Khlebnikov’s film— and yet look hard, and you’ll see it: the exhaustion with bureaucracy, the dangers posed by a broken system to old folks and children, and the hardship it takes just to get by—even when you’re med-school grads. Arrhythmia feels authentically Russian, but it works because its characters and their struggles feel so relatable and universal. And given what’s happening in the world right now, that’s a bit of a political act, too.

> JANET SMITH

THE ACCOUNTANT OF AUSCHWITZ A documentary by Matthew Shoychet. In English and German, with English subtitles. Rating unavailable

Why try a frail 94-year-old for

2 crimes committed more than

70 years ago? That question is well asked and answered by The Accountant of Auschwitz, which packs a lot of history and unhappily relevant moral issues into its swift 75 minutes. Oscar Gröning was only 19 when he joined the SS. Assigned to the world’s most famous death camp, he became a very small cog in a

from page 20

The protracted denouement doesn’t manage to sustain the energy of that scene and its aftermath, but in its throttling of convention and its scathing critique of shallow materialism, this Timon is a visionary success.

> KATHLEEN OLIVER

42ND STREET Music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Al Dubin. Book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, based on the novel by Bradford Ropes. Directed by Robert McQueen. A Theatre Under the Stars production. At Malkin Bowl on Thursday, July 12. Continues until August 17

The Broadway musical 42nd Street has tapped its

2 way to Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park. The Theatre 1181 Seymour St | 604-683-3456 | viff.org

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22 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JULY 19 – 26 / 2018

Under the Stars production opened to an appreciative audience who enjoyed the tremendous efforts put forth by the popular theatre company, which is celebrating its 72nd season. And while 42nd Street doesn’t quite knock it out of the park, there’s some great talent on display. This perennial American musical comedy is a “star is born” tale about young chorus girl Peggy Sawyer. Director Robert McQueen’s staging of the show keeps the action going at a quick pace—there are no long scenechange transitions or dragged-out dialogue sequences, which means the show is able to keep our attention on the story line. McQueen accomplishes this, in part, through the clever use of Brian Ball’s 1930s-appropriate set to effortlessly transport us from rehearsals to dressing rooms and onto the Broadway stage. Ball’s set involves a theatre proscenium to give the illusion of being on-stage during the “show within the show” numbers. While the intention is rational, it also somewhat subdues the staging of the show, as the big dance numbers seem to be confined within the “stage” area, as opposed to utilizing the entire actual stage and fully reaching out to the audience. Shelley Stewart Hunt’s choreography replicates the

large killing machine. But being a “bookkeeper” there gave a dark new meaning to the concept of crunching the numbers. Part of his job was to collect belongings from bedraggled prisoners as they arrived in cattle cars; there was little chance he didn’t know what those ledgers meant. As we learn in Matthew Shoychet’s incisive doc, more than 800,000 SS soldiers survived the war. Many thousands were prosecuted for war crimes, but a grand total of 124 were convicted. The postwar judiciary, largely composed of “ex”-Nazis, gave out light sentences and even vacated those after a few years. You know, for good behaviour. Occupied Germany eventually did a decent job of educating younger citizens about the Third Reich’s crimes in general, but the specifics remained hazy. Current law insisted that individual defendants be placed at documented crimes—difficult when guilt was carefully distributed among thousands, perhaps millions, of compliant people. This is why they ended up with latter-day trials like the John Demjanjuk case, launched in 1986, in which prosecutors found the right Ukrainian Nazi but the wrong Ivan the Terrible. This one murdered people at a different camp than that named in the accusations. He also lied and played sick to stay out of jail— something Gröning never did. By 2005, when the latter told his story to the BBC, German law had been changed to allow prosecution of see next page

