2 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017
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8 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017
CONTENTS
False Creek, Vancouver. Chris James photo.
13
TAIWANFEST
This Labour Day Weekend’s annual celebration of the East Asian indie nation comes with a twist—this time organizers are also tipping their hat to Japan for the role it played in the rise of Taiwanese identity. > BY CHARLIE SMITH
25
ARTS
We talk to two artists provoking thought by using the largest canvas they’ve ever worked on: the Vancouver Art Gallery façade. > BY ALE X ANDER VART Y
29
MOVIES
Robert Pattinson slums it for a Good Time; Neither Wolf Nor Dog ends up as a turkey; Bruce Lee takes a hit in Birth of the Dragon; The Teacher puts Soviet politics to the test.
33
COVER
Having earned the respect of his parents, Richmond World Fest headliner Verbal Jint has taken his place as a Korean hip-hop titan. > BY MIKE USINGER
START HERE 15 22 19 12 22 16 17 39 18 11 28
Books The Bottle Food Health I Saw You Real estate Renters of Vancouver Savage Love Straight Stars Straight Talk Theatre
r
TIME OUT 28 Arts 37 Music
SERVICES 37 Careers 16 Real Estate GeorgiaStraight @GeorgiaStraight
37
CLASSIFIEDS
@GeorgiaStraight
Automotive | Education | Services | Travel Marketplace | Employment | Real Estate Property Rentals | Music | Announcements Callboard | And more...
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straight talk NPA MOVES CLOSER TO NAMING CANDIDATES
Vancouver is six weeks away from a by-election that was called to fill a vacant council seat. A number of parties have declared candidates but the city’s big two are not among them. The opposition Non-Partisan Association (NPA) is scheduled to hold a nomination meeting on September 6. Three members are competing for the council spot. Hector Bremner works in public affairs and previously served as an executive assistant to former deputy premier Rich Coleman. Glen Chernen is a financial analyst who has run for office unsuccessfully with the Cedar Party. And Penny Noble is a former school board trustee who has also worked as a teacher. The NPA has not identified who is seeking nominations for the nine Vancouver school board seats that will be up for grabs on the same day the council by-election is held. Mayor Gregor Robertson’s Vision Vancouver party has said it will name a council candidate via an internal party appointment. The third party to hold a seat on council, the Greens, will be represented by Pete Fry, a community activist from Strathcona. No matter who wins, Vision Vancouver will still hold a majority on council. But that hasn’t dampened enthusiasm, especially at one end of the political spectrum: the left. The first person to announce her intention to enter the race was Judy Graves, a long-time advocate for the homeless. She’s on a ticket with OneCity, a relatively new political party that in 2014 unsuccessfully fielded one candidate for council. Jean Swanson was the second. Swanson, also a respected activist dedicated to low-income housing, is running as an independent. A third woman coming from outside Vancouver’s big three civic parties is Mary Jane Dunsdon. She’s with the local arm of Sensible B.C., which is best known for a failed but notable 2013 campaign to see British Columbia decriminalize marijuana. Dunsdon, a.k.a. Watermelon, has framed herself as an advocate for small business and specifically the city’s booming dispensary industry. As the Straight went to the printer on August 29, the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) was holding a meeting to decide
if it would nominate a council candidate. The council seat in question was left vacant in July when Vision Vancouver’s Geoff Meggs resigned to become Premier John Horgan’s chief of staff. The deadline for nominations is September 8 at 4 p.m. The by-election is October 14. > TRAVIS LUPICK
TOP VISION VANCOUVER STAFFER RESIGNS
After almost six years as executive director of the ruling civic party in Vancouver, Stepan Vdovine is leaving to explore new options. Vdovine has run the day-to-day operations of Vision Vancouver since May 2012, and was the deputy campaign director and chief financial officer of the party during the 2014 municipal election. In July, Vdovine went on leave to be part of the transition team of the B.C. NDP government, serving as ministerial assistant to Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Lisa Beare. His temporary posting with the province finishes at the end of September, and his resignation from Vision takes effect in the middle of that month. “I don’t have my plans confirmed at the moment, but it’s time for change,” Vdovine told the Straight by phone Tuesday (August 29). Vdovine doesn’t plan to run for either council or school board in the October 14 by-election in Vancouver. He first got involved with Vision in 2007. At the time, he was serving his first term as school trustee on the Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows board of education. Vancouver will hold its regular election next year, and he was asked why he is leaving now. “Vision’s been successful because a lot of people, you know, work to make it what it is today,” Vdovine replied. Nimmi Takkar is serving as interim executive director of Vision. Vdovine’s partner, Mira Oreck, is the director of stakeholder relations in Premier John Horgan’s office. Vdovine and Oreck have a 14-month-old child. “I’m actually looking forward to spending time with my son,” Vdovine said. > CARLITO PABLO
OVERDOSE VICTIMS WILL BE COMMEMORATED
On Thursday (August 31) Vancouver will be one of more than 50 cities around the world hosting events to commemorate International Overdose Awareness Day. There are three rally points where people are scheduled to listen to speakers, hold vigils, and demand government action on the fentanyl crisis. The first event will begin at 12 p.m. in a lot at 58 West Hastings Street. The second location is the north side of the Vancouver Art Gallery, where speakers will take the stage beginning at 5 p.m. Outside Vancouver, there’s a gathering in New Westminster’s Hyack Square starting at 6 p.m. Jordan Westfall is president of the Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs (CAPUD). In a telephone interview, he said the message at the Downtown Eastside event will be one of empowerment. “The idea that we fight for those we love and lost,” he explained. “And that we fight for policies that respect our human rights.” At 4 p.m., a march will begin from 58 West Hastings to the art gallery at West Georgia and Howe streets. Speakers there are scheduled to include Nichola Hall of From Grief to Action, a group that was instrumental in Vancouver’s response to a spike in overdoses the city struggled with in the 1990s. Another is Darwin Fisher, who manages North America’s first sanctioned supervised-injection facility, Insite. A third is Libby Davies, who was an NDP MP representing Vancouver East for 18 years until 2015. In a telephone interview, one of the day’s organizers, Tabitha Montgomery, said the decision to host the second event at a location outside the Downtown Eastside was a conscious one. She explained they want to send a message that B.C.’s ongoing overdose epidemic is not confined to one neighbourhood. “I am hoping we can make that very clear,” Montgomery emphasized. “This is not just a Downtown Eastside problem.” This year B.C. is on track to see more than 1,500 overdose deaths. It’s projected only a little more than 400 of those will occur within the city of Vancouver. Surrey, Abbotsford, and Burnaby, for example, are all expected to see record numbers of fatal overdoses in 2017. > TRAVIS LUPICK
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The Georgia Straight | Vancouver’s News and Entertainment Weekly | Volume 51 Number 2591 1635 West Broadway, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1W9 www.straight.com Phone: 604-730-7000 / Fax: 604-730-7010 / e-mail: gs.info@straight.com Display Advertising: 604-730-7020 / Fax: 604-730-7012 / e-mail: sales@straight.com Classifieds: 604-730-7060 / e-mail: classads@straight.com Subscriptions: 604-730-7000 Distribution: 604-730-7087 EDITOR + PUBLISHER Dan McLeod ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Yolanda Stepien GENERAL MANAGER Matt McLeod EDITOR Charlie Smith SECTION EDITORS
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HEALTH
Portugal’s national drug coordinator, Dr. João Goulão, is making his first trip to B.C. as the province struggles with an increase in overdose deaths.
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here is no silver bullet for North America’s fentanyl crisis, according to the architect of Portugal’s drugpolicy framework, widely considered the most progressive in the world. “It is a difficult problem,” Dr. João Goulão told the Straight by phone. “I have no magical insight for it.” Illicit drugs are on track to kill more than 1,500 people in B.C. this year, up from an annual average of 204 deaths recorded between 2001 and 2010. So far in 2017, the B.C. Coroners Service has detected fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, in 78 percent of drug fatalities. In a wide-ranging interview, Goulão recounted how beginning in 2001, his country decriminalized all illicit narcotics, including cocaine and heroin. Portugal did not legalize hard drugs, which would have involved regulating their sales similarly to how Canada deals with alcohol and tobacco. But it took a step in that direction, removing criminal penalties for personal possession. At the same time, Portugal essentially flipped how it spends money on citizens who struggle with an addiction, noted Goulão, now Portugal’s national drug coordinator. Whereas the country once spent about 90 percent of funds on enforcement and 10 percent on treatment, after 2001, that ratio was reversed. “Since then, we have had dramatic improvements in all available indicators,” Goulão said. “Overdose deaths, HIV infections, and the number of problematic drug users have all dropped since then.” In Portugal in 2015, the rate of fatal overdoses was three people per 100,000, according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. The B.C. Coroners Service has reported that as of June 2017, the rate of overdose deaths per 100,000 residents of this province is 32.5. On September 7, Goulão is scheduled to visit the Lower Mainland for the first time as a keynote speaker at the Recovery Capital Conference of Canada, in New Westminster. Ahead of his trip, he answered questions about North America’s fentanyl problem and discussed what lessons Portugal’s experience might have to offer policymakers here. Goulão began by emphasizing that if Canada were to decriminalize drugs as Portugal did, this would not address the issue of fentanyl. That’s because it would leave supply in the hands of dealers. However, he said that removing criminal penalties for personal possession could be helpful. “Decriminalization is important because drug users will no longer fear approaching [health-care] responders,” Goulão explained. “It would be an
important step. Everything is easier in an environment of decriminalization than it is in an environment of criminalization. Of course, it will not solve every problem. But it would constitute a success for drug users and help drug users with responses.” His trip to Vancouver follows a recent meeting Goulão had with Canada’s former minister of health, Jane Philpott, and minister of justice, Vancouver’s Jody Wilson-Raybould. The pair travelled to Portugal in July. In a brief telephone interview, Health Canada spokesperson Andrew MacKendrick said the trip was focused on Portugal’s health-based approach to addiction and not the country’s record with decriminalization. In a similar vein, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has repeatedly said the Liberal government is not considering decriminalizing or legalizing hard drugs such as heroin. That’s despite a growing number of B.C.’s top health officials calling on the federal government to at least consider such a move in response to the province’s out-of-control increase in drug-overdose deaths. Goulão repeatedly told the Straight that decriminalization should not happen without a government enacting complementary reforms to its justice and health-care systems. “The results that we’ve had since then [2001] are the result of a set of policies, not only decriminalization by itself,” he said. Asked if the answer to the fentanyl problem could be in legalization and regulation, Goulão paused and responded “Probably.” “Legalization and the regulation of markets, controlling the quality of the substances, and making them available only in appropriate places, it would be positive,” he added. But Goulão noted legalization remains a tough sell, even in Portugal, where “everybody agrees on the positive effects of our current policies.” He said what’s required to move governments toward legalization is careful study and evidence. For example, he’s closely watching Colorado, where in 2014 state laws were changed to allow recreationalmarijuana sales. Goulão said that’s one reason he’s looking forward to visiting Vancouver. His itinerary includes a tour of the city’s Downtown Eastside, where one clinic offers heroin by prescription to a select group of patients and where another doctor is treating more than 20 cases of severe-addiction disorder with hydromorphone, a drug very similar to heroin. “We are following, very attentively, the steps that other countries are taking,” Goulão said. “I believe that when we have the evidence of the effectiveness of legalization, it probably will be possible to go in that direction.” -
TAIWAN FEST
Retired Richmond physician Charles BY CHARL IE SM IT H
Yang’s life has been marked by a series of different identities. He was born in 1932 in Taiwan, which was then under Japanese occupation. At the age of two, he moved to the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, which had been established in Manchuria, where his father studied medicine. At the time, Yang had a Japanese name. Then at the end of the Second World War as the Soviets were invading Manchuria, his family fled back to Taiwan. In a recent phone interview with the Georgia Straight, Yang said that returning to the island of his birth at the age of 13 was a massive cultural shock because he felt Japanese. “In Manchuria, I spoke Japanese,” Yang recalled. “I attended Japanese school.” For the next 12 years, Yang lived under martial law in Taiwan before moving to America to study medicine. In 1964, he immigrated to Canada, where he and his wife raised their children, and he became a successful obstetrician-gynecologist.
In search of identity
Charles Yang’s remarkable life has been captured in a new book by Julia Lin (Tracy Jean Wong photo); prodigy Lin Hao-Wei (below left) will be at TaiwanFest.
citizens. But he also said that the Japanese created This Labour Day weekend, TaiwanFest shines a light on how a the foundation for the foreign occupation led to a nation finding its way in the world modern Taiwanese state by developing railway Yang’s story is chronicled in a new book, Shad- lines, a hydroelectric power plant, irrigation sysows of the Crimson Sun: One Man’s Life in Man- tems, and other important infrastructure. churia, Taiwan, and North America, by Vancouver “When Japan took over Taiwan in 1895, they did writer and teacher Julia Lin. She has deep insights not plan to give it up,” Chou said. “They treated it into what it’s like to be displaced in childhood, hav- as their new earned territory. It was part of their ing moved from Taiwan to Vietnam before immi- country. They didn’t treat it like a traditional colgrating to Canada when she was nine years old. onial area that you exploit and you leave.” Yang expressed deep admiration for Lin for Japan also played a pivotal role in the development turning his recollections into a cohesive book. of Taiwanese culture in the 20th century. That’s be“She did a fair amount of historical research cause Japan’s rulers looked to the West for ideas, and about the geopolitical situation in Manchuria at then transplanted these concepts to Taiwan. that time and I learned a lot from that, too,” the “Early on, I think the Japanese wanted to use retired physician said. “I’m very grateful to her.” Taiwan as a model for colonization to show people As part of the annual TaiwanFest celebration, around the world how well Japan can rule and how a Shadows of the Crimson Sun will be launched at society can prosper,” TaiwanFest managing director the Orpheum Annex (free admission) at 1 p.m. on Charlie Wu told the Straight by phone. “So during Monday (September 4). It will be a bilingual pres- that time, Taiwan actually benefited tremendously.” entation in Mandarin and English celebrating the life of Yang, one of the pioneers and most influential ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS of TaiwanFest will figures in Canada’s community of Taiwanese expats. be the Metropolitan Vancouver Orchestra’s SatYang’s struggle to come to terms with his iden- urday-night concert at the Queen Elizabeth Thetity reflects the theme of this year’s TaiwanFest, atre. Maestro Ken Hsieh is the son of Taiwanese which is celebrating the island nation’s connec- immigrants to Canada and he studied music in tions with Japan. The slogan for this year’s festival, Japan. Among the pieces that his orchestra will which takes place in downtown Vancou- perform is “Formosan Dance”, which was written ver from Saturday to Monday (September by a Taiwanese composer, Bunya Koh, during the “ 2 to 4), is “Kanpai Japan”. In effect, it’s a Japanese occupation. It won honourable mention toast to the former colonial power for its at the 1936 Berlin Olympics when Koh was workcontribution to a more outward-looking ing under his Chinese name, Jiang Wen-Ye. Hsieh told the Straight by phone that Koh’s Taiwanese country in the 21st century. TaiwanFest will explore Taiwan’s ties identity as a Taiwanese during the Japanese with Japan in a multitude of ways, in- occupation has resulted in his work not receivcluding through an art exhibit called ing its due in the music world. Hsieh described Who Am I? on the north side of the Koh’s compositions as a cross between those of Vancouver Art Gallery and through Sergei Rachmaninoff and Igor Stravinsky, alworkshops on origami, which was beit with a Taiwanese folk-dance element. “I think there’s a lot of talent with this combrought to Taiwan by the Japanese. That’s in addition to a food-painting poser, but it’s just a pity that his pieces never got exhibition by Japanese dessert special- played,” Hsieh said. “So I’m really happy that ist Yui Aida (for more, see page 22) and we’re able to showcase it.” Hsieh credited the Japanese colonizers for several musical performances highbringing classical music to Taiwan. And at the lighting the links between the two nations. Taiwan came under Japanese rule in 1895 as a re- Queen Elizabeth Theatre concert, Taiwanese child sult of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, ending the first prodigy Lin Hao-Wei will perform. The 12-yearSino-Japanese war. One Vancouver expat born in old pianist will also perform on Sunday (SeptemTaiwan during the Japanese occupation, accountant ber 3) at noon at the Vancouver Playhouse. It’s not just classical music that emerged in TaiJames Chou, acknowledged to the Straight by phone that Taiwanese were often treated as second-class wan as a result of the Japanese occupation. Wu
noted that Japanese artists also introduced western watercolour painting to Taiwan in the early part of the 20th century. Ishikawa Kinichiro and Shiotsuki Toho, to name just two, tutored several celebrated Taiwanese artists, including the most famous, Tan Ting-Pho. A book of essays called Taiwan Under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1895-1945: History, Culture, Memory tells the story of Ishikawa. Only a few months after he arrived in Taiwan, he wrote an essay, “Watercolour Painting and Taiwan Landscape”, in which he expressed his love for the similarities between the island and parts of his home country of Japan. “However, Taipei’s colours appear more beautiful, with red roofs, orange walls, and green bamboos, contrasting strongly against the viridescent tree leaves,” he wrote. “Can we imagine such serene and solemn scenery of sublimity in Japan? Under the blue sky Taiwan shines even more brightly.” Ishikawa taught part-time at Taipei Middle School from 1907 to 1916 and then full-time at the Taipei Normal School from 1923 to 1933. In the 1920s, there was greater emphasis on the arts and humanities, according to the book, and Prince Hirohito himself expressed satisfaction with the level of art education during one of his visits to Taiwan. Meanwhile, Tan grew up loving Chinese literature, according to Wu, and immersed himself in the Mandarin language. This fascination with Chinese culture led him to Shanghai, where Tan taught western art at Xinhua College of Art and Chang Ming Art School. Wu noted that because he had come from Taiwan, which was a Japanese colony, this became a problem when the Second World War broke out in Asia. “His family became worried about their status so they returned to Taiwan,” Wu said. “While he was in Taiwan, he also tried to build this Taiwanese identity among the Taiwanese artists.” That came back to haunt him when the Kuomintang rulers in mainland China began asserting their control over Taiwan following the defeat of the Japanese in 1945. Because Tan spoke Mandarin, he became a local government official and negotiated with the KMT. “Because he was considered a member of the elite of the society, being an artist, he was actually killed by the KMT government,” Wu said. It occurred amid the carnage of the notorious February 28 Incident, a.k.a. the 2.28 Incident, in
TA IWA NF EST TO EMPOW E R KE NYAN GI R L S >>>
S
everal years ago, Elle Yang received word that the girls that she and her church group sponsored to attend school in Kenya were having trouble making it to class. “We wondered why, because we were sponsoring these girls to go to school,” Yang said on the phone from her home in Taiwan. “We learned that after school fees, they still had a problem with sanitary towels, or pads. They couldn’t afford it because we didn’t sponsor that, so they had to stay in their home until their period finished. We thought, ‘That’s crazy.’ ” Yang, who is a project coordinator for a nonprofit organization called Love, Binti, told the Straight that their first idea was simply to fundraise and send tampons to the girls in Kenya, but they wor-
Vancouver’s TaiwanFest and nonprofit Love, Binti are fundraising to help teach rural Kenyans how to make their own reusable sanitary pads.
ried that this solution wasn’t sustainable. Instead, they decided they would send volunteers to
Kenya and teach rural people there how to make their own reusable sanitary pads.
see next page
> BY TRAVIS LUPICK
“We thought that was really good because they could make it on their own out of T-shirts and f leece jackets that can easily be found in the local market,” Yang continued. “So we started this project.” Th is year, Vancouver’s TaiwanFest has partnered with Love, Binti (Swahili for “girls”), and is helping raise money for the project. Love, Binti also teaches would-be supporters in Canada and Taiwan how to sew their own pads, which they can then send to Love, Binti’s people in Kenya. “We posted a video about how to make them online, and people do that and send them to us,” Yang said. “Canadian people, even if they can’t afford to donate money, can donate their time to make sanitary towels.”
