The Georgia Straight - AMBLESIDE MIXTAPE - August 11, 2022

FREE | AUGUST 11 – 18 / 2022

Volume 56 | Number 2838

LAKE OF DREAMS

Indigenous elders honoured

WEIRD SNACKS

PNE offers zany alternatives

AMBLESIDE MIXTAPE The West Vancouver music festival jumps genres with effortless abandon—as demonstrated by the presence of proudly queer Goonda rappers Cartel Madras alongside big acts like the Offspring and Mother Mother

SYMPHONIC BEATLES • HOTHUSBANDING • HIDDEN-GEM PARKS • MONKEYPOX

FOOD

It’s time for weird PNE food again: squid-ink corn dogs?

S

CONTENTS 10 COVER

From Cartel Madras to the Offspring, the inaugural Ambleside Music Festival has something for just about everyone.

By Mike Usinger

by Martin Dunphy

nack foods are a major part of the appeal for people attending summer fairs, exhibitions, and carnivals.

Though they might seldom be the kinds of fare recommended by nutritionists, fun foods such as caramel apples, sugar-dusted little doughnuts, cotton candy, and corn dogs have all been a staple of such public events in North America for more than a century.

Vancouver’s Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) is no exception, and its unveiling of some of its food concessions’ new offerings for its annual end-of-summer Fair at the PNE has been highly anticipated in recent years, especially since unusual and sometimes downright weird “carnival foods” have become a trend on fair midways during the past decade or so.

Deep-fried Mars bars and Oreo cookies seem to have kick-started the trend (it’s no fad, with the still-popular cookie having been introduced at the Los Angeles County Fair 20 years ago), and entrepreneurs have been scrambling to outdo each other in the weirdness category ever since.

As a result, American and Canadian fairgoers have been introduced to such bizarre snacks (often deep-fried and served on a stick) as battered-and-fried insects (including chocolate-covered scorpions), burgers served between glazed doughnuts instead of buns, hot beef sundaes, fried beer, python kebabs, and deep-fried jelly beans. (The less said about the Wisconsin State Fair’s Elvis on a Stick, the better.)

This year’s PNE offerings include two that are currently in the process of being road-tested on the Canadian Prairies by enterprising B.C. concessions owners: a squid-ink Korean corn dog and mac ’n’ cheese ice cream.

Scott Dennis of SaltSpring Concessions spoke to the Straight by phone from Regina, where he and partner Karlye are marketing the mollusc-flavoured meal.

“It’s our number-two seller right now,” Dennis said. “The ‘pickle dog’ is number one, then the squid dog, then the corn dog.”

Dennis—who has sold food at the PNE since 2011, when he and Karlye ran a Noodle Bar concession—said they aren’t novices when it comes to weird eating: “We’ve done a peanut-butter burger, f laming-hot Cheetos corn dog, chicken feet and chicken hearts...” he said.

Were they all deep-fried? “Yes, of course, like most things at the fair.”

The squid-ink Korean corn dog isn’t an attempt to cash in on the notoreity of the recently popular South Korean TV series Squid Game, Dennis said.

“No, I actually did a lot of research,” he

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August 11-18 / 2022

Cover photo by Michaela Neuman

6

OUTSIDE

With inflation and the pandemic curbing some people’s summer travel, local parks can offer wildlife surprises for the price of bus fare.

By Martin Dunphy

13

ARTS

Classical Mystery Tour founder James Owen brings his Beatles tribute band to the PNE for a Summer Night Concert with the VSO.

By Steve Newton

The squid-ink Korean corn dog is one of the PNE’s weird fair foods available this summer.

explained. “You start out with half a hot dog and flay the end so it looks like a squid.”

He then puts it on a stick, forms mozzarella cheese over the remaining half-stick, rolls it in inked batter and panko crumbs, then, of course, puts it in the deep fryer.

“It actually has a nice flavour,” he enthused. “When you bite into it, there’s a mozzarella-cheese flavour. The batter has the squid ink and food colouring.”

Dennis tested the snack in Edmonton and at Calgary’s famed Stampede before heading to Regina. “It was one of our top sellers in Calgary and Edmonton,” he said.

“I love seeing the looks on people’s faces.”

SaltSpring Concessions will be joined in weird fair fare at the PNE this year by Marchant Concessions, which will be touting its mac ’n’ cheese ice cream for curious (or horrified) customers. The owners of the two companies have been friends for years and are even headquartered near each other in Penticton, B.C. Cole Marchant told the Straight by phone that he has been travelling and selling food at fairs with his parents for decades, since he was five, including at the PNE. “I absolutely love it,” he asserted. “I would not do anything else.”

His mac ‘n’ cheese soft-serve ice cream is served in a cup and has the Day-Glo– yellow colour of the famed Kraft Dinner product, a Canadian staple.

“Every year, we just product-test all these weird ideas,” he said. “Ice cream is the easiest base to add things to.” Previous frozen oddities he has sold include charcoal and butter-beer flavours, and he tested this latest version at the Stampede this year.

“Some people liked it and some people hated it, but that’s what you want,” he said.

“If you have something that’s not that weird, people are going to walk on by.” g The Fair at the PNE runs from August 20 to September 5.

AUGUST 11 – 18 / 2022

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Vancouver’s News and Entertainment Weekly Volume 56 | Number 2838 #300 - 1375 West 6th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V6H 0B1 T: 604.730.7000 E: gs.info@straight.com straight.com DISPLAY ADVERTISING: T: 604.730.7020 E: sales@straight.com

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Here’s what people are reading this week on Straight.com.

1 2 3 4 5

Dr. Bonnie Henry says that monkeypox in B.C. presents differently than in Nigeria.

Mayor declares that B.C. must recommit to reforming justice system .

Canadian-owned and -operated Edo Japan opens new location in North Van. 48-year-old man charged for machete attacks in 900 block of Granville Street.

Ambleside headliners the Offspring survive terrifying highway incident.

DISTRIBUTION: 604.730.7032

EDITOR Charlie Smith

@GeorgiaStraight

PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR Mike Correia

SECTION EDITORS Mike Usinger (Liquor/Music) Steve Newton

ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Glenn Cohen, Luci Richards, Catherine Tickle, Robyn Marsh, David Pearlman (On-Leave)

SENIOR EDITOR Martin Dunphy

MANAGER, BRANDED CONTENT AND MARKETING LEAD Rachel Moore SALES & MARKETING ASSISTANT/BRANDED CONTENT WRITER Rayssa Cordeiro

STAFF WRITERS Carlito Pablo (Real Estate) SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT Jeff Li ART DEPARTMENT MANAGER Janet McDonald GRAPHIC DESIGNER Miguel Hernandez

CREDIT MANAGER Shannon Li ACCOUNTING SUPERVISOR Tamara Robinson

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3

NEWS

Mayor is the largest donor to his campaigns since 2018

by Charlie Smith

V

Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart’s electoral organization, Forward Vancouver, wants all other parties to follow its example and disclose the names of all donors since before the last election.

ancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart’s electoral organization, Forward Together, has released a list of all political donations to support his candidacy since May 10, 2018.

And, lo and behold, it shows that the largest donor has been Stewart himself.

The mayor kicked in $6,039, which is around the maximum allowed over five years under provincial campaign-finance legislation.