style of 1930s American musical theatre, drawing shades of Busby Berkeley while also adding some fresh elements. For example, during the audition scene, some dancers actually get eliminated, adding an element of realism; “Getting Out of Town” cleverly takes us along the cast’s train journey. And the showstopper “We’re in the Money” showcases the fabulous tap-dance talents of Blake Sartin and Colin Humphrey. As reigning Broadway star Dorothy Brock, Janet Gigliotti steals the show with her diva persona and electrifying voice, highlighted by “I Know Now”. And while Paige Fraser nails the 1930s persona of a naive chorus girl in her portrayal of Peggy Sawyer, her vocal performance in her big-star moment in the story’s “Pretty Lady” opening isn’t quite strong enough. While she hits her notes, her belting doesn’t pack enough punch, staying at one level instead of hitting different dynamics and exploding at the top. There’s also a hint of a romantic spark between Fraser’s character and Broadway producer Julian Marsh, played by Andrew Cownden. Given the noticeable age difference between the two actors, their relationship comes across as uncomfortable and awkward. While this production is polished and fun to watch due to its youthful, energetic triple-threat talent, the show lacks the extra pizzazz needed to make audience members jump to their feet, which is what 42nd Street is known for. What’s missing are iconic musical-theatre moments that inspire audiences to erupt in wild applause—for example, the curtain rising just enough to reveal rows of tapping feet, or a grand finale of some sort. Audiences love moments like these, and throughout the show it felt as if people were on the edge of their seats, waiting for something that never came. The deletion of the finale number (performed after the curtain call in previous productions) means that the show ends on a somewhat lacklustre note (Cownden’s singing). Still, it’s nice to see a new generation of talented performers breathe fresh life into such a treasured piece of musical theatre. It’s also terrific that despite the state of the world, we can still see dreams come true before our eyes. > VINCE KANASOOT

indirect accessories. Charged in 2014, he pleaded not guilty but never denied wrongdoing. His case was further complicated when he debunked neo-Nazi conspiracy theories and provided facts that no other death-factory defendant had willingly shared. In the end, this Accountant is less about specific trials than about accountability. Constitutional scholar Alan Dershowitz makes a powerful argument for the importance of precedent as a deterrent to future atrocities. It’s an ironic position, considering his unexpected defence of Donald Trump’s right to treat migrants as criminals—itself a touchstone of Hitler’s escalation of state terror. That’s why the real coup here was snagging Benjamin Ferencz to talk, at some length, about the shallowness of the following-orders defence. Now 99 and sharp as ever, he was a chief prosecutor for the U.S. army at the Nuremberg war-crimes trials. “We knew we couldn’t get as many convictions

as the situation demanded,” Ferencz recalls. “But we still had to prove that genocide mattered.”

> KEN EISNER

DON’T WORRY, HE WON’T GET FAR ON FOOT Starring Joaquin Phoenix. Rated 14A

The late cartoonist John Calla-

2 han was an orphaned screwup

and committed alcoholic who never found his creative feet, as it were, until a drunken car wreck confined him to a wheelchair. Robin Williams was originally slated to play Callahan, but never followed up with experienced director Gus Van Sant, who adapted a grab-bag script from the cartoonist’s memoirs. Instead, Joaquin Phoenix—despite looking nothing like the ginger-haired, pale-skinned subject—delivers one of his most generous performances in a physically constrained role, as a quadriplegic with limited use of his arms. As depicted in scenes that jump

to slam his powered chair down the streets of Portland, Oregon, a city that he shared over the years with Van Sant (seen as a backdrop in breakthrough films like Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho). Eventually, Callahan finds support in an AA group run by an almost unrecognizably slim and longhaired Jonah Hill, as a gay, snarky trust-fund kid who tells it like it is. Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and Euro-indie veteran Udo Kier play cynical ex-addicts in the group scenes, which start out strong, but quickly grow repetitive. After a solid near half-hour putting the pieces in place, Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot (a title taken from one of Callahan’s mordant cartoons) runs into a rut for another 90 minutes, with two-character confrontations Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot plowing through the same inforstars Joaquin Phoenix as John Callahan. mation again and again. Some attempts are made, rather obligatorily, rapidly back and forth through time, to integrate Callahan’s transgressive Callahan initially uses his hands to, cartoon humour with what becomes well, keep opening bottles. And also a fairy tale of sentimental uplift,

minus the bedsores and respiratory problems that eventually got the guy, at age 59. In his work, he relentlessly mocked his own disabilities and people who defended their notions of the disabled, at a cost to friendships and syndication. (Callahan remained popular in National Lampoon and Penthouse Forum.) There are a few jarring moments, as when a sexualrehabilitation specialist tells him to ask his nurses if they’d care to sit on his face! Elsewhere, this generally sunnier vision is taken to absurd levels with the introduction of Rooney Mara as a Swedish flight attendant and volunteer therapist who eventually marries him. But her part remains a gauzy fantasy, unconnected to the main story. The real Callahan also taught himself to play the harmonica and ukulele and wrote whimsical ditties. Why is such an obvious asset missing from a movie notably lacking in variety and surprise? > KEN EISNER

