The Georgia Straight - The Best of Vancouver - November 19, 2020 by The Georgia Straight

NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020 | FREE

Volume 54 | Number 2756

AN EYE-OPENING GUIDE TO A CITY THAT WON’T GIVE UP IN TOUGH TIMES

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Screening test increases chance of healthy pregnancy with IVF

(This article is sponsored by Olive Fertility Centre.) nna was 38 when she finally met her husband-to-be, John, and decided it was time to start a family. After trying for almost two years with no success, she asked her doctor to refer her to a fertility specialist. “I’d always dreamed of being a mom and now I was afraid that my time had run out. After talking to Dr Beth Taylor at Olive Fertility Centre, I felt like there might be some hope.” said Anna. After in-depth fertility testing, Anna discovered that she wasn’t producing an egg every month. Testing also revealed that her husband had some fertility issues. “Dr Taylor spent a long time with us discussing our fertility issues and what our treatment options were. I had a million and one questions, and she explained everything to me very carefully.” “A diagnosis of infertility (defined as the inability to get pregnant after one year of having unprotected sex) does not mean you can’t have a child,” explains Dr. Taylor. “There have been major advancements in the treatment of female and male infertility in the last few years and now the large majority of couples diagnosed with infertility will be able to get pregnant. In many cases the treatment is quite simple. But for couples that require a more high-tech approach, our success with in vitro fertilization

(IVF) has improved enormously.” IVF involves removing a woman’s eggs, fertilizing them in a lab with her partner’s sperm, and then placing the embryo back in the woman’s uterus. “Until recently we’ve only been able to judge the health of an embryo by its appearance. While we’re able to get good success rates with this approach, many embryos that look normal don’t implant or the woman has a miscarriage because the embryo isn’t chromosomally normal,” says Dr Taylor. However, a genetic test called Preimplantation Genetic Testing for Aneuploidy or PGT-A is allowing fertility specialists to determine with much greater accuracy which embryos in IVF have the normal number of chromosomes and are the most likely to result in a successful pregnancy. This test is of particular benefit for women age 38 and older like Anna who have a much higher chance of having an embryo that is chromosomally abnormal. The chan-

ces of a woman Anna’s age getting pregnant with IVF are less than 15 percent per cycle. With PGT-A—which involves screening the embryos for any chromosomal abnormalities and then choosing the healthiest embryo to put back into the mother’s uterus— the success rate for IVF is 75 percent even in women over 40 if a chromosomally normal embryo is identified. Given Anna’s age and diagnosis, she and John decided to have PGT-A

Fertility SPECIALIST

DR BETH TAYLOR ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS: Dr Taylor is co-founder and co-director of Olive Fertility Centre. She is a Clinical Associate Professor at UBC and an active staff member at BC Women’s Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital.

c DID YOU KNOW that 15 percent of couples will have trouble getting pregnant and that number increases to more than 50 percent if the woman is over the age of 39? The good news is that advances in fertility treatment have made it possible for most couples who are having difficulty conceiving to have a baby.

c WHEN SHOULD I GET MY FERTILITY CHECKED? 6 reasons to ask your Family Doctor for a fertility evaluation

c 1 You are < 35 and have been trying to get pregnant for 12 months or more;

c 2 You are > 35 and have been trying to conceive for 6 months or more;

They were lucky and one embryo was successfully transferred. “Even though CCS added about $4,000 to the cost of the IVF, we feel it was so worth it. We’ve been able to just enjoy the pregnancy without worrying about a miscarriage and knowing that the baby is almost certainly free of any of the chromosome disorders like Down syndrome that are more common with older moms. And we have a couple of healthy frozen embryos for a future sibling.” g

c 3 You have been diagnosed with endometriosis or have had a previous pelvic infection or sexually transmitted infection;

c 4 Your partner has a history of infection (e.g. mumps), injury or surgery on his testicles, or difficulty with erection or ejaculation, or he has been diagnosed with a sperm problem.

c 5 You have irregular menstrual cycles; c 6 You or your partner has a health problem such as diabetes or high blood pressure, or a history of cancer treated with radiation or chemotherapy.

YOUR CONSULTATIONS WITH A

fertility specialist as well as the initial investigations for infertility are covered by your BC MSP.

LEADERS IN FERTILITY CARE THANK YOU VANCOUVER! For voting for Olive Fertility Centre BEST FERTILITY CLINIC in Vancouver | 6 Years in a Row BEST LOCAL EMPLOYER in Vancouver | Top 3

O L I V E F E RT I L I T Y.C O M

NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

NOVEMBER 19 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 26 / 2020

CONTENTS 9

COVER

November 19 – 26 / 2020

Straight staff share their bests in politics, health, activism, arts, film, music, books, food, drink, LGBT issues, and city life. By Steve Newton, Charlie Smith, Craig Takeuchi, and Mike Usinger Cover illustration by Shayne Letain

BEST OF VANCOUVER

Beginning on page 11 and on different pages throughout this issue are boxes containing the results of readers’ votes in more than 170 categories for this year’s Best of Vancouver issue.

Decorate your Home for the Holidays

Start your Amaryllis and Paperwhites

27 REAL ESTATE

Heritage advocate Bill Yuen is hoping that the city pays as much attention to much-loved gathering spots as it does to old buildings. By Carlito Pablo

e Online TOP 5

e Start Here

36 29 39 28 31 30 32 37 38 35

ARTS ASIAN ADVOCACY CLASSIFIEDS FINANCE FOOD HEALTH LIQUOR MUSIC SAVAGE LOVE THEATRE

Vancouver’s News and Entertainment Weekly Volume 54 | Number 2756 1635 West Broadway, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1W9 T: 604.730.7000 F: 604.730.7010 E: gs.info@straight.com straight.com

CLASSIFIEDS: T: 604.730.7060 E: classads@straight.com

DISPLAY ADVERTISING: T: 604.730.7020 F: 604.730.7012 E: sales@straight.com

DISTRIBUTION: 604.730.7087

SUBSCRIPTIONS: 604.730.7000

PUBLISHER Brian Kalish FOUNDING PUBLISHER Dan McLeod EDITOR Charlie Smith SECTION EDITORS Mike Usinger (ESports/Liquor/Music) Steve Newton SENIOR EDITOR Martin Dunphy ASSOCIATE EDITOR John Lucas (Cannabis) STAFF WRITERS Carlito Pablo (Real Estate) Craig Takeuchi SOLUTIONS ARCHITECT Jeff Li

ART DEPARTMENT MANAGER Janet McDonald GRAPHIC DESIGNER Miguel Hernandez PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR Mike Correia PRODUCTION Sandra Oswald SALES DIRECTOR Tara Lalanne ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Glenn Cohen, Catherine Tickle, Robyn Marsh, Manon Paradis, David Pearlman

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

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More than 40 people test positive for COVID-19 after outbreak at Surrey gym. Martyn Brown: The strategic sweep of John Horgan’s historic election hustle. Laurie Edmiston: COVID-19 pandemic is risking an HIV resurgence. The Good Doctor will still film in city after costars’ positive COVID-19 tests.

Being the best for our members and employees is our greatest award.

@GeorgiaStraight

CONTENT AND MARKETING SPECIALIST Rachel Moore CIRCULATION MANAGER Giles Roy CREDIT MANAGER Shannon Li ACCOUNTING SUPERVISOR Tamara Robinson

Thank you for voting us the #1 Credit Union and the #1 Local Employer. We’re proud to be a part of this community.

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CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Brian Kalish SR. VICE PRESIDENT, TECHNOLOGY & ARCHITECTURE Anton Tikhomirov ACTING CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Igor Kostioutchenko

Make Good Money (TM) is a trademark of Vancouver City Savings Credit Union.

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The best way to support a community is to be part of it. Thank you Vancouver for voting RBC FIRST PLACE as the Best Financial Institution, and to our employees for all that you do.

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BEST OF VANCOUVER

Artist Jocelyn Wong painted this mural in Vancouver’s Marpole neighbourhood to send a message of love in an era dogged by global turmoil and all-around craziness. Photo by Vancouver Mural Festival.

The 25th annual Best of Vancouver marks a milestone for the Straight by Steve Newton, Charlie Smith, Craig Takeuchi, and Mike Usinger

ack in 1996, when the Georgia Straight produced its first Best of Vancouver issue, we never imagined that we would still be doing this 25 years later. But that first issue was such a success that it’s become an annual tradition. Regular readers know the drill. The public votes for its favourites, which are listed in the boxes throughout the issue. We congratulate all those who cracked the top three. And the writers have fun dishing up their bests in categories that weren’t in the online ballot, which was on Straight.com from late September to late October. Enjoy!

POLITICS BEST MACHIAVELLIAN MOVE OF THE YEAR

Snap election John Horgan’s decision to call a snap election in the midst of a pandemic was widely condemned as an assault on democracy. It violated the tradition of fixed election dates in this

BEST INDICATION THAT THE B.C. LIBERALS NEED TO CLEAN HOUSE

province and an agreement between the B.C. Green and NDP caucuses not to go to the polls until next year. Horgan also exploited the goodwill shown by the B.C. Liberals and B.C. Greens in supporting the provincial response to the pandemic. But this sneaky trick worked wonders for the premier, delivering the largest NDP majority in B.C. history. That’s because his opponents were so ill-prepared for the campaign. And their claims that Horgan was a scoundrel didn’t resonate with the voters on election day. BEST IMPERSONATION OF AN EARLY 20TH-CENTURY POLITICAL PARTY

B.C. Liberals Someone needed to tell the B.C. Liberals that the recent election campaign was taking place in 2020, not 1920. That’s because the party led by Andrew Wilkinson didn’t nominate a single woman in any of Vancouver’s 11 constituencies. Unbelievable but true. Under Wilkinson’s leadership, the party also nominated only one woman in all of the nine Surrey constituencies. This came more than 102 years after women obtained the right to vote in Canada. Jeepers creepers, as they used to say almost a century ago.

It wasn’t the defeat of a former Vancouver mayor, Sam Sullivan, in Vancouver–False Creek. Nor was it the downfall of another long-time B.C. Liberal, Jane Thornthwaite, in North Vancouver–Seymour. No, the biggest political upset in Vancouver and its inner suburbs in the past provincial election came in the former B.C. Liberal fortress of Richmond. That’s where the NDP captured three—count ’em, three—of the city’s four seats, marking the first NDP victories in this city since 1972. BEST PLACE TO LEARN ABOUT COUNCILLORS’ EXPENSES

City of Vancouver Open Data Portal Here you’ll find out which councillors charged taxpayers for Toronto Star subscriptions (Melissa De Genova and Pete Fry), who attended the Leadership Prayer Breakfast on the taxpayers’ dime (De Genova and Lisa Dominato), who submitted expense forms for Remembrance Day wreaths (Adriane Carr, Sarah Kirby-Yung, and Jean Swanson), who is getting the public to pay for their Compass card (Swanson) and their Zoom account (Christine Boyle), and who charged the city to participate in the Canucks Autism Network Pro-Am Hockey Tournament (Michael Wiebe). It’s all on display at https://opendata.vancouver.ca/explore/dataset/councilbudget-and-expenses/table/?sort=year.

NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020

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BEST BLUNTLY WORDED TWEET BY A POLITICIAN

from previous page

BEST ANTIDOTE TO UNEMPLOYMENT

Justin Trudeau’s wage subsidy One can only imagine how many of us would be without a job had the feds not stepped up to cover 75 percent of the pay of workers at so many companies in this region.

Vancouver Centre Liberal MP Hedy Fry issued this message to her constituents on April 26: “There’s a group of COVID-19 ‘deniers’ gathering in my constituency today. Keep your distance from these idiots. They are endangering lives. Last week, I wrote to the @VancouverPD warning about these walking public health hazards. Stay home. Stay well.”

BEST SIGN THAT LAND USE IS DISCONNECTED FROM INCOMES

Earlier this year, Liveable City Planning Ltd. prepared a chart showing that 63 percent of the land across Metro Vancouver is zoned for detached homes. Here’s the problem: fewer than five percent of families in Metro Vancouver can afford to buy a detached home. That’s because even with a 25-year mortgage and a 15 percent down payment, they would need an annual family income of $299,486. No wonder city council recently approved a four-storey, 81-unit rental building in Shaughnessy and another rental project in a single-family strip along Dunbar Street. BEST INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM BY A POLITICIAN

Vancouver East NDP MP Jenny Kwan discovered that B.C. only received 0.5 percent of the National Housing Co-Investment Fund expenditures over two fiscal years under the national housing strategy. Ontario gobbled up $1.39 billion to fund 59,228 units, whereas B.C. only received $7.3 million to fund 66 units. In light of this, is it any wonder that there have been so many tent cities popping up in Kwan’s riding?