His wife, Jeanette Ashe, has contributed $4,839 over four years, which is the maximum allowed over that time period under provincial campaign-finance legislation. She ran for the NDP in the recent Vancouver-Quilchena provincial by-election, losing to B.C. Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon.

Current and former NDP MPs are also listed as donors to Stewart, a former member of the federal NDP caucus. They include Libby Davies ($1,624), Fin Donnelly ($1,450), Jasbir Sandhu ($600), Don Davies ($200), and the now deceased Ian Waddell ($200). Former NDP MLA Shane Simpson is listed as a $103.29 donor; acting Attorney General Murray Rankin contributed $350.

None of the nine sitting NDP MLAs in

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THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

AUGUST 11 – 18 / 2022

Vancouver is listed as a donor to Forward Together.

People with ties to the development industry—such as Concord Pacific’s Terry Hui ($2,463), Wall Financial Corporation’s Bruno Wall ($3,063), and Polygon Homes cofounder Michael Audain ($2,450)— are among those who have donated to Stewart’s campaign. In addition, members of the Aquilini ($13,727.70), Molnar ($13,555.38), Bosa ($10,976), and Rennie ($8,76.70) families show up on the list.

According to Forward Together, Stewart’s campaign has raised $1,134,094.22 from 2,473 “eligible individuals” since 2018. That works out to an average of $175.01 per donation.

The party has challenged all other mayoral candidates and parties to disclose all of their contributions dating back to the last election.

“In 2018, all major Vancouver parties followed Kennedy Stewart’s lead by disclosing who was financing their campaigns and Forward Together believes residents deserve the same level of public transparency in this election,” said Forward Together executive director Mark Hosak in an August 8 news release. g

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5

OUTSIDE

East End parks offer summer nature on a budget

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by Martin Dunphy

cenic outdoor settings with wildlife were a natural draw for Lower Mainland residents during the worst days of the pandemic, when so many indoor recreational pursuits were denied them.

The COVID-19 scourge lingers, though, and even though the scope of potential leisure activities has expanded vastly with the dropping of mask and vaccine mandates, many people seem to have retained that desire for a connection to wild flora and fauna.

For those without a vehicle or much discretionary income, distant objectives like provincial parks probably remain out of reach this summer. Public transit, though, can take you to picturesque parks and park-

like settings in and around Vancouver where unexpected summer wildlife encounters can still happen.

Marine mammals, bobcats, river otters, bald eagles, beavers, great blue herons, coyotes, and a multitude of other bird species, migratory and native, can still be seen for the price of a bus ticket and a bag lunch.

Some almost overlooked green spaces in Vancouver are hiding small populations of unexpected flora and fauna that are available for the viewing to the most casual visitor, as long as they know what to look for.

Two Vancouver East End parks, in very close proximity, have been featured previously in the Straight (but in a different context). They are still “hidden” gems, though

The extensive shoreline and saltmarsh restoration at New Brighton Park, just north of the PNE and the nearby racetrack, is attracting people and wildlife. Photo by Port of Vancouver.

one of them is well used by locals during nice weather. And don’t let an overcast day discourage you from a picnic and some educational strolls: it cuts the visitors by half, at least.

HASTINGS PARK SANCTUARY/NEW BRIGHTON PARK

These neighbouring East End parks—one relatively new and the other recently restored, with both due to be connected in the near future—host an astonishing variety of wildlife for their size and urban/industrial locations.

Hastings Park’s 66 hectares is mostly taken up by the PNE, the Pacific Coliseum, and the Hastings Racecourse, but four hectares is devoted to the aptly named Hastings Park Sanctuary.

Open areas are rare in this shaded, sunken refuge whose southern boundary is just metres away from the traffic streaming through the intersection of West Hastings and Renfrew streets. Sanctuary Pond, 12 metres below Hastings Street, is filled with groundwater and rain and storm runoff and aerated for the rainbow trout stocked at least twice a year by the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C. The fish attract great blue herons, cormorants, kingfishers, and assorted diving ducks, and Canada geese and dabbling ducks like mallards are almost always present.

In fact, more than 140 species of birds have been recorded at the park since its 1999 official opening, with a changing seasonal cast during the spring and fall migrations, and Nature Vancouver conducts occasional bird walks along the two-kilometre circle trail there. (The Hastings Park Conservancy also leads monthly nature walks.)

Raptors such as owls, hawks, and eagles are seen regularly because of that rotating migratory menu, and even an occasional visiting bobcat has been observed. Native coastal B.C. species of trees, shrubs, and understory vegetation make for a markedly different Vancouver park experience, with skunk cabbage and alder replacing 6

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

AUGUST 11 – 18 / 2022

the flowerbeds and ornamental trees often encountered in many Vancouver parks.

The marshland at the Sanctuary’s southeast corner is a natural biofiltration plant for the channelled runoff and groundwater, and a daylighted stream will, within a year or two, connect this pocket jewel—via the resurrected Hastings Creek (sometimes called Renfrew Creek) in a feature-filled greenway corridor through the PNE and the racetrack—to the more open New Brighton Park to the north, on the shores of Burrard Inlet.

Part of this passage, called Creekway Park, was completed back in 2013, between McGill Street and the railway tracks, north of the racecourse, as the first phase in the park-connection plan..

New Brighton, which a few years ago had its historical saltmarsh partly reestablished with a coastal lagoon as part of a major shoreline-habitat restoration project, is sporting new gravel paths, a beachside trail, and viewing decks, among other amenities, such as picnic tables and benches.

The addition of meandering shallow saltmarsh channels in 2017-18 boosted the park’s original 150 metres of cobble-andsand shoreline to 440 metres, and much of this has been planted in native saltmarsh vegetation that has already attracted juvenile chum and chinook salmon seeking shelter, food, and rest on their hazardous journey through Canada’s largest port to the ocean.

All told, the wetland work saw 25,000 saltmarsh-grass plugs and 4,000 shrubs planted, including salmonberry, as well as 200 native trees. The saltmarsh restoration attracts an array of avian life, including feeding and nesting shorebirds, songbirds, and waterfowl.

Because the culverted creek had originally been home to salmon, there are hopes in some quarters of eventual late-summer and fall spawning runs providing a seasonal and spectacular link to the past.

Get a bird book, ID and count the species, and make it a contest for the kids. g

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by Charlie Smith

everal gay men in the U.S. and U.K. have told NBC News that contracting monkeypox created “the worst pain” of their lives.

For some, the pain was particularly intense when urinating or defecating.

One British man, Harun Tremblay, disclosed that he was unable to eat for days because of lesions in his mouth and swollen lymph nodes. According to NBC News, Tremblay also said that he felt extreme pain all over his body, prompting doctors to prescribe opioids.

Similar stories have been told on other U.S. networks by Kyle Planck, a PhD student in New York.

But B.C.’s provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, says that people have experienced “very mild symptoms” of this same viral disease in B.C. In a July 29 interview with CKNW talkshow host Jas Johal, Henry said that B.C. patients with monkeypox have generally begun “feeling unwell for a couple of days”, sometimes with “a little bit of fever” before lesions appear.

“So they start off as a raised bump—a blister—and then they crust over and new skin develops. And that can take a week to two weeks,” Henry told Johal.

She added that some people are having very small numbers of these lesions.