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JULY 19 – 26 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 23

MUSIC

Jazz and Arabic pop fuse in Tarab > BY KATE WIL SO N

F

rom broken furniture to unwanted sexual advances, Craigslist has a reputation for being the site of many unhappy accidents. As a general rule, users vet ads through their spelling and grammar—the more accurate, the greater the chance of legitimacy— and by never trusting posts written out in capitals. Despite those unwritten assumptions, however, multiinstrumentalist Greg Valou opted to take a chance on an intriguing offer. “I was recruiting people for an ambient fusion project, and I noticed someone had posted a very charming Craigslist ad,” he tells the Straight, on the line from his Vancouver home. “Clearly, he wasn’t from Canada— there was some weird spelling going on. He had posted something like ‘Lute or oud available,’ but he had written it ‘lut’ and ‘ud’—and it was posted with caps lock on. It was definitely different, and I thought he could be interesting. I emailed him to ask if he could improvise, and had him send a couple of clips of him playing. That’s how Tarab started.” The ad, it turned out, was posted by Hazem Matar, an accomplished oud performer who studied classical music with Ghazi Ali, a well-known composer in his native Saudi Arabia. On the strength of those videos, Valou modified his vision for the project to Arabic jazz fusion, imagining a sound based on blending his bass guitar with Matar’s virtuoso playing of the pearshaped stringed instrument. Joining forces with drummer Curtis Andrews, saxophonist Colin Maskell, and flutist Ingrid Valou to complete the lineup, Greg Valou helped shape the band’s unique brand of world music. “The core of the group is taking famous songs from Arabic countries—mostly songs that were huge pop tracks from the ’50s to the ’80s,”

from page 21

presents a comedy show that pokes fun at Vancouver 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/.

LITERARY EVENTS 2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS GATHERING OF POETS Mercedes Eng, winner of the 2018 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize, is joined by Rhonda Ganz, Jónína Kirton, Julie Paul, and Onjana Yawnghwe. Jul 21, 1:30-3:30 pm, Alice MacKay Room (Vancouver Public Library, 350 W. Georgia). Free, info www.vpl.ca/events/.

ET CETERA 2THIS WEEK

Greg Valou (left) says Tarab’s virtuosic balance of musical backgrounds both honours and breaks with traditions.

he says. “It’s basically like playing Elvis covers in terms of recognition and status. When we perform, we tend to have a lot of Arabs attending, and they’re singing along to every single song because they’ve grown up with this stuff, and they’re considered the classic pop tunes. We take those songs as the basis, and then work it into a jazz-rock fusion context, incorporating some western rhythms and instruments like the drum kit, saxophone, and bass guitar. The oud is electric too, so it’s got a more amped sound to it. With those elements, we improvise around the songs.” Despite changing his musical direction upon meeting Matar, Valou was no stranger to Arabic pop. Stumbling years earlier across an old record by Omar Khorshid—an Egyptian musician and actor—he was first exposed to the genre through the performer’s psychedelic reimaginings of traditional tracks. “Khorshid accompanied some very famous Arabic singers as a guitar player in orchestras,” he says. “In

his own time he would do his own instrumental versions of those songs. When I met up with Hazem for the first time and we started playing through some of his repertoire, I was like, ‘Oh, I know this song,’ because I’d learned it from that record.” The band quickly found itself swamped with bookings. As well as performing at the prestigious Vancouver International Jazz Festival and other major events around town, Tarab secured a residency at the high-class Shangri-La Hotel. Despite often being viewed as a niche genre, in Valou’s view, world music is thriving in Vancouver, with plenty of venues excited to showcase the blending of cultures. “I’m big on fusing and mixing music, and experimenting and breaking with tradition,” he says. “That’s my thing. I love bringing disparate musical and cultural ideas together and celebrating it. Adding different traditions is great if it’s done respectfully and with some authenticity, because otherwise I think you run the risk of cultural appropriation—which is obviously

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, Richmond). Info www.titanicvancouver.com/.