HEALTH BEST REASON FOR SOLO DAILY DANCE PARTIES DURING THE PANDEMIC

BEST f INDIGENOUS DANCE CHOREOGRAPHER Many regular readers of the Straight are familiar with Dancers of Damelahamid, an Indigenous troupe led by executive and artistic director and choreographer Margaret Grenier. The Gitksan and Cree artist’s knack for juxtaposing traditional Indigenous dance into a compelling story illuminated with contemporary multimedia projections and soundscapes reached its zenith in the 2019 production of Mînowin. This month, Grenier’s lifetime of work received national recognition when she received the 2020 Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts. Awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts, it recognizes the highest level of achievement in professional artistry in music, theatre, or dance. It also reflects the importance of Indigenous dance from the Northwest Coast— and the role that Indigenous artists are having on helping to decolonize minds across the country. Photo by Chris Randle. g

BEST LOCAL RADIO MORNING HOST

STEPHEN QUINN AND GLORIA MACARENKO

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BEST REASONS TO STRETCH YOURSELF

With many of us working from home, and not being out and about as much as we used see next page

BEST LOCAL RADIO AFTERNOON HOST

Congratulations

A UBC-led national study found that after pandemic measures were implemented earlier this year, the biggest and most prolonged drops in physical activity among Canadians were found among everyday movements such as climbing stairs, walking around, and even standing up from a seated position. The solution? Implement ways, even scheduling movement breaks, to ensure you don’t stay stationary, especially if working from home. It’s not just for your physical health but for your mental wellbeing, too. And, if necessary, put on some music when you’re alone and dance like no one’s watching—because no one is.

NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020

to, or spending inordinate amounts of time binge-watching, something important to think about is how to maintain flexibility to counter prolonged sitting. There are plenty of online and livestreamed yoga classes to take in, including from local studios like Yyoga and Hot Yoga 101. If yoga is too challenging for you or not to your liking, an alternative to consider is stretching. Guided stretch classes, such as those offered by Stretch Therapy Vancouver, can lead you through a series of stretches that can help you counter muscle compression or stiffness without trying to pursue a specific pose. If willpower is the issue, you need to schedule them into your day as mandatory until it becomes routine. Stretching or doing brief yoga poses before and after work can provide a physical and mental transition period. For those suffering from stress or insomnia, releasing muscle tension through yoga or stretching, especially before bedtime, can also help you get better quality and deeper sleep. BEST UNANTICIPATED UPSIDE OF THE PANDEMIC LOCKDOWN

While the pandemic has caused extensive hardships for many people, something that did benefit from lockdowns was the natural world. With everything from vehicles prevented from driving through Stanley Park to airplanes being grounded at Vancouver International Airport, nature, wildlife, and our own health were all given a breather, with a reduction in everything from CO2 emissions to noise pollution to human presence and consumption. With the trajectory of the climate crisis, this may be something governments around the world may need to consider doing on a semiregular basis to save our world. BEST REASON TO THANK FRONTLINE WORKERS

Although people may not be doing the 7 o’clock cheer anymore, the next time you encounter a frontline worker, be sure to thank them for their efforts in the past, present, and future—because we’re going to be living with this pandemic for some time to come, regardless of whether or not a vaccine is available. With the roller-coaster ride of case numbers going up and down across the globe, with many unpredictable twists and turns to come, we need to be thankful for all the help we can get. BEST ARGUMENTS AGAINST ANTIMASKERS, CONSPIRACY THEORISTS, CHRONIC QUESTIONERS, AND THE LIKE

One of the most frequent arguments by those who oppose lockdowns, masks, and health measures is that the death rate is low. What can easily be pointed out—which they ignore—is that prevention is not just about the number of deaths. What is not reflected in death counts is how challenging symptoms can become. That’s not to mention the strange long-term side effects, such as fatigue or recurring symptoms, that aren’t fully understood. Also, if health precautions, including wearing masks, weren’t in place, the

death count would obviously be much higher—a low death rate reflects the effectiveness of preventive measures. Most of all, how is it that random citizens without any medical training, experience, or lab research work somehow have more knowledge, expertise, and acumen simply from reading content online than those who have been working in the field for years? Go figure. MOST UNEXPECTED LOCAL CELEBRITY DURING THE PANDEMIC

Nigel Howard As British Columbians tuned into to hear the latest updates from B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix, not only did they gain followings but someone else did as well. American Sign Language interpreter Nigel Howard, who translates Henry and Dix’s statements, also found a fan base (among both hearing and deaf audiences) and acclaim for his expressive communication skills. Because Howard (a UBC adjunct professor in linguistics) is deaf himself, he works with a hearing co-interpreter who translates what is said in sound into sign language, which Howard then translates into sign language complete with nuances, facial expressions, and other elements that nondeaf translators may not convey. BEST SHOW OF STRENGTH DURING THE PANDEMIC

Dr. Bonnie Henry While the popularity of B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry may not be what it was during the onset of the pandemic, she has shown resilience in the face of criticism and almost unprecedented challenges. Everyone from armchair critics, antimaskers, and conspiracy theorists to worried parents and teachers to irate business owners have been questioning her abilities, knowledge, and decisions. Yet she carries on with her calm demeanour to help us navigate through what is probably the most challenging crisis of our lifetimes. Although she works with a team of experts, she is the one who takes the brunt of the blame, including death threats. However, she has proven that leadership and strength can take forms other than what people may traditionally recognize, and that can include being kind, calm, safe, and empathetic.

BEST f CITY LIFE MORNING RADIO HOST

1. Stephen Quinn (CBC Radio One) 2. Johnny, Holly & Nira (iHeart Radio) 3. Kid Carson (Z95.3 FM)

AFTERNOON RADIO HOST

NEW REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT

1. The Amazing Brentwood 2. River District 3. Cambie Gardens

1. Gloria Macarenko (CBC Radio One) 2. Sutto & Vanessa (Z95.3 FM) 3. Lynda Steele (CKNW)

TECH COMPANY

LOCAL TV NEWSCASTER/ HOST

LOCAL STARTUP

1. Sophie Lui (Global B.C.) 2. Chris Gailus (Global B.C.) 3. Mary Cranston (Citytv Breakfast Television)

LOCAL EMPLOYER

1. Vancity 2. Skin Technique 3. Olive Fertility Centre

1. Vorum 2. Bench 3. Cystech Solutions 1. Bowen eBikes 2. Vessi 3. Pep & Pup

ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE COMPANY

1. Evo 2. Lush 3. Bowen eBikes

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BEST HASHTAG

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BEST EXAMPLE OF ANTISCIENCE LUNACY

On October 17, a dozen antimask activists berated passengers on a B.C. ferry for wearing face coverings to reduce the spread of COVID-19. This occurred shortly before a “Freedom Mega Rally” in Vancouver, where more antimask conspiracy theorists showed up to whine about the media and Dr. Anthony Fauci. Yes, it’s sometimes inconven-

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BEST f CITY LIFE LOCAL HERO

HOSPITAL

1. Dr. Bonnie Henry 2. Alphonso Davies 3. Dr. Tejpaul Bhatia

1. Vancouver General Hospital 2. B.C. Children’s and Women’s Hospital 3. St. Paul’s Hospital

LOCAL HEROES (GROUP)

UNION

1. Nurses 2. Regional Animal Protection Society 3. Health-care heroes

1. British Columbia Nurses’ Union 2. British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (tie) 2. Canadian Union of Public Employees (tie) 3. British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union

NEIGHBOURHOOD 1. Kitsilano 2. Commercial Drive 3. Mount Pleasant

COMMUNITY CENTRE

1. Kitsilano Community Centre 2. Britannia Community Centre 3. Creekside Community Recreation Centre

LOCAL POLITICIAN

1. 2. 2. 3.

Kennedy Stewart Christine Boyle (tie) Jean Swanson (tie) Melissa De Genova

from previous page

YOUTH ORGANIZATION

1. YMCA/YWCA 2. Urban Native Youth Association 3. Big Brothers/Big Sisters

B.C. GETAWAY DESTINATION

1. Whistler 2. Tofino 3. Victoria

PROVINCIAL POLITICIAN

1. John Horgan 2. Adrian Dix 3. Sonia Furstenau

FEDERAL POLITICIAN

1. Justin Trudeau 2. Jagmeet Singh 3. Jody Wilson-Raybould

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VISIT BEST OF VANCOUVER ONLINE AT STRAIGHT.COM

NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020

ient to wear a mask. But someone needs to inform these idiots that it’s more inconvenient being dead. BEST REASON A LACK OF QUALITY EDUCATION IS A PROBLEM THAT ENDANGERS EVERYONE

Antimaskers, conspiracy theorists, chronic questioners, and the like.

ACTIVISM BEST PROOF THAT GREENPEACE ROCKS

It was half a century ago that Joni Mitchell, Phil Ochs, James Taylor, and Chilliwack took to the stage at the Pacific Coliseum. It was a fundraiser, organized by lawyerturned-peace activist Irving Stowe, to be held on October 16, 1970, that would help to send a ship to protest a nuclear test to be held at Amchitka Island in Alaska. It was this effort that gave rise to the formidable force known as Greenpeace that has since gone global to fight for the benefit of everyone. And to this day, the beat still goes on… BEST INDICATION OF DAVID SUZUKI’S LONGEVITY

One of the longest-running TV series is CBC’s The Nature of Things, which celebrated the launch of its 60th season on November 6 with an episode that included climate activist Greta Thunberg and natural historian David Attenborough. The show has been hosted by

Vancouver-based David Suzuki (who is now 84 years old) since 1979. Then on November 9, the David Suzuki Foundation announced that Suzuki’s daughter, Severn Cullis-Suzuki, will become the executive director of the foundation in September 2021. CullisSuzuki, who is a speaker, author, and cultural and environmental activist, made her mark internationally when she gave her speech that “silenced the world for five minutes” at the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992 to address the adults of the world about the environment. BEST EVIDENCE VANCOUVER PRODUCES ICONIC BARRIER BREAKERS

Vancouver and British Columbia has produced no shortage of heroes who have shown that obstacles don’t need to stop you—you just keep going, no matter what. Environmentalist David Suzuki, who was caught up in the Japanese Canadian internment during the Second World War, and champion sprinter Harry Jerome, who was one of the few Black people competing in Canadian sporting events, overcame racial barriers and discrimination to achieve great successes. B.C.–based and Vancouver-educated Emily Carr, who now has a local elementary school and an art-and-design university named after her, was the only female artist of her time considered on par with the all-male Group of Seven from Ontario. Cancer amputee and athlete Terry Fox and Man in Motion accessibility activist Rick Hansen

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showed the world that disability does not stop a person from being physically active— quite the opposite, in fact. And Vancouver produced the first openly gay member of Parliament—Svend Robinson, who came out in 1988—and the first openly lesbian member of Parliament: Libby Davies, who came out in 2001. All of these individuals remind us that we need not let our identities limit us—they can, instead, propel us to succeed beyond anyone’s expectations.

ing the pandemic lockdown. The project had been planned well before COVID-19 reared its ugly head. With everyone stuck at home anyhow, the centre underwent its first makeover in 15 years. The $2.8-million renewal included the creation of a new 41-seat Studio Theatre microcinema for presentations to smaller audiences, a New Media Lab with virtual-reality headsets for interactive projects, a video wall, and a relocated concession stand.

BEST NATIONAL NOD TO A HISTORICAL FEMALE PIONEER FROM VANCOUVER

BEST REASONS TO PATRONIZE FILM FESTIVALS DURING THE PANDEMIC

Historica Canada released a Vancouverfilmed Heritage Minute on October 1—to mark the first day of Women’s History Month—about Vancouver’s progressive Elsie MacGill, who became the world’s first female aeronautical engineer at the age of 24 in 1929. Born in Vancouver in 1905, she studied applied science at UBC before becoming one of the first women admitted to the engineering program at the University of Toronto in 1923. She also engineered the Maple Leaf Trainer II, which was the first aircraft designed and produced by a woman. MacGill serves as an inspiration to everyone, proving that gender barriers are something we can all hope to soar above.