☞
At TaiwanFest, Love, Binti will have a booth where anyone interested can drop by and learn how to sew a sanitary pad. According to a 2014 United Nations report, one in 10 young women in sub-Saharan Africa misses school during her menstrual cycle. That document states that in Kenya, an estimated 2.6 million girls need financial support to obtain hygiene products. Love, Binti is a project of Step30 International Ministries, which in 2016 received help from TaiwanFest in sending shoes to Kenya to help combat painful parasites called chiggers that can burrow into people’s feet. Yang added that Love, Binti’s latest project is all about sustainability. “It’s a long-term solution,” she said. -
AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 13
Land Act: Notice of Intention to Apply for a Disposition of Crown Land Take notice that Neptune Equipment Corp. from Vancouver, BC, has applied to the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (MFLNRO), Surrey for an Investigative Use License (2 years maximum tenure) for scientific instruments to test wave actions for renewable wave energy devices situated on Provincial Crown land located at Lat: 49.278337; Log: -123.266848 which is 910 Meters NNW (128 deg.) from head of UBC Trail 3 and 1,277 Meters South (186 deg.) from the Point Grey Bell Buoy. The Lands File Number for this application is 2411922. COMMENTS ON THIS APPLICATION MAY BE SUBMITTED IN TWO WAYS: 1) Online via the Applications and Reasons for Decision Database website at: www.arfd.gov.bc.ca/ApplicationPosting/index.jsp 2) By mail to the Senior Land Officer at 200 –10428 153RD St., Surrey, BC V3R 1E1 Comments will be received by the Ministry of Forests Lands and Natural Resource Operations until September 18, 2017. Comments received after this date may not be considered. Be advised that any response to this advertisement will be considered part of the public record. For information, contact Information Access Operations at the Ministry of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services in Victoria at: www.gov.bc.ca/citz/iao/.
In search of identity
from previous page
which an estimated 10,000 Taiwanese were massacred on this date in 1947 for resisting KMT rule. “He was killed behind the scenes,” Wu said. “He loved Chinese history, literature, and everything, but he didn’t really get the benefit of being Chinese because of this uncertainty at the time. During the Japanese era, he was Chinese and was a second-class citizen. In China, he was Japanese. So who exactly was he?” A similarly sad fate befell Koh. He moved to China, where he enjoyed adapting folk music into classical compositions. But eventually, he was
considered a traitor because of his “Japanese” ties. Taiwan’s history has been marked by colonization not only by the Japanese but also by the Dutch, the Qing dynasty, and after the Second World War by the KMT (Chinese nationalists) led by Gen. Chiang Kai-shek. In December 1949, he moved his government to Taipei and was followed by two million mainland Chinese after losing the Chinese Civil War to the communists led by Mao Zedong. Retired Richmond physician Yang called the KMT under Chiang a “severe repressive regime” that “carried out terrible things”. Among them was the so-called white terror, in which tens of thousands of Taiwanese were
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killed or imprisoned, or went missing. “I lived through my entire life in Taiwan under martial law,” Yang said. So did Yang feel that life was better under Japanese occupation than under Chiang’s KMT? “I think so,” Yang replied. “It’s a fanatic anticommunism that made the KMT behave the way they did.” Chou echoed that point of view, saying life was better in Taiwan under Japanese occupation than it was under Chiang’s dictatorship. He said that when he was a young boy, his sister once had to hide him in a garbage can on the street when authorities were looking for people to arrest. THE ISLAND OF Taiwan’s earliest inhabitants were Proto-Malays whose language and culture were “characteristically Indonesian”, according to Taiwan’s 400 Year History: The Origins and Continuing Development of the Taiwanese Society and People, by historian Su Bing. These Indigenous people lived communal lives and are the ancestors of today’s Aboriginal people in Taiwan, who are two percent of the population. Prior to Dutch rule in 1624, there were approximately 25,000 Chinese people living on Taiwan, which is roughly the size of Vancouver Island. That grew rapidly under the Qing dynasty, which ruled from 1683 to 1895, according to Su. This troubled history had an impact on the Taiwanese sense of identity. “I often wondered: what is my culture? Am I Chinese? Am I Japanese?” Yang said. “Eventually, I would identify as a Taiwanese Canadian.” Along similar lines, TaiwanFest’s Wu had this to say: “People will say to us that you bleed Chinese, you read Chinese, you speak Chinese. Then you have Chinese heritage. That’s how I grew up. And we never thought of the possibility of being something other than what we were told.” But then he cited the example of Vincent van Gogh, who embraced Japanese painting style even though he wasn’t Japanese. Wu also mentioned the Japanese adopting the paper fan from China and turning it into something reflecting their unique identity. “Some people call it cultural appropriation, but if it’s something you like and you embrace it and it becomes part of your creation, then it’s not,” Wu insisted. “It’s only if you’re using it [cultural appropriation] to pretend you are someone else.” Taiwanese artists of the 20th century embraced western symphonic music and painting watercolours. Does this make them any less Taiwanese? Not according to Wu. At the same time, Wu said that immigrants from China have sometimes shown a tendency to want to force Taiwanese Canadians to self-identify as Chinese rather than holding back on imposing their beliefs on others. “It’s self-determination,” Wu said. “You determine who you are rather than being forced to be who you are.” TaiwanFest takes place from Saturday to Monday (September 2 to 4) at various downtown locations.
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Delta author Gurjinder Basran’s Someone You Love is Gone delves into why forgetting the past can make it easier to live in the present. Karolina Turek photo.
Basran explores love and loss in new novel > BY DAVID C HAU
A
documentary on past lives sparked Gurjinder Basran’s latest novel. Tracing the stories of children who recalled former existences, the program led Basran to reflect on the value of experience. If you know that you’re going to live again, she wondered, does this life mean less? “I remember thinking how strange it must be for them to grow up and know—100 percent know—that they were somebody else,” Basran says to the Straight, over coffee at a downtown restaurant. “And for their families to know that, and how it might change—if they were not particularly religious—their views on life.” Around this time, in 2012, Basran was dealing with her mother’s declining health and beginning to consider the ripple effect that choices and actions carry over generations. “I think we take it for granted,” she continues, “that we’re all self-made and our lives are a product of our choices, when really our lives are a product of everyone’s choices.” These invisible inheritances are the framework for her sophomore novel, Someone You Love Is Gone. Following Simran, a 40-something mourning the death of her mother, the novel binds three narratives— “Now”, “Then”, and “Before”—to chart how Simran’s present stems from growing up in a turbulent home in Canada and from her mother’s days prior to that, as a single woman in India. Beyond the trip-wire dynamic between Simran and her younger brother and sister, her misfortune is compounded by a failing marriage and a strained relationship with her daughter. Middle age is “just that ripe time in your life when you do start to question ‘What does marriage mean?’” Basran says. “It’s almost a personal reckoning. ‘Well, if my children are raised and we’ve accomplished this, and we own everything we wanted to own, what now?’ ” Even with this privilege, “you still can feel empty,” she adds. “Whether people want to admit it or not, I think most people feel that way.” Simran’s formative heartbreak was the banishment of her brother, Diwa, who as a boy exhibited signs that he was reincarnated. (On the subject, Basran remains broadminded: “I think that reincarnation is probably just as plausible as some of the other options.”) Reunited with him in adulthood, Simran addresses the necessities of secrets and forgetting while sifting memories of their shared early years and decades apart. Functioning in the world, anyway, requires selective amnesia. “If we don’t forget some of our past experiences, we’re not allowing something
new to happen,” Basran says. “If we only rely on past information to dictate our choices in the future, we’re not actually leaving any room for possibility. We’re just operating in probability mode, and I think that that creates dissatisfaction.” Originally, the plot moved between “Now” and “Then”, but “Before” emerged during a productive two weeks that Basran spent at a writers’ retreat, which yielded half the book. Distilling scenes into verse and subsequently expanding them allowed her to manoeuvre through several creative roadblocks. “I have mad respect for poets,” she says. “If I could, I would love to be a poet. Poets seem so self-assured and earnest about their work, and I am neither.” Just as Everything Was Good-bye, her Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize– winning 2010 debut, showed she could portray characters of real vitality, Someone You Love Is Gone proves Basran knows deeply the ways personal history is etched by time and events. “This is what happens,” Simran observes. “The past is always changed by the present. There is no true account, not even the number of years that have gone by. It’s what the years hide, reveal, and keep secret, what they tuck into days and minutes, what they fold and slip into dreams and nightmares—that is where the real living is.” Basran, who came to British Columbia from England as a child, acknowledges that “there is an expectation that as an Indian writer that I will write Indian books, whatever that means. Maybe that’s about cultural identity, and this book is less about cultural identity, as it is just about identity.…Culture shouldn’t be a genre. “It will be nice when we don’t have to count how many diverse voices we have,” she says. “And that we don’t have to expect a story from a diverse voice to be that one representation of what diversity means.” The desire to connect and belong underscores Basran’s fiction. Her characters reel from absence and grief, placing apparent success at risk in search of a sense of home. Rather than the metaphysical, Someone You Love Is Gone broaches a life’s worth and the facets of self—parent, child, sibling, spouse—that compose families and individuals alike. “The thing that gives our lives meaning is hope that it can be different,” Basran says. “I know that comes up thematically as well. There’s a need to move on. There’s a hope that things will be better.” Gurjinder Basran will discuss Someone You Love Is Gone at Word Vancouver on September 19. She’ll also speak at the Vancouver Writers Fest on October 20 and 21.
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ADVENTURE BY NATURE
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HOUSING
Home search: Tech worker goes for space
S
teve Gosling and his family Their new 1,700-square-footare moving into a brand- plus townhome has four bedrooms new townhome this fall. It’s and three bathrooms, and cost in Maple Ridge, and con- nearly $500,000. “My wife and I regularly look struction is ongoing. “We actually skipped looking at at each other and giggle excitedly Vancouver itself,” Gosling said in a before exclaiming ‘We’re going to have a pantry!’ ” phone interview Gosling said. with the Georgia He added that Straight. “There he’s no longer was no way we’re Carlito Pablo worried about getgoing to find anything in Vancouver. It was just way ting priced out of the market. But he’s kicking himself for not making over our price range.” There are three of them in the the jump earlier. “I’ve had a proper tech job for family. Gosling and his wife are both 31. His stepchild is entering Grade 7 about six years now,” Gosling said. “And so for a lot of that was while this September. They’re renting a 700-square- I was a bachelor, and I could have foot ground-level suite in a de- bought a place all my own and… tached house in Burnaby, near probably had it all paid off by now. the tech company where Gosling When I remember first looking at works. They wanted a place big condos, buying a condo outright enough for them to grow into, and was about as much as we’re doing for a down payment on our townstay for a long time. “We did wind up getting a lar- house. And so, if we had done that ger property, and the only way to before, [and] property values went get that was to go far away from up, we would be getting a place a lot Vancouver proper. That was part closer, that’s for sure.” Before, Gosling thought that if he of what drove us,” Gosling said. “There was a lot of places that we rented, saved, and invested his money, found that we like, but were just he would build wealth comparable to the returns of owning a home. not that big.”
Real Estate
Steve Gosling says he could afford to buy a bigger home in Maple Ridge.
Looking back, Gosling said, “I just don’t think that that was true. I think there was a lot of rationalization, and me trying to be smarter than I was. And what I really needed to do was sit down, get a down payment together, and then just get it done.” More than 10 years ago, the UBC Centre for Urban Economics and
Real Estate released a paper titled “Are Renters Being Left Behind? Homeownership and Wealth Accumulation in Canadian Cities”. “It is not that renters cannot in many areas build wealth similar to that of owners, but that to do so demands a level of discipline that most North American households have shown themselves unable to achieve,” the paper noted. “As well, they must follow investment patterns that are not the norm for small investors. This suggests that a tremendously significant benefit of homeownership for individuals is that the constraint of mortgage payments effectively forces home buyers to save by building equity through the repayment.” As first-time homebuyers, Gosling said he and his wife found that working with a realtor gave them the confidence that they’re “not making a mistake” along the way. “Our realtor Darin Germyn helped us to make sure it was a reputable seller and a reasonable valuation, and we decided to go in on it,” he said about the vice president of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board. “Darin helped us a lot with the mechanics of the process: how to
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make an offer, how to put clauses on there, suggestions for which clauses to put on, closing the deal, et cetera. The works.” Gosling is astounded by how home prices just keep going up. Over the last 10 years, the price of a typical home in Metro Vancouver has risen by almost 91 percent. “I don’t know how that could be sustainable without wages following suit,” Gosling said. Two years ago, the Vancity credit union noted in the paper “Downsizing the Canadian Dream: Homeownership Realities for Millennials and Beyond” that if trends continue, an average home in Vancouver will cost more than $2.1 million by 2030. This means that monthly mortgage payments will exceed household income by eight percent in Vancouver. Moving to the suburbs may no longer be an option in the future. What the Vancity paper found “most concerning is the reality that even the currently affordable communities of Maple Ridge, New Westminster, Pitt Meadows and Port Coquitlam will become unaffordable to the average household within 15 years”. -
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HOUSING
This tenant says he was given an eviction notice for smoking even though he doesn’t smoke and he didn’t live in a nonsmoking building. Kate Wilson photo.
Renters of Vancouver: Foot falls through floor > BY KATE WIL SO N
Renters of Vancouver takes an intimate look at how the city’s residents are dealing with the housing crisis. Tenants choose to remain nameless when sharing their stories.
“I
started renting in the Metro Vancouver area after I graduated high school and enrolled at SFU. I was told that the further west and closer to downtown you get, the crazier things are, the smaller the apartments are, and the more risky the landlords are. Despite that, I had a tough experience when I was a tenant in a two-bedroom apartment in the eastern suburbs. “I lived on the third floor of a short-rise with my brother, and it was really fun. It cost me $850 for 850 square feet. It was pet-friendly. The carpets were in good condition. There was a little balcony that sagged a bit, and things weren’t in perfect repair, but we were getting a great deal so we didn’t think anything of it. “Everything was fine until the tenants above moved out. As they were taking their things off their deck, one of their feet went through the floor, smashing through a bunch of rotten wood. That showered our balcony and all our possessions with gross rot, and the maggots living in the wood came raining down. It was horrible. “We realized that we had to tell the landlady about it. I was nervous because we’d never had to contact her about repairs or anything before, and I’d heard lots of stories in the past about how getting in touch to fix something makes the relationship sour. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened. “The landlady had always been very efficient. She was a bit iffy on the English, but until this point she seemed friendly enough. When I asked her to fix the problem, she told me that she wasn’t the owner, and that she’d have to ask them about repairs. I don’t know whether she ever did talk to them, because apparently no information ever came back to her. “I decided to find out who the owners were. She wouldn’t give me any contact information for them, and when I checked my lease, it was just her name on there. Things went back and forth for a while, and nothing was done. It was still very maggoty. Eventually, I went to the Residential Tenancy Branch, and I asked for an order to repair. “Before the hearing started, the branch sent some people to assess the situation at my apartment. They boarded everything up, and they put a big support beam on my deck that I had to live with. The tenancy branch ruled that I should have $100 off my rent for the inconvenience I’d experienced, which was backdated for about three or four months.
“That pissed off the owners, so they went after me. I got an eviction notice for smoking, even though I don’t smoke—and we didn’t even live in a nonsmoking building. I wasn’t actually in the day that she was accusing me, and I had proof of that. I went to talk to the landlady, and explain that I was a good tenant who had lived there for two-and-ahalf years, and that I was sad that our relationship had seemed to have deteriorated because I was just looking to get some repairs. She maintained that I should be evicted. “To fight it, I had to go to the Residential Tenancy Branch again. I wanted to talk to the owner of the building, but he was still nowhere to be found. I had to log an information request with the City of Vancouver to find out his name. Finally I got an address and number for him, but it was a struggle because he was hiding behind a corporation. “During this time, because the balcony wasn’t fully fixed, there was a rusty nail sticking through a plank. I stepped on it by accident, and it went right through my foot. It was really painful, and I had to go and get a tetanus shot. That didn’t help the situation. “We then ended up deciding at the second tenancy branch meeting that it would be beneficial and mutually agreeable for us to end the tenancy, because our relationship seemed to have deteriorated beyond repair. I didn’t want to live there anymore because I didn’t want to deal with a landlady who was hostile toward me. “Then, by total chance, my mechanic friend happened to be doing work on the car of the owner of the building. He overheard the owner in the shop talking about how he was just waiting for the building to crumble to dust so he could bulldoze over it and build something new, and double the rent for it. He literally wasn’t going to put a cent into the building, and he wouldn’t give anyone any compensation. “After hearing this I dug into things a little more. I found that all of my friends who had lived there had all had trouble getting their damage deposits back. I sent the owner a letter directly saying that I was moving out, and gave him a forwarding address for my deposits. Needless to say, I never got the money. “Once again I went back to the Residential Tenancy Branch. I knew all the laws, and I’d done all the reading. I knew I was in the right. I ended up getting $1,600 back for my damage deposit, because it was doubled after the owner didn’t send it within two weeks of me moving out. I also got my fob deposits back. “If you’re prepared enough, the tenancy branch can work for you in some situations. It’s important to be proactive, take pictures, get everything in writing, and be persistent.” -
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AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 17
FederalAuction.ca PUBLIC AUCTION
VALUABLE JEWELLERY & SWISS WATCHES Majority of Consignments comprise of Certified Diamonds and Fine Jewellery containing Coloured Gemstones such as Rubies, Sapphires and Emeralds. Swiss Watches include Rolex, Cartier and Patek. An impressive collection of Fancy Pink, Yellow, Green, Purple Diamonds
Men''s Gol Men's Gold Rolex DATEJUST Autom A Automatic Wristwatch
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Labour Day, Monday September 4 2017 Viewing at 12 pm | Auction at 1 pm VanDusen Botanical Garden 5251 Oak St. at West 37th Ave., Vancouver Terms: 15% handling, GST & PST in effect. Cash, Visa, MasterCard, Bank Draft. Federal Auction Service. (Not a Govt. Agency) Š FAS 2017
Ph: 604-601-2069
straight stars > B Y R O SE MARCUS
August 31 to September 6, 2017
W
e have arrived at the end of the month and the unofficial end of summer, but the stars aren’t on the finish-up. They’re on a major wind-it-up. The sun is on task in Virgo, but Leo, the heart and centre, self-gratification archetype, is still calling the shots. Venus has recently entered Leo, Mars is well on its way, and Mercury retrograde revisits the sign as of Thursday. All three aim to play it up and make the most of it. Going live early Saturday, Mars trine Uranus launches the long weekend with a game-for-it, here-and-now, ready-set-go vibe. Mercury is on the backup and Mars on the forward through Leo. Retriggering the sensitive degree of the August 21 solar eclipse, the duo will cross paths early Sunday. The two are a strike-it-hot or lighta-fuse combination. Mercury/Mars can steam it up in a sexy-heart’sdelight or cash-in-on-it way. On the f lip side, this fast-and-furious pairing can inf lame a situation; ignite sudden aggression or violence; or produce an accident, revolt, sudden snap, or abrupt cutoff. Aptly timed for the back-to-it routine, Mars leaves Leo for Virgo, while Mercury finishes retrograde on Tuesday but continues to act as an eclipse trigger through next Saturday. The uncertain, revealing, or exposing effects of Wednesday’s full moon in Pisces can be felt as early as Monday evening. Situations are fluid and unfolding. Simplify, ease into it as best you can. There’s more promise or factors than readily apparent.
You have a monopoly on the bright lights this long weekend. Fast on the pickup, quick on the comeback, Mars/Mercury keeps you on a fresh and full battery charge. Stay ready to jump on it in a flash. Monday evening through Wednesday, keep it real.
