FREE | OCTOBER 25 - NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 Volume 52 | Number 2650
PETE FRY
He’ll speak for minorities
FENTANYL FALLOUT B.C. life expectancy declines
WANG RAMIREZ Hip-hop defies gravity
Peach Pit Vancouver’s indie breakout kings are enjoying a ride best described as crazy
HEART OF THE CITY || JEWISH FILMS || BACKBONE || JILL BARBER
2 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 3
CONTENTS
October 25 – November 1 / 2018
33 COVER
In one year, Vancouver indie foursome Peach Pit went from virtual obscurity to fans overseas singing along at their concerts. By Mike Usinger Cover photo by Lester Lyons-Hookham
WA R E H O U S E
NEWS
7
SALE
New city councillor Pete Fry finds himself the only person of colour in an otherwise all-white chamber. By Carlito Pablo
11
CANNABIS
Kyle St. Hilaire is using profits from his organic-hemp rolling papers to help reforest devastated Madagascar. By Piper Courtenay
13 HEALTH
U R B A N AT H L E T I C A P P A R E L
Canada’s top public-health officer says average life expectancy in B.C. is declining due to opioid overdoses. By Travis Lupick
17 ARTS
R I C H M O N D O VA L
Hip-hop informs the visually stunning dance theatre of the France-based sensation Wang Ramirez, along with ballet, martial arts, and a sense of identity and culture.
6111 RIVER RD, RICHMOND
By Janet Smith
Fr i d a y, O c t o b e r 2 6 , 1 0 - 8 p m S a t u rd a y, O c t o b e r 2 7 t h , 9 -7 p m S u n d a y, O c t o b e r 2 8 t h , 1 0 - 6 p m th
e Start Here
UP TO 80% OFF WOMEN \ MEN \ BAGS \ ACCESSORIES
U R BA N AT H L E T I C A P PA R E L \ @ R Y U _ A P PA R E L \ R Y U . C O M
14 36 15 34 29 26 9 39 12 10 24
THE BOTTLE CONFESSIONS FOOD I SAW YOU MOVIE REVIEWS MUSIC REAL ESTATE SAVAGE LOVE STRAIGHT STARS TECHNOLOGY THEATRE
e Online TOP 5
e Listings
Aarm Dental Group
27 ARTS 35 MUSIC
We’re in your neighborhood to make you smile…
0 9.0 *$ 9oom g Z in iten h W
Vancouver’s News and Entertainment Weekly Volume 52 | Number 2631 1635 West Broadway, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1W9 T: 604.730.7000 F: 604.730.7010 E: gs.info@straight.com straight.com
NOW OPEN... Aarm Dental Group
Family & Cosmetic Dentistry
on Beatty
529 Beatty Street
(between Dunsmuir & Pender St.)
604-699-1901
DISPLAY ADVERTISING: T: 604.730.7020 F: 604.730.7012 E: sales@straight.com
CLASSIFIEDS: T: 604.730.7060 E: classads@straight.com
1 2 3 4 5
SUBSCRIPTIONS: 604.730.7000
The most expensive dining experience in Canada: the Blue Room. Dr. Christy Sutherland named one of Canada’s top family physicians. Kennedy Stewart needs help in getting rid of at-large system. Digital poppies will be available this year for Remembrance Day. Wow Air launches low-cost flights from Vancouver to Europe.
GeorgiaStraight @GeorgiaStraight
DISTRIBUTION: 604.730.7087
@GeorgiaStraight
The Georgia Straight is published every Thursday by the Vancouver Free Press Publishing Corp. Copies are distributed free every week throughout Vancouver, Burnaby, North and West Vancouver, New Westminster, and Richmond. International Standard Serial Number ISSN 0709-8995. Subscription rates in Canada $182.00/52 issues (includes GST), $92.00/26 issues (includes GST); United States $379.00/52 issues, $205.00/26 issues; foreign $715.00/52 issues, $365.00/26 issues. Contact 604-730-7087 if you wish to distribute free copies of the Georgia Straight at your place of business. Entire contents copyright © 2018 Vancouver Free Press, Best Of Vancouver, Bov And Golden Plates Are Trade-Marks Of Vancouver Free Press Publishing Corp. SUBMISSIONS The Straight accepts no responsibility for, and will not necessarily respond to, any submitted materials. All submissions should be addressed to contact@straight.com. Canadian Publications Mail Agreement #40009178, return undeliverable Canadian addresses to The Georgia Straight, 1635 West Broadway, Vancouver, B.C, V6J 1W9
Zoom In-Office Whitening for $99.00. Dr. Sabrina Chen, DDS
Dr. Fred Doujak, DMD
EMERGENCY & NEW PATIENTS WELCOME
BUSINESS FOR SALE: SQUAMISH NATIVE ART STORE SPECTACULAR LOCATION - ONLY 30 MINS TO WEST VAN/WHISTLER OM .C Y SK OT T S LO E B
38059 CLEVELAND AVENUE EXCELLENT HIGH TRAFFIC/ VISIBILITY LOCATION SQUAMISH’S BUSIEST RETAIL BLOCK AMAZING BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
OPEN MONDAY TO SATURDAY WE DO NOT CHARGE ABOVE BCDA FEE GUIDE
Here’s what people are reading this week on Straight.com.
WE ACCEPT MOST MAJOR DENTAL INSURANCE PLANS
NEW PATIENTS & EMERGENCIES ALWAYS WELCOME
www.aarm-dental.com 4 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
$79,900 PETER@BELOSTOTSKY.COM
Invest in this beautiful community’s growing downtown. Successfully operating for 17 years. The timing of this business opportunity could not be better with the recent & future growth. Live in the Recreation Capital of Canada, operating a successful native art store selling to residents & a growing tourist population. Very well located on a high volume, maximum exposure retail block. Please phone to schedule a private viewing of this excellent business opportunity & the majestic surrounding valley.
1.604.848.4279
PETER BELOSTOTSKY quality real estate services
PERFORMANCE REALTY
OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 5
Once a student, always a Langaran. Whether you’re a current or former student or employee – you’re a Langaran. Share your memories, reconnect with classmates and instructors, and join our 49th anniversary celebration. Learn more. beyond49.langara.ca
VOTED #1CANNABIS EVENT IN CANADA BY HIGH CANADA MAGAZINE
EVERYTHING IN ONE PLACE
PARQ VANCOUVER DOWNTOWN VANCOUVER. FEATURING A CASINO AND JW MARRIOTT LUXURY HOTEL
VISIT WEBSITE FOR PREFERRED ROOM RATES
VANCOUVER 2018
DECEMBER 10TH-11TH, 2018 CANNABIS MEETS HEALTHCARE WORKSHOP AND SET UP • DECEMBER 9TH
KEYNOTE
MONTEL WILLIAMS
O’Cannabiz Conference and Expo is a cannabis industry show. Cannabis in any form is not allowed at this show. You must be 19+ to attend.
6 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE
RESERVE YOUR BOOTH TODAY REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
NEWS
Minorities seek help from councillor-elect Pete Fry by Carlito Pablo
A
With nobody of Chinese, Philippine, or South Asian ancestry elected to Vancouver council, some people of colour are looking to Green councillor-elect Pete Fry to be their voice at city hall.
s an activist, Pete Fry has focused mostly on environmental and urbanplanning issues. As a newly elected city councillor, Fry now finds himself someone who will be representing Vancouver’s racial diversity as well. In a place where more than half the residents are visible minorities (meaning persons other than whites and Indigenous), the Green Party politician will be the closest embodiment of a person of colour at City Hall. In the October 20 civic election, voters chose eight women and two men for council. Except for Fry, who describes himself as a “person of mixed race”, all of them are white. “I do see myself in a position where I’m obviously more responsible,” Fry told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview Tuesday (October 23). Fry knows that he’s expected to be a voice for the city’s diverse cultures. “I’ve already had people from communities reach out to me and say, ‘You have to speak for us now. You have to be our representative, in many respects. We want you to remember us,’ ” Fry said. Fry is also acutely aware of limitations that were shaped by his personal circumstances. “I can appreciate how my mixed heritage bestows me with the role and responsibility of the councillor to represent the diversity of our city,” he said. However, Fry also noted that his light-brown skin, “very white AngloSaxon name”, and “ethnic ambiguity” don’t place him in a situation to “share the same lived experience as someone with darker skin or a name not native to the English tongue”. Fry was born in Ireland. His father is British, and his mother is originally from the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago. His parents met in Dublin, where they
were studying at the time. He was a toddler when the family came to Canada, and the prime minister then was Pierre Trudeau. “This is why my mom is such a hard-core Liberal,” Fry said, referring to Hedy Fry, the longest-serving female member of Parliament and the representative for Vancouver Centre. As Fry put it, he grew up in Canada as an English-speaking and “able-bodied cis[gender] male” who was “imbued with the cultural norms and contexts of the West Coast”. “I can’t speak to the lived experience of a queer black man or a Muslim woman or an Indigenous elder,” he said. “That’s why it’s so important that our framing of diversity reflects actual diversity and intersectionality.” According to Fry, he intends to ensure that this approach is reflected as the new council looks at policies and renews advisory committees. The city currently has a volunteerbased cultural-communities advisory committee whose mandate is to inform council about ways of enhancing the inclusion of such communities in the city’s life. Based on the 2016 census, Vancouver has the largest number of visible-minority members in B.C. A total of 319,005 Vancouverites identify as members of ethnic groups, representing 51.6 percent of the population. Of these, the biggest communities are Chinese, at 167,180; South Asians, at 37,130; and Filipinos, at 36,460. As to why the results of the last election did not mirror the city’s diversity, Fry has his own opinion. “I do want to think that Vancouverites in general are progressive enough that it wasn’t just…[that] they weren’t voting for ethnic candidates,” Fry said. “I think it was largely luck of the draw and how the campaigns ran.”
g
Tim Stevenson cites lack of LGBT representation
A
by Charlie Smith
great deal of attention has focused on lack of ethnic diversity on the incoming Vancouver city council, but there’s also a lack of diversity when it comes to sexual orientation and gender identity. In a phone interview with the Straight, soon-to-retire Vision Vancouver councillor and LGBT community champion Tim Stevenson said that he plans to raise this issue when he delivers his goodbye speech on Tuesday (October 30). “How is the gay community going to be represented by some straight guy that says, ‘Oh, I know all about gay people?’ ” Stevenson asked. This was the first election since 1984 when an openly gay man was not elected to Vancouver city council. Many out-and-proud LGBT candidates fell short in their attempts to be among the 10 councillors elected on October 20. They include OneCity’s Brandon Yan, Vision Vancouver’s Tanya Paz, the NPA’s Justin
Goodrich, Yes Vancouver’s Brinder Bains, and independent Rob McDowell, who is a member of the city’s LGBTQ2+ advisory committee. Two of Vancouver’s best-known transgender people, Morgane Oger and Jamie Lee Hamilton, were also defeated. Oger was seeking a spot on the school board and Hamilton ran for the park board. One incoming NPA councillor, Rebecca Bligh, is a volunteer with the Dr. Peter Centre, which serves many members of the LGBT community. In 1984, COPE’s Sue Harris was the first out lesbian to be elected in Vancouver, as a park-board candidate. The first openly gay man elected to Vancouver city council was the NPA’s Gordon Price in 1986. In 1996, Hamilton was the first transgender candidate for Vancouver city council, with COPE. The first out lesbian to be elected to council was COPE’s Ellen Woodsworth, in 2002.
g
With files from Carlito Pablo.
OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 7
Drop by to check out our selection of quality sex toys. We are committed to keeping our customers informed and healthy!
NEWS
Ken Charko: Snubbing Young cost NPA dearly
Dunbar Theatre owner says win was given to the left
I
by Carlito Pablo
B.C. Early Childhood Education
Assistant & Basic Certificates
t doesn’t give Ken Charko any pleasure to say he told us so. But what the Dunbar Theatre owner said about a likely outcome of the Vancouver municipal election looks to have been proven right. “That’s really what it was,” Charko told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview Monday (October 22). His former party, the Non-Partisan Association, neither won the mayoral race nor secured majority control of city council, the park board, or the school board. Charko told this paper back in March that the NPA should “bring everyone in the tent” to solidify its chances of winning the election. If needed, he suggested, the NPA had to “bend over backwards to make sure that everyone feels welcome”. Charko is a known maverick. He was removed from the NPA board in 2014 for questioning how the party is governed. He made a point of saying in March that if Wai Young ran outside the NPA as a mayoral candidate, the NPA might lose the election. “If she runs as an independent, that hurts the NPA,” Charko noted. Young eventually abandoned her intention of seeking the NPA mayoral nomination because of what Charko described as “artificial barriers” that the party put up against her. Moreover, the party blocked NPA
Apply now to start this online program in January!
Coalition Vancouver’s Ken Charko says NPA should have let Wai Young seek mayoral nod.
“This was a right-of-centre victory that they gave to the left-of-centre,” Charko said. He added that Young should have been allowed to seek the NPA’s mayoral nomination. “If Wai [Young] was given every opportunity to be able to run with the NPA and she lost, she wouldn’t have had the moral ground to run independently,” he said. Charko said the same could have
If Wai [Young] was given every opportunity to be able to run with the NPA and she lost, she wouldn’t have had the moral ground to run independently. – Ken Charko
Learn from UBC early childhood experts! Learn more & apply: earlychildhood.educ.ubc.ca/gs NEW LISTING
811/815 UNION STREET I $1,998,000
councillor Hector Bremner from the mayoral nomination. Bremner formed his own Yes Vancouver party and, like Young, ran for mayor. In the October 20 election, NPA mayoral candidate Ken Sim lost to labour-backed candidate Kennedy Stewart by fewer than 1,000 votes. Young got almost 12,000 votes and Bremner about 10,000. In a new interview with the Straight, Charko said that it could have been an easy victory for the NPA “if they had been more accommodating to those that ran”.
619 PRIOR STREET I $1,649,000 Five bed, three bath, 2,534 SF Strathcona home
The main floor is bright & airy, featuring a full bath, chef’s kitchen and formal dining room. Up is 3 beds & a full bath. Down is a legal 3 bed suite with it’s own outdoor space
The open plan main floor has 9’ ceilings & a gourmet kitchen w/ 42’ Wolf range (gas) stove & a large island with S/S counters. Upstairs features 3 beds & den + a large spa bathroom, all with over height ceilings
SNEAK PEEK: THURS Oct 25th, 5 - 6pm OPEN HOUSE: SAT Oct 27th, 2 - 4pm 8 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
g
NEW LISTING
Six bed, three bath, 2,477 SF Strathcona home
The home was taken to the studs and rebuilt with permits in 2008. It features new wood windows, fir floors, new electrical & plumbing, cedar & hardie siding and a large back deck leading to a yard & single car garage
been true with Bremner. “They should have made it so that these people stayed within the group [NPA],” Charko said. Charko ran as a council candidate under Young’s Coalition Vancouver ticket but did not make it into the winners’ circle. Glen Chernen, who lost the NPA’s mayoral nomination to Sim, expressed interest in running for council with the NPA. Chernen eventually left the NPA and joined Young’s Coalition Vancouver as a council candidate. Like Charko, Chernen did not win.
The home features a large 2 bed mortgage helper w/ separate laundry and side entrance
STONEHOUSE R E A L
T E A M
E S TAT E
A D V I S O R S
604 255 7575 EMAILUS@STONEHOUSETEAM.COM
2-storey, 2 car garage
SNEAK PEEK: THURS Oct 25th, 5 - 7pm OPEN HOUSE: SAT Oct 27th, 2 - 4pm
Sutton West Coast Realty I 301-1508 W Broadway
HOUSING
NPA-Green alliance could reverse mass rezoning
F
by Charlie Smith
or the first time in a decade, Vancouver’s mayor will be a tenant rather than a homeowner. The man who won the October 20 election, Kennedy Stewart, also has some ideas for helping to improve life for tenants, which he elaborated on in an interview with the Georgia Straight during the election campaign. He has already given consideration to the city assembling land by buying single-family homes or duplexes. He suggested that if council decides to take this action, it could rezone these properties to allow for multi-unit housing. “Then we can have rental-only that we assemble and we could turn over to a nonprofit,” he said. That’s just one method for the mayor-elect to try to meet his goal of 25,000 affordable nonmarket rental units in the next decade. He also said during the campaign that he supported the Vision Vancouver–controlled council’s mass rezoning to permit duplexes in single-family areas of Vancouver. This decision covered 52 percent of the city’s land area and occurred in the final council meeting before the election. The “Making Room” policy was opposed by the only two incumbents who were elected: Green councillor Adriane Carr and NPA councillor Melissa De Genova. It was also opposed by NPA councillors George Affleck and Elizabeth Ball. In addition, the Making Room initiative was vehemently rejected by NPA councillor-elect Colleen Hardwick in a speech she gave before council prior to the vote. “The thought that, on your way out, you would even consider approving these sweeping citywide zoning-bylaw changes without due process, without proper public consultation, and without community input is unconscionable,” Hardwick told council.
Renters are seen as somehow less than owners. We have to change that. – COPE councillor-elect Jean Swanson
It takes a two-thirds vote of council to reconsider a policy. If the three other NPA councillors-elect agree with Hardwick and De Genova, they will need to secure the support of three other councillors to reverse the Making Room policy. Carr has two Green colleagues elected to council: Pete Fry and Michael Wiebe. So, theoretically, there could be enough votes around the table for an NPA-Green alliance to undo one of the most significant moves advanced by Mayor Gregor Robertson’s party to increase the supply of housing in the city. One of the city’s most vocal tenant advocates, Jean Swanson, was also elected as the sole COPE member of council. In an interview with the Straight during the campaign, Swanson pointed out that it wasn’t that long ago—in the 1960s—that tenants weren’t even allowed to vote in municipal elections. She wants renters to receive more respect at Vancouver City Hall. “I think a lot of that feeling toward
HAVE YOU BEEN TO...
JamJar bespoke engagement rings, wedding bands, statement rings, and raw gemstone earrings
jam-jar.ca
Meinhardt
■ hand-built, one-of-a-kind custom, made to order in East Van ■ recycled gold, silver & platinum ■ confl ict-free raw diamonds
■
Fine Foods
meinhardtfinefoods.com
specimental design 778.883.1005 e: treloar@telus.net
w: specimental.com
Mayor-elect Kennedy Stewart will deal with a council that won’t always agree over housing.
renters is still kind of embedded in the bureaucracy and the politics of the city, where renters are seen as somehow less than owners,” Swanson said. “We have to change that.” There’s a perception in the media that Swanson might prove to be the most difficult councillor for Stewart to work with, given her long history of activism. However, Swanson has remained close to former NDP MP Libby Davies for decades—and Davies is a mentor and adviser to Stewart. And both Stewart and Swanson are tenants. It’s conceivable that the most pitched battles in the council chamber could turn out to be between those who favour increasing the supply of housing in single-family areas and those who oppose this. On this front, Swanson would likely be an ally of Stewart’s if it involved the city buying houses with the objective of creating nonprofit rental housing. But she may not be as keen to support for-profit development in single-family zones. When it comes to any attempt to overturn Making Room, the Greens will hold the swing votes. To date, with Carr as their sole representative, the Greens have been most inclined to side with neighbourhood associations opposed to new developments. According to Mayor Gregor Robertson’s chief of staff, Kevin Quinlan, Carr voted against 32 percent of all the housing units that went to a public hearing in this council’s term of office. That exceeded the total of every other councillor “by a significant margin”. The public and the media often view Vancouver politics through the lens of whether a party is “progressive”—i.e., Greens, OneCity, and COPE—or “conservative” or “centre-right”, i.e., the NPA. The reality is that there are different political schisms with regard to housing. The Greens and the NPA have been “preservationist” with regard to single-family neighbourhoods. COPE has been “preservationist” about retaining single-roomoccupancy hotels and development sites for social housing in the Downtown Eastside. And OneCity, Vision Vancouver, and Stewart have been more bullish about increasing housing choices in areas zoned for single-family homes. COPE’s Swanson would be thrilled to see publicly owned nonprofit, affordable rental housing built in areas like Dunbar and West Point Grey. Yet OneCity, Stewart, Swanson, and the Greens are all “preservationist” concerning purpose-built rental housing across the city. Perhaps it’s time we came up with new labels to describe the ideological dispositions of the various members of Vancouver city council.
g
OCTOBER 1 – NOVEMBER 30 SPELL PARQ FOR A CHANCE TO WIN UP TO
MONDAY–THURSDAY | 8PM FRIDAY–SATURDAY | 9PM SUNDAY | 6PM EARN BALLOTS BY PLAYING SLOTS & TABLE GAMES. 4X BALLOTS EVERY THURSDAY.
MUST PRESENT VALID GOVERNMENT ISSUED PHOTO I.D. TO PARTICIPATE. ACTIVATE BALLOTS 2 HOURS PRIOR. RULES APPLY. VISIT PLAYERS CLUB FOR DETAILS.
PARQVANCOUVER.COM
604.683.7277
39 SMITHE STREET, VANCOUVER, BC V6B 0R3
OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 9
52
$
HIGH TECH
EUROPEAN Tech firm makes it more FACIAL
Experience your skin at its finest, with Optaderm’s one hour Complete Facial, yours for $52 (compare elsewhere $80-$135). Your skin will benefit from our relaxing aromatherapy massage, thorough deep pore cleansing, skin smoothing peel and soothing hydrating masque.
OptaDerm Skin Care / Laser / Products
31 Years of Service tel: 604-737-2026 / www.optaderm.com NEW ADDRESS: 667 E. BROADWAY @ FRASER, VAN. Appointments available online or by phone Offer expires Nov. 30, 2018
P E T E R WA L L D OW N TOW N L E C T U R E S E R I E S
THE EXCHANGE
MON NOV 5 2018 I 7PM VOGUE THEATRE
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN A BRAVE NEW ROBOTIC WORLD ŅŸ±ĬĜĹÚ {ĜϱųÚØ ± ŞĜŅĹååų ĜĹ ƋĘå ĀåĬÚ Ņü åĵŅƋĜŅűĬĬƼ Ÿĵ±ųƋ eF ƋåÏĘĹŅĬŅčĜåŸØ will discuss ƋĘå Ĭ±ƋåŸƋ ±Úƴ±ĹÏåŸ ĜĹ ƋĘĜŸ ų±ŞĜÚĬƼ ÚåƴåĬŅŞĜĹč ĀåĬÚØ ÚåŸÏųĜÆĜĹč ĘŅƵ ÏŅĵŞƚƋåųŸ ±ųå ĹŅƵ ±ÆĬå ƋŅ ĵ屟ƚųå ±ĹÚ ųåŸŞŅĹÚ ƋŅ Ņƚų åĵŅƋĜŅĹŸ ±ĹÚ üååĬĜĹčŸØ ±ĹÚ ƋĘå ĜĵŞĬĜϱƋĜŅĹŸ üŅų Ęƚĵ±Ĺ Ęå±ĬƋĘ ±ĹÚ ƵåĬĬěÆåĜĹčţ ĘĜŸ åƴåĹƋ ƵĜĬĬ Æå ĵŅÚåų±ƋåÚ ÆƼ cŅų± ¥ŅƚĹčØ ĘŅŸƋ Ņü ƋĘå ŲŸ Sparkţ
Tickets are FREE I aŅųå ĜĹüŅ ±Ƌ pwias.ubc.ca/events
convenient to dine out by Kate Wilson
T
he number one complaint about eating out in B.C. might be the etiquette of tipping, but the second is doubtless the struggle to merely get the bill. Many hours are wasted trying to catch the eye of a busy server, leading to frustration for the customers and, potentially, a smaller tip for restaurant staff. Vancouver company Ready spied opportunity in that annoyance. “When Ready was built, it was created with the idea that people could self-pay at a restaurant at the end of the meal, or anytime during it,” Tori Dundas, head of strategic partnerships at the Vancouver startup, tells the Georgia Straight on the line from her Coal Harbour office. “The thing that sets it apart is that it’s not an app and you don’t have to download anything. In the restaurant, there is a QR code on every table. If you have an iPhone, you literally don’t have to press anything: you hover your camera over the code, your bill pops up, and you pay it electronically. The level of convenience is what sets us apart from everyone else.” Shortly after pioneering its self-pay technology, the company saw an opening to tackle another problem. Instead of relying on wait staff to take and process orders—particularly in bars or pubs—Ready developed the ability to self-order. As with its self-pay mechanisms, customers can scan the QR code on the table, which brings up a full menu. Individuals choose what they want, and send their directions electronically to the kitchen, and servers bring the food or drinks to the table. The development, Ready says, allows individuals to order and pay at will. The technology is starting to appear in a number of restaurants across Vancouver. Currently at Mahony & Sons, Ceili’s Irish Pub, and Olympic Village’s Brewhall, Ready is helping a number of establishments manage orders during busy periods. By allowing servers to take on bigger sections and reducing the administrative aspects of their jobs, the company’s self-order and self-pay systems aim to improve the experience of eating out for both staff and patrons. “Brewhall, for example, invited us in to see how the Ready platform could work and solve some of the issues their restaurant was having,” Dundas recalls. “That’s when they said, ‘Oh, my gosh—this ordering system could really change everything.’ At Brewhall they have a really unique system where you line up to order and then take a seat. We’re currently piloting our technology there where you can take a seat right away and order through Ready.” After securing a number of contracts with local restaurants, the team was looking to expand into
Roger Ross
SOLD OVER ASKING PRICE The Sandpiper 1740 Comox #2006 Top floor 2 bdrm penthouse-level English Bay view SE corner. Asking: $758,000.