FILM BEST CINEMA MAKEOVER

The Vancouver International Film Centre timed its renovations perfectly: dur-

While film festivals have always offered lots of fresh content for filmgoers, that fact is of particular pertinence during the pandemic. If you’ve watched everything on your streaming service and anything else you can get your eyes on, numerous film festivals offer titles that haven’t hit theatrical or streaming releases yet. Plus, you can watch them from the safety and comfort of your own home so you don’t have to line up in rain, sleet, or…well, rain (this is Vancouver, after all). Currently underway is the European Union Film Festival, presented by the Cinematheque until November 29, and the Whistler Film Festival is approaching, running from December 1 to 20. BEST INDIGENOUS DOCUMENTARY

Secwepemc/Ktunaxa filmmaker Doreen Manuel’s extraordinary Unceded Chiefs explains how a group of First Nations leaders, including her legendary father, George Manuel, came together in an extraordin-

ary campaign to protect their Aboriginal title and rights in response to the federal government’s infamous 1969 White Paper. In this document, Pierre Trudeau’s cabinet called for assimilating Indigenous peoples and abolishing their collective legal rights. And Manuel’s film demonstrates how the chiefs’ intellect and resilience prevented that from occurring. “Today’s movements are only possible because of the struggles of these tremendous leaders,” writer Naomi Klein said in a video clip urging people to watch Unceded Chiefs. DARNDEST VANCOUVER-BRED DOGOODER DURING THE PANDEMIC

You never know what that sneaky Ryan Reynolds is going to do next. One minute you think everything’s gone to pot, then Reynolds goes and makes some huge donation or act of charity behind your back. Among the random acts of kindness he’s done so far are donating 300 parkas (plus boots, hats, mitts, and socks) for students at Inuujaq School in Arctic Bay, Nunavut; providing a public-service message about COVID-19 to reach young adults in B.C.; organizing a BIPOC trainee program for a Netflix film that he’s filming in Vancouver; donating $10,000 to the Canadian Professional Bartenders Association during lockdowns that closed pubs and nightclubs; and donating $1 million to food banks in Canada and the U.S. Although he has portrayed superheroes on-screen, it appears he has become one in real life.

BEST REMINDER THAT GOING FOR A HIKE ISN’T A WALK IN THE PARK

While most people have been sticking close to home during the pandemic, some individuals have ventured into the great outdoors for the first time. Unfortunately, some of those individuals have confused activities like hiking with going for a stroll on a Stanley Park trail. With water-related accidents and drownings increasing over the summer and numerous people getting into danger in remote areas, it has fallen upon search and rescue teams, comprised of volunteers, to save people from life-threatening situations that mostly could have been prevented had these individuals done their research and been properly prepared. The potential dangers in the natural settings surrounding Metro Vancouver should become readily apparent while watching the five-part documentary series Search and Rescue: North Shore on Knowledge Network, which began on November 10 and follows the valiant efforts of the volunteers of North Shore Rescue (NSR). What is also incredible is that the nonprofit NSR does not charge for its services and relies upon donations. After watching, you’ll never go hiking the North Shore mountains in flip-flops and shorts in the midafternoon ever again. BEST PLACE TO REKINDLE YOUR PASSION FOR FILM RENTALS

Sure, streaming services like Netflix and Crave are handy as hell in these pandemic

NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020

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times, but who else yearns for the halcyon days when you could actually hold a movie in your hand, admire the cover art, absorb the synopsis, then go hassle a grumpy clerk about whether it’s any good or not. You can still do that at Black Dog Video, one of Vancouver’s last two surviving video stores. The Commercial Drive outlet carries tons of cult, horror, foreign, doc, queer, Canadian, kids, and classic titles.

Where else are you gonna find everything from African Queen to Zombeavers?

BOOKS BEST VANCOUVER VERSION OF HERCULE POIROT

Dr. Annick Boudreau Vancouver author, playwright, activist, and comedian Charles Demers is best known across Canada for his frequent appearances

on CBC Radio One’s The Debaters. But few of those listeners are aware that the witty and very progressive Demers was dogged for years by obsessive-compulsive disorder. And that’s the inspiration for his new novel, Primary Obsessions, featuring a crimesolving West Van psychiatrist named Dr. Annick Boudreau, an expert in cognitive behavioural therapy. It’s replete with local references—everything from SkyTrain to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre pops up in the

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DIGITAL-TECH SCHOOL

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UNIVERSITY FOR POSTGRADUATE DEGREE

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book. To hell with colonial-era murder mysteries that so often miss the mark on probing the inner workings of the brain and refuse to shed light on the diversity of humanity. Bring on Dr. Boudreau—and Demers’s crackerjack dialogue—in our vibrant and multicultural 21st-century metropolis. BEST LOCAL PANDEMIC TRAVEL BOOK

Road Trips: Journeys in the Unspoiled Word North Vancouver writer Trevor Carolan’s erudite, rollicking, and compulsively readable new book offers an ideal antidote for anyone wallowing in the misery of the daily news run. It’s a tour of great escapes from as close to home as the Coast Mountains to the hillsides of Lisbon. Throw in tales of Carolan’s journeys to Jamaica, Nepal, Laos, and Ireland, and it adds up to a fabulous travel book. Of course, discretionary trips out of the country by plane nowadays are a no-no. But there’s nothing to stop you from taking in the world through Carolan’s eyes. AND THE OSCAR FOR BEST ART DIRECTION GOES TO…

Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History Eve Lazarus used to be a Vancouver Sun reporter before finding her muse as one of the city’s most engaging historians. And she brings her finely honed nose for news to her gorgeous new book, Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History. She has separated the text

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venue but you look 200 times cooler than the guy wearing the Big Bamboo muscle T in the Budgie’s Burritos lineup.

into six geographic areas—West End, West of Main Street, etcetera—each rich with tales on a wide range of topics, including a polka-dotted bungalow on the East Side, a Canada Post tunnel, and ghost murals in Chinatown. But what really makes Vancouver Exposed such a treasure is the book’s art direction. It’s a visual feast and an ideal holiday gift for anyone eager to learn more about the city’s past.

BEST NEW NOD TO SALTWATER CITY’S CANTONESE HISTORY

ARTS & MUSIC BEST ARTISTIC TENACITY SHOWN DURING A PANDEMIC

If this were a category in the annual Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards, the handsdown winner would be Donna Spencer, artistic producer of the Firehall Arts Centre. She was the first to stage live dance performances last summer to small audiences during the Dancing on the Edge Festival. The Firehall also hosted the live Pride Performance Empowers! series in the summer and then produced some plays this fall, including the world premiere of The Amaryllis, directed by Mindy Parfitt. It took a ton of work to ensure safety protocols were in place, plus a whole lot of guts on Spencer’s part to carry through. And it has bolstered the courage of others to host live performances since she blazed this trail in Vancouver.

BEST f PLACE TO AVOID BEING SPLASHED “Please wash hands after playful splashing.” As idyllic as John Hendry Park’s Trout Lake might seem, with almost four hectares of calm surface area and a shoreline swimming beach at the south end, danger lurks in its placid waters. We don’t mean introduced piranhas (as were found in a Nanaimo-area lake in 2019) but pathogenic strains of the Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacterium, which regularly forces wading and swimming closures every summer when its levels rise in tested samples (contact with E. coli by humans can result in skin and eye infections and gastrointestinal illnesses). The main culprit was thought to be waterfowl that forage on the shoreline of the former bog, but a 1994 test seemed to implicate seagull feces as the major source. Et tu, Jonathan? Photo by Janet McDonald. g BEST LIVE-VENUE PANDEMIC RESPONSE

Partly because of the fiercely independent guy who runs it, the Rickshaw might be the most beloved live venue in Vancouver. So when rooms across the city were forced to shut down due to COVID-19, the Downtown Eastside spot was arguably the place music fans worried about most. Virtually every other club in the city operates under the umbrella of a corporate overlord. At the Rickshaw, it’s owner Mo Tarmohamed who has kept the lights on for the past decade. If you’ve been deafened by Deafheaven, floored by Daughters, or had six Pabst

Blue Ribbons too many at Keithmas, you have Tarmohamed’s devotion to live music to thank. During lockdown, the Rickshaw’s commitment to Vancouver’s music scene has continued with livestreamed shows by the likes of Buckman Coe, Unleash the Archers, and Black Wizard. But the venue’s coolest initiative might be the way it’s gone all-in on merch, with Vancouverites stepping up with their credit cards as a way to support the club. We’re talking Rickshaw-branded tote bags, snapback hats, long-sleeve Ts, hoodies, and bandanas. Pick up an item at the Rickshaw website and you not only give back to the

The City of Vancouver announced on August 27 that a new public artwork was erected in Chinatown to honour Cantonese migrants. The neon sign, at 475 Main Street (between Hastings and Pender streets), was made by local artist Paul Wong and it illuminates Chinese characters. In Cantonese, it reads phonetically as “haam sui fow Wun goh wah”; “haam sui fow” translates to “saltwater city”, which is what the Chinese community called the city, and “Wun goh wah” is the phonetic translation of “Vancouver”. The site is historically significant as it is the former location of Vancouver’s city hall from 1889 to 1929. Wong developed Saltwater City Vancouver during his year-long residency “Occupying Chinatown” at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden in 2018 and 2019, a project commissioned by the City of Vancouver Public Art Program in partnership with the garden. His residency coincided with the City of Vancouver’s formal apology in April 2018 for historical discrimination against Chinese residents. BEST SHUTDOWN SILVER LINING

We all claim to love live music, but let’s admit that there have been times when we’ve been too f lat-out lazy to leave the house. That explains missing the Velvet Underground at the Retinal Circus, the White Stripes at the Pic Pub, and Travis Scott at the Waldorf Hotel. While the COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly brutal for venues like the Rickshaw, Vogue, and Biltmore—not to mention the artists who play them—there has been a small sliver of positivity. Pretty quickly, artists realized that when fans can’t come see page 18

BEST f MIND, BODY & SOUL FERTILITY CLINIC

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SPONSORED FEATURE: SiriusXM

You say you love holiday music, but how big is your playlist?

hances are you’re already starting to hear the old chestnuts – Jingle Bells, Silver Bells, maybe a bit of Holly Jolly Christmas – as we begin to celebrate an unusual holiday season. But, just because you’re used to hearing the same handful of songs every year doesn’t mean those are the only, or even best holiday songs out there. So many artists have tried their hands at holiday music, whether original songs or interesting takes on the classics, that you really don’t have to confine yourself to just Nat King Cole and the Chipmunks. There’s so much more to hear. SiriusXM has you more than covered this holiday season. Whether you’re streaming through the app or listening in your car, a SiriusXM subscription gets you access to 14(!) unique holiday channels, playing ad-free music 24/7. With so much to choose from, the service is a chance to shake up your holiday traditions and discover something new. Or, fall further in love with the sounds and styles that have defined your holidays past. It’s a great gift for anyone with that insatiable appetite for bells and stockings. Classical, country, Latin, Motown and soul, acoustic music, classic rock and even downtempo electronic chill-out vibes are just a few of the holiday genres to discover on SiriusXM, in addition to the traditional tunes you crave (found on the Holly, Holiday Traditions and Jolly Christmas channels). So, to expand your holiday music horizons, here are five off-kilter or newer music choices for this season.

James Brown: Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto Some of the best Christmas songs are in the soul and funk genre, even for those who say they don’t enjoy holiday songs. Just play James Brown, whose 1968 album Soulful Christmas is among his best, period. The same album features the debut of one of his most fiercely political anthems, Say It Loud: I’m Black And I’m Proud, and you’ll find Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto. Just listen to the Godfather of Soul exhort jolly old St. Nick not to forget about the kids in the inner city by reminding him “tell ‘em James Brown sent you” and try not to smile. Hear it on: Holiday Soul. Also playing: The Supremes, Jackson 5, John Legend, Boyz II Men and more. Darlene Love: Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) This song wasn’t always the modern Christmas classic it’s considered today. The only original song on the amazing 1963 album A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector (not the first

person we’d want a gift from, but you kind of have to ignore certain things to enjoy a lot of classic pop), it would make Darlene Love synonymous with the holidays over the last few decades. She’s performed the song every year since the mid-80s, first on Letterman and then on The View. It’s a perfect song of longing and cheer, the ideal holiday song mix. One of the few that stays fresh no matter how many times you play it. Hear it on: Holiday Soul, Jolly Christmas. Also playing: Gwen Stefani, Pentatonix and more. Holiday Chill-out This channel is more about the vibe than any specific song. If you still want to hear your favourite Christmas classics, from Jingle Bells to Nina Simone’s Chilly Winds, but don’t want to feel like you’re perpetually in line at Winners in December, this is the place to go. It’s downtempo electronic, deep house and trip-hop versions of all your favourite Christmas music, and it goes down so easy you can easily leave it on until December 25. Or even later, like with superstar Kaskade’s sultry version of New Year’s Eve standby Auld Lang Syne featuring Canadian

singer Alicia Moffett. It’s the right station to have on while sipping a hot chocolate under 14 or so blankets and the sweats you’ve had on since March. Also playing: Lost Frequencies, D.J. Style, Fink and more. The Ramones: Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight) Even the most formative punk rockers had a Christmas song or two in their repertoire (despite being Jewish, Joey Ramone actually has a full album of them). For those who like some power chords in their holiday cheer, this is a great one that hearkens back to both the Phil Spector-produced girl groups that the Ramones loved so much and their own revved-up classic Blitzkrieg Bop. It’s a bop itself, though one with a bittersweet underbelly: a song about putting aside your quibbles for one night of togetherness (whatever that might mean this year). Hear it on: Rockin’ Xmas. Also playing: The Kinks, Weezer, AC/DC, U2 and more Adam Sandler: The Chanukah Song As the Sandman will tell you, hearing so many Christmas songs every year – like say, 14 channels worth – can make the sad little Jewish kids feel left out. So he made the ultimate Chanukah song, one that claims all the fellow famous Jews for the children without Christmas trees. Hearing about the faith of Arthur Fonzarelli, hall of famer Rod Carew or all three Stooges never gets old, somehow, year after year. Not too shabby. Hear it on: Rockin’ Xmas and Radio Hanukkah