“So they have very mild illness,” Henry said.

She also noted that monkeypox is presenting “a little bit different” in British Columbians than how it appears in countries like Nigeria, where it has existed for a long time.

“They have one or two or maybe half a dozen lesions and not really recognize [it as monkeypox],” she said, “because they’re not painful the way some types of lesions are.”

Henry advised those who have lesions to make sure that they stay away from others so as not to pass along monkeypox.

The provincial health officer’s comments have been met with derision by some on social media, including Oxford University professor of primary care Dr. Trisha Greenhalgh.

Meanwhile, a study published in June in Nature Medicine stated that the monkeypox virus in nonendemic countries has far more mutations than the virus that caused the outbreak in Nigeria in 2018 and 2019.

The authors were researchers at the Department of Infectious Diseases in Portugal’s National Institute of Health. They reported that monkeypox from clades 2 and 3, which are most common from western Cameroon to Sierra Leone, usually carry a fatality rate of less than one percent. Those

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They have one or two or maybe half a dozen lesions…

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from clade 1 (i.e., the Congo Basin), have a fatality rate of less than 10 percent.

“Although 2022 MPXV (lineage B.1) clustered with 2018–2019 cases linked to an endemic country, it segregates in a divergent phylogenetic branch, likely reflecting continuous accelerated evolution,” they stated in their paper.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control website says that people experiencing more serious disease may require medication to manage pain or skin infections. In “rare cases”, they may need to be treated in hospital.

People are urged to see a health-care provider or to visit an urgent primary care centre or emergency department if they’ve tested positive for monkeypox and they’re experiencing any of the following symptoms: worsening or new throat or rectal pain; severe fever or chills; shortness of breath or chest pain; or new pox lesions on multiple parts of the body.

In the first stage of monkeypox, symptoms can include fever, chills, intense headache, swollen lymph nodes, back or muscle pain, fatigue or exhaustion, and, less commonly, sore throat, cough, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. g

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7

REAL ESTATE

Renovating, landscaping add value when selling

M

by Carlito Pablo

any will remember that the Canadian housing market went into a deep freeze in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

During that time, a TD bank economist suggested that homeowners do one thing.

That is, resist the pressure of “distressed selling” if they absolutely don’t have to let go of their properties at a bargain price.

As TD economist Rishi Sondhi explained in an April 27, 2020, housing forecast, a drop in home listings would thwart “potentially very negative feedback effects” to the market.

“This puts a floor on prices and sustains relatively tight supply-demand balances across most markets, allowing for the resumption of positive price growth as provincial economies are reopened,” Sondhi wrote.

As many might remember, the market rebounded in the summer of 2020, thanks to historically low interest rates, and it went on to notch record highs in that year and into 2021.

Currently, the housing market is undergoing a correction following a series of interest-rate hikes by the Bank of Canada that started in March 2022.

With inflation raging across the country, the central bank has signalled that more increases are coming.

In Metro Vancouver, home sales in July 2022 have fallen sharply from year-ago levels, and home listings have increased slightly.

So what are homeowners now to do if they’re thinking of selling their property?

Just like what the TD economist suggested more than two years ago, Vancouver interior home designer George Verdolaga says property owners don’t have to accept a price they don’t like.

Now the market has shifted slightly, such that buyers can wait and see.

– Interior home designer George Verdolaga

George Verdolaga says sellers can still get a nice premium over a house’s assessed value.

Verdolaga is the principal of Flowform Design Group, and his business focuses on home renovations and space planning.

“What I’ve observed during the last two years when the market was hot was that you could sell your house with $500,000 to $1 million over asking, with $300,000 over asking on the low side,” Verdolaga said in a phone interview with the Straight.

With the ongoing market correction, sellers can expect less.

“Now, usually, it’s closer to assessed [property assessment value]—or, still, a premium $100,000 or $200,000 over assessed is doable. But you won’t be able to do it as quickly,” Verdolaga said.

Before, there was usually a long line of buyers bidding for any property.

“You’re forced to buy anything just to get a house. Now the market has shifted slightly, such that buyers can wait and see.

They can choose a bit,” Verdolaga said.

This means one thing for a determined

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home seller.

“If in the last two years you didn’t have to renovate or renovate as nicely, now you have to pay more attention, especially if you want to get a premium over your assessed, which is still possible,” Verdolaga said.

The Flowform Design Group principal cited some basic industry standards about how much a home makeover can bring.

Verdolaga said that the most important areas to remodel are the kitchen and bathroom. He said that kitchen renovations can boost a home’s resale value by as much as 12.5 percent.

Meanwhile, revamped bathrooms can add an average of seven percent.

After doing the inside, enhancing a home’s curb appeal will also make the property more attractive to buyers. Verdolaga said that based on typical industry standards, good landscaping can enhance resale value by as much as 11 percent.

For the finishing touch when a home comes on the market, Verdolaga recommends staging, which means doing aesthetic touches like putting in some artwork or a nice piece of furniture or lighting.

“Never show your home unstaged,” Verdolaga said, noting that staged properties can add anywhere from five percent to 25 percent to the listing price.

LANGLEY

E IV US L C EX

Real-estate boards in Metro Vancouver have released recent information about the level of home listings.

In the Greater Vancouver market, there were 3,960 detached, attached, and apartment properties that were newly listed for sale in July 2022.

This number represents a 9.5 percent decrease from the 4,377 homes listed in July 2021, and a 24.7 percent decrease compared to 5,256 homes listed in June 2022.

In July 2022, the total number of homes listed for sale in Greater Vancouver was 10,288, a 4.4 percent increase compared to the July 2021 level of 9,850 and a 1.3 percent decrease compared to the June 2022 listings of 10,425.

The sales-to–active listings ratio for July 2022 is 18.3 percent. A market is considered balanced when the ratio is between 12 percent and 20 percent.

In the Fraser Valley, the regional real-estate board, whose jurisdiction includes Surrey and North Delta, reports that 3,332 new listings came on the market in July 2022.

This marked an increase of 7.2 percent compared to July of last year and a decrease of 8.2 percent compared to June 2022.

Verdolaga, meanwhile, said that some things don’t change in the face of the market’s vagaries.

“A potential buyer walks into an old home that is mostly in its original condition,” he said. The person starts computing in their head that the property needs about $50,000 to $100,000 to fix. The buyer would rather have the seller do the job, and pay extra.”

In another scenario, the potential buyer would offer an amount lower than the asking price.

“Let’s face it: no one wants to buy an ugly home,” Verdolaga said. g

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HOUSING

Retreat of first-time buyers may benefit investors

A

by Carlito Pablo

report says the ongoing correction in the Canadian housing market is shunting aside two types of home buyers.

These are first-time purchasers and foreign buyers, who are feeling the pinch from a combination of factors ranging from higher interest rates to government housing policies.

And into the void created by this calming market comes a class of winners.

“This may prove a boon to investors,” Dexter Realty said in a Monday (August 8) report.

The report was prepared by Kevin Skipworth, who is the Vancouver realty company’s partner and managing broker. By investors, the report is referring to people “buying homes for rental income or appreciation”.

The bulletin noted that investors “traditionally” account for about 20 percent of real-estate transactions in Metro Vancouver. Sales have slowed down following four interest-rate increases made by the Bank of Canada starting in March 2022.