VIRGO
LIBRA
SCORPIO
August 23–September 23
Has the retrograde been doing you in? Mercury’s backtrack out of Virgo on Thursday can feel like something of a reprieve. Mars into Virgo next Tuesday pumps fresh air in your tires. You don’t have to wait, though. Mars/Mercury could rev it up for you unexpectedly. Monday evening through full-moon Wednesday, one thing leads to another. Take it one step at a time. September 23–October 23
Never a dull moment, always something on the ready; Venus, newly into Leo, and Mercury’s backtrack into this sign on Thursday provide a boost where you’ll appreciate it the most. Watch for Mercury/Mars to strike f lint this weekend. Tuesday/Wednesday, keep it simple and open-ended. If you don’t have to, don’t. Let it unfold naturally. It’s easy to get confused or lose track. October 23–November 22
Can you one-up yourself? You bet. Aiming to get back at it? You’ll get a good jump-start this weekend, perhaps unexpectedly so. Mercury retrograde and Mars in Leo can make your next choice an obvious pick. A special event, anniversary, or reconnection can be the highlight of ARIES the weekend. Wednesday’s full moon March 20–April 20 exposes something opportune. MonWhat a difference a day day night and into Tuesday is staging. can make! Off to on, minus to plus, SAGITTARIUS Mercury’s backtrack into Leo on November 22–December 21 Thursday switches you onto a posiYou’ll have no trouble tive upswing. Mars, finishing up in Leo through next Tuesday, also making the most of it this long weekplaces you on the side of great cre- end. Enjoy it to the fullest! Mars/ ative opportunity. Seize it when you Mercury retrograde could see you see it. Both offer an auspicious back- strike it hot in some unexpected drop for a fresh try or second chance, way. Once the fire is lit, matters take on a life of their own. Late Monday especially Saturday/Sunday. through Wednesday, the stars shift TAURUS gears. Stay open-ended or noncomApril 20–May 21 mittal until you have more to go on. You are about to hit a oneCAPRICORN two fast track. Recognize that no December 21–January 20 matter how or what the trigger is, With your lover, with this next week points you in the direction of best potential and optimal loved ones, or on your own, it won’t success, especially when you release, take much to strike it hot this long allow, express, free up, and/or take weekend. If it worked well for you your best shot. Saturday/Sunday: feel last time, try it again. You’ll get more it, say it, do it. Tuesday/Wednesday is out of it this time. Monday evening through Wednesday, go by feel. The also especially fruitful. full moon puts more on the to-do list. GEMINI May 21–June 21 AQUARIUS Mercury’s backtrack into January 20–February 18 Something special to look Leo gives you one more good excuse to go all out before the back-to-it rou- forward to? Venus, Mars, and Mertine gets the better of you. The long cury retrograde in Leo aim to make weekend could spark something un- the most of it. Whether disruptive, expected. Spontaneous or planned, a entertaining, or mesmerizing, somespecial event or get-together, a spe- one special can claim your attention. cial someone, or a great conversation Saturday/Sunday fast-tracks a conor score could make your weekend. versation, breakthrough, or course Tuesday/Wednesday: ease up, ease of action. One thing after another, into it but stay alert, don’t lose track. Tuesday/Wednesday piles on extras and requires more investment, safeCANCER guarding, or relinquishing. Simplify June 21–July 22 where possible. Look to Mercury/Mars to PISCES spark new ideas, possibilities, and February 18–March 20 moneymaking avenues. It’s an ideal At work or at play, expect time to reinvent yourself, from the ground up if necessary. There’s no a full-to-the-brim, cash-in-on-it need to struggle at it. With such dy- long weekend. Regarding health, namic stars to assist you now, you wealth, and pleasure-seeking, Mars could be up and rolling in a flash. and Mercury retrograde are excepWednesday’s full moon challenges tionally revitalizing. Whatever fires you to trust, to open up to possibil- up has a strong, go-the-distance life force to it. Monday night through ity, to aspire higher. Wednesday, the Pisces full moon LEO has you on all systems go. -
THIS LABOUR DAY
HELP KEEP NURSES SAFE
www.bcnu.org
> 9 out of 10 people in BC think that more should be done to prevent violence against nurses. > 95% of nurses agreed that 24/7 security at certain sites would reduce violence in the workplace.
— Mustel poll March 2017
During BC’s May election all three political party leaders signed a pledge to advocate for a violence-free workplace for nurses. Call your MLA and tell them it’s time to honour the pledge and provide the security to keep nurses safe.
July 22–August 23
Don’t you just love it when B o o k a re a d i n g o r s i g n u p f o r the stars conspire on your behalf? Rose’s free monthly newsletter at Have it your way, call the shots. www.rosemarcus.com/. 18 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017
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September 2 & 3 • 10am - 5pm Mission Kitsilano executive chef Curtis Luk will demonstrate how to make green-garbanzo hummus with local crudités.
A world of food converges
Kerrisdale Arena 5670 East Boulevard at 41st Avenue Vancouver, BC • Free Parking General Admission • Saturday & Sunday 10am - 5pm • $7 at Door Children Under 13 Free with Adult Admission • Cafe & Snack Bar 21st Century Promotions • 604 980 3159 • 21cpromotions.com
Various international cuisines will be sharing the stage at the FEASTival of Flavours
W
hen Curtis Luk takes Mi Juicy, Kampong, Old Country a turn on the culinary Pierogi, and Slavic Rolls. stage at the upcomAlso appearing on the culinary ing Richmond World stage are several other local talFestival, the chances of him having ents, including Kimiko Suzuki, who the jitters are slim. That’s because teaches Japanese cooking at UBC the setting has a familiar feel for the Farm and other places around Metro executive chef of Mission Kitsilano. Vancouver. She’ll be taking to the “I grew up in Markham [On- stage for the second year in a row. tario], which is like the Richmond “Richmond has a special place in over there,” Luk tells the Straight my heart,” Suzuki tells the Straight. on the line from his Kitsilano “I was born and raised in Wakarestaurant. “We yama, Japan. Richhave giant Chimond and Wakanese malls, and yama have a long there’s a lot of history as sister Gail Johnson Asian influences. cities. My husband It really reminds me of home. It’s was raised in Richmond and we met uncanny how similar it is; some of while I was working there. Richmond the better Chinese restaurants in World Festival helps all people rethe Greater Toronto area are there. member that we live in a big one world So, for me, being at the festival is together, and we should enjoy and aplike being at home.” preciate each other, as a community.” Luk, who moved west just over Suzuki will be sharing her recipe five years ago, will be showing food- for kimchi fried rice. It has bacon loving fest attendees how to make his and water chestnuts and is spicy, green-garbanzo hummus with local salty, and crunchy all at once. crudités. It’s a fresh-tasting dish, “This dish is created from inlight and textural, the green garban- gredients from all over the world,” zo beans lending it a flavour remin- she says. “Kimchi is originally iscent of fava beans or green peas. It’s from Korea, lots of South Asian also a simple one for a reason. dishes have water chestnuts, “I wanted something you can bacon is from Canada, and sushi actually make at home,” Luk says. rice is from Japan. This is a dish “There are a lot of complicated things where the world comes together. on TV cooking shows. If you’re go- I love to show people how simple it ing to demo on the stage, the person is to make great meals happen.” watching should feel like ‘Oh yeah, Thai chef Pailin Chongchitnant, that’s something I’d try.’ ” meanwhile, makes cooking videos The cooking stage is one compon- for her YouTube channel and her ent of the event’s food offerings. The One World Kitchen is in its second FEASTival of Flavours will feature season on Gusto. She will be particimore than 50 food trucks, including pating in the fest for the first time. Chickpea, Curry Express, Jamaican “Being a member of a minority
Best Eats
ethnic group myself, I always love and appreciate events that shine light onto different cultures that are represented here in Canada, especially ones that are lesser known by the general public,” Chongchitnant says. She’ll be making pineapple fried rice, seasoned with classic Thai ingredients such as fish sauce and soy sauce, as well as curry powder and white pepper for added warmth. “Tart, fresh pineapple, not canned, contrasts perfectly with the nuttiness from cashews, and if you’re a fan of raisins you can throw those in too,” Chongchitnant explains. “It’s one of those dishes you can’t stop eating, plus it’s beautiful and quick to put together. It’s not something I grew up eating in Thailand, actually, because people there like to put raisins in it, which I can’t stand. But now that I’m cooking my own food, I can conveniently leave them out. “It’s such an easy and delicious dish anyone can do at home, and that’s always my goal when doing demos: to show people Thai food does not have to be complicated,” she adds. “It’s also a dish that perfectly represents Chinese and Indian influences on Thai cuisine, so when I demo this dish, it opens a door for me to talk about cultural roots of Thai cuisine as well.” The FEASTival of Flavours is part of the Richmond World Festival on Friday and Saturday (September 1 and 2) at Minoru Park. Curtis Luk will participate in the International Pan-Asian Culinary Invitational taking place on Saturday and Sunday (September 2 and 3) at Robson Plaza during TaiwanFest.
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meatatdixies.com AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 19
Free Admission
Culinary
Performance
The Kitchen of Sweetness
Downtown Vancouver International Pan-Asian Culinary Invitational
9/2-3 9/4
2pm – 3pm 3pm – 4pm
9/2
1-2pm Round1 3-4pm Round2 5-6pm Round3
9/3
Granville 500
12-1pm Semi-Final A 2-3pm Semi-Final B 4-5pm Final
Robson Plaza
IPACI-Celebrity Chef vs Home Chef
9/4
12-1pm, 2-3pm, 4-5pm
Robson Plaza
Street Banquet
9/2-3 9/4
11am – 9pm 11am – 6pm
Robson Plaza
Kanpai, Vancouver!
9/2 9/3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 10pm 12pm – 4pm
VAG Plaza
Friendship Picnic
9/2, 4
12pm – 1pm
VAG Plaza
Workshop and Activity
[ TAIWANfest Time Capsule ] for a chance to win a trip to TAIWAN!
Organizer
20 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017
VAG Stage
Extreme Diabolo
9/2 9/3
2:30pm – 3pm 4:30pm – 5pm
Granville Stage
Tetsu Taiko
9/2
1:30pm – 2:30pm
VAG Stage
Sakura Singers
9/4
1pm – 1:30pm
VAG Stage
Vancouver Okinawa Taiko
9/4
2pm – 2:45pm
VAG Stage
Sounds Global Ensemble
9/2
4:30pm – 6pm
Playhouse
CRAS
9/3
2pm – 3pm
Dharma Drum Mountain Vancouver Drum Ensemble
9/3
4pm – 5pm
MJE
9/3
6pm – 7pm
VAG Stage
Nakasi
9/2
3pm – 4pm
VAG Stage
Satsuki Kai Dance Academy
9/4
5pm – 5:45pm
Granville Stage
Hope Talk Hope Talk-Love, Binti
9/2
1pm – 2pm
Annex
Hope Talk: Superhero on Paper and A Forgotten Media
9/2
4pm – 5:45pm
Annex
Hope Talk: Twelve-year-old Piano Sensation and The End as Well as the Beginning
9/3
12pm – 1:45pm
Playhouse
Hope Talk: Forgotten Legend-Bunya Koh
9/3
1pm – 2pm
Annex
VAG Stage
Hope Talk: Shadows of the Crimson Sun by Julia Lin
9/4
1pm – 2pm
Annex
VAG Stage
Hope Talk: Art of the Japanese Fan and Tales from Yangmingshan
9/4
4pm – 5:45pm
Annex
Cinematic Taiwan-The Walkers
9/3
4:30pm – 7pm
Playhouse
Film
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
Terra Kendama and Hip Hop Dance
9/2
5pm – 6pm
Granville Stage
Cinematic Taiwan Let There Be Light
9/3
4pm – 6pm
Annex
Aroma Shima
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 500
CLF Tai Chi
9/4
3:45pm – 4:45pm
Granville Stage
1:30pm – 2:30pm 4:30pm – 5:30pm
12:30pm – 2:30pm
Playhouse
Granville 800
Aikido-The Way of Harmonizing Energy
9/2
Workshop-Paper Craft
9/2 9/3
Cinematic Taiwan Let There be Light Film Festival
9/4
Workshop-Betelnut Fans
9/2 9/4
12pm – 1pm 3pm – 4pm
Granville 800
Yoka Hanayagi Dance Academy
9/3
Workshop-Origami (Adult)
9/2 9/3 9/4
1-2pm, 3-4pm 1-2pm, 3-4pm 1-2pm, 3-4pm
2pm – 3pm
Granville 700
Social Good 2pm – 3pm
Granville 700
Exhibition
Granville 600
Workshop-Origami (Kids)
9/3
3pm – 4pm
Granville 800
Who Am I ?!
9/2-3 9/4
Workshop - Chigiri-e
9/2 9/3 9/4
3pm – 4pm 1:30pm – 2:30pm 4:30pm – 5:30pm
Granville 800
The Paper Play A Forgotten Media
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
9/2
12:30 -1pm, 4 - 4:15pm 4:30 - 4:45pm, 5:30 - 6pm
The Paper Play Art of the Japanese Fan
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
9/3
12:30 -1pm, 4 - 4:15pm 4:30 - 4:45pm, 5:30 - 6pm
The Paper Play Superhero on Paper
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
9/4
12:30 -1pm, 1:30 - 1:45pm 2 - 2:15pm, 5 - 5:30pm
Paper Play Chigiri-e
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
Workshop-Delicate Play with Nature
9/2 9/3
3pm – 4pm 2-3pm, 3:15 - 4:15pm
The Paper Play Origami Tulip Garden
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
Workshop Number Painting
9/2 9/3 9/4
4:30pm – 5:30pm 12pm – 1pm 1:30pm - 2:30pm
Granville 800
Fashion Snap
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
Delicate Play with Nature
9/2-3
11am – 4:30pm
QE Theatre Salons
Rooster Winter Games
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
The Hakka Under Japan
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 500
Granville 500
QE Theatre Salons
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
VAG Plaza
9/2-3 12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm 9/4
Granville 700
Social Good-Other Half
9/2-3 12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm 9/4
Granville 700
"Kanpai, Japan!" Symphony Concert
Maestro Ken Hsieh
Spintop Kids
Governments
Hear Them Out
O
Bronze
Hao-Wei Lin
Sheng-Xiang & Band ft. Misa
A Forgotten Media
Silver
Social Good-Love, Binti
Sanxia Spintops
The Paper Play -
Hakka Mama
Gold
8:30pm – 10pm
Granville 800
9/2-3 9/4
Street Banquet
Co-Organizer
9/3
QE Theatre
TAIWANfest Time Capsule
Rodney Ansell
Art of the Japanese Fan
Hear Them Out Sheng-Xiang & Band ft. Misa
7pm – 9:30pm
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville Stage
Terra Kendama
The Paper Play -
9/2
9/2-3 9/4
Numbers Salon
12-2:30pm, 3:30-5pm, 6-7pm 12-1:30pm, 3-4pm, 5-7pm 12-2pm, 3-4pm
Workshop-Aroma Shima
Play
Opening Ceremony and"Kanpai, Japan!"Symphony Concert by Maestro Ken Hsieh and VMO
9/2 9/3 9/4
Spintop Play Station
www.taiwanfest.ca
Exhibition
Diamond
Gold
Partners
AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 21
Free Admission
Culinary
Performance
The Kitchen of Sweetness
Downtown Vancouver International Pan-Asian Culinary Invitational
9/2-3 9/4
2pm – 3pm 3pm – 4pm
9/2
1-2pm Round1 3-4pm Round2 5-6pm Round3
9/3
Granville 500
12-1pm Semi-Final A 2-3pm Semi-Final B 4-5pm Final
Robson Plaza
IPACI-Celebrity Chef vs Home Chef
9/4
12-1pm, 2-3pm, 4-5pm
Robson Plaza
Street Banquet
9/2-3 9/4
11am – 9pm 11am – 6pm
Robson Plaza
Kanpai, Vancouver!
9/2 9/3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 10pm 12pm – 4pm
VAG Plaza
Friendship Picnic
9/2, 4
12pm – 1pm
VAG Plaza
Workshop and Activity
[ TAIWANfest Time Capsule ] for a chance to win a trip to TAIWAN!
Organizer
20 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017
VAG Stage
Extreme Diabolo
9/2 9/3
2:30pm – 3pm 4:30pm – 5pm
Granville Stage
Tetsu Taiko
9/2
1:30pm – 2:30pm
VAG Stage
Sakura Singers
9/4
1pm – 1:30pm
VAG Stage
Vancouver Okinawa Taiko
9/4
2pm – 2:45pm
VAG Stage
Sounds Global Ensemble
9/2
4:30pm – 6pm
Playhouse
CRAS
9/3
2pm – 3pm
Dharma Drum Mountain Vancouver Drum Ensemble
9/3
4pm – 5pm
MJE
9/3
6pm – 7pm
VAG Stage
Nakasi
9/2
3pm – 4pm
VAG Stage
Satsuki Kai Dance Academy
9/4
5pm – 5:45pm
Granville Stage
Hope Talk Hope Talk-Love, Binti
9/2
1pm – 2pm
Annex
Hope Talk: Superhero on Paper and A Forgotten Media
9/2
4pm – 5:45pm
Annex
Hope Talk: Twelve-year-old Piano Sensation and The End as Well as the Beginning
9/3
12pm – 1:45pm
Playhouse
Hope Talk: Forgotten Legend-Bunya Koh
9/3
1pm – 2pm
Annex
VAG Stage
Hope Talk: Shadows of the Crimson Sun by Julia Lin
9/4
1pm – 2pm
Annex
VAG Stage
Hope Talk: Art of the Japanese Fan and Tales from Yangmingshan
9/4
4pm – 5:45pm
Annex
Cinematic Taiwan-The Walkers
9/3
4:30pm – 7pm
Playhouse
Film
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
Terra Kendama and Hip Hop Dance
9/2
5pm – 6pm
Granville Stage
Cinematic Taiwan Let There Be Light
9/3
4pm – 6pm
Annex
Aroma Shima
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 500
CLF Tai Chi
9/4
3:45pm – 4:45pm
Granville Stage
1:30pm – 2:30pm 4:30pm – 5:30pm
12:30pm – 2:30pm
Playhouse
Granville 800
Aikido-The Way of Harmonizing Energy
9/2
Workshop-Paper Craft
9/2 9/3
Cinematic Taiwan Let There be Light Film Festival
9/4
Workshop-Betelnut Fans
9/2 9/4
12pm – 1pm 3pm – 4pm
Granville 800
Yoka Hanayagi Dance Academy
9/3
Workshop-Origami (Adult)
9/2 9/3 9/4
1-2pm, 3-4pm 1-2pm, 3-4pm 1-2pm, 3-4pm
2pm – 3pm
Granville 700
Social Good 2pm – 3pm
Granville 700
Exhibition
Granville 600
Workshop-Origami (Kids)
9/3
3pm – 4pm
Granville 800
Who Am I ?!
9/2-3 9/4
Workshop - Chigiri-e
9/2 9/3 9/4
3pm – 4pm 1:30pm – 2:30pm 4:30pm – 5:30pm
Granville 800
The Paper Play A Forgotten Media
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
9/2
12:30 -1pm, 4 - 4:15pm 4:30 - 4:45pm, 5:30 - 6pm
The Paper Play Art of the Japanese Fan
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
9/3
12:30 -1pm, 4 - 4:15pm 4:30 - 4:45pm, 5:30 - 6pm
The Paper Play Superhero on Paper
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
9/4
12:30 -1pm, 1:30 - 1:45pm 2 - 2:15pm, 5 - 5:30pm
Paper Play Chigiri-e
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
Workshop-Delicate Play with Nature
9/2 9/3
3pm – 4pm 2-3pm, 3:15 - 4:15pm
The Paper Play Origami Tulip Garden
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
Workshop Number Painting
9/2 9/3 9/4
4:30pm – 5:30pm 12pm – 1pm 1:30pm - 2:30pm
Granville 800
Fashion Snap
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
Delicate Play with Nature
9/2-3
11am – 4:30pm
QE Theatre Salons
Rooster Winter Games
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
The Hakka Under Japan
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 500
Granville 500
QE Theatre Salons
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
VAG Plaza
9/2-3 12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm 9/4
Granville 700
Social Good-Other Half
9/2-3 12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm 9/4
Granville 700
"Kanpai, Japan!" Symphony Concert
Maestro Ken Hsieh
Spintop Kids
Governments
Hear Them Out
O
Bronze
Hao-Wei Lin
Sheng-Xiang & Band ft. Misa
A Forgotten Media
Silver
Social Good-Love, Binti
Sanxia Spintops
The Paper Play -
Hakka Mama
Gold
8:30pm – 10pm
Granville 800
9/2-3 9/4
Street Banquet
Co-Organizer
9/3
QE Theatre
TAIWANfest Time Capsule
Rodney Ansell
Art of the Japanese Fan
Hear Them Out Sheng-Xiang & Band ft. Misa
7pm – 9:30pm
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville Stage
Terra Kendama
The Paper Play -
9/2
9/2-3 9/4
Numbers Salon
12-2:30pm, 3:30-5pm, 6-7pm 12-1:30pm, 3-4pm, 5-7pm 12-2pm, 3-4pm
Workshop-Aroma Shima
Play
Opening Ceremony and"Kanpai, Japan!"Symphony Concert by Maestro Ken Hsieh and VMO
9/2 9/3 9/4
Spintop Play Station
www.taiwanfest.ca
Exhibition
Diamond
Gold
Partners
AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 21
Free Admission
Culinary
Performance
The Kitchen of Sweetness
Downtown Vancouver International Pan-Asian Culinary Invitational
9/2-3 9/4
2pm – 3pm 3pm – 4pm
9/2
1-2pm Round1 3-4pm Round2 5-6pm Round3
9/3
Granville 500
12-1pm Semi-Final A 2-3pm Semi-Final B 4-5pm Final
Robson Plaza
IPACI-Celebrity Chef vs Home Chef
9/4
12-1pm, 2-3pm, 4-5pm
Robson Plaza
Street Banquet
9/2-3 9/4
11am – 9pm 11am – 6pm
Robson Plaza
Kanpai, Vancouver!
9/2 9/3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 10pm 12pm – 4pm
VAG Plaza
Friendship Picnic
9/2, 4
12pm – 1pm
VAG Plaza
Workshop and Activity
[ TAIWANfest Time Capsule ] for a chance to win a trip to TAIWAN!