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BEST f CIVIL-RIGHTS RALLY

Juneteenth Freedom March On the 155th anniversary of the Emancipation Declaration being read in a Texas town that practised slavery, Vancouverites came out in force to express their desire for equality when civil-rights activists Nova Stevens and Shamika Mitchell organized the city’s first Juneteenth Freedom March. It included a lively procession from Jack Poole Plaza down Thurlow Street, with participants wearing T-shirts bearing such messages as “Love Black People Like You Love Black Culture” and “I Can’t Breathe”. The event concluded with an upbeat and family-friendly gathering at Sunset Beach, complete with music, stirring speeches, and a commitment to end 400 years of anti-Black racism in North America. Photo by Joy M. Kaegi Maurer. g from page 16

to them, they go to the fans. As a result, livestreamed shows have turned into a viable way for Dan Mangan, Jill Barber, and Veda Hille to continue to play music and connect with their fans—not just in Vancouver but beyond. The truly great thing? It doesn’t matter if you’re too lazy to get off the couch; that won’t stop you from missing out. Unlike that time you were too lazy to make the two-block walk to hear Orville Peck at the WISE Hall. BEST BOOST TO PUNJABI CANADIAN HISTORY

The B.C. government announced on September 3 that it would provide the Abbotsford Community Foundation with $1.14 million to create Haq and History: A Punjabi Canadian Legacy Project, with the University of the Fraser Valley’s South Asian Studies Institute (SASI) and

other partners. This project will help to enhance and correct public educational and historical records while highlighting contributions to British Columbia from Punjabi community members despite barriers such as discrimination and injustice. The project will include the digitization of South Asian–Canadian collections (including artifacts, photos, oral histories, and more) for an online digital archive; a travelling exhibition about South Asian–Canadian history; educational resources for B.C. schools; a public history book; and more. “A primary goal of the project is to improve the historical record of the significant contributions of Punjabi Canadians, with the goal to reduce racism while underscoring the value of B.C.’s diverse society,” SASI director Satwinder Kaur Bains stated in a news release. see next page

BEST WAY TO MIX CHRISTMAS AND KEEF FOR A GOOD CAUSE

One of Vancouver’s most anticipated Christmas concerts is Keithmas, held every year to celebrate Keith Richards’s birthday and raise much-needed funds for the Vancouver Food Bank. The gig always features the cream of the city’s rock ’n’ roots talent, with local legend Rich Hope leading the way, but this year’s lineup is still under wraps. Keithmas 2020 will be livestreamed from

the mighty Rickshaw Theatre on Friday, December 18. BEST WAY TO EXPERIENCE THE BACKWOODS VIBE OF MISSISSIPPI WITHOUT HEADING SOUTH

If COVID-19 has put the kibosh on your lifelong dream to drive down to Mississippi and lose yourself in the Delta blues, there’s a way to experience the authentic sound of that region without even bursting your social bubble. Robert Connely Farr is now

based in Vancouver, but he grew up in the small southern town of Bolton, Mississippi, home of Charley Patton and the Mississippi Sheiks. He was mentored in the Bentonia style of the Delta blues by the legendary Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, and that sound is tastily served up on his new album, Country Supper, currently available for download. BEST WAY TO BEAT THE BLUES

It’s a known fact that listening to the blues can help you beat the blues. It’s known to

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us, at least, and Steve Kozak proves the point on a weekly basis with his Wednesday Night Blues & Brews series at Pat’s Pub. Every hump night, the singer-guitarist hooks up with keyboardist Mike Kalanj, bassist Roger Brant, and drummer John Nolan for some down-home blues aimed at helping folks cope with the crazy times. Music starts at 6:30 p.m., safety protocols are in place, and there’s no cover. BEST WAY TO TAP INTO YOUR INNER VAN HALEN

1. Pacific Angler Fishing Charters 2. Bowen eBikes 3. G Adventures

The music world lost arguably the greatest rock guitarist of all time last month with the passing of Eddie Van Halen, who inspired countless millions to pick up guitars and play. If you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to hold a shiny new electric guitar in your hands, maybe now’s the time to find out. For those about to rock with $2,349 to blow, local musical-instrument specialists Long & McQuade can hook you up with an iconic EVH Striped Series Frankie—sporting Eddie’s famed paint job: red with black-and-white stripes. So even if you can’t play guitar worth beans, it sure will look like you can.

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BEST REASON TO BE THANKFUL FOR VANCOUVER’S CULINARY DIVERSITY

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in North American grocery-store chains. Familiar brand names like Lays offer unexpected flavours such as cucumber, fried crab, grilled wings, White Rabbit candy, tomato, numb and spicy hot pot (we’re afraid of the name of this one), spicy crayfish, and more. Special shipments have included sweet basil, Thai mieng kam krob ros, and—perhaps one of the oddest of them all—sakura and lychee carbonated yogurt drink. And you thought those Lays Canada contests with promotional flavours like butter chicken, poutine, and Maple Moose were unusual? Pffft.

your pandemic dining options may have been had you lived somewhere with only monocultural or heavily North Americanized food choices. That’s fine if you enjoy a particular cuisine. But Vancouverites can also appreciate the varied culinary offerings provided by immigrants who brought recipes from their homelands that might be otherwise be taken for granted. Though we may not be able to relish ceviche on a sunny seaside perch in Peru, slurp down a steaming bowl of ramen at a stall in Tokyo, or savour a freshly deep-fried, crepelike panipuri on a bustling Indian street, we can find equivalents here in our own city that conjure fond memories from trips abroad. While some may argue that diversity is our strength, diversity can also be delicious.

BEST STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING BARGAIN

You can blow $10 plus a tip on sticky toffee pudding for dessert in one of the popular restaurant chains. Or you can head over to Fresh St. Market and buy four to six succulent servings for a mere $8.49 without a tip. It’s a no-brainer for those looking to shave some bucks off their monthly restaurant bills. Save the dessert for when you get home.

BEST HOME-COCKTAIL WEAPON

One of the good things to come out of this most hellish of years is that, hopefully, you’ve gotten better at a few things. Gardening, baking, making sock monkeys, and playing home bartender. Mostly playing home bartender. If anything will continue to get you through the coming grim months, it’s liquor. A big secret of top-drawer cocktails is that the little flourishes pay off big-time. Think dehydrated lime wheels, lavender spice sachets, and lemon barrettes. Those can be a pain in the ass to source locally—assuming you’re not going the DIY arts-and-crafts route. One indispensable garnish that can be found hereabouts is cherries. Not the DayGlo maraschino variety that have ruined Christmas cookies since the 1950s but artisanal sour cherries that take an already great Manhattan to next-level brilliance. To that end, prepare to get hooked on Livia’s Brandied Sour Cherries. Each jar is hand-labelled, complete with a batch number. Cheap they aren’t: a 250 ml jar runs $15 at the Commercial Drive bakery. Incredible they are, to where you’ll down that Manhattan, Revolver, or Old-Fashioned in two swallows—not to dull the hurting but for the incredible prize waiting at the bottom.

BEST GROCERY-STORE BURRITO

BEST f NAUGHTY BAKERY

Punk Rock Pastries (5548 Hastings Street, Burnaby) Let’s face it: most bakeries are fairly predictable. Cakes and pastries are elegantly laid out behind glass windows, designed to impress upper-middle-class patrons. North Burnaby’s Punk Rock Pastries, on the other hand, isn’t afraid to shock, serving up erotic cakes and peep-show pastries for bachelor and bachelorette parties. “We do not do anything Keto, so don’t even ask,” heavily tattooed owner Hollie Fraser declares on her establishment’s website. The menu changes daily—you might show up one day and find sweets looking like insects—and it’s always nut-free. Plus, there are all sorts of references to local punk legends, including Burnaby’s own Joey Shithead, a.k.a. Coun. Joe Keithley. And Punk Rock Pastries earned its street cred last year, winning the fourth episode of The Big Bake on the Food Network. g BEST PLACE TO FIND FREAKIEST POTATO-CHIP FLAVOURS

When there’s not much else to do during the pandemic, take a visit to a T & T Super-

market. More specifically, saunter over to the potato-chips section. There you’ll find some of the strangest or most interesting (it’s all relative) flavours not available

If there’s any doubt, check out the lineups at the burrito bar at any Whole Foods Market. Pinto or black beans? Rice or no rice? These babies are made to order in a wrap or a bowl, offering zesty Mexican flavours in a jiffy. Just don’t make an issue over the lack of poppy seeds. This is not a company that appreciates poppies of any sort becoming a cause célèbre. BEST TIME TO GO GROCERY SHOPPING

If you’re trying to avoid being among crowds while shopping at grocery stores during the pandemic, the worst time to go is around meal times. If you do, you may have to get into a queue if a store has restrictions on the number of shoppers allowed inside at one time. But if you want to shop when relatively few people are around, try going about an hour or so before closing. That time period is often hassle-free and can be particularly empty at supermarkets such as No Frills, see page 22

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Character filled 3 bed, 2 bath charmer on a full-sized lot Main level fts. open living & dining room, updated kitchen (2010) w/ gas range, full bath, & good sized bedroom. Up you will find 2 more bedrooms & a full en-suite bath. Beautifully landscaped yard fts. garden beds w/ organic soil & mature raspberries There’s been many updates to the home over the past 10 years including new electrical, plumbing, windows (2011), high efficiency furnace & a re-built garage w/ insulated walls & ceiling that is heated & plumbed w/ hot water on demand. There’s also a brand new roof & skirting. SHOWINGS BY APPOINTMENT: Thurs Nov 19th, 4 - 6pm SHOWINGS BY APPOINTMENT: Sat Nov 21st, 2 - 4pm

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from page 20

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BEST PANDEMIC PRE-MONSOON PIT STOP

Even in normal times, November is for cocooning on B.C.’s famously wet West Coast. When you can’t get from the condo to the curb without looking like a wet–Tshirt contest winner, sometimes it’s better to play human hermit. The only problem is you gotta eat—and with times tight in 2020, using Skip the Dishes three times a day, seven days a week isn’t an option. Assuming you can read, you can either cook or you can learn to. The first step on that front is stockpiling supplies. Enter Westham Island Herb Farm at 4690 Kirkland Road in Delta. The Delta operation is famous as a Halloween-season destination for pumpkin obsessives. But those who make the yearly pilgrimage know there’s a store (open May to October) offering a bumper crop of farm-to-SUV produce. Think everything from kale and kohlrabi to spinach and swish chard. Potatoes come in burlap sacks with varietals including Kennebec, Warba, and yellow Sieglinde. Squashes range from sugar pumpkin and red kuri to French heirloom and Turk’s turban. You’re going out there anyway for jack-o’-lanterns. Load up, crack open The Joy of Cooking, and you won’t have to leave home until Christmas. Or summer.

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BEST EVIDENCE TWO-SPIRIT VANCOUVER IS IN VOGUE

BEST f TIK TOK GRASP FOR FAME

For a while this year, two twins from Surrey, Chris and Patrick Vörös, became the most famous B.C. residents this side of Pamela Anderson. It came after they responded with “Da Vinki” on Tik Tok to their own question: who painted the Mona Lisa? Six million views later and after enduring online ridicule worldwide, they told BuzzFeed that it was their intention to mispronounce the famous Italian painter’s surname. In fact, they deliberately give stupid answers to obvious questions to entertain their growing fan base. And you thought Alex Trebek was a Canadian icon. Photo by Da Vinki on Twitter. g BEST CHICKEN LOLLIPOP

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NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020

Indian restaurants as an appetizer. The chicken is cut loose from the bone, making it so very easy to gobble down. The tastiest local example of this Indo-Chinese dish can be found at Swad Indian Kitchen in West Vancouver. Honourable mention goes to Davie Street’s Mumbai Local.