D L SO
West End
buyers & sellers for over 13 years! Award Winning Realtor
SOLD 1720 Barclay #502 Lancaster Gate Renovated sunny South East corner English Bay suite off Denman Street. Outdoor pool. $340,000.
10 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
new markets. Excited to show other businesses their success, one employee casually approached a connection at B.C. Place with the tech. After looking at its capability, the stadium giant asked if it could implement the self-ordering into its seats. Soon after, Ready was launched in the arena. “Each seat in the club section and Whitecaps FC pitchside club sections has an individual QR code,” Dundas says. “You scan it, and then the full menu is pulled up. You can select the items you want to buy and then purchase them, and then a food runner brings them down to you. “B.C. Place has been such a great partner of ours, with testing out our technology,” she continues. “We started with 200 seats, and within a week they wanted to get up to 1,500 seats, which we have in there now—and we want to go even further. It’s proven itself in the experience. It’s not something we have to push on people when they’ve tried it. It’s really helped on the stadium side for creating operational efficiencies but also helped guests have a better experience by not standing in lineups.” With more businesses taking note of Ready after its success at B.C. Place, the company is now in conversations with leading stadiums across North America, including some that house NHL, MLB, and NBA teams. Despite its growing buzz across the continent, however, Dundas is happy that the startup still calls Vancouver home. “[The partnerships] we have with local companies really speaks to the spirit of the city and how we work together to grow really cool initiatives,” she says. “B.C. Place, for instance, saw the technology and loved that we were a local Vancouver company. We loved that they are too, so being partners at the forefront of launching all this has been a really great experience.”
Connecting
Selling the West End! D L SO
Vancouver-based Ready relies on QR codes to enable customers to pay bills without waiting.
Macdonald Realty Ltd.
Telephone: (604) 623-5433 Email: rogerr@shaw.ca
List with a seller! Call Roger!
CANNABIS
Rolling papers for reforestation
K
by Piper Courtenay
yle St. Hilaire is only stopping in Vancouver for a few days before getting back to his cross-country road trip. Three weeks ago, the 25-year-old entrepreneur hit the highway in his converted 1995 Dodge camper van, named Big Blue, to spread the word about his line of environmentally conscious rolling papers. Holed up in a cafĂŠ in the heart of Gastown, the Canadian cannabis nomad shares the story of how a trip to Madagascar in 2016 inspired his mission to combat global deforestation, one joint at a time. “It’s primarily foreign companies that go into Third World countries and mine and fish and log, sucking up the resources without having the proper licences or following regulation,â€? St. Hilaire tells a Georgia Straight reporter. “If they get caught, they just pay their way out of trouble. Because of that, almost 97 percent of the rainforest and fauna in Madagascar is destroyed, just completely gone. There is barren land everywhere.â€? On his trip, St. Hilaire was offered a job to stay in the region, working for a mining and resource company. He turned down the opportunity and returned to Canada, where he would launch his latest venture, Hazo Rolling Papers. “I’ve always worked in the cannabis industry in some manner, either trimming or making hash,â€? he says, most recently working as a dispensary manager in Vernon, B.C. “I wanted to create a low-ticket item with a social cause attached to it that wasn’t going to get caught up in the miles of red tape coming with the then-pending legalization of cannabis,â€? he says.
Hazo is a Malagasy word for tree—and sales of Hazo rolling papers are contributing to the planting of more than 30,000 trees, according to company founder Kyle St. Hilaire.
A long-time medical-cannabis consumer himself, St. Hilaire decided on a line of rolling papers, and he says unbleached organic hemp stayed true to his passion for clean, low-impact products. The word hazo, he explains, means tree in Malagasy, the national language of Madagascar—fitting, given that each pack sold plants a mangrove tree along the coast of the island. “Mangroves are native to the region,� he says. “When you lose the mangroves, everything in and around those areas, the wildlife, starts to die.� Since launching in July 2017, the company has planted about 30,000 trees in partnership with Eden Reforestation Project. The nonprofit organization implements Hazo’s planting initiative overseas and is responsible for planting more than 250 million trees in countries like Nepal and Ethiopia. He says the partnership with Eden was an easy choice based on their socially conscious approach to environmental renewal. The organization hires farmers living in the regions to plant trees in the most affected areas, creating a source of income and economic viability within impoverished villages.
ARE YOU EIGHTEEN YEARS OR OLDER AND LOOKING FOR A MEANINGFUL VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY? Our Peer Support Services at JSA is now accepting applications for our Community Support Friendly Visiting Program As an introduction to senior peer counselling, our community support friendly visitor training program is being offered at no cost. Upon completion of the program you will get a certificate. Gain skills in interacting with seniors in our community and increase your employment opportunities and personal growth. Upon completion of the course you will have learned active and empathetic listening, effective communication skills and become familiar with community resources for seniors Training will consist of five weekly consecutive sessions on Monday evenings from 4 pm – 7 pm for a total of 15 hours. Upon completion of the training you will be matched with a senior to visit with in the community to apply your new skills. Jewish Seniors Alliance is an inclusive organization and reaches out to all religious, cultural and ethnic groups. We have a demand for volunteers from all diverse backgrounds including volunteers who speak Cantonese, Mandarin as well as English
For further information please contact CHARLES LEIBOVITCH at 604-267-1555 or 778-840-4949 email: charles@jsalliance.org
HAVE YOU BEEN TO...
Fassil
St. Hilaire says that although his focus now is on restoring Madagascar’s forests, he hopes that with more sales he can create papers specific to different regions. “We may create themed packs that go to planting in other countries that see the same problems, like Indonesia or Haiti,� he says. Hazo was recently nominated in the best-rolling-paper category in this year’s Canadian Cannabis Awards, alongside Kronico Limited and Zenabis 2-in-1. Public voting for the award closes on October 26 and winners will be announced at the Canadian Cannabis Awards gala in Toronto at the end of November. Next, St. Hilaire is heading to the Interior of B.C. to visit dispensaries that have weathered the first week of federal legalization. After that, he plans on visiting stores across Calgary, Edmonton, and Regina. Hazo just launched an online store and has teamed up with leading cannabis-accessory distributors BobHQ and humble + fume to put its papers in brick-and-mortar stores, and St. Hilaire says the road trip has been a fun way to get the word out.
CONSIDERING BECOMING A LEGAL CANNABIS RETAILER IN NEW WESTMINSTER? New Westminster will be accepting applications for cannabis retail locations from October 24 November 28, 2018 for Council consideration. For more information on the application process, guidelines, requirements, evaluation criteria, and to submit an application, visit our website.
KNOW THE DETAILS BEFORE YOU RETAIL.
newwestcity.ca/cannabis
HAVE YOUR SAY!
Vote in the 2018 Referendum on Electoral Reform October 22 to November 30, 2018 B.C. is having a referendum on what voting system to use for provincial elections. This is a big decision so make sure to vote.
What are we voting on? You are being asked:
ƒ
should we keep the current First Past the Post voting system or move to a system of proportional representation?
ƒ
if proportional representation is adopted, which proportional system do you prefer? - Dual Member Proportional (DMP) - Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) - Rural-Urban Proportional (RUP)
You can answer both questions or just one and your ballot will still count. Find out more about all four voting systems by calling us or visiting our website. Refer to information from all sides in the debate, make an informed choice, and remember to vote by November 30, 2018.
How can I Vote? 9RWLQJ SDFNDJHV DUH EHLQJ PDLOHG WR UHJLVWHUHG YRWHUV XQWLO 1RYHPEHU ,I \RX GRQ¡W UHFHLYH RQH FRQWDFW (OHFWLRQV BC. Your voting package includes a ballot and instructions on how to complete your voting package and return it to Elections BC. Visit elections.bc.ca/referendum for short videos on all four voting systems on the referendum ballot.
Restaurant 1-800-661-8683 | elections.bc.ca
fassil.ca OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 11
HOROSCOPE
A
by Rose Marcus
CALL ME FOR EXPERT ADVICE W W W.TOFFOLI.CA | PAUL@TOFFOLI.CA
604.787.6963
MASTER M E DA L L I O N MEMBER
Distinguished Alumni Dr. Blye Frank, Dean, Faculty of Education, UBC, is delighted to honour the valued work and contributions of the UBC Faculty of Education Alumni. Biographies and interviews with some of our !!.,/+(2'#" alumni can be found here: http://educ.ubc.ca/ distinguishedalum
Pauline Sameshima BEd ’88, Dip (Ed) ’91, PhD ’06
Martina Seo BEd ’09, MET ’17
Equity and access are the keys to inclusion. The research projects I’m currently involved in are all focused on how doors can be opened through research methodologies, knowledge mobilization,Ť#"4! 3(.-ď and policy change.
Obstacles to inclusion and equity exist when support for students with special needs, mental health issues, and learning disabilities is lacking. My lifelong dream is to open an orphanage to help children though education, housing, and adoption.
PRESENTS Immersive Sculpture Exhibition
Now Open Until Dec 15 | 11 - 7 Daily
The Perfect Perfect Place ExhibittotoGet Get Inspired This This Halloween. ENTER TO WIN A HALLOWEEN EXPERIENCE
at www.straight.com
•
2 tickets for Curious Imaginings • Dinn er at Bau hau s
Tickets and Information at the Door or www.imcurious.ca Venue Partner
Government Partner
Premiere Media Partner
AV Partner
Community Partner
#imcurious
s of Friday, Venus retrograde in Scorpio gains a creative boost. At her inferior conjunction with the sun, Venus now surpasses the midpoint of her retrograde cycle. The karmic pheromones planet also begins a new nine-month phase within an 18-month manifesting cycle. As stated in previous columns, Venus retrograde sets fate into play in a more obvious way. Targeting relationships and survival at all levels, it is a critical reassessment transit. A subtle or not-so-subtle shift to a new orientation, Friday’s Venus/ sun conjunction marks the switch from revisiting the issue to reworking it via the incorporation of new elements (experience, a more informed consciousness, evolving needs and desires). This planetary pairing is laden with prospect. What is it worth? Venus/sun puts a new price tag on it. To know it, to feel, to connect, to create, to get more out of it—the day’s destiny is out of the gate in high gear. Saturday through Tuesday, the stars are in fine form for putting it into play, for making the most of the time you share and the time you spend. Monday’s Mercury/Jupiter is resourceful, mobilizing, trendsetting, deal-making, event-producing, informing, exposing, news-generating, and future-bound. It’s a big day for a big reveal, an about-face or major turnaround, talking, buying and selling, scouting missions, mergers, power plays, and getting the message across and moving on. Venus retrograde revisits Libra on Hallowe’en. Through November, Venus in Libra puts even more weight on the balancing act regarding relationships at all levels: personal, social, and political.
you hard. Friday, sun/Venus gives you a deeper feel. Monday, Mercury/ Jupiter amp up the message, inner dialogue, inner knowing. Talk it out; do the math; sign the agreement; and/or put it into gear. Tuesday/ Wednesday keeps you/it in high gear.
F
VIRGO
August 22–September 22
What’s behind it or underneath it? Your ability to zero in on it gains excellent traction on Friday from Venus/sun and on Monday from Mercury/Jupiter. Words carry impact. Action delivers the message too. Both transits favour communications, research, study, counselling, and work with your hands. There’s no letup through month’s end. Despite the pileup, you’ll keep up and move along just fine.
G
LIBRA
September 22–October 23
The effects of the full moon from earlier in the week are still on a play-out through Friday. You can uncork feelings or memories you didn’t know held so much power over you. You may feel challenged, but stay the course, stand your ground; stay rooted in what you feel has value or is meaningful. Friday/ Saturday could see you on a significant bounce-back. Sunday through Tuesday, you’ll hit an upswing.
H
SCORPIO
October 23–November 21
Sun/Venus (Friday) and Mercury/Jupiter (Monday) are revitalizing for body, mind, and soul. They also stoke the fire regarding a key relationship, contract, project, negotiation, and health or money matter. You can feel this potent creative surge as destiny hitting go on ARIES a next phase in some nonnegotiable March 20–April 19 way. Pre- or postweekend delivers Taking you much deeper into significant news, an announcement, the heart of it, sun/Venus retrograde a big reveal, or a decisive moment. taps into a wealth of emotions and responses. A deeper urge and/or passion SAGITTARIUS stirs inside you. Want to build it better, November 21–December 21 reach the goal, create an impact, or net Can you feel it? Potentials are a significant result? Nothing less than shaping up in a high-impact way. If “all in” will do. Sun/Venus (Friday) and it hasn’t showed up yet, it will soon Mercury/Jupiter (Monday) infuse you, enough. Transiting from what was it, and them with fresh juice. to what will be, both sun/Venus (Friday) and Mercury/Jupiter (Monday) can turn the sensed, felt, or hoped-for TAURUS April 20–May 20 into a reality. Taking flight late TuesBoth Mercury and Venus day, Mercury into Sagittarius sets retrograde in Scorpio turn up the you, it, or them into high gear. intensity regarding matters of trust, jealousy, sex, money, loyalty, hidden CAPRICORN agendas, addiction, and/or ownerDecember 21–January 19 ship. More than one relationship Following on the heels of may be challenging you to show up this week’s full moon, sun/Venus and for yourself in a more committed, Mercury/Jupiter keep destiny on the more well-defined way. All in or all front burner. The goal/the reality is out? It’s time to stop beating around evolving in some undeniable way. You the bush. Monday’s Mercury/Jupiter now stand poised at a major lifestyle, sets big wheels in motion. career, or financial overhaul. A relationship of great significance to you GEMINI (career, close, intimate, legal) defines May 21–June 21 the shape of things to come. Thursday/Friday, you’ll gain a fresh energy boost. Instincts serve AQUARIUS you well. Now through Monday is January 20–February 18 best used for uncovering it, workWhile the threshold you ing it out, and getting more out of it. face has been long in the works, now It’s a significant few days for work, through the end of the month puts health, negotiations, and problem- the inevitable/destined into play in solving. As of mid–next week, Mer- some major way regarding career, ficury and Venus retrograde put the nances, priorities, goals, or a signifiplan, project, money matter, or rela- cant relationship. Deep and lasting tionship into a fuller swing. change begins now. A key someone, event, announcement, or piece of CANCER news launches you.
A B
I J
C
K
D
L
June 21–July 22
No doubt the recent full moon has produced something of significant impact. You can expect it to hold great sway over head, heart, and the shape of things to come. Over the coming week, each day gives you something more to go on, to process, explore, review, or discuss. Sunday through Tuesday, you’ll pick up better speed and/or gain on yourself.
E
LEO
July 22–August 22
The big stuff continues to keep you well occupied. All of it is impactful; perhaps some of it has hit
12 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
OCTOBER 25 TO 31, 2018
PISCES
February 18–March 20
The future now stamps your passport in some big way. Venus/ sun (Friday) and Mercury/Jupiter (Monday) set you up for a momentous couple of days. Sunday through Tuesday are optimal for putting your feelers out, making yourself better seen and heard, staking your claim, and/or going for it big-time. As of Tuesday/Wednesday, Mercury and Venus will see a major shift.
g
Book a reading or sign up for Rose’s free monthly newsletter at rosemarcus.com/.
HEALTH
Drugs cut B.C. average lifespan by Travis Lupick
October 26-29, 6-9pm
A
There were 1,452 illicit-drug overdose deaths in B.C. in 2017, up from 993 the year before that, 526 in 2015, and 368 in 2014. Photo by Travis Lupick
verage life expectancy is about the broadest indicator of a population’s health that we have. In the simplest terms, it tells us if a given generation is doing better than the one that came before it. In modern history, average life expectancies for most nations on Earth as well as for the human race as a whole have consistently trended up. Thanks to improved hygiene, education, technology, and medical care, among other factors, each generation of humans lives longer than the previous. And so, in the developed world, something has to be very wrong in a given region for its population’s average life expectancy to begin to decline. British Columbia is one area where that is happening, according to an October 23 report by Canada’s chief public-health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam. “On the whole, life expectancy has been steadily increasing in Canada over many years and it is comparable to other high-income countries,” the document reads. “Alarmingly, this is expected to change. For the first time in recent decades, life expectancy in British Columbia is decreasing, due to harms associated with opioid overdoses.” B.C.’s epidemic of drug-overdose deaths is now so severe that illicit narcotics are single-handedly responsible for dragging down the average life expectancy for the population of the entire province. “Recent data from B.C. show that life expectancy dropped by 0.12 year from 2014 to 2016 due to deaths involving substances, with over 90% of these related to opioids,” the report continues. “This dip in life expectancy
was more pronounced in men and in poorer neighbourhoods.” The report notes that B.C.’s Indigenous populations are especially affected. “Data from B.C. show that First Nations people are 5 times more likely to experience an opioid overdose event and 3 times more likely to die from an overdose than non-First Nations people,” it reads. There were 1,452 illicit-drug overdose deaths in B.C. in 2017, according to the province’s coroners service. That compares to an average of 204 fatal overdoses recorded during the years 2001 to 2010. In 2018, the rate of overdose deaths in B.C. per 100,000 residents stands at 30, miles above a rate of 7.3 overdose deaths recorded just five years earlier, in 2013. The rate of fatal overdoses for the city of Vancouver stands at 56.1 per 100,000 people—an astronomical figure that is almost 10 times what the rate of overdoses was for Vancouver 10 years ago (6.1 per 100,000 in 2008). The October 23 report by Tam, Canada’s top doctor, warns that the health catastrophe that B.C. has now struggled with for several years is spreading to other parts of the country. “The opioid crisis is rapidly evolving across Canada,” it reads. “While historically the greatest burden of opioid deaths has been observed in Western Canada, particularly in B.C. and Alberta, other parts of the country are also experiencing recent increases.” The report states that fentanyl— a dangerous synthetic opioid that began contaminating B.C.’s supplies of illicit street drugs in 2011—is primarily to blame for Western Canada’s overdose epidemic.
“Since then, there has been a sharp increase in both the number and percent of fentanyl-related deaths detected in the West, with more recent rises in jurisdictions like Ontario,” the document reads. “In 2012, 4% and 11% of opioid overdose deaths in B.C. and AB were fentanyl-related; by 2017, this figure climbed to 84% and 79%, respectively.” Again, the problem is increasingly affecting other regions of Canada. Worse, the chief public-health officer warns that drugs even more dangerous than fentanyl have arrived. “Close to 70% of opioid-related deaths in Ontario (2017) involved fentanyl, compared to 24% in 2012,” the report continues. “Additionally, highly toxic synthetic opioids are becoming more pervasive. Carfentanil—100 times more toxic than fentanyl—has now been detected in overdose deaths in several provinces.” In response to sharp increases in drug-overdose deaths, top publichealth officials working for the cities of Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal have argued that Canada’s federal government should remove criminal penalties for the personal possession of drugs and address addiction issues as a health matter. “Given the acute extent of the opioid crisis, some stakeholders, including people with lived and living experiences, have asked that the decriminalizing of additional psychoactive substances in Canada be considered,” Tam’s report notes. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada’s Liberal government have repeatedly said of the possibility of drug decriminalization that it will not happen while they remain in power in Ottawa.
Adults, youth & seniors: $14 | Children (2-12 years): $9 Entrance includes a carousel ride and entertainment. Tickets at the door or in advance online through Eventbrite. Thanks to our partners:
6501 Deer Lake Avenue | 604-297-4565 | burnabyvillagemuseum.ca
Get tempered glass FREE with iPhone screen repair ($20 value) Promo Code : the georgia straight
We...
• Repair Apple, Samsung, LG,Google, Huawei, Moto, Oneplus, Sony and more + tablets & iPad. • Buy & Sell • Repair water damaged phones Most repairs come with One Year Warranty
1272 Pacific Blvd., Vancouver (Steps from Roundhouse Comm. Ctr/Yaletown Skytrain)
W W W.WONDERL ANDCELL .COM
Mon–Sun. 10-6 • NO APPT NEEDED! • 778-737-5777
Australian Boot Company has the most Blundstone styles. The most Blundstone sizes. The most knowledgeable Blundstone boot fitters. Come get the boot that does it all from the folks who don’t do anything else. #1306 Chisel Toe Rustic Brown $219.95
Australian Boot Company 104 Water St., Gastown 604-428-5066 1968 West 4th Ave., Kitsilano 604-738-2668 Free shipping at australianboot.com OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 13
DRINK
Autumn wines hit the shelves
P
by Kurtis Kolt
lenty of autumn-release British Columbian wines continue to make the trip from country to city, filling up local wine-store shelves. I’ve waded through many of them and, well, slogged through others, but a particular quartet of labels has stayed top of mind. Shall we start with some bubbles?
BENCH 1775 BRUT ROSÉ N.V. (Okanagan Valley, B.C.; $21.90, www.bench1775.com/)
RECEIVE 20% OFF A WASHABLE WOOL MATTRESS PAD
WITH THE PURCHASE OF LA LUNA. One per customer. Offer expires Dec. 31, 2018.
- Unparalleled support and comfort - Natural, non-toxic, hypoallergenic - Easy to move, store, and rearrange - Unrestrictive, won’t overheat - 20+ years life expectancy
- Reduce back pain - Eco-friendly - Motion isolating - Customizable - No metal springs
ORGANIC NATURAL HEALTHY PILLOWCASES, SHEETS, DUVET COVERS & OTHER BEDLINEN ITEMS
SAVE 25% WHEN YOU BUY FOUR OR MORE ITEMS, SAVE 15% WHEN YOU BUY TWO OR MORE ITEMS.
CANNOT BE COMBINED WITH OTHER OFFERS. OFFER ENDS ON NOV. 15, 2018.
2749 Main St. @12th, 604.254.5012
dreamdesigns.ca
Not knowing too much about this wine before popping the cork, my initial instinct once giving it the ol’ swirl, sniff, and sip was that it was made in the traditional method. The Champagne-style way of making sparkling wine where the secondary fermentation occurs in the bottle—giving the wine close contact with the lees, or spent yeast—is what gives fine sparklings those lovely fresh-baked-bread aromatics and an elegant, creamy mouthfeel. Although those traits are hallmarks of that winemaking style, they can also be expressed, generally to a lesser degree, when the wine goes through that second fermentation using the Charmat, or tank, method. When that second ferment occurs in the bottle, the juice is in much more close contact with those lees, most often spending more time there than it would in a large Charmat tank. This wine exhibits an abundance of lees character (and that’s what duped me), so we’re pretty much getting the best attributes of a Champagne-style wine but made in a different method. The best part is that it’s only setting us back 22 bucks. Actually, I digress. The best part is that this blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir offers rose petals, nougat, and sourdough character on the nose, then a bounty of fresh Honeycrisp apple, grilled peaches, and muddled lemon on the palate. It’s woven together quite well and will be an easy pairing for creamy pastas, grilled fish, spring rolls, and much more. BLASTED CHURCH SAUVIGNON BLANC 2017 (Okanagan Valley, B.C.; $24, www. blastedchurch.com/)
This is the first of a dynamic duo of wines I’ve recently enjoyed from Blasted Church in Okanagan Falls. While many have known the winery for quirky labels over the years, the output has generally been consistent
Left to right: Laughing Stock Vineyards’ Portfolio, Blasted Church Cabernet Franc, Bench 1775 Brut Rosé, and Blasted Church Sauvignon Blanc are among the best B.C. wines of the season.
in the quality department, offering easily enjoyable takes on Okanagan terroir at rather reasonable prices. The latest releases—with Evan Saunders at the helm of winemaking and John Bayley overseeing the vineyard—have been some of my favourite Blasted Church bottlings of all time. Regular readers may recall my personal struggles with Sauvignon Blanc. When there are too many apparent pyrazines that we associate with the variety—the compound that gives that bitter green bell pepper, ultraherbal quality—I tend to go running for the hills. I’m quite happy to stay put here, though, enjoying the lemon blossom, pink-grapefruit wedges, and the tiniest hints of rosemary and flintiness that give this juicy, crisp, fresh outing great character. BLASTED CHURCH CABERNET FRANC 2016 (Okanagan Valley, B.C.; $31, www. blastedchurch.com/)
Hey, Cabernet Franc can also be known to exhibit those pyrazines a little too much from time to time, but this medium-bodied red borrows just a little bit of basil and oregano from ’em and moves on toward a quite quaffable red- and black-berry-fruit-driven plushy character, perfect for grilled meats and chilly evenings. LAUGHING STOCK VINEYARDS PORTFOLIO 2016 (Okanagan Valley, B.C.; $49.99, www.laughingstock.ca/)
combos of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and maybe a little Malbec and/or Petit Verdot—there are a host of British Columbian wineries to choose from. Some wineries offer quality editions consistently going for more than a hundred bucks, while others throw whatever fruit they can find into tanks with a few oak staves, age it for a short while, sell it off fairly cheap, and never look back. For a few years now, I’ve considered Laughing Stock Vineyards’ Portfolio to be the best of the bunch when it comes to the all-important quality-to-price ratio. There are too many wineries selling lesser wines at prices (way) above and beyond what cofounders Cynthia and David Enns have been putting into bottles for 14 years now. A mix of 100 of their best barrels of all five red Bordeaux varieties coming from Osoyoos and Naramata vineyard plots is a perennial testament to balance, quality, and complexity. The combo in this edition is 51 percent Merlot, 24 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 20 percent Cabernet Franc, four percent Malbec, and one percent Petit Verdot, twicesorted in the winery. It delivers a cornucopia of currants, blackberries, mocha, eucalyptus, fine tannins, and a very lengthy finish. It’s already polished and ready to go, but it can easily age a good six to eight years.