From the historically low level of 0.25 percent since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, the central bank has brought its interest-setting rate up to 2.5 percent.

The report noted that determined buyers, including those who plan to live long in their properties, are not going to be deterred by the higher mortgages.

The paper pointed out that the average five-year fixed-rate mortgage at Canada’s six big banks has increased by “just 1.4% in the last six months”.

However, the cooling market has produced losers. “During the first half of this year, the number of B.C. first-time buyers fell 46% compared to the same period last year, accounting for just 4,426 purchasers,” Dexter Realty stated. It cited the federal government’s mandatory “stress

Instead of buying, more than 4,000 will remain renters.

– Dexter Realty

Dexter Realty released a report on the impact of rising interest rates on different buyers one week after this home with four bedrooms and three bathrooms on Tanner Street sold for $1.88 million.

test” as a “key reason”. It “requires buyers to qualify at an unrealistically high fiveyear mortgage rate that many first buyers have difficulty meeting”.

“Instead of buying, more than 4,000 will remain renters,” Dexter Realty stated.

Buyers need to meet the stress-test threshold, which is the higher of either their mortgage-contract rate plus two percent or the Bank of Canada’s mortgagequalifying rate of 5.25 percent.

With fixed rates now at more than four percent, this means that buyers applying for this type of mortgage will have to qualify at a higher rate than the central bank’s qualifying mark.

In the report, Dexter Realty noted that foreign home buyers in Metro Vancouver “may have accounted for 6% or more of all sales” before a 15 percent foreign buyer tax was adopted in 2016.

The tax has been increased and it now

D eveloper SEES DOUBLE THIS STORY will likely sound familiar to

many, especially in Vancouver.

In June 2018, a modest detached home in the neighbourhood of GrandviewWoodland sold for $1,751,000. The home was built in 1923, and it featured four bedrooms and a bath.

The residence was eventually demolished.

A development permit for a duplex, or two homes attached to each other, was issued by the City of Vancouver. In 2021, a new duplex was developed at the 1621 East 11th Avenue address.

On June 3, 2022, the two units came on the market, each asking $1,875,000.

This means that each unit was now more expensive than the original detached home that was purchased at $1,751,000 just four years earlier.

Two days later, the unit at the back, or Number 2, sold for $1,818,000. Number 1, the front unit, took a bit longer. On July 21, it sold for $1,735,000.

The total sold price for the two duplex units comes to $3,553,000.

For their trouble, the builder more than doubled the original purchase price of $1,751,000. Each duplex has three bedrooms and four baths. g

by Carlito Pablo

stands at 20 percent of the market value of the property. Dexter stated that foreign home buyers “now make up only 1% of Metro Vancouver transactions”, based on figures from the provincial finance ministry.

In addition to the 20 percent tax in the

province, the federal government is also bringing in a two-year ban of foreign purchases, in January 2023.

“So, investors who are purchasing investment condominiums now are enjoying lower prices, zero competition from global investors, a captive audience of renters and rising rental rates,” Dexter noted in the report.

Moreover, “Investors realize that, despite all the government chest thumping over increasing the supply, Metro Vancouver housing starts as of July were down 23% from a year earlier and the new strata shortage is getting worse.” g

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L I Z - C A R N E Y. C 21. C A AUGUST 11 – 18 / 2022

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

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MUSIC

Variety is key for first Ambleside Music Festival

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by Mike Usinger

s statements go it’s a significant one, even if Cartel Madras, pretty much inarguably, lacks the instant name recognition of Mother Mother, the Offspring, Marianas Trench, and Walk Off the Earth. Those who’ve been busy filling out their mustsee list for the upcoming Ambleside Music Festival might have noted the Calgarybased duo slotted in for Sunday afternoon.

The doors open at 1, with Cartel Madras kicking off the day on the B-Stage at 2. And potentially blowing the minds of those smart enough to show up early. After all, here’s something that’s almost a given: acts that open all-day festivals often take the stage with something to prove.

On that front Cartel Madras is a frontrunner for the dark-horse act of the entire Ambleside Music Festival weekend. If it takes conviction to fly one’s freak flag, that goes double when you live in a city where cowboy hats are a fashion statement, right-wing conservatism is celebrated, and folks tend to like both kinds of music: country and western.

Into all this comes Cartel Madras, comprised of sisters Bhagya “Eboshi” Ramesh and Priya “Contra” Ramesh—known to hip-hop fans as Canada’s proudly queer creators, and premier ambassadors, of Goonda Rap. Need an elevator-pitch summation of the duo? Start with hyper-cinematic songs that—through a sharp LGBTQ lens—celebrate Tamil and Indian culture, sexuality, the South Asian diaspora, Kollywood movies, and progressive politics (personal and otherwise). Based on records like Age of the Goonda and last year’s The Serpent and The Tiger, the duo is as confident hanging in the club as it is diving headfirst into the trap and grime underground.

And all of that makes Cartel Madras an interesting leaping-off point for looking at Ambleside Music Festival.

This weekend’s three-day celebration isn’t the first time one of the most scenic parks in all of the Lower Mainland has

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THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

Calgary’s Cartel Madras isn’t the biggest name playing the first edition of the Ambleside Music Festival, but it’s among the most interesting.

So this was an opportunity for us to evolve and try something new...

– George Fadel

played host to music fans. In pre-COVID times, Rock Ambleside Festival turned the spotlight on heritage acts like Loverboy, Chilliwack, and April Wine. Nostalgia can be a powerful drug, and admit it: you not only crank the stereo, but crank it to the max every time “Turn Me Loose”, “Fly at Night”, or “Sign of the Gypsy Queen” comes up on the car stereo.

Put together by GSL Group—the same team responsible for Rock Ambleside Festival—the Ambleside Music Festival marks a whole new vision for the site.

AUGUST 11 – 18 / 2022

In an interview with the Straight, GSL marketing lead George Fadel notes that the world was upended by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We did not have a show in 2020 or 2021 because of obvious reasons,” Fadel says. “So this was an opportunity for us to evolve and try something new in a region that has also been craving a different type of festival.

This year’s show skews to a bit of a different demo, but I think we’ve put together a really awesome lineup with some really talented people and talented bands. We’re all really thrilled and excited about it.”

More than anything, Ambleside Music Festival has arrived to fill a major void in the Vancouver summer concert season. The city doesn’t lack for major multiday events, including the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, FVDED in the Park, TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival, and Burnaby Blues + Roots Festival. But where all of those tend to focus on particular musical niches, Ambleside takes an approach that’s more in line with creating the perfect mixed tape.

There’s no shortage of platinum-shifting heavyweights, with the Offspring, Mother Mother, and Marianas Trench all taking the stage with hits-laden back catalogues.

You will not only sing along to “Come Out and Play”, “I Got Love”, and “Haven’t Had Enough”, but will have zero problem remembering every line.

But where Ambleside Music Festival gets really interesting is the undercard.

The best mix tapes jump genres with effortless abandon, and that spirit marks the lineup for Ambleside Music Festival. Art-pop aficionados will find plenty to love in Little Destroyer, Hannah Georgas, and Charlotte Cardin, all of whom sound nothing like

each other even though there’s an argument to be made they’d be at home at the same high-school lunch table. A commitment to reimagining the blues and unvarnished soul binds together Jesse Roper, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Tim Atlas, and local heroes the Harpoonist & the Axe Murderer. And Toyko Police Club, Valley, and Ria Mae all belong under the umbrella of forward-thinking pop-rock, but brilliant things being that label only begins to describe things.