Vancouver-based drag queen Ilona Verley competed in the inaugural season of Canada’s Drag Race. In doing so, Verley, who is a member of the Nlaka’pamux Nation and grew up in Surrey, became the first Indigenous drag queen to compete on the Drag Race franchise. Although Verley got the boot on the seventh episode, they went on to be featured in an August 31 Vogue article and has continued to stand up for marginalized or discriminated people, including murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls. Now that’s how you werk it. BRAVEST SHOW OF LGBT ALLYSHIP

Justin Morissette, a West End resident and SportsNet 650 producer and host, sought to protect LGBT people from evangelical street preachers who had been assembling and sermonizing in the West End’s historical LGBT–oriented Davie Village this past summer. When he confronted them on August 22 near Thurlow and Burnaby streets, he wound up with a broken leg. Vancouver police announced on October 22 that 42-year-old Dorre Love had been see page 24

NOVEMBER 19 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 26 / 2020

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from page 22

charged with aggravated assault. Sadly, Morissette may have to live with metal plates in his leg for the rest of his life. However, he has won the respect of all those who are seeking to stop discrimination and hatred. BEST PROOF OF LGBT PROGRESS

This past year, there hasn’t been any shortage of controversial anti-LGBT incidents that have raised concerns, from the stance of B.C. Liberal ChilliwackKent MLA Laurie Throness on LGBT issues to a vandalized West Vancouver rainbow crosswalk to a billboard expressing support for author J. K. Rowling, who had expressed views deemed transphobic. While these events are troubling and raise concerns about increasing right-wing activity, they also show how far LGBT movements have progressed. In addition, the response to

such incidents—Vancouver Pride banning the B.C. Liberals from the 2020 parade, followed by Throness’s resignation from the party and his subsequent defeat in the provincial election; the removal of the billboard sign; activist response and Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s expression of concerns about anti-LGBT street preachers in the West End—show how support for LGBT people is now widespread in Vancouver, which wasn’t the case even two or three decades ago. Ultimately, these events wind up galvanizing and reinforcing support for LGBT people, proving once again that love really does win. BEST DEMONSTRATION THAT WILDLIFE ENTERING CITIES DURING LOCKDOWNS IS NOTHING NEW

Honey, puh-lease—bears have been wandering around in the West End’s Davie Village for decades.

CITY LIFE BEST NUDE ZOOM-BOMBING

Adjusting to the pandemic’s new normal hasn’t been a smooth transition. Some of the most hilarious examples have come from Zoom-based chats on news shows. There’s the ABC reporter appearing dressed professionally in a sport jacket and collared shirt from the waist up but unprofessionally—sans pants—from the waist down, which he didn’t realize was visible in the frame. Then there’s the professor whose BBC interview was interrupted by his children marching into his office, then being dragged out by his wife. But one of the best is a homegrown video. Former Vancouver city councillor and urban planner Gordon Price appeared on Global News on October 28 for a Zoom interview about the city’s Climate Emergency Action Plan. Although he was using a digital background, it faltered because

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Regimental Museum of the B.C. Regiment Yes, there is a spectacular military museum in Vancouver, though most of the city’s residents are unaware of its existence. It’s hidden away on the second f loor of the British Columbia Regiment’s headquarters in the Beatty Street armoury. Here you can observe medals from the Crimean War, gas masks from the First World War, and captured Nazi propaganda leaf lets from the Second World War, as well as memorabilia see next page

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something was moving in the background. That something was Price’s husband—who was walking around naked. Although viewers didn’t get a view of the full moon (it was partially eclipsed) or the full Monty, it was still a sight to behold. No ifs, ands, or butts.

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from the Korean and Afghanistan wars. Weapons and uniforms date back to the 1800s. For anyone who spends time in this shrine, the sacrifices made by our veterans are truly palpable. Here’s a fun fact: this regiment, formerly known as the Duke of Connaught’s Own, was once commanded by Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan before he entered politics. BEST MISSED OPPORTUNITY FOR A CELEBRITY COUPLE TO BECOME LOCAL RESIDENTS

The city was in a tizzy when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were said to be considering real estate in Vancouver in which to reside, including a house in Kitsilano. Then the pandemic hit, and while everyone was distracted, the couple relocated to Los Angeles. However, our loss is our peace of mind: had they chosen to live here, we’d see a regular influx of British paparazzi staking them out. BEST NGO EFFORT TO LEVEL THE HOLIDAY PLAYING FIELD

One of the legacies of colonialism is our Christian-centric list of statutory holidays in B.C. We get Christmas off work, but not Diwali. Good Friday is on the list but not Vaisakhi, Eid, or Passover. And the government deems that Victoria Day, celebrating

a long-dead British monarch, is worthy of a holiday but not National Aboriginal Day or Lunar New Year. Over at HUB Cycling, executive director Erin O’Melinn decided to shake up this status quo to demonstrate that her nongovernmental organization respects all faiths, religions, and backgrounds. As a result, HUB Cycling will no longer force staff to take four days of holidays during the Christmas season in its next fiscal year. Instead, staff will have five paid days off that they can take at any time during the year to celebrate their festivals and traditions. It’s yet another demonstration that decolonization can take many forms. BEST PROOF OF THE EAST-WEST DIVIDE

There’s a long-entrenched line of thinking that there are two Vancouvers living under one Lotusland umbrella. West of Main Street, you have the crème de la crème of the city: doctors, lawyers, and tech geniuses who’ll fight tooth and nail to make sure all SkyTrain lines are underground, major roadways are designated for cyclists only, and halfway houses end up on the edge of the Grandview Cut. And then you’ve got the common, compassionate rabble on the East Side. Need proof that there are two Vancouvers? Ask yourself how long Strathcona Park’s tent city would last if it relocated to Queen Elizabeth Park. Exactly. g

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BEST f ARGUMENT AGAINST EARLY PAROLE For the intolerant among us, ex-prisoners being released into the community isn’t exactly a positive. But sometimes the hysteria is justified, and that includes concerns about the four-legged free-for-all going on at Jericho Beach. Spend 30 seconds or so in the park and you’re going to spot rabbits. Small ones, large ones, some black, some white—all with roots that trace back to Europe. Which is to say, they aren’t from around these parts any more than Burnaby Lake’s red-eared slider turtles or the Fraser Valley’s American bullfrogs. While insanely cute, Jericho Beach’s critters are invasive European rabbits and their numbers have been mushrooming since the first colonizers arrived at least 15 years ago. Pet owners get tired of cleaning rabbit cages and decide it’s better for all concerned to go the wild-release route. Except the former inmates upset the ecosystem by chewing the crap out of trees, starting with the bark. Thinking about releasing your European rabbit into the great wide open? As any proud Kits conservative will tell you, sometimes it’s better for the community if an inmate stays behind bars for the full life sentence. Photo by Mike Usinger. g

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THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020

BEST OF VANCOUVER

Heritage goes way beyond the look of buildings

by Carlito Pablo

laces tell stories. Often, these are tales about people and the times they lived in those settings. This is the reason why people feel deeply connected to certain places. It also explains the human desire for some of these stories to live on. As Heritage Vancouver executive director Bill Yuen tells its, places represent meanings to people. “For us, it’s really important to be able to help people understand those meanings so that they can understand the city better,” Yuen told the Straight in a phone interview. Although the traditional view of heritage focused on historic and architecturally notable buildings, he noted that this approach has evolved into a broader understanding. This change is reflected in the new Vancouver Heritage Program approved by city council on March 10, 2020. The updated VHP is based on six guiding principles, and one of these is “cultural heritage”. A staff report to council drew from a framework by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on what heritage entails. UNESCO’s definition of cultural heritage cites the “legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that

been home to various cultural groups and their social histories. Usually overlooked, these areas have been and are important footholds for many immigrants to start economic life in Vancouver.” ST. PAUL’S HOSPITAL

Bill Yuen, executive director of Heritage Vancouver, says older storefronts like this one on Kingsway are often much-loved gathering spots that are extremely significant to different cultural groups.

is inherited from past generations”. Cultural heritage is not limited to tangible things like buildings, historic places, monuments, and artifacts. “It also includes lived expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants,” the city

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staff report noted, quoting UNESCO. These intangible aspects of cultural heritage include “oral traditions, performing arts, social manners, rituals, celebrations, practices and knowledge and techniques related to traditional handcrafts”. Yuen said he has heard some people say that their heritage is “not a Victorian building”. He said heritage can take many forms, and it could be an economic activity or something as specific as a type of food. “But a lot of these things happen in places,” he said. “They happen in buildings, and there is a connection there.” Yuen added that a broader understanding of heritage fits in good urban planning. “When we grow the city and when we develop, at least from my perspective, we don’t start from a blank slate,” he said. According to him, new development should enhance what is already in place “so that the history comes out or the things that are meaningful about a place come out stronger”. The Straight asked Yuen to list some of Vancouver’s noteworthy heritage. Here, in his own words, are four examples. OLDER STOREFRONTS ON MAIN STREETS LIKE KINGSWAY

“While many may be considered unremarkable in appearance, older storefronts on main streets like Kingsway can be critical to communities. Simply because they are older, they can be more affordable for neighbourhood businesses and services. These are significant social spaces, much-loved gathering spots, and places selling goods and services we rely on for daily needs. In addition to being important for the diversity of retail and services at more affordable price points, areas on arterials like Little Saigon, South Hill, Punjabi Market, and Greektown have

“As a highly public place since 1894, St. Paul’s Hospital has a significance for Vancouver that goes far beyond the historic building. It plays a large role in the local economy, with many businesses relying on St. Paul’s for a large amount of their business. Over the years, St. Paul’s has also become an important fixture in local public memory. Whether it is the memory of a hospital experience, the annual Lights of Hope celebration, or St. Paul’s important role on the frontlines of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Vancouver, St. Paul’s presence in the West End is deep. Its move will be consequential. How will new development address the void St. Paul’s will leave in the West End and how can the historic building be used to present the meanings of St. Paul’s are important questions.” HEATHER LANDS

“More details of the Heather Lands project were released recently. As a partnership between the Musqueam Indian Band, Squamish Nation, Tsleil-Waututh Nation (MST) and the Canada Lands Company, the recent update starts to show how the ‘enduring recognition of the culture, traditions and values of the MST’ will be reflected in the design. It is especially important to have more areas in the city where we can have an experience through place, the cultures, values, and traditions of the MST nations. Also of note is the fate of the historic Fairmont Building. Once a school, a hospital, and the RCMP headquarters, different groups attach different meanings to the building. For First Nations, it is a painful one. As city council instructed staff to explore relocation of the building— whether it will be moved and, if so, how the various histories, including the significance of reconciliation, will be reflected—is an important heritage question.” MACLEAN PARK HOUSING PROJECT

“Because of the tendency to associate heritage with age, postwar-designed buildings are not generally considered heritage. The MacLean Park project stands in contrast to the traditional heritage styles of Strathcona and expresses a design philosophy rooted in modernism with its use of concrete, simple geometric forms, and separation of people from streets. Importantly, this housing project is a physical reminder of 1960s urban renewal. This project was one of three built to house displaced residents from the planned demolition of Strathcona—Hogan’s Alley was demolished in order to build the freeway.” g

NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020

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BEST OF VANCOUVER

Great newsletters offer insights to savvy investors

by Charlie Smith

plained why that wouldn’t have any earthshattering impact on the housing market. Ramlo and Berlin were right. In the November issue, the rennie review forecasts that demand will decline toward the end of 2020 and into 2021, in part because of weak supply, which makes it harder for first-time buyers to enter the market. On the upside, this could lead to lower prices—finally.

or the finance component of this year’s Best of Vancouver issue, we’re shining a light on some of the city’s best newsletters dealing with tech, real estate, and investments.

BEST TECH UPDATES

Vancouver Tech Journal Every week, writer and consultant William Johnson sends his “Sunday Briefing” into people’s email inboxes, rounding up the newest developments in Vancouver’s tech sector. It’s extraordinarily comprehensive, with links to various articles elaborating on the key points in his summaries. The November 1 issue had an open rate of 40 percent and a click rate of 17 percent, which is stellar in comparison to other newsletters. If you want to know what’s really going on in the provincial economy, you need to stay up with the developments in high tech— and Johnson makes this easy. Keep in mind that B.C.’s high-tech sector posted revenues of $34.7 billion in 2018, up 9.2 percent from the previous year, according to the B.C. government. In the same year, wages in this sector climbed an impressive 6.2 percent. BEST WEEKLY UPDATE ON ECONOMY

B.C. Economic Briefing Central 1 deputy chief economist Bryan Yu’s weekly report offers a comprehensive rundown of macroeconomic issues in an easily digestible format. The highlights are presented up top for those who don’t want to spend two to four minutes reading the document. Yu also includes a couple of charts to demonstrate where things are now compared with in the past. Then he runs through major factors affecting overall economic performance. From November 9 to 13, for example, he highlighted the deceleration of household-consumption growth, robust growth in services consumption, investment in residential housing, a dismal trade picture, and a huge increase in investment spending. “Rising COVID-19 cases in the fall and win-

BEST INVESTMENT NEWSLETTER (RETIRED)

Business consultant and writer William Johnson enjoys shedding light on lesser-known stories emerging from Vancouver’s rapidly growing innovation sector in his Vancouver Tech Journal.

ter months will pause the recovery phase observed since May, but growth is forecast to reach about four per cent in 2021,” Yu wrote. Bravo to Yu for fitting all of this within a mere eight paragraphs. BEST APARTMENT NEWSLETTER

The Goodman Report The father-and-son team of David and Mark Goodman and the third principal at Goodman Commercial Inc., Cynthia Jagger, produce an exceptionally well-written and well-edited newsletter that’s largely devoted to the apartment sector. The Goodman Report’s advocacy for less government intervention in the real-estate market might not sit well with tenants’ groups, but there’s no disputing how informative this newsletter is when it comes to sales activity, rent collection, vacancy rates, and insurance. Every once in a while, the Goodman Report will publish how much rents vary within a single building for a similar unit—like a one-bedroom apartment—along with the net annual profit being generated by the owner. Is it any wonder that Goodman Commercial Inc. is the reigning kingpin of rental-apartment building sales in this region?