2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS not good. I think we’ve managed to get that balance in our music by combin- SURREY FUSION FESTIVAL Free, alling Hazem’s experience with our more ages celebration of food, music, and culture features over 50 cultural pavilions jazz-focused background.” and more than 150 musicians, artists, and Maintaining those cultural differ- dancers, including Saturday’s musical ences, however, comes at a cost. With headliner Walk Off the Earth. Jul 21-22, Matar now spending the majority of 11 am–10 pm, Holland Park (King George Hwy. & Old Yale Rd., Surrey). Free, info his time in Saudi Arabia, Tarab must www.surreyfusionfestival.ca/. be selective about which shows it chooses to play, and in recent years has GALLERIES limited its performances to once every 12 months. This year’s show will take BILL REID GALLERY 639 Hornby, 604www.billreidgallery.ca/. 2BODY place at the Railway Club—a senti- 682-3455, LANGUAGE: REAWAKENING CULTURAL mental venue for Valou, as the loca- TATTOOING OF THE NORTHWEST (guest tion’s original incarnation was the site curator Dion Kaszas of the Nlaka’pamux First Nation traces the deep-rooted tradof the group’s very first booking. itions of Indigenous tattooing, piercing, “We’re really looking forward to and personal adornment) to Jan 13 playing there,” he says. “We’re sharVANCOUVER ART GALLERY 750 Hornby, ing the night with two female-front604-662-4719, www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/. ed Iranian bands—the traditional 2EMILY CARR IN DIALOGUE WITH MATTIE fusion group Keejaa and Persian GUNTERMAN (new exhibition features the flamenco singer Farnaz Ohadi. It’s paintings of Carr with 48 photographs by photographer Gunterman) to exciting to be back on the stage at the U.S.–born Sep 3 2CABIN FEVER (exhibition traces Railway Club, and, in a way, it feels the cabin’s evolution through renderings, like we’ve come full circle." artworks, and commercial products as Tarab plays the Railway Club on Thursday (July 19)

Element jams with scenic sonics

A

quick Pop Eye pop quiz: who here has heard of Lotus? Hands up if you know this band. Ah, I thought so. Not many of you do, and I didn’t either, until I read the lineup for the third annual Element Music Festival. Lotus, a five-piece from Indiana, is headlining the event; with 13 albums under its belt, it’s a big deal in the United States, but the group clearly hasn’t made a great amount of headway in Canada. Perhaps that’s because it’s a jam band, a representative of an almost uniquely American genre that fuses improvisational rock, smooth jazz, Americana-style story songs, and—in the case of Lotus, at least—house-inspired electronica. The style is presided over by the ghosts of the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers, whose torch, more recently, has been picked up by Phish and Gov’t Mule—big enough acts north of the border, but not coliseum-fillers the way they are down south. So if you’re running a music festival in an out-of-the-way location like Snug Lake, B.C., you’ve got to have something going on beyond headliners that a good chunk of your target demographic hasn’t heard of, right? Justin Picard, one of the founding partners in the Element Music Festival and its publicist, says that’s exactly the case. The Element crew is selling an experience as well as a concert weekend, he explains, betting that a crowd of approximately 2,000 people in a beautiful setting will allow for a better holiday than the sweltering, urban confines of other multiday events. “The experience is Snug Lake itself, and the beauty of this amphitheatre, the swimming, the mountainbiking trails,” Picard says, checking in by cellphone from festival headquarters, between Princeton and Merritt. “We’ve got a cool family vibe going

