The Georgia Straight - Culture Crawl - Nov 16, 2017 by The Georgia Straight

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NOVEMBER 16 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 23 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 3

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NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 5

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6 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 16 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 23 / 2017

CONTENTS

www.cityuniversity.ca

Snow geese, Delta. Jens Preshaw photo.

ARTS

Boasting names like Stan Douglas, Fred Herzog, and Greg Girard, the Polygon Gallery’s opening N. Vancouver exhibit reflects on its surrounding city. > BY ROBIN L AURENCE

COVER

In our essential Eastside Culture Crawl preview, meet female sculptors carving out a niche, textile artists weaving new wares, and wood designers working wonders.

15 17 13 37 10 47 16 35

Books The Bottle Green Living I Saw You Real Estate Savage Love Straight Stars Theatre

TIME OUT

MOVIES

Greta Gerwig directs a soaring Lady Bird; Blade of the Immortal tempers the insanity; an old Russian master returns to Paradise; Jane and her chimps receive a fitting doc.

START HERE

37 Arts 44 Music

SERVICES 45 Careers 10 Real Estate

MUSIC

Our city’s enduring improvisers’ collective celebrates 40 wild years with out-of-town guests, new ideas, and old friends. > BY ALE X ANDER VART Y

GeorgiaStraight @GeorgiaStraight @GeorgiaStraight

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NEWS

Violence rises in hospitals > B Y TRAVIS L UPICK

ne day in March 2015, Virna Joy Bation began her shift as a registered nurse at Vancouver General Hospital like any other. On her list of patients was an 80-year-old woman who was scheduled for a bath. Reviewing the woman’s chart, Bation read that she could be verbally abusive. There was nothing so unusual about that, but she brought a second nurse plus a care aide with her, just in case. Interviewed at the Georgia Straight, Bation recounted how she introduced herself to the woman and asked if she was ready to be washed. “And she said, ‘Okay, no problem,’ ” Bation continued. Suddenly the patient kicked her legs. The action was so forceful that Bation feared the woman would fall from her bed, so she attempted to hold her down. “I let go one of her hands, and then she dove on me and she bit my right thumb,” Bation said. She looked down and the tip of her thumb was missing and she was bleeding badly. “She was so nice,” Bation explained. “It’s always coming back, flashing back, what I have encountered and experienced. It’s so traumatizing to me.” Statistically, a B.C. nurse is more likely to encounter violence on the job than a police officer, a point that the B.C. Nurses’ Union has emphasized publicly in recent years. And the situation appears to be getting worse. According to statistics obtained under freedom-of-information legislation, employees of B.C.’s healthcare system face violent situations with increasing frequency. In B.C., when a nurse like Bation experiences an incident like the one she did in March 2015, they’re instructed to create a report in what’s called the Patient Safety Learning System (PSLS) under the category of “unsafe behaviour/aggressive behaviour”. At Vancouver General Hospital, the number of those reports created each year increased from 63 in 2010 to 212 in 2016 and a projected 198 in 2017. At St. Paul’s Hospital, the same statistic rose from 166 in 2010 to 353 in 2016 and a projected 354 in 2017. B.C. Nurses’ Union (BCNU) acting president Christine Sorensen suggested the rise is largely explained by stress created by a sys-

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Virna Joy Bation was injured while working as a nurse more than a year and a half ago and says she remains traumatized by the incident. Travis Lupick photo.

tem that is spread thin and lacking adequate resources. “There’s just not enough healthcare professionals and certainly not enough nurses to provide timely care,” she said. “So patients aren’t getting the care they need: they act out; family members act out.” Presented with the statistics, Vancouver General Hospital’s operator, Vancouver Coastal Health, declined to grant an interview. It referred questions to Providence Health Care, a partner that operates St. Paul’s Hospital. Elaine Yong, a spokesperson for Providence Health Care, said the statistics aren’t as bad as they look. She argued that the increase is largely the result of changes in reporting practices and better staff compliance with incident-reporting standards. Dr. Brian Lahiffe works in the emergency room at St. Paul’s Hospital. In a telephone interview, he spoke frankly about the challenges posed by the environment of an inner-city hospital. “On an average shift that I’m working, I’m kind of happy if there’s not a Code White at some point,” he said, using the health-care system’s name for an event where security is called. “I just kind of expect to have incidents of violence and confrontation, unfortunately, on a pretty common basis.” Lahiffe reviewed the statistics obtained by the Straight and noted the numbers there grew during the same period that statistics in related areas similarly increased.

The first of these other sets of data concerns drugs. In 2010, there were 42 fatal drug overdoses in the city of Vancouver. Then 65 in 2012, 101 in 2014, and 232 last year. Now the city is on track for 375 fatal overdoses in 2017. The second set of related data concerns what former Vancouver Police Department chief Jim Chu described as a “mental-health crisis”. During roughly the same period that overdoses climbed, Vancouver police officers also brought increasing numbers of mental-health patients to the city’s hospitals. All of this—drug overdoses, mental-health emergencies, and hospital violence—Lahiffe described as “intertwined”, going “hand in glove”. He said there are simple solutions that would see hospital staff better protected from aggressive behaviour. Physical barriers could be erected and health-care facilities could deploy more security guards. But he emphasized that those types of responses to hospital violence come with a tradeoff: they degrade patient care. “Nobody wants to work in a place with violence,” Lahiffe said. “The flip side is, we could have an über-safe, overpoliced [emergency] department where we’ve put up massive barriers to people. That’s not what any of us want either. I don’t know if we’ve found the correct balance. But that’s what we deal with.” -

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The Georgia Straight | Vancouver’s News and Entertainment Weekly | Volume 51 Number 2602 1635 West Broadway, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1W9 www.straight.com Phone: 604-730-7000 / Fax: 604-730-7010 / e-mail: gs.info@straight.com Display Advertising: 604-730-7020 / Fax: 604-730-7012 / e-mail: sales@straight.com Classifieds: 604-730-7060 / e-mail: classads@straight.com Subscriptions: 604-730-7000 Distribution: 604-730-7087 EDITOR + PUBLISHER Dan McLeod ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Yolanda Stepien GENERAL MANAGER Matt McLeod EDITOR Charlie Smith SECTION EDITORS

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drianne Vacca was at her parents’ house when two realtors knocked on the door. They were buying properties for a Vancouver land assembly, and they wanted to know if her folks were selling. Her father said “No,” and after the agents were done, Vacca recalls, she asked them: “What about an apartment building?” That started another conversation, as Vacca was interested in learning about selling an entire strata property. She lives in a condo a few blocks away, and according to her, she and her neighbours are paying a lot of money for the upkeep of their building. Vacca told the Georgia Straight in a Adrianne Vacca hopes to trade her phone interview that there are big exsmall apartment for a townhouse. penses coming because the building was not maintained well in the past. is going for entire strata properties. The property is called Southwinds, According to the report, prepared a two-storey condo building on the by the real-estate company of the southeast corner of East 49th Avenue father-son team of David and Mark and Elliott Street. It was built in 1972 Goodman, five strata properties were sold across and has 60 units. Metro Vancouver Rather than between January continue paying and September of for more repairs, Carlito Pablo this year. owners voted in Two of these properties were in April to wind up their strata plan. “It was actually me who had come up Vancouver, and the three others were with the idea,” said Vacca, who is a in Burnaby, North Vancouver, and White Rock. member of the strata council. In Vancouver, the strata propLast September, for-sale signs erty called Twelve Oaks sold for were put up around the property. If they succeed in selling South- $21.5 million. Located at 2777 Oak winds, Vacca and her neighbours Street, the building has 30 units. According to the Goodman Report, will have to find new homes. In Vacca’s case, the timing is good. the price represents an average of She bought when she was in her early $716,667 per unit. Like Southwinds, Twelve Oaks 20s, and now she’s raising a young daughter. According to her, they was built in the early 1970s. According to Vacca, Southwinds need more space. “I grew up in a decently sized owners are selling their strata house, and everyone had their own property for $59 million. This space,” Vacca said. “I would love for means that, on average, each unit my teenage daughter to have her own may get about $900,000, so she is space and a small backyard to chill looking at an almost eightfold inwith her friends. Apartments are not crease in her original investment. built for families. I just want some- She bought into Southwinds for thing that my daughter is happy about $130,000 in 2003. Vacca works as support staff at about and benefits both of us.” She said that she’s looking at pos- a Vancouver school, and she is not thinking of moving to the suburbs. “I sibly buying a townhouse. The provincial government has have to stay in Vancouver, as my job made it easier to terminate strata is 10 minutes away and my daughter corporations. Since July 28, 2016, wants to stay at her school,” she said. Vacca is confident that Southowners have been able to wind up their strata corporations with an winds will sell because of its re80-percent vote instead of the previ- development potential. It’s located across from the Kilous unanimous requirement. Vacca has heard about other larney Shopping Centre, and there strata properties that either are be- are schools nearby. Also close is ing sold or have already been ac- the Killarney community centre. quired by developers. She said the Buses run on both sides of the corSouthwinds situation is unique be- ner property. Vacca said, “I am very happy cause they decided to sell without a developer coming to them first to think about getting out of this apartment and into something with an offer. The latest Goodman Report pro- that will be more beneficial for my vides an indication of how the market daughter and I.” -

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Carbon calculator can change the equation The Pembina Institute’s Glen Murray wants Canadians to learn more about their impact on the planet online and enter information about what they ate, their transportation any British Colum- methods, commuting distances, how bians are alarmed often they flew, how many pets they about climate change, had, how their home was heated, and particularly after a various other lifestyle choices that led summer of devastating forest fires to the emission of greenhouse gases. and floods. But they don’t have a clue In his case, Murray discovered that how much greenhouse gas they’re he could reduce his carbon footprint emitting into the atmosphere. by eating more local food and by conGlen Murray suming lentils inwants to change stead of meat. Green Living that. The new “If you’re eatPresented by executive direcing meat, please tor of the Pemtry the chicken,” bina Institute, a the former pol30-year-old Alitician advised. berta-based think tank, helped con- “Lamb is better than beef. If you’re ceive of an online carbon calculator having beef, don’t have it every day.” for residents of Toronto when he was When Murray first did the calcuOntario’s minister of environment lations, he learned that he was emitand climate change. Now he wants ting about 7.8 tonnes of greenhouse to make it possible for people across gases per year. After making lifestyle Canada to determine their individ- adjustments, he’s been able to cut ual carbon footprint. that to 2.88 tonnes annually, as of the In an interview in the Georgia most recent calculation. Straight office, Murray recalled how One of the reasons is that he buys the idea emerged while he was hav- carbon offsets whenever he flies. ing beers with building-technology And much to his surprise, he found expert Angus Affleck and the two that dietary changes that he made to men who actually created it, archi- cut his carbon footprint also had a tect Craig Applegath and soft ware positive impact on his waistline. developer Ryan Meyers. “I’ve lost 30 pounds,” Murray said. “We got together,” Murray said. “I didn’t just lose the carbon ton“I was trying to say, ‘How do I talk nage. I lost the body-fat stuff.” as the environment minister for cliHe pointed out that it will be more mate change when I don’t even know complicated to roll out a national onwhat causes my emissions?’ ” line carbon calculator. That’s because One thing led to another, and be- it must be tweaked to take new factors fore long Murray had a carbon cal- into consideration, such as the higher culator on his MPP website. This level of carbon emissions associated enabled his constituents to figure out with living in a province that relies on what level of greenhouse-gas emis- coal for electricity generation. sions they were responsible for each According to the Ecosphere webyear. All they needed to do was go site, the average carbon footprint > B Y C HA RL IE SM I TH

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Former Ontario environment minister Glen Murray was able to cut his carbon footprint by 63 percent. Stephen Hui photo.

for a U.S. citizen is about 20 tonnes per year. In Nepal, where there’s very little use of fossil fuels, it’s only about 0.1 tonne per year per person. Murray said the typical resident of a large urban centre in Canada is responsible for emitting six to eight tonnes per year. This rises to 12 to 16 tonnes for those living in the suburbs and commuting longer distance by motor vehicle. “One of our goals is, within five years, one out of four people in Canada know what their carbon footprint is and they know how to reduce that number,” he stated. The Pembina Institute is a research-intensive organization that has traditionally focused on educating opinion leaders on clean-energy solutions, including the latest greenbuilding technology. Murray said that in his new position, he’s hoping to promote greater understanding

of the circular economy, in which resources are conserved and reused in new products. As an example, he cited the use of crushed glass mixed with waste wood in fire-resistant building products being created by Ontario-based Guardian Bridge Rapid Construction Inc. “It’s five times stronger than steel and one-fi ft h the weight of steel,” Murray noted. He suggested that building products created in carbon-intensive ways—such as concrete, steel, aluminum, and oil-based plastics—could be supplanted in the future by urban waste materials and wood from dead trees. This would result in far fewer greenhouse-gas emissions. But he also sees a need to increase public understanding of these issues so there will be a constituency for politicians who want to do the right thing for the atmosphere. And he

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NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 13

CANNABIS

Using cannabis to cope with the holidays From family fights to shopping for your chronic boyfriend, Evergreen Cannabis Society is here for you this festive season (This article is sponsored by Evergreen Cannabis Society.)

he holiday season can elevate anxiety levels, even for those with the most charming relatives. Fortunately, Vancouver’s mom-and-pop organic pot shop, Evergreen Cannabis Society, has some terrific products and gift ideas to take the edge off family get-togethers. “We’re here to help with that stress without you necessarily walking into a meal unable to keep your eyes open,” says cofounder Mike Babins with a chuckle. He and his wife, Maria Petrucci, founded the store two years ago at 2868 West 4th Avenue after they found that other dispensaries were often not able to help them when they had important questions. They encourage patrons to take their time and ask about everything from extracts to vaporizers. Babins points out one of those extracts from the cannabis plant, CBD, is very good for stress. It’s also not psychoactive. This means those who use it will keep their wits about them no matter who might be at that Christmas dinner table. He emphasizes the importance of visiting the shop and talking to the staff in advance of making any decisions, including about dosage. “We have quite a few members who work in public services, including the retail industry,” Babins says. “They’ll say to me ‘Today I had the most annoying customers all day long but I had taken a CBD capsule and they didn’t faze me at all. I just smiled, went on with my work, and did a better job because of it.’ ” What if someone wants to get high but doesn’t want to pass out on the couch? “You would go for a sativa, which

Evergreen Cannabis Society’s Mike Babins and Maria Petrucci are eager to share their insights on enjoying Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Stephen Lebovits photo.

is better for stress than indica is,” Babins responds. “It helps you focus. It helps you stay positive.” The next issue is how to consume your cannabis. Nowadays with modern vaporizers, tinctures, oils, and cannabis-infused bath products— which all make great gifts, by the way—there’s no reason for anyone to meet the relatives smelling like a character in a Cheech and Chong movie. When it comes to vaping, Babins and Petrucci are ideal teachers. They proudly explain that thanks to vaporizers, neither has actually “smoked” in over four years. “We only use vaporizers,” Babins said. “You’re getting all the flavours and positive effects of cannabis without the carcinogens from the smoke.”

Evergreen obtains its cannabis from a small number of trusted craft growers who don’t use pesticides or artificial fertilizers. So combining these products with a vaporizer delivers the cleanest, safest effects. The store’s shatters (cannabis concentrates) are all PHO-based and butane-free. Babins proudly notes that Evergreen carries the lowest cost PAX 2 batttery-operated portable vape in the city. The shop also sells the brandnew PAX 3, which he describes as the “Cadillac of portable vaporizers”. “One of the best features is the minimal odour, which is gone in seconds,” Babins says. Then with a wink and a smile, he quips, “I may or may not have used a vaporizer in a movie theatre once or twice.”

His preferred home model is the Arizer Extreme Q, a reliable, remotecontrolled, made-in-Canada beauty. It comes at a quarter of the price of the far more costly German-made Volcano. “It’s a great gift idea for someone in their first college apartment, and it’s a life saver for anyone who recently moved into a nonsmoking residence,” he says. Anyone who’s been smoking joints for years will have to get used to the transition to a vaporizer. Babins recommends that neophytes develop new rituals—and after a week, they’ll never go back. “It’s like switching from whole milk to skim,” he says. “The first day, the skim milk tastes like water. But a month later, the whole milk tastes like coffee cream.” If you’re going to have a Christmas dinner party with friends, you can liven things up by basting the turkey or the salad in cannabis-infused olive oil. “When we host parties, we go around to each person with a salad and say ‘How big a dose would you like?’ Then we measure it out for them individually, based on tolerance.” The couple has even produced a microdosing guide, which is available at Evergreen well in advance of New Year’s Eve. It teaches how to properly use capsules and a vaporizer to feel great all night while only having one or two drinks. An added benefit—no hangover! Petrucci is the in-house expert on cannabis-infused bath balms, soaps, and topicals. She says that bath products with THC increase that sense of relaxation. Some bath balms include another extract, CBD, which can help with pain relief and relax muscles. “We’ve had people come here on their way to Whistler,” Petrucci says. “They said they’re going to be throwing these bath balms in their jacuzzi

after their skiing. That’s a great idea.” She confesses to being a fan of the organic sativa tinctures in the store, saying that when dosed properly they take the edge off without making her high. “It could help you with anxiety, ADHD, depression, and energy levels,” Petrucci says. “It’s a get-yourchores-done kind of product. You have energy. You’re alert. And it’s not euphoric or sedating unless you take too much. If you stay within your proper dose, you can use it consistently…and if you are looking for a more euphoric high you just need to take a larger dose!” Keep in mind that some tinctures with sativa and indica are in an alcohol base, whereas others are in coconut oil. The highly trained staff at Evergreen is always available to answer any questions about how each should be stored, as well as anything else on members’ minds. As for the true cannabis connoisseur, Babins recommends their “topshelf” strains that are cured in-house for weeks—something no other local dispensary is doing. It takes extra time to bring out the terpenes, which makes for a much superior flavour. Babins suggests these high-end buds make a great gift for the “chroniseur” in your life. “We do the extra work that growers don’t have space or time to do. Think of it as sipping a single malt instead of a shot of Jack.” For more information, visit Evergreen Cannabis Society at 2868 West 4th Avenue at the corner of Macdonald Street in Kitsilano or call 604-9001714. It’s accessible by the Number 2, Number 4, and Number 7 buses. Evergreen is holding its annual canned food drive, where every donation puts you in a draw to win great prizes.