Organizer
20 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017
VAG Stage
Extreme Diabolo
9/2 9/3
2:30pm – 3pm 4:30pm – 5pm
Granville Stage
Tetsu Taiko
9/2
1:30pm – 2:30pm
VAG Stage
Sakura Singers
9/4
1pm – 1:30pm
VAG Stage
Vancouver Okinawa Taiko
9/4
2pm – 2:45pm
VAG Stage
Sounds Global Ensemble
9/2
4:30pm – 6pm
Playhouse
CRAS
9/3
2pm – 3pm
Dharma Drum Mountain Vancouver Drum Ensemble
9/3
4pm – 5pm
MJE
9/3
6pm – 7pm
VAG Stage
Nakasi
9/2
3pm – 4pm
VAG Stage
Satsuki Kai Dance Academy
9/4
5pm – 5:45pm
Granville Stage
Hope Talk Hope Talk-Love, Binti
9/2
1pm – 2pm
Annex
Hope Talk: Superhero on Paper and A Forgotten Media
9/2
4pm – 5:45pm
Annex
Hope Talk: Twelve-year-old Piano Sensation and The End as Well as the Beginning
9/3
12pm – 1:45pm
Playhouse
Hope Talk: Forgotten Legend-Bunya Koh
9/3
1pm – 2pm
Annex
VAG Stage
Hope Talk: Shadows of the Crimson Sun by Julia Lin
9/4
1pm – 2pm
Annex
VAG Stage
Hope Talk: Art of the Japanese Fan and Tales from Yangmingshan
9/4
4pm – 5:45pm
Annex
Cinematic Taiwan-The Walkers
9/3
4:30pm – 7pm
Playhouse
Film
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
Terra Kendama and Hip Hop Dance
9/2
5pm – 6pm
Granville Stage
Cinematic Taiwan Let There Be Light
9/3
4pm – 6pm
Annex
Aroma Shima
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 500
CLF Tai Chi
9/4
3:45pm – 4:45pm
Granville Stage
1:30pm – 2:30pm 4:30pm – 5:30pm
12:30pm – 2:30pm
Playhouse
Granville 800
Aikido-The Way of Harmonizing Energy
9/2
Workshop-Paper Craft
9/2 9/3
Cinematic Taiwan Let There be Light Film Festival
9/4
Workshop-Betelnut Fans
9/2 9/4
12pm – 1pm 3pm – 4pm
Granville 800
Yoka Hanayagi Dance Academy
9/3
Workshop-Origami (Adult)
9/2 9/3 9/4
1-2pm, 3-4pm 1-2pm, 3-4pm 1-2pm, 3-4pm
2pm – 3pm
Granville 700
Social Good 2pm – 3pm
Granville 700
Exhibition
Granville 600
Workshop-Origami (Kids)
9/3
3pm – 4pm
Granville 800
Who Am I ?!
9/2-3 9/4
Workshop - Chigiri-e
9/2 9/3 9/4
3pm – 4pm 1:30pm – 2:30pm 4:30pm – 5:30pm
Granville 800
The Paper Play A Forgotten Media
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
9/2
12:30 -1pm, 4 - 4:15pm 4:30 - 4:45pm, 5:30 - 6pm
The Paper Play Art of the Japanese Fan
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
9/3
12:30 -1pm, 4 - 4:15pm 4:30 - 4:45pm, 5:30 - 6pm
The Paper Play Superhero on Paper
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
9/4
12:30 -1pm, 1:30 - 1:45pm 2 - 2:15pm, 5 - 5:30pm
Paper Play Chigiri-e
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
Workshop-Delicate Play with Nature
9/2 9/3
3pm – 4pm 2-3pm, 3:15 - 4:15pm
The Paper Play Origami Tulip Garden
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
Workshop Number Painting
9/2 9/3 9/4
4:30pm – 5:30pm 12pm – 1pm 1:30pm - 2:30pm
Granville 800
Fashion Snap
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
Delicate Play with Nature
9/2-3
11am – 4:30pm
QE Theatre Salons
Rooster Winter Games
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
The Hakka Under Japan
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 500
Granville 500
QE Theatre Salons
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
VAG Plaza
9/2-3 12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm 9/4
Granville 700
Social Good-Other Half
9/2-3 12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm 9/4
Granville 700
"Kanpai, Japan!" Symphony Concert
Maestro Ken Hsieh
Spintop Kids
Governments
Hear Them Out
O
Bronze
Hao-Wei Lin
Sheng-Xiang & Band ft. Misa
A Forgotten Media
Silver
Social Good-Love, Binti
Sanxia Spintops
The Paper Play -
Hakka Mama
Gold
8:30pm – 10pm
Granville 800
9/2-3 9/4
Street Banquet
Co-Organizer
9/3
QE Theatre
TAIWANfest Time Capsule
Rodney Ansell
Art of the Japanese Fan
Hear Them Out Sheng-Xiang & Band ft. Misa
7pm – 9:30pm
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville Stage
Terra Kendama
The Paper Play -
9/2
9/2-3 9/4
Numbers Salon
12-2:30pm, 3:30-5pm, 6-7pm 12-1:30pm, 3-4pm, 5-7pm 12-2pm, 3-4pm
Workshop-Aroma Shima
Play
Opening Ceremony and"Kanpai, Japan!"Symphony Concert by Maestro Ken Hsieh and VMO
9/2 9/3 9/4
Spintop Play Station
www.taiwanfest.ca
Exhibition
Diamond
Gold
Partners
AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 21
Free Admission
Culinary
Performance
The Kitchen of Sweetness
Downtown Vancouver International Pan-Asian Culinary Invitational
9/2-3 9/4
2pm – 3pm 3pm – 4pm
9/2
1-2pm Round1 3-4pm Round2 5-6pm Round3
9/3
Granville 500
12-1pm Semi-Final A 2-3pm Semi-Final B 4-5pm Final
Robson Plaza
IPACI-Celebrity Chef vs Home Chef
9/4
12-1pm, 2-3pm, 4-5pm
Robson Plaza
Street Banquet
9/2-3 9/4
11am – 9pm 11am – 6pm
Robson Plaza
Kanpai, Vancouver!
9/2 9/3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 10pm 12pm – 4pm
VAG Plaza
Friendship Picnic
9/2, 4
12pm – 1pm
VAG Plaza
Workshop and Activity
[ TAIWANfest Time Capsule ] for a chance to win a trip to TAIWAN!
Organizer
20 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017
VAG Stage
Extreme Diabolo
9/2 9/3
2:30pm – 3pm 4:30pm – 5pm
Granville Stage
Tetsu Taiko
9/2
1:30pm – 2:30pm
VAG Stage
Sakura Singers
9/4
1pm – 1:30pm
VAG Stage
Vancouver Okinawa Taiko
9/4
2pm – 2:45pm
VAG Stage
Sounds Global Ensemble
9/2
4:30pm – 6pm
Playhouse
CRAS
9/3
2pm – 3pm
Dharma Drum Mountain Vancouver Drum Ensemble
9/3
4pm – 5pm
MJE
9/3
6pm – 7pm
VAG Stage
Nakasi
9/2
3pm – 4pm
VAG Stage
Satsuki Kai Dance Academy
9/4
5pm – 5:45pm
Granville Stage
Hope Talk Hope Talk-Love, Binti
9/2
1pm – 2pm
Annex
Hope Talk: Superhero on Paper and A Forgotten Media
9/2
4pm – 5:45pm
Annex
Hope Talk: Twelve-year-old Piano Sensation and The End as Well as the Beginning
9/3
12pm – 1:45pm
Playhouse
Hope Talk: Forgotten Legend-Bunya Koh
9/3
1pm – 2pm
Annex
VAG Stage
Hope Talk: Shadows of the Crimson Sun by Julia Lin
9/4
1pm – 2pm
Annex
VAG Stage
Hope Talk: Art of the Japanese Fan and Tales from Yangmingshan
9/4
4pm – 5:45pm
Annex
Cinematic Taiwan-The Walkers
9/3
4:30pm – 7pm
Playhouse
Film
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
Terra Kendama and Hip Hop Dance
9/2
5pm – 6pm
Granville Stage
Cinematic Taiwan Let There Be Light
9/3
4pm – 6pm
Annex
Aroma Shima
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 500
CLF Tai Chi
9/4
3:45pm – 4:45pm
Granville Stage
1:30pm – 2:30pm 4:30pm – 5:30pm
12:30pm – 2:30pm
Playhouse
Granville 800
Aikido-The Way of Harmonizing Energy
9/2
Workshop-Paper Craft
9/2 9/3
Cinematic Taiwan Let There be Light Film Festival
9/4
Workshop-Betelnut Fans
9/2 9/4
12pm – 1pm 3pm – 4pm
Granville 800
Yoka Hanayagi Dance Academy
9/3
Workshop-Origami (Adult)
9/2 9/3 9/4
1-2pm, 3-4pm 1-2pm, 3-4pm 1-2pm, 3-4pm
2pm – 3pm
Granville 700
Social Good 2pm – 3pm
Granville 700
Exhibition
Granville 600
Workshop-Origami (Kids)
9/3
3pm – 4pm
Granville 800
Who Am I ?!
9/2-3 9/4
Workshop - Chigiri-e
9/2 9/3 9/4
3pm – 4pm 1:30pm – 2:30pm 4:30pm – 5:30pm
Granville 800
The Paper Play A Forgotten Media
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
9/2
12:30 -1pm, 4 - 4:15pm 4:30 - 4:45pm, 5:30 - 6pm
The Paper Play Art of the Japanese Fan
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
9/3
12:30 -1pm, 4 - 4:15pm 4:30 - 4:45pm, 5:30 - 6pm
The Paper Play Superhero on Paper
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
9/4
12:30 -1pm, 1:30 - 1:45pm 2 - 2:15pm, 5 - 5:30pm
Paper Play Chigiri-e
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
Workshop-Delicate Play with Nature
9/2 9/3
3pm – 4pm 2-3pm, 3:15 - 4:15pm
The Paper Play Origami Tulip Garden
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
Workshop Number Painting
9/2 9/3 9/4
4:30pm – 5:30pm 12pm – 1pm 1:30pm - 2:30pm
Granville 800
Fashion Snap
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
Delicate Play with Nature
9/2-3
11am – 4:30pm
QE Theatre Salons
Rooster Winter Games
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 600
The Hakka Under Japan
9/2-3 9/4
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville 500
Granville 500
QE Theatre Salons
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
VAG Plaza
9/2-3 12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm 9/4
Granville 700
Social Good-Other Half
9/2-3 12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm 9/4
Granville 700
"Kanpai, Japan!" Symphony Concert
Maestro Ken Hsieh
Spintop Kids
Governments
Hear Them Out
O
Bronze
Hao-Wei Lin
Sheng-Xiang & Band ft. Misa
A Forgotten Media
Silver
Social Good-Love, Binti
Sanxia Spintops
The Paper Play -
Hakka Mama
Gold
8:30pm – 10pm
Granville 800
9/2-3 9/4
Street Banquet
Co-Organizer
9/3
QE Theatre
TAIWANfest Time Capsule
Rodney Ansell
Art of the Japanese Fan
Hear Them Out Sheng-Xiang & Band ft. Misa
7pm – 9:30pm
12pm – 7pm 12pm – 6pm
Granville Stage
Terra Kendama
The Paper Play -
9/2
9/2-3 9/4
Numbers Salon
12-2:30pm, 3:30-5pm, 6-7pm 12-1:30pm, 3-4pm, 5-7pm 12-2pm, 3-4pm
Workshop-Aroma Shima
Play
Opening Ceremony and"Kanpai, Japan!"Symphony Concert by Maestro Ken Hsieh and VMO
9/2 9/3 9/4
Spintop Play Station
www.taiwanfest.ca
Exhibition
Diamond
Gold
Partners
AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 21
TAIWAN FEST
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food fest SEPT 8-10
Take a road trip to Bellingham!
Friday, Sept 8:
• Revel- Cocktail Nosh & Spirits Tasting / Bellewood Acres
Saturday, Sept 9: • Whatcom County Farm Tour (Day 1) / Free & Self Guided • Farms, Fisheries & Fermentation Fete / Boundary Bay Brewery
Sunday, Sept 10:
• Farm Tour Brunch / Goat Mountain Pizza • Whatcom County Farm Tour (Day 2) / Free & Self Guided • Wine, Cheese & Chocolate / Vartanyan Estate Winery • Fried Chicken Picnic / ACME Farms + Kitchen TICKETS & DETAILS:
EATLOCALFIRST.ORG
> B Y TA M M Y K WA N
H
ave you ever wondered what the sky would taste like if it could be eaten? For those who love art and food, this year’s TaiwanFest has imported a food painter from Japan to tickle attendees’ culinary senses. One of the programs at this family-friendly extravaganza is the Kitchen of Sweetness—a talk and workshop led by Japanese chef and food painter Yui Aida. Aida studied architecture in her native land before exploring the culinary sphere, travelling to different countries to find and taste locally farmed produce and ingredients. But what does it mean to be a food painter? “It means drawing a theme using foods on a dish,” Aida told the Georgia Straight by phone. “I didn’t name myself as a food painter, but when I was doing what I thought was interesting, that title became attached to me.” Her travels often spark her creativity, enabling her to create food paintings that have become very popular in Taiwan. “I’ve travelled not only to other countries that are far from Japan, but also to [closer destinations] such as a park near my house,” Aida said. “I live in Tokyo, and the sea and the sky that I see during jogging and doing home gardening inspire my imagination.” Most of her creations are desserts made with edible décor that mimics the natural environment—think a potted plant, stones, soil, and mushrooms. Aida constantly questions her surroundings by pondering how certain things would taste if they could be consumed. What would be the flavour of a blooming flower? What would the sea or the sun be like to eat? She pushes the boundaries of dessert-making, resulting in unique creations and recipes. But don’t expect classic sweets that could be found at a local pastry shop. “I make sweets with seasonal vegetables and fruits [and] without eggs
Drawing inspiration from her surroundings, Japanese chef Yui Aida creates desserts made with vegetables and fruits that resemble elements from nature.
and dairy products,” Aida explained. The Japanese food painter enjoys using ingredients with natural, bright colours—especially vegetables and fruits high in natural sugars—to make desserts that are both beautiful and delicious. “When thinking about sweets, I think people imagine very sweet cakes and cookies,” Aida noted. “My sweets bring out the taste of the sweetness of the ingredients themselves, so I only need to use a small amount of sugar.” She said that in the month that she’s been in Vancouver, she’s made many discoveries, particularly at farmers markets. “It was shocking to me that the vegetables and fruits were very delicious,” she stated. “The taste of them is condensed and fresh.” Visitors who attend her program at TaiwanFest will be in for a treat: Aida will prepare five different items that revolve around a natural theme. “I will express nature that everyone knows with sweets,” she added. “This includes a food interpretation of the sea, the sky, and the sun. It’s
not only appearance, it is also nature captured by the five senses.” Visitors will be able to delight their taste buds with a “sky dish”: dou fa (Taiwanese pudding) made with soy milk. Another dish, “the sea”, will be made with butterfly pea tea (butterfly pea is a plant from Southeast Asia) paired with lemon juice. “I think that sweets and food [are] the common communication tool all over the world, and it will enrich the usual life of people,” Aida said. “I am happy if the world of people who ate what I made can be expanded, even if just a little. I hope to have a good time by sharing my food with everyone.” TaiwanFest takes place from Saturday to Monday (September 2 to 4) on Granville Street and at other downtown venues. Among the events is the International pan-Asian Culinary Invitational featuring chefs from Canada and Taiwan trying to create the best pan-Asian dish at Robson Plaza on Saturday and Sunday.
> Go on-line to read hundreds of I Saw You posts or to respond to a message < BLACK BIKE WITH YOUR FRIEND
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 26, 2017 WHERE: Sunshine Coast, Claytons Mall Parking Lot You lost your friends for a while. You came up to me and we chatted about it. Let’s ride.
CULTUS LAKE ADVENTURE PARK
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 24, 2017 WHERE: Cultus Lake We briefly met while our children “panned for gold” in the Wilderness Trail Ride. At the end, you saw my son running ahead of me towards the exit and I couldn’t keep up. You told him to wait for me and made sure he didn’t run off until I got there. I appreciated that gesture more than I could express in the moment and wished that we had the opportunity to chat a little more. If you’re single, I’d love to have coffee some time.
GELATTI HOTTIE
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 25, 2017 WHERE: Commercial Drive You really made my night when you complimented my tee. I was so stunned by your kindness I didn’t ask your name. Thanks for the shy smiles, they were sweeter than the gelato.
DIE ANTWOORD AT THUNDERBIRD LAST NIGHT
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 27, 2017 WHERE: UBC Thunderbird Stadium Almost front of the floor, extreme right side. You, in black, with long dark hair and fishnet stockings under your shorts. With a group of 3 female friends. Your friends kept pulling you away but you kept coming back. I felt it too. We kissed each other’s hands. We should meet again. Can’t stop thinking about you.
GORGEOUS WOMAN IN TURQUOISE
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OK BOBBY, WHERE YOU AT?
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 27, 2017 WHERE: S Train-Expo Line
I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 11, 2017 WHERE: Union St.
It was around 8pm on the SkyTrain, you had originally been standing in the center of two train cars, when I noticed you make your way to an available seat by the entrance. I wish I had spoke up and tried to start a conversation, because now I have that gorgeous smile of yours etched in my mind.
Saw you a few times about a week or so ago. On our bikes, at the park & then I think you were at the alt right protest. Part of me was like, ‘’I guess this is going to be a regular thing now” and another part of me was sticking to my “don’t get distracted by dudes’’ mantra. Well I suppose I’m distracted now as I find myself scoping all perimeters anticipating your next appearance not to mention posting in this "I SAW YOU" section. A coffee & a chat would be cool! S
ON THE FERRY
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 26, 2017 WHERE: Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal We were on the same ferry that arrived in Vancouver this evening. First I noticed your backpack, a great lived-in yellow day hiking backpack. I rarely take the ferry and wondered what kind of adventures you were up to. We saw each other at various points on the ship, especially out on the deck, and at one point you sat almost directly behind me in the inside lounge. You had such a nice demeanour, listening to your music and walking around looking out at the scenic islands. Your attention on the scenery was captivating. I regret not finding something to say because you look like someone I would like to know. Coffee sometime?!
ASIAN GIRL ON THE SKYTRAIN
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 25, 2017 WHERE: SkyTrain You are the most adorable Asian girl I have ever seen. I boarded on Granville station and noticed you so quickly. You looked at my eyes and made me fall in love with you badly. Sorry I was on my cellphone answering client's emails most of the time, but you got off at Metrotown station and we exchanged a very cute smile. I have never tried this before but I’m really hoping to find you again. If you read this by any chance, tell me what I look like and let’s go for a nice date.
MORNING GROCERIES AT SAFEWAY
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 22, 2017 WHERE: Safeway Westview I saw you at Safeway in on Capilano Road the 22nd, 9h30am. YOU: 6’2 i'd say Trevor Linden kinda look a like- salt and pepper hair, blue shirt, flip flops and a key chain. You had a small older grey camionette as you left the parking lot. ME: I was at the Starbucks getting a coffee; I had long blond hair, jean shorts and a white top; heading to a red small chevrolet car with another woman and a younger kid. You and I exchanged eye contact but I was too shy to start a conversation. It would be great if you’d read this and are available to answer back!