Arts time out

well as architectural models, plans, and full-scale installations) to Sep 30 2KEVIN SCHMIDT: WE ARE THE ROBOTS (B.C.– based artist Kevin Schmidt draws on conceptual and performance art while embodying the do-it-yourself sensibilities of an amateur inventor) to Oct 28 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, never-before-presented photographs, drawings, and memorabilia) to Sep 9 2AYUMI GOTO & PETER MORIN: HOW DO YOU CARRY THE LAND? (a dialogue between artists Ayumi Goto and Peter Morin, presented via their individual and collaborative performance-art practice) to Oct 28

VANCOUVER ART GALLERY’S OFFSITE LOCATION 1100 West Georgia. 2OFFSITE: SHIGERU BAN (new exhibition at Vancouver Art Gallery’s Offsite location features the full-scale version of Japanese architect Shigeru Ban’s Kobe Paper Log House) to Oct 8

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/.

MUSEUMS The Element Music Festival’s Snug Lake setting offers jam-band fans top-end talent and a break from sweltering cities.

on, and a kids’ zone that’s run by this troupe called Big Fun Circus. As well, we’ve got horses roaming the site. So in addition to the music itself, which we are absolutely in love with, it’s the overall experience of being here that Alexander we’re also selling.” Wait: you can swim on-site? “It’s amazing,” Picard says. “The lake is already warm.” That might be enough inducement for some coastal denizens to head inland. Others will want to peruse the full festival lineup before making a decision, although only committed jamband fans will recognize many of the names. Probably the best-known act is Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, arguably the most deeply funky group on the jam-band scene and a frequent visitor to Vancouver in the past. (Saxophonist Denson is about to get a lot more mainstream recognition, Picard points out; he’s just signed on as a touring

24 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT JULY 19 – 26 / 2018

member of the Rolling Stones.) Element’s bookers are especially excited about Spafford, a band whose mix of well-chosen covers, spacious originals, and freeform improv is very much in the Grateful Dead Varty vein. “These guys are out there hustling, and musically they’re trying to push the limit,” Picard says. “There’s some challenging stuff that they’ll be outputting.” He also cites Narayan Padmanabha, who’ll accompany yoga sessions with his sitar and electronics, and hails an Element innovation: roving “artists at large”, including horn players Jen Hartswick and Natalie Cressman, from Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio’s band, and Jason Hann, who plays percussion with jam-band superstars and 2017 Element headliners the String Cheese Incident. Their job will be to make spontaneous appearances with the other artists, bringing a real

Pop Eye

“jam” element to the music. Unpredictability is part of the jamband idiom’s charm. “When you’re caught in the middle of a Lotus set and things are getting really weird and you’re like, ‘Where is this going?’ and then they drop back into some groove that becomes comfortable… That feeling, to me, is just very special,” Picard says. “I look for that.” More predictable—for Picard, at any rate—is that those who make it out to Snug Lake once will return for more. “We understand it’s a saturated festival season,” he says. “We understand that you have to make choices about where you’re going to spend your money. But as a fan of this music for a couple of decades now, I have not experienced anything else like this— and if you don’t give it a shot, you don’t even know what you’re missing.” The Element Music Festival takes place at the Snug Lake Amphitheatre from next Thursday (July 26) to July 29.

MUSEUM OF VANCOUVER 1100 Chestnut, 604-736-4431, www.museumofvancouver. ca/. 2WILD THINGS: THE POWER OF NATURE IN OUR LIVES (exhibition delves into the life stories of local animals and plants—how they relate to each other and how they connect people to nature in the city) to Sep 30 THE MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY AT UBC 6393 NW Marine Drive, 604-822-5087, www.moa.ubc.ca/. 2IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT: REFLECTING ON NORTHWEST COAST ART (exhibition presents more than 110 historical Indigenous artworks) to spring 2019 2ARTS OF RESISTANCE: POLITICS AND THE PAST IN LATIN AMERICA (exhibition illustrates how Latin-American communities use traditional or historical art forms to express contemporary political realities) to Oct 8 2CULTURE AT THE CENTRE (collaboration between six First Nations communities offers insight into the work Indigenous-run cultural centres and museums in B.C. are doing to support their language, culture, and history) to Oct 8

TIME OUT ARTS LISTINGS are a free public service based on available space. 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 will appear on the website.