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BOOKS

Terry Watada looks at a community in exile > BY DAVID C HAU

erry Watada was a 19-year-old singer-songwriter searching for fodder when he asked his mother for the story of how she met his father. The inquiry was immediately rebuked: why would you want to know that? Nevertheless, details surfaced that led to a song, and Watada subsequently learned of the Japanese-Canadian internment during the Second World War. It astounded him that his parents and older brother left Vancouver and wound up in Ontario as a result of the government-enforced expulsions from the British Columbia coast following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. “When I discovered that I had no past—I didn’t know what their lives were like and how I came to be and how we came to be in Toronto— that’s when I started doing research,” he says today, reached by the Georgia Straight at his Toronto home. “Talking to them, as reluctant as they were, they eventually did reveal stories. “And then I started expanding and talking to other Japanese Canadians,” he continues. “I was just fascinated by the whole sense of community that was there before World War II, and even during the war, and how it became diffused throughout Canada afterwards.” In the decades since that revelation, Watada has also written plays, poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and manga, emerging as an esteemed chronicler of Japanese-Canadian history. The Three Pleasures, his sophomore novel, builds on these accomplishments and looks at the exile that lasted from 1942 until 1949 and uprooted some 21,000 people. Narrated by Daniel Sugiura, a young Powell Street–bred reporter with the New Canadian, the only real-life community publication that avoided government closure, the plot tracks the impacts of three men on the Japanese-Canadian resistance movement. Watanabe Etsuo, secretary of the Steveston Fishermen’s Association, strives to keep his family intact even if that means betraying his cohorts. Kaga Etsu, a steadfast supporter of the emperor, launches “a campaign of interference and protest in trying to upset the Canadian war machine”. Conspiring with authorities, Morii Etsuji, head of the criminal Black Dragon Society in Vancouver, urges Japanese Canadians to comply with the relocations. Morii, a key figure in Watada’s 2007 debut novel, The Blood of Foxes, still exerts terror from the grave among the elder generation: “One in particular warned me that I was going to get threats, maybe even death threats,” Watada says. “I might be visited by violence and whatever else by these men who are still his supporters. I had to ask, ‘How old are these guys? Oh, they must be in their 80s? Good. I think I can outrun them.’ But the [legacy of] fear was still there.” The Three Pleasures’ origins can be traced back to about the turn of the millennium, when Watada spoke to a prospective agent who encouraged him to do an epic novel. Response to the first draft was unenviable. “ ‘Oh,

no. We want short novels now,’ ” Watada says, so he opted instead to write a loose trilogy covering Japanese Canadians before, during, and after the Second World War. This allowed him to explore different characters and issues during the 10 years he spent on this second installment. Numerous events here “are true incidents. Others are made up by me but based on true facts.” (The novels bear the word Kuroshio on their title pages, a nod to the idea that the Japanese were brought to North America on that Pacific Ocean current.) Like his 1997 short-story collection, Daruma Days, which conveyed the internment’s personal costs, The Three Pleasures proves Watada is a keen and worthy observer. More than depicting the discrimination and infighting fracturing the community, he sought to dispel the notion that Japanese Canadians were passive when the government seized their possessions and property, scattering individuals and families to remote regions of the B.C. Interior and beyond. As Daniel reflects in the novel, “They didn’t care about the Germans and Italians living in this country; they only wanted us out of their industries, like logging, fishing, and mining. It was racism, pure and simple.” Already dazed by this, and by the actions of Watanabe, Kaga, and Morii, Daniel grows further disenchanted as he travels across Canada, under the guise of journalism, and witnesses the despair gripping the internment camps. His accounts serve as a stark contrast to the censorapproved reports from actual copies of the New Canadian that appear through the novel. The Three Pleasures memorializes those who endured the internment and offers a dispatch from past to present. In the wake of 9/11, Watada “noted that the front page of the newspapers looked exactly like the front page of the newspapers back in 1941”, after Pearl Harbor. The calls for internment of Muslims in America signalled to him that there was a need “to repeat and repeat the message, that you just can’t do this. It’s the constant reminders that have to be there.” This belief in testimony underscores Watada’s works. In particular: “The value of storytelling, I think, comes through in the novel. “That’s what I want to put forward,” he says, “you’ve got to tell these stories.” -

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November 16 to 22, 2017

ntense days continue, but look to Thursdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Venus/Neptune and Fridayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mercury/Neptune to finish the workweek with ease and profit. Aim for money, productivity, entertainment, a close encounter, or deeper understanding; both days deliver the goods. Invest your time, your money, your heart; the more you put into it, the more youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll get out of it. Hold a conversation or negotiation with yourself or another. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spoken, created, or undertaken holds significant impact. Whether you feel it in an obvious or subtle way, Saturdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new moon in Scorpio and Sundayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mars/Pluto fuel the next get-on-it wave. USA Thanksgiving, Christmas around the corner: the holidays and all that they entail are soon upon us. Sundayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mars/Pluto begins the last quarter of a cycle that began in October of 2016 and ends in April of 2018. This cycle has set a reality into play. What has been built serves the evolutionary mandate in one of two ways: as a platform for further development and growth or as experience to learn from. It has outserved its usefulness; there is no purpose to extending the contract. Mars/Pluto are now at a criticalevaluation, move-it and/or shift-it phase that will extend through the spring. The best you can do for now is to feel your way along, to keep monitoring whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happening out thereâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and inside of you, too. The week ahead is an opportune one. Putting everything on the upswing, the sun enters Sagittarius on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, Neptune ends its five-month retrograde tour. You may feel Neptune as a clearing-away or clarifying transit.

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March 20â&#x20AC;&#x201C;April 20

Creativity, conversation, and/or a juicy prospect keeps you going strong through new-moon weekend. Shifting the momentum, Sundayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mars/Pluto places you at a psychological turning point or actual move-along. Aim to stay a step ahead; it is time, energy, or money well spent. Thursday/Friday and Monday/Tuesday are optimum for hitting it fullswing and making the most of it. April 20â&#x20AC;&#x201C;May 21

The next few days are ideal for getting your sexy on. You wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be sitting on the sideline for this one. Thursday/Friday sets you up for a deeper dive. Everything you say, do, witness, or get drawn into creates a significant impact or impression. Listen to your intuition; go with what is most compelling. Now through next week, aim to seize every advantage. May 21â&#x20AC;&#x201C;June 21

The work or working it out could be all-consuming, but you can rely on Venus/Neptune and Mercury/ Mars to keep it on a productive, lucrative, and fluid track. Creative solutions are your best bet. The stars help you to stay quick on the ball, to be an astute shopper and decision maker. Monday/ Tuesday, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re off to a great start. June 21â&#x20AC;&#x201C;July 22

Through Saturday, passion and/or obsession is written all over you. You have extra sway; make your power play. Something to convey or someone to charm/convince? By all means, put your heart and soul out on show. The new moon supports you to launch it or to get a better hold over it. A full-to-the-brim, mostly smoothrunning week lies ahead.

LEO

July 22â&#x20AC;&#x201C;August 23

keep you all-consumed. Family, finances, a home or personal renovation project occupy time, heart, and mind too. The whole week ahead is opportune for setting wheels in motion. Go by feel; watch for each moment to take on a life of its own.

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

August 23â&#x20AC;&#x201C;September 23

Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll take it in much deeper now. Your radar, focus, and ability to retain information are at peak. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll read folks and situations, and home in on it, with great precision. Thursday/Friday is optimized for studies, tests, negotiations, number-crunching, and problem-solving, for building up the sexy or the intrigue. Mutual attraction is very strong too. Sunday onward, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s onto next, pronto. September 23â&#x20AC;&#x201C;October 23

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no place better to be than right where you are. The stars have signed you up for the total-immersion program, especially Thursday/Friday. Is it a health obsession? So long as it is in your greatergood interest, let that compelling drive, desire, or objective serve as your power tool. Now through next weekend delivers the best the stars have to offer. October 23â&#x20AC;&#x201C;November 22

Go subtle; go strong; go sexy; go smart. Right feel, right touch, right time. Thursday/Friday, you are a dynamo in action. Make the most of it while the getting is optimized! Your ability to say, sell, convey, captivate, or persuade is at peak. Sunday brings a momentum or attention shift, but the stars continue to keep the goods going strong for the week ahead. November 22â&#x20AC;&#x201C;December 21

Hiding out, out of sight, or away from it all suits you well Thursday/Friday. Take quality time to conjure, explore, create, heal, or relax. The end of the week is also optimized for intimate bonding, soul-searching, and planning. Saturday onward, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be in the mood to resurface and to plug into something fresh. A full-to-the-brim, smooth-going week lies ahead. December 21â&#x20AC;&#x201C;January 20

Stay the course, or make a change; Thursday/Friday, wherever you go, whatever you do, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a great fit. Research, a conversation, negotiation, meet-up, or trial run gives you plenty more to go on. A penetrating insight or an advantage is a springboard to more. Sunday through Wednesday keeps you going strong and hitting it just right. January 20â&#x20AC;&#x201C;February 18

Thursday/Friday could pile it on you but, overall, you should feel/find that you can keep it under good control. In fact, go by feel; follow intuition; do what turns you on and you will master the moment. Saturdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new moon and Sundayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mars/Pluto are good for starters. The new week sets you onto a fresh upswing. February 18-March 20

Something special to look forward to? Moving, travel, or a happy-making prospect on your mind? The stars keep you consumed with looking and planning ahead. Thursday to Saturday keeps you wrapped up in it. Sunday, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re onto the next phase or item on the checklist. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all good. For the most part, the going is easy. -

Wrapping up the week, Book a reading or sign up for Roseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s playing it smart, making the most free monthly newsletter at www.rose of it, your next power play: the stars marcus.com/. 16 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 16 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 23 / 2017

FOOD

You can find some perfectly decent wines for under $15 at B.C. Liquor Stores, including these ones from Puglia, Italy, and Vinho Verde, Portugal.

Heavyweight wines at lightweight prices It’s getting harder to find decent wines for under 15 bucks in Vancouver, but they are out there

t’s becoming increasingly diffi- a very long finish. Rich and fruitcult to find decent wine under 15 forward enough to pair with Thai bucks in our market, but it’s a ne- curries and any other dishes that cessary price point so we can all may carry a pinch of heat. continue to pay our ridiculous rents and mortgages. In canvassing some TIROLIRO ROSÉ 2016 (Vinho pals in the wine and restaurant trade Verde, Portugal; $12.99, B.C. Liquor for their recommendations, these are Stores) Brighten up grey days with some of the wines that came up most this lovely burst of pink. Although often. All of them were purchased at it has a fairly dark hue, it’s not as the B.C. Liquor Store at Alberni and sweet as it looks like it may be, so Bute (though most are in good supply have no fear and dive right in! Fresh alpine strawberat most locations), ries come tumwith my receipt bling out of the coming in at just glass, followed under a hundred Kurtis Kolt by rhubarb and bucks. I’d say all of them punch above their weight class, cherries, with nectarine and juicy offering pretty stellar value and qual- limes on the finish. There’s a touch ity; there are no caveats here. Just open of spritzy character as well, which will lift any rich foods like creamy ’em up and enjoy. pastas or whatever you put on the CODICI MASSERIE FIANO 2016 cheese board. (Puglia, Italy; $14.99, B.C. Liquor Stores) If you’re a Pinot Gris fan CODICI MASSERIE SALICE SALand looking to mix things up a ENTINO RISERVA 2013 (Puglia, little, Fiano may be right up your Italy; $14.99, B.C. Liquor Stores) Nealley. On the nose, there’s grilled groamaro is the variety here, compineapple, marmalade, and just ing to us from Puglia, the heel of a bit of musky character. On the Italy. Gobs of dark berry fruit dompalate, there’s a mineral character inate both the nose and the palate, reminiscent of wet stone. Atop that mingling with oregano, bay leaves, stone, there are a handful of honey- and sage. Those berry notes are folsuckles, tangy muddled lemon fla- lowed by savoury black olives and vours, and fresh Honeycrisp apple, Italian plums, with a nice mineral all of that continuing through see next page

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it a quick decanting before filling your glasses certainly wouldn’t hurt.

from previous page

character woven throughout. I’m thinking lamb shank, beef tenderloin, or similar carnivore fare. LUCCARELLI NEGROAMARO 2016

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(Puglia, Italy; $12.99, B.C. Liquor Stores) Looks like we have a bit of a Negroamaro theme this week, and this one is coming in a couple bucks cheaper than the last one. The difference? Luccarelli’s outing has less age on it, so it’s a little more fruity and bright. A few dollops of blueberry compote are topped with fresh anise and a dusting of espresso, all of it lip-smackingly juicy and delicious. As we head toward the holidays and are likely to be entertaining guests a little more often, consider this a solid crowd pleaser that won’t break the bank.

LUCCARELLI

PRIMITIVO

2016

(Puglia, Italy; $14.99, B.C. Liquor Stores) Primitivo is related to the famous Zinfandel grape made famous

Luccarelli Primitivo and Woolshed Shiraz punch above their weight.

in California, both of them clones of the Crljenak Kastelanski grape native to Croatia. This Italian version, besides being easier to confidently pronounce, is loaded with stewed blackberries, dark cherries, and blueberries lifted by elements of eucalyptus and spearmint. Toward the finish, there’s a good dose of black licorice and a touch of white pepper giving it a subtle kick. Big, bold, and delicious, this wine is quite the bargain. If you’re so inclined, giving

WOOLSHED SHIRAZ 2016 (Australia, $13.99, B.C. Liquor Stores) This wine is only labelled as being from Australia, which doesn’t give us too much of an idea of characteristics it may harbour. It’s pretty much like saying any of the above wines are from Europe, without narrowing it down any further. A little Internet sleuthing uncovers its provenance in the Murray Darling region in the state of Victoria. Those breezes coming across the Great Southern Ocean from Antarctica seem to keep the fruit from getting too ripe, resulting in a well-balanced wine. There is, indeed, a dark-purple hue to it, with plenty of mixed berries on the nose and the palate. It’s not all simple berry fruit, though: there’s a good lashing of peppermint in it, keeping the wine from being too heavy or sweet. This would easily wash down beef brisket, hamburgers, or pulledpork sandwiches. -

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ARTS

Viewed from the SeaBus as it sails north B Y ROBIN L AUREN CE

across Burrard Inlet, the Polygon Gallery glitters in the autumn sunshine. The building commands and charms its North Vancouver waterfront location, just east of Lonsdale Quay Market, and, yes, it truly glitters, the polished steel and perforated aluminum of its upper façade reflecting and refracting the light. Inside the big, bright lobby, director and curator Reid Shier is supervising the placement of the inaugural show’s signage. The large vinyl letters of N.VANCOUVER march across the title wall and into the stairwell. Mounted beside those big letters is White Ship, a photograph by Fred Herzog. Shot in 1967, it depicts a group of people standing at Prospect Point and watching a passenger ship navigate the waters beneath the Lions Gate Bridge. The North Shore looms, dim and unfocused, in the background, suggesting a shifting understanding of place, in accord with the theme of the exhibition. “It was important to me personally that when the first audiences came into this brand-new building, which is taking up a prime piece of North Vancouver’s real estate, that the first show spoke to this region and this area,” Shier says. “The landscape and the history of the city.” Newly commissioned and existing works by 26 artists “emerge from or reflect on this land and landscape”, according to Shier’s curatorial statement. They evoke North Van’s beginnings as the Coast Salish village of Eslhá7an, its location in the interwoven territories of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Tsleil-Waututh, its “development as an industrial town based in lumber and shipbuilding”, its postwar suburbanization, and its recent, rapid urban growth. “I was really keen on creating a dialogue with the people for whom this building might be a major piece of their civic infrastructure,” he says now. “Not just to create a sense of ownership but to create a sense of intrigue.” The show spans early photoconceptual works by N.E. Thing Co. to spectacular contemporary photographs by art stars Stan Douglas, Rodney Graham, and Jeff Wall. It also includes three of Greg Girard’s remarkable

Views from the North Shore

Clockwise from top, Greg Girard’s Untitled (Grain Terminal); Myfanwy Macleod’s The Hulk production stills; Althea Thauberger and Natalie Purschwitz’s Listers of Earthy.

something his previous career as a news photographer had trained him for. “That became a logistical series of hurdles to jump over,” he said. With a wry smile, he recounted that it With works by Greg Girard, Stan Douglas, and more, Polygon Gallery’s was easier for him to gain opening N. Vancouver exhibit speaks to a city’s past and present access to the United States colour photographs of North Vancouver’s working military bases on the Japanese island of Okinawa— waterfront. These include an eerily lit image of the the subject of a recent book of his photos—than to the Richardson Grain Terminal at dusk and a behind- dockyards and terminals of Port Metro Vancouver. Perhaps surprising to those anticipating a the-scenes view of the mountainous sulphur piles near the north foot of the Lions Gate Bridge. In a photo-based exhibition program of the kind that recent interview with the Georgia Straight, Girard characterized the Polygon Gallery’s previous indescribed the circumstances behind the creation of carnation, Presentation House Gallery, the show these works in 2013. He had recently returned to his also includes a large number of three-dimensionhometown of Vancouver from Asia, where he had al works. These range from Myfanwy Macleod’s lived and worked for the previous three decades. Af- one-eighth–scale model of Capt. George Vanter winning acclaim for his probing photographs of couver’s ship, the H.M.S. Discovery, to Gabrielle Asian cities in transition, he was anxious to record L’Hirondelle Hill’s sculptural assemblages based the ways in which Metro Vancouver had changed on objects and images deaccessioned by the North since he left. One of the biggest of those changes, Vancouver Museum and Archives. “I like to remind everybody that the gallery was he said, was the busy port, which he had previously shot in the 1970s and early 1980s. “In those days you never entirely slavish to the mandate of photogcould walk across the railway tracks, into the con- raphy,” Shier says. Then he adds: “It will still be tainer terminal, onto the various docks,” he noted. the core of the gallery’s mandate.” Some of these “other mediums” are seen in the The events of 9/11, however, dramatically altered conditions. “Ports had to be secured now and the practices of First Nations artists represented in the fences went up and the cameras and the security show, and include weavings by Lisa Lewis, Shelley Thomas, Melvin Williams, and Tracy Williams. gates and the patrols and all of that.” Girard had to find ways of gaining legal access, Interviewed during a lunch break from her day job

THINGS TO DO

(she’s manager of language, culture, and archives with the Squamish Nation), Tracy Williams describes the science and culture behind her wool and cedar-bark dance apron. The bark, she explains, is harvested in the spring from stands of yellow cedar trees high in the mountains. “When we find yellow cedar, we always ask the tree for permission,” she says. “We always try to show the wenaxws, the respect.” You have to be mindful, too, not to take too much bark. “If you take the right amount, the tree will continue to live and grow.” Descended from a long line of weavers, Williams has devoted herself to recovering and learning Skwxwú7mesh methods and materials. She talks about the deer fat used to keep the cedar strips supple and water-repellent. She also speaks about the mountain-goat hair woven into the dance apron’s upper panel, about how the hair may be collected as it catches on the branches of bushes and trees when the animals shed. “I respect the amount of work that it takes to gather the material,” she says. Within the context of the Polygon Gallery’s inaugural exhibition, it is possible to see history, landscape, and culture woven into Williams’s dance apron. She adds, with a laugh, that some of its wool is storebought. “It’s a little bit of the contemporary, mixed in with all the other materials. But that’s what it is. I am trying to create something that’s not just from the past but is also for today. It’s a continuity.” N. Vancouver runs from Saturday (November 18) to February 18, 2018, at the Polygon Gallery.