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BEST RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE NEWSLETTER

The rennie review Are you a data nerd? Then this monthly publication by demographic expert Andrew Ramlo and economist Ryan Berlin is made for you. Earlier this year, the rennie review provided the most comprehensive analysis of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s decision to tighten mortgage-eligibility rules—and then ex-

Linde Equity Report When it comes to rating investment newsletters, the gold standard is the Hulbert Financial Digest. And it ranked the Linde Equity Report as its top performer from 2005 to 2015. Produced by Vancouver-based Linde Equity, this newsletter achieved a 24.4 percent annualized average price gain from May 3, 2000, until May 3, 2020, with its recommended U.S. stocks and American depository receipts (ADRs). Unfortunate for the newsletter’s many fans, publisher and portfolio manager Teal Linde wound down the newsletter earlier this year to focus more attention on the company’s clients. But what a glorious run it had for so many years. g

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BEST OF VANCOUVER

Asian Canadians stand up to battle COVID-19 prejudices

by Craig Takeuchi

nti-Asian racism simmering in Vancouver has escalated during the pandemic. The Vancouver Police Department’s crimestatistics report released on October 27 revealed that anti-Asian hate-crime incidents increased by 138 percent this year from last year. Several Asian Canadian organizations, including the Vancouver Asian Film Festival, released a national report that stated that more than 600 incidents of anti-Asian racism were reported from seven provinces during the pandemic. And B.C. had the largest number of reported incidents per capita in North America. Victims have included those mistaken for being Chinese or East Asian. With all that in mind, here are some things to consider about Asian Canadian communities during the pandemic.

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BEST EXAMPLES OF PROACTIVE HEALTH COMPLIANCE

Asian Canadians were among the first to voluntarily respond to the pandemic by abandoning shopping malls and restaurants and donning masks before being asked to do so. Is it any wonder that Richmond, with its prominent Asian population, has had the lowest case numbers in the Lower Mainland? From January 1 to November 5, Fraser North reported 2,409 cases, Fraser South had 5,867 cases, and Vancouver had 3,600 cases while Richmond only had 434 cases total. In June, Henry revealed that the virus had largely been brought into B.C. by travellers from Europe, Eastern Canada, and Washington state—not Asia. BEST PROOF THAT ASIAN CANADIANS AIN’T GONNA TAKE IT

Local awareness campaigns to counter discrimination, involving screen stars such as Ludi Lin, Steph Song, Tzi Mah, John Cassini, Gabrielle Miller, Benjamin Ratner, and more, have been launched, such as Hamazaki Wong’s Health Not Hate and the Vancouver Asian Film Festival’s Elimin8hate. Back in May, North Vancouver–Lonsdale MLA Bowinn Ma articulated how Canadian rocker Bryan Adams’s rant about the pandemic arising from “some fucking bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards” encourages anti-Asian prejudices. As she pointed out, “nobody is safe when hate crimes are allowed to thrive”. BEST SIGNS THAT OTHERS AIN’T GONNA TAKE IT EITHER

Politicians from Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart to B.C premier John Horgan have denounced these attacks. Several nonAsian people have been involved in antiracism campaigns and others have attempted

NDP MLA Bowinn Ma’s response on Twitter to musician Bryan Adams’s rant went viral.

to stop racist attacks, including a woman who sustained injuries while defending two female Asian bus passengers from a racist verbal assault in April. BEST LOCAL SUPPORT OF CHINESE CANADIAN HISTORY

Amid all of this, the provincial government has made it clear where it stands. The B.C. government announced on July 16 that it will provide $10 million in funding for a Chinese Canadian museum in Vancouver, which will be the first of its kind in Canada. Meanwhile, the exhibit A Seat at the Table: Chinese Immigration and British Columbia, which explores Chinese Canadian history through culinary culture and restaurants, will open at the Museum of Vancouver on November 19.

Mid-Century

Vintage

BEST EVIDENCE OF HISTORICAL ASIAN CANADIAN LOYALTY TO CANADA

Victoria-born veteran George Chow recently died on November 6 at the age of 99. He was among the approximately 600 Chinese Canadians who served Canada during the Second World War. Chow fought for the liberation of France, and France honoured him with its highest order of merit: the Légion d’honneur. Meanwhile, November 11 marked the 100th anniversary of the Japanese Canadian War Memorial in Stanley Park, which was dedicated on April 9, 1920, to the 222 Japanese Canadian men who answered the call of duty for Canada in the First World War and the 54 men who died in the conflict. g

ATTIC TREASURES

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At tictreasuresVancouver.com We buy and sell locally NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

BEST OF VANCOUVER

BEST f MIND, BODY & SOUL SPA GETAWAY

1. Scandinave Spa Whistler 2. Sparkling Hill Resort 3. Kingfisher Oceanside Resort & Spa

DAY SPA

1. The Vanity Lab 2. Willow Stream Spa at Fairmont Pacific Rim 3. Skin Technique

PRIVATE GYM

1. Ron Zalko Fitness & Yoga 2. Equinox Fitness Club 3. Gold’s Gym

SPIN STUDIO

1. Ride Cycle Club 2. Spin Society Cycling Studio 3. SoulCycle

BARRE STUDIO

HEALTH-SUPPLEMENT STORE

1. Popeye’s Supplements Kitsilano 2. Body Energy Club 3. Finlandia Pharmacy & Natural Health Centre

SKINCARE CENTRE

HAIR SALON

1. Suki’s 2. Sukh Hair Salon 3. Brush Salon

BARBERSHOP

1. Kona’s Barber Shop 2. Barber & Co 3. Hair By Maxim

LASH AND BROW STUDIO

1. Prép Beauty Parlour 2. Frilly Lilly 3. Blink Brow Bar

YOGA STUDIO

PEDICURE/MANICURE

1. YYoga 2. Yoga West 3. Oxygen Yoga & Fitness

1. Beyond Nails 2. Yaletown Nail Spa 3. BigFeet

NONSURGICAL MAKEOVER

WAXING STUDIO

1. Stripped Wax Bar 2. Bare Wax 3. Frilly Lilly

Computer Systems Technology Diploma Attend our virtual info session on Dec.1 to learn more about the two-year Computer Systems Technology diploma. Join B.C.’s growing information technology sector by learning from local industry professionals. Become a mobile app programer, computer programmer, and network administrator. VCC offers small, supportive classes and competitive tuition fees. Next program starts in May 2021. Register for the info session at vcc.ca/infosession

vcc.ca/technology

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

by Carlito Pablo

1. The Skin Care Centre 2. The Vanity Lab 3. Dermapure

1. The Bar Method VancouverYaletown 2. Pure Barre 3. Barre Fitness

1. The Vanity Lab 2. Dermapure 3. West Dermatology

Richmond teen gets a celeb thank-you for face shields

NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020

Richmond resident Sean Uy received a letter from New York governor Andrew Cuomo thanking him and others for donating face shields during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

anadian teen Sean Uy did not expect a letter from a powerful person in the U.S. It came from Andrew Cuomo, governor of the state of New York. He wrote to thank the former student at J. N. Burnett Secondary School in Richmond, B.C. Cuomo wanted to express his “sincere appreciation” for the face shields Uy sent to “help keep New Yorkers safe” from COVID-19. “I am forever grateful,” the New York governor told the young man. When the pandemic spread last spring, Uy began making face shields with his two 3-D printers at home. At the time, he learned from an uncle, who is a doctor in the U.S., that personal protective equipment was in short supply in America. In addition to New York, once the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., Uy’s face shields went to Texas, North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington. He also gave to hospitals and care centres in Metro Vancouver. “I just wanted to help,” Uy told the Straight in a phone interview. Uy is now 18 years old and a student at BCIT. He is taking an aircraft-maintenanceengineer program at the college’s Aerospace Technology Campus in Richmond. The young man is of Filipino descent, with Chinese heritage. He and his family moved here from the Philippines in 2005. Uy recalled that he was surprised and happy when Cuomo’s letter came this November. In April this year, the Straight reported about J. N. Burnett students who were making face shields and ear savers, a mask accessory. Uy and Christopher Lam started at their respective homes. Lam later asked if the school’s 3-D printers could be used. School

principal Wennie Walker supported the idea and contacted the Richmond school district to get more printers. Lam, Uy, and another student, Adriano Carvalheiro-Nunes, then continued with the school-based project. They were supported by technology teacher Wes Bevan and other school staff. “There’s so many things that I’ve learned,” Uy said about his experience. Uy also noted that he had “never made something so many times over and over and over”. “I really learned a lot about editing designs and making my production more efficient,” he said. It also introduced him to people outside Canada, in the U.S. and Europe, where he connected with them regarding technical and supply matters related to 3-D printing. “This has really grown my circle of who I can reach out to now,” Uy said. Uy said that he and others helping with the 3-D printing have stepped back from production now that supply from manufacturers has caught up with demand. When the COVID-19 pandemic started, Uy recalled, people were panic buying because there were limited supplies. “I thought of it as a way to kind of fill in,” he said about why he and his friends started making face shields and other personal protective equipment. Uy said that back in April, Cuomo was among those to whom he sent face shields in New York. “That means he really remembered,” Uy said about getting the note from the governor. In his personally signed letter, Cuomo described Uy’s compassion for New Yorkers as an “extraordinary gesture”. “This experience has taught me so much,” Cuomo wrote, “but the vast generosity and kindness of people—near and far—is what continues to inspire me.” g

BEST OF VANCOUVER

Three new brunch spots with international culinary twists

by Craig Takeuchi

BRUNCH 1147 Granville Street Our list—nay, our lives—would be incomplete without this one, launched in May, where West Coast faves cozy up with Mexican recipes. Traditionalists can opt for pancakes, French toast, and crêpes, or the Breakfast Sandwich with scrambled egg, bacon, and cheddar on a croissant or ciabatta. Hungry for sun-splashed vacations? Try the huevos rancheros (refried beans and sunnyside egg on a tortilla), molletes (grilled cheese and refried beans on ciabatta), or the popular enchiladas suizas (corn tortillas filled with cheese or chicken in green salsa). Order your caffeine fix and 10 percent of sales go to a nonprofit helping Mexican kids with cancer.

GROCERY STORE

FRESH SEAFOOD STORE

1. Fanny Bay Oyster Bar and Shellfish Market 2. 7 Seas Fish Co. 3. The Lobster Man

1. Whole Foods Market 2. Safeway 3. Save-On-Foods

SPECIALTY GROCERY STORE

ith brunch being a perfect fit for the West Coast approach, here are three or our favourite brunch spots in Downtown Vancouver that opened up over the past year. (Check options for takeout or delivery.)

PALATE KITCHEN 848 West Hastings Street This class act opened in the Financial District on February 8, courtesy of Pallet Coffee Roasters. The high-ceilinged, split-level space offers distancing room while staying social. Brunch staples get Euro touches: Palate Breakfast pleases with two eggs, bacon, sausage on toast, baked beans, and more while the brisk Fjord marries Nordic-style cured salmon with whipped cream cheese and avocado on sourdough. Cinnamon French toast with mascarpone praline, berries, and meringue? Yes, please. Beyond brunch, chef Khalid Kahya casts a Moroccan sway over lunch, with kefta tagine (two poached eggs atop meatballs in tomato sauce) and the 24-Hour Lamb sandwich (ultratender lamb with fried egg and greens on sourdough). Save room for the meal-cleansing Palate Tiramisu.