All of this week’s wines are available winery-direct but can also be found in private wine stores around When it comes to those local takes town for a few bucks more than the on Bordeaux red blends—your prices listed above.
g
HAVE YOU BEEN TO...
Chickpea ilovechickpea.ca
El Santo Authentic Greek Food
Extensive Wine & Bar List 1830 Fir St. Vancouver | 604.736.9559
www.apolloniagreekrestaurant.com C L O S E D M O N D AY S L U N C H • W E D N E S D AY to F R I D AY 11:30A M ͳ 2:30 P M D I N N E R • T U E S D AY to S U N D AY 4:30 ͳ 9:30 P M 14 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
elsanto.ca
Botanist botanistrestaurant.com
FOOD
Hawkers will make comeback
T
by Tammy Kwan
he last time you heard about Hawkers Market was probably back in 2016, when its organizers were working on something called Hawkers Wharf in North Vancouver. It was going to be a massive open-air food market made up of shipping containers, with a plan to feature local food vendors and a grocery market. Ultimately, that vision didn’t work out, and the entire concept was put on hold. “It was tough for us,” Chris Jerome, founder of Hawkers Market, explained to the Straight in a phone interview. “We put in almost three years’ time into it, and we really wanted it to open. The temporary rezoning of the site just didn’t live up to the expectations of what we could do. We felt that the Hawkers Wharf site was a little too large-scale for the City of North Van, and it really just wouldn’t have been the ultimate vision of what we had planned due to some logistical challenges mostly related to traffic.” After taking some time off to refresh, Jerome and his team have come up with a new event: Hawkers Market, a one-day food and music festival that will take place next month (November 17) at the Rocky Mountaineer Station (1755 Cottrell Street). “We’re really coming back with our commitment to Hawkers as an incredible food festival that backs local and innovative food and beverage businesses,” said Jerome. “Hawkers Market started in 2013 as an underground market for a number of years all over Vancouver, which really preceded our work with Hawkers Wharf. Now we’re going back to our roots and scaling that up quite significantly.” Guests can expect an array of hawker-style food and beverage options at the fete, which include dishes like Asian soup noodles, giant paellas,
HAVE YOU BEEN TO...
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
OCT 25
OCT 26
THE PHONIX BACKSTAGE LAGER $2.60 (10oz) POUTINE $12 The one-day food and music festival called Hawkers Market—which will include giant paellas like the one pictured here—takes place at the Rocky Mountaineer Station on November 17.
and gourmet meats. Alex Chen from downtown Vancouver’s popular Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar will be serving up Malaysian-style eats, while Street Meat L.A.’s Geoff Rogers will be creating some tasty bites, like hot dogs dressed up with cool toppings. Sweet tooths will be happy to know that desserts will also be on offer from businesses such as Butter Mere, Perverted Ice Cream, Prebak, and Say Hello Sweets. Complementing the food are beverages from a variety of local craft breweries (including 33 Acres, Four Winds, and Andina), cideries (such as Orchard and the Sea, Scenic Road, and Nomad), distilleries (like Long Table Distillery and Phillips Fermentorium), wineries (City Side Winery), and more. An essential part of the Hawkers Market experience is its cashless system. Ticketholders won’t have to worry about carrying change or tokens inside the event to purchase food and drink—each guest will have a radio-frequency-identification (RFID) wristband that contains credits, which can be tapped at each vendor to buy an item. Each ticket includes eight food experiences and
two full-size drinks (or four tasters). The other aspect of Hawkers Market is its musical lineup. Talents from Stones Throw Records will be performing, including Peanut Butter Wolf, J Rocc, and Novena Carmel. “We’re working with Stones Throw Records, which is an independent record label out of Los Angeles. They are innovators in the hip-hop and experimental areas of music,” said Jerome. You may think it’s ambitious for a hawker-style event to make such a large-scale comeback after taking an extended break, but Jerome has never stopped planning and thinking about what he could do next after scrapping his previous project. “In our minds, as soon as the end of Hawkers Wharf, we had thought about this,” added Jerome. “The Hawkers Market festival will feel very eclectic. We’ve been working on it all year long, [and] the intent is to have it repeat every year as an annual festival.” Tickets ($65 to $125 per person, plus taxes and fees) for entry at 4 p.m. or 8 p.m. are available for purchase online at www.hawkersmarket. com/. Hawkers Market is only open to guests over the age of 19.
LIVE MUSIC
CAL TRASK
KRONENBOURG PINTS $6.95 (20oz) (1664, Blanc, Fruit)
MONDAY
MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
SATURDAY
LIVE MUSIC
PRIVATE PARTY October 27
GROLSCH $6.25
OCT 30
OCT 31
BACKSTAGE LAGER $2.60 (10oz)
WINGS $10
ONION RINGS $6
OPEN MIC
WITH MIKE WETERINGS
WEDNESDAY
RED TRUCK BEER $5.85 Jugs $16.50
OCT 28
RED TRUCK BEER $5.85 Jugs $16.50 GROLSCH $6.25
TUESDAY
MUSIC BINGO!
SUNDAY
CAESARS $6.75
EVERYDAY
WEEKLY
HALLOWEEN SPECIALS! W/ DJ K-TEL
(COSTUME + PRIZES)
$4.50 SOLARIS WHITE PEACH TRICYCLE GRAPEFRUIT RADLER
PARKSIDE DAWN PILSNER $5.85 JUGS $16.50 MOZZARELLA STICKS DAILY SHOT SPECIAL $7.50 $4.50
1585 Johnston St. Granville Is | 604.687.1354 |thebackstagelounge.com *** VISIT US ONLINE FOR UP TO THE MINUTE LISTINGS, DRINK SPECIALS AND MORE www.thebackstagelounge.com ***
Think you know BBQ?
You don’t know
g
THE
OPEN
24 H
18
OURS
2015
voted Vancouver’s #1 Central Texas BBQ smokehouse. Reservations recommended. (Vegetarians, not so much...)
Cibo
Naam Restaurant
Trattoria
Golden Plate Awards Best Vegetarian 20 years running
cibotrattoria.com
Banana Leaf
bananaleaf-vancouver.com
Winner Most Vegan Friendly Restaurant for Winner Best a 3am meal Runner-Up Best Vegetarian Runner-Up Best Veggie Burger • Licensed • 7 Days A Week • Cozy Wood Fireplace • Heated Patio • Live Music at Dinner
2724 W. 4th Ave. / 738-7151 / www.thenaam.com
Open for dinner Wed - Sun 337 E. Hastings St. 778-379-4770 meatatdixies.com
HAVE YOU BEEN TO... Giovane Cafe + Eatery + Market giovanecafe.com
Pasta Feast at “Serving the community since 1999”
{
BEST Pasta in Vancouver It’s a Pasta feast now until October 31st. Dine in only Monday thru Friday 11 am – 5 pm.
Enjoy any lunch size pasta dish for only $10.00. Glass of house wine, red or white or a glass of draft beer for only $5.00 (Gluten free option available)
}
1404 Commercial Drive • For reservations please call 604-215-7760 Large parties (up to 40 people) Reserve now for the holidays! • www.marcellopizzeria.com FOLLOW US OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 15
100TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON
COMING UP AT THE VANCOUVER SYMPHONY NOV 2/3/4
NOV 9/10
TCHAIKOVSKY SYMPHONY NO. 2 MOZART PIANO CONCERTO NO.17
MASTERWORKS DIAMOND & SYMPHONY SUNDAYS Marc-André Hamelin plays Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 with powerhouse conductor Xian Zhang who leads the VSO in Tchaikovsky’s 2nd Symphony.
DVOŘÁK’S STABAT MATER:
WITH UBC SINGERS & CHORAL UNION
MASTERWORKS GOLD Maestro Otto Tausk leads Dvořák’s ravishingly beautiful Stabat Mater in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the WWI Armistice.
NOV NOBLE CREATURES 14/15/18 VSO CHAMBER PLAYERS – PYATT HALL
Featuring a Mozart String Trio, George Crumb’s Vox Balaenae, and Jocelyn Morlock’s poetic I conversed with you in a dream.
NOV 17
NOV 22
LA LA LAND™ - IN CONCERT
VSO AT THE MOVIES Experience the original musical film like never before with the VSO playing the score live while the film plays on the big screen at the Orpheum.
SPANISH NIGHTS
TEA & TRUMPETS VSO Concertmaster Nicholas Wright takes a solo turn with The Lark Ascending, in a concert that features the proud British classical music traditions of Elgar, Vaughan Williams, and Gustav Holst.
NOV 23/24
HOLLYWOOD SINGS
DEC 6/8
BRONFMAN PLAYS BRAHMS
LA LA LAND™ - IN CONCERT
VSO POPS From Hamlisch and Mancini to Disney classics plus The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, La La Land, and much more. MASTERWORKS DIAMOND One of the greatest pianists of our time makes his welcome return to the VSO to perform the monumental Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2.
MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN PIANO
LEST WE FORGET DVOŘÁK’S STABAT MATER
VSO CHAMBER PLAYERS NOBLE CREATURES
CHRISTOPHER GAZE HOST TEA & TRUMPETS
LORI ZABKAVOCALIST HOLLYWOOD SINGS
BUY TODAY Tickets from $28, Students + 35 & Under get $15 tickets with All Access Pass SYMPHONY SUNDAYS SERIES SPONSOR
MASTERWORKS GOLD SERIES SPONSOR
MASTERWORKS GOLD RADIO SPONSOR
VSO AT THE MOVIES PRESENTED BY
TEA & TRUMPETS SERIES SPONSOR
16 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
VSO POPS SERIES SPONSOR
VSO POPS RADIO SPONSOR
MEDIA SPONSOR
YEFIM BRONFMAN PIANO MASTERWORKS DIAMOND
604-876-3434
.ca
arts
Wang Ramirez finds new hip-hop fusion The French dance sensations use aerial wires to defy gravity and explore society’s Borderlines by Janet Smith
In Borderlines, presented here by DanceHouse, dynamic duo Honji Wang and Sébastien Ramirez meld martial arts, B-boying, ballet, and aerial work to create a visually striking piece that draws on their own experiences. Photos by Frank Szafinski.
F
rance-based dance sensations Honji Wang and Sébastien Ramirez take the idea of fusion much farther than just mixing styles like hip-hop, ballet, and martial arts on-stage. They live it and breathe it every day, with Wang hailing from Germany with Koreanimmigrant parents, and Ramirez from France, with Spanish parents. Which language do the couple speak at their home in Perpignan, the small southern town where their red-hot company Wang Ramirez is based? “Fringlish!” the upbeat Ramirez answers, laughing. Identity and culture are always a part of the pair’s visually stunning approach, as audiences will see when DanceHouse presents their work Borderline here. And Wang, who’s sharing the line with her partner in life and work from a tour stop in New York City, says those concerns trace back to hiphop—the scene where they first met and that still drives their work today. “Hip-hop is all about ‘Who am I?’ ” Wang says. “So it was always a natural thing for us to question ourselves.” The two say they met at a Berlin training centre for hip-hop and
were immediately attracted to each other’s styles. “I’d only been doing it for three years, but he was already at the highest level, and it was quite impressive,” says Wang of Ramirez, a B-boy who was once a finalist in the Red Bull BC One world competition, one of the pinnacles of the form. “And I was impressed to see a girl being so comfortable with the floor work, and her aesthetic lines were inspiring—I could feel something fresh about that,” he adds. Together, they started to create something new, work that was and still is best described as dance theatre—not that they were familiar with how that term is used in the contemporary scene. “We started doing something without knowing what it was; it was just a platform with which to express ourselves,” Wang explains. “When you don’t have boundaries, you are very free to explore things,” her partner adds. “I think if I had known about dance theatre, it would be a very different creative process. There’s kind of a freedom we had when we started.” Borderline was created with the
same kind of outsider eye, when a stunt rigger told Ramirez his way of moving would look cool using aerial wires. Ramirez loved the way it felt, and that sent him on a year and a half of training, after which he brought his ideas and the wires to Wang and their dancers. He became fascinated with the way he could take his hip-hop–based moves, so grounded in floor work, away from the pull of gravity, playing with winches. “It allowed us to craft beautiful pictures. It creates poetry,” he explains. “From the beginning, we didn’t want to make magic tricks. We wanted to show the wires.” Similarly, they didn’t want to hide the rigger, and started to toy with his role on-stage as he hoisted the performers up and down and sent them tumbling through the air. And voilà, they stumbled upon a profound metaphor for society, in which higher forces have the power to divide us and bring us together; think children imprisoned at border jails in the U.S. or barbed wire blocking out refugees in Europe. “He was manipulating us and deciding if we go up or down,” says Wang. “So we decided to just go with
it. He’s the powerful hand.” Embellished with the music of French electro-percussion artist lacrymoboy and a cagelike cube, suspended like the dancers, Borderline became an abstract exploration of immigration and diasporic identity. And like so much of Wang and Ramirez’s work, it comes from personal experience as the children of immigrants. “I always felt with my friends there were borders and boundaries. People always protected something, their culture, their language,” Wang recalls, intimating that not speaking German was a huge barrier for her parents when they immigrated from Korea. “It was the way we grew up, to keep different cultures clean and clear and proper, and now today it is just more extreme. Our parents are working-class,” she continues, referring to Ramirez’s parents as well, “so they immigrated because of the work situation, not really out of freedom of choice. They wanted to make sure their kids have a safe surrounding; it was ‘I need to feed my kids and work from morning to evening to do that.’ ” “We are always aware [of these issues] because we were born with
these borders around us,” Ramirez stresses. For the past few years, Wang Ramirez has devoted itself to breaking down those borders. It’s crisscrossing the world on tour and it’s in demand as a collaborator on projects in Europe and America—most famously, in 2016, as the handpicked choreographic team for Madonna’s Rebel Heart tour. And it feels like the adrenaline rush of that megagig has not worn off just yet for this still-young company. “The scale of it and the production—everything is huge,” Wang remembers. “Everything is faster and bigger,” Ramirez agrees. They loved working with the Queen of Pop, but they still feel most at home training and working with wires and whatever else inspires them in their Perpignan studio. “It made us realize we like to take our time,” Wang says. “To live like this I would have a heart attack. We really appreciate what we have.”
g
DanceHouse presents Wang Ramirez’s Borderline at the Vancouver Playhouse on Friday and Saturday (October 26 and 27).
Backbone artists form a circus family
C
by Tony Montague
ircus families are a very old tradition. A century ago it meant Mum, Dad, and all the kids, maybe a cousin or two, an aunt or an uncle, performing an act together. But for Gravity & Other Myths, family has a different sense. Members of the Australian acrobatic ensemble have been making circus together since they were eight or nine years old, and that’s led to a rare degree of bonding, rooted in the deepest level of mutual trust. “We trained at the Cirkidz school in Adelaide and started GOM 10 years ago, when most of us were teenagers,” says Jascha Boyce, reached on tour in Montpellier, France. “A lot of the core ensemble is still in the show. The way the company has developed, it’s very much like we’re one big family. So we really know each other and how each body moves, which means we’re able to perform at an incredibly high level. We do group acrobatics—and I’m one of the flyers. I do a bit of basing as well, when I’m on the bottom and throwing the other girls, but mostly I’m standing on two people, walking on people’s heads or getting thrown in the air.” Australia has gained a worldwide reputation for the quality of its youth and community circuses. Gravity & Other Myths formed to present the show Freefall at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, and the crew—as the members style themselves—used its creation to tour Down Under and learn the ropes of their industry. Its
Gravity & Other Myths likes to keep its act real, never wanting to appear mystical. Photo by Carnival Cinema.
second show, A Simple Space, proved a major international success, and came to Vancouver three years ago. Gravity & Other Myths returns with Backbone, a larger and more ambitious work that features 10 acrobats and two musicians who are on-stage throughout. “Backbone has been developed over quite a long period of time,” Boyce says. “We set ourselves some tasks—to see where our interests lay. An example of that you can see in the show stems from one of the very first developments—one
of the skills I do, which is to stand on one of the basers’ heads. We can hold it for a long time and so we were experimenting with all the different things we could do to the person underneath. The rest of the team come in and distract the base while I continue standing.” The scene highlights a key feature of Gravity & Other Myths’ work—its humour. There’s no clown in this circus; the role is shared at different times by the entire crew. “So much of our productions, as a company and as a group, is based in humour. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, although Backbone does have a bit more depth emotionally than A Simple Space. We’re exploring some deeper themes—darker themes in some ways.” One of the concepts behind the new work comes from yoga—tapa, according to Boyce the ability to endure. “Backbone is all based around strength in all its different forms: physical strength, emotional strength, collective strength, and individual strength. That idea comes from conversations we had initially about what we were interested in exploring in relation to our lives as circus performers as well as our personal lives.” Gravity & Other Myths represents circus in the raw, a major trend in the art form that forgoes such traditional trappings as fantastical costumes, über-elegance, and demigod aura to present something much more human and
personal—complete with grunts, sweat, and odd togs. “It’s very apparent in all three of our shows, and it’s always been the way that we were drawn to create,” Boyce says. “The focus is honesty—being very real and honest on-stage. We wanted to show what it takes to do what we do in a very visceral and real way. We often find that can create a much stronger bond with our audience, if we show them that we’re not mystical creatures that can do amazing tricks, but we’re just like them. We’ve just spent a long time training to be very good at what we do, but we’re people who have the same feelings and fears. “All of our costumes we’ve bought in secondhand shops, so they’ve all been pre-used and preloved,” she adds. “They’re definitely not the clothes we would choose to wear. They’re a bit ill-fitting, wacky, and strange. We like the idea that each article of clothing has its own history and stories. The reason we change clothes throughout the piece is so we can appear not just as one individual person but as anybody. So you could imagine that we could be your brother, your sister, yourself, your mum, your dad, instead of being recognized as individuals. So that’s very much about the ensemble rather than the individual.”
g
Gravity & Other Myths presents Backbone at the Vancouver Playhouse from Tuesday (October 30) to November 4.
OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 17
ARTS
A blues ode to Hogan’s Alley history
A
by Alexander Varty
good idea never grows old, and there’s no doubt that East End Blues & All That Jazz was a very good idea when Vancouver Moving Theatre and the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival first presented the vibrant concert spectacle in 2006. Based around the history of Vancouver’s Hogan’s Alley neighbourhood, a Chinatown adjunct once home to most of Vancouver’s black population—and drawing heavily on the family stories of siblings Thelma, Chic, and Leonard Gibson, who grew up there—the initial production proved a surprisingly joyous way of shining a light on how development can steamroller but not obliterate culture. (Hogan’s Alley was bulldozed in the early 1970s to make room for the eastern terminus of the Georgia Viaduct.) East End Blues & All That Jazz proved successful enough that it was remounted in 2009 and 2011, and now it’s back, with a few new twists. Popular singer and storyteller Khari Wendell McClelland, for instance, has taken over the MC’s role, originally filled by the program’s cocreator Denis Simpson, who died in 2010. And the program also has new relevance, with the pending demolition of the Georgia Viaduct sparking calls for the city to recognize Hogan’s Alley with an African-Canadian cultural centre on the neighbourhood’s former site. “That’s kind of been one thread that’s going on,” says Vancouver Moving Theatre’s Savannah Walling, speaking from her home office in Strathcona. “And then another thread has been the collegial
Singer and storyteller Khari Wendell McClelland is the MC in East End Blues & All That Jazz.
relationship between the artists involved. With Thelma [Gibson] coming to be 90 years old, we realized that if we wanted to do something with her present, now’s the time!” Walling, who cowrote East End Blues & All That Jazz with Simpson, sees their script as a loose framework for a concert rather than musical theatre. It’s also “kind of a living being”, in a way. “It’s gradually evolved in small ways as other stories came forward,” she says, noting that its building blocks were the Gibsons’ memories, interviews with other area residents, and the oral histories collected in Opening Doors, an invaluable survey of Strathcona and Chinatown compiled by poet Daphne Marlatt and artist Carole Itter during the 1970s. And now, she says, it’s time to in-
corporate some new stories—hence the presence of McClelland, a descendant of slaves who fled to the Detroit-Windsor area around the time of the Civil War. “I have been really, really intrigued, living in Strathcona, about the history of the black residents here,” says the singer-guitarist in a separate telephone interview. “Part of that came through a Black Strathcona project that happened not too long ago. And then, as well, very recently I had the opportunity to just sit with Thelma Gibson, who grew up in the neighbourhood and who played the theatres in the neighbourhood with her brothers Len and Chic. So just getting that firsthand knowledge has been really wonderful.” Driven from their native Oklahoma by racist violence, the Gibson family settled in northern Alberta before coming to Vancouver during the Great Depression. McClelland sees some parallels between their path and his own family’s escape from slavery. Both, he says, grew out of a desire for a better life— which is essentially why he moved west in the 21st century. And he also notes how immigration—in this case, black immigration from the U.S.—has historically enlivened Canadian culture. “The vibrancy of that time and this community… I wish I could take a time machine and just go back and see that,” he muses. “But I can see it in my imagination and in my mind.”
g
The Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival presents East End Blues & All That Jazz at the Firehall Arts Centre from Wednesday (October 31) to November 3.
Heart of the City TIP SHEET
at 3 p.m. on Sunday (October 28), with admission by donation.
c
THE REAL STORY OF THE TALKING FREDS & WOODY SEZ One half of this folk-music double bill tells of local activism while the other looks at the perpetually inspiring American rabble-rouser Woody Guthrie; both highlight music’s power to inspire positive change. At KW Production Studio (111 West Hastings Street) on Thursday and Friday (October 25 and 26). VANCOUVER’S DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE is arguably Canada’s poorest neighbourhood, but it’s unquestionably rich in culture—and has been ever since New Orleans legend Jelly Roll Morton set up shop in the Patricia Hotel 100 years ago. Morton’s legacy is alive in East End Blues & All That Jazz (see left), but the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival offers even more jazz, alongside folk music, storytelling, and chamber music with an Indigenous edge. Four to watch out for:
c
VETTA CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY Seasons of the Sea is a new collaboration between Coast Salish and Dene storyteller Rosemary Georgeson and former VSO composer in residence Jeffrey Ryan that takes a look at life beside the Salish Sea through an Indigenous lens. A nice bonus is that it will take place at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
c
CARNEGIE JAZZ BAND—A TRIBUTE TO AL NEIL Capturing the mercurial spirit of pianist, novelist, and interdisciplinary artist Al Neil won’t be easy, but bringing the late Downtown Eastside resident’s long-time drummer Gregg Simpson into the mix is a great way to start. Pianist Paul Plimley and bassist Tommy Babin also join trombonist Brad Muirhead and his accomplished community band in this mix of familiar tunes and wild improvisation. At the Carnegie Theatre (401 Main Street) next Friday (November 2).
c
BATTLE OF BALLANTYNE PIER Playwright Sherry MacDonald and composer Earle Peach preview their new musical in progress, inspired by the Vancouver longshore workers’ strike of 1935 and the brutal methods used to repress it. Coast Salish composer Russell Wallace adds incidental music; Peter Jorgensen directs. At the Maritime Labour Centre on Thursday (October 25).