ARTS High five

Editor’s choice INTO THE WILD The story is enough of a draw: parents have kidnapped their six troubled teens and shipped them off to a remote wilderness-therapy camp. But it’s the way Studio 58 will be staging Wilderness, the new theatre piece by Anne Hamburger and Seth Bockley, that really makes this show worth catching: the multimedia work brings the plot alive with projections, music, and movement that make it much more than straight-up theatre. And yet the work is rooted deeply in real experience: Hamburger sent her own teen son, who was suffering from paralyzing depression and anxiety, to a similar camp. In fact, all the characters are based on real people and real interviews. So go for the production wows; and go for the painful truth. Wilderness is at Studio 58 from Thursday (November 16) to December 3.

Five events you just can’t miss this week

SATELLITES (November 16 to 26 at Performance Works) Don’t miss Solo Collective Theatre’s clever

VSO AT THE MOVIES: JURASSIC PARK (November 18 and 19 at the Orpheum) A concert worth roaring, velociraptorlike, about.

THE FABRIC OF OUR LAND (November 19 to April 15 at the Museum of Anthropology) Traditional Salish blankets make a spectacular return to Vancouver, from northern Europe and the U.S.

In the news

new look at our soul-crushing housing crisis.

ONSITE: TSANG KIN-WAH (To January 2 at the Vancouver Art Gallery) The Hong Kong artist sends beautifully scrolling foul language up the building’s façade.

KURIOS (To December 31 at Concord Pacific Place) Cirque du Soleil loses the sequins and tears a sepia-toned page from H.G. Wells and Jules Verne.

PHOTO COMPETITION The Capture Photography Festival and the Georgia Straight are inviting photographers of all backgrounds to submit their work as part of the King Edward Canada Line publicart competition. Amateur and professional camera enthusiasts can submit up to five exhibition-ready images, which will be reviewed by a jury of three photography and fine-arts professionals. A shortlist will be announced on or around January 15, 2018, and those images will be posted on the Straight’s website for public voting. The winner’s images will be installed on the exterior of the King Edward Canada Line station during the Capture Photography Festival in April 2018 and will remain on display for six months. The artist(s) will be paid a $500 fee. All entries are subject to a $25 fee paid at time of submission; the Canada Line contest page, found via capturephotofest.com/, closes on December 5 at 5 p.m. -

NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 19

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CULTURE CRAWL

Sculptor Cat Mudryk’s work reflects her travels, from English limestone that mirrors Mayan artwork to a piece of driftwood that’s taken the form of a “New Zealand–inspired” fishhook. Trevor Brady photo.

Sculptors break the mould

and project ideas covers the wall behind them. They’ve been talking for almost an hour about their individual journeys from working in theatre and film, commercial fishing, and architecture—to name just a few of their former gigs—before eventually finding a home This year’s Eastside Culture Crawl features a strong contingent of in sculpture. women working in 3-D stone, metal, and even recycled paper Mudryk, who works mostly in stone carving, It’s impossible to feel anything less than says she took a glass-blowing class a year ago, and cozy in Veronica Aimone’s studio space, tucked that she’s hoping to get more practice with welding. Aimone immediately jumps in. “When you get BY HOLLY M CKEN Z IE- away in the upstairs back corner of the Old Foundry Building on Vernon Drive. to that stage, I have a brilliant little torch. Brilliant. S U T T ER After walking past her studiomates’ jade carv- I use it when I’m using very fine metal rod. See, like ings, unworked piles of stone, and a canoe hanging some of the joints there,” she says, pointing to an infrom the ceiling, you’ll find the seats in Aimone’s tricate wire piece across the room. studio are set at notably different heights, the tables These interjections are pretty common. All three all seem to be on wheels, and the conversation is sculptors are excited to offer each other tips on reliably punctuated with the sounds of heavy ma- trying out new techniques and avoiding repetitive chinery from the work going on downstairs. strain injuries in the workspace, or to express deAimone is sitting with Cat Mudryk and Connie light at one another’s experiments with materials. Sabo, two other artists featured in this year’s Eastside You’d never know, other than by asking, that the Culture Crawl. Aimone’s mood board of sketches three of them first met a little over an hour ago.

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Mudryk usually works at 1282 Franklin Street, but her stone carvings fit right in at the Foundry. On close inspection, one finds that her techniques and materials reflect her travels around the world. One English limestone carving was inspired by the Mayan artwork she saw at the Chichén Itzá pyramids in Mexico. An intricate, “New Zealand– inspired” fishhook is now mounted on a piece of drift wood she found on a B.C. beach years later. Mudryk is participating in her first crawl as a featured artist this year—but she’s been attending the events for years. And the thought of having strangers visit her at work is more than a little nerve-racking. “What I’m really trying to brace myself for is how vulnerable I’m going to feel those four days,” says Mudryk. “I’m completely terrified of people coming into my space, and I’m excited, too. I mean, the entire reason I’m doing this is that’s kind of the point for me, is just to invite people in. Because I so enjoy seeing people’s spaces.” Even if she’s nervous, Mudryk’s going to push herself—after all, pushing limits is also one of the things she loves the most about working with stone. “I’m interested in the boundaries of materials and finding the juxtaposition and the dichotomy in see page 23

CULTURE CRAWL High five

Editor’s choice MOTION PICTURES This year’s Moving Art film series, curated by Kate MacDonald and Esther Rausenberg, celebrates action and reaction. Look for the selections on-screen to include emoji and planets rotating in space; an anonymous hand caressing a woman; and strangers regretting past deeds. Filmmakers include artists Ryan Flowers, Alysha Creighton, and Trevor Van den Eijnden. You’ll also see work that plays with time and space by Ben Z Cooper and Stuart James Ward (whose work is shown here); make sure to stop by the experiential multimedia installations at their Hfour Design studio (120 Princess Avenue) along the Crawl, too. Moving Art 2017 screens at Strange Fellows Brewing Friday to Sunday (November 16 to 19) from noon to 11 p.m.

Five nearby places to find food and drinks during your crawl

STRANGE FELLOWS BREWING (1345 Clark Drive) Refresh with a Popinjay sour or fuel yourself with a Nocturnum dark India pale ale.

UPRISING BREADS (1697 Venables Street) If you’re lucky, the icing-drizzled cinnamon buns will still be warm.

THE WILDER SNAIL (799 Keefer Street) Grab a steaming macchiato, sit under an awning outside, and soak in the Strathcona ambiance.

UNION FOOD MARKET (810 Union Street) Find egg tarts, coffee, and other snacks at this convenient stop along the Adanac bike route.

FUJIYA (912 Clark Drive) With fresh California rolls at $3.75, this may be the cheapest lunch spot in the whole ’hood.

New this year NEW SPACES AND FACES The Eastside Culture Crawl is preparing to present its largest lineup since launching in 1997. From Thursday to Sunday (November 16 to 19) it will showcase the work of more than 500 artists in 80 locations, with a whack of new buildings taking part. Amid the newcomers, seek out Studio 580 (580 Clark Drive), home to Tana Lynn Moldovanos’s serene landscapes, created by using an ancient wax-encaustic painting process (pictured here), plus Debbie LeLievre’s whimsical character drawings, Wallace Barber’s striking city and nature photographs, and more. Elsewhere, find cool painting by the likes of Bonnie Dobbin and Jenny Ritter at the new 651 East Hastings Street; illustration, Indigenous carving, and other work at the enticingly named Kim Heng Noodle Building (617 Gore Avenue); and many more fresh spaces. Don’t forget to stop by Outlier Studio’s shipping container at 1024-A Clark Drive, where artists Laura Skuse and Elsa Smith had to temporarily move due to studio flooding. -

NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 21

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EASTSIDE CULTURE CRAWL

The wood makes it good: left to right, sleek surfboard cabinets by Judson Beaumont of Straight Line Designs; Shipway Designs’ grain-shifting 30/60 planter; and chunky rings by Mist Forms.

Crawl wood designers go against the grain

iven its location on the West Coast, it’s perhaps no suprise to find so much wood work at the Eastside Culture Crawl. But what may shock you is the wildly diverse array of ways that the event’s artists are using it, from surfboard cabinetry to bass-clef-shaped rings. Here are just a few of the highlights:

SURF’S UP Well-known local designer Judson Beaumont, of Straight Line Designs, is best-known for his curvy, whimsical, and often anthropomorphized furniture. But check out his surfboard series, cabinets inspired by Tofino and capturing the quintessential West Coast. Beaumont says his favourite thing about the pieces is that when people see them on display, they don’t immediately realize that the surfboards are functional furniture. But they open up in the middle to reveal space-saving shelving. The surfboards are all unique, crafted out of different types of wood, like walnut, alder, maple, and jatoba. They start at $1,500 and range from five to eight feet tall. You can find Beaumont’s studio at Parker Street Studios (1000 Parker Street) during the Crawl. > JANET SMITH

the creations of Romney Shipway, of Shipway Design. Based out of the Mergatroid Building (975 Vernon Drive), Shipway uses wood from a sustainably managed community forest on Cortes Island. But his pieces are smooth, often modular and geometric, and sometimes punched up with touches of colour. Look no further than his playfully leaning 30/60 vessels, crafted from Douglas fir with a metal insert. Working as candleholders or planters, they come in hues of pink, white, turquoise, and more ($45 for one or $125 for three); have fun switching up the way they fit together. Check out his coolly modular credenzas and consoles, light and airy for small condo spaces. Beyond his woods, Shipway holds his other materials to high standards as well, including waterbased, non-VOC finishes, paints, and glues. > JS

HEAVY METAL Wood is the basis of James Harry’s sculptures, totem poles, and mixedmedia projects, forming three-dimensional shapes that forward stories and traditions from his Indigenous lineage. An artist of Squamish Nation and European descent, he brings cedar and copper together in harmony to create pieces that emit an iridescent glow while showing off ECO ELEVATED The term sustainable wood his skilled craftsmanship. (You may recognize might conjure rough-cut, knotty furnishings. his works from public spaces such as the VancouBut that description couldn’t be farther from ver International Airport and UBC’s department

of mechanical engineering.) At the Kim Heng Noodle Building (617 Gore Avenue) during the Crawl, you’ll find a mix of Harry’s completed and in-progress projects, including his signature wood-and-metal totem poles that illuminate Coast Salish iconography. > LUCY LAU GET INTO THE GRAIN Yes, RJ Designs’ Riley Janzen makes stylin’ custom wood longboards, but what we love is the way their sleek lines and wood stripes are echoed in his other pieces. That means cutting boards you won’t want to store away in a cupboard, like the beautifully grainy, red-striped walnut and padauk version with its opposite corner angles ($75). Look also for his cool cribbage boards, some with similar contrasting stripes or dramatically wavy, one-of-a-kind grains (about $50). Clearly, Janzen has chops; growing up in North Van, he always had a woodworking shop in the basement of his house. These days you can find him in his atmospheric, 1930s Strathcona studio at 615 East Georgia Street—a stop, for the first time, on this year’s Crawl. > JS CROWN JEWEL Think wood objects and your mind may wander to handcrafted furnishings and functional home items, but artists Valentina Stepan and Zoran Kranjčec regularly transform the material into wearable art. Known collectively

as Mist Forms, the two create nature-inspired necklaces, rings, and brooches that range from the subtle to the spectacularly dramatic. Mahogany, ash, and pear wood make up geometric pendants, for example, while wenge and walnut form delicate pins reminiscent of paper airplanes. The woodworking pair also produce personalized rings carved in the shape of a bass clef—perfect for the musically inclined—and statement-making necklaces designed to complement the collarbone. You can find Mist Forms at MakerLabs (780 East Cordova Street) during the Crawl. > LL MESMERIZING MATH Ari Lazer’s intricate pendant lights, mirrors, wall hangings, and other pieces have the meditative power of a mandala. The creative force behind Sacred Light Design blends the study of traditional sacred geometry with woodworking and hightech CRC laser cutting to create his complex pieces. A glowing polyhedron lantern made of Baltic birch and aluminum posts features beautiful scrolling flora, while mirrors are framed by undulating eastern forms. Visit his studio at the Yew Woodshop (1295 Frances Street) to marvel at custom functional pieces, artworks, and moving sculptures, all inspired by the repeating patterns of nature—and to leave in a more contemplative mood. > JS

FOUR MORE SCULPTORS TO SEE

> BY JANET SMITH

are some more female artists moulding, carving, and assem2 Here bling a wildly diverse array of sculpture at this year’s Eastside Culture Crawl.

Connie Sabo weaves netlike sculptural pieces out of twisted strips of newspapers (left); one of Veronica Aimone’s metal figures.

Break the mould

from page 21

things,” says Mudryk. “If I’m working in soft soapstone, I don’t want it to be a kind of shapeless lump, I want to try to get those hard edges, because that’s not supposed to be there.” All three women agree that making mistakes when working with new materials can sometimes create the best products. “Alternative processes are the absolute best, because it’s all about experimentation,” says Sabo. “You don’t know where it’s going to take you, you just have to try it.” “It’s about finding the soul of the material,” Aimone adds. Aimone has her own story about making a perfect mistake, pointing across the room to a steel dress with a tiny hole on the upper left side. It’s a piece she designed in honour of her grandmother, a pioneer from northern Ontario, and it was the first time she’d ever worked with steel. “I was doing a whole series on dresses and about the symbolism they carry for women,” Aimone explains. “So I burned a hole in it, and the instructor said, ‘Oh, we can fix that, we can fix that!’ and I said, ‘Not on your life!’ Be-

cause it so explained her situation.” Since then, the artist says, people have been drawn to the piece for the very same accidental feature. “The next person who was interested in buying it, actually, was an Iranian woman,” says Aimone. “She was so homesick, and she felt so wrenched from having to leave her country. She looked at that piece, and she wanted to buy it because it was a dress and it had a hole in it. And it just absolutely pierced her heart.”

Sabo tries not to waste any materials. The leftovers from her newspaper strips, she shapes into intricate pods and casts in bronze, giving permanence to the stories from years past. Around Aimone’s studio, leftover moulds and sketches for future projects are stacked nearly to the ceiling. She says she never knows when she might use them again. And all three women have ideas that are still percolating. A piece Mudryk will be working on during the Crawl, which she hinted has to do with “sea, sky, and land”, has been a mental work in progress for years. “I had the notion for it, I’m sure, 10 years ago,” she says. “And just two months ago did I find a piece of stone that I want to make into that. “So I’m, like, so excited to really dig into it,” Mudryk continues. “And you know, when you start working on something, even if it looks like crap, in your mind’s eye you have the vision of what it’s going to be—and you know it’s going to be fine.” -

SABO’S WORK, THOUGH mostly produced from impermanent, recycled materials—unlike the stone and metal Mudryk and Aimone use—also deals with untold stories. The piece she brought to the Foundry from her space at Portside Studios on McLean Drive is a netlike tapestry, several metres long, woven out of twisted strips of newspaper. Sabo started working with newsprint back when she was a student at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and became interested in the narratives that The Eastside Culture Crawl runs are left out of recorded history. “It’s about remaking what’s written from Thursday to Sunday (Novemin histories, what’s written on paper,” ber 16 to 19). says Sabo. “It keeps on growing.”

LOUISE SOLECKI WEIR Parker Street Studios 1000 Parker Street Louise Solecki Weir has created major monuments, including the portrait of former B.C. chief justice Allan McEachern in the Law Courts of B.C. and her tribute to Pope John Paul II outside the Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver. But visit her studio at the Crawl and you’ll see smaller-scale, more whimsical creations from this artist who has studied everything from portrait sculpting in the U.K. to forensic sculpting in the U.S. Look for her lifelike busts and her smaller bronze figures—half woman, half bird—that would look perfect in a curiosity cabinet. HANNA BENIHOUD MakerLabs 780 East Cordova Street Trained as an architect, Hanna Benihoud creates intricately detailed pieces that can transform spaces. Her materials vary almost as much as her inspiration: she might meticulously craft a three-dimensional heart out of iridescent cockerel feathers or melted birthday candles; or she might fashion a Vancouver landscape out of carefully gridded, bronze-ink and watercolour-splashed pyramidlike paper peaks. Her bigger installations have ranged from 1,000 hanging origami cranes to an upsidedown cardboard city. ANYA ANYUTA GUSAKOVA The Mergatroid Building 975 Vernon Street By now, die-hard Crawlers are well acquainted with the woman known as Anyuta’s multi-ball-shaped Mo Bears, crafted from gypsum polymer or ceramics and either left sleek in solid black, white, or gold, or painted with designs. Look also for the Russian-born artist’s eerily stylized porcelain deer skulls or her strange ceramic Magic Pets—which appear, like most of her work, like they just galloped out of a dream. LYNN FALCONER Parker Street Studios 1000 Parker Street Heavy bronze takes on all the subtle movement of skin, muscle, and gesture in the work of five-year Crawl mainstay Lynn Falconer. Specializing in the human form, the artist is especially adept at capturing the female figure, kneeling, breathing, reclining, balancing, and bathing. If you have time, ask her about the fascinating process it takes to create these sculptures—in which she uses clay, rubber moulds, wax positives, and molten bronze.-

NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 23

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NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 25

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NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 25

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26 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 16 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 23 / 2017

EASTSIDE CULTURE CRAWL

Eastside Culture Crawl artist Chantal Cardinal (left, Lucy Lau photo) has crafted everything from sculptural pendant lamps (right) to hanging, cocoonlike chairs and three-dimensional wall pieces.