Imperial (319 Main). Tix $20 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticketweb.ca/, info www.toe.st/.

Main). Tix $29.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

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/.

JAY-Z AND BEYONCE American hiphop/R&B superstars perform on their On the Run II Tour. Oct 2, 7:30 pm, BC Place Stadium (777 Pacific Boulevard). Tix at www.livenation.com/.

PNE SUMMER NIGHT CONCERTS Featuring performances by Boyz II Men CONCERTS (Aug 18), Air Supply (Aug 19), Dean Brody (August 20), Goo Goo Dolls (Aug 22), I 2JUST ANNOUNCED Love the ‘90s Tour (Aug 23), Wilson Phillips (Aug 24), Marianas Trench (Aug 25), Lost THE PARK SHOW A Tribe Called Red and ‘80s Live (Aug 26), 112 (Aug 28), Kool & Charlotte Day Wilson are featured at the the Gang (Aug 29), Jann Arden (Aug 30), first Vancouver Mural Festival concert. Aug Burton Cummings (Aug 31), Chicago (Sep 1), 11, 6 pm, Jonathan Rogers Park. Tix on sale Village People (Sep 2), and Cyndi Lauper Jul 6, 10 am, $30/4-packs $100 (plus service (Sep 3). Aug 18 to Sep 3, PNE Amphitheatre charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. (2901 E. Hastings). Free with PNE admission; reserved seats available at www.pne.ca/. 2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS

31ST ANNUAL MISSION FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL Featuring performances by David Francey, the Matinée, James Keelaghan, Elage Diouf, Nathan Rogers, Viper Central, Early Spirit, Pharis, Jason Romero, and more. Camping, artisan market, Wee Folks Area, bistro. Jul 20-22, Fraser River Heritage Park (7494 Mary St.). Tix $55100 at www.missionfolkmusicfestival.ca/. BLIND PILOT Portland folk band performs its album 3 Rounds and a Sound in its entirety. Jul 20, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, The Imperial (319 Main). Tix $25 (plus service charge) at www.ticketweb.ca/. 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.livenation.com/. TD UPTOWN LIVE STREET PARTY Concert performances headlined by Hey Ocean!, plus beer garden, food trucks, interactive exhibits, and artisans. Jul 21, 12-9 pm, Uptown New Westminster. Free, info www.uptownlive.ca/. BOMBINO Tuareg guitarist and singersongwriter from Agadez, Niger. Jul 22, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, The Imperial (319

EMPLOYMENT

SKOOKUM FESTIVAL Three-day music festival features performances by headliners the Killers, X Ambassadors, and Florence + the Machine, plus Metric, Arkells, the War on Drugs, St. Vincent, Father John Misty, Blue Rodeo, Mother Mother, Chromeo, Bahamas, Stereophonics, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Cold War Kids, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Matt Andersen, Matt Mays, Current Swell, Dear Rouge, Said the Whale, Yukon Blonde, the Zolas, Hey Ocean!, Delhi 2 Dublin, Barney Bentall, Crystal Shawanda, Belle Game, the Matinee, and more. Sep 7-9, Stanley Park. Tix at www.skookumfestival.com/.

TOE Instrumental rock band from Japan, on tour to support latest release That’s Another Story. With guest Jack Grace. Sep 18, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, The

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YOKE LORE Indie pop from Adrian Galvin, formerly of Walk the Moon and Yellerkin. Oct 19, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Biltmore Cabaret (2755 Prince Edward). Tix $15 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. THE TWILIGHT SAD Indie rock band from Glasgow, on tour to support their upcoming 2019 release. Oct 20, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Fox Cabaret (2321 Main). Tix $20 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticket web.ca/, info www.thetwilightsad.com/. BIG SUGAR Canadian blues, reggae rock band. Oct 20, doors 8 pm, show 9:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix $39 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

TIME OUT MUSIC LISTINGS are a public service provided free of charge, based on available space. 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.