“A good playlist is a real mix of genres,” Fadel offers. “That’s the vision that we had for this festival: giving a taste of everything for everybody. We really want a variety of people to come and enjoy the show knowing they are going to get multiple types of music. We’re trying to bring something to the city for locals where you get a bit of everything—a wide range of really talented artists from across Canada, and across the U.S. as well.”

And, in the case of talent like, say, Cartel Madras, artists who are designed to expand the horizons. And maybe even change the world view of those showing up at Ambleside Music Festival to lose themselves in glitter-bomb dance anthems like “We Are Stars” by Virginia to Vegas. As statements go, it’s indeed an important one. g The Ambleside Music Festival takes place at Ambleside Beach in West Vancouver from August 12 to 14. Weekend general-admission tickets are $245 plus ticketing fees, with weekend VIP seating available for $525 plus ticketing fees.

Ambleside Music Festival single-day passes are priced at $99 plus ticketing fees for early birds, with VIP early-bird single-day tickets at $205, plus ticketing fees. For information and tickets, visit amblesidefestival.com.

ARTS

Residential-school survivors create Lake of Dreams

Curator and director Mechelle Pierre is showcasing strong and humble elders at the Vines Art Festival

by Charlie Smith

I could have been one of those buried children.

– curator Mechelle Pierre

Mechelle Pierre curated and directed Lake of Dreams, a series of videotaped stories by survivors of residential schools represented in a VInes Art Festival installation. Photo by Ocean (Shagor photos).

N

laka’pamux elder Mechelle Pierre remembers the first thing that she did as a proud Indigenous person. It was back in 1968, when she volunteered for a fundraiser to assist organizations helping First Nations and Métis people in Vancouver.

“We walked all the way from Vancouver to Hope,” Pierre recalls in a phone interview with the Georgia Straight. “We looked for pledges per mile. That’s how we raised funds. It took us three days to get there.”

Inspired by her mentor, Huu-ay-aht First Nation member Marjorie White, Pierre went on three more of these annual walks. The final time, she was eight months pregnant yet she still managed to reach her destination.

“There was no turning back,” Pierre says.

At this month’s Vines Art Festival, Pierre has curated and directed a project called Lake of Dreams, which is a series of eight Indigenous residential-school survivors’ stories on video. The second component, the Lake of Dreams installation in Grandview Park, offers visual responses to the elders’ stories by young Indigenous graphic artists.

One of the elders, art teacher Arthur Bolton, a Tsimshian from Terrace, survived the Alberni Indian Residential School. It was run by the Presbyterian Church in its early days and then, from 1925 to 1969, by the United Church of Canada. The visual response by Valen Onstine in the Grandview Park installation shows an older black bear bonding with a cub in front of a sumptuously colourful sky and

lush green forest.

“Art just very quietly and gently offers kids how to draw and learn about Native design,” Pierre says. “And they just love that so much—to the point where they even go to his house on weekends to do it.”

She says that all the elders chosen for Lake of Dreams are humble yet strong people with tremendous integrity who have dedicated their lives to helping others.

“No glory seekers were allowed,” Pierre adds with a laugh.

In addition to Bolton, other residentialschool survivors who share their stories on video on the Vines Art Festival website are counsellor Brenda Faith Wesley, antiviolence advocate Joyce Fossella, social activist Lois Rullin, Downtown Eastside support worker Mabel Nipshank, storyteller Rosemary Georgeson, and spiritual healer Seis’lom.

White, founder of the Circle of Eagles Lodge that helps Indigenous ex-inmates, also shares her experiences in Lake of Dreams. The visual response by painter Emily Pearson shows White in the middle of the street outside the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre—where she worked—with roots under her feet connecting to younger generations of Indigenous women.

“She was my first boss at the friendship centre,” Pierre says. “Marge was, to me, the most important person in my life. My life path began with her.”

The 74-year-old Pierre, like so many other residential-school survivors, endured monumental horrors as a student at the Anglican

Church–run St. George’s Indian Residential School in Lytton. In her interview with the Straight, she remembers having her mouth washed out with Lysol for speaking her Nlaka’pamuxtsn language.

At first, she thought that school officials simply wanted her to learn English.

But over time, she realized that they actually believed her language was the “devil’s tongue”.

“I kept on forgetting, so I would speak it, and they thought that was an act of rebellion,” Pierre says. “And so they started to punish me.”

She fought back, and for that, she says, she was brutalized.

“I walked around with Lysol in my mouth all day,” she reveals. “So all the skin came off my tongue and the inside of my mouth. Lysol was very abrasive. My mouth was just bleeding, and then after all that, I had to eat my food.”

That’s not all. Pierre also says that in residential school, she was beaten to the point where she passed out and ended up in a coma. Another time, she was bitten by a snake and did not receive treatment.

She describes the people who ran the school as “psychotic”, declaring that they believed they “could do anything and everything to us”. Moreover, she says that her brother was raped when he arrived at the school, and many years later he committed suicide.

“I could have been one of those buried children,” Pierre states. “I know where they buried them in Lytton.”

She says that’s because when a supervisor took the kids for walks in the woods, they would see little piles of rocks in many places.

“I didn’t know what they were until I tried to jump and play on them,” she says.

“Somebody said, ‘No, don’t play on that— that’s a grave.’ ” Pierre credits her survival to her grandparents, who treated her “like gold” until she was seven years old and had to move to the school. She says that this, along with her Indigenous traditions, gave her the foundation of self-esteem to eventually

turn her life around.

She was inspired to develop the Vines Art Festival project by a dream involving her late Uncle Willie, who was a healer, and stories by her deceased friend Woody Morrison. In particular, she was moved by Morrison’s message that when people only concentrate on the physical and material worlds, they lose a part of themselves, so they’re not really complete.

Pierre praises the Vines Art Festival for its strong connection to land and water, which is so central to Indigenous people’s existence.

“It makes us feel horrified that people are just destroying the land and our waters, which we consider sacred, just for the sake of money and power,” Pierre says. “It’s just pure insanity. What makes it even worse is they’ve destroyed a whole nation by taking all the kids away so that they could control us and get our land.” g The Vines Art Festival continues in local parks until August 13. For information, visit vinesartfestival.com.

AUGUST 11 – 18 / 2022

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

11

ARTS

Chor Leoni announces six shows in 2022-23 season

by Steve Newton

Chor Leoni members (left to right) Chris Moore, Trenton Millar, Bruce Hoffman, Jaime Vargas, and Rob McAllister looking sharp as the choir preps for a new season. Photo by David Cooper.

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hor Leoni, Vancouver’s muchloved men’s choir, has announced its 2022/23 season, which will feature new commissions and more than 15 world premieres.

The season opens on November 10 and 11 with We Sang Our Songs, the 67-voice choir’s 31st annual Remembrance Day concerts. The program of music and readings will feature diverse perspectives on war and injustice.

Up next, December 16, 17, and 19, is the hugely popular Christmas With Chor Leoni, which will see the choir accompanied by guest fiddler Cameron Wilson and harpist Vivian Chen.