Felt artist finds new forms with “magic” material > B Y LUC Y L A U

tep into textile artist Chantal Cardinal’s East Vancouver studio and one of the first things she’ll ask you to do is take a seat—not on one of the stools that surround her wide, seafoam-green-topped worktable or the plastic folding chairs resting nearby, but in a big, cocoonlike chair that hangs almost two metres from a protruding pole. It looks like something a butterfly burst out of and then promptly abandoned after completing the four stages of metamorphosis. That is, if said butterfly possessed the wingspan of a mutant bird and the cocoon resembled the exterior of a living birch tree. “It’s become this sort of initiation,” Cardinal tells the Straight during an interview in her corner of shared creative hub the Arts Factory (281 Industrial Avenue). “Even the other artists [working in the

space] will say to their guests, ‘You have to sit in it.’ ” Upon closer inspection, one will discover that the hanging chair is made of thick white felt, which has been layered with grey fibres in a way that mimics the natural appearance of birch bark. In fact, felt is what many of the objects in Cardinal’s workspace are produced from: woolly caps adorned with cat ears cover mannequin heads; felt lighting fixtures—some also fashioned after the trunk of a birch tree—are suspended from the ceiling; and decorative pyramids, cubes, and spheres crafted from the unwoven cloth are strewn throughout. On her worktable is a sizable tapestry in progress constructed with pink and black felt, the pink fibres forming a network of quadrilaterals similar to shattered glass. The pieces trace the steady progression of Cardinal’s felting career, wherein the Montrealborn artist gradually moved from

manufacturing wearables to experimental objects to large-scale wall hangings. Although the fashion-design grad, who now works under the moniker FELT à la main with LOVE, had dabbled in everything from costuming to ceramics to massage therapy, it was felting that stuck with her after she relocated to Vancouver in 2008. “It’s kind of like painting because I can paint, but with fibres. It’s kind of like sculpting because I can actually turn things into 3-D,” she explains. “It’s just a matter of figuring it out.” As a former athlete, Cardinal was also drawn to the physical aspect of wet felting, a process that involves matting, dampening, and pressing tufts of wool and other fibres together to produce the cloth. This textile can then be embellished, layered, and manipulated to form garments, housewares, and whatever else the imagination can conjure up. “Felt is

very magical,” states Cardinal. “It takes on the shape that it dries in.” Take the artist’s Joy lamp, for instance. The textured fixture was pinned and crinkled atop an exercise ball, giving it a half-dome shape—its edges left asymmetrical and jagged—that softly diffuses light radiating from the bulb within. Cardinal’s Sea Globe lamp, meanwhile, takes the form of a balloon, though large holes have been left between lines of felt, some of which dangle from the bottom like jellyfish tentacles. The pyramids and cubes were a bit more challenging: these pieces must be constructed f lat in a way that produces a three-dimensional effect once they’ve been propped up, putting Cardinal’s grade-school geometry skills to the test. “I love trying different techniques, different effects,” she says. “It’s nothing but experimentation.” At the Eastside Culture Crawl, Vancouverites can expect to see a

comprehensive survey of Cardinal’s work, including the aforementioned objects, numerous felt samples, and a special wall hanging that she is constructing specifically for the four-day fete. Measuring 1.5 by 2.5 metres, the tapestry will depict part of a birch tree crafted from thick layers of felt, resulting in a 3-D shape. Attendees will also be able to see Cardinal at work as she expertly felts an array of other supersized items. “Lately, it’s been about how far can I go,” she says. “How big can I go while still getting the felt to hold?” Whether you’re stopping by to pose a few questions about felting or simply on your way to the dozens of other artist’s studios in the area—there are over 50 in the Arts Factory building alone—don’t forget to take five in Cardinal’s cozy hanging chair. “I’m encouraging everybody to sit in it,” she says. “Some people will say, ‘Oh no, I don’t wanna dirty it.’ But I’m like, ‘This is a workshop. It’s fine.’ ” -

Left to right, Hannah Joan’s functional handcrafted bags; Leather Monsters’ fanged beast; Caitlin Ffrench’s knitted cowl (Brutally Beautiful photo); and Nana Fro’s savvily silkscreened pillows.

Four more textile artists that weave a spell The word art may immediately 2 conjure up canvases, brushes,

and paint, but the realm extends far beyond a single medium. In fact, those working in textile arts regularly produce an abundance of goods that we employ—and wear— in our everyday lives that we may not realize fall under the far-ranging umbrella of art at all. Luckily, this faction is well represented at the 21st annual Eastside Culture Crawl, which will fling open the doors of over 500 ateliers around the city from Thursday to Sunday (November 16 to 19). Below, a smattering of the textile pieces—from knit scarves and tuques to beady-eyed

leather creatures—that you can expect to see.

exposed stitch that impart a decidedly vintage feel.

heirloom toy that owners can pass on for years to come.

HANNAH JOAN The Arc 1701 Powell Street A textile artist with experience—and a healthy interest—in the world of architecture, local designer Hannah Newton brings a sculptural sensibility to her handcrafted leather bags. Her backpacks, totes, and pouches are vegetable-tanned, offering them a natural look, while functional pockets and buckles ensure everyday practicality. We’re a big fan of Newton’s Handbag No. 1, which boasts brass-ring handles and

LEATHER MONSTERS Parker Street Studios 1000 Parker Street Cotton, wool, and terry cloth are what traditionally make up stuffed animals, but self-described monster maker Lisa Lee crafts hers using leather. Most notably, the designer ditches the adorable bears and bunnies from our youth, instead favouring one-eyed beasts, fanged sea creatures, and other one-of-akind beings sporting fuzzy hair and droopy smiles. The leather ages beautifully over time, producing an

CAITLIN FFRENCH 512 Victoria Drive An accomplished textile artist and painter, Caitlin Ffrench has tried her hand at weaving, felting, crocheting, and everything in between. However, she has a particular talent for knitting and has crafted a wide assortment of wearables, including scarves, shawls, tuques, and even decorative doilies. Naturally dyed by Ffrench herself, most of the artist’s pieces are in dark, witchy hues, though she occasionally plays with vibrant yellows, reds, and blues.

NANA FRO The Megatroid Building 975 Vernon Drive Brazilian fibre artist Mariana Frochtengarten creates textiles for the body that allow her to exercise her love of batik, a dyeing technique in which wax is applied to certain areas beforehand to prevent them from being coloured. Leggings, shirts, and socks are splashed in swirling shades of olive, crimson, and turquoise, while scarves are adorned with soft plaid and geometric patterns. Frochtengarten produces silkscreened and embroidered pillows that employ colour and pattern in liberal doses too. > LUCY LAU

NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 27

TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS CONCERTS

ST. ANDREW’S-WESLEY CHURCH

William Rowson conductor Christopher Gaze host EnChor Gerald van Wyck director UBC Opera Ensemble Nancy Hermiston director

ST. ANDREW’S-WESLEY CHURCH, VANCOUVER Friday, December 8 at 7:30pm Saturday, December 9 at 4pm & 7:30pm Sunday, December 10 at 7:30pm

Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Lower Mainland’s most beloved Holiday music tradition. Kick off your Holiday season on the perfect note, with the VSO Traditional Christmas concerts, featuring carols, Christmas classics, and audience sing-alongs.

KAY MEEK CENTRE, WEST VANCOUVER Thursday, December 14 at 4pm & 7:30pm

ORDER TODAY— TICKETS SELL OUT EARLY!

MICHAEL J. FOX THEATRE, BURNABY Sunday, December 17 at 4pm & 7:30pm

SOUTH DELTA BAPTIST CHURCH, DELTA Wednesday, December 13 at 7:30pm

A FIREHALL ARTS CENTRE PRODUCTION

THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE VSO’S

CENTENNIAL THEATRE, NORTH VANCOUVER Friday, December 15 at 4pm & 7:30pm BELL PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE, SURREY Saturday, December 16 at 4pm & 7:30pm

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INAUGURAL EXHIBITION

N. VANCOUVER OPENING SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2017 THEPOLYGON.CA

Join us for the grand opening of The Polygon Gallery, a new home for renowned photography-based Presentation House Gallery, in the heart of North Vancouver’s waterfront community. N. Vancouver, the inaugural exhibition, asks how a specific locale can be reflected through existing and newly-commissioned artworks by artists from Vancouver and beyond. PRESENTING SPONSOR

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28 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017

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Tue 7pm Wed-Fri 8pm Sat 3pm & 8pm Sun 3pm Wed 1pm

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ARTS

> B Y TONY M ONTAG U E

hen trumpet maestro Miguelito Valdés moved here from Cuba in 2006, B.C.’s Latin-American population was still relatively small and widely dispersed. Things have changed. Today Latinos and Latinas are increasingly connected across the province, and their community is particularly strong in East Van, where the Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre opened its doors four years ago. On that occasion the music was provided by Valdés and friends, under the banner of Club Habana. This Friday those same musicians, joined by the Cameron Wilson String Quartet, get together once again to present a special program celebrating both VLACC’s fifth anniversary and Canada 150+. “Club Habana is a collaboration with Victor Martinez and [singer] Danay Sinclair, who are working with VLACC, and has been happening several years now,” says Valdés, reached at his home in Victoria. “We featured a lot of percussion and folkloric music with our percussionist Toto Berriel, and had a band also with Pablo Cardenas, our piano player, who, like me, is also from Cuba and living in Victoria. This year we’re going to do Latin versions of some well-known composers from Canada—with strings from Cam Wilson.” It won’t be the first time Wilson and Valdés have teamed up. “I did gigs for Mariachi del Sol with Miguel,” recalls the violinist, who plays classical, swing jazz, and Celtic music with equal agility and ease. “For this show he asked me to put a string quartet together. Miguel selected the material, including one of my own pieces, ‘Tango in Blue Minor’, which was written in the late ’90s and has only been performed twice. All the string arrangements are Miguel’s.”

Brea Balletot Nutctrhes Ne h ack o e in e iL f

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Trumpeter builds on Cuban roots

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When Miguelito Valdés moved here in 2006, our Latin American community was sparse. Now, as Club Habana celebrates in sound, it’s big and vibrant.

A leader on the B.C. music scene, Valdés plays an ever-expanding range of styles, writes and arranges tunes, and collaborates with a long list of artists and ensembles. “I play with the Hard Rubber Orchestra and its Latin offshoot, Orquesta Goma Dura; also with Tom Landa’s worldmusic group, Locarno, and with Tom’s other band, the Paperboys; as well as Rumba Calzada, Johnny Ferreira’s band, and with Kenny ‘Blues Boss’ Wayne. So many things.” Valdés’s curiosity and creativity are matched by a respect for and deep understanding of Cuban roots music in all its diversity. For seven years he was the trumpet player in Buena Vista Social Club singer Omara Portuondo’s band, and he later toured with Juan de Marcos and his Afro-Cuban All Stars. Currently Valdés is working fulltime with the Royal Canadian Navy’s Naden Band. “For Club Habana this time I’ll be doing ‘Miguelito’s Blues’,

a piece I recorded with Naden on our jazz album, as well as ‘Danzón de Migue’, another composition of mine.” The repertoire Valdés has chosen for Club Habana and the CWSQ includes several classics from the great Canadian song bag—Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”, Oscar Peterson’s “Hymn to Freedom”, Gilles Vigneault’s “Mon Pays”, Gordon Lightfoot’s “Early Morning Rain”, and k.d. lang’s “Constant Craving”. “It was hard for me to choose the tunes that were the most Canadian. It’s not like Cuba, where you’d immediately say ‘Guantanamera’ or anything from Buena Vista Social Club. It was hard for me, but we’re doing it in style. For ‘Hallelujah’, I will be singing—and we’re going to make it like a slow cha-cha-cha.” Mr. Cohen’s hat would tip to that. Club Habana and the Cameron Wilson String Quartet play the Vancouver Playhouse on Friday (November 17).

DECEMBER 14–19 PRINCIPAL DANCERS from the PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET ARTISTS from the NATIONAL BALLET OF CHINA

LIVE MUSIC performed by the VANCOUVER OPERA ORCHESTRA

THE CENTRE IN VANCOUVER: 777 HOMER STREET

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REJOICE!

European Carols & Readings 8pm FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2017 Dunbar Ryerson United Church Bryn Nixon, organ Vancouver Chamber Choir Jon Washburn, conductor Chilly December days herald the warmth and intimacy of Christmas choirs singing the Nativity story. You are invited – join conductor Jon Washburn, organist Bryn Nixon and the Vancouver Chamber Choir for an evening of beloved favourites and new discoveries, all in the welcoming ambience of Dunbar Ryerson United Church. Music of Praetorius, Bach, Berlioz, Rubbra, Sibelius, Joubert, Tavener, Quinn, Mendelssohn and traditional carols galore.

1.855.985.ARTS (2787) vancouverchamberchoir.com

NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 29

ARTS

New Zealand–based guest curator Adam Hayward (left) is dislocating the biennial dance fest; acts include Shay Kuebler (right, David Cooper photo).

Dance in Vancouver takes an adventurous new leap > B Y JAN ET SMITH

Bibish de Kinshasa NOV. 28 – DEC 2, 2017

STUDIO 16 | 8 PM

ENGLISH SURTITLES ON TUE, WED, THU & SAT.

30 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017

Tickets available at seizieme.ca

o understand how New Zealand–based guest curator Adam Hayward is dislocating and recasting our big, biennial Dance in Vancouver festival, it helps to know two things about him: where he lives and the tattoo that emblazons his arm. First and foremost, the Britishborn arts administrator has chosen to live and work in Christchurch, where he helms Hyde Productions. And he saw arts groups come back after the massive 2011 earthquake there. “We lost half of our city, pretty much every theatre,” Hayward, past director of the boundary-breaking Body Festival of Dance, tells the Straight over FaceTime, “but in 2015, we put on the festival and used 27 venues—of which only four were theatres.” So don’t be surprised to find Dance in Vancouver spreading beyond its home base of the Scotiabank Dance Centre this year. The array of productions includes matinees of Julie Lebel’s yarn-tangling Tricoter and Shay Kuebler and tap sensation Danny Nielsen’s radio-scienceinspired Telemetry Redux at SFU Woodward’s Atrium. He’s even programmed special shows by Boombox Dances at a mystery repurposed space for audiences of just 10 people; in the work, called Blue Crush, emerging artists Katie Lowen and Zara Shahab explore ideas of organic and plastic skins. A keynote address by interdisciplinary artist Tanya Lukin Linklater about relationships between presenters and Indigenous artists happens at the Vancouver International Film Centre, where there will also be screenings. Christchurch gives Hayward a distinct perspective on the arts— one he compares directly with that of Vancouver. “Part of the reason I like Vancouver is the same reason I like Finland or Iceland or Wales or Christchurch: we’re on the margins,” Hayward says. “Interesting work happens in the margins. What I like about New Zealand is that unless you want to go to Antarctica, there’s nowhere else to go past here. And Vancouver’s a bit like that: it’s not Ottawa or Toronto or Montreal. We can just get away with more stuff.” Expect this year’s curation to be adventurous. Hayward’s sense of risk-taking extends to his artist pairings, with the main stage’s double and triple bills featuring well-known artists with lesser-known ones— “some odd combinations”, as he puts it with a smile. Dance in Vancouver attracts presenters from around the country and continent, and Hayward likes the idea of exposing them to

names beyond the ones they already know. So look for programs that put Kuebler (with excerpts from his recent Feasting on Famine) together with emerging artists Marissa Wong, Mahaila Patterson-O’Brien, and Julianne Chapple, or the unexpected matching of gravity-defying Aeriosa (with excerpts from the new Nature) together with the Southeast Asian– inflected Tracing Malong by Alvin Erasga Tolentino. And Hayward is not coming alone: he’s bringing several Kiwi artists along, to expand Dance in Vancouver’s world-view—and bring back inspiration to his home scene. Look for them to take part in a talk called “Why shrink the world?” on Wednesday (November 22) at the Dance Centre. “One of my frustrations in New Zealand is its idyllic way of life is really great—there are beautiful connections you make—but quite a few artists don’t want to go anywhere. So the work runs the danger of being staid and boring,” he explains. “It becomes even more insular because artists will work only within their own little pockets.” Which brings us to Hayward’s ink, the scrolling lettering up his forearm that he’s able to show over FaceTime: it reads “Beginner’s Mind”, the Zen Buddhist tenet of having an openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when you approach a subject or project. “I’m anti labels, anti compartmentalization, anti tokenism…” Hayward says. And there’s perhaps no better sign of his willingness to rethink showcases like Dance in Vancouver than one of the event’s thoughtprovoking talks: titled “Why do you curate?” and hosted by Hayward with the B.C. Alliance for Arts and Culture’s Brenda Leadlay, it seeks to push presenters, artists, festival directors, the public, and others to put forward true responses to the questions. Hayward says to change the way we program events, we first have to admit we might sometimes prioritize economic factors or fall back on the same big names we know and love. (The moderated talk is next Friday [November 24] at the Dance Centre.) Trying to change that approach at Dance in Vancouver is just a small part of something bigger this globally connected arts instigator sees happening elsewhere. “I think there’s a shift at the moment around what the role of a festival is, and what is the role of the artistic director or a curator,” he says. Dance in Vancouver takes place at the Scotiabank Dance Centre and other venues from next Wednesday to Saturday (November 22 to 25).

NEW WORKS AT NIGHT

2017/2018 SEASON

Together We Sing

Emerging Artist Showcase

November 30 & December 1, 2017 Doors 7:30pm | Performance 8:00pm ANNEX, 823 Seymour Street, Vancouver

LYDIA AVSEC/ COPILOT DESIGN

VANCOUVERBACHCHOIR.COM

$20 online | $25 door

www.newworks.ca

CHRISTMAS

Featured Artists: Modus Operandi students Photographer: Wendy D Photography

HANDEL’S

BACH CHOIR

WITH THE DEC 3 2017 AT 2PM I ORPHEUM THEATRE

MESSIAH DEC 9 2017 AT 8PM I ORPHEUM THEATRE

ACTION AT A DISTANCE (VANCOUVER) WELLS HILL A SPECIAL CELEBRATE CANADA 150+ EVENT CHOREOGRAPHY BY VANESSA GOODMAN

Artist Invitation

Caravans: International Indigenous Arts Fair Hosted by The Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts (DECA)

NOVEMBER 30 DECEMBER 3, 2017 Chinese Cultural Centre, 50 East Pender St., Vancouver W We’re offering artists from all cultures, artist groups under a non-profit non-profit umbrella umbrella, and art businesses the opportunity to exhibit and sell their cultural artwork and crafts of any genre over the course of the fair. Cultural artwork can be paintings, carvings, sculptures, drawings, prints, jewellery, one-offs, your favorite creations. For more information, and to purchase your table contact DECA: RobynL.deca@gmail.com

www.dtescentreforthearts.com The event will open to the public to view and purchase artwork:

6:00pm-9:00pm - November 30, Noon-9:00pm - December 1 & 2 Noon-5:00pm, December 3 Sponsorships & Partners

TICKETS & INFO: DANCEHOUSE.CA

NOVEMBER 24 & 25, 8PM NOVEMBER 26, 2PM SFU GOLDCORP CENTRE FOR THE ARTS

S E A S O N PA R T N E R S

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Jim Green Foundation

EAT. DRINK. VOTE.