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CLEOPATRICK Heavy alt-rock duo from Cobourg, Ontario. Oct 17, doors 8 pm, show 8:45 pm, Biltmore Cabaret (2755 Prince Edward). Tix $12 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

WESTWARD MUSIC FESTIVAL Multiday arts and music showcase features Blood Orange, Kali Uchis, Rhye, Poppy, Angel Olsen, Honne, Kelela, Metz, Saba, Ravyn Lenae, Ella Mai, Mudhoney, Odds, We Are the City, Tei Shi, Ramriddlz, Pell, Duckwrth, Buddy, Fatima Al Qadiri, Roni Size, Hannah Epperson, Jordan Klassen, Milk & Bone, Nehiyawak, and Close Talker. Sep 13-16, various Vancouver venues. Tix at www.westwardfest.com/. ROYAL CANOE Canadian indie pop band perform on their Rayz Tour 2018 with special guest Begonia Sep 18, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Fox Cabaret (2321 Main). Tix $20 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

GREGORY ALAN ISAKOV Coloradobased indie-folk artist tours in support of his fourth full-length studio album, Evening Machines. Oct 10, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix $39.75 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

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SUPERSUCKERS Garage-rockers from Arizona perform on their 30th anniversary tour, with guest Charlie Overbey. Jul 19, 8 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $20 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu, and www.rickshawtheatre.com/.

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savage love I’m a 20-year-old

submissive woman. I’m currently in a confusing affair with a 50-year-old dominant married man. He lives in Europe and has two kids close to my age. We met online when I was 17 and starting to explore my BDSM desires—out of the reach of my overbearing, sexshaming, disastrously religious parents—and we’ve been texting daily ever since. We’ve since met in different countries and spent a total of three weeks together. Those weeks were amazing, both sexually and emotionally, and he says he loves me. (Some will assume, because of the age difference, that he “groomed” me. He did not.) I date vanilla boys my age, with his full support, while we continue to text daily. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to blow up his family if (or when) our affair is discovered. But at the same time, our relationship has really helped me navigate my kinks and my sexuality. Expecting him to leave his wife for me is a highly unrealistic cliché, I am aware. Yet I fear I’ve become dependent on his conversation and advice. I’m graduating soon and have a big job lined up in a big city. I’ll finally be financially independent, and I’d like to start making the right choices. Any perspective you have would be much appreciated. > THINGS MUST IMPROVE

He is not going to leave his wife for you, and you shouldn’t assume his wife is going to leave him if (or when) this affair is discovered (or exposed). Divorce may be the default setting in the United States in the wake of an affair, TMI, but Europeans take a much more, well, European attitude toward infidelity. Definitely not cricket, not necessarily fatal. And you don’t need him to leave his wife for you, TMI. Okay, okay—

you’re in love, and the three weeks you’ve managed to spend together were amazing. But don’t fall into the trap of believing a romantic relationship requires a tidy ending; fi lm, television, and literature beat it into our heads that romantic relationships end either happily at the altar (à la Pride and Prejudice) or tragically at the morgue (à la Forensic Files). But romantic relationships take many forms, TMI, as does romantic success. And this relationship—such as it is, this relationship as-is—sounds like an ongoing success. In other words, TMI, I think you’re confused about this relationship because there won’t be a resolution that fits into a familiar mould. But you don’t need a resolution: you can continue to text with him, and he can continue to provide you with his advice and support while you continue to date single, available, and kinky men (no more vanilla boys!) closer to your own age and/or on your own continent. Eventually, you’ll meet a new guy you’re crazy about—someone you can see for more than one week a year— and you’ll feel less dependent on and connected to your old flame.

While on vacation, I went for a full body massage. The first half of the massage—me on my stomach—was great. When the masseuse asked me to flip on my back, things took a turn. She uncovered one of my legs and began massaging my thigh. As she worked on my inner thigh, her finger grazed my scrotum. Then it happened again. And again. She was working on my thigh, but it felt like I was getting my balls caressed. I began to worry I was getting a visible erection. Then I started to panic when I felt like I might actually come. (I have always had issues with premature ejaculation.) I tried hard