“He hit the first note and the sheer depth and resonant sovereignty of his tone engulfed a monumental space.” — The LA Times
IGOR LEVIT PIANO
Tickets selling fast!
SUN NOV 4 at 3pm
CHAN CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Igor’s powerful and riveting performances leave audiences wanting more and critics scrambling for superlatives. Don’t miss one of the world’s most exciting pianists perform a fascinating program of:
BACH | BUSONI | SCHUMANN | WAGNER | LISZT TICKETS: 604 602 0363 I VANRECITAL.COM
SEASON SPONSOR:
18 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
IN ASSOCIATION WITH:
photo illustration by Emily Cooper
Dueck Cadillac (presented by) Bell Media (Media Sponsor) Dandurand Briere Productions Odlum Brown Red Truck Beer (missing) Nude Vodka (missing)
Our media sponsor
OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 19
“Circus, as you’ve never seen it before…so intensely beautiful it makes you proud to be human.”
PHOTO BY LUKE FORSYTH
S
PHOTO BY CARNIVAL CINEMA
T ICKET
—InDaily
FROM
$24
Oct 02– Oct 13, 2018
MEDIA SPONSOR:
CORPORATE SPONSOR:
20 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
ARTS
Dana Claxton celebrates major survey
A
by Robin Laurence
s she walks around the second floor of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Dana Claxton emanates happiness and excitement. An internationally acclaimed multidisciplinary artist, Claxton works across film, photography, video, performance, and installation. She is also, and not incidentally, a screenwriter, playwright, poet, Sundancer, and associate professor in the department of art history, visual art, and theory at UBC. On this brilliant fall morning, however, as she previews her big solo exhibition with the Straight, she underplays her accomplishments. She recounts that two years ago, when the VAG proposed the idea of this show to her, she asked, “Are you sure?” Now she reacts with genuine delight at the sight of her recently uncrated works, shipped from public and private collections across the continent. It’s as if she were greeting old friends after a long absence. Dana Claxton: Fringing the Cube is the first major survey of this Vancouver-based artist’s 30-year career— and it powerfully conveys her themes. These include Indigenous history, culture, beauty, labour, and spirituality, especially as related to her Hunkpapa Lakota (Sioux) people in Saskatchewan and North Dakota. As VAG curator Grant Arnold writes in the exhibition catalogue, Claxton “combines contemporary technologies and aesthetic strategies…to address the impact of colonialism on contemporary life”. At the same time, she weaves longstanding Lakota forms and beliefs into her imagery, creating works of inspiration and affirmation as well as criticality. From Claxton’s earliest mixedmedia installation with single-channel video, Buffalo Bone China, a perform-
From the Dana Claxton: Fringing the Cube exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the LED fireboxes Cultural Belongings (left) and Headdress–Jeneen.
ance-based work that, she says in an ironically understated way, “looks at the extermination of the buffalo”, to her most recent large-scale photographic and video works depicting Indigenous ironworkers, much of the art in the show hasn’t been exhibited in Vancouver before. Claxton also promises a few surprises, not to be revealed until Fringing the Cube opens. One of the most arresting works here, 2016’s Cultural Belongings, is installed at the show’s entrance, near the top of the VAG’s grand marble staircase. A large colour transparency mounted in a lightbox (which Claxton calls a “firebox”), it depicts a woman veiled in beads and dancing forward, with a cargo of beaded, painted, quilled, and embroidered Indigenous objects behind her on her long buckskin robe. Also on view is the actual Lakota dance stick that she holds aloft in the photo.
As well as featuring some of the belongings that appear in her still and moving images, the show will include a number of pieces that Claxton was invited to curate from the VAG’s permanent collection. “I selected works based on themes in my own work,” she says, “whether it was simply the colour red, or heads and faces, or labour.” Among them is a small, 19th-century Cornelius Krieghoff painting of an Indigenous woman selling moccasins. When Claxton sees it again, in the gallery rather than in the VAG’s vault, she literally gasps. “Isn’t it gorgeous?” Near the dance stick hangs an extravagantly fringed deer-hide garment, which Claxton wore in a performance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2015. Made by her sister Kim Soo Goodtrack, this garment takes on additional meaning here, informing the show’s
subtitle. “Her efforts to make space for the Indigenous subject in the gallery/ museum system could be described as ‘fringing the cube’,” Arnold writes, although you could argue that Claxton’s fringe more than “makes space” in the white cube of the modern art gallery. It stakes Indigenous claim to it. Born in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, and raised in Moose Jaw, Claxton is descended on her mother’s side from Kangi Tamaheca and Anpetu Wastewin, who were among the large group of Hunkpapa Lakota who followed Sitting Bull from the United States to Canada after the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. Although Sitting Bull and many of his people returned to the U.S. in 1881, some 150 of them, including Claxton’s great-grandparents, remained encamped in the Moose Jaw River Valley. (Eventually, they were granted land in the form of the small Wood Mountain Reserve.) This place
and history are honoured in her 2004 four-channel video, Sitting Bull and the Moose Jaw Sioux. Claxton recounts the extensive research its making required, and also remarks on the natural beauty of the original campsite. “It has flora and fauna that no other place in Saskatchewan has.” From early childhood, Claxton aspired to be a filmmaker. “I think it has to do with the sky there,” she says. “It’s the biggest screen in the world.” She also speaks of the influence of watching old movies on early black-andwhite television, which she describes as “surreal”, and, later, MuchMusic. “I’m first-generation music videos,” she says, “so that sensibility goes into my work—and not in a frivolous way.” She also talks about the impact Vancouver’s punk art and music scene had on her when she arrived in the mid1980s, then says, “It took me a long time to locate my own voice creatively, and to bring it out publicly, as well.” Before she found that voice, she studied theatre, developed educational TV programs for children, and worked for Details magazine during a three-year stay in New York. She even did a stint as a fashion columnist and photoshoot director for the Georgia Straight. The seductive colour and formal beauty of her photographs, films, and videos suggests influences from Claxton’s earlier media and fashion work. By these means, she engages viewers in her work’s critical content. “I want to celebrate and acknowledge this ‘presence-ness’, ” she says, “ ‘presencing’ Indigenous beauty.” Then she adds, “We’re all born into beauty.”
g
Dana Claxton: Fringing the Cube opens at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Saturday (October 27) and runs to February 3, 2019.
Program 1 Nov 1 2 3 Choreography Medhi Walerski Petite Cérémonie Emily Molnar New Work William Forsythe Enemy in the Figure
Queen Elizabeth Theatre balletbc.com PLATINUM SEASON SPONSOR
PERFORMANCE SPONSOR
COMMUNITY BALCONY SPONSOR
SUPPORT FOR BALLET BC HAS BEEN GENEROUSLY PROVIDED BY
Prices Start at $35
HOTEL SPONSOR
MEDIA SPONSORS
DANCER EMILY CHESSA. PHOTO MICHAEL SLOBODIAN.
OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 21
Designers talk about what they do and why they’re doing it in Vancouver.
ARTS
Chapple dances along line between tech and body by Janet Smith
Celebrate innovation in action with drinks, designers, and discussion. Saturday, November 3 Media Sponsor
Advance tickets at museumofvancouver.ca
THE MERRY WIDOW Franz Lehár
22 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
In Suffix, choreographer Julianne Chapple and visual artist Ed Spence fill a performance space with metallic sculptures that allow dancers to blur the human form. Photo by Ed Spence
F
or her new show, Suffix, dance artist Julianne Chapple is stripping the seating out of the Scotiabank Dance Centre’s theatre and turning it into a sort of open gallery. “There will be chairs if people need to sit, or cushions if you wanted to lie on the floor. I thought of the ideal experience as an audience member,” she says with a laugh, sitting at a café a block away from the venue. “Viewers will have a lot of agency about where they want to go in the space. I do find it very claustrophobic sitting in a regular theatre.” It’s fitting that the black-box space will resemble a gallery: Chapple and visual artist Ed Spence will be filling the space with installations and sculptures. Those include a big, rolling, shiny metal ball, triangular metal wedges, and a curvy cage that the dancers will interact with. It’s all part of Chapple’s deep exploration of our fast-paced technological advances and the way they’re affecting the body, whether it’s through physical enhancements or the quest for immortality. The seed for the work was a creative stint that Chapple and Spence spent at 33 Officina Creativa in tiny Toffia, Italy, in 2012. The isolation there, working in a medieval church without cellphones or Internet, made her think about the way technology affects our lives. She and Spence also spent time in Rome, looking at the work of Italian futurists—an art movement that would influence his smooth, geometric sculptures. “Futurism happened during the Industrial Revolution, and it was all steel and machines and war and misogyny,” she says. “Ed and I talked a lot about how digital technology is really the big change that’s happening in our generation.” Research back home, supported by the Dance Centre’s Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award, has led Chapple even further into advances in technology and so-called transhumanism. “A lot of Silicon Valley billionaires are investing a lot into life extension, and there are a lot of really weird things being done,” she says. “Life extension is where it’s all heading.” Those ideas influenced a central installation in the show, in which
each dancer’s “physical archive” is eerily displayed on a lightbox set atop a wooden plinth. The performers had a death mask created, a dental mould made, and a DNA sample of their choice—hair, toenails, blood, or other contributions—immortalized in clear acrylic balls. “They’re very committed performers,” Chapple says of dancers Maxine Chadburn, Francesca Frewer, and Antonio Somera, then adds with a smile: “They’re bringing me their pee and blood.” The creation process required Spence to fabricate his sculptures early, so the dancers could begin experimenting with the pieces, which are tactile yet coldly futuristic-looking. “They had to be built to take weight and be durable,” Chapple explains, “so the performers can be rough with them and interact with them as they would with other bodies.” Chapple is known for her surreal movement, and that definitely will play out in Suffix, as limbs intertangle and move with metal. “I’ve been getting them to treat the body as you would an object separate from the mind,” she explains. “I’ve asked them to be so focused on their own tasks that they’re kind of dissociating from the environment around them. It’s kind of scary!” Adding to that sometimes chilling atmosphere are tall, rodlike LED lighting and the haunting soundscapes of the Wolves & the Blood. Chapple herself will take the stage to oversee the action for this ambitious piece—her first full-length and her first endeavour under the name of her new company, Future Leisure. “I’m around,” she says. “I’m just going to be taking care of the space and taking care of time—and I’m making sure nobody gets run over by a big metal ball.” What can viewers glean from entering this world of art, technology, and human forms? The messages are sometimes dark, sometimes ambiguous. “There are a lot of good things and bad things that could come from this,” Chapple says of our race to merge technology with our bodies, “but there’s a risk of losing something human.”
g
Future Leisure presents Suffix at the Scotiabank Dance Centre on Friday and Saturday (October 26 and 27).
Vancouver Moving Theatre with the Carnegie Community Centre and the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians with a host of community partners presents
15 th Annual Downtown Eastside
HEARTOFTHE CITY FESTIVAL OCTOBER 24 TO NOVEMBER 4
Over 100 events at over 40 locations featuring among others:
DOUBLE BILL
THE REAL STORY OF THE TALKING FREDS & WOODY SED Activist artists repurpose popular music to address political issues: John Black & Jim Sands recollect their days as a comic satirical music duo; Thomas Jones explores the life of legendary singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie. Thursday & Friday, October 25 – 26, 8pm KW Production Studio | 111 W. Hastings Street
CARNEGIE JAZZ BAND: A TRIBUTE TO AL NEIL
Late Vancouver jazz man & DTES/Strathcona resident and Mayor’s Life Time Achievement Award recipient
Under the tutelage of multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger Brad Muirhead, featuring three of Vancouver’s finest creative musicians: Greg Simpson (drums), Paul Plimley (piano), Tommy Babbin (bass). Friday November 2, 7pm Carnegie Theatre | 401 Main Street | Free
UKRAINIAN HALL COMMUNITY CONCERT & SUPPER
The festival ends on a high note with lively music, invigorating dance, colourful costumes & a delicious Ukrainian supper. Featuring Barvinok Choir, Vancouver Folk Ensemble, Earle Peach and Solidarity Notes Choir and special quests Canadian gospel trio The Sojourners. Sunday November 4, concert 3pm, supper follows Ukrainian Hall | 805 E. Pender | $25 For advance tickets contact 604-254-3436
Suggested donation $10 At door or hotcdoublebill.eventbrite.ca
Carnegie Jazz Band
Thomas Jones
The Sojourners
An Aanmitaagzi & Spiderwoman Theater Production
Material Witness
Three generations of indigenous women in a funny, biting production that conveys stories of violence, healing and renewal. Ukrainian Hall, 805 East Pender October 26 & 27, 8pm Tix: materialwitness.eventbrite.ca “…an enormous sense of energy, strength And good will. Yet its subject matter is dead serious…”– New York Times
. R M L L A C N R O B EITHSSOONGS
A soul-stirring evening of gospel and blues, jazz and memories in tribute to Vancouver’s historic East End Black residential community.
W A LIFE,
A musical biography of the remarkable and eventful life of famous actor, singer and civil rights activist Paul Robeson.
By Denis Simpson & Savannah Walling with the Gibson family
Written and performed by Tayo Aluko
Featuring Candus Churchill, Tom Pickett, Khari Wendell McClelland, Bill Costin, Tim Stacey with Dalannah Gail Bowen, and select performances with Thelma Gibson
w/ Elaine Joe, piano
St. James’ Anglican Church 303 E. Cordova November 3, 8pm Tix: call-mr-robeson.eventbrite.ca DOUBLE WINNER: Argus Angel Award for Artistic Excellence & Best Male Performer
“First-rate… an admirable introduction to a great pioneering performer.”
“…a truly beautiful evening…. We were in the church of history…”
– The Guardian
– Joy Russell
Tayo Aluko
Thelma Gibson
Firehall Arts Centre 280 East Cordova October 31 – November 3, 8pm Nov 3, 2pm Tix: firehallartscentre.com / 604.689.0926
heartofthecityfestival.com OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 23
ARTS
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! AN EVENING OF HUMOR with
The Wolves’ girls’ soccer story scores on all fronts
JOHN CLEESE In The Wolves, a well-developed team of characters packs a ton of texture into each scene, nailing the script’s complex rhythms of the dialogue and the huge physicality . Ron Reed photo.
THEATRE THE WOLVES
By Sarah DeLappe. Directed by Jamie King. A With a Spoon Theatre production, in association with Rumble Theatre. At Pacific Theatre on Friday, October 19. Continues until November 10
SATURDAY, MAY 25 7.30PM QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE UNIQUE LIVES
&
d
I LOVE, LOVE, love The Wolves. Like the best sports matches, this play is packed with virtuosity and surprises. American playwright Sarah DeLappe’s debut script, a 2017 Pulitzer Prize nominee, follows the members of a girls’ indoor-soccer team. The play announces its terrific theatricality right off the top, as the team members sit in two circles, going through a series of warm-ups. One cluster is debating the justice of prosecuting an elderly war criminal—they argue over the pronunciation of Khmer Rouge and whether they have Skype in
E X P E R I E N C E S
for tickets visit www.uniquelives.com SPONSORED BY
Opens November 1
Cambodia; the other is talking about tampons. It’s impossible to follow all the overlapping dialogue, but it all feels real. “We don’t do genocides till senior year,” one girl says. “Her family is super Christian,” says another, explaining why their friend (who’s gone off to the porta-potty) still uses pads. DeLappe’s characters, known only by the numbers on their uniforms, are recognizable types: the mean girl (#07) and her faithful sidekick (#14), the smartass (#13), and the bright, authoritative stickler for detail (#11). But their struggles, sometimes suggested by no more than a single line or gesture, are achingly specific: sexist coaches, eating disorders, panic attacks, relationships, loss and grief. Each girl constantly negotiates her sense of self within the group (they are all eager to police each other’s language and opinions, and countless lines include the phrase “you guys”), including #46, the new girl trying to see next page
Closes November 4
Free admission after 6 pm Media Sponsor
Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia
24 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
Image: Tjitjiti, Carlene West, 2015.
MARKING THE INFINITE
CULTURE AT THE CENTRE
Honouring Indigenous Culture, History and Language
find a way in, whose inopportune blurts only alienate her further. And there is so much of the texture of real life packed into each scene— note how many more players have colds with each succeeding game, for example—that the characters all emerge as nuanced human beings. Director Jamie King and her cast are in perfect sync, nailing both the complex rhythms of the dialogue and the considerable physicality of DeLappe’s script. This show is a literal workout for the actors, who deliver many of their lines while doing running and passing drills on the tiny AstroTurf-ed stage. Standouts in this very strong ensemble are Jalen Saip (#11), Danielle Klaudt (#7), and Montserrat Videla (#14), who are all convincingly skinless. And then there’s Georgia Beaty as the sweet, excitable, and not terribly bright #8, who gets to say things like “Can I just say I don’t get what the big deal is about self-knowledge?� Beaty voices #8’s thoughts with note-perfect timing and complete sincerity; she’s hilarious. Nicole Weismiller’s lighting artfully
enhances the emotion, especially in a few short, powerful scenes without dialogue. There’s not a weak spot on the field in this production. Go, team!
by Kathleen Oliver
KILL ME NOW
By Brad Fraser. Directed by Roy Surette. A Touchstone Theatre production. At the Firehall Arts Centre on Friday, October 19. Continues until October 27
d
JAKE HAS BEEN bathing his son Joey for 17 years. Joey (Adam Grant Warren) has a severe disability. He uses an electric wheelchair to get around and needs 24-hour assistance in his daily life. Jake (Bob Frazer) is a widower and a onetime novelist who’s barely coping. Jake’s only respites from caregiving are Tuesday-night dalliances with the married Robyn (Corina Akeson). This is the world we enter in Brad Fraser’s Kill Me Now. The usual challenges of adolescence—self-image,
Adam Grant Warren and Braiden Houle share a laugh in Kill Me Now. Photo by David Cooper.
grooming, erections—are all the more difficult for Joey. He’s inexpertly assisted by his friend Rowdy (Braiden Houle), who has the best of intentions, despite being, by his own admission, “mildly retarded and well-hung�. Everyone’s life suddenly gets even more complicated when Jake himself
is afflicted with a debilitating disease. It’s a complex, energetic show, but the performers rise to the challenge. Frazer is at the centre of the maelstrom, and his Jake is all stoicism and gallows humour. He and Akeson have a lovely chemistry, as they fail to negotiate their peculiar relationship. The playing space at the Firehall Arts Centre has always felt a little awkward. It’s very deep, making the stage more of a square than a conventional rectangle. Set designer David Roberts managed this with a series of large rolling set pieces. Most prominent among these is what’s called a “revolve�. It’s a kind of merry-go-round whose spokes suggest the rooms of Jake and Joey’s drab apartment— a bathtub, a bed, and a fridge and kitchen cabinets. I marvelled at the piece’s design, as one performer can rotate the revolve, even when another actor is lying in the bed or reclined in the bathtub. In preparing to review this show, I reread Fraser’s preface to his 1994
play Poor Superman. In it, he asserts that in Canadian theatre, “action and narrative have been sacrificed for character, metaphor and debate.� Instead, he advocates for “a theatre that speaks the vocabulary I use day to day�. And, indeed, Kill Me Now ref lects this ethos. It’s very pacey— full of short scenes and plot. It’s 105 minutes long with no intermission. The lack of an interval is intentional, I suspect, to maintain the relentlessness of the experience. Besides the occasional cathartic laugh, there’s no break for the audience from the show’s intensity. It is, as my British friend sometimes says, “hard yards�. Like other Fraser plays, Kill Me Now is, literally, quite visceral. It’s concerned with our bodily fluids— shit and blood and semen. So you might need to steel yourself before the curtain rises. But trust me, it’s a timely, boundary-pushing show that deserves your attention.
by Darren Barefoot
PRESENTS
GLOBAL DANCE CONNECTIONS SERIES
WARD/WARD ANN VAN DEN BROEK
THE BLACK PIECE Photo: Maarten Vanden Abeele
A sensory adventure through darkness, evoking the magic of film noir
November 6-8, 2018 | 8pm
Scotiabank Dance Centre Tickets 604.684.2787
ticketstonight.ca | thedancecentre.ca
COMPANY WANG RAMIREZ (FRANCE) BORDERLINE “POETRY IN GRAVITY-DEFYING MOTION.� LONDON EVENING STANDARD
Paula Kremer, Artistic Director
THRENODY
REQUIEM AND REMEMBRANCE
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 10, 2018 7:30PM Christ Church Cathedral 690 Burrard St. Vancouver, BC
Tickets: vancouvercantatasingers.com or 604-730-8856
HAVE YOU BEEN TO...
Lobby Lounge
OCTOBER 26 & 27, 8PM VANCOUVER PLAYHOUSE TICKETS FROM
TICKETS & INFO: DANCEHOUSE.CA
SE ASON PAR TNERS FRANK SZAFINSKI, PHOTO
lobbyloungerawbar.com OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 25
SEPARATED BY A GENERATION, CONNECTED BY BLOOD
ARTS
Merry Widow is a lavish escape by Janet Smith
MUSIC
THE MERRY WIDOW
By Franz Lehár. A Vancouver Opera production. At the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Saturday, October 20. Continues until October 28
d
ACCLAIMED DRAMA
EMPIRE OF THE SON
VANCOUVER OPERA general director Kim Gaynor pretty much nailed it when she said, before the opening-night performance of The Merry Widow, that it was the “perfect antidote to today’s voting procedures”. Yes, the drab school and community-centre gymnasiums where thousands of Vancouverites stood in line are about as far as you can get from the lavish, glittering ballrooms of the Austro-Hungarian Empire—or at least from its embassy and expats in fin-de-siècle Paris. In this Vancouver Opera production helmed by veteran stage director Kelly Robinson, the 1905 work is finely polished, with leads whose sparkling singing is mostly matched
by nuanced comedic acting. The lush art-nouveau sets, from Utah Opera, envelop the action in Klimt-like screen prosceniums. In the first ballroom act, guests in black and white swirl against lavender hues. Vancouver choreographer Joshua Beamish sends dancers waltzing and can-canning throughout, most memorably when the bamboozled men in the show, bemoaning women, pull off their own slapstick kick line. How much charm you find in all this may depend on how able you are to transport yourself to another time and place. It’s been 28 years since VO last staged this operetta, and that may be in part due to the challenges of making it relevant to now. High-class Austro-Hungarian society was mannered, and so The Merry Widow can feel affected today—especially in the spoken sections. The plot centres on Hanna Glawari, a widow who’s inherited a vast fortune that every man in Paris, and her own fictional home country of tiny Pontevedro, wants to get his hands on. The only one she wants to marry is a former beau, Count Danilo, but
neither will admit they love the other. Their story is played off the ingénue Valencienne, who’s married to an unsuspecting old ambassador, but is giving in to the flirtations of Camille. Smartly, director Robinson emphasizes Hanna’s empowerment. The title character gleefully controls her own fate. And gifted soprano Lucia Cesaroni gives her a strength and sass that go a long way to making the silliness feel more modern. She also turns the “Vilja Song” into a lustrous gem. Tenor John Cudia makes a dashing Danilo, even hinting at a bit of vulnerability behind his upper-crust exterior. Richard Suart’s doddery ambassador, Baron Mirko Zeta, is hilariously naive about his wife’s dalliances. And John Tessier as Camille and Sasha Djihanian as Valencienne find an authentic sweetness in their playful duets about love. Young conducting star Wade Stare makes all of this flow like Champagne, bringing a lilt and light touch. The opera won over its audience, earning a standing O. After a long day of voting, people were ready to join the waltz.
g
Nov. 8 – 17, 2018 Studio B By Tetsuro Shigematsu Directed by Richard Wolfe Produced by Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre
Tickets only $29!
GatewayTheatre.com , H GatewayThtr Tetsuro Shigematsu. Photo: Raymond Shum.
misery made me… 8pm Friday November 9, 2018 Pacific Spirit United Church
(formerly Ryerson United Church) 2205 West 45th Avenue at Yew Street
FREE Vancouver Premiere of Monsters – film Preceded by the World Premiere of
Ghosts of Productions Past Thursday, November 8, 2018
Photo: Amanda Skuse
THE ANNEX 823 Seymour Street, Vancouver | Doors 6 PM, Screenings 7 PM Monsters, loosely based on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, is a hip hop anti-bullying, anti-racism film of the community-engaged play for young audiences performed by an inclusive cast of youth. MISCELLANEOUS Productions Next Generation’s Ghosts of Productions Past is an original short film brutally satirizing the whiteness of the Canadian theatre scene. WARNING: Scenes of violence. Not recommended for children 12 and younger.