Chor Leoni’s first concert of 2023, taking place March 3 and 4, is PopCappella III, wherein the choir offers its take on various pop classics, accompanied by a stellar band of local musicians.

For The Turning, on May 11, superstar ensemble the Leonids—performing independently as well as alongside Chor Leoni and its Emerging Choral Artist Program—will deliver a program about the ways music can change our hearts and minds—and the world.

The VanMan Choral Summit Concert, on May 13, will see Chor Leoni, the Leonids, the MYVoice youth choirs, emerging choral artists, and VanMan Festival Singers each perform their own sets and then come together to form Canada’s largest

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THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

The singers of Chor Leoni are eager to return to the stage…

– artistic director Erick Lichte

ARTS LISTINGS ONGOING

Miss Marie Productions' Halfway Through Stupid.

Aug 12, 8:30 pm, Café Deux Soleils. $10.

UNINVITED: CANADIAN WOMEN ARTISTS IN THE MODERN MOMENT Major exhibition gathering more than 200 works of art by a generation of painters, photographers, weavers, bead workers, and sculptors. To Jan 8, Vancouver Art Gallery.

THE IMITATION GAME: VISUAL CULTURE IN THE AGE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Exhibition surveys the extraordinary uses (and abuses) of AI in the production of modern and contemporary visual culture around the world. To Oct 23, Vancouver Art Gallery.

XICANX: DREAMERS + CHANGEMAKERS / SOÑADORES + CREADORES DEL CAMBIO Exhibition showcases, for the first time in Canada, the rich traditions of 33 Xicanx artists. To Jan 1, Museum of Anthropology at UBC. WE WERE SO FAR AWAY: THE INUIT EXPERIENCE OF RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS Travelling exhibition uses first-person narratives and archival images to tell stories of the Inuit residential school experience.

To Nov 27, Vancouver Maritime Museum..

TRUE TO PLACE: STÍMETSTEXW TEL XÉLTEL Exhibition curated by artist and muralist Xémontalót Carrielynn Victor (Stó:lō) examines the artistic practice of 10 Northwest Coast Indigenous artists. To Mar 19, Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art. GHOSTS OF THE MACHINE An exhibition about humans, technology, and ecology, curated by Elliott Ramsey. To Aug 14, Polygon Gallery. By donation.

THEATRE UNDER THE STARS TUTS presents performances of the musicals Something Rotten! and We Will Rock You, running alternate evenings. To Aug 27, Malkin Bowl.

MADE IN ITALY The Arts Club's musical comingof-age story about a second-generation Italian teen struggling to find his place in Jasper, Alberta, is back by popular demand. To Aug 21, Granville Island Stage.

From $39.

BARD ON THE BEACH Annual outdoor Shakespeare festival features performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet. To Sep 24, Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival.

VANCOUVER MURAL FESTIVAL 2022 Artwork and performances by over 150 visual and performing artists over 11 days. To Aug 14, City Centre Hub. Free.

MONSOON FESTIVAL OF THE PERFORMING ARTS The South Asian Arts Society presents its seventh annual festival of South Asian theatre, dance, and music. To Aug 31, Campbell Valley Red Barn. Free to $20.

ARTS UMBRELLA SUMMER SESSION Summer programs in art, design, dance, theatre, music, and film for young people aged three to 19. To Aug 26, Arts Umbrella.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 13

THURSDAY, AUGUST 11

male choir, with more than 300 voices.

The 2022-23 season concludes on June 2 with C/4: Canadian Choral Composition Competition, an interactive evening of music and discussion led by Chor Leoni artistic director Erick Lichte, which will see the choir joined by Canadian composers Robyn Jacob, Chris Sivak, and Laura Hawley.

“This season explores themes of connection, hope, and the transformative power of music,” Lichte said in a news release. “The singers of Chor Leoni are eager to return to the stage and create a space where all audiences can experience the magic and joy of choral singing as a community.”

All shows take place at St. Andrew’sWesley United Church, except the VanMan Choral Summit Concert, which happens at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts.

For more info visit www.chorleoni.org. g

AUGUST 11 – 18 / 2022

ART IN THE PARK: TERRACOTTA POT PAINTING Painting terracotta pots while enjoying the sunset from Queen Elizabeth Park. Aug 11, 6-8:30 pm, Queen Elizabeth Park. $55.

COMEDY AT THE BILTMORE: A PRIDE EXTRAVANGANZA Comedy Here Often presents a showcase of Vancouver’s queer comedians. Aug 11, 8 pm, Biltmore Cabaret. $15 (plus service fees).

SOUNDS LIKE FIRE Performances by poets and musicians Francis Arevalo, Kimmortal, Desiree Dawson and Hari Alluri. Aug 11, 8 pm, Vancity Culture Lab. $25.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 12 COMEDY BANG! BANG! Comedy show featuring Scott Aukerman, Paul F. Tompkins, and the CBB AllStars. Aug 12, Vogue Theatre.

AMBLESIDE MUSIC FESTIVAL Inaugural three-day music festival features performances by headliners the Offspring, Mother Mother, and Marianas Trench.

Aug 12-14, Ambleside Park. Day passes start at $99.

GUIDE MY WAY: A CELEBRATION OF THE MUSIC FROM SEDNA Urban Ink presents performances by Corey Payette, Chelsea Rose, Merewyn Comeau, and Desirée Dawson. Aug 12, 8 pm, York Theatre.

LEFT FIELD COMEDY PRESENTS: DOUBLE HEADER A night of improv comedy and sneak preview of

KAREN MOE'S TRAUMA & TRIUMPH TOUR Author, survivor, and feminist activist Karen Moe reads from her debut book Victim: A Feminist Manifesto from a Fierce Survivor. Aug 13, 7 pm, People's Co-op Bookstore.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 16 COME FROM AWAY Hit musical based on the true story of 7,000 stranded passengers and the small town in Newfoundland that welcomed them. Aug 16-28, Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 25 NCHEM?U?S DAY A day of sharing with Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, Elders, artists, storytellers, and friends. Aug 25, 4-8 pm, Presentation House Theatre.

Free.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 30 LES BALLETS JAZZ DE MONTREAL PRESENTS LEONARD COHEN'S DANCE ME Dance piece by Ballet Jazz de Montreal, inspired by the work of Leonard Cohen. Aug 30, 8 pm, Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

From $51.45.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL FLAMENCO FESTIVAL Free and ticketed performances by local and international flamenco artists. Sep 3-25, Norman Rothstein Theatre. Free to $73.50.

TAIWANFEST VANCOUVER: THE STORIES OF INDEPENDENCE Hear, taste, and see the stories of independence that lie behind a piece of music, a unique dish, or a fascinating art exhibit. Sep 3-5, šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énk Square, Vancouver Art Gallery.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 PETER PAN GOES WRONG The Arts Club Theatre Company presents the international comedy sensation. Sep 8–Oct 16, Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage.

From $35.

CHUTZPAH! PLUS PRESENTS NE. SANS OPERA & DANCE'S TAKE THIS WALTZ As part of the Chutzpah! Festival, a world premiere evening of music, dance, and visuals, staged by Israeli choreographer and director Idan Cohen of Ne. Sans Opera & Dance.