TODAY ON THE SKYTRAIN
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: AUGUST 25, 2017 WHERE: SkyTrain We kept smiling at each other :) you had sweet hair and the cutest smile. You were listening to some wicked music and jumped off at Commercial, wish I talked to you. If you see this you’ll know who I am. Let’s meet up, message me :)
Visit straight.com to post your FREE I Saw You _ 22 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017
Read and listen up on wine
E
ven though I’m not in school, the beginning of September always feels like I’m starting my year anew. I’ll generally try to pick up my fitness and nutrition game, just as one is wont to do at the beginning of January, and there’s usually a push to read a little more, learn something new, or do something along those lines. I’m probably not alone in this; it’s a great opportunity to reflect on how the year has been going, and then to give it our all in the home stretch. For those thinking it’s a good time to boost their wine knowledge, there are plenty of books and podcasts at our disposal. With a multitude of offerings out there, I thought I’d share some of my favourites that will make learning fun. Of course, the best part is it’s absolutely encouraged to have a glass of something delicious in hand while hittin’ the books.
wine coverage in Saveur magazine’s blog awards. She was also named one of Wine Enthusiast’s 40 Under 40. While this book covers most of the basics, it’s her personal anecdotes and opinions on these basics that really give it life. When clarifying that absolutely all wines have sulfites, she bolsters the fact by adding “I don’t care what the white kid with dreadlocks at the farmer’s market told you, ‘sulfite-free’ wines are not a thing.” Even for those who know their stuff, this is such a fun read. THE DIRTY GUIDE TO WINE: FOLLOWING FLAVOR FROM GROUND TO GLASS (by Alice Feiring) This is
definitely one for the geekier wine fans out there. Those looking to (almost literally) drill even a little deeper into wine and learn more about a soil’s influence on what’s in the bottle should find The Dirty Guide to Wine fascinating. Alice Feiring has been one of the world’s biggest THE 24-HOUR WINE EXPERT (by Jancis Robinson) proponents of the natural-wine movement, and with this Arguably the most revered wine writer book she looks at many of the world’s and critic on the planet, U.K.–based winegrowing regions through the lens Jancis Robinson is a columnist at the of the soils where their vineyards are Financial Times, and is at the helm of planted. She begins by offering a tuKurtis Kolt the Oxford Companion to Wine. The torial in the basics of soil type, and then 24-Hour Wine Expert is an inexpensive and compact guide breaks down the components of proper tasting that will to wine, sitting at around 100 pages that can easily be de- assist in discerning soil, minerals, and their influence. voured in one sitting, and certainly over the period of a day With the approach of both an academic and an enthusior two. It ticks all the boxes to give readers a well-rounded ast, she tackles regions from the ground up, and the result outline of the world of wine, keeping things basic and brief. is a fresh look at wine. Enjoyable anecdotes and specific By the time that final page has been turned, you’ll be armed wine recommendations are offered in abundance. with knowledge of how wine is made, how to read labels, matching food and wine, and various grape varieties and I’LL DRINK TO THAT! (www.illdrinktothatpod.com/) On wine styles, plus a fully stamped passport of the major the podcast side of things, former sommelier Levi Dalton wine-producing countries and regions around the world. (pronounced “levee”) has been interviewing wine luminCommon myths about wine, buying tips, and a handy glos- aries in his New York City apartment for well over 400 episary of wine jargon are also covered. You’ll know every- sodes. These are lengthy interviews, yet captivating glimpsthing from Albariño to Zweigelt in no time. es into worlds many of us rarely encounter, with folks like Food & Wine magazine’s executive wine editor Ray Isle, WINE. ALL THE TIME. THE CASUAL GUIDE TO CON- Piedmont winemaking legend Luca Currado Vietti, and, FIDENT DRINKING (by Marissa A. Ross) Above every- well, hundreds more. Be a fly on the wall, enjoy colourful thing, this book is so damn funny. Ross, the wine editor storytelling, and learn by osmosis. at Bon Appétit magazine, started her career as a comedy writer and was Mindy Kaling’s assistant for a good BRING YOUR OWN (www.facebook.com/byopodcast/) four years while immersing herself in a self-guided wine This brand-new podcast from Canadian expat Derek Moreducation. She had an increasingly popular wine blog rison, now a wine merchant in London, has a simple premduring that time, where her casual, honest, and often ise: get a few people from the wine trade around a table, hilarious musings got noticed in the big leagues, receiv- crack open a few bottles of a certain theme, and let the coning both the editors’ and readers’ choice awards for best versation flow. Pull up a virtual seat and enjoy. -
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AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 23
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ARTS
Among the artists whose work will be projected upon the Georgia Street side of the Vancouver Art Gallery as part of the Façade Festival will be Shawn Hunt, who continues to explore Heiltsuk formline traditions.
At Façade fest, size matters
Hunt also will address “I always like to think of pictures, in general, the VAG building’s history, as portals to another world,” she adds. “I like in the process reclaim- making pictures because I like the way that they ing the former provincial share the space of fiction, where anything can courthouse as a First Na- happen. You can make propositions that might tions space. His approach be absolutely impossible, but yet kind of live as a is more abstract than di- proposition, and maybe spark a thought towards dactic, however, although the possibility.…That’s something I always conhe notes that “putting sider in making my work.” Heiltsuk formline on such In creating her piece for the Façade Festival, Shawn Hunt and Diyan Achjadi are just two of the artists a building felt pretty in- Achjadi has also considered its site, although not spreading more than pretty colours across the front of the VAG your-face to me. so much its history as its architectural qualities. “I like the way the “Its neoclassical form is deemed to be the epitWhen organizers of the annual Façade paintings in this series have the feel of bones,” ome of colonial European structures that sort of Festival gave them the task of creating images he continues. “The moonlight reveals things, as demonstrate a particular type of power, and so I to be projected on the Georgia Street side of the if we are seeing a sort of interdimensional X-ray wanted to work in a visual language that was the BY AL EX ANDER VAR T Y Vancouver Art Gallery, Diyan Achjadi and Shawn of the building. The large painting [Ceremony] opposite of that visual language,” she says. ConHunt shared a common thought: size matters. that flanks the wings of the building is from my sequently, she’s working with fanciful images of “It’s a big canvas,” says Hunt from his home on exhibition at BAF.…The dancers in the centre of clouds and islands, influenced by Indonesian texthe Sunshine Coast, and Achjadi concurs. “When the composition are behind the columns of the tile design and thus evoking “women’s work”, as I was invited, I was excited by the idea of doing building’s neoclassical colonial architecture, as if opposed to the patriarchal justice system. something a little bit outside of my normal frame they are dancing behind bars. I feel like that says “There’s going to be a lot of over-the-top of work, and something that was on such a massive something that may be abstract to some, or it may decorative elements,” she explains. “There’s physical scale,” she tells the Straight, in a telephone be explicit or in-your-face to others. I think that some more geometric decoration; there’s some conversation from East Vancouver. “I thought that depends on perception; what is revealed to the elements taken from my print work.…It’s going would be an interesting challenge to take up.” viewer when the moon rises. The final element to be very busy.” This year, Hunt and Achjadi will join Fiona is the knife in the ground, plunging into There will also be water, perhaps Ackerman, Scott Billings, Annie Briard, James Ni- the earth—like a wound, or a staked in surprising form—but we’ve been zam, Luke Ramsey, Evann Siebens, Ben Skinner, claim. Again abstract or explicit, that sworn to secrecy about that, so let’s Check out… and Paul Wong in creating work for the Façade Fes- really depends a lot on the viewer and STRAIGHT.COM just say that both Achjadi and Hunt Visit our website tival, organized by the Burrard Arts Foundation in the effect of their experience.” are looking forward to having their for morning-after partnership with the VAG. The free, outdoor shows Bathed in beautifully spooky light, work taken out of the art gallery reviews and local are aimed at bringing art to people who might not the VAG, in effect, will become a porand onto its façade. Achjadi admits arts news normally step inside the venerable gallery’s doors, tal to another way of seeing—one in that waiting for the public to respond and at animating the downtown core in a somewhat which buildings are animate, humans to her work “will be incredibly nervemore purposeful way than, say, a fireworks competi- and animals are interconnected, and the racking”, but notes that her art is generally tion. Viewers are welcome to come and marvel at the supernatural is also the everyday. intended to spark a discussion of some kind, spectacle, but they’ll likely go home thinking about Achjadi likewise sees her Façade Festival and this is no different. more than just the pretty colours. work as a gateway, one that has been inspired by Hunt is similarly generous in his hopes. “My For Hunt, the Façade Festival is a chance to another piece of multimedia art that’s received art is for everyone,” he says. So why not offer it continue exploring the formline tradition of his wild acclaim this summer: filmmaker Nettie on a really large scale, and in one of Vancouver’s Heiltsuk forebears. In his Line as Language exhib- Wild’s immersive, salmon-centric Uninterrupt- most public spaces? ition at the Burrard Arts Foundation gallery last ed, screening at Coopers’ Park until September year, he brought three-dimensional shading and 24. “It’s stunning,” she says. “I just went to see The Façade Festival runs from Monday to Sunday blue-grey, nocturnal light to his canvases of clan it a couple of weeks ago, and it is such a, for lack (September 4 to 10) at the Vancouver Art Gallery’s crests, celestial bodies, and symbolic objects; now of a better word, an otherworldly experience to Georgia Street plaza. Shawn Hunt’s work will he gets to add animation and sound to those im- kind of be in this familiar architecture but be screen on opening night, and Diyan Achjadi’s on Tuesday (September 5). ages for an even more vibrant experience. taken to another space.
THINGS TO DO
ARTS High five
1 2 Editor’s choice FRINGE PREVIEW Think of it as the ultimate one-stop tasting menu for the annual Vancouver Fringe Festival. The Georgia Straight Fringe-for-All is a chance to sample a bunch of shows from the event’s 100-plus offerings and to get into the full-on Fringe spirit the night before the fest opens. The fast-flying format? No fewer than 40 Fringe artists have two minutes to perform a reason to see their shows—a concept as helpful as it is absurdly entertaining. But the best part may be that hilarious Fringe faves Travis Bernhardt and Chris Ross (of Chris and Travis fame, shown here) host the two-hour preview. The Georgia Straight Fringe-for-All happens Wednesday (September 6) at Performance Works.
3 4 5
Five events you just can’t miss this week
In the news
FUNNY FINALISTS SiriusXM has announced the final eight names in the Top Comic competition, with a list that includes three Vancouver-based talents. Kathleen McGee (shown here), IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT (To spring 2019 at Gavin Matts, and Kyle Bottom will the UBC Museum of Anthropology) More than 100 travel to Toronto to perform at pieces of intricate Northwest Coast art. JFL42 on September 28, in a final showcase featuring headliner IAN WALLACE: COLLECTED WORKS Todd Barry. A panel of judges (To September 30 at the Rennie Collection) will determine the winner of the Provocative older works by a local master. $25,000 grand prize, as well as guaranteed spots at JFL42 in Toronto, JFL Northwest in Vancouver, and Just for Laughs in Montreal. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (To September Two runners-up will also receive spots at Just for Laughs in Montreal 23 at the BMO Mainstage) Imagine Shakespeare if and coheadlining spots at JFL42 in Toronto—where Vancouver comedhe’d lived during Italy’s golden age of cinema. ian Sophie Buddle, last year’s runner-up, will be performing this year. McGee, Matts, and Bottom nabbed their spots in the final eight after THE VENETIAN GHETTO (To October 30 at the auditioning with 60 other comedians in Vancouver and Toronto. Italian Cultural Centre) Virtual multimedia reconA Canada-wide vote determined the top six, and industry judges structions transport you back to the 16th century. selected the final two. The contenders also include Graham Chittenden, Sterling Scott, Michelle Shaughnessy, Ana-Marija Stojic, and Kelly Taylor. The finale will be streamed live on siriusxm.ca. AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 25 OPERA AND ARIAS (September 4 at Vanier Park) Serene Barber of Seville at Bard on the Beach’s open-air tent.
ARTS
Duo shares laughs, stage, and bus > B Y G U Y M A C P HE R S O N
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MUSIC AND LYRICS BY STEPHEN SONDHEIM BOOK BY HUGH WHEELER DIRECTED BY PETER JORGENSEN PRODUCED BY PATRICK STREET PRODUCTIONS
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ewis Black and Kathleen Madigan sound like an old married couple. But that’s because they’ve known each other for 27 years, not because they’re in any kind of romantic relationship. At least not anymore. “We tried that and then peacefully agreed we’re better friends,” says Madigan on the phone from Nashville. On the other line, Black pipes in, “We’re really good at friends. She’s like the sister I never wanted.” The funny friends are hitting the road in Black’s souped-up bus for a tour of Canada. Vancouver is the second stop. “I could live my life on a bus like that,” says Madigan, who usually travels more simply when she’s out headlining clubs and theatres across North America on her own. With the Wi-Fi or TV, she says, “you can turn on some sports or a little news. And there’s a refrigerator with ham in it. I don’t know what more anyone could ask for on Earth.” Black most appreciates what the vehicle doesn’t have: other people. “There’s something about seeing where you’re travelling, as opposed to bam-bam and in between you’re 2.5 hours breathing in the filth of the passengers around you.” These two comedy veterans—each with an episode of Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee under his and her belt—are no Burns & Allen; they’ll be performing separately. Beyond that, the format is fluid. It’s standup comedy, after all. “They keep asking us these questions like, ‘How’s the show going to go?’ ” says Madigan. “I don’t know!
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604.873.4525 www.bigsisters.bc.ca
Comedians Kathleen Madigan (Luzena Adams photo) and Lewis Black (Clay McBride photo) long ago decided they were better as friends than romantic partners.
I don’t give a fuck. It’s not The Lion King. We don’t need to have seven pages of organization. We’ll get there, and then one of us will put the wine down and walk out there. That’ll work.” “I know for a fact one of us will have to open,” Black adds with a laugh. Black is perhaps best known for his Back in Black rants on The Daily Show, a gig he’s had through three incarnations: Craig Kilborn, Jon Stewart, and now Trevor Noah. When you want a hot take on today’s headlines, he’s your guy. Madigan doesn’t eschew politics but doesn’t concentrate on it, either. “As we keep saying, if you write a Trump joke, it can’t just be a normal joke because it’s going to be on Saturday Night Live in two seconds,” Madigan says. “Everybody’s in on it. It’s oversaturated. Everybody’s paying attention, because you can’t not pay attention to him. I’ll say what I want
to say, but I’m not going deep into it.” Black describes the American political situation as a reality-TV show. “ ‘What if you elected the most narcissistic businessman who you didn’t realize had a deeper pathology than you ever thought possible and you made him president? What would that be like?’ And that’s what we’re watching.” While they’re still figuring out who will put the wine down first, Black has a guarantee. “The one thing I can promise,” he says, “is we’re going to have a lot of fun, so they’re going to have a lot of fun. Let me just tell you this: If they don’t have fun, it’s their own fucking fault!” Madigan adds: “If they don’t have fun, we’ll find another country. We’ll move on.” Lewis Black and Kathleen Madigan bring their 49th Parallel Comedy Tour to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre next Thursday (September 7).
Artist Studio Awards Program ARE YOU…
Ed White Photographics
a Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh or Vancouver-based artist in need of affordable studio space? The City of Vancouver Artist Studio Awards program provides seven low-income, emerging professional artists with a studio or live-work space for three years at low rental rates. The program is open to artists of any discipline who demonstrate artistic excellence and financial need. All seven studios will be open for viewing on: Thursday, September 7, 2017, 4 – 8 pm Deadline for applications is Wednesday, September 13, 2017, 4 pm. FOR MORE INFORMATION: vancouver.ca/artist-studio culture@vancouver.ca or phone 3-1-1
26 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017
ARTS
Oud master Gordon Grdina’s new group gives “nods and tips” to Arabic and Persian music, but also blazes into fresh sonic territory. Tom Wiebe photo.
The Marrow rides jazz’s globe-spanning sounds > BY A LEX A NDER VA R TY
T
wo of the players in Gordon Grdina’s new group, the Marrow, are genuine avantjazz stars, one is well on his way there, and the other? Well, he’s just a little harder to place. Bassist Mark Helias and cellist Hank Roberts are the known quantities. Helias, last seen here closing the Vancouver International Jazz Festival with the BassDrumBone trio, has recorded with everyone from adventurous saxophonist and composer Anthony Braxton to the late blues philosopher Mose Allison. Roberts is a less frequent visitor to Western Canada but made his debut here in the 1980s as part of Bill Frisell’s groundbreaking quartet and still plays often with the masterful guitarist. Bandleader Grdina, a Burnaby native, is becoming internationally recognized for his work on both oud and guitar, although for his upcoming shows he’ll stick to the former. And percussionist Hamin Honari? He’s the relatively unknown quantity that makes this new band work. As Grdina relates on the line from his Strathcona home, the Marrow grew out of his long musical relationship with Helias. “He’s always been really encouraging about my oudplaying,” Grdina explains. “And then I was going to New York to play this oud summit that some of my friends were putting on, so I put together a band with Mark and Hank, and it just went really well. It was a magical evening, so we were all like, ‘Let’s do this more!’ ” At first, the three considered joining forces with veteran jazz drummer Jerry Granelli, an American now living in Halifax. But for both musical and logistical reasons, it soon became clear that Honari was the better choice. “It opens up more space,” says Grdina, noting that Honari plays a variety of Middle Eastern, Persian, and North Indian hand drums. “We can play acoustically, so
dynamically we can be in a different spot—which I like being in with those guys. And then also I wanted to have that be connected to Persian history, sonically. “A lot of things are like nods and tips to Arabic and Persian music,” he adds. “But it’s also kind of connecting to the other writing I’ve been doing with other projects, where it’s more contrapuntal, and stretching tonality a little bit more—which I’ve been really moving more towards on the oud lately. In the last few years it’s starting to feel like the oud-playing and the guitar-playing are turning into the same thing.” To get a sense of how Grdina’s oud is beginning to depart from Middle Eastern and Persian modes, check out the Fox Cabaret double bill that the Marrow and Qalandar are playing next week. Grdina and Honari play in both bands, but with Qalandar, the focus is on contemporary Persian music, often with lyrics by the great Sufi poet Rumi. The Marrow, in contrast, can be roughly characterized as jazz—but only if it’s acknowledged that jazz is experiencing another great phase of renewal and growth. “I feel like it’s a golden era right now,” Grdina agrees. “It feels like it’s really branching out.…Indian music, Iraqi music, Arabic stuff, Persian music: they’re all giving jazz another viewpoint on improvising.” And is there a political dimension to the Marrow’s take on this new, global approach? “I’m not doing this purposefully; it’s just a natural thing I’m into,” Grdina says. “But part of it is also saying ‘Wake up! Listen to this shit! It’s fucking amazing!’ I mean, how can you think people are that much different from you when they make music this beautiful?” The Marrow and Qalandar play the Fox Cabaret on Wednesday (September 6). The Marrow also plays the Sanctuary in Brentwood (1600 Delta Avenue, Burnaby) on Thursday (September 7).
Kate Evans: Threads
FRI SEP 29 2017 / 7:30pm Chan Centre at UBC Telus Studio Theatre
Graphic novelist and activist Kate Evans shares her visual reportage from the Calais refugee camp, accompanied by live music and followed by discussion.
The Gas Trap stages life in a stifling bubble > B Y HOL LY M C KEN Z I E SUTTER
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hree people go about their daily lives inside a 25-foot bubble, while a car slowly pumps exhaust fumes into it. As the air becomes cloudy, they frantically search for any means of escape, but there’s no exit in sight. This dystopian nightmare is the premise of The Gas Trap, a public-art installation and free performance that’s coming to the Turntable Plaza at Vancouver’s Roundhouse Community
Arts and Recreation Centre next Sunday (September 10). The piece is designed by Seattle’s Coltura, a nonprofit focusing on encouraging the public to move away from gasoline use. According to Coltura founder Matthew Metz, The Gas Trap was not conceived as a dystopia—it is a commentary on our world’s reliance on gasoline, shrunk down to the size of a stage. “It’s a microcosm of how we live,” Metz tells the Straight from his home in Seattle. “We think of the sky as see page 31
Tickets and info at
chancentre.com
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ARTS
A Chorus Line loses some of its fancy footing TH E AT RE A CHORUS LINE Book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante. Music by Marvin Hamlisch. Lyrics by Edward Kleban. Directed and choreographed by Rachael Carlson. Produced by Fighting Chance Productions. At the Waterfront Theatre on Thursday, August 24. Continues until September 2
Is there a more Peak Broadway
2 show than A Chorus Line? An anthology of dancersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; personal tales as they suffer through an audition, it was the longest-running production in Broadway history, until Cats beat it out in 1997. Along with Noises Off, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a classic of the behind-the-scenes, how-thesausage-gets-made theatrical subgenre. As with many musicals, the story is an excuse to sing and dance. The
plotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tension, such as it is, revolves around which of the 16 dancers will make the cut. When an actor plays a president or a baker, we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t expect him or her to actually make policy or bread. Yet in A Chorus Line, the entire company plays the one percent of triple-threat singerdancer-actors who could credibly land a role in a Broadway show. In this production, the cast is young, and the ensemble struggled at times. A few stood outâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Gregory Liow and Lucia Forward for their dance work and Vanessa Quarinto as an all-rounder. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s difficult material for a young castâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;they need to dance and sing, but many also need to deliver heartfelt monologues in between. According to her program notes, choreographer Rachael Carlson stepped up to direct the production partway through rehearsals. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
A Chorus Line is a classic of the behind-the-scenes Broadway genre.
also making her directorial debut. What a tough show to do it on. For much of the musical, there are 16 to 20 people lined up in a row on-stage. They need to be arranged to draw the audienceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attention to whomever is speaking or singing at a given moment. This challenge
extends to the lighting design, which was murky and conspicuously missing a couple of spotlights. I wondered when the show was meant to be set. The script refers to midcentury icons like Lana Turner and â&#x20AC;&#x153;AstroTurf on the patioâ&#x20AC;?, but the costuming suggested the present day, as did the disposable water bottle one performer drank from. Likewise, the characters introduce themselves and theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re from places from St. Louis to Buffalo to the Bronx. Yet nobody seemed to have a distinct accent. A surer directorial hand and design might have fixed the production to a particular time and place, grounding it for audience and performers alike. In its staging and design, a welldirected show explains to the audience why it was produced. You leave being able to relate it to your life and the social
MUSIC 2THIS WEEK SYMPHONY BELLS UP IN FALL The British Columbia Symphony Orchestra, conductor Jin Zhang, and pianists Sara Davis Buechner and Sunny Qu perform music by Mozart, Rimsky-Korsakov, Elgar, and Wagner, as well as selections from video games and Star Wars. Sep 1, 8 pm, Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (6265 Crescent Rd., UBC). Tix from $25, info www.chancentre.com/events/ symphony-bells-fall/.