Info: megan@miscellaneousproductions.ca | www.miscellaneousproductions.ca Miscellaneous Productions
@misccommunity
26 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
@misccommunity
Vancouver Chamber Choir Kathleen Allan, conductor Our audiences are fully aware of Kathleen Allan’s multiple talents as conductor-singer-composer and her long association with the Vancouver Chamber Choir. This concert — her official audition — will feature a performance of the famous Mass for Double Choir by Frank Martin, the most renowned Swiss composer of the 20th century. Between those Mass movements, though, Ms. Allan will introduce a great variety of music — both secular and sacred — by Arcadelt, Lassus, O’Regan, Lang, Sharman, Shaw, Braden, Hawley, and... Allan.
1.855.985.ARTS (2787) vancouverchamberchoir.com
ARTS LISTINGS ONGOING CURIOUS IMAGININGS Vancouver Biennale 2018-2020 is excited to present the groundbreaking immersive sculpture exhibition Curious Imaginings. For the first time ever, renowned Australian artist Patricia Piccinini is taking her hyperrealist, fantastical creatures outside the museum. The intimate setting of a wing of 18 rooms in Strathcona’s historic Patricia Hotel will be transformed for the Curious Imaginings exhibition. To Dec 15, Patricia Hotel. Tix $16-40. DOUGLAS COUPLAND’S VORTEX Douglas Coupland’s new radical art installation takes an imaginative journey to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, immersing viewers in the ocean-plastic pollution crisis. To April 30, 2019, Vancouver Aquarium. $22/39. TITANIC: THE ARTIFACT EXHIBITION Exhibition focuses on the legendary RMS Titanic’s compelling human stories through more than 120 authentic artifacts and extensive room re-creations. To Jan 11, 2019, Lipont Place. 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. STEPH TOLEV Oct 25-27 PAUL MYREHAUG Nov 1-3 PHIL HANLEY Nov 8-10. YUK YUK'S COMEDY CLUB 2837 Cambie. 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. THE MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY AT UBC . IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT: REFLECTING ON NORTHWEST COAST ART to spring 2019 BILL REID GALLERY OF NORTHWEST COAST ART . BODY LANGUAGE: REAWAKENING CULTURAL TATTOOING OF THE NORTHWEST to Jan 13 INTERFACE: THE WOVEN ARTWORK OF JAAD KUUJUS to Jan 9 MUSEUM OF VANCOUVER . WILD THINGS: THE POWER OF NATURE IN OUR LIVES to Sep 30 HAIDA NOW: A VISUAL FEAST OF INNOVATION AND TRADITION to Dec 1, 2019 VANCOUVER ART GALLERY . AYUMI GOTO & PETER MORIN: HOW DO YOU CARRY THE LAND? to Oct 28 KEVIN SCHMIDT: WE ARE THE ROBOTS to Oct 28 A CURATOR'S VIEW: IAN THOM SELECTS to Mar 17 GUO PEI: COUTURE BEYOND to Jan 20, 2019, 10 am–5 pm KRAPP'S LAST TAPE Seven Tyrants Theatre opens its first season with Samuel Beckett’s absurdist one-man work. To Oct 26, 8 pm, Tyrant Studios. Tix $26. SPOOKTOBER Vancouver TheatreSports League presents a seasonal celebration of all things eerie with four different shows: Monster Matches, Cult Fiction, Scared Witless, and WTF. To Oct 31, The Improv Centre. Tix from $10.75.
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
Arts
HOT TICKET
THE STANLEY PARK HALLOWEEN GHOST TRAIN (To November 1) We love the low-tech magic of this year’s installment, dubbed Jack O’Lantern’s Journey Through the Dark Forest (shown here). Based on old Celtic lore, glowing pumpkins abound and the devil himself makes a visit. Look for storytellers, crafts, and movies in the main plaza outside the minitrain, and don’t forget to bring a food-bank donation.
SCOTT ST. JOHN (October 26 at the Orpheum) The knockout Canadian violinist joins the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra to put his bow to a truly underrated 20th-century composer: Erich Korngold, whose Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 is as technically demanding as it is heartsearingly romantic. A lush slice of fin de siècle Vienna, it’s a lovely complement to Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow, set in the same era and on at Vancouver Opera this week. The concerto is an ode to Alma Mahler, who was the widow of Korngold’s childhood mentor, Gustav Mahler. SWEENEY TODD The Snapshots Collective presents the ghoulish site-specific musicalthriller. To Oct 31, Mrs. Lovett’s Pie Shop . REBEL WOMEN A theatre verbatim play in which the women’s actual words and songs are used to create the play. To Oct 27, 8 pm, Deep Cove Shaw Theatre. Tix $20/18. KILL ME NOW Touchstone Theatre presents the B.C. premiere of Canadian playwright Brad Fraser's play about a single dad caring for his severely disabled teen son. To Oct 27, Firehall Arts Centre. Tix from $17 to $33. SO, HOW SHOULD I BE? World premiere
of Linda A. Carson's play that explores the impact that social and mass media, community, friends and family have on body image. To Oct 28, Presentation House Theatre. Tix $10-20. SWEAT The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Lynn Nottage's examination of a community that is formed and dissolved amid the changing landscape of America. To Nov 18, Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage. Tix from $29. AND EVERMORE SHALL BE SO Play explores the events surrounding a murder that took place four years previously. To Nov 3, 8 pm, The Theatre at Hendry Hall. $20/$18 (seniors and students). THE WOLVES With A Spoon and Rumble Theatre present a play about a teenage girls' soccer team whose members grapple with everything from pop culture to politics, discovering their identities as individuals and a team. To Nov 10, Pacific Theatre. Tix $20-36.50. THE MERRY WIDOW (DIE LUSTIGE WITWE) Vancouver Opera presents Franz Lehár’s comedic operetta, directed by Kelly Robinson. To Oct 28, Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Tix from $50.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24 DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE HEART OF THE CITY FESTIVAL Twelve days of music, stories, songs, poetry, cultural celebrations, films, theatre, dance, spoken word, workshops, discussions, gallery exhibitions, mixed media, art talks, history talks. and history walks. Oct 24–Nov 4, Firehall Arts Centre. Free to $25. THE ONES WE LEAVE BEHIND Play explores themes of isolation and abandonment and poses the question: are the greatest walls the ones we build within ourselves? Oct 24–Nov 3, 8 am, Historic Theatre. Tix $24-$51.
see next page
CHOR LEONI MEN’S CHOIR ERICK LICHTE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
AN ARMISTICE ORATORIO
BY ZACHARY WADSWORTH
BOREALIS STRING QUARTET | LAWRENCE WILIFORD, tenor | ARWEN MYERS, soprano
27TH ANNUAL REMEMBRANCE DAY CONCERTS
November 10 | 3pm & 8pm ST. ANDREW’S-WESLEY UNITED CHURCH, VANCOUVER
November 11 | 3pm WEST VANCOUVER UNITED CHURCH
chorleoni.org | 1.877.840.0457
A musical conversation inspired by the legendary jazz ensemble Old and New Dreams.
TUE NOV 13 2018 / 8PM
Still Dreaming Joshua Redman, Ron Miles, Scott Colley, Brian Blade
C H A N C E N T R E AT U B C Tickets and info at chancentre.com OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 27
presents
from previous page
MONDAY, OCTOBER 29
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25
HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES The Spartacus Book Club discusses the book by Carmen Maria Machado. Oct 29, 7-8:30 pm, Spartacus Books.
THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW Richard O'Brien's kitschy musical-theatre rock 'n' roll gothic thriller. Oct 25–Nov 10, Waterfront Theatre. Tix from $39. JOHN PERROTTA Comedian performs three nights of standup. Oct 25-27, Yuk Yuk's Comedy Club. Tix $10-$20.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26
Oct 26-31 Suspiria The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Deep Red
MISTER TERROR’S DRIVE-IN OF BLOOD Improv comedy inspired by masters of the macabre. Oct 26, 10-11 pm, The Havana Theatre. Tix $12. SEX WITH STRANGERS Mitch and Murray Productions proudly presents the Vancouver premiere of Sex With Strangers, a twisty and timely drama about love, lust and the nature of identity in our digital-dominated era. Written by Laura Eason (writer of TV's House of Cards). Directed by Aaron Craven. Featuring actors Loretta Walsh and Markian Tarasiuk. Oct 26–Nov 10, Studio 16. Tix and info www.mitchandmurrayproductions.com/. JULIANNE CHAPPLE: SUFFIX Julianne Chapple’s original work interweaves movement, sound, lighting and film, probing the edges of the body’s mobility to the point of abstraction. Oct 26-27, 7 pm, 9 pm, Scotiabank Dance Centre. Tix $26/$22. MATERIAL WITNESS Coproduction between Spiderwoman Theater of New York City and Aanmitaagzi, an Indigenous multidisciplinary arts company from Nipissing First Nation, Ontario. Oct 26-27, 8 pm, Ukrainian Hall. Tix $20/15. COMPANY WANG RAMIREZ: BORDERLINE Choreographers Sébastien Ramirez and Honji Wang combine hip hop, contemporary dance, and martial arts in an exploration of democracy, immigration, manipulation, and the place of individuals in society. Oct 26-27, 8-10 pm, Vancouver Playhouse.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27
a
VANCOUVER ART GALLERY . DANA CLAXTON: FRINGING THE CUBE Oct 27–Feb 3, 2019 PARADE OF LOST SOULS: MAGIC AND REALISM + AFTER PARTY Live bands, art installations, clowns, and food trucks. Oct 27, 7-11:55 pm, WISE Hall. Tix $20. THE LIST: HALLOWEEN EDITION Standup comics perform never-before-seen comedic lists before improvisors bring those lists to life. Oct 27, 10:30 pm, Little Mountain Gallery. Tix $10.
Halloween Party Wed, Oct 31
7pm - Doors 8pm - Goblin-scored Ballet 8:30pm - Suspiria
$15 in advance, $20 at the door
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28 IAN PARKER: SOLO VARIATIONS Pianist Ian Parker performs a program of works by Beethoven, Brahms, Gershwin, and Haydn. Oct 28, 3 pm, Kay Meek Arts Centre . Tix $19-48.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30 THE PIANO TEACHER The Arts Club Theatre Company on Tour presents Dorothy Dittrich's meditation on loss and the healing power of music. Oct 30, 7:30 pm, Anvil Centre. Tix $29-49. MONSTERKILL 5: REMONSTERKILLED (OR, WE WERE THE EMPTY SET) The Cascadian Institute of Cultural Design presents the world premiere of a play about life and death—and life and death in a whack-em-up videogame. Oct 30–Nov 3, 8-9:15 pm, Havana Theatre. $14. THE BELIEVERS ARE BUT BROTHERS Oneman show explores the smoke-and-mirrors world of online extremism, anonymity, and hate speech. Oct 30–Nov 10, 8 pm, Vancity Culture Lab. Tix $35.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31 EAST END BLUES & ALL THAT JAZZ Vancouver Moving Theatre's evening of gospel, blues,and jazz. Oct 31–Nov 3, Firehall Arts Centre. Tix $30/25.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1 RUSSELL PETERS Canadian comedy superstar performs on his Deported World Tour. Nov 1, 8 pm, Rogers Arena. Tix from $71.25 to $125.80 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticketmaster.ca/.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2 THE POLYGON GALLERY The Polygon Gallery (101 Carrie Cates Ct.), North Vancouver, presents three new exhibitions: "Looking at Persepolis: The Camera in Iran 1850-1930", and contemporary video and photographic works by award-winning artists Hannah Rickards and Batia Suter. Together these shows reflect on photographs as documents that convey information through visuality. Nov 2–Jan 13, 2019, the Polygon Gallery. Info www.thepolygon.ca/. ARTS LISTINGS are a public service provided free of charge, based on available space and editorial discretion. Submit listings online using the event-submission form at straight.com/AddEvent. Events that don't make it into the paper due to space constraints will appear on the website.
on the web!
For up-to-the-minute searchable Arts Listings on your phone, visit
straight.com
EXCLUSIVE GIVEAWAY
ENTER
for a chance to win a
Double Pass to the Advance Screening of
Wednesday, Nov. 7 • 7:00PM Scotiabank Theatre IN THE ATR ES NOVEMBER 9
Visit for your chance to Win! 28 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
MOVIES
The mother of all cliffhangers
Alex Honnold scales the face of El Capitan in Free Solo, which mixes autobiography and technique to emerge as one of the best films of its genre.
FREE SOLO
A documentary by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. Rated PG
d
HOW NERVE-RACKING is it watching rope-free rock climber Alex Honnold hang by his fingertips, a kilometre up the sheer granite face of Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan? As shown repeatedly in the riveting new documentary Free Solo, his own cameraman—who’s standing on the valley floor with a telephoto lens and, more importantly, is an accomplished climber himself—is too freaked out to watch through the viewfinder. Honnold’s crazy free climb up the Earth’s most impressive wall is shot dizzyingly from above, from far below, and—most spectacularly—in closeup, by expert climber-cameramen (with ropes). But it’s not just scenes like these, breaking new ground in outdoor shooting, that make Free Solo one of the best in its genre. Dazzling footage of the human gecko scrambling up walls from Morocco’s limestone cliffs to Utah’s pink-streaked Moonlight Buttress in preparation for his, frankly, semisuicidal El Capitan bid is just the start here. What makes the film so remarkable is that maverick mountaineering directors Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (who made the Himalayan climbing doc Meru) find just as much transfixing material in the intimate portrait of their flawed hero. When we meet Honnold, he is already a rock-climbing star, attending book signings, earning sponsorships, making the cover of National Geographic, and travelling the world. However, something is a little off. He lives in a van. He eats dinner with the same spatula he fries his mishmash of food up with, straight out of the pan. We learn that a lonely childhood and a distant father drew him to solo climbing. And most fascinatingly, we watch this lifelong loner try to form a lasting relationship with a woman who may just win the prize for being the most positive, patient, supportive girlfriend on the planet. (“He’s a weird dude and I find it interesting.”) This extreme athlete appears to feel no fear, leading one researcher to scan his brain, with even more astounding results in the film. Whatever the biology behind it, Honnold is obsessively, inescapably driven to make his record-setting El Capitan free climb—despite all the warnings we hear from pro rock climbers and at least one failed attempt. Adding to the ever-building tension is the fact that the very presence of cameras could throw off Honnold’s concentration and kill him. The feeling of stomach-churning vertigo builds relentlessly in the final act, the El Capitan climb as cathartic
for Honnold as it is harrowing for us drama set during the era of his own to watch—and, apparently, for his adolescence. It’s too safe, in fact. Hill grew up in privileged circrew to shoot. by Janet Smith cumstances, but he shows good instincts here, in a down-market part of Los Angeles where skate THE HAPPY PRINCE punks hang out for camaraderie Starring Rupert Everett. In English, and protection. Stevie, an unformed French, and Italian, with English 13-year-old played by Killing of a subtitles. Rated PG Sacred Deer’s Sunny Suljic (who RUPERT EVERETT’S stunning looks like an 11-year-old Timolead performance, as Oscar Wilde in thée Chalamet), worships his older steep decline, doesn’t receive the full brother, Ian (Manchester by the support of his writer and director. Sea’s Lucas Hedges). But the latter But what can you do when all three beats the crap out of him for disfloppy hats are worn by the same per- turbing his pathologically organson? Named after Wilde’s children’s ized bedroom. They have an uneasy tale uniting the episodic plot threads relationship with their single mom here, The Happy Prince is an obvious (Katherine Waterson), not named in labour of love for Everett. But, as Wil- the movie or given a job or personal de famously wrote, “Each man kills history—except when Ian complains that “She used to be promiscuous.” the thing he loves.” Another line in that mordant This vagueness haunts the whole poem reads, “Yet each man does enterprise, as little Stevie wanders not die.” So the endlessly influential into a multiethnic gaggle embodied playwright, poet, and wit was al- by nonprofessionals who have board lowing for inevitable fallibility of art. skills and some screen presence, but Wilde died in Paris in late 1900, at no real characters to develop. The savvy black kid called Ray (Naonly 46, of meningitis, complicated by alcohol and several concussions, kel Smith) runs a local board shop, one received during his gruesome and he’s so cool he doesn’t even need two years in prison for “gross in- a nickname. His pals include the perdecency”—resulting from a lawsuit sistently swearing Fuckshit (frizzyhaired Olan Prenatt) and taciturn he foolishly undertook. Everett, almost 60, successfully Fourth Grade (Ryder McLaughlin), hides behind pudgy prosthetics and who’s slightly dim but documents swaddled overcoats as the (almost) everything with his Hi-8 camera. humbled Great Man wanders the sor- (Think his footage will show up at the did back lanes of Dieppe, Naples, and end?) There’s already a mascot on the then gay Paree, cadging drinks, young scene, but brooding Ruben (Gio Galflesh, and audiences in three lan- icia) soon sees himself displaced as guages. The only thing postclink Os- the resident preadolescent. The novice director lets the wisecar can’t do is write, leading to serious deficiency in the money department. cracks flow naturally as Stevie is drawn Wilde also has a wife and two sons, into their knuckleheaded orbit. Scenes and Constance (played too briefly by of him learning to skate and getting to Emily Watson) sends him a small al- know this subculture show a promlowance while refusing to see him. ise the film never quite delivers. Hill He’s alternately attended by faithfully resists his Apatow-bred instinct to go bland secretary Robbie Ross (Edwin fully comic. But he doesn’t compenThomas) and the excitingly treacher- sate with deeper insights that would ous Bosie Douglas (Colin Morgan), make these commonplace personalwho got him in trouble in the first ities compelling in a dramatic sense. Weirdly, both Stevie and his brothplace. Their triangle encapsulates the writer’s self-destructive nature. “He er exhibit a propensity for ritualistic loves me in a way,” he says to each in self-harm that suggests a traumatic turn about the other, “you couldn’t history that isn’t explored or explained. As our pint-size protagonist possibly understand.” These moments are brilliantly in- turns into a mini badass, he also has sightful, but the murkily shot, neces- a sexual encounter with a much older sarily depressive movie has so many girl (Brigsby Bear’s Alexa Demie), but flashbacks, subplots, and dream it’s unclear how the filmmaker feels sequences, it’s hard to get a handle about any of this, or if he has any real on Everett’s full intentions. Still, he interest in what’s going on in the heads certainly achieves part of his original of the few females present. The movie goal: to ensure that Oscar Wilde can is shot in 16mm in the old-fashioned squarish format, and it’s loaded with never really die. by Ken Eisner period music, of course. But any reason for its mid-’90s L.A setting, as MID90S opposed to the 2000s Illinois of the Starring Sunny Suljic. Rated 18A skate doc Minding the Gap or presentday Brooklyn of the girl-centric Skate FOR HIS writing-and-directing Kitchen—both superior on several debut, Jonah Hill skates across levels—feels as random as the title. safe ground with a coming-of-age by Ken Eisner
d
d
VIFF‘18
VIFF‘18
HAVE YOU BEEN TO...
Pacific
Peaceful
Institute of Culinary Arts
Restaurant
picachef.com
peacefulrestaurant.com
OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 29
MOVIES
Turkish fest a weird and dark delight
I
by Adrian Mack
t’s a complex and troubled society, with a beautiful and ancient culture, locked inside any number of dicey geopolitical arguments—and it makes some seriously great movies. When the fifth annual Vancouver Turkish Film Festival gets under way at the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts at SFU Woodward’s next Friday (November 2), Vancouverites will get another blast of a national cinema that’s been turning critics and cinephiles on their heads in recent years. Here are three titles we really liked.
BUTTERFLIES
A surrealist with a light touch, Tolga Karaçelik follows his creepily amusing 2015 feature Ivy with this deadpan tale of three estranged
siblings called home by a father they never really knew. Karaçelik’s sideways sensibility is nutshelled in these characters: older brother Cemal is an astronaut with no hope of ever going to space; boozy middle sibling Kenan dubs cat voices onto home videos but calls himself an actor; sister Suzan is an undetonated device in shades who manages to get them all beaten up on the way to their hometown of Hasanlar. This is, of course, a film about broken humans discovering each other and themselves, but blah-blah logline thinking aside, it’s really a venue for some delightfully low-energy comedy and one of the most sardonic punch lines we’ve seen in years. Friday, November 2 (8:15 p.m.)
TAKSIM HOLD’EM Released a year af-
ter the coup attempt, and in the wake of the May Day riots, Michael Önder’s debut feature wants to take a scalpel to the attitudes of millennial professionals in Turkey’s capital. Alper is determined to go through with his weekly poker game, even while Istanbul is rocked by demonstrations. Set almost entirely in his living room while riot police break heads in the streets outside (the title puns the poker game with Taksim Square in Istanbul), this becomes a hothouse for its characters’ varying political (or apolitical) stripes. In his lucky Lebowski bathrobe and sporting a terminally disengaged mien, is the cynical Alper any less noble than would-be (mostly would-be) freedom
fighter Altan? When Alper’s journalist fiancée returns to the apartment with an injured foot and a Samaritan who might be an undercover cop, the stakes, for those of us living under a somewhat less bat-shit regime, become a lot more vivid. It’s a bit stagey, but Hold’em still maintains its grip. Saturday, November 3 (4:30 p.m.) MORE One of two films at VTFF this
year dealing with the Syrian-refugee crisis (and with a free panel talk on the subject on November 3), the bruising More centres on Gaza, a somewhat opaque youth, already adorned with a pugilist’s face, who helps his brute of a father (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia’s porcine Ahmet Mümtaz Taylan) in
his business of smuggling refugees to Greece. This is purely a moneymaking deal for the old man, with some vile fringe benefits. Actor Onur Saylak shows real flair with his directorial debut; he’s turned out an importantseeming work that comes on at times like an art-house horror movie. That might be problematic for some, but as an interrogation of the nature of abuse and the cycles of dehumanization that happen on the micro and macro scale, More ends up as VTFF’s must-see film. Saturday, November 3 (8:30 p.m.)
g
The Vancouver Turkish Film Festival takes place at the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts at SFU Woodward’s from November 2 to 4. More information is at www.vtff.ca/.
“ALEX HONNOLD’S FREE SOLO CLIMB SHOULD BE CELEBRATED AS ONE OF THE GREAT ATHLETIC FEATS OF ANY KIND, EVER.” “FREE SOLO IS THE BEST CLIMBING MOVIE EVER MADE.”
PEOPLE’S CHOICE DOCUMENTARY AWARD
A FILM BY ELIZABETH CHAI VASARHELYI & JIMMY CHIN COARSE LANGUAGE
EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT STARTS FRIDAY 30 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
900 BURRARD ST, VANCOUVER • 604-630-1407
Check theatre directories for showtimes
MOVIES
Untold stories of the Warsaw Ghetto
A
by Adrian Mack
s Roberta Grossman points out, the world has long been captivated by the diary of Anne Frank. “And rightly so,” says the filmmaker, calling the Georgia Straight from Los Angeles. “But there are hundreds of diaries in the Oyneg Shabes that have never been translated or read. It’s the largest eyewitness cache to survive the Holocaust. I think of it as the Dead Sea Scrolls rising from the rubble of the Warsaw Ghetto.” When the Jewish section of Warsaw was segregated by Nazis in 1940, a historian named Emanuel Ringelblum covertly gathered a band of 60 allies to maintain, at enormous risk, a record of his community’s
experiences. This secret group was called the Oyneg Shabes. It was all nearly lost. Three members made it out of the war alive. One of them happened to know where some of the archives were buried. Based on Samuel Kassow’s 2007 book, Grossman has brought this extraordinary tale to vivid life in Who Will Write Our History, arriving at the Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre next Thursday (November 1) as the opening film of the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival. “I thought that I was more knowledgeable than the average bear,” says Grossman. “I was shocked that I didn’t know this story.” Executive-produced by Nancy
Spielberg, Who Will Write Our History mixes archival material and dramatic reconstruction to make its story known, focusing on Ringelblum—played in the film by Polish actor Piotr Głowacki—but also on the journalist Rachel Auerbach, who decided to stay in the ghetto at Ringelblum’s request. “When you see the few photographs that survived, and the diaries, and the posters that people risked their lives to tear off the walls during the great deportation—there’s a sense that this really happened,” Grossman says. “There’s an authenticity and a gravitas to it.” The Oyneg Shabes—although providing the highest-resolution
HAVE YOU BEEN TO...
picture available of the appalling deprivations and suffering that instantly gripped the ghetto, and the terror of the deportations and hopelessness of the uprising—also records the “blazing anger” of a community sometimes turning on itself (largely through the manipulation of its captors). “Ringelblum wanted the good, bad, and the ugly to all be there,” Grossman says. “It’s a very full portrait of humanity, not ‘good Jews, bad Germans’.” This partly explains why the archives remain relatively unknown. But it also suggests why the Oyneg Shabes is so crucially important right now. “Even on the most superficial level,
the archive was about truth versus propaganda,” Grossman says. “I’m thinking about the murder of the Saudi journalist and, on one hand, the attempts to cover it up and be cynical about it, [and] on the other hand the outrage around the world, and I think that even in that one story, you can see the kind of struggle that the members of the Oyneg Shabes were facing between barbarism and humanity. And it certainly behooves us to take a look at what happens when barbarism is given the upper hand.”
g
The Vancouver Jewish Film Festival takes place from next Thursday (November 1) to December 2. More information is at www. vjff.org/.