PPick your favourites in the local dining scene for your chance to

WIN A 1,000 GASTOWN SHOPPING SPREE. G $

vote online at

SPEAKING OF DANCE CONVERSATIONS Marshall McLuhan and the Global Village Moderated by Richard Cavell (author of ‘Remediating McLuhan’) TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2017 7PM | FREE SFU GOLDCORP CENTRE FOR THE ARTS

PRESENTED BY

NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 31

“A JEWEL OF A PERFORMANCE”

Tickets from $25 Family Packs Available

—VANCOUVER OBSERVER

Ballet BC presents Alberta Ballet

The Nutcracker Choreography Edmund Stripe | Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Featuring Live Music by The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

December 28 29 30 | 7:30pm December 29 30 | 2pm

SUPPORT FOR BALLET BC HAS BEEN GENEROUSLY L PROVIDED BY

Queen Elizabeth Theatre | balletbc.com

PHOTO BY DARREN MAKOIVICHUK.

BUY NOW

“YOU’RE LUCKY TO BE ALIVE RIGHT NOW... BECAUSE YOU GET TO SEE ONEGIN ” —The Globe and Mail

THE HIT MUSICAL AS IMMERSIVE AS LOVE ITSELF Book, music, and lyrics by Amiel Gladstone and Veda Hille

Nov 23–Dec 31

“Breathtaking” —Vancouver Sun

Lauren Jackson and Josh Epstein in the 2016 production of Onegin. Photo by David Cooper

playing at stanley industrial alliance stage

32 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017

granville island stage

goldcorp stage at the bmo theatre centre

ARTS

In his return to the Vancouver Recital Society, Paul Lewis maps out a musical journey that includes Johannes Brahms’s 6 Klavierstücke, in all its perfection.

Star pianist confronts his “Brahms problem” > BY A LEX A NDER VA R TY

compositions of Haydn, Beethoven, and Brahms, a concept that came out of Lewis’s desire to reexamine Haydn’s “wonderful, inventive, engaging” music. “It’s not exactly overplayed,” he says. “It doesn’t crop up on programs as often as you might think. So I wanted to spend some time with Haydn sonatas…and I came up with Brahms as almost a polar opposite to Haydn, in that with Brahms you have this deep seriousness of expression. “And then I thought ‘How do I bind these together?’ Well, Beethoven looks in both of those directions,” he continues. “Like Haydn, Beethoven uses humour a lot, although maybe in a different way. Haydn sort of pokes you in the ribs and makes you chuckle, where Beethoven just throws something at you and tries to shock you. So there’s that connection, but also in the late Bagatelles and the Diabelli Variations, there’s a lot of Brahmsian-type music.” Lewis has another good reason for throwing Beethoven into the mix: for the past several years he’s immersed himself in performing and recording all of the great German’s 32 piano sonatas. “When you play a whole series of a composer’s works, you…can find an idea in a work, in an early work, that is somehow more developed, more matured later on,” he contends. “And these parallels are often quite important. They reveal a lot about the process that a composer goes through.” Expect further revelations on Sunday. -

iewed through a chronological lens, Paul Lewis’s upcoming Vancouver Recital Society program makes perfect sense. The pianist will open with Joseph Haydn’s Sonata in C Major, written in 1794. After that, we’ll hear Ludwig van Beethoven’s 6 Bagatelles, published in 1825, followed by Johannes Brahms’s 6 Klavierstücke, from 1893, and then for dessert we’ll go back to Haydn for his brief and cheerful Sonata in G Major, also from the late 1700s. It should be a satisfyingly circular journey through some of the most revered piano music of the 18th and 19th centuries, but to find his map, Lewis first had to overcome a significant obstacle. As he told an Australian journalist earlier this year, until fairly recently he suffered from “a Brahms problem”. “And I’d had this Brahms problem for a long time,” he explains, when the Georgia Straight reaches him on his cellphone somewhere in upstate New York. “I felt that there’s such perfection in the craft of Brahms—in the structure, in the way he puts everything together. I really felt that he was almost too obsessed with the perfection of the craft and that the expression couldn’t really come through. I don’t know what it was that helped me to get over this, but at some point I just stopped feeling that it was a problem. It now, to me, feels that the friction between the perfection of the craft and the expression—which is often quite wild and passionate in Brahms—is the point. It’s that conflict which, to me, is the interesting thing about it now; Paul Lewis plays a 3 p.m. matinee at I just didn’t see it like that before.” This Sunday’s concert is the first the Vancouver Playhouse on Sunday in a series that will examine the late (November 19).

NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 33

ARTS SFU Woodward’s Holiday tradition featuring over 30 live music numbers!

Starring JIM BYRNES Award-winning Musician & Storyteller

FAM ILY GROU & P DISC OUN SCHO TS + MATI OL NEES

BAH HUMBUG! An Eastside Christmas Carol directed by Jessie Award-winner James Fagan Tait DECEMBER 7 – 16 EVENINGS & MATINEES

SFU’S GOLDCORP CENTRE FOR THE ARTS 149 W. HASTINGS ST, VANCOUVER

SFUWOODWARDS.CA Image Richard Tetrault, Alley Variation #3, woodcut and metal print 2012, with photo of Jim Byrnes by David Cooper.

“Pick of The Vancouver Fringe Festival” – Inside Vancouver

Beverley Elliott Photo: Jordan Watkins

BEVERLEY ELLIOTT LYNNA GOLDHAR SMITH PRODUCED BY HAPPYGOODTHINGS PRODUCTIONS BY

DIRECTED BY

STUDIO B | NOVEMBER 16 – 25, 2017 - TICKETS AND INFORMATION GatewayTheatre.com | (604) 270-1812 GatewayTheatreBC

@Gateway_Theatre MEDIA SPONSOR

34 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017

Gateway_Theatre

Headlining the Just for Laughs Alternative Comedy Tour, standup T.J. Miller says it’s a show for those audiences whose “sense of humour is a little off”.

T.J. Miller takes comedy into alternative dimension > B Y G U Y M A C PHERSON

he Just For Laughs Alternative Comedy Tour raises a question: does alternative describe the comedy or the tour? JFL has sent a comedy caravan all across the country every fall. Is this just an extra one, an alternative to the one that played here in October? But considering that T. J. Miller is headlining, I’m going to go with that nebulous descriptor, “alternative comedy”. The term started out when a group of comedians took their acts out of the clubs and moved them into different venues, before coming to mean more personal, conversational, and sometimes conceptual comedy. Cynics said it was an alternative to comedy. Even though Miller has done a ton of acting in mainstream films, his standup act is decidedly, er, absurd. “Calling it the Absurdist Comedy Tour both would not be as saleable and also it doesn’t exactly give you the right picture,” Miller says on the phone from Edmonton, where he, Rhys Darby, and Nick Vatterott are bringing their oddball sensibilities. “Alternative is closer. I’m the Mad Hatter in the posters and banners and all that stuff. It’s sort of saying, ‘This is going to be a little off.’ It’s quirky. It’s something you wouldn’t necessarily expect from JFL but it’s something that you’ll like because maybe your sense of humour is a little off—which is, basically, all of Vancouver, in my experience.” Miller is no stranger to our city. While in town filming Deadpool, he performed in bars and dispensaries, and at Yuk Yuk’s. But this will be his first time in a theatre here. Miller walked away from Silicon Valley to be able to get up on-stage to do standup more frequently. “You and I wouldn’t even be having this conversation if I had stuck around for a paycheque and wanted to be a famous television actor,” he says. “Instead, it’s really awesome to be able to both do Deadpool in Vancouver and then

come perform with these guys and do a tour and go to places like Red Deer and Hamilton and Ottawa and just really great places that I haven’t been.” It was a calculated decision, and not Miller’s first. After university, he crunched the numbers and figured he could do more good with comedy than with his psych degree. “A psychologist can profoundly impact between 200 and 1,000 people’s lives—profoundly. In a positive way, ideally,” he says. “When I did the math, I sort of looked at it from a utilitarian ethical standpoint. I thought, ‘If I’m a comedian, I won’t profoundly impact 200 to 1,000 people’s lives, but for between 15 minutes and an hour and a half, I can give them this ephemeral escapism, give them that benevolent opiate that is comedy, and I can do that for hundreds and millions of people.’ That’s why I do Transformers 4 and Big Hero 6 and The Emoji Movie. A lot of my peers maybe wouldn’t make these choices, but that was the way the math worked out.” He gets the best of both worlds now: he makes a good living in film and television but leaves time for live shows . “It really is a show of headliners,” he says. “I think the only reason I’m last on the bill is because I was in Office Christmas Party or whatever thing you want to reference.” All he wants to do is make people laugh, no matter what the order. And he offers yet another possible meaning for the tour’s name. “Right now, specifically, is the darkest time, and people need to laugh and be distracted,” he says. “I’m not going to come in and really spend much time on the horrific state of affairs in our reality. Instead, we’ve brought to you an alternative version of things. We’re sort of an optimistic view of your life, hopefully, at least for an hour and a half or two hours.” The Just For Laughs Alternative Comedy Tour, with T. J. Miller, Rhys Darby, and Nick Vatterott, plays the Vogue Theatre on Friday (November 17).

ARTS

Shape-shifting romp has a serious message The Ridiculous Darkness fearlessly crams sociopolitical satire and humanity into large-scale show; Wives and Daughters’ strong women soar TH E AT RE

absurdity, Amanda Sum is a source of constant delight; her attention to status and rhythm are gifts to the play’s comedy. Miranda Edwards’s quiet naturalism and Emilie Leclerc’s warm sincerity are in tune with the play’s spotlight on injustice. Munish Sharma and Clint Andrew are also solid, and Arnold is always crystal clear, even when voicing the uncertainties of Lotz himself (and wearing a giant cutout of the German playwright’s face). The spirit of satire spills over into the show’s design, with strategically placed details in Nita Bowerman’s costumes, layers of referentiality in the music chosen by sound designer James Coomber, and the atmospheric textures of John Webber’s lighting. Clocking in at just over two-anda-half hours, The Ridiculous Darkness sometimes feels like it’s trying to do too many things at once. But it’s doing more things—and different things—than many shows even attempt. For that ambition, for that big, vivid display of humanity, and for its inclusiveness in its efforts to bridge distance and difference with compassion and understanding, I’m grateful.

THE RIDICULOUS DARKNESS By Wolfram Lotz. Translated by Daniel Brunet. Adapted by Daniel Arnold. Directed by Marisa Emma Smith and Nyla Carpentier. Produced by Alley Theatre in partnership with Neworld Theatre. At the Annex on November 11. Continues until November 19

I doubt you’ll find another

2 show this season that manages

to cram as much humanity—in all its dazzling variety—onto the stage as The Ridiculous Darkness. The oxymoronic title is appropriate. Adapted (by Daniel Arnold, who’s also in the cast) from a radio script by German playwright Wolfram Lotz—which is itself adapted from both Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Francis Ford Coppola’s film adaptation, Apocalypse Now—The Ridiculous Darkness is both deadly serious about “the horror” that people inflict on each other in the name of “civilization” and endlessly flippant about how it makes its points. In Conrad’s novel, Marlow pursues a mysterious Mr. Kurtz; both are representatives of a colonizer culture, encountering the “savages” in an unfamiliar land. Just as Coppola transposed the action of Conrad’s novel from the Congo to Vietnam, Lotz relocates both those texts to “the rainforests of Afghanistan”. This cavalier approach to geography allows German military Sergeant Oliver Pellner and his sidekick, Stefan Dorsch, like their literary predecessors, to travel down a river in pursuit of Deutinger, a military officer gone rogue. Along the river’s banks, Pellner and Dorsch meet various “natives”, including a brass

> KATHLEEN OLIVER

A core cast of six actors play multiple roles in the freewheeling The Ridiculous Darkness. Wendy D photo.

band, a children’s choir, powwow dancers, and street vendors—and suddenly we’re not in Afghanistan, but right in the heart of Vancouver. Within this shape-shifting, freewheeling structure, colonial power and dominance are a consistent thread: in a long prologue, a Somali pirate on trial in Germany recounts how he and a friend worked and saved money for a fishing boat, only to go out and find the sea empty, depleted by European fleets, “its glowing bottom made not of sand,

but of rage”. Oppression is insidious, and not always overtly political: in one powerful scene, we meet a group of “coltan farmers” played by actors with disabilities who reject others’ attempts to label them. Directors Marisa Emma Smith and Nyla Carpentier exploit the looseness of the play’s structure to shift rapidly between dramatic and emotional textures. The coltan farmers speak with heartfelt passion right after we’ve listened to a series of comically petty complaints from

a ridiculous officer, for example. An exquisitely colourful and graceful powwow dance is followed by a televangelist-style minister tearing off her vestments to reveal a sexy cowgirl costume. The show unfolds as a constant adventure, sometimes hilarious, sometimes earnest. A core cast of six actors play multiple roles; in another nod to fluidity, the casting of major characters, like Pellner, Dorsch, and the Somali pirate, is repeatedly switched up. With her firm handle on the play’s

WIVES AND DAUGHTERS Written by Jacqueline Firkins, adapted from the novel by Elizabeth Gaskell. Directed by Courtenay Dobbie. Produced by UBC Theatre. At the Frederic Wood Theatre on November 9. Continues to November 25

There’s a lot to love in UBC The-

2 atre’s newest production, Wives

and Daughters. Written by Jacqueline Firkins, adapted from a book of the same name by Elizabeth Gaskell, see next page

RACHMANINOFF’S ROMANTIC

PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2

SATURDAY & MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25 & 27 8PM, ORPHEUM SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26 2PM, ORPHEUM Lawrence Renes conductor Barry Douglas piano* (Cherniavsky Laureate pianist) RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor* PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major Renowned Irish pianist Barry Douglas is a Vancouver favourite, and he brings a combination of power and grace to the piano that few can match. Douglas performs Rachmaninoff’s lush, Romantic Piano Concerto No. 2, quite possibly the best-loved and most famous piano work of all. PRE-CONCERT TALK 7:05PM, NOVEMBER 25 & 27, FREE TO TICKETHOLDERS.

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NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 35

Wives and Daughters

from previous page

the story focuses on Molly (Sabrina Vellani), a young woman whose life is thrown into disarray when her widowed father remarries. Molly’s new stepmother, Hyacinth (Natalie Backerman), is overbearing, and obsessed with status, and has a daughter Molly’s age named Cynthia (Daria Banu) who arrives home from boarding school unexpectedly early and not entirely welcome. Molly and Cynthia become fast friends even though they’re markedly different: Molly values truth, honesty, and her independence; Cynthia is beautiful

and charming, and almost every man she meets falls in love with her. By the time that Molly realizes she has a crush on her fishing buddy, Roger (Louis Lin), a budding scientist, he’s head over heels for Cynthia. They get engaged, but Cynthia has another secret she’s keeping: she’s actually also promised herself to another man. Wives and Daughters, the book, was set around 1830, and the play seems to occupy that same time—costume designer Liz Gao Aiden Wright and Daria Banu in Wives does beautiful work—yet much of and Daughters. Emily Cooper photo. the content feels thoroughly contemporary, particularly around Hyacinth declares that “after a the idea of what a patriarchal so- certain age, a daughter becomes an ciety values in women. When inconvenience,” she says it through

gritted teeth. Marriage was the main goal, particularly marrying “well”, and it’s clear that Hyacinth herself has internalized the words she bitterly spits out at her daughter and stepdaughter. Though it sags a tiny bit in the middle, and could probably be about 15 minutes shorter, Wives and Daughters is incredibly funny and charming, full of bracing oneliners and biting wit. This is a tribute to both the writing—the fusion of Gaskell’s early feminist inclinations and Firkins’s sharply comedic talent—and to Courtenay Dobbie’s direction of the largely wonderful cast. As headstrong Molly, Vellani is a standout thanks to her winning

combination of heart and humour. Backerman brings depth and hilarity to Hyacinth’s cuttingly funny, casual cruelty. Shona Struthers and Heidi Upham also bring great physical comedy to spinster sisters, Phoebe and Dorothy Browning, who have been looking out for Molly since the death of her mother. Wives and Daughters takes its female characters and their lives seriously, and it’s an incredibly satisfying and gratifying thing to see on-stage. Here, love isn’t about the guy getting the girl, but about the girl finding the courage to be honest with herself, a journey with which almost every woman can identify.

> ANDREA WARNER

AERIOSA CO.ERASGA JULIANNE CHAPPLE PRESENTS:

KAREN JAMIESON & MARGARET GRENIER KAREN JAMIESON DANCE DANCERS OF DAMELAHAMID

AT THE MOVIES

LESLEY TELFORD INVERSO MAHAILA PATTERSONO’BRIEN MARISSA WONG TWOBIGSTEPS COLLECTIVE MEREDITH KALAMAN SHAY KUEBLER RADICAL SYSTEM ART WEN WEI DANCE ZIYIAN KWAN DUMB INSTRUMENT DANCE

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 7PM & SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2PM, ORPHEUM Constantine Kitsopoulos conductor Now audiences can experience the full ground-breaking film Jurassic Park as never before: projected in HD with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra performing the magnificent John Williams score LIVE to picture. One of the most thrilling science fiction adventures ever made, and featuring one of John Williams’ most iconic and beloved musical scores, Jurassic Park transformed the movie-going experience for an entire generation and became the highest-grossing film of all time in 1993, winning three Academy Awards®. Welcome...to Jurassic Park! @VSOrchestra

TICKETS: vancouversymphony.ca 36 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017

Julianne Chapple: Self Portrait/photo Andi McLeish.