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SEE WWW.RIOTHEATRE.CA FOR COMPLETE LISTINGS & UPDATED CALENDAR
28 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT AUGUST 31 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017
OPERAS AND ARIAS: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE The UBC Opera Ensemble and members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra present Rossiniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s masterpiece of the comic opera stage. Hosted by Christopher Gaze. Sep 4, 2 pm, 7:30 pm, Bard on the Beach (1000 Chestnut). Tix from $21, info 604-739-0559, www.bardon thebeach.org/.
2OPENINGS THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT FRINGEFOR-ALL Get a two-hour preview of this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Vancouver Fringe Festival shows as 40 artists each have two minutes to prove why you should see their show. Hosted by Travis Bernhardt and Chris Ross. Sep 6, 8 pm, Performance Works (1218 Cartwright, Granville Island). Tix $10, info www.vancouverfringe.com/.
2ONGOING MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival presents William Shakespeareâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s comedy set in 1959 Italy, where a group of actors and filmmakers celebrates the wrap of their latest movie. To Sep 23, Bard on the Beach (1000 Chestnut). Tix from $21, info www.bardonthebeach.org/2017/ much-ado-about-nothing/. THE WINTERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TALE Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival presents William Shakespeareâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s drama in which the love of two young people becomes the catalyst for reunion, redemption, and a familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s healing. To Sep 22, Bard on the Beach (1000 Chestnut). Tix from $21, info www.bardonthebeach. org/2017/the-winters-tale/. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival presents William Shakespeareâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s drama, set in modern-day Venice, that exposes the consequences of how we treat outsiders in our midst. To Sep 16, Bard on the Beach (1000 Chestnut). Tix from $21, info www.bardon thebeach.org/2017/the-merchant-of-venice/. THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival presents William Shakespeareâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tale of two best friends who are in love with the same woman. To Sep 17, Bard on the Beach (1000 Chestnut). Tix from $21, info www.bardonthebeach.org/2017/the-twogentlemen-of-verona/.
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. 2DAVE WILLIAMSON Aug 31â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Sep 2 2ANDY HAYNES Sep 7-9 YUK YUKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S COMEDY CLUB 2837 Cambie, 604-696-9857, www.yukyuks. com/vancouver/. Comedy club with Top Talent Tue at 8 pm, amateur night Wed at 8 pm, and professional headliners Thu-Fri at 8 pm and Sat at 7 and 9:30 pm. Cover Tue $10, Wed $7, Thu $10, and Fri-Sat $20. 2STEVE MCGOWAN Sep 1-2
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VANCOUVER THEATRESPORTS LEAGUE Some of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most daring and innovative improv. #NoFilter (Thu, 9:15 pm); Oh, Canada: The True North Strong and Funny (Thu, Fri, and Sat, 7:30 pm); Ok Tinder (Fri and Sat, 11:15 pm); Rookie Night (Sun, 7:30 pm); TheatreSports (Tue and Wed, 7:30 pm; Wed, 9:15 pm; Fri and Sat, 9:30 pm). Aug 30â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Sep 6, The Improv Centre (1502 Duranleau, Granville Island). Info www.vtsl.com/.
2THIS WEEK THE CRITICAL HIT SHOW Vancouver comedic performers present an evening of improv based on cult-hit game Dungeons & Dragons. Aug 30, 8 pm, Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway). Tix $14/12, info www.riotheatre.ca/.
LITERARY EVENTS 2THIS WEEK
A GAME OF YOU Immersive Theatre presents the Canadian premiere of an immersive theatre concept. To Sep 15, Harbour Centre (555 W. Hastings). Info www.agameofyou.co/.
LAUNCH FOR CURRY BY NABEN RUTHNUM Launch of Naben Ruthnumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s book that explores the staid narrative of an authentically Indian diasporic experience. Sep 5, 7-10 pm, Patâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pub & Brewhouse (403 E. Hastings). Free admission, info www. facebook.com/events/1828731647456359/.
DANCE
ET CETERA
2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS
2THIS WEEK
VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL FLAMENCO FESTIVAL Take in workshops and ticketed performances featuring a lineup of local and international flamenco artists like Fuensanta â&#x20AC;&#x153;La Monetaâ&#x20AC;?, Calle Verdi, Christina Tremblay, Fin de Fiesta, and Flamenco Rosario. Presented by Flamenco Rosario. Sep 11-24, various Vancouver venues. Tix from free to $60, info www.vancouverflamencofestival.org/.
NOMADIC TEMPEST Caravan Stage Company presents a show that celebrates the mythical saga of monarch migrants searching for refuge on a drowned planet. Performance is sung in English, Henqeminem, Arabic, Mandarin, and Spanish. To Sep 3, 9:45-11 pm, Shore of South East False Creek just west of Olympic Village. (West of Hinge Park on South East False Creek.) Free admission,
or political context youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re living in. That may be asking a lot of a campy musical, but it was hard to find much justification for producing A Chorus Line. The talk of wet dreams, plastic surgery, and gayness were transgressive in 1975. But watching it here, I felt a bit the way a 24-year-old must feel watching Rent: the songs are okay, but the show seems passĂŠ. By tradition, this two-hour show doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have an intermission. Maybe this is meant to make you feel as fatigued as the auditioning characters? The song â&#x20AC;&#x153;Oneâ&#x20AC;? (â&#x20AC;&#x153;singular sensationâ&#x20AC;?) has far eclipsed the fame of the show itself. You may know it from a â&#x20AC;&#x2122;90s Visa TV ad or a ghoulish Simpsons parody. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a fan, go and enjoy that familiar tune, forgiving this productionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shagginess. > DARREN BAREFOOT
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DIGITAL CARNIVAL Attention techies and contemporary-art buffs: tucked amid all the concerts, food trucks, and displays at Richmond World Festival is one of the regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most cutting-edge multimedia exhibits. Cinevolutionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Your Kontinent: Digital Carnival is back at Minoru Park on Friday and Saturday (September 1 and 2). Look for headliner Cindy Mochizukiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Compass (shown here): in it, she uses everything from live animation to found materials to tell stories that trace Japanese-Canadian history on the West Coast. Also check out Milton Limâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exploration of the White Pages phone book as a symbol of immigration here; and much more. info www.caravanstage.org/portfolio/ nomadic-tempest-2017/.
THE TENACIOUS D BURLESQUE TRIBUTE The Geekenders and Kitty Glitter present a burlesque tribute to the music of Tenacious D, with performances by the Hot and Heavy Band and Kitty Glitter, Effie Alexandra, and Ms Bacon N Legs. Sep 1, 8 pm, Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway). Tix $25/20, info www.riotheatre.ca/. DYSFUNCTIONAL DISNEY CABARET Evening of burlesque, circus arts, singing, drag, and comedy pays homage to your favourite Disney characters. Includes performances by Vixen Von Flex, Rose Butch, Miss Kiss, Justine Sane, Ginger Avenue, Diva Fandango, Burgundy Brixx, and April Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Peel. Sep 2, 8 pm, Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway). Tix $25/20, info www.face book.com/events/292034784556592/.
GALLERIES VANCOUVER ART GALLERY 750 Hornby, 604-662-4719, www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/. 2PICTURES FROM HERE (photographs and video works by Vancouver-based artists) to Sep 4 2CLAUDE MONETâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SECRET GARDEN (exhibit showcases 38 paintings that span the career of the French artist who is regarded as a master of the impressionist movement) to Oct 1
MUSEUMS THE MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY AT UBC 6393 NW Marine Drive, 604-8225087, www.moa.ubc.ca/. 2AMAZONIA: THE RIGHTS OF NATURE (exhibition features Amazonian basketry, textiles, carvings, feather works, and ceramics) to Jan 28 2TRACES OF WORDS: ART AND CALLIGRAPHY FROM ASIA (multimedia exhibition examines the physical traces of words, both spoken and recorded, that are unique to humans) to Oct 9
TIME OUT ARTS LISTINGS are a public service provided free of charge, based on available space and editorial discretion. Submit listings online using the event-submission form at straight.com/AddEvent. Events that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make it into the paper due to space constraints will appear on the website.
MOVIES
Robert Pattison takes on the grittiest role of his career as a two-bit hustler who’s a tad too loyal to family in Good Time, from the filmmaking team of brothers Josh and Benny Safdie,
Can you help a brother out?
In a way, the movie’s narrative opaqueness is also its charm. We never know for sure where the hell we are, and neither does Connie. This pays off in the middle section, with a funny switcheroo. And the locations keep changing in the final third. Tapping his none-too-smart sibling to partner in a bank heist But Sean Price Williams’s is the first mistake Robert Pattinson makes in Good Time handheld cinematography and a deafening electro score by Daniel Lopatin keep suggesting more gravREVIEWS ity than the film delivers. (There’s also a weird racial GOOD TIME subtext to it.) With his dead-on outer-borough accent and sleepless, thousand-yard stare, Pattinson is Starring Robert Pattinson. Rated 14A utterly convincing as someone who, despite all his Shedding his pretty-boy image to play the heavy lifting, we never come to care about. > KEN EISNER grittiest character of his career thus far, Robert Pattinson goes well beyond what we’ve previously seen from the sleek young Briton. But THE TEACHER is Good Time really worthy of his efforts? Starring Zuzana Mauréry. In Slovak, with English The ironically titled movie follows a number of subtitles. Rating unavailable allegedly working-class people having a much-lessAll ideologies breed corruption, and not all than-fun 24 hours. It centres on Pattinson’s Connie corruption is about money. That’s the simNikas, a two-bit hustler in charge of his mentally impaired brother, Nick. The latter is played by Benny ple and surprisingly entertaining message of The Safdie, who directed this brisk effort with his own Teacher, the latest comedy of moral manners from brother, Josh. Connie’s idea of a good sibling day out Czech director Jan Hrebejk, and his first in the is to rob a bank, and do it in slovenly enough fashion (slightly different) Slovak language. The veteran filmmaker has frequently delved to spend the rest of the movie trying to get Nick and into his now-split nation’s past, notably in the himself out of ever-deepening trouble. Written by Josh with previous collaborator Ron- Oscar-nominated Holocaust tale Divided We Fall. ald Bronstein, the script doesn’t explain why Con- And he has a shrewdly antinostalgic view of the nie needed such a gormless accomplice—or any Communist period. Working again with usual at all—but then, it’s pretty stingy with all other collaborator Petr Jarchovský on screenwriting relevant information. We know the bros have a duties, Hrebejk heads to 1983 Bratislava, to follow troubled history with their elderly Greek grand- people with no notion that the oppressive Soviet mother, but not why. Connie takes frequent ad- period will soon be over. At a suburban high school, the students seem vantage of his whiny, insecure girlfriend, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh in one extended sequence, pretty well adjusted until the arrival of Mária while battles with her mother loom unexplained Drazdechová, played slyly by award-winning in the background. Most crucially, we never know Zuzana Mauréry. The new teacher seems nice what turned Connie into such a relentless weasel, enough, although it’s odd that she immediately although you could conclude that the guy would do asks how each of their parents is employed. Drazpretty well for himself if he put his wildly inventive dechová is also the local party chief, but her ministrations are only implicitly political. Her real survival skills into something more constructive.
2
2
WEEK IN WIDESCREEN
SANTA AND ANDRÉS It’s Cuba in the ‘80s, and a
woman is sent to keep an eye on a gay writer deemed “untrustworthy” by the regime. Carlos Lechuga’s feature was pulled from New York’s Havana Film Fest last year at the behest of the Cuban minister of culture, but that didn’t stop the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival from programming Santa and Andrés as its gala closing film. Catch it at the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts on Sunday (September 3). -
What to see and where to see it
NEITHER WOLF NOR DOG Starring Christopher Sweeney. Rating unavailable
A highly necessary tale is told in Neither
2 Wolf Nor Dog. You simply have to look past amateurish direction, bad writing, and even worse acting to find it. The central problem here is in a grindingly didactic screenplay, adapted by Kent Nerburn from his popular 1994 book of the same title. The book’s see next page
Tuareg me with u
THE BREAKFAST CLUB Somewhere out
there, John Bender is still doing weekend detention for Mr. Vernon. See where it all began when this John Hughes favourite returns to the Rio Theatre on Friday (September 1).
2
ADRIANA’S PACT Lissette Orozco began
3
WATER Here’s a doozy of a double bill: Deepa
Infidelity
> KEN EISNER
MOVIES
The projector
1
goal is nest-feathering: free cakes, haircuts, and appliance repair are more her speed. This looks relatively harmless, but her afterschool work sessions are stealing kids away from sports and other extracurriculars. If they complain, grades suffer, and the more willing types get extra help with tests and such. Promising gymnast Danka (Tamara Fischer) is singled out for abuse, and Filip (Oliver Oswald) is punished when he defends her. The lad faces bigger problems when his brute of a dad (Martin Havelka) misreads the signals. And Danka’s parents (Zuzana Konecná and Divided We Fall lead Csongor Kassai) likewise think they merely have a sulky teen on their hands. Eventually, they notice the scam and start mobilizing. The filmmakers deploy an intricate flashback structure, with a PTA meeting—held about a year after Mária’s arrival—deciding the fate of the corrupt “educator”, who has effectively fractured parental unity. This is an apt metaphor for social positioning in a totalitarian state. But scripter Jarchovský, recalling an incident from his own school days, is careful to make all the participants more than symbols. Family apartments are individuated with wildly different wallpaper—except for the blank walls of mild-mannered single dad Václav Littmann (Peter Bebjak), a lanky physics professor in disgrace since his wife fled to the West. Our teacher has her eye on him for extra-special favours; good thing his tiny son (Richard Labuda)—a natural artist and born troublemaker—proves to be the hero of the story. Beautifully observed, paced, and resolved with a nifty twist, The Teacher is one of the most enjoyably instructive movies of the year.
making this doc in 2007 when her aunt was accused of collaborating with Chile’s secret police during the Pinochet era. Presented by VLAFF at the Cinematheque on Friday (September 1).
Mehta’s Oscar-nommed 2005 feature screens with Allan King’s legendary 1969 doc A Married Couple, both for free, at the Cinematheque on Wednesday (September 6).
RAIN THE COLOUR OF BLUE WITH A LITTLE RED IN IT Thank the Vancity Theatre for the chance to see
this Saharan Niger riff on Purple Rain, starring the phenomenal Tuareg guitarist Mdou Moctar. The film has been gathering an almighty buzz in hipper circles since its release in 2015. Screening Monday (September 4). AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 29
Neither Wolf Nor Dog
BIRTH OF THE DRAGON
about a well-educated sculptor and part-time ethnographer who collected tales from Ojibwa reserves near his Minnesota home. This led to more contact with First Nations storytellers, including an elder at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, where most of this was shot. In this indie-film version, Christopher Sweeney plays Nerburn as if he’s a traumatized war veteran who just woke up from a coma—all growls and scowls, in the manner of a Lifetime Channel movie hero that some lucky gal gets to tame. The tamer here is enigmatic Chief Dan, played by 97-yearold Dave Bald Eagle, a D-Day veteran who died after the movie wrapped. Knowing about Kent’s earlier book, Chief Dan tasks the younger man with collecting more stories and sayings. There’s a preamble depicting the writer’s conflict regarding the assignment; the awkward goodbye to his young family is so flatly handled by Scottish-born director Steven Lewis Simpson, you wonder if the movie will recover. Things pick up when Kent heads to Lakota territory, and the writer becomes a reluctant passenger in the back seat of an old muscle car driven by Dan’s younger pal Grover (cast standout Richard Ray Whitman). Understandably suspicious of the
2 around a lot at whim these days.
Starring Philip Ng. Rated PG.
from previous page
The term icon gets thrown
Hong Kong–born martial-arts expert Philip Ng tries to fill Bruce Lee’s shoes as he takes on Wong Jack Man (Yu Xia) in the Vancouver-shot Birth of the Dragon.
white man’s motives, Grover proceeds to drag him through various situations displaying the highs and lows of Indigenous life today. These sequences are handsomely shot and edited by the director, and the faces and places encountered appear to be his true passion. The writing, not so much. The real Nerburn, a novice screenwriter, seems to have decided that you can’t have drama without people yelling at
each other. So we get a lot of cranky back-and-forth between the stubbornly resistant screen Nerburn— think Carlos Castaneda with a really bad attitude—and the twinkly fellows who want him to get real. The actual author has produced roughly 16 books on this subject, so he must know how to listen, at the very least. Too bad he didn’t trust the audience to do the same.
> KEN EISNER
Bruce Lee, however, is one individual who lives up to that weighty title. His enduring international reputation remains unmatched among Asian North Americans in entertainment. (His closest contender, Jackie Chan, is Hong Kong–based.) Alas, this Vancouver-shot Hollywood film almost undermines Lee’s legend in its attempt to appeal to mainstream preferences. Although it’s based on reallife events in San Francisco in the 1960s, the problem here is that the drama, directed by George Nolfi, revolves around types, not characters. As the final third proves, that’s fine for action-based films. However, for the most part, Birth of the Dragon attempts to be a character study, dragged down by onedimensional roles and a merely adequate screenplay. Portrayed by Philip Ng, Lee is a fame-hungry, egomaniacal upstart blind in his ambition to popularize kung fu in North America, while his adversary Wong Jack Man (Yu Xia) is depicted as the wise, pious Shaolin monk from the motherland, virtuously preserving traditional principles while humbly accepting
a lowly role as a dishwasher to serve penance for a past grievance. Although the cocksure Lee wants to face off against Wong, the reserved Wong repeatedly declines—until stakes escalate to a point that he can no longer ignore. The film faced backlash after its world premiere in Toronto due to an overemphasis on the minor, fictional Caucasian character Steve (Billy Magnussen). Even with further re-editing, the hyper-generic Steve still takes up far too much screen time with his clunky story of the Midwestern blond boy who learns about the exotic ways of the East and falls for a beautiful, innocent server (Jingjing Qu) enslaved by evil dragon lady Auntie Blossom (Jin Xing). All that’s missing is songs from Madama Butterfly, Miss Saigon, and an Oriental riff. What do work are the hypnotic displays of martial arts and other physical feats. In fact, the film finally takes off when it shifts gears from drama to “kicking ass”. The finale—and that phrase, repeated throughout the film—suggests what the focus should have been, as the contrasting martial arts styles of Lee and Wong prove arresting. Hopefully, this isn’t the last of renewed attention to Lee, but only the beginning. > CRAIG TAKEUCHI
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30 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017
MOVIES
The public-art installation and free performance The Gas Trap asks people to consider what they can do about exhaust from motor vehicles. Kevin Scott photo.
The Gas Trap
from page 27
Georgetown neighbourhood. It recently put on a concert where everyone arrived without using gasoline. Metz and his team use public art as a means of environmental activism because of how it can tell the story of climate change as something affecting, imminent, and personal. “When you see people sort of asphyxiating and they’re in this trap, you have this realization, like, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t want to be in that trap, hooked up to a car!’ But then if you have a car, where does the exhaust go?” Metz says. “It starts to raise these issues in a way that the bureaucrats, the economists, and the activists or whatever aren’t really able to do.” At various performances, Metz has had people talk to him about their intent to get rid of their cars, or to go electric. “It starts to prompt—I’m not sure I’d say it was exactly guilt, but just this desire to get away from gasoline,” he says. “People kind of know at some level that it’s a dirty, messy thing that’s bad for the environment, but there’s almost no one pushing them or prompting them to really reexamine that. “What we’re trying to do,” Metz adds, “is really start to spur the public and say, ‘There actually is something coming out of your exhaust. You need to consider it; you need to stop doing it.’ ” -
this enormous space where we can dump whatever and it sort of goes away, and the reality is that it’s a bounded space. Whatever carbon and other junk we put up there stays within our atmosphere.” This will be the first performance of The Gas Trap in Canada, but Metz thinks the message is especially relevant to Canadian audiences, as it asks people to consider what role they might play in changing the market’s demand for gasoline. “That’s a key, absolutely central part of environmental preservation, because once the oil companies start to see a trend in terms of declining revenue, a lot of these projects like the tarsands and et cetera become not profitable,” Metz says. The Gas Trap was designed to be visually striking and interactive. Metz and the designers chose a warped, nonspherical shape to give the bubble structure an interesting look, and to offer the characters some hope of potential escape routes. Audience interaction is anticipated, and interested folks can come inside to explore the set after the performance. This isn’t the first public-art piece Coltura has undertaken. Back in Seattle, the company is working on installing a sculpture made of The Gas Trap plays the Roundhouse gasoline-related found objects, and Community Arts and Recreation Cenan antigasoline mural in the city’s tre next Sunday (September 10).