Wo
Via
Tevere
Colony
mingwo.com
viateverepizzeria.com
colonybars.com
Ming
Bar
OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 31
MOVIES
Chinatown to Stanley Park Zoo by Adrian Mack
Screening at the SPARK Animation film festival, Julia Kwan’s elegant “The Zoo� tells two parallel stories of displacement in an ever-growing city.
E
NEW ORLEANS INSPIRED CUISINE
FAT TUESDAYS! $9.95 PASTAS 5pm to 9pm
HAPPY HOUR DRINKS & FOOD EVERY DAY FROM 4PM TO 6 PM WEDNESDAY OCT 24
THURSDAY OCT 25
FRIDAY & SAT. OCT 26 & 27
SUNDAY OCT 28
TUESDAY OCT 30
WEDNESDAY OCT 31
THURSDAY NOV 01
FRIDAY
NOV 02
JOHN GILLIAT DAVE SAY BAND BIG DADDY DANCE PARTY BAND
ARSEN SHOMAKOV BAND NEIL RYAN BAND MAX ZIPURSKY TRIO BILL RUNGE BAND MIKE HENRY BAND es Venueweek... u l B / hts a azz g J i t s n e B VANCOUVER’S SPOT Voted ic 6 s u FOR LIVE M e Liv JAZZ BLUES
BLUEMARTINIJAZZCAFE.COM 1516 YEW STREET, VANCOUVER, BC | 604 428 2691 32 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
agle-eyed viewers might catch the link between Julia Kwan’s beautiful new 12-minute short “The Zoo� and her 2014 doc on Chinatown gentrification, Everything Will Be. The May Wah Hotel on East Pender appears in both, although it is rendered as a brightly coloured background in the filmmaker’s latest, getting its premiere at this year’s SPARK Animation film festival. In her first foray away from liveaction cinema, Kwan weaves the tale of a Chinese resident in Vancouver with that of Tuk, the last occupant of the bear enclosure at the Stanley Park Zoo until it was finally shut down in 1997. We watch one grow from boy to old man, the other from wild cub to bored and lonely captive. It’s an elegant, wordless tale of displacement and solitude that also presents a fablelike take on the history of Vancouver itself. “It connects back to Everything Will Be, for sure,� Kwan tells the Georgia Straight. “Spending time in the May Wah Hotel, I saw a lot of seniors living in, well, not the most ideal conditions. And it made me think about how they were, in a sense, being left behind because maybe friends or family have passed. All those themes dovetailed and percolated into ‘The Zoo’.� Kwan notes that the character of the old man is based partly on her own 88-year-old father. Designing Tuk, meanwhile, was just one of
the tests she faced on an especially steep learning curve. “I give full credit to the character designers, because they had to endure me,� Kwan says in tribute to collaborators Jesse Cote, Bonni Reid, and the team at Jesters Animation.
I give full credit to the character designers because they had to endure me – Julia Kwan
“I didn’t have the animation language to describe what I wanted. It’s literally, like, ‘How long do you want the ears? What kind of fur do you want? How matted? What texture?’ Little details like that. But we got there.� Quite quickly, too. Kwan reports that “The Zoo� was in production for about a year, no doubt helped by the “crash course in animation� she was given by the NFB—which is probably as good
as a crash course in animation gets. Appearing alongside Amanda Strong’s VIFF/B.C. Spotlight award winner “Biidaaban� in the Made in Canada shorts program at the Vancity Theatre on Saturday (October 27), “The Zoo� is one of four new NFB titles screening at SPARK this year, all of them hailing from Vancouver. Opening the festival at the Scotiabank Theatre on Thursday (October 25), Alison Snowden and David Fine’s “Animal Behaviour� joins Ann Marie Fleming’s “A Short Film About Tegan & Sara� in the Award Winning Shorts program. The following night (October 26), Hart Snider’s “Shop Class� comes to the Vancity Theatre as one of 17 Short Films After Dark. Other short-film series include a Spotlight on France (October 27) and the female-centric Mothers of a Medium (October 28), while among this year’s feature films, SPARK is offering Another Day of Life, which recently screened in VIFF’s PIXL animation series, plus Denis Do’s Funan (both October 26), This Magnificent Cake, and The Last Fiction (both October 27). Korea’s The Moon in the Hidden Woods closes the festival at the Vancity Theatre on Sunday (October 28) with an introduction from director Takahiro Umehara. SPARK Animation 2018 takes place from Thursday to Sunday (October 25 to 28). More information is at www.sparkfx.ca/.
5TH VANCOUVER TURKISH FILM FESTIVAL “Ocean in a Drop�
$TěěGRÄ? KGS FRI, NOV 2 - 8:15 PM
5JORÄ› (KÄšMS SUN, NOV 4 - 12:00 PM
6JG )TGSÄ› SAT, NOV 3 - 12:00 PM
+N 6JG (CMKÄšX SUN, NOV 4 - 2:15 PM
2#0'. 9*'4' &1 9' )1 (41/ *'4'! 5;4+#0 4'(7)''5 +0 674-'; SAT, NOV 3 1:45 PM Free and Open to the Public
6CLSKM *OÄšFÂĽGM SAT, NOV 3 - 4:30 PM
/TRěCYC SUN, NOV 4 - 4:45 PM
5GRKCÄš %OOL SAT, NOV 3 - 6:15 PM
5OMGěJKNI 7SGHTĚ SUN, NOV 4 - 6:45 PM
/ORG SAT, NOV 3 - 8:30 PM
$7; 6+%-'65 VVV Uěė EC
2-4 NOV 2018 SFU GOLDCORP CENTRE FOR THE ARTS 149 WEST HASTINGS ST CO-PRESENTED BY
MUSIC
Peach Pit does it differently
Q
by Mike Usinger
uite understandably, singerguitarist Neil Smith sounds like a man living the dream when he’s tracked down in the architectural wonderland known as Chicago. Along with his bandmates—guitarist Christopher Vanderkooy, bassist Peter Wilton, and drummer Mikey Pascuzzi—he’s on this third swing through the Windy City with Peach Pit, the difference from previous visits being the show is sold-out. Packed rooms are something the Vancouver quartet has gotten used to since blowing up on the Internet in the spring of 2017. “We’re spoiled because we pretty much started touring and immediately had people coming to our shows, which was incredibly lucky and rare,” Smith says gratefully, reached on his cellphone. “Now we’re at the point where we’ve already sold out 10 shows on this tour.” If Smith sounds blessed by the band’s good fortune, it’s because most acts don’t go from regional obscurity to international sensation in the space of a year. The buzz was started by a Filipina music tastemaker named TheLazylazyme who spotlighted the breezy early single “Peach Pit” on her YouTube channel, where the song took off immediately. It’s sitting at an insane 19 million listens today—with fans from around the world leaving comments like “This song makes me nostalgic for things that I haven’t even lived yet.” “We didn’t even know about the placement on the playlist,” Smith says. “We just started getting a lot of followers. We were just an indie band from Vancouver, and every day a couple of people would like our page. Then suddenly it was 100 a day, 200 a day, every single day. It was people with Chinese names, and people that didn’t seem like they were from Vancouver. We were convinced that our page had been hacked by some sort of bot or something—that it was fake accounts liking our page. But it didn’t stop.” A debut EP, Sweet FA, arrived in the spring of 2017, positioning the group as a sun-soaked indie-pop unit to watch. By the fall of last year, Smith and his bandmates had made it clear they had global ambitions. The September arrival of a darker, unexpectedly mature full-length, Being So Normal, suggested Peach Pit had more on its mind than kicking back with a six-pack at Third Beach. The album served as a springboard to 12 months of steady touring that’s included North America, a couple of swings through Europe, and jaunts to such exotic locales as India, Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia. “We’re at the point,” Smith marvels, “where we’re constantly pinching ourselves.” To truly understand his amazement, you have to look at what Peach Pit has meant to the singer on a personal level. Sometimes there’s a reward for riding out the rough stuff.
ALTHOUGH IT SEEMS Peach Pit rocketed out of nowhere last year, that wasn’t the case. “Me and Chris knew each other from high school—he was a year younger than me, so we were sort of acquaintances,” Smith recalls. “When we were 21 or something, Chris’s mom moved to Deep Cove—that’s where I grew up. In the summertime, me and a friend would go down to the beach or the dock for a swim—drink beers or smoke a joint. I kept running into Chris at our usual hangout spot, so it became ‘We keep seeing each other, so we might as well become friends.’” Vanderkooy not only knew how to play guitar, but was crazy good at it, as his consistently inventive work on Sweet FA and Being So Normal has proven. As a bonus, he was a musical blood brother of Wilton’s, who moved to bass when Peach Pit started to come together as a band. Rather than rush things with live shows, the group practised for a year,
After blowing up on YouTube—racking up 19 million listens for one song—Vancouver’s Peach Pit is selling out gigs across North America, from here to Chicago. Photo by Lester Lyons-Hookham
during which Smith also played in an old-timey Americana duo titled Dogwood and Dahlia. Confident they were onto something, the boys of Peach Pit finally exited the practice space for an appearance at the CiTR battle-of-the-bands competition Shindig!. They not only lost, but were labelled “too normal” by the judges. “We had this really tight, rehearsed set with these pop songs that we’d worked really hard on,” Smith recalls. “Then we lost in the first round to this band that brought a floor tom on-stage that it never even touched. No disrespect to them—they won fair and square. But we got home and were like, ‘Oh my gosh—we need to reevaluate this.’ One of the positive things that came out of it was that we tried to change things up after that critique.” Peach Pit today is indeed known for doing things a bit differently, making it a rarity in the often vanilla world of indie rock. Each night the band takes the stage in the same thrift-store clothes (including Vanderkooy’s ’70s-orange turtleneck). Fans are referred to as “daddy”, an in-joke that dates back to the guitarist’s high-school years, and his byall-accounts-tragic attempts to grow grown-up facial hair. “We were a band of white boys wearing T-shirts and jeans or whatever,” Smith says. “So we kind of went, ‘Okay, we need to spice this up a little bit.’ So we found the outfits that we now wear every single show. And we tried to be a little bit more true to our personalities, and a little less like ‘Okay, we’re going to play our songs and act super serious all the time.’ ” Marked by ocean-sparkle guitars and mellow-gold vocals, Sweet FA casts Peach Pit as a band made for magical, endless summers. After establishing themselves as the Vancouverites you’d most like to spend happy hour on a tropical island with, Vanderkooy, Wilton, Pascuzzi, and Smith then showed life isn’t always sunshine and piña coladas. Being So Normal sent a message that, while Peach Pit is almost always down for a good time, it’s also there for you when the cold November rains roll in. “I am definitely,” Smith says, “the kind of person—and my bandmates and my friends would agree—who can be pretty hard on myself. And I am the kind of person who does dwell on things—maybe more so in private. I’m someone who’s secretly in my bedroom wallowing in my mistakes.” Being So Normal showcases Peach Pit as a band with more range than anyone would have expected after Sweet FA. The easygoing post-Tropicália guitars are well-represented in tracks like “Techno Show” and “Chagu’s Sideturn”, but it’s the adventurous moments that might impress the most. Witness Vanderkooy’s superfuzzed guitar heroics on “Being So Normal”, or the funeral-service strings that add an extra layer of melancholy to “Private Presley”. Wilton and Pascuzzi are noticeably more muscular when required, putting on a clinic in the dubindebted “Mighty Aphrodite”. The songs on Being So Normal were written over a number of years, some of them—the burnished folk beauty “Hot Knifer”, for example—pulled from Smith’s days with Dogwood
and Dahlia and then reworked. “That’s kind of why there’s a superpoppy song, and then a really sad song, a really rocking song, and then a folky song,” Smith says. Ask a creative person why they’ve rolled the dice on the arts, and an answer you’ll often get is that they’re hoping for some sort of outside affirmation—proof that, despite nagging self-doubts, somebody actually likes them. Being So Normal finds Smith using his sometimes confusing adolescence for inspiration. “Drop the Guillotine” will resonate with anyone who never got the girl—or guy—in high school. And “Tommy’s Party” reflects on ragingly out-of-control teenage nights and the regrets that come with the realization that one day you have to actually grow up. Acknowledging that songwriting has in some ways been a form of therapy, Smith says, “One of the reasons for starting Peach Pit, and writing songs about high school, was that I was pretty small in high school and had bad acne and stuff. I was always friends with girls that I liked, but they never really liked me back. I also had friends that were handsome and athletic, so I felt a little bit neglected. “I don’t even know that I had a right to feel that way,” he continues, “because I actually had a pretty good high-school experience. But it affected me in some way. I look back at the way I felt and I cringe a bit. But I also wish I could have known ‘It’s going to get better, man.’ ” And it did, as he realized he had an outlet that was more useful than reaching for everything ever recorded by the Smiths. “The outside-affirmation thing is big,” Smith confirms. “When you’re feeling neglected or unloved, or whatever—I think that’s a reason that a lot of people start bands.” Wilton, Pascuzzi, Vanderkooy, and Smith are keenly aware that there are going to be plenty of eyes and ears on the follow-up to Being So Normal. The band took an initial stab at sessions for a new record during a brief lull in touring this past summer. “I think it’s going to be similar in mood to this past album,” Smith says, “with a lot of songs that are personal stories, whether it be drinking too much or feeling like nobody loves you. Or a lover in the back of your mind trying to get your attention again. But it’s not going to be about high school anymore because I haven’t been in high school for many years now.” And while that sounds like some of the sadness of adolescence still lingers, the Peach Pit frontman is thrilled to report that things have most certainly got better. “The best part has been being in a city far from home and having all these kids show up who are just so excited to sing along,” he says. “I’ll be halfway through a song, and finding myself going ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe these guys know all the words.’ That’s when you’re like, ‘This is so crazy.’ ”
Friday, Nov. 2. ADVANCE TICKETS: RIOTHEATRETICKETS.CA, HIGH LIFE, RED CAT & ZULU RECORDS
Doors: 6:30pm Show: 7:30pm CANADIANPACIFICBLUES.COM
1660 E. Broadway, Vancouver
HAVE YOU BEEN TO...
Red Card
La Casa
redcardsportsbar.ca
lacasagelato.com
Sports Bar
Gelato
g
Peach Pit plays the sold-out Vogue Theatre on Friday (October 26).
OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 33
MUSIC
Barber gets down to the dark matter d
IF JILL BARBER sounds happy and energized, there’s a good reason for that: when the Georgia Straight reaches the East Van resident she’s in Toronto, and still savouring the glow of having headlined her old hometown’s prestigious Roy Thomson Hall the night before. “It’s a personal triumph,” the singer confides. “So I am happy, and I feel incredibly, incredibly privileged to get to do what I love, and to express my passion in my work.” But there’s more going on in Barber’s life than some high-profile concert bookings. She’s also in the process of moving away from the jazz- and soul-influenced sound of her previous albums, with their nostalgic invocations of an elegance that no longer really exists in this world, and toward an approach that’s more engaged with the here and now. Metaphora, her new album, is a conscious attempt to go pop—conscious not only in its deliberate use of radio-friendly backing tracks and sing-along choruses, but also in the sense that it finds Barber owning up to her feminism, and putting forward an affirmational message aimed directly at young women. “I’ve always been a feminist, but my music was more of an escape from reality,” she admits. “And now I feel that I’m really confronting my reality head-on.” It’s an approach, she adds, that involves engaging with dark elements from her past, but that’s bolstered by her current happiness as a mother of two, married to CBC Radio host and occasional memoirist Grant Lawrence. “One thing motherhood has done is that it has actually been both a humbling experience and an empowering experience,” Barber explains. “I have a new respect for my
own body, and what it can do. “And, yeah, in a funny way it has made me more confident, because I feel like, I don’t know, ‘I am a mother and I can do anything now,’ ” she adds, laughing. “It’s the ultimate transformative, powerful, empowering experience.” Part of Barber’s newfound artistic security lies in realizing that she can now collaborate on an equal footing with artists she admires—most notably Mother Mother singer-guitarist Ryan Guldemond, who cowrote four of Metaphora’s nine songs. “He’s a really interesting guy,” she says. “He’s a really raw, honest artist, who is not afraid to show his hand in his writing. Songwriting sessions with him are part musical therapy, part songwriting session. He wanted to get right down to the, um, dark matter— and that was exactly what I needed. He was really encouraging me to look at the less pretty side of my psyche.” Guldemond’s also got an ear for hooks and bridges, Barber adds, something that’s easily heard in the post–Spice Girls sloganeering of “Girls Gotta Do” and in the album opener, “The Woman”, with its tribal beat and dramatic, stop-time finale. But her self-explorations are most comprehensively expressed in “Bigger Than You”—which was created with help from songwriter for hire Maïa Davies, rather than Guldemond. It’s almost certainly the darkest song Barber’s ever written. “The way I’ve been introducing that song is that I wrote it in an afternoon, but it took me about 20 years, really, to write,” Barber says. “I was reflecting on an experience that I had over a decade ago—and the amazing thing about being a songwriter is that I can draw from personal experience, as I did in
Jill Barber tapped Mother Mother’s Ryan Guldemond to help write some new songs.
that song, but I can recast myself as the hero, as the triumphant one, even if that’s not really how I felt at the time.” “Bigger Than You” offers a template for how Barber wants to engage with the world—and a prescient exploration of themes brought forward by the #MeToo movement. “I wrote the whole record and recorded it before #MeToo happened, but it was so timely to create this record in this climate,” she explains. “It just goes to show that before #MeToo broke, there was a rising tide of whispers that eventually became a roar— and it hasn’t quieted. So this album does feel very timely—and I won’t say that’s an accident.” by Alexander Varty Jill Barber plays the Vogue Theatre next Thursday (November 1).
PATIENCE IS AT THE CORE OF SULTANA’S FLOW STATE
d
MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST Tash Sultana is a big proponent of patience. Unlike most other explosive headline performers, the artist, who prefers the nonbinary pronoun they,
PURCHASE TODAY! SALE ENDS NOV 1ST
builds their show slowly. Their livelooped samples—perfected busking on the streets of Melbourne—take many minutes to stack up, assembling into everything from 10-minute jams to punchy, rhythmically driven tracks. Now selling out small stadiums around the globe, Sultana is introducing millennials to the art of delayed gratification. “No one was listening to me on the street, because at the time I was only playing acoustic guitar,” Sultana recalls of their early solo days, reaching the Straight on the line from their Australian home. “As soon as I started playing electric guitar and live-looping, people thought I was a fucking magician. But it’s not for everyone. Looping is a performance that you need to have patience for. Unlike most songs, it doesn’t kick in straight away; you’ve got to build every aspect and every layer of the songs.” Patience is a virtue that Sultana learned the hard way. Rocketing to success in 2016 after videos of them jamming in their lounge went viral, they found themselves boosted into the Aussie charts and booking tours across three continents. Sultana burned out after two years of nonstop touring. Reevaluating their gruelling schedule, they chose to take a slower approach to the road. “I figured out that I have to tour in a certain way,” Sultana says. “If I go away for a month, that’s enough. I can’t do any more than a month on the road at a time. I need to come home after that, chill the fuck out, get really bored, and go out on tour again. It would be much cheaper if I could stay for a threemonth stint overseas, instead of flying everyone back and forth and all that shit, but I just can’t. It doesn’t work that way for me. And you can’t put a price
MATT WHITE VS. MATTE WHITE PIPE
r
s
I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: OCTOBER 22, 2018 WHERE: Puff on Main.
BARTENDER AT DI BEPPE CAFÈ
$
s
ADULT
419
We joked around about Nonna making us‚ "eat, eat!". The lasagna was great, but the goat cheese and tomatoes were to die for. You made my evening memorable. I could probably spend hours talking with you. Drop me a line?
+tax
SKI & SNOWBOARD
ALL SEASON
RENTAL PACKAGES
$
r
I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: OCTOBER 18, 2018 WHERE: Di Beppe Cafè Gastown.
SILVER PASS
CUTE BOY WALKING ON SOUTH BURRARD
149
+tax
PASSHO LD
ER
VALUE
OPTION
(Child Package is $129)
s
r
I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: OCTOBER 19, 2018 WHERE: Near Burrard Bridge and 5th Street We walked past one another and smiled, I had a long black and silver skirt on, we then both rubber-necked and looked back at each other once more. I should have said Hi!
CAFFÈ MIRA MAIN ST.
VANCOUVER’S LARGEST SKI RESORT BIGGEST NIGHT SKIING IN WESTERN CANADA WWW.CYPRESSMOUNTAIN.COM 34 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
Tash Sultana plays the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Arena next Thursday (November 1).
> Go on-line to read hundreds of I Saw You posts or to respond to a message <
I’ve been sitting on two broken ass pipes for a very long while. I figured with the new legalization, what the heck, let’s get a new one. I walked up Main St. to Puff close to closing time and asked to see the pipes designed by Matt White. I pointed to them out to you. You were confused and started pulling out matte white pipes instead. It was an innocent mistake, but things continued to progress in a funny manner until the end of the sale. I ended up $0.50 cents ahead and bought some nag champa and screens in addition to my new pipe.
2018/19
on your mental stability.” Carrying that newfound ethos into the studio, patience became the core of Sultana’s first full-length album. Released in September this year, Flow State is characteristically varied, weaving indie, reggae, acoustic singer-songwriter, and psychedelic elements seamlessly, each crowned by high-pitched, velvety vocals. Named for the state of mind Sultana locks into when jamming with their pedals, the record is authored entirely by the musician, who plays every instrument on it. Releasing songs that they’d been performing for years, Flow State was an exercise in waiting. “I thought it was going to be done really quickly,” the artist says. It wasn’t. When you come into the studio and how you finish in the studio are two different points. Everything I did at the start I went back and did again.” Learning to pace themselves in what will doubtless be a long and storied career, Sultana is looking forward to a time when they can take a step back from the stage. “I don’t reckon I’ll be able to take a hiatus until I’ve finished my second album,” the singer says, hoping to have a moment out of the spotlight. “I’m pretty much in the process right now of pimping out my studio, and renovating it so I can make it as comfortable as possible to me. I’m going to dedicate as many hours as possible in that time to learn the space, learn the sounds, learn the equipment, so that I get comfortable and make a great second record.” by Kate Wilson
s
r
I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: OCTOBER 14, 2018 WHERE: Caffè Mira I was sitting behind you on the couch... you were on your laptop drinking tea. Think I heard an Irish accent. I was going to say hello but I didn’t!
BLONDE AT THE PRODUCE AISLE ON INDEPENDENT
s
s
I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: OCTOBER 16, 2018 WHERE: Independent Grocery Store on Davie St. You had blonde hair, a black Arc’teryx jacket, and black Blundstones. Looks like you just bought them and you were just breaking them in. We chatted about living in the West End, your recent trip to Israel, and trying the Whole30 and Keto diet. Me: I had black jeans, white converse and a black Arc’teryx jacket. Would love to chat about travel stories again, let’s go grab food at Thai Basil.
I LOVE YOUR SMILE.
s
r
I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: OCTOBER 17, 2018 WHERE: Terra Bread Olympic Village You work at Terra Bread and you've helped with my order several times (sometimes I pretend I'm still thinking of what to get when other waiters ask). You're tall and handsome and has dirty blonde hair. I'm very shy and will probably never say hi. If you see this, I hope it put a smile on your face, it always makes my day :)
TALL BLONDE AT WHOLE FOODS WEST 4TH
r
s
I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: OCTOBER 12, 2018 WHERE: Whole Foods 4th and Vine You; very tall, elegant, well dressed blonde, probably early 30’s wearing a black jacket and slacks. Me; 40’s white guy, short hair, black hoodie. Our eyes met at the hot bar, and then when you went to the coffee counter, and finally at the corner of 4th and Vine when you were walking south past Brown’s. Your radiant smile to me as you sipped your coffee was sublime.. I drove off in my black truck but was kicking myself for not saying something.