Sep 10-11, 8 pm, Norman Rothstein Theatre. $34/$40.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 FALLEN CITY Interdisciplinary project fusing art and science to raise awareness of earthquake risks and to honour the lives lost to earthquakes. Sep 11, 3-5 pm, Orpheum Annex. Free to $22.22.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 CHINATOWN New opera tells a story of family and neighbourhood, racism and resistance, history and tomorrow. Sep 13-17, Vancouver Playhouse. $20/$40/$60.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 TREASURES FROM BYZANTINE MANUSCRIPTS Greece-based ensemble En Chordais combines Byzantine and art music of the Mediterranean with Greek regional idioms and contemporary music. Sep 24, 7:30-10 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. $29.25-$45.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1 THE MAVERICKS AND LOS LOBOS American country and Chicano-rock bands play a coheadlining bill. Oct 1, Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

ARTS LISTINGS are a public service provided free of charge, based on available space and editorial discretion. Submit events online using the eventsubmission form at straight.com/AddEvent.

Events that don't make it into the paper due to space constraints will appear on the website.

ARTS

Beatles tribute band joins the VSO at the PNE

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by Steve Newton

here are definitely advantages to having been born in the 1950s.

For one thing, you can sing along quite passionately with Sting on that upbeat ditty “Born in the 50’s”, from the Police’s debut album. And if you’re lucky, by 1964 you were old enough to experience the world-changing event that was the American invasion by the Beatles.

James Owen missed that whole “coming of the Fab Four” business because he wasn’t born in the ‘50s. But he still vividly remembers his first introduction to the sound of the Liverpool lads.

“Oh, yeah, it’s easy to remember the moment,” Owen says from his home in Huntington Beach, California. “You know, I was born in the mid-’60s, so the first time I heard the Beatles was the early ’70s, after they’d already broken up. I was about six years old, I think, and my dad’s sister came out from New York to visit us in California.

She was putting on some old rock ’n’ roll stuff, Chubby Checker and Everly Brothers.

And then she put on Meet the Beatles, the first U.S. album the Beatles put out. And I thought, ‘Who are these guys? Wow. That’s phenomenal!’ So I was instantly hooked.”

Owen’s infatuation with the Beatles has led to the point where, since 1996, he’s been portraying John Lennon in the Classical Mystery Tour Beatles tribute, which performs with the Vancouver Symphony at the PNE on August 25. But the fact that he’s been performing as Lennon for more than a quarter-century now doesn’t mean that Paul McCartney’s songwriting partner is his favourite mop top.

“I wasn’t into picking a favourite Beatle when I was young,” Owen points out. “But I was into the guitar, so I actually started off learning all the George Harrison guitar parts. I guess I gravitated more towards George, you know, but I wouldn’t say I picked him as my favourite. I started off playing in Beatles tribute bands as George when I was a teen, and I didn’t switch to playing John until I was in my 20s. People were telling me, ‘Well, you look more like John anyway, you might try playing John Lennon.’ So I finally gave it a try, and I’m glad I did.”

Owen—who points to the mostly Lennon-penned “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” as maybe the best Beatles song ever and chooses Rubber Soul as his fave LP—started playing piano at age six and guitar around seven or eight. Growing up in Huntington Beach, he got to see a lot of symphony concerts, including performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Long Beach Symphony, the former of which, he says, had a great pops concert series.

“I was studying classical piano,” he recalls, “and, of course, the object there is to play like the composers intended. So that was just something I was raised to do. And

James Owen (right) performs as John Lennon in the Beatles tribute Classical Mystery Tour, which sees his band re-creating Fab Four songs note for note with professional orchestras.

I thought, ‘When I get old, I want to play Beatles music just like they sound on the records.’ Then that Broadway show Beatlemania came out in the late ’70s and I thought, ‘Wow, that’s what I’ve been wanting to do. They’re doing a simulation of what it would be like to see the Beatles play live.’ So I got involved in doing that.”

At 18, Owen began touring internationally with various productions of Beatlemania, visiting China, Japan, Korea, Mexico, and several South American countries.

In ’96, he established the Classical Mystery Tour, which would see the Beatles tribute band he formed travel from city to city to perform with full orchestras. The group he put together features himself on rhythm guitar, piano, and vocals; Tony Kishman (as Paul) on bass guitar, piano, and vocals; Tom Teeley (as George) on lead guitar and vocals; and Chris Camilleri (as Ringo) on drums and vocals. (Teeley is currently having some medical work done on his hand and will be replaced at the PNE show by a new George played by Robbie Berg.)

Although he hasn’t been keeping track, Owen figures that the Classical Mystery Tour has played more than 100 shows with various symphonies, including the Boston Pops and the Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras.

He says that one of the biggest highlights was playing with the Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House in Australia.

His group has also performed with our own Vancouver Symphony a few times in the past, but he doesn’t play favourites when asked which of the orchestras he has played with has most impressed him.

“All of them!” he declares diplomatically. “They’re all professional orchestras, and each individual musician has worked so hard at their instrument, you know, and they’re together all the time. So I can’t really say any one’s better than the other.”

While some dedicated VSO fans might be expecting to see music director Otto Tausk conducting the PNE show—especially after he proclaimed his love for the Beatles in a Georgia Straight interview last fall—it will actually be L.A.-based Martin Herman wielding the baton in Vancouver.

He was commissioned to provide the orchestral transcriptions heard on the Classical Mystery Tour show, transcribing the musical scores note for note from the original Beatles recordings.

When asked which Beatles tunes have been going over best at recent shows, Owen cites “A Day in the Life” from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and “Here Comes the Sun” from Abbey Road. And he thinks having a full orchestra perform those classics along with a rock quartet really puts the “beaut” in tribute.

“It’s just an event to have a band backed by an orchestra,” he says, “especially when we all know the Beatles songs so intimately. And to hear it live, it just completely sets apart a show like this from a typical Beatles tribute band.

If the band is good, it’s really fun to watch a Beatles tribute band, but with the orchestra, it’s just on a different plane—on a higher level, I think. It’s something that people can really get into deeply in the moment of the concert and really appreciate what the Beatles accomplished as a group.” g The Classical Mystery Tour, featuring the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, visits the PNE Amphitheatre on Thursday, August 25, at 8:30 p.m.

AUGUST 11 – 18 / 2022

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

13

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Would-be cuckquean wants power, not humiliation

T

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by Dan Savage

his is a preview of this week’s Savage Love. The full version is now exclusively available on Dan’s website Savage.Love.

b I’M A 36-YEAR-OLD married woman who fantasizes about her husband of 10 years being intimate with other women. This isn’t a new thing for me. I’ve fantasized about this for years, but we’ve never acted on it. He is intrigued but afraid that it might somehow damage our relationship. But I’ve done some research on it and it’s something I’m eager to try. (With my husband’s consent, of course!)

But in all my research, I’ve found different and sometimes conflicting definitions of what it means to be a “cuckquean”. I’m interested in watching my husband pleasure and be pleasured by another woman in a purely physical way. I’m not interested in being “cheated on”. No flirty texts, no unsanctioned coffee dates.

I’ve read accounts of women who are turned on by the humiliation and insecurity of their partner being with others, often women the husband knows “in real life”, either through work or through social life.