The Vancouver Latin American Film Festival brings the 1993 Cuban film Strawberry and Chocolate back to the movie theatre.
Putting the LGBT into VLAFF > B Y C R A IG TA K EU C HI
A
s in previous editions, the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival is showing its support of LGBT issues and people with a variety of selections. On Thursday (August 31), the 1993 feature Strawberry and Chocolate (Fresa y Chocolate) will be back on the big screen at the Cinematheque. The dramedy-romance, set in Havana, Cuba, in 1979, follows the unlikely friendship between two very different men: an exuberant gay artist, Diego, tries to seduce David, a straight and reserved communist, who in turn seeks to befriend Diego to monitor him. The themes of that film are echoed in Cuba’s controversial drama Santa and Andrés, which will close the
festival on Sunday (September 3) at the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts at SFU Woodward’s. It’s set in the early 1980s, and the title refers to the unexpected relationship that develops between a revolutionary woman from the countryside, Santa, and the man she’s sent to guard: a gay writer, Andrés, under house arrest for his ideas and sexuality. Elsewhere in the program, Indigenous LGBT people are also represented. On Thursday (August 31) at the Cinematheque, Time Was Endless (Antes o Tempo Não Acabava) follows a Tikuna man who leaves his Amazon forest community for life in the city of Manaus, where he struggles to come to terms with his two-spirit identity. Meanwhile, the short film “Regalia: Pride in Two Spirits”, directed
by Vancouver’s Jen Sungshine and David Ng of the local blog and video project Love Intersections, profiles Duane Stewart-Grant, a First Nations man who discusses how reclaiming his language and culture is important to his queer identity. The film screens as part of the program Ritmos, Rhythms of Resilience on Saturday (September 2) at the Goldcorp Centre. Also on Saturday, “Tailor”, directed by Calí dos Anjos, screens as part of Short Films in Competition: Program 2 at the Cinematheque. This Brazilian animated short explores the issues faced by transgender Bernardo, who embraces the roles of both mother and father. For full details about these films and more on what else is screening at the festival, visit vlaff.org/. -
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Megarespected South Korean hip-hop
BY MIKE US IN G ER
icon Verbal Jint has never been to Vancouver, but he seems to have done his homework for his first visit. Reached at home in Seoul, the 36-year-old notes that past tours of North America have seen him play Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto. None of those cities, evidently, has the allure of Vancouver, where Jint will be heading for his headlining spot at the Richmond World Festival. “A close associate of mine is from Vancouver and he told me about how freely you can smoke weed in Vancouver,” Jint says, reached at home in Seoul. “If I’m right, the Richmond World Festival is only three years old, and I feel lucky to be there on the year 2017, the 150th anniversary of Canada.” That the rapper is correct on all points shouldn’t surprise anyone, because if Jint has proven anything during his 18 years at the forefront of Korea’s booming hip-hop game, it’s that he’s got some serious smarts. That’s been shown by a university stint as an economics major and, later, by his decision to enroll in law school. Ultimately, though, it’s been hip-hop that’s had the greatest pull on him. Obsessed with music from the time he was 10, the MC first surfaced at the tail end of the ’90s, at a time when hip-hop was considered a dangerous but temporary trend in South Korea. Early underground tracks like “Big Brag” took a minimalist, hypnotically chill approach. They also showcased Jint as an artist determined to reinvent the rules of Korean hiphop. As he once explained to the Korea Times, and has repeated often since: “People who came before us didn’t have much interest in rhyming; artists before us were satisfied with talking fast and thinking that it was rapping—and that sold then.”
Straight outta South Korea
Obsessed early on with guitar bands like My Bloody Valentine, Verbal Jint eventually discovered hip-hop through acts like OutKast and Pharrell.
the past there was no such “We got platforms,” Jint says simply. “I mean, thing as rap or hip-hop we got media by our side, so it’s all about how culture in Korea. So even- you use it. It’s a much better situation compared tually I gathered musi- to back in the ’90s.” Over the past half-decade the rapper has been cians to make music with Richmond World Festival headliner Verbal Jint has me. Later I disbanded the able to capitalize on that with a series of albums returned to the hip-hop game he helped invent team and started solo to (The Good Die Young, Go Easy, 10 Years of Misinterpretation Pt. 1), EPs, and collaborations Beyond the rhyming, what his fellow Koreans produce the music that I wanted to.” heard in his early work, he suggests, is a kid who Laughingly, Jint says the first CD he pur- that have showcased him as an artist willing to was obsessed with American hip-hop. chased was 12 Inches of Snow by Toronto Can- evolve. Often powered by live jazzy drums and “Back in the ‘Big Brag’ days I was listening to a Con rapper Snow, that later leading him to the chamber-orchestra strings, his work has gone lot of OutKast records, A Tribe Called Quest rec- likes of Andre3000, Pharrell, and CeeLo Green. from minimalist to powerfully widescreen. Jint today seems like he’d be happiest sitords, and Q-Tip records,” he says. By the mid-’00s the rapper was an underground His musical education didn’t start there, however. force in Korea, his mixtapes and singles inspir- ting at the same table as visionaries like KenIn the menacingly baroque “My Bentley”, off his ing the next generation of MCs. And then he drick Lamar and Kanye West. And considering that, it makes sense that—in stark contrast 2015 release Go Hard, Part 1, Jint rapped: “I honestly walked away to go back to school. have no idea how many corners/I have turned until I Looking back, Jint remembers being burned- to the shiny, happy K-pop that dominates the got to this place here/The little child who bugged his out on life as an underground musician. There mainstream in South Korea—Jint isn’t afraid parents/Until he had an electric guitar in his hands.” were also cultural forces at play, given that no to step into the darkness. Consider “My BentThe future MC originally went out of his way to parents in Korea dream of having their child ley”, where he laments being a guy who “needs cognac to fight the headaches and loneliness learn about alternative-nation acts like Suede and grow up to be a hip-hop artist. My Bloody Valentine. “In Korea,” Jint says, “there is a tendency that when he’s working”. The MC is in an enviable position at home. “During my teenager period, there was Bae people treat you as a normal person if you finish Cheol-soo’s Music Camp—the only Korean radio your education, or get a college degree. I didn’t When not in the studio, he’s in demand as a voice-over actor, and is frequently enlisted to do show that used to play music from the Billboard want to shock my parents.” Hot 100 back in the ’90s,” he says. “Through that In law school, however, he realized once and for commercials for products aimed at Korea’s youth market. But the darkness in much of his work is radio show, and magazines, I could listen to vari- all what his true passion was. ous types of music.” “I decided to show them this music thing ac- evidently real, that bleeding over into real life. “I drink a lot of hard liquor when I’m working,” Music got its hooks into him to the point where tually worked,” Jint notes. “At some point they he says candidly. “It’s usually me by myself.” he began playing in bands. started to show support.” As accepted as hip-hop has become in Korea, “Back in the day—I mean the 1990s—a school It didn’t hurt that hip-hop was a legitimate culband was one of the choices if kids wanted to tural force in Korea by the time Jint decided to re- Jint says there are things that not even he can get look cool,” Jint says. “Since my elementary school turn to the game. Young MCs that he’d influenced away with rapping about. “Weed and casual sex,” he says simply. I played guitar and piano, and I realized I could in the early ’00s—San E, Okasian—were starting Access to at least one of those things is pretty use those instruments to play the music I liked af- to surface. Capitalizing on the growing demand, ter I became a teenager.” Korean TV began airing smashes like Show Me much guaranteed during his upcoming trip to His obsession with hip-hop started gradually. “In the Money, an America’s Got Talent–type show Vancouver. Even though he’s never been here before, it’s no wonder he’s excited. my teen days, I started listening to Björk, Arrested where young MCs compete against each other. Development, and Notorious B.I.G. at the same Helping the groundswell was the emergence time,” he says. “Basically, I started a band because of YouTube, Bandcamp, and Spotify as easy Verbal Jint plays the Richmond World Festival in Minoru Park on Friday (September 1). I just wanted to produce music as a songwriter. In ways to reach millions of rap-hungry fans.
☞
S I X ACTS W ORTH CAT CHI N G I N R I C HM O N D >>>
T
he Richmond World Festival isn’t strictly about the music. After all, on-site attractions will include over 50 food trucks, a culinary stage with cooking demonstrations, a digital carnival featuring the latest in immersive technology and digital art, and an extensive artisan market. But in the event you are showing up just for the music, here are six don’t-miss acts. DIRTY RADIO
Why you’ve got to see them: For those who like their radio-friendly R&B a little, well, dirty, the gritty and upbeat synth-pop of this Vancouver trio will prove infectious. Formed in 2010 as a vehicle for frontman Farshad “Shadi” Edalat to showcase his buttery vocals, DiRTY RADiO soon became a bona fide
three-piece, completed by drummer and production master Zachary “Waspy” Forbes and keyboardist Anthony “Tonez” Dolhai. Showing that it knows how to amass an Internet following, the group traded releasing full albums for one-off singles in 2015, seeing a huge boost in its online engagement and bookings across the country. Those future-bass creations caught the ear of Diplo, who tapped the hometown boys to work with Sleepy Tom for a release on his label Mad Decent, and Young Franco—whose collaboration with the band on “Drop Your Love” has racked up more than a million SoundCloud streams. A critical darling with and without collaborators, DiRTY RADiO has been nominated for numerous Western Canadian Music Awards, courtesy of the group’s intense
pads to create an upbeat, summery backing for Edalat’s versatile vocals.
> KATE WILSON
BUCKMAN COE
Vancouver’s Buckman Coe plays socially conscious reggae.
release schedule and high-energy stage performances. Given that the band makes a point of not playing too many hometown gigs, it’s more than worth checking out their set. Killer track: Last year’s single “Curious” marries clicky, arpeggiated synths to fizzling ’80s string
Why you’ve got to see him: It goes without saying that the world is a totally angry and scarily intolerant place right now. You’ve got neoNazis proudly marching through the streets on both sides of the border, and a simple goal like owning a house in Vancouver is a completely fantastical pipe dream. Luckily, not everyone has given up on making the world a better place: enter Vancouver singer-songwriter and all-round decent human being Buckman Coe. It’s one thing to sing lines like “I believe in humankind/I believe in human kindness,” which the socially conscious singer-
guitarist does in “False Flags” off 2015’s Malama Ka ‘Aina. The brilliance of Coe is that he comes across as an artist who actually means it. Past outings like By the Mountain’s Feet positioned the Vancouverite as a man with a complete fixation on the sun-faded sounds of ’70s Southern California. Despite a Hawaiian-sounding title (which translates roughly to “respect the land”), Malama Ka ‘Aina finds Coe seemingly obsessed with Kingston back when Bob Marley and Peter Tosh were reggae’s reigning kings. Close your eyes during “Courage” or “Jah People” and you’ll be transported to a world where the only thing that makes a cold Red Stripe better is a plate of jerk chicken and Jamaican rice. Killer track: “Malama Ka ‘Aina”, where Coe sings in both see next page
AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 33
Six acts worth catching
from previous page
English and Hawaiian over tuff-gong guitars and Caribbean-breeze horn swells. All that’s missing is swaying palm trees.
> MIKE USINGER
SHAMIK BILGI
Why you’ve got to see him: Fusion music always sounds great in theory— but mashing up two totally different genres tends to be slightly more difficult in practice. Ever listen to pop-country EDM? Psychedelic rockabilly? Not great. Shamik Bilgi, however, has landed in the sweet spot of not only splicing together two rarely blended musical styles, but doing it in a way that is both inventive and exciting. On his last two albums, the beatboxer and producer has taken hip-hop beats and heavy bass lines and combined them with Indian pop and classical music, complete with melismatic vocals and traditional instrumentation. Often dramatic and highly danceable, Bilgi’s mashup of flighty Indian violins and the aggressive thuds of bass music brings out the best of both traditions, offering an audience-friendly twist to a genre uncommon in Western Canada. The artist is no stranger to big stages, having performed in 15 countries alongside names like Method Man & Redman, Bassnectar, and Tegan & Sara, and has festivals like Shambhala, Bass Coast, and Electric Forest on his résumé. Killer track: “Udaipur Arrival”, a standout track from Bilgi’s 2016 release Channeling India vol 2, mixes a simple vocal with atmospheric synth pads and minor-key piano melodies to create a warm and smooth downtempo vibe. > KW
THE FRESHEST
Why you’ve got to see them: When it comes to hip-hop, four heads are better than one—or at least that’s the view of DJ crew the Freshest. Vancouver performers DJ Seko, Marvel, Kutcorners, and Rico Uno, all are well-established
Shamik Bilgi fuses hip-hop beats with exotic samples of Indian pop.
in their own right. Both Marvel and Seko have recorded guest mixes for the seminal hip-hop radio show Sway in the Morning; Rico Uno holds down numerous Vancouver residencies; and Kutcorners does his own production on the side. As well as being familiar faces at any event that’s even tangentially related to hip-hop, all four have been behind some of the city’s biggest club nights, including REUPTRIPPYSHIT at Caprice, Fortune Sound Club’s Hip Hop Karaoke, Glory Days at the Biltmore, and even the cheeky Move Somethin’ at the No.5 Orange. Expect plenty of golden-era old-school hip-hop tunes, masterful cuts, artful scratching, and—thankfully—no Top 40. And, given that the group are named the Freshest for their idiosyncratic choice of tracks, it’s worth downloading the Shazam app before heading down to their set. Killer track: Marvel’s remix of Justin Bieber’s “Sorry”—stylized as “Sowwie”—adds a sleek, ’80s-inspired R&B groove to the big-room banger. > KW
TOKYO POLICE CLUB
Why you’ve got to see them: Remember the days when Canadian musicians aspired to nothing more than touring the Great White North and one day landing a spot between the Northern Pikes and Crash Vegas on MuchMusic? Tokyo Police Club clearly doesn’t. Right from the point it first surfaced with the A Lesson in Crime EP in 2006, the Newmarket, Ontario, quartet hasn’t been shy about aiming big. Elephant Shell—the band’s 2008 debut—hit the
streets on the respected American indie Saddle Creek, the resulting reviews praising Tokyo Police Club for dabbling in everything from shimmering postshoegaze to morphined electronica. By 2011 the group was paying homage to the likes of Moby and Miley Cyrus for its Ten Songs, Ten Years, Ten Days covers album, and then it returned to pop at its shiniest and most powerful for 2014’s Forcefield. Along the way there’ve been appearances at gold-chip festivals Coachella, Glastonbury, Reading, and Lollapalooza. Yes, sometimes it pays to aim high. Killer track: Newmarket has never been anyone’s idea of cooler than Williamsburg. But damned if Tokyo Police Club doesn’t outrawk the Strokes with “Wait Up (Boots of Danger)”, a song that’s all ragged art-star guitar and Sweettart vocals. > MU
DRAGONETTE
Why you’ve got to see them: Since its inception in 2005, Dragonette has been on the edge of the big time. A synth-pop three-piece whose second-ever performance was opening for British dancemusic legends New Order, the band has shared a bill with a number of highprofile artists, including Major Lazer, Miike Snow, and the Presets—as well as hooking up with house DJs like Basement Jaxx, Kaskade, and Galantis for individual singles. With its most recent album, Royal Blues, the trio has made a collection that’s lost none of its trademarked coquettish, playful feel. Making the 12 tracks even more admirable is the fact that vocalist Martina Sorbara and her bandmate producer Dan Kurtz have lost none of their enthusiasm for musicmaking despite separating during the album’s recording. Famed for club banger “Hello” with Martin Solveig, the Torontonians have toured globally for over a decade to showcase catchy party tunes. Killer track: The poignant lyrics on “Body2Body” reach beyond typical pop music clichés of sex, sex, and more sex, and are neatly complemented by rolling breaks and energetic synths.
Bronze Age Records presents
Madou Diarra Vocalist and n'goni player from Mali performing his new album
Djandjon Hunter songs from the precolonial Mandinka Empire
Saturday, September 2 at 9:00 (doors open at 8:00)
WISE Hall - 1882 Adanac Street
Free concert; LP’s and CD’s available at the show 34 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017
> KW
MUSIC
Oh Wonder brings the world a little closer Oh Wonder didn’t start out to
“Being able to work in New York for that month took the pressure off writing a record—other than the selfimposed pressure,” Vander Gucht says with a laugh. “All we had to worry about was doing ourselves justice and doing this project justice, and making sure we had something good for the thousands or millions or whatever people that we’ve kind of collected as fans over the last couple of years.”
2 make a sophomore record about
the importance of being there for one’s fellow human beings, but that’s definitely one of the thematic threads on the recently released Ultralife. More than ever, the message is a timely one. We’re living in an age when we get constant updates on people we know thanks to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Ironically, the digital world has made actual face-to-face contact seem unnecessary; there’s little need to catch up over coffee when you’ve got an Internet connection. And that makes music—especially in a live setting—more powerful than ever. According to bandmates Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West, the best thing about being in Oh Wonder is bringing people together somewhere other than online. “Music is this incredible force that’s bigger than any one person,” Vander Gucht opines, speaking with West on a conference call from London, England. “It’s one of the few things that unites people from all around the world.” West jumps in: “And we’ve somehow been able to build a platform for ourselves to speak to people. It’s been very inspiring hearing people’s stories. We never thought we’d have music that connects with so many. That’s always the dream when you’re younger and writing songs.” On Ultralife those songs are relentlessly optimistic, the two bandmates touching on everything from bigcity isolation (“Solo”) to runaway climate change (“Lifetimes”) to difficult breakups (“Bigger Than Love”). Working once again under the loose umbrella of synth-soaked alt-pop, Oh Wonder isn’t afraid to take chances, loading the meditative “My Friends” with cinematic strings and salting “Slip Away” with trap-lite percussion. If Vander Gucht and West sound like seasoned pros on Ultralife, that’s
> MIKE USINGER
Oh Wonder plays Malkin Bowl on Wednesday (September 6).
Britt Daniel is amazed at what Spoon has become Austin-based
Oh Wonder’s Anthony West and Josephine Vander Gucht never expected to be connecting with fans around the world when they started writing songs.
because they weren’t exactly new to the business of making music when they formed Oh Wonder. She’d done time as a solo singer-songwriter under the monikers Layla and Jose Vanders, and he played in bands like the U.K. alt-rock unit Futures. Initially, Oh Wonder was strictly a home-studio endeavour. “We both had our own projects going—he was in a duo, We the Wild, and I was playing live, so Oh Wonder was supposed to be nothing but a songwriting project,” Vander Gucht says. “Literally, the sole intention was to build a songwriting portfolio so that we could write songs for other people alongside our own projects. It never entered our minds to take Oh Wonder live.” The two began posting songs on SoundCloud, after which the hype began. A year’s worth of those tracks would eventually be packaged as the debut, Oh Wonder, which Vander Gucht and West intended to celebrate with a handful of live shows.