HELPED ME RESCUE AN INJURED PIGEON
s
r
I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: OCTOBER 16, 2018 WHERE: Robson and Thurlow, Downtown Vancouver You have dark hair, a tattoo of a cross on your neck and were wearing a green top and green shoes. I have short blonde hair and was walking a little dog. You helped me rescue an injured pigeon from the road on Robson and Thurlow. In all the commotion I didn't really get to say thank you. Perhaps we can meet for a coffee at that Starbucks?
CUTE BOOKWORM WITH GOODNIGHT MOON BAG
r
s
I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: OCTOBER 15, 2018 WHERE: Canada Line Nose deep in McCarthy, long brown hair, bright coral lipstick, with an unmistakable Goodnight Moon bag. You were adorable and fascinating and got off at City Centre before I could say something. I would love to talk books with you over coffee sometime.
BROWN HAIRED BOY ON BUS
s
r
I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: OCTOBER 16, 2018 WHERE: Main St., 3 Bus Broadway - 16th You caught my eye from the back of the bus. I walked toward you and we stole a couple glances. You were sitting right before the exit in the back and stood up at 16th St. I thought you were going to get off so I decided to as well, I live on 18th. Just kicking myself for not saying hello.
LOUD BURP ON MAIN
s
r
I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: OCTOBER 10, 2018 WHERE: Main and 16th Tuesday eve around dusk, I burped really loud around Main and 16th-ish? You rolled down your window and yelled, "fuck yeah!". Message me back the colour and type of vehicle you were driving if you somehow see this. Hahahahaha!
Visit straight.com to post your FREE I Saw You _
CONCERTS JUST ANNOUNCED
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25
KEITHMAS IX Ninth annual Christmas tribute to Keith Richards raises funds for the Vancouver Food Bank. Dec 15, 7 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. Tix $20. SILVERSTEIN Ontario post-hardcore rockers, with guests Hawthorne Heights, As Cities Burn, and Capstan. Jan 25, 7 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. Tix on sale Oct 26, 10 am, $24.99-30. MØ Pop musician from Denmark plays tunes from new album Forever Neverland. Jan 30, 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix on sale Oct 26, 10 am, $32.50. ARKELLS Rockers from Hamilton, Ontario, with guests Lord Huron. Feb 2, 7:30 pm, Pacific Coliseum. Tix on sale Oct 26, 10 am. ELLA MAI R&B singer-songwriter from the U.K. Feb 12, 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix on sale Oct 26, 10 am, $27.50. AURORA Pop singer-songwriter from Norway performs tunes from latest album Infections Of A Different Kind (Step I). Feb 13, 8 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix on sale Oct 26, 10 am, $25. BEIRUT Indie-rock/world-music band from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Feb 26, 8 pm, Orpheum Theatre. Tix on sale Oct 26, 10 am, $69.50/49.50/35. YOUNG THE GIANT Indie-rock band from Irvine, California, with guests Sure Sure. Mar 4, 8 pm, Orpheum Theatre. Tix on sale Oct 26, 10 am, $49.50/39.50/29.50. SATANIC SURFERS AND BELVEDERE Swedish and Canadian punk bands play a coheadlining show. Apr 11, 9 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. Tix on sale Oct 25, 9 am, $22.50. SWITCHFOOT Alt-rock band from San Diego, with guests Colony House and Tyson Motsenbocker. Apr 13, 7:15 pm, Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Tix on sale Oct 26, 10 am, $75/59.50/39.50/29.50. TEN FÉ London, England-based duo Ben Moorhouse and Leo Duncan. Apr 14, 9 pm, Biltmore Cabaret. Tix on sale Oct 26, 10 am, $15. DAN + SHAY American country duo composed of Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney, with guest Chris Lane. Apr 17, 7:30 pm, Abbotsford Centre. Tix on sale Oct 26, 10 am. THE 1975 Indie-rock band from Manchester, England, with guests Pale Waves. Apr 26, 7 pm, Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Tix on sale Oct 26, 10 am, $69.50/59.50/45. JEFF LYNNE'S ELO Frontman of Electric Light Orchestra performs the band's hits. Jun 26, 8 pm, Rogers Arena. Tix on sale Oct 29, 10 am. MARK KNOPFLER British guitar legend, formerly of Dire Straits, performs tunes from latest album Down the Road Wherever. Sep 16, 8 pm, Orpheum Theatre. Tix on sale Nov 2, 10 am, $189/179/136/126/106/66.
KRYSTLE DOS SANTOS Singer-songwriter and graduate of the Canadian College of Performing Arts. Oct 25, 8 pm, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. $40. ARCTIC MONKEYS Indie-rock quartet from Sheffield, England, with guests Mini Mansions. Oct 25, 8 pm, Pacific Coliseum. Tix $69.50/59.50/49.50. THE MONARCH SERIES Featuring singersongwriters Una Mey, Billie-Rae, Yasmin Ray, and Caitlin Goulet. Oct 25, 8 pm, Railway Stage and Beer Café. $10. IRISH MYTHEN The Rogue Folk Club presents singer-songwriter from PEI. Oct 25, 8 pm, St. James Hall. Tix $24 ($18 members). JOHN PAUL WHITE American singersongwriter performs tunes from latest album Beulah. Oct 25, 9 pm, WISE Hall. Tix $20. SYML Ambient-pop artist Brian Fennell. Oct 25, 9:30 pm, Imperial Vancouver. Tix $25. TIM FULLER R&B and hip-hop hits of the '90s. Oct 25, 9:30 pm, Guilt & Co.. Pay-What-You-Can. THE INTERNET Trip-hop quintet from L.A. performs tunes from latest album Hive Mind. Oct 25, 9:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix $39.50.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24 A VOICE FOR VENEZUELAN REFUGEES R&B and Afro-Caribbean jazz is featured at a fundraising concert. Oct 24, 7 pm, Mangos Lounge. $28 online; $35 at the door. TOKYO BLEU Japanese alt-rock duo, with guests Lakewood, Tobacco Brown, and Matthew St John. Oct 24, 8 pm, Railway Stage and Beer Café. Tix $10. THE JEN HODGE ALLSTARS Upright bassist Hodge leads a rotating cast of local and visiting musicians in a night of traditional jazz. Oct 24, 9:30 pm, Guilt & Co.. Pay-What-You-Can.
KARAOKE 7 DAYS A WEEK
T
MUSIC LISTINGS
MUSIC BINGO
O RI GI N A E L H
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26 RANDOM RAB Electronic musician and singer, with guests Matsya & Firewood Poetry. Oct 26, Rickshaw Theatre. Tix $20. 88RISING Music and arts collective performs on its 88 Degrees & Rising Tour, with performances by Rich Brian, Joji, Keith Ape, Higher Brothers, KOHN, NIKI, AUGUST 08, and Don Krez. Oct 26, 7 pm, Pacific Coliseum. Tix $59.50/49.50/39.50. ABRA CADABRA Tribute to ABBA. Oct 26, 7 pm, Bell Performing Arts Centre. 39.55 to 55.55. ALL HALLOWS EVE Halloween event featuring all-female mariachi band Las Estrellas. Oct 26, 7-9 pm, Strange Fellows Brewing. ZLATNA MOUNTAIN Traditional folk songs from the Balkan region, featuring Carmen Rosen, Shireen Nabatian, Kristina Zalite, and Heidi Ravenel. Oct 26, 7-9 pm, St. Paul’s Labyrinth . Free. RUTHIE FOSTER American vocalist performs country blues, gospel, and soul. Oct 26, 7:30 pm, Kay Meek Arts Centre . Tix $48/45. RAINCITY BOO + GHOSTS Performances by Raincity Blue, Small Town Artillery, Chase the Bear, Mooshy Face, and Laverne. Oct 26, 7:3011:45 pm, WISE Hall. Tix $12/15. SERVO Rock band performs with guests Whisperdisco, Out Of The Nowhere, and Phasors. Oct 26, 8 pm, The Flamingo Lounge. $10, Door:$13. HALLOWEEN WEEN TRIBUTE NIGHT Three local acts perform the music of Ween. Oct 26, 8 pm, Pat's Pub & Brewhouse. $10. ROO PANES Folk singer-songwriter from England. Oct 26, 8 pm, Biltmore Cabaret. Tix $15. BRIA SKONBERG WITH "A" BAND This rising star and CapU alumna charms with her sultry, energetic take on jazz music. Presented by the BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. Oct 26, 8 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. Tix $32/$29, www.capilanou.ca/centre/. YEAR OF THE WOLF Local rock sextet, with guests Mr. Crippin and the Rock Band Called Time. Oct 26, doors 9 pm, Railway Stage and Beer Café. $8.
see next page
EVERY TUESDAY
$3
BACKSTAGE LAGER
8PM START • NO COVER TM
$50 & $100 PRIZES!
TRIVIA NIGHT BROOKLYN NINE-NINE WEDNESDAY, NOV. 7
DRINK SPECIALS + PRIZES BROOKLYN NINE-NINE THEME
5 ROUNDS OF FUN $50 & $100 PRIZES!
9:30PM-CLOSE
EVIL BASTARD KARAOKE EXPERIENCE
HOSTED BY:
FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM!
OPEN UNTIL 3AM FRIDAY AND SATURDAY
FOOD. DRINK. LIVE ENTERTAINMENT. *** VISIT US ONLINE FOR UP TO THE MINUTE LISTINGS, DRINK SPECIALS AND MORE www.thebackstagelounge.com ***
OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 35
I Tried Went on a date with a guy I met off Tinder. He was cute so I said why not. He just kept on talking about all of his accomplishments and how much money he had and was going to make. Didn’t even ask me a single question about myself. How about ask what I like to do for fun or what my interests are? Cheque came and he said we should split it. Not a big deal just should let me know if you want to take me to an expensive restaurant on a first date. I would have been happy to go to White Spot or a less expensive place. I told him I am not going to pay for the bottle of wine because I don’t drink. He did not like that one bit. Then at the end of the night he wanted to go back to his place which is actually his parents place. He was completely clueless. We had 0% chemistry and I just took a cab home. Some guys are just clueless in dating and need to be listeners instead of talkers.
Wild Life My ancestors were nomadic, forest dwellers. They didn’t live in tree houses, but I feel like building one and living off the grid away from people.
Olympic Village What a horrible looking area. It looks like something out of a futuristic alien movie. I suppose glass and concrete are cheaper than bricks and mortar, and it looks it. Couldn’t live in a cubicle. Awful.
Why the heck is all the Asian traditional wear in the costumes section at Value Village?
Employment EMPLOYMENT Reception/Admin/Clerical
Hiring One full-time Cook
$16-18/hr (based on exp.) & tips High school, Speak Basic English, 2 yrs.-commercial cooking exp. Puebla cooking-asset Duties: Prepare & cook complete meals or individual Mexican (Puebla) dishes & foods, Schedule/supervise kitchen helpers, Oversee kitchen operations, Maintain inventory & records of food, supplies & equipment, Plan menus/determine size of food portions, estimate food requirements & costs, monitor/order supplies, Clean kitchen & work area Cinco De Mayo Mexican Grill 102 - 200 W Esplanade, North Vancouver BC V7M 1A4 Email: cincodemayocanada@hotmail.com
Business Opportunities
LOOKING TO INVEST with anyone concerned with moving marijuana.
Please contact Dario Raymond at 778-329-5047
Careers
Bison Group Management Ltd
o/a Pemberton Hotel is HIRING Cleaning Supervisor Permanent, full-time. JobSalary: $23.00 hourly. Skills requirements: Good English, Customer service oriented. Previous experience as a cleaner or similar position is required. Previous experience as a cleaning supervisor is an asset. Education: Secondary school. Main duties: Supervise and co-ordinate the activities of cleaners; Establish work schedules and procedures; Hire and train new cleaning staff; Resolve work-related problems and customer complaints; Inspect rooms to ensure cleanliness standards are met; Recommend or arrange for additional services required such as repair works. Job location and business address: 7423 Frontier St, Pemberton, BC V0N 2L0 Please apply by E-mail: hotelpemberton@gmail.com
to post a Confession
SCG Sign City Group Inc.
o/a SCG Group Inc. is looking for Carpenters. Greater Vancouver, BC. Permanent, Full time. Salary: $26.50 per/h. Skills requirements: Experience 3-4 years, Good English. Education: Secondary school. Main duties: Read and interpret blueprints, Determine specifications ;Operate measuring, hand and power tools; Measure, cut and join lumber and wood materials or lightweight steel; Prepare layouts in conformance to construction blueprints; Build different wood forms and install trim items as required; Supervise helpers and apprentices; Follow established safety rules. Company’s business address: Unit 103, 17 Fawcett Rd, Coquitlam BC, V3K 6V2 Please apply by e-mail: scggroupinc@gmail.com
Mind EMPLOYMENT Body & Soul Aesthetics
$60/30min (incl. tips) Deep Tissue Massage 410 E/Broadway 604-709-6168 Certified Massage
FALL SPECIAL Bodyscrub $79/70min. Waxing 20% off. Massage $28/half hour 8 - 4287 Kingsway 604-438-8714 Support Groups IBD Support Group Suffer from Crohn's and ulcerative colitis? Living with IBD can often be overwhelming, but you're not alone! 3rd Wed of each month the GI Society holds a free IBD support group meeting for patients & their families to come together in an open, friendly environment. 7:00pm at #231 - 3665 Kingsway. For more information call 604-873-4876
from previous page HALLOWEEN HOWLER FRIDAY Halloween bash features performances by local bands Caracas, the Upside, Big Madge, and Some Kinda Acronym. Oct 26, 9 pm, The Pub 340. $10. FRIDAY JAZZ Saxophonist/guitarist/vocalist Kurt Schindelka performs with various Vancouver jazz musicians. Oct 26, 9 pm, Tyrant Studios. Tix $10. BANNERS Indie-rock singer-songwriter from Liverpool, England. Oct 26, 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix $25. MILKY RIVER Local band featuring members of the Matinee blends elements of rock, soul, classic country, folk, funk, and bluegrass. Oct 26, 10 pm, Guilt & Co. PayWhat-You-Can.
Scan to confess
Visit
MUSIC
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27 PARK SOUND HALLOWEEN SHOW Monthly musical showcase features performanes by Laura K. Prophet, Porteau, and Tonight, the Fancy Bees. Oct 27, 7 pm, Park Sound Studio. Tix $10-$15. JOEP BEVING Dutch pianist and composer tours behind latest album Prehension. Oct 27, 8 pm, Biltmore Cabaret. Tix $27.50. THE JOY FORMIDABLE Welsh alt-rock trio. Oct 27, 8 pm, Fox Cabaret. Tix $25. BEST IN VANCOUVER—NIGHT SIX Performances by Aegis, the Band, the Maneuver, High Stakes, and Damsel. Oct 27, 8 pm, Railway Stage and Beer Café. Tix $10. FUNKOWEEN Westwood Recordings presents a Halloween costume party featuring Stickybuds & Skiitour, with guests SIVZ. Oct 27, 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix $25. EZRA KWIZERA Vancouver-based singersongwriter from Uganda sings in various languages while infusing flavors of reggae, soca, and pop. Oct 27, 10 pm, Guilt & Co.. Pay-What-You-Can.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28 TOP LINE VOCAL COLLECTIVE Vancouver pop choir performs a fundraising concert, with proceeds to StreetMeals programs for youth. Oct 28, 1-3 pm, Canadian Memorial United Church. Tix $30/$20 (children under 12 free). STEVE MADDOCK QUARTET Jazz vocalist Maddock is joined by pianist Sharon Minemoto, bassist Paul Rushka, and drummer Joel Fountain. Oct 28, 28, 4-5 pm, Northwood United Church . Admission by donation. TRIVIUM Heavy-metal band from Florida, with guests Avatar and Light the Torch. Oct 28, 8 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix $35.50. LENNIE GALLANT A PEI roots artist whose music typifies the sound and stories of the Maritimes. Presented by the BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. Oct 28, 8 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts. Tix $32/$29, www. capilanou.ca/centre/.
AL-ANON FAMILY GROUPS Does someone else's drinking bother you? Al-Anon can help. We are a support group for those who have been affected by another's drinking problem. For more information please call: 604-688-1716 Anorexics & Bulimics Anonymous 12 Step based peer support program which addresses the mental, emotional, & spiritual aspects of disordered eating Tuesdays @ 7 pm @ Avalon Women's Centre 5957 West Blvd - 604-263-7177 Anxiety? Depression? Free Mental Wellness Support Group held on Saturdays (10:30 am – 12:30) Promotes a holistic approach to healing (body, mind & spirit). Networking and interactive learning experience in a safe, non-judgmental environment. For more information call 604-630-6865 or visit www.mentalwellnessbc.ca ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION Looking to start a parent support group in Kitsilano. Please call Barbara 604 737 8337 Battered Women's Support Services provides free daytime & evening support groups (Drop-ins & 10 week groups) for women abused by their intimate partner. Groups provide emotional support, legal information & advocacy, safety planning, and referrals. For more information please call: 604-687-1867 BC Balance & Dizziness provides information & support for persons with balance, dizziness & vestibular disorders. Bi Monthly info meetings @ St. Paul's Hospital. Call for info. 604-878-8383 www.BalanceAndDizziness.org Distress Line & Suicide Prevention Services NEED SOME ONE TO TALK TO? Call us for immediate, free, confidential and non-judgemental support, 24 hours a day, everyday. The Crisis Centre in Vancouver can help you cope more effectively with stressful situations. 604-872-3311 Drug & Alcohol Problems? Free advanced information and help on how quit drinking & using drugs. For more information call Barry Bjornson @ 604-836-7568 or email me @livinghumility@live.com Equal Parenting Group - North Vancouver Support group for fathers going through the divorce process needing help. Call 604-692-5613 Email:nspg@mybox.com Fertility Support Group Discover new perspectives make positive changes and learn simple tools to take charge of your reproductive wellness while connecting with other women. The meetings provide a space for open discussion. 2nd Tuesday of each month 7:45 - 8:45pm (Sign up required) Reg & Info call: 604-266-6470 or www.familypassages.ca
MOOD DISORDERS
SUPPORT GROUPS We have peer-led support groups all over the Lower Mainland for people with depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety led by well-trained facilitators. Group sessions during days, evenings, or Saturdays. For location and times of groups:
www.mdabc.net 604-873-0103
36 THE THEGEORGIA GEORGIASTRAIGHT STR AIGHTOCTOBER OCTOBER 25NOVEMBER – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 36 25 – 1 / 2018
JW JONES Canadian blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. Oct 28, 9:30 pm, Guilt & Co. PayWhat-You-Can.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 29 EVERLAST American rapper, singer, and songwriter performs material from his new album Whitey Ford's House of Pain. Oct 29, 7:30 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. Tix $29.50. SIMPLE MINDS Pop rockers from the '80s ("Don't You Forget About Me") perform on their Walk Between Worlds Tour. Oct 29, 8 pm, Orpheum Theatre. Tix $85/69/39. FIDLAR Punk band from L.A., with guests Dilly Dally. Oct 29, 9 pm, Vogue Theatre. Tix $28.50. TOKYO POLICE CLUB Indie-rock quartet from Newmarket, Ontario, with guests Fleece. Oct 29-30, 9 pm, Fox Cabaret. Tix $22.50. ALITA DUPRAY Local vocalist performs sultry jazz at a pay-what-you-can gig. Oct 29, 9:30 pm, Guilt & Co.. Pay-What-You-Can.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30 THE ALARM Welsh rockers from the '80s. Oct 30, 7:30 pm, Rickshaw Theatre. Tix $25. PUDDLES PITY PARTY American singerentertainer Mike Geier performs cover songs in a distinctive whiteface clown costume. Oct 30, 8 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix $65/50. BASIA Polish jazz-pop singer-songwriter. Oct 30, 8 pm, York Theatre. Tix $39.50. MITSKI Indie-rock singer-songwriter performs tunes from new album Be the Cowboy, with guest Jessica Lea Mayfield. Oct 30, 9 pm, Imperial Vancouver. Tix $23. THE JIMMY BALDWIN BAND Cofounder of Afro-beat band Camaro 67 performs a solo show. Oct 30, 9:30 pm, Guilt & Co. Pay-WhatYou-Can.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31 ROCKABILLY HALLOWEEN Rockabilly trio the Wheelgrinders plays a Halloween party. Oct 31, 7 pm, The Yale Saloon. HALLOWEEN HOWL Local blues-rockers the Steve Kozak Band performs with guest pianist Murray Porter. Oct 31, 7:30 pm, Pat's Pub & Brewhouse. No cover. THE BACARDI BOOHAHA Halloween party featuring DJ Zak Santiago. Oct 31, 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix $29.45/19.45/9.45. WILD NOTHING American pop musician performs tunes from new album Indigo. Oct 31, 9 pm, Imperial Vancouver. Tix $25.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1 TASH SULTANA Australian psych-rock singersongwriter and multi-instrumentalist, with guests Ocean Alley. Nov 1, 8 pm, Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. Tix $59.50/45/35. SOJA Grammy-nominated reggae band from Arlington, Virginia. Nov 1, 8 pm, Venue. Tix $29.50.
Genital Herpes Support Group for Women Are you living with Genital Herpes in Vancouver? We are a group of women that draws upon each others knowledge and strength to grapple with this sometimes trying condition. Through mutual support and honest conversation we aim to address the physical and emotional health implications of this virus and how it affects romantic relationships, sex, dating & life in general. Contact: ghsupportgroup@gmail.com
INTERSTELLAR OVERDRIVE Vancouver prog-funk ensemble Daniel James' Brass Camel performs '70s prog-rock classics. Nov 1-2, 8:15-10:30 pm, H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. Tix $30. THE SADIES Rock 'n' roll/country-andwestern band from Toronto. Nov 1, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, WISE Hall. Tix $25 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticketweb.ca/. TYLER CHILDERS Country singer-songwriter from Kentucky. Nov 1, 9 pm, Imperial Vancouver. Tix $20. CLASSIFIED Rapper from Nova Scotia. Nov 1, 9:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix $35.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2 JIM BYRNES BAND AND SUE FOLEY BAND Double bill of veteran Canadian blues acts. Nov 2, 7:30 pm, Rio Theatre. SCARLXRD Rap-metal artist from England. Nov 2, 8 pm, Fortune Sound Club. Tix $15. BIRDTALKER Indie-folk band from Nashville performs tunes from debut album One. Nov 2, 8 pm, Fox Cabaret. Tix $13. THE GLORIOUS SONS Rock band from Kingston, Ontario, with guests the Beaches Nov 2, 3, 8 pm, Commodore Ballroom. Tix $33.50. RAYGUN COWBOYS Psychobilly band from Edmonton. Nov 2, 8 pm, Pat's Pub & Brewhouse. Tix $13. THE ONCE Newfoundland folk trio performs tunes from new album Time Enough. Nov 2, 8-10 pm, St. James Hall.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3 THE DIRTY NIL Alt-rock band from Hamilton, Ontario. Nov 3, 7 pm, Biltmore Cabaret. Tix $15. VOODOO BOOGALOO Trip-hop duo from Texas, with guests the Pool Sharks. Nov 3, 7-10 pm, The Roxy Cabaret. Tix $10. DRAKE Canadian rap superstar performs on his Aubrey and the Three Migos Tour, featuring guests Migos. Nov 3-4, 7 pm, Rogers Arena. Tix from $59.50 to $199.50. CITY OF THE SUN Instrumental postrock trio from New York City, with guests Leon of Athens. Nov 3, 8 pm, Fox Cabaret. Tix $15. KLÔ PELGAG + VAERO Performances as part of the 24th edition of the Coup de coeur francophone de Vancouver. Nov 3, 8-10 pm, Norman Rothstein Theatre. Tix starting at $20. MUSIC LISTINGS are a public service provided free of charge, based on available space and editorial discretion. Submit listings online using the event-submission form at straight.com/AddEvent. Events that don't make it into the paper due to space constraints will appear on the website.
LifeRing - Sobriety your Way
Sound Different? Men & Women supporting each other in a friendly, non-judgemental environment based on abstinence, secularity & self-help Van: @ Vancouver Daytox 377 E. 2nd Sat @ 4pm Maple Ridge: @ The CEED Centre 11739 - 223 St Sundays 1:30pm www.liferingcanada.org or www.lifering.org LIVING THROUGH LOSS COUNSELLING facilitated support group for people who are grieving the death of a significant person. Monthly drop-in- last Wed of every month YLTLC #201 – 1847 W. Broadway Van. 604-873-5013 www.ltlc.bc.ca
Nar-Anon North Van
12-step program for families and friends of addicts, meets Tuesdays from 7:30 to 9 pm 176 2nd Street East in North Van.