BEST f FOOD & DRINK

BUTCHER

1. Windsor Quality Meats 2. Hotro 3. Columbus Meat Market

1. Meinhardt Fine Foods 2. Urban Fare 3. Bosa Foods

PLACE TO PICK UP PREMADE DINNER

PRODUCE STORE

1. Kin’s Farm Market 2. IGA 3. SPUD

1. Whole Foods Market 2. Body Energy Club 3. Urban Fare

SPECIALTY CHEESE STORE

MEAL-KIT DELIVERY SERVICE

1. Les Amis du Fromage 2. Blue Heron Cheese Shop 3. Benton Brothers Fine Cheese

ONLINE ORDERING AVAILABLE

The simply named Brunch offers traditional breakfast staples alongside Mexican dishes.

NOAH’S CAFÉ 572 Davie Street At this pop-up that grew permanent roots, the yoshoku (Japanese takes on western food) menu includes sandos (sandwiches) with egg katsu, deep-fried ebi (shrimp), or chicken karaage deconstructed hamburger steak and onsen egg on bread, snf Japanese breakfast—grilled mackerel with rice, miso, salad, and pickles. Hawaii appears in loco moco: a sunny-side-up egg on either hamburger steak or sous-vide pork-loin cutlet over rice. Check out the Napolitan spaghetti with smoked ham in a spicy tomato dashi sauce, or uni (sea urchin) cream pasta with shrimp, baby scallops, and uni sashimi. For the full-meal deal, board Noah’s Ark, a weekly special platter of tongue-tickling delights. Who says you can’t have it all? Answer: your stomach. Ah, but that’s what repeat visits are for, right? See you next Sunday. g

1. HelloFresh 2. Fresh Prep Vancouver 3. Goodfood

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1423 Continental St. • O pen Everyday 11am-6pm NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020

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BEST OF VANCOUVER

Liquor steps up to make things a bit better

by Mike Usinger

s services go, it might be the most essential of all, especially when one considers the number of people who’ve chosen to access it. When historians look back at the great COVID-19 pandemic, they’ll note that liquor gave us a big reason to get out of bed in the morning—even with the screaming hangovers. Booze didn’t make this the best of years—the only thing that will salvage 2020 is a total redo. Still, it helped on multiple fronts. When British Columbia locked down in the spring, liquor distribution was promptly declared an essential service, to the point where store hours across the province were extended rather than reduced. Remember March and April when—as you adjusted to working from home—happy hour started at 2 p.m.? Making your daily Margarita, Painkiller, or Squashed Strawberry Alley Cat possible were your friendly neighbourhood liquor store clerks. Almost unbelievably, politicians at all levels of government stepped up. Think about how, ever since the first Model T Ford rolled across the border, British Columbia bureaucrats have worked tirelessly to keep the province drier than Death Valley in the Nevada Desert. Remember when you couldn’t buy a beer anywhere on a Sunday? Or how the world was invited to the 2010 Olympics, and then told liquor stores would be closing at 7 p.m. nightly to avoid people having too good of a time? And how the Symphony of Fire was seen as a valid excuse for police to rummage through the backpacks of you and everyone you know for the Devil’s brew? How attitudes have changed. As locked-down folks began looking to escape their 360-square-foot condos and East Vancouver garden suites, North Vancouver and Port Coquitlam greenlighted drinking in public parks and plazas.

Takeaway cocktail kits from places like Juju’s Drink Shack have helped us get through what has been a trying year. Everyone from politicians to distillers have realized we’re all in this together.

In Vancouver, elected park board officials voted to allow concession stands to sell beer, cider, and coolers and to make it okay for Vancouverites to bring their own liquor bottle to public spaces—no brown bag required. (Side note—want to send up a flare that you’re drinking in the park? Make sure you’re drinking out of a brown bag.) The only problem there? That would be drinking in public in Vancouver still has to be approved by the B.C. Liquor Control and Licensing Act before we can finally move into the, um, 19th century. That’s supposed to happen sometime next year. Until then, Parisians will continues to crack open the Beaujolais on the Seine in Paris. Cubans will enjoy Mojitos on the Malecon. But show up on the seawall with a can of Stanley Park Brewing Windstorm Pale Ale and you’d better bring a brown

bag. Even though everyone will know exactly what you’re doing. At least Vancouver’s civic officials are finally trying. As opposed to asking “What would Mauritanians do?” More immediately impactful was the B.C. provincial government approving liquor delivery to those shut in at home. Braver imbibers were also allowed to hit restaurants for takeaway cocktail kits. Suddenly, even if you didn’t know a Mai Tai from a Moscow Mule, you could easily fool those in your bubble. All you had to do was spring for a Juju’s Drink Shack tiki kit featuring rum, house-made mixer, and garnish. Whipping up a coconut-and-banana Daiquiri was easy after popping into Dachi on East Hastings. And Roots and Wings Distillery left amateur mixologists locked

and loaded with DIY kits for everything from Sidekick Sours to Gin-Ya-Ritas. Craft distillers and brewers across the province were amongst the first frontline workers to step up during the pandemic. Odd Society, Parallel 49, Sons of Vancouver, Wayward, Ampersand, Ironworks, and Long Table were among those who began producing much-needed hand sanitizer. If only scoring yeast, flour, and toilet paper in those early days had been so easy. One of the biggest dawn-of-the-pandemic liquor challenges in Vancouver was figuring out how to accommodate those most at home when out on a barstool. COVID-19 hit the liquor-service industry hard—bars and restaurants quickly accepted that the rules for public gatherings needed to change overnight. For the first couple of months, that meant closing the doors to wait things out. But eventually, resiliency and ingenuity won out. Once again, government officials stepped up. In May it was announced that cafés and breweries could claim street parking and sidewalks for pop-up patios— boosting seating capacity while maintaining social distancing. As a result, to sit on Commercial Drive with a Good “Old Fashioned” Lockdown at Bar Corso suddenly made Vancouver feel a little bit like Paris. Fabled cocktail haunts like the Keefer got creative, setting up in an adjacent vacant lot (complete with mini golf course) during the summer, and constructing “cocktail pods” (think wooden mini-walls, complete with what looks like a ship’s porthole, every couple of seats) for the fall migration inside. As for what lies ahead, that’s easy—a winter rougher than most thanks to a virus going nowhere anytime soon. At least we’ve got a coping strategy. God bless you, liquor, for all you’ve done to make Vancouver life a little less anxiety-ravaged in 2020. Now pass the bottle. g

BEST f FOOD & DRINK RESTAURANT WINE SELECTION

HOTEL BAR/LOUNGE

1. Hawksworth Restaurant 2. Tutto Restaurant & Bar 3. Elisa

B.C. WINE/WINERY (RED)

1. Mission Hill Family Estate 2. Burrowing Owl Estate Winery 3. Quails’ Gate

B.C. WINE/WINERY (WHITE)

1. Mission Hill Family Estate 2. JoieFarm Winery 3. Dirty Laundry

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

1. The Lobby Lounge at the Fairmont Pacific Rim 2. Reflections: The Garden Terrace at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia 3. Opus Bar at the Opus Hotel

WINE BAR

1. Salt Tasting Room 2. UVA Wine & Cocktail Bar 3. Grapes & Soda

COCKTAIL BAR

1. The Keefer Bar 2. The Diamond 3. Pourhouse

NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020

LOCAL DISTILLERY

BEER BREWED OUTSIDE B.C.

1. Long Table Distillery 2. Odd Society Spirits 3. The Liberty Distillery

1. Steam Whistle 2. Guinness 3. Sleeman’s

LIQUOR STORE

BREW PUB

1. Legacy Liquor Store 2. New District 3. JAK’s Beer Wine Spirits

WINE STORE

1. Liberty Wine Merchants 2. Marquis Wine Cellars 3. Legacy Liquor Store

1. 2. 2. 3.

R&B Brewing Steamworks Brewing Co. (tie) Yaletown Brewing Co. (tie) 33 Acres Brewing Company

LOCAL BREWERY

1. R&B Brewing 2. 33 Acres Brewing Company 3. Granville Island Brewing

LOCALLY BREWED BEER

1. Dat Juice (Twin Sails Brewing) 2. 33 Acres of Sunshine (33 Acres Brewing Company) 3. Red Racer IPA (Central City Brewers + Distillers)

BEER STORE

1. Brewery Creek Craft Beer & Wine Store 2. Legacy Liquor Store 3. JAK’s Beer Wine Spirits

PUB

1. CRAFT Beer Market 2. The American Bar 3. The Junction

BEST OF VANCOUVER

Le Crocodile chef awarded top food honour by France by Charlie Smith

WINNER

BEST COMMUNITY CENTRE

The Kitsilano Community Centre Association would like to express heartfelt thanks to our Program Instructors, Park Board staff, our volunteer Association Directors, and the amazingg voters who made this possible. We will keep workingg hard to give you the best programs and services in the City.

Authentic Greek Food Extensive Wine & Bar List

23RD Annual

2020

France’s consul general for Western Canada gave the Ordre du Mérite agricole to Michel Jacob.

e Crocodile chef-owner Michel Jacob isn’t a newcomer to winning awards. After almost 30 years at the helm of his elegant French dining establishment in downtown Vancouver, he has scooped up numerous honours. This year, for example, Georgia Straight readers voted Le Crocodile as the city’s most romantic restaurant in the annual Best of Vancouver issue. And it came second in the fine-dining category behind Osteria Savio Volpe. Le Crocodile has won the best French restaurant a multitude of times in the Straight’s annual Golden Plates Awards,

which are voted on by readers each spring. But this month, Jacob picked up an honour of a different sort. For his mastery of gastronomy, the Strasbourg-born chef was named an officer in the Ordre du Mérite agricole by the French government. France’s consul general for Western Canada, Philippe Sutter, bestowed this prize on Jacob for showcasing the best of French cuisine using ingredients from his home country and the West Coast since Le Crocodile opened in 1983. “To this ambassador of the art of eating, we say ‘merci’!” Sutter declared in a private ceremony on November 1. g

2690 Larch St., Vancouver, BC (604) 257-6976

1830 Fir St. Vancouver 604.736.9559 apolloniagreekrestaurant.com

@kitsilanocc Jointly operated by the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation & the Kitsilano Community Centre Association

(CLOSED MONDAYS) DINE-IN SERVICES • THE PATIO IS OPEN 4:30 - 9:30PM TUESDAY – SUNDAY

BEST f FOOD & DRINK FINE DINING RESTAURANT

LOCALLY OWNED RESTAURANT

1. Osteria Savio Volpe 2. Le Crocodile 3. Hawksworth Restaurant

1. La Mezcaleria 2. Nightingale 3. Robba da Matti

NEW RESTAURANT

VEGAN-FRIENDLY RESTAURANT

1. MILA 2. Tutto Restaurant & Bar 3. Lunch Lady

RESTAURANT GROUP

1. Cactus Club Cafe 2. Glowbal Restaurant Group 3. Earls Restaurant

ROMANTIC RESTAURANT

1. Le Crocodile 2. Cactus Club Cafe 3. Seasons in the Park

RESTAURANT PATIO

1. Tap & Barrel 2. Cactus Club Café 3. Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House

1. MeeT Restaurants 2. MILA 3. Heirloom

BRUNCH

1. Café Medina 2. Jam Cafe 3. Yolk’s Restaurant and Commissary

FOR A QUICK AND HEALTHY LUNCH

1. Tractor Everyday Healthy Foods 2. Freshi 3. Field & Social

POKE

1. Westcoast Poké 2. Pacific Poke 3. Pokérrito NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

BEST OF VANCOUVER

Strathcona restaurants assist sex worker haven

by Steve Newton

SBIA head Theodora Lamb says it is “critical” to support small Strathcona organizations.

he Dine Strathcona initiative will showcase the neighbourhood’s culinary scene and raise funds to support vulnerable individuals in the Downtown Eastside. From November 18 to 30, participating establishments will offer a feature dish, with $1 from each order going to the WISH Dropin Centre, a longtime refuge for street-based sex workers dealing with poverty, homelessness, trauma, and violence. “Small businesses and organizations like the WISH Drop-In Centre are at the heart of this neighbourhood,” says Strathcona Business Improvement Association executive director Theodora Lamb on the SBIA web-

Vancouver,

youo’re sweet! s

T hank You for voting us Vancouver’s favourite ice cream

1485 Frances St

1829 Quebec St

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

3992 Fraser St

127 West 1st St Nor th Van

NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020

site, “and it’s more critical now than ever to show our support for them. Dine Strathcona allows residents and visitors alike to do just that—make a positive impact in the lives of those who live and work in the district while also enjoying safe dining experiences at the many incredible cafés, restaurants, and small businesses that call Strathcona home.” This year’s participating restaurants and dishes include Ask for Luigi (fried cauliflower and chickpeas, $15), Axum Ethiopian Restaurant (vegetarian combo, $15), Belgard Kitchen (Wagyu bavette steak, $26), Container Brewing (rarebit; small $8, large $14), Dosanko Restaurant (wild-mushroom doria, $20), Harken Coffee (Japanese vegan

curry, $13), Hastings Mill Brewing Company (chicken tacos, $13), HoliDrink Cafe (pegobo noodle and HoliDrink spicy ginger, $25), LanaLou’s Restaurant (cheeseburger and fries, $13), Luppolo Brewing Company (funghi pizza, $17), Pallet Coffee Roasters (grilled cheese, beverage, $10), Railtown Cafe (Winter Kale salad, $12.75), Strathcona Beer Company (Margherita pizza, $17), SuperFlux Beer Company (roasted cabbage with beef and duck Bolognese, $17), the Garden (mushroom bowl, $12), and the Uncommon Cafe (green cheese-and-yam pizza, $11). Participants have implemented safety and distancing measures, and dishes are also available for takeout and delivery. g

ARTS

Rochon’s Pathetic Fallacy gets real about the weather by Charlie Smith

BEST f ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT PERFORMING-ARTS FESTIVAL

COMMUNITY FESTIVAL 1. 1. 2. 3.