> BY DAN SAVAGE to clamp down and think about baseball and senior citizens, but I wound up having an orgasm. She eventually moved to my arms, shoulders, etc., but meanwhile I’m lying there with jizz cooling on myself. Am I guilty of #metoo bad behaviour? Should I have said something or asked her to stop? Is it possible she didn’t have any clue? (My penis was never uncovered and I didn’t create an obvious wet spot on the sheet.) I tipped her extra, just in case she was mortified, though I didn’t get the sense she was because nothing changed after I came in terms of her massaging me. (She didn’t hurry away from my legs or rush to finish my massage.) I still feel really weird about the whole thing. I get massages frequently, this has never happened before, and I certainly didn’t go into it looking for this result. > LOST OPPORTUNITY AT DEESCALATION

If it all went down as you described, LOAD, you aren’t guilty of “#metoo bad behaviour”. It’s not uncommon for people to become unintentionally aroused during a nonerotic massage; it’s more noticeable when it happens to men, of course, but it happens to women, too. “Erections do happen,” a masseuse told me when I ran your letter past her. “So long as guys don’t suddenly ask for a ‘happy ending’, expose themselves, or—God help me— attempt to take my hand and place it on their erection, they haven’t done anything wrong.” Since this hasn’t happened to you before, LOAD, I don’t think you should waste too much time worrying about it happening again. But if you’re concerned this one massage created a powerful erotic association and you’re likely to blow a load the next time a masseuse so much as

looks at one of your thighs, go ahead If you’re a regular reader, PTSA, and have a quick wank before your you’ve seen letters in this space from straight-identified guys into cock. appointment. Many of these guys have described Living my truth permits themselves as being fascinated by others in my fairly conservative cock but repulsed by men; some of circles—Christian family struggling these guys seek out sex with trans to accept a gay son, colleagues in a women who’ve kept their dicks. Your traditionally masculine field—to thing for hot guys in lingerie and your accept gay/other/different folks. I thing for boobs might be the gay flip identify as a bottom, and until re- of this erotic script—boobs fascinate cently I thought I had erectile dys- you, but you’re not into the genitalia function because I would literally most women have. Muscular guys in go soft at the thought of topping lingerie turn you on—big pecs can fi ll another man. I should mention that out a lacy bra just as alluringly as big I’m black in the Pacific Northwest, boobs—and it’s possible you might so there is this odd “BBC” fi xation enjoy being with a trans woman who and an expectation from many guys got boobs but kept her dick. that I will top. However, I am usuAll that said, PTSA, discovering afally very submissive and drawn to ter years of bottoming that you enjoy hypermasculine, dominant guys. topping certain types of men—masBut I recently noticed an attraction culine/muscular married guys who to married guys—specifically, sub- beg for your dick while wearing lingemissive bottom masculine/muscu- rie—doesn’t mean you’re “capable” of lar married guys who like to wear turning straight. Going from bottom lingerie. I met a few and became this to versatile isn’t the same thing as godominant guy who fit the stereotype ing from men to women. And being most guys expect when they see me fascinated by a body part that typically online or in person. Now I’m very comes attached to people, i.e., women, confused. I tried topping recently, who fall outside your usual “erotic tarbecause a married guy begged me get interest”, as the sex researchers say, to. He said, “You’ll never know if isn’t a sign that your uncles were right you like it until you try it!” Which is all along. the same thing my traditional uncles In short, PTSA, you aren’t potenhave said to me about women. My tially straight—you’re gay and a little life would be so much easier if I just more complicated, interesting, and married a woman! So this sudden expansive than you realized at first. turn from bottom to top is troub- P.S. On behalf of all the dudes who ling me. I don’t think it is possible have objectified you with this “BBC” to turn straight, but I didn’t think I stuff and made you feel anything was a top until a few weeks ago. So other than proud to be primarily a am I capable of turning straight? bottom, please accept my apology. That would validate everything my homophobic family members have On the Lovecast , it’s hard to date said. I’m repulsed by vaginas but when you’re a sexuality professor: fascinated by boobs. Have you seen/ savagelovecast.com. Email: mail@ savagelove.net. Follow Dan on Twitter heard of things like this? > PRAYING THE STRAIGHT AWAY

@fakedansavage. ITMFA.org.

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