Info: nar-anonbcregion.org SEXAHOLICS ANONYMOUS - Vancouver, BC For those desiring their own sexual sobriety, please go to www.sa.org for meetings times and places. We are here to help you from being overwhelmed. Newcomers are gratefully welcomed. GAM-ANON FAMILY GROUPS Is someone else's gambling affecting your life? Gam-Anon can help. We offer hope and helpwhen a loved one has a gambling problem. Family and friends are welcomed whether or not the gambler seeks help or even recognizes the existence of a gambling problem. Email: vancouvergamanon@shaw.ca Website: www.gamanon.org
Robert 604-857-9571
ORIENTAL STRONG HANDS
E. Vancouver, Kingsway area. Mature * Good ServicE & Massage *Ultra Enjoyment * Discreet shave avail. In/Out calls for good time. 9AM - 9PM 778-989-2128 JOHN
Nar-Anon 604 878-8844
July 11th 6:30–8:30pm (8 weeks) Women who experienced any form of male violence CALL Vancouver Rape Relief & Women's Shelter 604-872-8212
BODYWORK MASSAGE
In a peaceful setting in Langley Because you deserve it! 9am - 8pm
Repairs
Is your life affected by someone else's drug use? Nar-Anon Family Group Meeting Every Friday 7:30-9:00 pm at Barclay Manor, 1447 Barclay
Join Our Support, Education & Action Group
straight.com
EMPLOYMENT Music
Heart of Richmond - AIDS Society operates a confidential support group for persons with HIV/AIDS, or persons affected (family, friends or care givers) by the disease. For info - 604-277-5137 www.heartofrichmond.com
Join a FREE YWCA Single Mothers support group in your local community. Share information, experiences and resources. Child care is provided for a nominal fee. For information call 604-895-5789 or Email: smacdonald@ywcavan.org
on the web!
For up-to-the-minute searchable Music Listings on your phone, visit
Musicians Wanted
Musicians
604.330.8133
The Georgia Straight Confessions, an outlet for submitting revelations about your private lives—or for the voyeurs among us who want to read what other people have disclosed.
Asian m4m
Massage + Grooming Services for Men Safe ★ Clean ★ Discreet
EMPLOYMENT Personals
Place your FREE musicians WANTED & AVAILABLE ads by going to www.straight.com create a classified account & place your ad for Free or fax to 604-730-7016
Exquisite Tantra Massage Mature Beauty~Sensual Mastery Shakra. 604-783-3483 Kitsilano www.shakra.ca
Personal EMPLOYMENT Services
Filipino E/Indian (48)
All FREE ads are based on space availability.
Dating Services
LONELY? Don't give up! Date Beautiful Russian & Ukranian Ladies milanodatingservices.com 604-805-1342
Gay EMPLOYMENT Personals Massage
SENSUAL MASSAGE KEVIN 778-860-0572 www.straight.com
Tantra
Bodywork
Van incall & Hotel Services
604-512-3243 No text! COCO'S THAI MASSAGE BBY. $40 & up! No F/S 10am - 8pm 604-619-7453
LILLY WELLNESS SPA GREAT SERVICE & PACKAGE! 4159 Fraser St. Van@ 26th Ave.
604-558-4498
Swedish Massage by a Mature, Sexy, Lady
OFFERS RELAXATION SESSION. New West. Mon- FriI 10-6pm. Sat & Sun 10-4 604-540-0082
RELIEVE ROADRAGE
202-1037 W.Broadway 604-739-3998 Hotel Service
Transgender
1743 Robson St, D/town.
Bath Houses
TS
604-682-1278
Dream
JAPANESE $60 Oak St. Vancouver 604-266-6800
MATURE MAGIC TOUCH DEEP RELAXATION MON-FRI
778
Kitsilano 604-739-6002 MARIA Downtown & Kitsilano No text. 604-771-2875 GREAT ASIAN MASSAGE 604-782-9338 Surrey
Lily’s Relaxation Massage Servicing North Van for 18 years!
10am - 8pm
604.986.8650
1050 Marine Drive
(by McKay) parking at rear
60 MASSAGE
$
/30 mins (incl tips) On E. 49th Ave & Victoria Dr.
36D 29 36 7FF
In Call or Out BUR COQ VAN
BEOSTT H
604.377.3570
7” ff
in Call/Out
VAN ABBY SURREY
Lini 7 7 8 - 6 6 8 - 2 9 8 1
(30 mins | incl. tip)
10AM -8PM
HIRING
604.558.2526 | 778.636.2882 2639 W. 4th Ave. Kitsilano
Angel TOUCH Massage DEEP TISSUE $30 & UP 9:30AMǧ6:30PM MARINE DR. & ARGYLE
604.423.3389 FALL SPECIAL BODY SCRUB
(Incl. 45 min. Hot oil massage)
75 MIN
Reg $ 120
Princess & E. Georgia Body Massage!
604-442-9526
2263 KINGSWAY
FREE PARKING HOTEL SERVICE
604.428.2002 Massage
30 3 0 min/$80 m
778-297-6678 1090 8580 Alexandra Rd. Richmond
BEST 10 AM TO 10 PM
A/C AVAILABLE 604.327.8800
Japanese $100 Close to Patterson Skytrain Stn. Kingsway & Wilson
Employment
CoverGirlEscorts.com is now Hiring. Seeking all nationalities 19+ No experience necessary.
HOT & NEW ASIAN & CAUCASIAN GIRLS!!
Call 604-438-7119
NOW
HIRING
604.430.3060
604.872.8938
$80
BUTTERFLY 11am MASSAGE MIDnight MASSAGE Oak St. Vancouver
All New Models & Rooms
778.321.2209
4536 Hastings St. Burnaby near Willingdon Ave.
New Opening
604
438-8979
101-5623, Imperial St. BBY (Across Macpherson Ave)
THESE TPE DOLLS FEEL
BETTER THAN HUMANS! and find your Come goddess of choice!
Prices from CDN $98. Inflatable dolls available too!
6341 – 14th Ave. Burnaby
778-956-9686 www.zmadult.com zm.adult73@gmail.com
ALL DAY SPECIAL OFFERS
Hiring BACK ENTRANCE + FREE PARKING
604-299-1514
Try the best Massage!
GRAND
OPENING $80/30mins
604-459-8068 6 04 459 8068
incl. tips
Servicing Tri-Cities, Pitt Meadows & Maple Ridge
@ Quebec St. open 7days/9am-midnight
Massage
TES $30 FOR 45 MINUTES 3849 E. HASTINGS ST. BBY NOW HIRING FREE REAR PARKING & ENTRANCE
RAINBOW MASSAGE
49 E. Broadway
TOKYO Body
NEAR JOYCE NEXT DOOR TO SUBWAY
HAPPY HOUR: 6PM-8PM DAILY
604 879 5769
Rose Body Massage
$80/30 min.(incl.tips) 604761-8355 #3-3490 Kingsway
SIAN SPANISH SPA PA AN ISH & ASIAN, CAUCASIAN GIRLS
NOW HIRING 604.336.0700 10 AM - MIDNIGHT 7 DAYS AYS
NOW HIRING
Long Black Hair Lisa 778-251-0859 or 604-715-3943
(all incl.)
Massage
than
HIRING
3488 MAIN ST. @ 19TH AVE
Asian Massage
10:30am-8pm Daily 5336 Victoria Dr. Vancouver
DREAM & CITY
BETTER
–
4969 Duchess St. Van. Just off Kingsway Between Earles and Slocan NOW HIRING CHINESE, THAI, JAPANESE, VIETNAMESE & CAUCASIAN GIRLS
I Spa
HIRING
3468 E.Hastings/Skeena. Van.
BoBo’s Massage PROSPER City
dragonspa a .ca dragonspa.ca
19+ SWEET GIRLS
604-780-6268
HIRING
MERIDIAN SPA LTD.
$100/45mins
6043770028
New Star Massage
2583 Kingsway, Vancouver
New Staff! Relaxation Massage. 604-985-4969 HIRING
YOUNG GIRLS
NANAIMO
Front & Back door entrance. Free Parking
$80/30 MIN (INCL. TIPS)
Lotus Beauty Spa
@
Open from 10am
& W. 17th, Van. 10am – 10pm
COMFYSPA .CA
stay connected @ GeorgiaStraight
JAPANESE, CAUCASIAN & CHINESE GIRLS!
3286 Cambie St.
(& Blenheim)
604.568.9238
HOT & NEW
778-323-0002
70
Mon - Fri 12pm - 6pm
NEW MANAGEMENT!!
#1 Friendly Service
Friendly Thai Jessica Burnaby 604-336-4601
FOR NEW CLIENTS
Grand Opening • $30/30min.
$80 Package
$60 Relaxing Massage!
NOW $
10AM - 10 PM Hiring
Relaxation Massage Deep Tissue Thai
Variety of Masseuses
604-558-1608 WWW.
SEA SIDE SPA
Ki Spa - Grand Opening Special Body Massage $45 for 50 min 3216 W/Broadway 604-618-0837 or 604-569-3502
COMFY WELLNESS SPA 3272 W. Broadway
HIRING
WWW.STEAM1.COM
New Girls! New Variety! $80/30 min (Incl. tips) C/cards accepted.
Perfect & Relaxing Massage! Free parking. Kingsway & Knight. Nice & Quiet. 45min / $80 30min / $60. Incl. Tip No FS!
$80
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 10TH 11AM ‘TIL 7PM CHECK OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE DETAILS
incl. tips!
HONG KONG STYLE MASSAGE
SPECIAL
1st Time Visit FREE
BLACKOUT PARTY
Massage
1000 Beach Ave. 604-423-2468
Massage
New Back Door Entrance from Underground Parking
SUNDAY OCTOBER 28TH STEAM 1 11AM ‘TIL 7PM
Annabelle.escorts.biz
778.881.5588
MASSAGE
BLACKOUT PARTY
7-15223 Pacific Ave White Rock
DOWNTOWN MASSAGE SPA
PHOENIX
MEN’S BATH
HOUSE
604-535-9908
778.512.6500
On 12 St. & 8th Ave. New West
STEAM 1
Massage
New Westminster • 430 Columbia Street
OF B DS! W OR L
778.513.5008
On 6 St. & 12 Ave. Bby
316.2660
Transexualdreamscape.com
ROXANNE'S DAY SPA
604-568-2248 NOW HIRING
Atlantis ASIAN + CAUCASIAN in calls 10am-11pm 604.207.9388 8080 Leslie Rd, Unit 140, Richmond
www.atlantisspa.ca
Sa Sa Massage VARIETY OF GIRLS (19+) V.I.P. ROOM
$80/30 MIN INCL. TIPS
604.433.6833
3519 KINGSWAY, VAN NEAR BOUNDARY • HIRING
Variety of Girls (19+) 856 Kingsway/Prince Albert St., Van
Fully Air-Conditioned
604.436.3131 www.greatpharaoh.com
5-3490 Kingsway, Van.
X
ESTABLISHED 1993
anadu
BEST RELAXATI RELAXATION EAST VANCOUVER
5281 VICTORIA DR.
NOW HIRING
778-881-9992
meditationmassageinvancouverbc.ca
Diamond Bodycare BEST MASSAGE IN TOWN
30 min / $30
3671 EAST HASTINGS NOW HIRING
Emax Massage
604-568-5255
10am - 10pm
604 . 998 . 4885
Front & back door entrance / Free parking 7 days 10amHiring 10pm
604-568-0123
spa
HIRING: 778.893.4439
50% OFF
FREE Hot Stony Massage FREE Birthday Massage FREE Massage after five FREE Shower
604-564-1333
HIRING NEW GIRLS
#3 - 3003 Kingsway @ Rupert, Van. - N/E Corner
Blossom
Body Rub $80/40mins
(Including Tips)
Every Day New Beauties New Super Pretty Petites Private Location & Luxury Room
close to IKEA
604.270.6891
OPEN 7 DAYS 10AM -10PM 12551 Vickers Way, Richmond (NEAR YVR)
Serving Van. for 19 years! Best Experience! Best Service! Best Choice! Steam Room and Sauna! Free underground parking. NOW
HIRING
207 W. 2070 W. 10 10thh A Ave v V ve Van an an
60 4 7 604 738 38 3 3302 3 02 OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 37
ORGANIC TOUCH HEALTH CENTRE
NEW
STAFF
have joined
15244 Russell Ave. White Rock
Mon - Sat. 10am - Midnight Sun. Noon - Midnight
604 998.7831 Companion
EARLY BIRD SPECIAL Monday - Friday 10am - 2pm & Saturday & Sunday 12pm - 4pm
HAPPY HOUR
WEEKDAYS 5PM-7PM
604-681-0823
4th Floor orr - 59 595 Hornby St, St Van. Van Mon-Fri • 10am-Midnite Sat-Sun • 12pm-Midnite
www.theswedishtouch.com di h h
Always Hiring | Accepting all major CC’s
Sweet & Petite Hot Mature Female loves to pamper! REASONABLE RATES!!! In/Out calls. Early risers welcome!
Kayla 604-873-2551 BEST MASSAGE Daily Different New Girls! Discount Price! 3322 Main St. 604-872-1702 FANTASTIC ASIAN GODDESS 5517 Victoria Drive, Van. 604-569-2685 or 604-568-6623
Hot,Sexy,Best Service
GENTLEMEN 604-451-0175 EuropeanLady.ca www.EuropeanLady.ca
Beautiful Czech Lady Full Service, Accompanied Shower and LOTS MORE!! Call or Text for Pics & Details Anytime.
778-714-0824
World Class Breasts
Genuinely Spectacular NATURAL G CUP! Come visit Hooter Heaven! Canada's #1 Erotic Destination.
Private 778-838-9094
SE X Y
SOCCER
MOM 5PM TILL 2AM
BOOK NOW • OUTCALL ONLY
NEW..NEW..NEW..MASSAGE Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese & Philippines Girls (19+) In/Out calls
604-600-6558 $58/Happy PKG! Saturday, Monday & Tuesday 22yrs, Young & Busty & two new girls joined! Kingsway, Vancouver East
604-353-3288
604-957-1030 MING, Nice & Mature. INTERVIEWS DAILY
RELAXING MASSAGE Call me in Burnaby
C OV E RGI R LE S C ORT S .C OM
AMANDA 604-363-9249
MA SSAGE
X for W
DISCER NING
GENT LEMEN Looking to relax with a loving woman?
X 604.565.5867 W www.alejandrabonita.ca
INDEPENDENT CHINESE PLEASURE PROVIDER
AFFA
For polite gentlemen Accompanied shower Submissive or curious also welcome Discreet,North Burnaby location Parking available Actual Recent Photo. Fluent in English.
ANGELA
604.767.1005
$100
604-671-2345
HIGH CLASS FEMALE ESCORTS & INTIMATE COMPANIONS
$200/hr EROTIC
Fabulous Asian Flight Attendant Service
WWW.ASIANFIERYFLIGHTATTENDANT.COM
778-951-1133
604-644-0601
604-243-4119
778-668-5213
$80/30 min F/S! Joyce Station
19yr old East Indian Beauty Surrey Central
Adult Classifieds HappyEndings.cc
Full Relaxation (Thursday, Friday, Sunday) Kingsway Vancouver
BEAUTIFUL OLDER WOMAN 36D - 26 - 36. 36th@ Victoria
Exotic Sania
DISCREET ATTRACTIVE MATURE EUROPEAN LADY OFFERS DELIGHTFUL RELAXATION SESSIONS.
778-317-3888
Spend your
FULL SERVICE Fantasy Halloween Petite Oriental Beauty with Abbi ! East Vancouver
She’s gorgeous g & will put on a SHOW you won’t y want to miss!
778.926.1000
Seductive Priya 19yr old playful E/Indian babe
Call NOW! C
Surrey Central
604-762-2921
1
#
AMAZING
Abbi / 236 236-333-5494 33 856 Kingsway Ave. (Back door avail.)
BEAUTY!
- Basics Of Sexual Spaces
Dating apps are the new gay bars—more than 75 percent of same-sex couples met online— so telling gay bosses or college profs they can’t go on dating apps because their gay male students or underlings might be on them means condemning gay bosses and profs to celibacy. Bosses and profs shouldn’t flirt with their students and underlings, of course, and it might be a good idea to block ’em when you spot ’em—so you won’t be tempted by their profiles/torsos and they won’t be tempted by yours—but gay bosses and profs are free to look for dick on dating apps.
g
On the Lovecast, where do kinks come from? Dr. Justin Lehmiller on the science of desire: savagelovecast.com. Email: mail@ savagelove.net. Follow Dan on Twitter @fakedansavage. ITMFA.org.
Phone Services
FREE 2 TRY LIVE CHAT! 1-855-538-8866 1-900-783-5446 NationwidePersonals.ca/call
REAL DEAL?
Websites
soccermom.escortbook.com
✪ You FOUND HER! ✪
www.stripperplaymates.com
covergirlescorts.com www.greatpharaoh.com
604.518.6269
www.CarmanFox.com www.platinumclub.net
TRY ME!
www.EuropeanLady.ca
♦♦♦
www.shakra.ca
I’M
the BEST
PARTY
GIRL!!
Violet 604.537.6579
1-604-639-3011
these more like “private clubs” or “public events”? In part, my question stems from being a professor and having seen students and colleagues on these apps. I feel like I should not be reading the profi les of students in my department (who are mostly graduate students). I am also troubled by my colleagues appearing on these apps—from the perspective that this seems to be a sexually oriented space and there is the power differential between faculty and students.
MOBILE #4565
Stephanie
Free trial for men, always free for ladies.
from page 39
Looking for the
CASUAL ENCOUNTERS No Strings Attached Please casualonly.com
Who are you after dark?
SAVAGE LOVE
www.classymiko.com
are
you
on the
LIST?
SIGN UP FOR
THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT’S WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
visit STRAIGHT.COM/NEWSLETTERS
CALL
YouthCO 604.688.1441 www.youthco.org
ONE HOUR FREE
TALK MEN OFF GET TALKED OFF
More Numbers: 1-800-700-6666 Redhotdateline.com 18+ 38 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
1-604-639-3040 MORE NUMBERS: 1-800-550-0618 INTERACTIVEMALE.COM
SAVAGE LOVE
A pet-play primer for kinky kittens by Dan Savage
b
HI, DAN: I AM a homosexual young adult seeking advice about kitten play. I find it very intriguing, and I’m wondering where to start. It’s a turn-on when someone calls me kitten, but I’m not sure how to express my kink or desire for kink play to the person or persons I am into. Any advice would be appreciated.
- Constructive Advice Thoughtfully Sought
Hi, CATS: I am a homosexual not-soyoung adult without much advice to offer where kitten play is concerned. I’ve encountered plenty of gay puppies in the wild—at various leather/ fetish events—but I’ve seen only one fetish kitty in my lifetime, and she was a queen. (A female cat is called a queen, a male cat is called a tom, and a group of cats is called a glare. #TheMoreYouKnow!) But Amp Somers, who hosts the kink-friendly sex-ed show Watts the Safeword, assures me that gay kitties are definitely a thing. “Kitten play is a subcategory of the ‘animal role-play’ or ‘pet play’ kink,” said Somers. “It is a form of domination and submission in which someone gets into the head space of an animal they are role-playing and takes on its characteristics—be it with gear (masks, tails, collars) or by acting out the mannerisms of their animal. Most importantly, and this goes
for all proper pet players, there are no actual animals involved in this play.” Puppy play is the most common form of pet play—by far—and it’s very popular among younger gay kinksters. (Please don’t confuse gay pups or kitties with gay bears or otters. The former is about role-play and fetish; the latter is about body type, affirmation, and community.) But what accounts for the popularity of pet play among younger kinksters? “This sort of play allows someone to get into kink easily with or without a partner and in a playful manner,” said Somers. “Pet play allows players to get their feet wet in the BDSM world without having to visit a dark dungeon, get tied up, or engage in anything a newer kinkster might find intimidating. It’s a great entry-level kink.” As for expressing your kink, CATS, that’s something you’re going to have to work out on your own. “I imagine CATS already has an image of what kitten play looks like to them, and I bet it differs from what I might imagine my own pet play would look like or even from what readers imagine a kitten player to look like,” said Somers. “Is CATS a domesticated lazy kitten who lies in the sun? A curious, well-trained, docile cat responsive to cuddles and treats? Or are they a rambunctious, bratty, independent stray?”
To find your way into the kink scene, Somers recommends getting online. “That’s how I first found pet play,” he said. “Sites like kitten-play.com offer in-depth written pieces by players, links to resources, and forums where people like CATS can educate themselves. Other sites like FetLife or Facebook provide more private groups to ‘meet’ others, ask more in-depth questions, find local gettogethers, and make friends to socialize with. Or if they prefer video content, YouTube has a number of creators (like ‘Scream Kiwi’) who talk about their kinks in a fun, educational, and personal way. And once CATS feels comfortable in their own identity and has defi ned what they want out of this play, they will be able to really communicate to their partner(s) what they’re into and what they want out of kitten play.” Check out Amp Somers’s show— Watts the Safeword—at youtube. com/WattsTheSafeword, and follow him on Twitter @Pup_Amp.
b
I’M A GAY MALE, and one of my good friends has put me in a strange position. The friend has been married to his husband for 15 years, and they are allowed to “play”. I have no desire to be in an open relationship, and I don’t think my boyfriend does either. I occasionally go over to this
friend’s house right after work to buy weed, and he’s always alone when I come by. He joked about answering the door naked and then did it. (He told me he was going to, but I honestly didn’t think he would do it.) I was extremely uncomfortable, and he knew it. The last time I went over, he was naked again—and this time, he jerked off to completion in front of me. He asked me to join in, and I told him I couldn’t because I hadn’t discussed anything like this with my boyfriend. I’m supposed to go over again tomorrow, and he asked me to come by early because his husband would be getting home from work early that day. This leads me to believe that the husband would not be okay with this. I haven’t said anything to his husband or my boyfriend because I don’t want this to become a huge mess and I hoped my palpable discomfort would put an end to it. Any thoughts on how I should handle this nicely to make it stop without hurting his feelings? - Undressed Naked Friend Really Is Engineering Needless Drama
Your “good friend”
is an asshole, UNFRIEND. He’s violating a whole bunch of social norms—chiefly the don’t-jerk-off-to-completion-infront-of-other-people-without-theirenthusiastic-consent norm (aka the Louis C. K. Career in Comedy Memorial norm)—and relying on your
adherence to other social norms (avoid being rude, defuse don’t confront, spare others’ feelings) to get away with violating you as well. This asshole is sexually harassing you, and you haven’t told him to stop in unambiguous language. The only reason you’ve given him for not whipping it out yourself is that you haven’t “discussed anything like this with [your] boyfriend”. He has self-servingly interpreted your reason for not joining in like this: “He wants to, and maybe he will after he has a ‘discussion’ with his boyfriend.” I’m sorry, UNFRIEND, but you’re going to have to be blunt: “You have to knock this shit off. It’s disrespectful; it’s nonconsensual; and it’s pissing me off.” Don’t worry about hurting his feelings—he obviously doesn’t care about your feelings—and fi nd a new weed dealer.
b
I HAVE A follow-up question on your advice for JACKS, the gay manager who ran into an employee at a JO party. Alison “Ask a Manager” Green told him he couldn’t go to these parties anymore. A distinction was made between sexual-situation encounters between bosses and those they manage in “private clubs” (the JO club) or at “public events” (Folsom Street Fair). My question is about Grindr/Scruff/Growlr/et cetera. Are
see page 38
, E L I M S , P U E K A “W , F L E S R U O Y L L E T AND ” ! Y A D Y M S I Y A D O T
LET’S GET MOVING, VANCOUVER! 1807 West 1st @ Burrard, Kitsilano | www.ronzalko.com | 604.737.4355 OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 1 / 2018 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 39
Brighten
your complexion!
When you purchase an IPL facial treatment, get the 2 nd at
25
%
off
*
Treat
Freckles Pigment Spots Dilated Blood Vessels Rosacea
Get an even skin tone with
a rejuvenated look ! Get your free evaluation 1.778.381.8475 *Limited offer. Details in clinic.
3568, West 41st Avenue, Vancouver
40 THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT OCTOBER 25 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; NOVEMBER 1 / 2018
DERMAPURE.COM @DERMAPURECLINICS