THE 11TH BIENNIAL

DANCE IN VANCOUVER November 22-25, 2017 Scotiabank Dance Centre

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THEATRE 2OPENINGS SATELLITE(S) Solo Collective Theatre presents a play based on Vancouver Vanishes, Caroline Adderson’s book about the city’s housing landscape. Nov 16-26, Performance Works (1218 Cartwright). Info www.solocollective.ca/. WILDERNESS Studio 58 presents the Canadian premiere of Seth Bockley and Anne Hamburger’s play about six troubled teens who are kidnapped by desperate parents and sent to a remote wilderness therapy camp as a last resort. Nov 16–Dec 3, 8 pm, Studio 58 (Langara College, 100 W. 49th). Tix $25/21/20, info www.ticketstonight.ca/.

2ONGOING KING CHARLES III The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Mike Bartlett’s political satire about what happens when Queen Elizabeth II dies and her son Charles ascends the throne. To Nov 19, Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage (2750 Granville). Info www.artsclub.com/. JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT Align Entertainment presents Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical about the rags-to-riches story of Joseph, his brothers, and his coat of many colours. To Nov 18, Michael J. Fox Theatre (7373 MacPherson Ave., Burnaby). Tix 27-39, info www.alignentertainment.ca/.

MAKING A SPLASH Beverley Elliott characterizes her one-woman autobiographical “song and story” show Sink or Swim as “Little House on the Prairie meets Lord of the Flies”. That’s in part because it traces her journey from the insular, happy world of growing up on an Ontario family farm to life with classroom bullies at a one-room schoolhouse. However you describe it, you can’t help but be charmed by the openness and honesty of Elliott’s play, which was chosen last year as a holdover at the Pick of the Fringe. The pro, best-known as Granny on the hit TV series Once Upon a Time, also has singing and storytelling chops to burn. Catch it at Richmond’s Gateway Theatre from Thursday (November 16) to November 25. THE RIDICULOUS DARKNESS Alley Theatre, in partnership with Neworld Theatre, presents the North American premiere of Wolfram Lotz’s radio play that combines Heart of Darkness with Apocalypse Now. To Nov 19, Orpheum Annex (823 Seymour). Tix from $19, info www.ridarkness.ca/. ONLY DRUNKS AND CHILDREN TELL THE TRUTH Drew Hayden Taylor’s work is an account of the Sixties Scoop, in which Indigenous children were taken from their homes and placed with non-Indigenous families. To Dec 2, Firehall Arts Centre. Tix from $20, info www.firehallartscentre.ca/ onstage/drunks-children-tell-truth/.

Chartrand and the Louis Riel Métis 2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS Dancers, Eloi Homier, Kathleen Nisbet and Friends, and Greg Coyes. Nov 18, 8 MEI LANFANG BEIJING OPERA TROUPE pm, The Cultch (1895 Venables). Tix $24/20, Combining music, drama, martial arts, and info www.vnidansi.ca/metis/louis-riel-day- acrobatics, Beijing opera was declared as celebrations. “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” by UNESCO in 2010. Directed by maestro Ye DANCE ALLSORTS: KASANDRA Shaolan and starring Li Hongtong. Dec 22, FLAMENCO ENSEMBLE Kasandra “La 7 pm; Dec 23, 2 pm; Dec 23, 7 pm, Queen China” leads the Kasandra Flamenco Elizabeth Theatre (650 Hamilton). Tix $38-268 Ensemble in a performance of flamenco (plus service charges and fees) at www. dancing. Nov 19, 2 pm, Roundhouse megaboxoffice.com/, info 604-343-6260. Community Arts & Recreation Centre (181 Roundhouse Mews). Info www.newworks. COMEDY ca/2017/08/dance-allsorts-kasandraflamenco-november-19-2017/.

THE 11TH BIENNIAL DANCE IN VANCOUVER Take in dance works by Aeriosa, Co.ERASGA, Karen Jamieson, Margaret Grenier, Karen Jamieson Dance, Dancers of Damelahamid, Lesley Telford, Inverso, Mahaila Patterson-O’Brien, Meredith Kalaman, Shay Kuebler, Radical System Art, Wen Wei Dance, Ziyian Kwan. Nov 22-25, Scotiabank Dance Centre (677 Davie). Info www.thedancecentre.ca/.

ONGOING

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. 2JULIAN MCCULLOUGH Nov 16-18 2TOM RHODES Nov 23-25

don’t miss out!

MUSIC

For up-to-the-minute, searchable Arts Time Out listings, visit

2THIS WEEK VSO AT THE MOVIES: JURASSIC PARK Conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos leads the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the soundtrack of dinosaur flick Jurassic Park while the film plays on the big screen. Nov 18, 7 pm; Nov 19, 2 pm, Orpheum Theatre (601 Smithe). Info www.vancouversymphony.ca/. PAUL LEWIS The Vancouver Recital Society presents the classical pianist in a performance of works by Beethoven, Haydn, and Brahms. Nov 19, 3 pm, Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton). Tix from $25, info www.vanrecital.com/.

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YUK YUK’S COMEDY CLUB 2837 Cambie, 604-696-9857, www.yukyuks.com/vancouver/. Comedy club with Top Talent Tue at 8 pm, amateur night Wed at 8 pm, and professional headliners Thu-Fri at 8 pm and Sat at 7 and 9:30 pm. 2JON REEP Nov 16-18 2BYRON BERTRAM Nov 23-25 VANCOUVER THEATRESPORTS LEAGUE Some of the world’s most daring and innovative improv. Improv Wars: The Laugh Jedi (Thu, Fri, and Sat, 7:30 pm); #NoFilter (Thu, 9:15 pm); Ok Tinder (Fri and

nomadas

Sat, 11:15 pm); Rookie Night (Sun, 7:30 pm); TheatreSports (Wed and Tue, 7:30 pm; Wed, 9:15 pm; Fri and Sat, 9:30 pm). Nov 15-22, The Improv Centre (1502 Duranleau, Granville Island). Info www.vtsl.com/.

2THIS WEEK THE ALTERNATIVE COMEDY TOUR Just for Laughs presents an evening of alternative comedy by TJ Miller, Rhys Darby, and host Nick Vatterott. Nov 17, 7:30 pm, Vogue Theatre (918 Granville). The event also runs Nov 16, 7:30 pm, at the Bell Performing Arts Centre. Tix $45.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticketfly.com/.

ET CETERA 2THIS WEEK EASTSIDE CULTURE CRAWL Explore the visual arts, design, and crafts of East Vancouver as you visit more than 500 artist studios, homes, and garages. Nov 16-19, various Vancouver venues. Info www. culturecrawl.ca/. WEST COAST CHRISTMAS SHOW AND ARTISAN MARKETPLACE Breakfast with Santa Nov 18th; 200+ exhibitors, live music, unique hand crafted gifts for all ages, gourmet goodies, ugly sweater contest & more. Free parking & complimentary shuttle service by Vancouver Trolley. Nov 17-19, Tradex Trade & Exhibition Centre (1190 Cornell St., Abbotsford). Info www. westcoastchristmasshow.com/.

TIME OUT ARTS LISTINGS are a public service provided free of charge. Submit listings online using the event-submission form at straight.com/AddEvent. Events that don’t make it into the paper due to space constraints will appear on the website.

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NOV 22–25 | NOV 29–DEC 2, 8 PM SFU GOLDCORP CENTRE FOR THE ARTS | 149 W. HASTINGS ST.

DANCE 2THIS WEEK LOUIS RIEL DAY CELEBRATION V’ni Dansi presents an evening of Métis dance, music, and culture featuring Yvonne

> Go on-line to read hundreds of I Saw You posts or to respond to a message < AT THE CANADA VS ALL BLACK RUGBY GAME

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 3, 2017 WHERE: Rugby Game You were sitting 2 rows in front of me wearing a red jacket - section 216. You turned round at the end of the game... I wanted to speak to you on the way out but didn't get a chance :(

CUTIE IN A BOMBER JACKET

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 2, 2017 WHERE: Banter Room and Parlor You've walked past me twice in the last few months. Usually I see you in YT outside of Banter Room and you're always wearing a bomber jacket. Last weekend we quickly exchanged eyes a few words outside the Apple store in PC but you left me without your number...

SCOTCH IN RICHMOND

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 9, 2017 WHERE: Richmond We met at a tasting at the Richmond liquor store last Thursday. You: black hair, Me: moustache. And then again while shopping for wines... you noticed my Viognier. Would you like to meet again over a single-malt?

WOMAN IN THE BLUE COAT AND TOUQUE CROSSING THE GRANVILLE BRIDGE

HEADSTONES CONCERT

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 10, 2017 WHERE: Commodore I called you a “tough guy”. I didn’t really know what else to say. If you are not with someone, I would like to talk with you again.

BLACK MITSUBISHI

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 10, 2017 WHERE: Red Light at Boundary We were stopped at a red light at Boundary. You caught me checking you out and smiled at me. I drove past you at Renfrew with the intention of waving, and when I got beside you, you were already waving at me. You drove a black Mitsubishi that had a red Mitsubishi logo on the back.

BUS, BEARD, BURRITO

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 8, 2017 WHERE: Kingsway and Broadway I was travelling home on the 19 towards Metrotown you got on at the same stop as me outside Budgies Burrito’s, you had a beard and a flat cap and I had red hair and a burrito. I sat next to you, we exchanged a few words and then you got off at Victoria Drive. I looked back, so did you, we shared a look. Lets grab a cup of tea! :)

IT'S YOUR FIRST DAY ON THE JOB

STANDING OUTSIDE OF THE VOGUE THEATRE AFTER ANDREW FEINSTEIN’S TALK

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 7, 2017 WHERE: In Front of The Vogue Theatre I was standing by the curb facing towards the theater’s entrance when you came up to me. You asked me whether I had been to the talk as you hoped to attend it too, but unfortunately missed it. We briefly talked about it and then you apologized in case you happened to disturb me and took off. Silly me, I should have asked you if you’d have liked to continue the conversation elsewhere. I have very short dark hair and was wearing a pair of glasses and a black coat. You are a fairly tall, handsome man with light hair and a neat beard, and maybe just a bit of a accent, unlike my fairly heavy one..:) Well... would you like to continue that conversation?..:)

HENRY DANIEL CHOREOGRAPHY & DIRECTION CHIMERIK 似不像 SAMMY CHIEN & SHANGHAN CHIEN NEW MEDIA/PROJECTION DESIGN ALAN STOREY SET DESIGN ADAM BASANTA SOUND DESIGN

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AWKWARD ENCOUNTERMAIN & 21ST COFFEE SHOP

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 4, 2017 WHERE: Hayan Coffee/ Main + 21st. We were at Hayan Coffee and you thought our friend looked familiar but couldn't place her. We want to connect the two of you together no matter how awkward we made the situation. That's what friends are for! You: salt and pepper hair, with two adults and a blonde kiddo.

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 3, 2017 WHERE: Granville Bridge

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 10, 2017 WHERE: Burnaby

DONUT STRESS THE SMALL STUFF

We used to pass each other each morning on the bridge. I came back to Vancouver and passed you again the other day crossing the bridge on the way to work. You have dark hair, often wear a blue coat, a backpack and a pale blue touque. I always wear a black jacket, a black backpack and had my white yoga bag sticking out the side that day.

Patrick - You came into my work early this morning to pick up an order. You were so lovely and kind to me! To make things official and professional, I made you your own copy of the paperwork and you signed my copy. You asked my name and shook my hand before you left. I hope your first day went very well for you, and I'd love to see you again!

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 6, 2017 WHERE: Cartems donuts on Main St.

You work at the Cartems by my house, and are usually quiet but your music selections are spot on. We talked about tattoos before and I wish I had the courage to ask you for more then just a donut. Maybe next time ;)

Visit straight.com to post your FREE I Saw You _ NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 37

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38 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017

SWISS OFFICIAL SELECTION 2018 ACADEMY AWARDS© BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM

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PRESENTED BY

MOVIES REVIEWS LADY BIRD Starring Saoirse Ronan. Rated 14A

Period pieces are often dipped in amber,

2 ensuring that nostalgia can do much of the

heavy lifting. The recent past is a harder sell, given its freshness in living memory, and Greta Gerwig pulls off an even more difficult trick: depicting her own millennial adolescence in the sun-bleached Sacramento Valley of the early aughties. Although initially known for manic-pixie roles in ramshackle indie films from the mid-2000s, Gerwig cowrote and codirected one of her first efforts, Nights and Weekends, with mumblecore auteur Joe Swanberg. For the phenomenal Lady Bird, she makes the most of her solo flight behind the camera the old-fashioned way: with a supertight script and a uniformly first-rate cast. It’s led by Ireland’s Saoirse Ronan, sporting a pitch-perfect Cali accent and Raggedy Ann hair as Christine McPherson, struggling to carve out a new identity in her last year at a Catholic school in a bland suburb. Currently, she’s given herself the name Lady Bird, somewhat randomly picked and not even vaguely embraced by friends, teachers, or family members. The least sympathetic appears to be her mother, Marion (a superb Laurie Metcalfe), who clearly loves her daughter but is ready to

Odd ducks and Lady Birds

Ireland’s Saoirse Ronan is utterly convincing as a Sacramento Valley girl who takes a few heavy knocks in the early-2000s-set coming-of-age tale Lady Bird.

Miike’s 100th film still ends with an insanely bloody, indescribably exciting 300-person sword fight. After inflaGreta Gerwig’s first solo effort as director proves to be a tion, that’s an increase of phenomenal autobiographical ode to the eternal outsider roughly 30 percent on the number of guys slaughtered go ballistic at the smallest challenge. Christine at the climax of 13 Assassins. As with that 2010 film, a remake of an existgets judgment-free support from her soft-spoken dad (Tracy Letts) and none whatsoever from her ing classic, the Japanese cult god has subsumed himself somewhat to his latest movie’s source adoptive older brother (Jordan Rodrigues). Our budding Bird, whose clothing style re- material. And we’re still left with a hyperstylish sembles no one’s around her, chafes at the re- popcorn triumph. Based on the long-running manga, Blade bestrictions of Immaculate Heart High School. And yet the good-natured head nun (’70s great gins with the origin story of its titular immorLois Smith) keeps failing to take her rebellious tal, Manji (Japanese megastar Takuya Kimura), bait. Life changes slightly when she joins the a samurai granted (or cursed with) the ability to drama club, the better to be around a new crush heal by a mysterious witch after she observes the called Danny (Manchester by the Sea’s Lucas revenge-driven swordsman cut down 100 bounty Hedges). This slight rise in social status further hunters. Fifty years later, the reclusive Manji is pressed compels LB to trade her chubby long-time bestie (Beanie Feldstein) for the school’s most popular back into action by Rin (Hana Sugisaki), teen girl (Goosebumps’ Odeya Rush). Naturally, such daughter of Edo’s greatest fencer, murdered by dizzying heights also encourage a precipitous fall. the Ittō-ryū, a particularly ambitious (and weird) This may sound like fairly familiar teen ter- fighting sect led by spindly pretty boy Anotsu ritory, but Gerwig—who never appears on the (Sôta Fukushi). (What they did to Rin’s mother screen but somehow never leaves it either—has is even worse but is also vintage Miike in its unsuch a sure hand at combining the weirdly per- fathomable perversity.) For the next two hours, this lopsided duo hacks sonal with the universality of adolescence. No AMBER Alert is needed for the soundtrack, which its way through an increasingly high-concept cast skips obvious place-setters to favour oddball punk of enemies, putative allies, and at least one other and twisted pop. That goes perfectly with some- immortal. In every case, poor old Manji is cut to one who desperately wants to fit in but will always ribbons. It’s repetitive, sure, but not like Miike’s much stand somehow apart—like this movie, which is more personal 2004 provocation, Izo, which testbetter than almost anything else out there. > KEN EISNER ed the viewer by adopting violent repetition as its very theme but which also had an intellectual BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL weight that’s supplanted here by Kimura’s shaggily charming, quasi-comedic take on his role. If Starring Takuya Kimura. In Japanese, with English it leaves us wishing for more attention paid to the subtitles. Rated 14A deeper horrors of immortality—the question of Hard-core fans will count this among his soul, and the craving of release from incessant immore restrained efforts, and yet Takashi palings and hacked off limbs that stitch themselves

WEEK IN WIDESCREEN

AELITA, QUEEN OF MARS Before Stalin fucked every-

thing up, the U.S.S.R. was responsible for pitching cinema way into the future—and sometimes all the way to the Red Planet. This wild curio from 1924 sends three Muscovites to Mars, where at least one of them tries to start a revolution, as was the fashion at the time. Screening as part of the Cinematheque’s expansive program Revolutionary Rising: The Soviet Film Vanguard on Thursday (November 16). -

What to see and where to see it

JANE A documentary by Brett Morgen. Rating unavailable

At 83, Jane Goodall has achieved such emeri-

2 tus status for her lifelong study of chimpan-

zees, and her advocacy for animal rights, virtually any look back is bound to be worthwhile. But that conclusion doesn’t prepare the viewer for just how astounding Jane is. The success of this life-affirming doc is built on the fact that writer-director Brett Morgan— known for showbiz profiles like The Kid Stays in the Picture and Cobain: Montage of Heck—was given access to more than 100 hours of footage taken in the early years of Goodall’s work, in Tanzania’s Gombe animal preserve, and then forgotten for more than 40 years. Shot on 16mm and cleaned up to a digital lustre with near-HD quality, the images were captured by Hugo van Lawick, a Dutch nobleman and wildlife photographer sent by National Geographic to record the “Comely Miss Who Spends Time With Apes”—as one early-’60s headline speciously put it. It was a lucky break for both, especially since Goodall—reading on the soundtrack from her numerous books and journals—recalls being “not the sort of person who ever gave any thought to marriage and motherhood”. (Jane does, however, admit to being obsessed with Tarzan as a child.) Both followed in short order, and their romance is part of the story on film. “It was clear that I was also a person of interest, along with the chimps,” she says of the many scenes of her winsome, fairhaired visage gazing out over the bush. Goodall exuded an earthy glamour, knew it, and agreed to exploit her image for the good of the animals she came to follow, and then adore. see next page

Oh hai, Rio

POSTMAN’S WHITE NIGHTS

Andrey Konchalovskiy’s warm 2014 comedy, set in Russia’s remote Arkhangelsk region, receives its Vancouver premiere at the Vancity Theatre on Thursday (November 16).