Those initial dates—there were four of them—went off so magically that the two began adding more, with Oh Wonder eventually blowing up to where the band was on the road for a year and a half, playing sold-out gigs around the globe. That frenetic schedule would make the writing of Ultralife a challenge the two were happy to undertake. Phase one was booking a month off in the middle of the touring cycle for Oh Wonder; the two bandmates realized a lifelong dream by holing up with recording equipment in a New York Airbnb. “It was pure indulgence for us— we’re obsessed with the city,” Vander Gucht says with a laugh. Part of their time was devoted to seeing the Big Apple and part to working on new material that they eventually finished back in the U.K. The only goal for Ultralife? That would be making sure they had something that would bring people together—and not on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.
indie
rockers
2 Spoon have been cranking out
earworms since the mid-’90s. Their reliably catchy guitar-driven singles have been featured in movies and TV shows ranging from The Simpsons to this summer’s Spiderman: Homecoming, and they even claimed the title of Metacritic’s highest-rated band of the ’00s. That isn’t to say Spoon’s sound has stagnated. Hot Thoughts, the group’s ninth studio album, features heavy synths, maracas, and peppy piano riffs, and concludes with an extended saxophone solo. “The me that started this band would be very surprised to hear this new record in its entirety,” songwriter and vocalist Britt Daniel tells the Straight from his home in Austin. “I mean, we were all about bass, guitars, and drums, you know. That was it when we started out.” But positive reviews and high concert turnout suggest that these sonic departures are working. Spoon’s music seems to fit naturally into the background of whatever moment it’s playing in. Hot Thoughts dips in and out of a number of musical eras—
there’s familiar early-2000s indie rock on “Can I Sit Next to You”, improvisational jazz on “Us”, and ’70s David Bowie–style piano on “First Caress”. Given all this musical time-travel, it’s a bit surprising when Daniel says the only overarching goal was to make a work that wasn’t necessarily rooted in the here and now. “We had this vague notion that we wanted the record to sound futuristic,” Daniel says. “I’m not even sure if we used those terms literally, but that was sort of on my mind.” This vision dictated which songs made the final cut. One acoustic ballad was thrown out because it didn’t fit the vibe. The same considerations were taken into account when building the set list for the band’s ongoing tour. “At this point we can’t try to play every song we like, because there’s just not enough time,” Daniel says with a laugh. “We felt like we kinda created a sound world with this album. It’s a record that goes off in a couple places into this atmospheric, soundscape-y kinda place. And we thought what songs from our catalogue would fit into that world.” Daniel isn’t sentimental about letting go of older fan favourites, particularly because he’s noticed audiences are most receptive to songs from the last two albums. “Honestly, the newer songs get more response and that’s probably a good thing,” Daniel says. “I mean, that’s better than the opposite.” As for how Spoon’s kept it interesting all these years, Daniel’s best explanation is that as a songwriter, he moves toward things that sound right. “I just start singing what comes to me. That’s usually a good place to look,” he says. “And that’s something that happens without a lot of intention, you know. Usually I’ll record that, I’ll listen back, and I’ll go, ‘Did anything good just happen?’” see next page
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Spoon
from previous page
Spoon’s decades-long success streak indicates that Daniel’s freeform songwriting approach delivers the goods. Late on Hot Thoughts, the poppy, Bowie-influenced “Tear It Down” features the bouncy hook “Let them build a wall around us, I don’t care, I’m gonna tear it down.” It’s not clear if Daniel is singing about breaking down metaphorical walls that block creativity, or perhaps a certain president’s proposed Mexican border wall. But it’s a catchy hook—and whatever it means, musically, it feels right. Daniel isn’t really about definitions, anyway. He’s reluctant to summarize Spoon’s musical identity in a few words. “Why do I have to define it?” the singer asks incredulously. But when pressed, he gives it a try. “When I get in a cab and the guy sees I have a guitar and he asks what kind of band are you in, I always say rock and roll.”
> HOLLY M C KENZIE-SUTTER
Spoon plays Malkin Bowl on Saturday (September 2).
Steve Howe of Yes happy to still do what he loves The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
2 is notorious for taking forever
to induct bands that almost everyone but the institution’s voting members thinks are overdue for entry. There was much frustration among rock fans—especially of the Canuck persuasion—when the mighty Rush kept getting shunned, even after 13 years of being eligible for admission. Rush finally got inducted in 2013, and last April Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson were invited to introduce one of the class-of-2017 inductees, progrock legends Yes. “And we thought we waited a long time to get into the Hall of Fame” were the first words out of Lee’s mouth when he spoke at the ceremony, before he and Lifeson gushed about what a huge influence Yes had been on their rock-crazed teenage selves. On the phone from a tour stop in San Diego, Yes guitarist Steve Howe admits that the Rock Hall has its shortcomings. “Everybody knows that they take too long to induct bands and sometimes they do it either when everybody dislikes each other or many members have passed away. That seems a bit tragic, because of all the people in Yes who were keen on this— I was most probably the least keen— Chris Squire very much was,” Howe says, referring to the group’s longtime bassist and cofounder, who died
in 2015. “He felt that this was the way that the industry and the fans showed how important we were. I mean, personally, after years and years of hearing ‘Oh, this year you might be [inducted],’ I lost interest.” The induction ceremony took place the day before Howe’s 70th birthday, but age hasn’t slowed the fretmaster down much at all. After a spirited rendition of the band’s ’70s crowdpleaser “Roundabout”, with Lee on bass, Howe grabbed a Rickenbacker four-string to handle Squire’s parts on the 1983 hit “Owner of a Lonely Heart”, delivering the bottom end exactly as his old friend had done. “I love playing the guitar, and I feel I’m playing better than ever,” says Howe, whose touring version of Yes finds former Sky Cries Mary bassist Jon Davison handling Jon Anderson’s distinctively high-pitched vocals. “I don’t really have a restriction technically—I don’t have a bad finger or a bad elbow or something. So I think the most important part of your body to keep well is your mind, and a lot of people think they can’t do anything about that. Certainly, taking antidepressants is never going to help it. All I’m really saying is that I like to keep alert for music, you know, if nothing else. Music’s a very big role in my life, second only to being caring and loving towards the people I love. “If there’s something I couldn’t do now, that would be fairly depressing,” he adds, “and I’d rather go out and do something else. So I’m only going to carry on playing while I believe I’m playing at least as well as I always have. And if possible, like Segovia said, you keep learning and you keep loving the guitar. And you keep playing it. That’s my goal.” > STEVE NEWTON
Yes plays the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Tuesday (September 5), with guest Todd Rundgren.
Being open to everything is key for GoGoPenguin The math might be shaky, but
2 it’s perfectly logical that GoGo
Penguin’s third full-length, Man Made Object, is also the U.K.–based trio’s difficult second album. As pianist Chris Illingworth reports from his Manchester home, the band considers its second release, v2.0, its proper debut, for it was only with that 2014 effort that bassist Nick Blacka joined Illingworth and drummer Rob Turner, creating the band’s permanent lineup. In the creation of Man Made Object, Illingworth allows, there were other pressures beyond the well-known sophomore curse. “We’d signed with Blue Note,” he explains, referring to the legendary jazz label that was once home
Australia’s Hannah Joy (centre) dabbled in a number of styles before finally finding her guitar-based footing with the critically celebrated Middle Kids.
to Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and John Coltrane. “So we put a lot of pressure on ourselves in making that album. Blue Note was actually really relaxed and chilled out—everyone was very supportive—but we put the pressure on ourselves, on top of the pressure that we already felt with just trying to push ourselves and trying to do something different. It was a tricky one to make.” It’s not tricky to hear, however. Although generally considered a jazz act due to its familiar piano-trio format, GoGo Penguin puts a decidedly modern spin on the idiom, building its tunes from melodic modules in much the same way that many sample-based acts do, and taking as much rhythmic inspiration from electronic dance music as from the funk and hard-bop classics of yore. Man Made Object contains 10 concise, tuneful, and punchy numbers—although one could argue that it also sounds rather pressurized, compared to the rolling spaciousness of v2.0. That’s not going to be an issue with the trio’s next release, which Illingworth and company will finish after their September tour of Canada and Japan. “It’s hard to describe, but it [recording] is just a lot of fun again,” the pianist explains. “Even though it was really, really hard work, as it always is, it felt exciting, and it felt fun, and it felt like something we were all able to put our ideas into.” Illingworth doesn’t want to say too much about the new effort, which has yet to receive a title or a final mix. But he’s happy to talk about how extramusical factors have influenced what he’s brought to GoGo Penguin’s new repertoire. “In terms of finding ideas and things to be inspired by, we try and keep an open mind and look into everything we can, whether that’s reading novels, or philosophy, or looking at different forms of art,” he
...Arabic and Persian music filled with delicate and inspired interplay.
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says, adding that at least one of the tunes on the new disc was written after a visit to the serene and somewhat otherworldly Shinto shrine at the heart of Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park. “As we walked into the park there was a load of guys who dress in kind of greaser style, with massive big quiffs and leather jackets,” he explains. “But within no time at all you forget that you’re in the city. You can’t really see any buildings around you; it’s just trees, and then you get to the shrine.…It was just this powerful, interesting mix of emotions. It was really beautiful, but also really funny and alien as well—a really visceral mix of emotions.” Beautiful, funny, alien, and visceral? That’s the approach Illingworth has taken in trying to depict his day off in Tokyo, but it’s also a fine description of GoGo Penguin’s music so far.
> ALEXANDER VARTY
GoGo Penguin plays Frankie’s Jazz Club next Saturday and Sunday (September 9 and 10).
Middle Kids a testament to lucky organic vomiting Before being spotlighted as a gui-
2 tar-wielding indie artist to watch
college rock, amped-up alt-country, and live-wire shoegaze. Clearly one to give credit where due, the singerguitarist—who grew up playing classical piano—is quick to name her husband and bass player, Tim Fitz, as someone who changed her approach to making music. Calling from Annapolis, Maryland, where she’s gearing up for a North American tour, Joy says: “When I was making music like ‘Shiver, Wither’ I liked it, but I wasn’t totally onboard. It felt like that was all I was able to do at that time. Still, it had a cool groove and I love a lot of the melody, and those are two things that have always been important to me. But I think it wasn’t until I met Tim that I really started to get on the guitar. I haven’t played guitar for that long, and I’m still trying to find my way around the instrument. He helped me a lot.” Middle Kids, she suggests, draws as much inspiration from Fitz’s record collection as her own. Joy notes that as much as she loves music, she’s not one of those obsessives who need it on while they’re making dinner, washing the floors, or brushing their teeth. Her husband, on the other hand, clearly believes that few things are more annoying than the sound of silence. That’s opened her up to worlds she didn’t know existed back when she was mastering the piano. “He likes old punk stuff—really early punk,” Joy says with a laugh. “I’m talking really fun old music that I wouldn’t have ended up listening to on my own. And a lot of music that boys seem to love, like the Chili Peppers and Zeppelin. For the last couple of years I’ve been obsessed with that stuff, whereas before I didn’t really get it. Now I totally get it.” She’s also got the importance of doing one’s own thing rather than aping others, which is another way of saying that Middle Kids at no point sounds like Robert Plant ripping through a chainsaw-punk version of “Suck My Kiss”. Instead, with Middle Kids you get a record where “Old River” starts out as a beautiful stab at firebrush Americana and then explodes into a finale of psych-punk guitar pyro. Middle Kids proves as comfortable tackling driving acoustic folk (“Never Start”) as it does melancholy piano balladry (“Doing It Right”). “I worry about continuity and keeping everything like it’s a body of work,” Joy says, but admits she’s really not losing a lot of sleep over that. “Maybe it’s because we’ve got such a mix of influences in Middle Kids, or maybe we’re just lucky because it’s our first EP, but we were able to just vomit out things very naturally and organically.”
with Middle Kids, Australia’s Hannah Joy went through a number of permutations as a musician, some of them yielding songs that still float around on the Internet. Bring up, for example, the downtempo synth track “Shiver, Wither”, which can be unearthed on Bandcamp, and the 26-year-old responds with “Oh my gosh, how do you know about that? Is that still in the world?” One can be considerably less diligent to get a handle on where Joy > MIKE USINGER finds herself today, namely a critical darling whose debut EP, Middle Kids, has been praised for bring- Middle Kids plays the Biltmore on ing together the best of ’90s-vintage Thursday (August 31).
HOODIE ALLEN American rapper performs on his Hype World Tour 2017. Oct 25, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Vogue Theatre (918 Granville). Tix on sale Aug 31, 12 pm, $30 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.
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GUNS Nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ROSES Los Angeles hardMANDOLIN ORANGE American folk duo tours in support of recent album Blindfaller. rock band (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sweet Child oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Mineâ&#x20AC;?, â&#x20AC;&#x153;November Rainâ&#x20AC;?) performs on its Not in Nov 8, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Biltmore This Lifetime Tour, with guests Royal Blood. Cabaret (2755 Prince Edward). Tix on sale Sep 1, doors 6 pm, show 7:30 pm, BC Aug 31, 10 am, $20 (plus service charges Place Stadium (777 Pacific Boulevard). Tix and fees) at www.livenation.com/. $275/150/115/35 (plus service charges and 2THIS WEEK fees) at www.livenation.com/. PNE SUMMER NIGHT CONCERTS Featuring performances by the B-52s (Aug 30), the Doobie Brothers (Aug 31), Rick Springfield (Sep 1), the Gipsy Kings (Sep 2), and the iHeart Radio Beach Ball (Sep 3 and 4). Aug 19 to Sep 4, PNE Amphitheatre (2901 E. Hastings). Free with PNE admission (reserved seats available), info www.pne.ca/.
RICHMOND WORLD FESTIVAL Celebrate BASS COAST FESTIVAL SHOWCASE Richmondâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cultural diversity through music, Bass Coast Festivalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 10th-anniversary food, sport, and art from around the world. celebration features music by the Librarian, Includes performances by Verbal Jint, Mat the Alien, Michael Red, Barisone, and Tokyo Police Club, Dragonette, the Freshest SHAHdjs. Oct 8, doors 9 pm, show 9:30 pm, (featuring Marvel, Seko, Rico Uno, and Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix Kutcorners), DiRTY RADIO, Jocelyn Pettit on sale Sep 1, 10 am, $20 (plus service char- Band, Buckman Coe, Rumba 7, Shamik Bilgi, ges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. Mad Riddim, Toque Flamenco, Indonesian
2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS WESTWARD MUSIC FESTIVAL Music by Govâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Mule, Vince Staples, A Tribe Called Red, Dear Rouge, Charlotte Day Wilson, Pup, Hannah Georgas, TouchĂŠ AmorĂŠ, Watsky, Too Many Zooz, Busty and the Bass, Bliss n Eso, Youngblood, Beach Season and Neon Dreams, DD Dumbo, Ralph, Wyclef Jean, and Midnight Sister. Sep 14-17, Vogue Theatre (918 Granville). The event also runs at Biltmore Cabaret, Imperial Theatre, Fox Cabaret, and Red Truck Brewery. Tix $59.50-224.50, info www.westwardfest.com/. COLDPLAY British rock band led by Chris Martin performs on its A Head Full of Dreams Tour 2017. Sep 29, doors 5 pm,
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Healing Our Spirit B.C. First Nations AIDS Society has volunteer opportunities for hospital visitation, information booths, office assistance & preparation of pamphlets & condoms for distribution. We offer volunteer orientation, training & recognition & bus tickets. If interested, please call 983-8774 Ext. 13. We are dedicated to preventing and reducing the spread of HIV in the aboriginal communities of B.C. Healthy & loving relationships alluding you? CODA: Co-dependency Anonymous 12 step Recovery: 604- 515-5585 Infertility Awareness Assoc. of Canada (IAAC) provides educational material & support to individuals or couples experiencing infertility. Meetings: 7 pm the 2nd Wed of the month. Richmond Library & Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate. Info 523-0074 or www.iaac.ca
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savage love My brother just broke up with
Your brother is an adult. (I mean, presumably he’s an adult—they’re not letting minors into law school these days, are they?) And since he’s an adult, NOBRO, you can’t stop him from making terrible choices or the same terrible choice over and over again. But here’s the good news, NOBRO: You’re an adult too! And just as you can’t force your brother to stay away from this toxic POS, your brother can’t force you to converse with him all day long about politics or his POS ex or Game of Thrones turning into Star Trek. (Suddenly, only characters we don’t care about die on GoT. I half expect to see red shirts on the extras in Season 7.) And if your brother makes the mistake of getting back together with this woman a second time, your adult ears don’t have to listen to his adult ass complain endlessly about the by-now-predictable consequences of his terrible choices. If you’re feeling anxious about conversations you fear being dragged into, NOBRO, let your brother know you’re done listening to him sob about his ex. “It was idiotic to take her back the first time,” you could say. “But, hey, we all do idiotic things from time to time, particularly where our love lives are concerned. You would have to be an idiot, however, to take her back a second time. Personally, bro, I don’t think you should waste another second of your life pining for that manipulative piece of shit. I’m definitely not wasting another minute > NOW OVER BROTHER’S of my life discussing her with you. So RELATIONSHIP OBSESSION how about Jon Snow getting out of
his girlfriend for the second time in eight months. They had been together for two-and-a-half years, and she became pretty discontent when she finished college and my brother entered law school, because all his time and attention weren’t revolving around her. In January, she staged this bizarre, soap-operaesque situation to make my brother jealous and then broke up with him when he reacted predictably. (This is not speculation—she admitted to it.) After the breakup, my brother became a mess of a person—sobbing all the time and talking about her to anyone and everyone. At the risk of sounding insensitive, he was unbearable. Then, against the advice of my family, he started talking to her again, and they got back together. The second breakup came after he snooped and found out she had been texting her ex-boyfriend. She was telling that guy that she was trying to line up her next boyfriend while still dating my brother. They broke up again, and he’s now back in the same situation. He started back at school yesterday. He almost fucked that up last time because of her bullshit, and I don’t want to see that happen again. Additionally, I feel bad this happened—I really do—but I don’t have the time or patience to have the same conversation with him a million times. It’s exhausting and annoying.
> BY DAN SAVAGE that frozen lake full of zombies, huh? typically confide in each other about Apparently hypothermia isn’t a thing their love lives, don’t they? And that’s what you wanted, isn’t it? in the Seven Kingdoms.” Backing up: It’s always inspiring My ex-boyfriend and I were when two people manage to salvage together for a year and a half. He is a friendship after their romantic relaa silver fox who is significantly older tionship ends. But it’s not possible— than me. I was 23 when we met and it’s certainly not on anyone’s list of he was 58. It was supposed to be a breakup best practices—to go in an fling, but it evolved into a beautiful instant from lovers to besties who talk romance. But after much considera- on the phone every day. You got your tion (he has had a vasectomy and al- heart broken, HONEY, and only time ready has four kids and will be retiring can cauterize that particular wound. soon), we ended it three months ago. Your reaction to the news that your ex It was heartbreaking, but we made a has a new girlfriend proves your postconscious decision to be close friends breakup friendship wasn’t a “conscious and talk every day. Out of the blue decision” but an ill-advised rush. And last week, he asked me if I had a boy- while the physical aspect of your refriend. I don’t, but I was coincidentally lationship with Mr. Silver Fox ended about to go on my first date since the three months ago, you never got out breakup. He proceeded to tell me he of each other’s pants emotionally. (A “kinda” has a new girlfriend, a woman bruised ego might also be contributing closer to his age. This was not some- to your inability to eat or sleep—he got thing I wanted to hear, which he could over you faster than you got over him.) tell from the silence that met this disI don’t think you should explain closure. This conversation ruined my anything to your ex right now, weekend. I have been unable to eat or HONEY, because I don’t think you sleep. The guy I went on a date with should talk to your ex for the next was sexy—not a love connection, but six months or so. You need to get on a bangtown prospect—but I was too with your life—and getting on that emotionally fucked to do anything new guy is a good place to start. with him. Do I explain these thoughts to my ex? Let time do the healing? I’m a 26-year-old heterosexual Why did my ex feel the need to tell me female, and I was recently dumped by my boyfriend. He was my first love and about his new girlfriend? > HEARTBROKEN OVER the person I lost my virginity to. We’d NEW EX’S YUMMY been seeing each other for a little over a year. I had sex with someone else Your ex told you about his new girl- while I was seeing my ex (it was a more friend because you two are close casual relationship in the beginning). friends, right? And close friends I wanted more, and I’m not 100 per-
cent sure but think that’s what scared him off. I went into a depression and started seeing a therapist. This all happened a little more than a month ago. Friends tell me that the “best way to get over someone is to get under someone else”, but I’m not sure what to do. I’m pretty sure I’m doing the thing I shouldn’t be doing: holding out hope my ex will decide he made a horrible decision and want to be with me again. I know it is idiotic to have this hope. Can you give me some direction? > DON’T UNDERESTIMATE MY PAIN
This may not be helpful in the short term, DUMP, but it’s not idiotic to hold out hope your ex will take you back. It could happen—indeed, it has happened for lots of folks. I have two friends who are married to men who dumped them, regretted it, and begged to be taken back. The trick, however, is to assume it won’t happen and make a conscious effort to get on with your life. (And, if necessary, a conscious effort to get under someone else.) Your boyfriend/first love/first fuck dumped you a little more than a month ago—you’re allowed, one month and change later, to live in hope of a reconciliation. Odds are good, though, that it’s a false hope, DUMP, so don’t pass on any solid offers and keep seeing that therapist. On the Lovecast, parents, talk smart to your kids about sex: savage lovecast.com . Email: mail@savage love.net . Follow Dan on Twitter @fakedansavage. ITMFA.org/.
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AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 7 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 39
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