In my case, I would rather my husband not even know the name of the other woman.

And he would only be able to sleep with her with my consent and I would want to be “in control” of the situation.

So, what does that make me? Do cuckqueans come in all different proclivities? I feel like the end result is the same— my partner bedding someone else—but my motivation is different than what I’ve seen.

- What The Cuck Am I?

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Dan advises a reader who wants to watch her husband have sex with another woman.

describes sounds more like hotwifing with the gender roles reversed than cuckolding,” said Venus, host of Venus Cuckoldress Podcast. “She’s interested in hothusbanding!”

Let’s quickly define terms: a man into hotwifing enjoys “sharing” his wife with other men, WTCAI, and a woman into hothusbanding enjoys “sharing” her husband with other women. (All this sharing, of course, is consensual.) Cuckolds, on the other hand, aren’t sharing their wives. They’re being “cheated on” by their wives. And cuckqueans aren’t sharing their husbands. They’re being “cheated on” by their husbands.

Cuckolds and cuckqueans, by definition, don’t just wanna see their spouses fucking another person; they also want their partners to humiliate and degrade them. (I put “cheated on” in quotes because the “cheating” is consensual and symbolic; likewise, “sharing” is in quotes above because spouses aren’t property.)

“But cuckolding and hotwifing have a really wide spectrum of practices and dy-

“The scenario WTCAI

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namics,” Venus said. “Some cucks are sub- difficult to pull off. But I know a woman missive and get into degradation and some whose wife wanted to be blindfolded and cucks really aren’t subs or into degrada- then have a group of women come in—all tion at all. I don’t see why hothusbanding/ strangers to her—and go down on her. Not cuckqueaning can’t be just as varied. Hu- an easy fantasy to pull off Support, either! So they Join Education Join Our Our Support, Education & Action Group miliation, submission, and degradation hired a sex worker to facilitate things and it & Action Group Women who who experienced experienced any any Women don’t have to be involved!” was amazing. Perhaps this would be an ideal form form of of male male violence. violence.

CALLsex Vancouver Rape Relief Relief & & Women's Women's Shelter Shelter Vancouver Rape Venus is right: there are guys out there solution—hiring aCALL worker—because 604-872-8212 604-872-8212 who call themselves cuckolds but aren’t then WTCAI would be in total control.” subs and don’t wanna be humiliated or deFinally, WTCAI, rereading your letgraded. But I would argue that these guys ter just now, it sounds to me like what you aren’t cuckolds, WTCAI, just as I would really wanna do is whore your husband out. argue that you aren’t a cuckquean. We have It’s an expression I’ve heard gay men use to lots of words to describe letting your part- describe setting up an anonymous encounRECOVERY International International RECOVERY ner fuck other people—open, monogamter for their boyfriends or husbands. You FEAR? FEAR? DEPRESSION? DEPRESSION? PANIC PANIC ATTACKS? ATTACKS? Feelings that that keep keep you you from from really really living living your your life? life?

EMPLOYMENT Music Feelings ish, swinging, mate-swapping, hotwifing, find someone you wanna see fuck your husEMPLOYMENT Music A way out is where we come way out is where we come in. in. meetings. info: hothusbanding, stag and vixen, AWeekly CNM—but care to find someone your Weekly meetings. Call Call for for band—taking info: 9am -- 5pm 5pm Kathy Kathy 778-554-1026 778-554-1026 9am we only have one word to describe letting husband would wanna get fucked by—and Musicians Wanted Musicians Wanted Sex Addicts Anonymous your partner fuck other people while getall your husband needs to know is when Sex Addicts Anonymous The VFE is a branch of the A.U.U.C. The VFE is a branch of the A.U.U.C. Vancouver Vancouver 12-step fellowship fellowship of of men men & & women women who who share share (Association of United United Ukrainian Canadians) Canadians) We ting off on being humiliated12-step and degraded: and where.

Cuckolds and cuckqueans areWe (Association of Ukrainian their experience, strength and hope with each their experience, strength and hope with each welcome instrumentalists of no welcome instrumentalists of all all kinds; kinds; as no audition audition other,people that they they may may solve their their common common problem other, that solve problem cuckolding. And since most undersubs, and a sub can “top from below”, thebalnecessary. String String players, players, mandolins, mandolins, domras, domras, balnecessary. and help others recover from their sexual and help others recover from their sexual alaikas,least violins (violas (violas & cellos), cellos), trumpets, trumpets, tromalaikas, violins & tromaddiction.Membership is who stand cuckolding to involve humiliation goes, but—at officially—a cuck addiction.Membership is open open to to all all saying who desire desire to to bones, bones, horns, horns, flute, flute, bassoon. bassoon. We We play play Ukrainian Ukrainian & & stop addictive addictive sexual sexual behaviour. behaviour. For For aa meeting meeting list list stop light music music from many many cultures. Ability Ability who’s to read read mumuand degradation, telling someone you’re a doesn’t have the power.

Someone light from cultures. to as well as email & phone contacts go to our as well as email & phone contacts go to our sic and ensemble experience sic is is necessary, necessary, and some some ensemble experience website. www.saavancouver.org website. www.saavancouver.org cuckold when you’re not into those things is whoring his husband out, on the other would be be helpful. helpful. Rehearsals Rehearsals are are Tuesdays Tuesdays 4:00pm 4:00pm would to 6:00pm storied Ukrainian at to 6:00pm at at the the storiedthat’s Ukrainian Hall Hall at like telling someone you’re a power bottom hand, has all the power.

And what 805 East East Pender Pender Stree.

Stree. Contact Contact Pavel Pavel Rhyzlovsky Rhyzlovsky 805 939-2252 or pianostudies@hotmail.com when you don’t like anal or telling someone you want, right? (778) (778) 939-2252 or pianostudies@hotmail.com you’re into impact play when you don’t like Follow Venus on Twitter @CuckoldressV, having your ass so much as tapped. It con- and check out her podcast, blog, dating advice, fuses rather than clarifies. The What’s worse, and more at www.venuscuckoldress.com.

The Compassionate Compassionate Friends Friends (TCF) (TCF) Burnaby Burnaby TCF TCF is is aa grief grief support support group group for for parents parents who who have have tell someone you’re a cuckold/cuckquean experienced age. experienced the the loss loss of of aa child, child, at at any age.

Meet Wednesday of at p.m. and they might start degrading while bany AM Meet the the last lastyou Wednesday of the the month month at I7:00 7:00 p.m.A woman married to a man. Many For location call Grace: 778-222-0446 location call Grace: 778-222-0446 they’re fucking your partner, For which would years ago, I told him that I was attracted to a "We "We Need Need Not Not Walk Walk Alone" Alone" compassionatecircle@hotmail.com ruin everything for everybody. compassionatecircle@hotmail.com mutual friend of ours...

Burnaby@TCFCanada.net Burnaby@TCFCanada.net www.tcfcanada.net As for setting up a sex date for your hus-www.tcfcanada.net band with an anonymous woman, Venus Go to Savage.Love to read the rest. g had a practical suggestion.

“There are a lot more men out there look- Email: questions@savagelove.net. Listen to Dan ing for casual sex than there are women,” on the Savage Lovecast. Follow Dan on Twitter @ Venus said, “which makes WTCAI’s fantasy FakeDanSavage.

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