ATANARJUAT, THE FAST RUNNER Ranked Canada’s greatest

OCTOBER (TEN DAYS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD) Made in

No Russian hack

> ADRIAN MACK

MOVIES

The projector

back together—it also feels just as churlish to complain. Even at his most casual, Miike’s blade is way sharper than most.

film in TIFF’s 2015 poll, Zacharias Kunuk’s Inuktitut-language feature returns to the Cinematheque for a free screening on Saturday (November 18).

1928, Sergei Eisenstein’s re-creation of the Bolshevik Revolution still astonishes. See it at the Cinematheque on Tuesday (November 21).

THE DISASTER ARTIST Well, the cat’s out of the bag. The

Rio Grind’s “secret screening” on Saturday (November 18) turns out to be a preview of one the year’s most anticipated films; a critic and audience rave at TIFF in which James Franco channels The Room auteur Tommy Wiseau. To make it all meta, the Rio is where Franco first caught Wiseau’s cult oddity in 2013. Advance tix on sale now at www.riotheatre.ca/. NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 39

Atmospheric, misty-toned black and white cinematography helps to elevate director Andrey Konchalovskiy’s Paradise.

Jane

Her personal life saw occasional turmoil, as did the chimp tribe she settled down with, and we come to identify with the multigenerational saga of David Graybeard, Goliath, and Flo, and her daughter Fifi—some of whom don’t make it through Goodall’s half-century study. Neither does van Lawick, seen incessantly smoking, much to his young mate’s annoyance. Sometimes cluttered by needless effects and with voices occasionally obscured by Philip Glass’s music, the 90-minute doc doesn’t tell you that emphysema eventually killed him—although not before he catalogued some of the most amazing nature footage ever seen or, crucially, not seen until now. Jane doesn’t pretend to be comprehensive. It settles for being breathtakingly beautiful. > KEN EISNER

PARADISE Starring Yuliya Vysotskaya. In French, German, and Russian, with English subtitles. Rating unavailable

Famed Russian director Andrey Konchalovskiy was born in 1937 and is one of the last living directors still able to depict the Second World War from personal memory. (John Boorman is another.) Along with extensive work alongside Andrei Tarkovsky and his own brother Nikita Mikhalkov, Konchalovskiy has done genre pieces in the U.S., including Shy People and Tango and Cash, as well as tackling the Soviet era in 1991’s wonderful The Inner Circle, with Tom Hulce as Stalin’s private film projectionist. In Paradise, the versatile writerdirector returns to the macro-micro approach to history, with minor players interacting with major forces at the height of the Holocaust. He does it with a kind of retro-experimental edge, shooting the whole thing in atmospheric, misty-toned black and white, in the old-school 4:3 ratio, complete with the scratches and jumps that Stalin must have put up with. (Cinematographer Aleksandr Simonov deserves serious kudos here, as do the actors.) The form is even stranger, with three participants facing the camera and candidly, or self-servingly, telling their own stories. These are Olga (Yuliya Vysotskaya), a former Russian aristocrat caught sheltering Jewish children in occupied Paris; Jules (Philippe Duquesne), the French cop and Gestapo collaborator who interrogates her; and Helmut (Christian Clauss), a high SS officer of noble background and romantic beliefs who also knew Olga before the war, and meets her again when he’s assigned to a concentration camp where she’s being held. They tell their versions while dressed in clean white pyjamas of a sort, in a location that could be a

40 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 16 – 23 / 2017

postwar detention centre or perhaps Both remind us how far we haven’t come, baby. > KEN EISNER These long soliloquies are intercut with their actions, which—in scenes that move forward and back MUDBOUND in time—include Jules pushing Olga Starring Carey Mulligan. Rating to trade sex for better treatment and, unavailable much later, Helmut packing up his In the pre–Civil War South, Prussian mansion and figuring out only about two percent of whites how to high-tail it to Paraguay. These distancing devices drain benefited from the plantation system. some of the horror from the tale, al- Because, you know, who can compete though they also make a few sudden with free labour! The only reward outbursts of violence more shocking. for poor Caucasians was the right to At 130 minutes, the deconstructive do savage harm to former Africans qualities of the movie—named af- and their descendants. This system’s ter the “German paradise on earth” still alive today, as enshrined in every that Hitler promised his war would Confederate statue, but was even more create—may prove wearing or even virulent in the 1940s, when this vastly rather dull for some viewers. I found ambitious Netflix saga is set. Based on Hillary Jordan’s novel, it an absorbing, if challenging, exploration of memories that are Mudbound tells side-by-side stories of two American families, with their fading fast. > KEN EISNER poverty and determination to survive separated only by skin colour. THE DIVINE ORDER Writer-director Dee Rees, following more personal work and an okay Starring Marie Leuenberger. take on Bessie Smith for HBO, here In German, with English subtitles. uses the Faulknerian device of alterRated PG nating between interior monologues Voting rights for women seem to provide background for characters like such a done deal that we tied to a benighted patch of Missisdon’t spend much thought on some of sippi muck. the latter-day entrants to the modern The odd woman out is Laura age. But, seriously: Switzerland, 1971? (Carey Mulligan), a genteel MemGermany’s Marie Leuenberger is phian who gets fooled into thinking terrific as Nora, a small-town haus- slightly boorish suitor Henry (Ausfrau who knows just enough to know tralia’s Jason Clarke) can give her she wants more. Looking after her a better life on the farm he bought basically decent, if dull, husband further south. It’s a boondoggle, and (Maximilian Simonischek, also from they end up in a sorry shack near Germany) and two nice boys is okay, the Jacksons, whose family has been but—as in the otherwise dissimi- sharecropping that land for generalar Mudbound—the presence of her tions. In fact, the Jacksons’ deed to brutish father-in-law is key to recog- the land was stolen long ago, and nizing a system backed by old men ends up in the hands of Henry, who of politics, law, and clergy. It doesn’t expects the black tenant farmers to just lock women out of decision- do all the work for him. making—it makes them subjugated Laura makes some common purpeople who must go against God to pose with matriarch Florence, played claim any room to breathe. with memorable dignity by an unJudging from the washed-out- recognizable Mary J. Blige. But this colours in the particular little burg is complicated by the presence of where this swiftly moving tale mostly Henry’s father (Jonathan Banks), as takes place, and the time there spent nasty as any Klansman to ever wield in male-dominated beer halls, the a tiki torch. 1960s appear to have passed SwitzThe Jackson family’s bright light erland by—at least in the Alpine is eldest son Ronsel (Straight Outta canton of Appenzell. Nora dreams Compton’s excellent Jason Mitchof travel and exotic experiences, and ell), drafted after Pearl Harbor and when she sees her free-spirit niece sent—unlike most black soldiers— (Ella Rumpf) even more decisively to actually fight on the frontlines in crushed by the patriarchy, she takes a Europe. He has much in common looming referendum—only men al- with Henry’s more cerebral younger lowed to vote, of course—as a chance brother (Garrett Hedlund), who flies to get uppity. bombing missions at the same time. Like much else in this sometimes But will the system ever let them overly ingratiating movie, Nora’s be friends? And did Laura pick the awakening arrives a bit too easily. wrong brother? The dawn of sexual awareness, LysisYou can tell from this synopsis trata-style, is given something of a that there is as much gothic melositcom treatment. (The political gets drama as social history offered in quite personal here.) And the music Mudbound. And too many of its 134 goes Hollywood when it should be minutes are consumed by voices dequirky. But the wonderfully named scribing actions already depicted onwriter-director Petra Biondina Volpe screen. The movie’s static qualities comes through with an empathetic- dull some edges, but it does uncover ally entertaining tale that acts as a basic truths that have been buried for provincial counterpoint to Battle too long. > KEN EISNER of the Sexes, set in the same period.

from previous page a waiting room to heaven or hell.

MOVIES

Hot flick faces tough grind

MOVIES ARTS MUSIC THEATRE FOOD

> BY A DRIA N M A C K

t’s easily one of the best films of the year, unquestionably one of the smartest, and definitely among the most provocative. And unless you attend the closing night of the Rio Grind Film Festival, you might miss your one shot at actually catching Bodied. Calling the Georgia Straight from Wilmington, North Carolina, where his explosive feature was spirited into the Cucalorus Festival for an unannounced screening, Joseph Kahn reels off a sad litany of rejection notices. “New York, Sundance, South by Southwest…,” he begins. “A lot of the major festivals have been extremely offended by this movie. They won’t screen it because they’re so afraid of the content.” It’s a ludicrous situation. Certainly, Kahn’s film pushes a lot of buttons with its tale of a nerdy white Berkeley academic who discovers his latent talent as a battle rapper in Oakland’s subterranean hip-hop scene, where the race- and gender-based slurs come thick, fast, and hilarious. (With Eminem as one of its producers, you could view Bodied, if you squint, as a sort of pirate, uncouth metasequel to 8 Mile.) But even as it wantonly touches the third rail, Kahn’s film is too adroitly engaged in its interrogation of language, class, racism, and the “woke” affectations of the privileged to actually offend anyone besides, well, perhaps the very people most invested in protecting their woke affectations. As the Korean-American filmmaker puts it, with a snicker: “I’ve been in the entertainment business for the last 27 years, and in Hollywood, white liberalism is the de facto speech I run into.” Most galling of all for Kahn, presumably, is that Bodied is also crazy entertaining. When TIFF’s Midnight Madness programmer, Peter Kuplowsky, ignored the advice of colleagues and took a chance on the film, he ended up booking his People’s Choice Award winner. Two weeks later, Austin’s equally gutsy Fantastic Fest handed Bodied the same prize. The appeal, Kahn reckons, is “finally getting to hear people say things honestly”. “I think it’s a collective catharsis for everyone and the exact opposite of what these festival programmers think,” suggests the director, whose shit list has grown to include all the distributors who won’t touch his self-financed flick, partly because of its content and partly because it crashes the “little algorithm they put every film into”.

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A MUST-SEE ON THE BIG SCREEN!

Director Joseph Kahn’s brilliant if enthusiastically un-PC battle rap comedy Bodied has scared off (most) festival programmers and distributors alike.

He scoffs: “These people will, literally, walk into a screening that is completely sold-out with the audience reacting like crazy and cheering and doing standing ovations, and they go: ‘No one is going to watch this film.’ Because they’re not paying attention. They’re literally going back to their checklist. ‘Does it have a star? Does it have any superheroes? Does it offend anyone?’ ” Perhaps what is most remarkable here is that Bodied hardly emerged from any sort of underground. Kahn’s résumé as a video maker boasts a dizzying roll call of A-list artists, from Katy Perry to Janet Jackson, Wu-Tang Clan, Maroon 5, and Taylor Swift. In fact, the path to Bodied began when his video for Swift’s 2015 release “Wildest Dreams” was slammed with accusations of cultural appropriation. Notwithstanding, as Kahn notes, that Taytay “can drink a cup of coffee and people will call her a colonialist who’s exploiting Colombian slave labour”, the director says that his efforts to defend the work were futile. “No matter what I did, no matter what I said, there was this sort of hive-mind mentality. And this is the world today. We are in a socialmedia bubble where if you don’t say the exact thing that everyone wants you to say, in the exact way, in the exact verbiage—you get piled on.” And so Kahn turned to Toronto’s Alex Larsen, aka legendary rapper Kid Twist, to script a film that

presents battle rap as the one arena where, he says, “you can see a white guy and a black guy call each other the most racist things and then afterwards get a beer.” Larsen dutifully turned in a perfectly calibrated satire about the state of sociopolitical discourse in 2017, brimming with allusions to low culture and high literature and peppered with brutal, frequently uproarious face-offs between what the film calls its “united colours of Benetton” protagonists. Kahn is blunt in his appreciation of Larsen—“He’s a fucking genius. He’s a weirdo Canadian communist genius”—and he’s no less ebullient about Bodied’s lead, Victoria-born Disney star Calum Worthy, who stepped into the role of Adam when “a pretty big actor got cold feet”. “I’m so lucky that the other douchebag dropped out and the miracle called Calum Worthy walked in,” he says. “He makes it. Without him, there’s no movie. What the fuck is going on with Canada that I gotta hire all my people there ’cause that’s where all the talent is? What the fuck is going on?” Anyone with the answer can deliver it in person when Kahn joins Worthy and Larsen on-stage at the Rio Theatre on Sunday (November 19). -

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The Rio Grind Film Festival takes place at the Rio Theatre from Thursday to Sunday (November 16 to 19). For reviews and more, visit Straight.com.

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Surviving 40 years in Vancouver’s chronicBY AL EX ANDER VAR T Y

ally underfunded and often transient music scene is an achievement in itself. But the New Orchestra Workshop Society’s milestone represents something even bigger, because its longevity is based more on its ability to constantly reinvent itself than on the endurance of its founders. Now on its third generation of core members and with a fourth coming up, NOW has played a key role in our city’s emergence as a hub in the global improvised-music network, and it seems ready to keep contributing for a long time to come. Like any true grassroots organization, NOW started small—as a band, in fact—and has grown in an organic, erratic, and always creative fashion. But it’s likely that its founders—saxophonist Paul Cram, bassist Lisle Ellis, trombonist Ralph Eppel, pianist Paul Plimley, and drummer Gregg Simpson—knew they were onto something important when they first joined forces in 1977. By 1979, they had a word-of-mouth warehouse venue in an industrial area of Kitsilano, had begun to invite international guests to perform and lead workshops, were organizing their first festival,

The enduring sound of NOW

The NOW Society’s 40th-anniversary celebration includes a performance of 8 pieces for the Vernal Equinox by Vancouver-born composer Kris Davis.

ability,” says the Vancou- regulars Miller, Joshua Zubot (violin), James Meger ver-born, New York–based (bass), and Skye Brooks (drums)—and for BrazilDavis, who’ll join Cowal ian composer Henri Augusto Bisognini’s dizzying and Miller in contribut- Curiosidade the audience is invited to play, too, ing solo piano to the night. using a digital controller to create projected images After 40 years, the New Orchestra Workshop Society “I have such a hard time that the musicians will then interpret. still aims to create community through collaboration performing through-comThe celebrations end on Saturday with the full and were ready to file incorporation papers as a posed material; that’s why I didn’t become a classical 14-piece NOW Orchestra premiering commisnonprofit. And, as current NOW managing artis- pianist. So for me, when I hear him play these things sioned works by Davis and trumpeter-composer tic director Lisa Cay Miller has discovered while that are pretty difficult and without any mistakes, Lina Allemano. It’s especially gratifying to see that readying the 40th-anniversary festivities, they’d I’m just so happy that he agreed to do it.” all four generations of NOW musicians will get a identified the things most necessary to ensure the Thursday’s Trading Places: Un Échange chance to play together, with former artistic direcnascent society’s enduring relevance. d’Improvisateurs features two Quebec-based per- tors Ron Samworth (guitar) and Nikki Carter (sax) “One thing that really strikes me about prepar- formers, guitarist Vicky Mettler and trumpeter among the participants. ing this celebration, which includes an installation Elwood Epps, as part of an exchange that will see “This just warms my heart,” says Miller, “because that has an archival element to it, is that, in look- Vancouver’s Cole Schmidt and Peggy Lee play it means that the values that are kind of core to our ing through the original purposes of the society, Montreal’s Suoni Per Il Popolo festival in June. community are being shared and passed on.” it’s remarkable how little they have changed,” the (NOW veteran Plimley is among the locals who’ll The NOW Society’s 40th-anniversary celebrations composer and pianist says, in a telephone inter- join Mettler and Epps here.) view from her East Vancouver home. “I guess a Friday’s NOW Society Ensemble concert repris- take place at the Roundhouse Community Arts more positive way of saying that is to note how es a program of graphic scores that was one of the and Recreation Centre from Wednesday to Saturconstant those values have remained, despite there highlights of the recent ISCM World New Music day (November 15 to 18). For a full schedule, visit being a few generations and different leadership Days festival. Epps and Mettler will join NOW www.nowsociety.org/. and various people being involved. Those values have stayed true, which is really incredible.” A brief history of NOW NOW’s core concepts, Miller continues, include “community, collaboration, trust, generosity, and The New Orchestra Workshop Society got its start in 1977, but its roots go deeper adaptability”. “It’s about creating community than that—all the way to the beatnik era, in fact, through founding member Gregg through collaborative effort,” she explains. “And Simpson’s connection to nonagenarian pianist, visual artist, and novelist Al Neil, who that manifests itself in presenting concerts and was involved with the original Cellar Jazz Club in the 1950s. providing opportunities for British Columbian “There’s a thread that started with Al Neil and ran through the 1960s with his famous musicians to share their music here and abroad trio, which opened for Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead at the 1966 Trips Festival,” the drummer tells and throughout Canada, and in commissioning the Georgia Straight from Bowen Island, where he now lives. “The bassist in the trio was the late Richard composers to create new works which use improAnstey, who later switched to soprano saxophone in the 1974 Sunship Ensemble, a group which brought visation. And it also manifests itself in the workme together with [NOW mainstay] Clyde Reed, who was then also playing electric bass. Subsequent conshops, which have been an immensely important nections were made with Paul Plimley, Paul Cram, Ralph Eppel, and Lisle Ellis, and in 1977 we formed a part of NOW Society since ’79, I think, starting quintet we called New Orchestra Workshop. My idea for the use of workshop was more in the tradition of with the first workshop at the Western Front with the Mingus Workshop. But as Lisle was just back from the Creative Music Workshop in Woodstock, by 1978 [vibraphonist and educator] Karl Berger.” the director of that studio, Karl Berger, was conducting workshops with NOW. But the emphasis on original All of those ideas are reflected in NOW’s annicompositions, especially by Paul Cram, meant that we were also workshopping our own material.” versary celebrations, which start tonight and run Although Simpson and company quickly established connections with like-minded musicians across through Saturday (November 15 to 18). In addiNorth America, the collective became considerably more outward-looking once guitarist Ron Samworth tion to open rehearsals and panel discussions, and saxophonist Nikki Carter (then known as Coat Cooke) assumed the helm in the early 1990s. there are four evening concerts that each illumin“We felt that a large group was the most inclusive of the scene of improvisers in the NOW orbit,” Samworth ate aspects of the society’s mandate. recalls now. “At that time the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society was well established, and Ken Pickering was Wednesday’s Improv Workshop Concert highbringing in top improvisers from around the world. Ken suggested we commission [British bass virtuoso and lights the work that has come out of NOW’s most composer] Barry Guy to write a piece for the band, Witch Gong Game II/10, which we premiered and recorded recent round of Western Front teaching sessions; for the Maya label. That was the first of many residencies, performances, tours, and recordings with guests such it features emerging improvisers who range from as René Lussier, Butch Morris, Oliver Lake, Wadada Leo Smith, and, most notably, George Lewis, with whom true neophytes to veteran classical, soul, and inwe recorded and toured to Europe, Eastern Canada, and Chicago. This high-profile activity on the international die-rock performers. But it will also showcase the scene really helped put Vancouver on the map as a community of very strong and original improvisers.” links between improvised music and contempor“The projects of the ’90s into the 2000s.…remain high-water marks, in my estimation,” Pickering adds. ary composition: on the bill is CalArts-trained None of these three core improv mavens are ready to surrender to nostalgia, however. As Pickering notes, pianist Rory Cowal, a relatively new arrival in “The wonderful pianist-composer Lisa Cay Miller is poised to lead this hallowed organization into the next 40, Vancouver, who’ll play Kris Davis’s 8 pieces for the and that’s cause to rejoice.” Vernal Equinox, which he recently recorded for > ALEXANDER VARTY the esteemed New World Records label. “I’m just blown away by his interpretation and his

☞

GIRAFFAGE STAYS IN THE BE DRO O M >>> Until a few years ago, the term producer was—to those not attempting to make lo-fi garage band tracks—a sly insult. They were individuals who were unable to fund studio time or beg labels for an advance, or were, frankly, a bit shit. Now, the title is becoming less of a slur and more a mark of respect: a sign that a musician doesn’t need racks of fancy equipment to make top-class tunes. Case in point: Charlie Yin. Better known by his stage name, Giraffage, the 24-year-old wrote his first two full-length albums largely from his college dorm room at UC Berkeley. Along with a number of

2 bedroom

party-centric remixes of artists like R. Kelly, Janet Jackson, and TheDream, his records caught the ear of several notable electronic labels, as well as festival giants like Porter Robinson. Now, the youngster’s latest album—Too Real—has been included in Billboard’s list of the 25 most anticipated albums for fall. Despite that hype, he’s still choosing to work from his bedroom. “The barriers to entry to music— especially electronic music—are so low right now that any kid with a copy of Ableton, or anyone with access to the Internet who can pirate a copy of Ableton, is able to start writing,” Yin says on the line from

a tour stop in Madison, Wisconsin. “It’s a weird time, but I think it’s really cool. I use Ableton Live and have a few hardware synths, like the Yamaha DX7. It’s all I need.” That’s not to say that Yin’s production hasn’t progressed while he’s been holed up at home with boxes of takeout. First venturing into the world of music by writing bleepy, arcade-machine-esque chiptune songs under the name Robot Science, the artist made the transition into penning upbeat, sample-based tracks with choppy vocals and liberal use of an 808. On Too Real, Yin has transformed again, trading in his ripped loops

for wholly original content—a product of signing with Counter Records, home of Odesza, and using its larger resources to record vocal features himself. “I’d say this album is much more of a collaborative effort, because it’s less sample-heavy,” he says. “It was hard to make that shift to writing only my own music. But I think ultimately that once I did finish the album, I found a more true representation of myself as a person, because there were no external samples.” That freedom has allowed Yin to take his whimsical, atmospheric music—which still seems as if it would be entirely at home in a

computer-game soundtrack—in interesting directions. Returning to records he listened to in high school, the artist name-checks Interpol and the Strokes as subtle influences on the chord progressions or melodies, something a casual listener would doubtless miss. More apparent is Yin’s love of ’80s Japanese funk bands, fuelling songs like the lead single, “Green Tea”, and the dreamy “Slowly”. “It’s not a conscious thing, but I definitely was listening to a lot of international bands,” he says of his diverse palette. “‘Earth’ in particular was inspired by Yellow Magic see next page

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Orchestra, which is a ’70s Japanese band. They’re pretty influential in electronic music. Kraftwerk based a lot of their stuff on them, and a lot of the members went on to do really cool things, like Ryuichi Sakamoto, who did a bunch of soundtracks. I think that’s the beauty of electronic music, that you can slap together any sound that you want to. The possibilities are so much more endless than if I was just writing on an acoustic guitar.”

> KATE WILSON

Giraffage plays Fortune Sound Club on Friday (November 17).

Black Pistol Fire shoots for incendiary live shows Five albums into a career that

2 started to take shape around

2011, Black Pistol Fire’s Eric Owen and Kevin McKeown are learning there’s a payoff to keeping the faith. This past weekend, the duo ripped it up at the mammoth Voodoo Music + Arts Experience in New Orleans, earning a best-of-the-fest nod from Consequence of Sound. (Black Pistol Fire trumped the Killers, Foo Fighters, and Kendrick Lamar to take the top live-spectacle honours, the tastemaking site delivering the following rave: “McKeown crossed the finish line with jeans ripped in multiple places, a thoroughly dirtied (formerly) white T-shirt, a bloodied nose bridge and, doubtless, a slew of new converts, including all the video guys and security guards, who I overheard on multiple occasions gabbing excitedly about ‘the most amazing show’— truly, the exemplary festival set— throughout the rest of the weekend.”) On this side of the border, the justreleased Deadbeat Graffiti is building all-important traction on radio, the thumping “Lost Cause” catching on at stations from Nanaimo, of all places, to the Centre of the Universe. Over the

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A CINEMATIC MUSICAL EVENING FOR INDIVIDUALS OF FINE TASTE, WITH VANCOUVER TRIO GHAZM Taking place in a 120-year-old historic building, this musical event incorporates throat singing, Nintendo DS, a two-storey pipe organ, and electronic dance music. Nov 23, doors 6 pm, show 7 pm, 1130 Jervis. Tix $15, info www.weareghazm.com/. DON MCGLASHAN “Kiwi pop master” (Rolling Stone) and former Mutton Bird Don McGlashan makes solo Vancouver stop, presented by Rogue Folk and Cap Global Roots. Nov 24, 8 pm, St. James Hall (3214 W. 10th). Tix from $25, info www.capilanou.ca/centre/. RICK ESTRIN AND THE NIGHTCATS American four-piece electric-blues band, with guests the Twisters. Dec 1, doors 6:30 pm, show 7:30 pm, Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway). Tix $35 at the door/30 in advance (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Highlife Records, and www.riotheatretickets.ca/.

Charlie Yin, aka Giraffage, cites ’70s Japanese electronica as an influence.

line, iHeart Radio and Sirius have long been onboard, as have the folks who cherry-pick songs for placement in big-budget commercials. (Black Pistol Fire got invaluable exposure, not to mention a decent-sized cheque, when last year’s “Hard Luck” was used in a Toyota Super Bowl commercial.) Not bad considering that for the longest time, McKeown (who sings and plays guitar) and Owen (drums) couldn’t get arrested in their hometown of Toronto, which they eventually bailed on in favour of setting up shop in Austin, Texas. “We tried for years to get a Canadian label,” Owen says from his adopted home in the Lone Star State. “We tried to get Canadian management and a Canadian agent. We had all these big Canadian agents come see us one time to hopefully book us in Vancouver or Toronto and every one of them passed. It wasn’t just like they all said ‘No, thanks.’ They actually came to shows and, for whatever reason, we didn’t connect with them.” The drummer has a theory about why that might be. For the past dec> MIKE USINGER ade or so, the Canadian underground scene has been ruled by acts that fall squarely under the umbrella of indie Black Pistol Fire plays the Biltmore rock, whether you’re talking Wolf Pa- next Thursday (November 23). $38.75 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

$27.75 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

AMY SHARK Australian indie-pop singersongwriter tours in support of latest EP Night Thinker. Feb 26, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, The Imperial (319 Main). Tix on sale Nov 17, 10 am, $17.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

FOO FIGHTERS American rock band (“Monkey Wrench”, “Learn to Fly”) performs on its Concrete and Gold North American Tour 2017-2018. Sep 8, Rogers Arena (800 Griffiths Way). Tix on sale Nov 18, 10 am, at www.livenation.com/.

ALEX CAMERON Australian indie musician tours in support of latest release Forced Witness. Feb 27, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Fox Cabaret (2321 Main). Tix on sale Nov 17, 10 am, $16 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu Records, and www.ticketweb.ca/.

2THIS WEEK

PVRIS American rock band from Lowell, Massachusetts, performs on its North American Tour 2018. Mar 6, doors 6:30 pm, show 7:30 pm, Vogue Theatre (918 Granville). Tix on sale Nov 17, 10 am, $27.24 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. STEEL PANTHER American comedic glam-metal band tours in support of latest album Lower the Bar. Mar 16-17, doors 8 pm, show 9:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix on sale Nov 17, 10 am, $39.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. THE SUFFERS Houston-based soul band composed of Kam Franklin, Adam Castaneda, Nick Zamora, Patrick Kelly, Jon Durbin, Kevin Bernier, Michael Razo, and Jose Luna. Mar 18, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, The Imperial (319 Main). Tix on sale Nov 17, 10 am, $20 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

don’t miss out! For up-to-the-minute, searchable Music Time Out listings, visit

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ELEPHANT REVIVAL Colorado folkmusic group tours in support of latest album Petals. Feb 4, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, The Imperial (319 Main). Tix on sale Nov 17, 10 am, $25 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

AJR New York City-based indie-pop band tours in support of its latest release The Click. Mar 25, doors 6:30 pm, show 7:15 pm, Vogue Theatre (918 Granville). Tix on sale Nov 17, 10 am, $100/70/25 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticketfly.com/.

KIMBRA New Zealand pop singersongwriter tours in support of upcoming release Primal Heart, with guests Arc Iris. Feb 9, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, The Imperial (319 Main). Tix on sale Nov 17, 10 am, $26.50 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu Records, and www.ticketweb.ca/.

ALVVAYS Canadian indie-pop band tours in support of latest album Antisocialites. Apr 4, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix on sale Nov 17, 10 am, $22.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

THE SHEEPDOGS Saskatoon-based rock band tours in support of new album Changing Colours. Feb 16, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix on sale Nov 17, 10 am,

rade in Montreal, Broken Social Scene in Toronto, or Mother Mother in Vancouver. Since releasing an eponymous debut in 2011, Black Pistol Fire has created an unholy roar that sounds decidedly more American—think Jack White in a bare-knuckled barroom brawl with Led Zeppelin, Lead Belly, Otis Redding, and Bob Dylan. Those references are as valid as ever on Deadbeat Graffiti. Things start off all icky-thump drums and rocketlaunch guitars with “Lost Cause”, after which the men of Black Pistol Fire unleash their inner bluesman for “Speak of the Devil”, give grunge a gospel dusting on “Hearts of Habit”, and take garage to turbocharged extremes with “Don’t Ask Why”. “We wanted the record to have a lot more groove than our older albums,” Owen explains. “‘Speak of the Devil’ was one of the first things we did, and it made us realize that not all songs need to be mid-tempo or fast. It’s okay to sometimes slow things down a bit.” When it comes to hitting the stage, though, Black Pistol Fire tends to shoot for nothing less than the incendiary. There’s a reason people are talking. “We’ve known each other forever, and from kindergarten right until now Kevin was, um, wild,” Owen says with a laugh. “He was the guy that would jump off the roof of the building into the snow just because he wanted to get a rise out of people. More than anything, he just wants to entertain people. Before he’d break his arm. Now it’s all kind of been focused, with his energy getting out onstage. It’s funny—when a lot of bands play a show there’s a perception that there’s a big party afterwards with a bunch of people in the dressing room. For us, we’re basically fucking gassed after we play a show. Growing up, we played rugby. I don’t feel as bad as after a rugby game injurywise, but the exhaustion is definitely the same.”

LUKE COMBS American country singersongwriter performs on his Don’t Tempt Me With a Good Time Tour, with guest Ashley McBryde. Apr 23, doors 7 pm, show 8:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix on sale Nov 17, 10 am,

NOW SOCIETY 40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION The New Orchestra Workshop Society presents music by NOW Workshop Groups and pianists Kris Davis, Rory Cowal, and Lisa Cay Miller (Nov 15), Trading Places: Échange d’Improvisateurs (Nov 16), NOW Society Ensemble (Nov 17), and NOW Orchestra (Nov 18). Nov 15-18, 7-11 pm, Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre (181 Roundhouse Mews). Tix $10-30, info www.nowsociety.org/. A UKULELE NIGHT TO REMEMBER Ruby’s Ukes presents music by Ruby and Smith, as well as Ruby’s 70-Piece Ukulele Orchestra. Partial proceeds go to Ruby’s Ukes Ukulele Outreach. Nov 17, 7:30 pm, York Theatre (639 Commercial). Tix $25, info www.thecultch.com/events/ukulelenight-remember/. SPIRIT OF CANADA: A BENEFIT FOR JOHN MANN Benefit concert raises funds for Spirit of the West vocalist John Mann, who has early-onset Alzheimer’s. Includes performances by Spirit of the West, Odds, Barney Bentall, Dustin Bentall, Jim Byrnes, Kendel Carson, Jim Cuddy, Alan Doyle, Colin James, Sarah McLachlan, Ed Robertson, Shari Ulrich, and Spirit— The Next Generation. Nov 19, 7 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix from $100 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS FROM NEW YORK: JEREMY PELT QUINTET The newest of esteemed trumpet player and composer Jeremy Pelt’s musical projects, this young group has a unique chemistry that comes to life within each of Jeremy’s original compositions. Presented by Coastal Jazz. Nov 24-25, 8 pm, Frankie’s Jazz Club (765 Beatty). Tix $25, info www.coastaljazz.ca/.

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

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was honoured to appear with Esther Perel at Vancouver’s Orpheum Theatre a few weeks ago to discuss her new book, The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity. Questions were submitted on cards before the show—some for me, some for Esther, some for both of us—and we got to as many as we could during the event. Here are some of the questions (mostly for me) that we didn’t get to.

I’ve never slept with anyone. My current boyfriend has had sex with many, many partners. He knows I’m a virgin, but I’m worried. Any tips on how I can avoid performing like the amateur gay man that I am? Give yourself permission to be bad at it—awful at it, inept and halting and awkward. And remind yourself going in (and out and in and out) that whatever happens, this isn’t the last time you’ll ever have sex. Some people are good at sex right out of the gate, but most people need a little practice before they catch a groove. But nothing guarantees a bad first experience (or bad millionth experience) quite as effectively as faking it. Faking is always a bad idea—faking orgasms, faking interest, faking confidence—so don’t fake. Just be.

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in my mid-30s. Sometimes I want to bang it out in 30 seconds but my husband wants 45 minutes. What do we do? Your husband has a nice solo stroke

> BY DAN SAVAGE

session for 44-and-a-half minutes, up leaving your wife in order to meet and then you climb on top or slide some woman you can fuck. So the underneath for the last 30 seconds. thing she fears might happen if you open the relationship up is defi nitely I’m a 34-year-old woman. My going to happen if you don’t. 40-year-old boyfriend used to date his sister-in-law. One time he said he Do you believe the hype about thought it would be funny if I asked Vancouver being a hard place to date? her who was better in bed: him or his Any advice for a single lady searching brother. Is this weird or is it just a for a long-term hetero partnership? man thing? Everywhere I go—New York, Chicago, It could be both—a weird man thing— Toronto, Dallas, Los Angeles—I hear but seeing as your boyfriend asked the same thing: [Name of city] is a only once, he’s clearly not obsessed. uniquely hard place to date! I also meet The question presumably made you happily partnered people everywhere uncomfortable (which is why you’re I go, which leaves me disinclined to asking me about it), and here’s how believe the hype about Vancouver you shut it down if he ever asks again: or anywhere else. “This city is a hard “I could ask her who’s better in bed or I place to date!” is often said in frustracould go fuck your brother myself and tion by people who are doing something wrong—they’re sabotaging their report back.” relationships somehow (unresolved What do I do if my wife doesn’t personal issues, too many deal breakwant an open relationship and I do? ers, irrational expectations)—and We haven’t had sex in 11 years, but instead of working on their own shit, we are still in love and have two they’re blaming the city where they young children. happen to live. I don’t understand monogamous but sexless marriages. Because if your relationship is monogamously sexless, wouldn’t that mean you don’t have sex only with each other? Setting that aside aside….Your wife probably (and perhaps reasonably) fears that opening up your marriage could result in you leaving her for some woman you’re fucking. But if you’re unwilling to go without sex for the rest of your life, you’re going to wind

How does someone in a straight-presenting, long-term relationship come out as being bisexual/pansexual? Someone opens a mouth—preferably their own—and says the words “I’m bisexual/pansexual.”

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our relationship (it was open in the What’s the best-case scenearly years). My fear is losing control ario in the wake of an affair? of myself and falling for someone else. How can I explore opening the “People often see an affair as a trauma relationship without detonating it? from which there is no return. And indeed, some affairs deliver a fatal blow If you defi ne “falling for someone to a relationship,” Esther Perel writes else” as a bomb that has to destroy in The State of Affairs. “But others may your superfantastic LTR, and you inspire change that was sorely needinevitably catch feelings for someone ed. Betrayal cuts to the bone, but the you’re fucking, well, then you’ll have wound can be healed. Affairs can even to either refrain from fucking other become generative for a couple.” people or convince yourself that you Best-case scenario? Needed change can love more than one romantic and a regenerated connection. Since partner at a time. some relationships need to end, an affair that leads to a breakup—the affair Is there a way to compromise if that delivers the fatal blow—can also one partner wants kids and the other be regarded as a best-case outcome. does not? Back to Esther: “Because I believe that some good may come out of the There’s no such thing as half a kid— crisis of infidelity, I have often been at least a live one—so there’s no room asked, ‘So would you recommend havfor compromise here. Someone has to ing an affair to a struggling couple?’ give or someone has to go. My response? A lot of people have positive, life-affirming experiences I’m in a relationship that involves that come along with terminal illness. BDSM and Japanese-style bondage. But I would no more recommend havI often have marks left on my body: ing an affair than I would recommend bruising, scratches, rope marks, getting cancer.” etcetera. I am afraid my children The State of Affairs is required readand friends will notice. Any sug- ing for all couples, not just those struggestions for how to explain this to gling with the fallout from an affair. A people? I don’t want to wear long- relationship that should survive an afsleeve shirts for the rest of my life. fair is likelier to survive—and regenerate—if you’ve given the subject some Wear long-sleeve shirts and lie to your thought before it’s a crisis. kids—you’re taking a martial-arts class while they’re at school; you fell On the Lovecast, trans talk with Buck into a blackberry bramble—but tell Angel: savagelovecast.com. Email: your friends the truth, lest they think mail@savagelove.net. Twitter @fakedansavage. ITMFA.org. you’re in an abusive relationship.

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