1. PuSh International Performing Arts Festival 2. Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival 3. Vancouver Fringe Festival

DANCE STUDIO

PROFESSIONAL DANCE COMPANY

1. Harbour Dance Centre 2. iDance Studios 3. Dance Co.

1. Ballet BC 2. Kidd Pivot 3. Company 605

LITERARY FESTIVAL

1. Vancouver Writers Fest 2. Jewish Book Festival 3. North Shore Writers Festival

THEATRE COMPANY

1. Arts Club Theatre Company 2. Touchstone Theatre 3. Pacific Theatre

CLASSICAL MUSIC ENSEMBLE

THEATRE OR DANCE VENUE

1. Vancouver Symphony Orchestra 2. Turning Point Ensemble 3. Hard Rubber Orchestra

1. Queen Elizabeth Theatre 2. Orpheum Theatre 3. Stanley Theatre

CLASSICAL VOCAL ENSEMBLE

PRIVATE ART GALLERY

The Chop’s co-artistic director, Anita Rochon, became fascinated by our relationship to weather while researching Pathetic Fallacy, which explores a performer’s feelings about the climate crisis.

n one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays, King Lear runs into a storm to express rage against his daughters. When Vancouver theatre artist Anita Rochon first learned about this scene back in high school, she concluded that the nasty weather in King Lear was a stand-in for human emotion. The apocalyptic storm was a “pathetic fallacy” in which Shakespeare was attributing human emotion to a nonhuman entity in nature. Later, as an adult in a state of high anxiety about climate change, Rochon once again started thinking deeply about the weather. “I thought at this very particular moment in time, if we were to attribute emotions to the weather, what would the weather be feeling?” Rochon tells the Straight by phone. “What would this weather be saying—the current weather we’re living in?” That, in turn, led her to write a theatrical production, Pathetic Fallacy. It explores the emotional impact of climate change through a performer in front of a green screen who follows instructions on a video monitor. Another monitor shows the performer which images are being projected on the green screen, replicating what a TV weather forecaster sees on-air. Except in this production, it’s not just maps and cloud formations popping up as images on the green screen. “The piece has a bunch of different things, like historical information, a classical painting, and clips from weather forecasts from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s,” Rochon says. “Then there’s a video of me: a recorded version of me engages with the real-time performer.” Rochon, coartistic director of the Chop theatre company, calls Pathetic Fallacy a touring work with no performer on tour.

That’s because performers live where the show has been presented, including at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Australia’s Darwin Festival. On November 25, Rumble Theatre will present the Vancouver premiere of Pathetic Fallacy. On opening night, Electric Company Theatre cofounder Jonathon Young will take on the role of the performer in front of the green screen. He’ll be followed on successive nights by actors Arggy Jenati, Aryo Khakpour, Omari Newton, and comedian and writer J D Derbyshire. Rochon says that having a meaningful conversation with each performer during the show has provided her with insights into how people feel they should behave in response to the climate crisis. In addition, she’s learned some things about how they teach their children and how they interact with their communities. “Part of the joy of the piece is it’s very different, day to day, depending on who the performer is,” Rochon says. “And I hope it’s also not didactic. There are no starving polar bears.” Bob Dylan once sang that you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. Rochon, on the other hand, has a great appreciation for meteorologists after extensively researching weather in advance of writing Pathetic Fallacy. “It was through kind of breaking down the history of weather—and the history of our relationship to weather—to bite-sized pieces that it made me able to kind of fall in love with the weather in a new way,” Rochon says. g

Italian Day (tie) Car Free Days (tie) Greek Day West 4th Avenue Khatsahlano Street Party

1. Ian Tan Gallery 2. Ayden Gallery 3. Rennie Collection at Wing Sang

1. Chor Leoni Men’s Choir 2. Vancouver Chamber Choir 3. musica intima

PUBLIC ART GALLERY

MUSEUM

1. Vancouver Art Gallery 2. Richmond Art Gallery 3. Museum of Anthropology at UBC

1. Museum of Anthropology at UBC 2. Vancouver Art Gallery 3. Museum of Vancouver

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Festival Funders:

Hotel Sponsor

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Rumble Theatre presents the Chop’s production of Pathetic Fallacy from November 25 to 29.

NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

ARTS

Chutzpah! fest boss scoured the world for talent

by Charlie Smith

he show will go on. Despite a border closed to all but essential travel, Jessica Mann Gutteridge has still succeeded in programming an eight-day cultural smorgasbord from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel. And the former lawyer has pulled this off even though she became artistic managing director of the Chutzpah! Festival: The Lisa Nemetz Festival of International Jewish Performing Arts less than a month before a pandemic was declared. “It’s been challenging but exhilarating,” Gutteridge tells the Straight by phone. “I have had to learn new skills. I have had to meet new people and develop new working relationships. “I have been extremely lucky to have built a phenomenal team that’s supporting this work, including our livestream director, who is filling a new role that we never had to address before but is going to make everything happen smoothly and beautifully.” Gutteridge has even achieved symmetry by presenting two comedy, two dance, two theatrical, and two musical events. This reflects the festival’s 20-year history of interdisciplinary programming. Most will take place via livestream, but

Chutzpah! Festival artistic managing director Jessica Mann Gutteridge assembled a worldwide roster of comedy, dance, theatre, and musical acts in just a few months. Photo by Tallulah.

a small audience will be present for two shows: the world premiere of Idan Cohen’s Hourglass dance piece and the closing night comedy show, both from the Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre. “We’ve set up a new way of entering and exiting the space so that we have a physically distanced flow and people won’t be crossing paths,” Gutteridge says. Each live and simulcast event will be hosted by comedian and podcaster Iris

Bahr from Los Angeles. “She will be interviewing the artists and moderating our postshow discussions with the audience, as well as performing her own show,” Gutteridge notes. The festival will open on November 21 with singer-songwriter Ben Caplan. The next day sees two theatre works in progress. Old Friends, a solo piece by Vancouver native Tamara Micner, revolves around a famous Simon & Garfunkel concert.

Shtumer Shabes (Silent Sabbath), by Rokhl Kafrissen, focuses on a lost script of a play performed in Warsaw in 1938. On November 23, Ella Rothschild’s dance work, Pigulim, will be presented from the Tel Aviv Dance Festival. The following evening, Israeli jazz pianist Guy Mintus will perform songs from his new album, A Gershwin Playground, via livestream. “I’m actually so excited about all of our artists,” Gutteridge says, “because they’re all such engaged, thoughtful, warm, and accessible kind of people.” She describes herself as a “Jewish New Yorker”. When she moved to Vancouver six and a half years ago, she didn’t have any connection to the local Jewish community. “But one of the first things I saw was a big poster advertising the Chutzpah! Festival and immediately felt at home here,” Gutteridge reveals. “I’m glad that Jewish arts and culture has a strong presence here in the Vancouver arts scene and the Canadian arts scene. And I am happy that I get a chance to continue to promote that work in this community.” g The Chutzpah! Festival runs from November 21 to 28, live at the Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre and online.

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MULTIMEDIA

MUSIC

Thank you

for continuing to embrace genre-bending art from around the world with us

by Featuring Jonathon Young Nov 25 Arggy Jenati ti Nov 26 rbyshire Nov 29 Aryo Khakpour Nov 27 Omari Newton Nov 28 JD Derbyshire November 25-29 at 7:30 pm Tickets - pay what you decide at rumbletix.org

Online or Live in the parking lot at PL1422 1422 William Street, Vancouver Unceded Coast Salish Territory

Rumble Theatre acknowledges the financial support of the Province of British Columbia

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020

MUSIC

Legendary local shredder keeps busy during pandemic by Steve Newton

BEST f ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

LOCAL FILM FESTIVAL

1. Adrenaline Professional Body Piercing & Tattoos 2. Rain City Tattoo 3. Birthmark Tattoos

MUSIC FESTIVAL

1. 2. 2. 3.

1. Vancouver Folk Music Festival 2. TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival 3. West 4th Avenue Khatsahlano Street Party

INDEPENDENT MUSIC LABEL

1. Coax Records 2. Boompa Records 3. Zulu Records 1. 2. 2. 2. 3.

“but there are benefits from being online. Just certain video things, file-sharing, and documentation. And there’s also travel time that’s kind of erased for both parties. You normally gotta drive, you gotta park, it’s raining all the time. If you can cut that right out, it’s worth its weight in gold sometimes.” One job that’s kept the upbeat picker busy of late was recording a guitar solo for his friend, mentor, and former tourmate Joe Satriani. The Bay Area guitar god’s latest project, Stripped x Three, collects the music from three Satriani albums but with all the guitar solos removed so players can add their own to the full backing tracks. Martone chose to solo over “Premonition”, the opening cut from 2010’s Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards, because that was the album Satriani was promoting when he and Martone first toured together. Another reason was that it was in the key of C-sharp minor. Martone notes: “That’s just a beautiful key that I love.” Besides Satriani, Martone has managed to work with such acclaimed six-string slingers as Yngwie Malmsteen, Jennifer Batten, Tosin Abasi, Greg Howe, Paul Gilbert, and Marty Friedman. There was one other guitar hero that he had always wanted to meet one day, but cancer ruined any hope of that . “I was fucked up for three or four days,” Martone says of the effect Eddie Van Halen’s October death had on him. “I’m even emotional thinkin’ about it right now. He was such, such.... He was so influential to me— and so many other people—because he epitomized fun in playing amazing stuff. He was always smiling. Always. He wasn’t like all these metal guys, doom ’n’ gloom, lookin’ like they’re gonna rip each other’s arms off. “He was smilin’, he was happy, he had

Mark Hughes Ivan Decker (tie) Brett Martin (tie) Ravi Khanna

COMEDY CLUB

1. Yuk Yuk’s Vancouver 2. Improv Centre 3. Rick Bronson’s House of Comedy

1. Puff 2. Ignite Smoke Shop 3. CottonMouth Smoke Shop

The Phonix Bank 54-40 (tie) Peach Pit (tie) Queer as Funk (tie) Dan Mangan

STRIP CLUB

1. No. 5 Orange 2. Brandi’s Exotic Show Lounge 3. Penthouse Night Club

RECORD STORE

hen the global pandemic hit last March, Vancouver guitarist Dave Martone was doing pretty well financially. He wasn’t living in a mansion like the guy from Nickelback, mind you, but he was busy as hell, playing an average of 35 gigs a month. With six different agents booking him into local casinos and high-end lounges like Gotham and the Fairmont Pacific Rim, he actually played 48 gigs one month. “That was a lot of gigs,” Martone recalls, almost wistfully, from his home in Coquitlam, “and it was a lot of income! So then that all stopped. And at this point, right now, I am only doing about 12 gigs a month. So that’s a far cry from what it used to be.” Martone counts himself lucky, though, compared to some of the other musicians he knows who rely solely on live performances to pay the bills. For them, the loss of potential stages has been devastating. “If you keep all your eggs in one basket,” he posits, “then what are you gonna do? Fortunately, I’ve spread myself around where I can record, I can produce, I can perform, I can educate. All those little avenues bring me different income streams.” As well as recording a full-length album for a client at his home studio, Brainworks, Martone has managed to pay the bills through his role as an instructor at Douglas College in its music-technology and contemporary-guitar departments. Although he’s lost about two-thirds of his previous income, the 50-year-old believes that things are getting “better and better”. He’s adapted well to the techniques of online education and stays positive about the restrictions COVID-19 has wrought. “It’s nicer to [teach] in person,” he says,

COMEDIAN

PIPE, BONG, AND ACCESSORY SHOP

LOCAL BAND

Vancouver guitarist Dave Martone once played 48 gigs in a single month, but that was before the global pandemic hit. Now he’s averaging a quarter of that, but diversification has paid off.

TATTOO STUDIO

1. Vancouver International Film Festival 2. Vancouver Queer Film Festival 3. DOXA Documentary Film Festival

1. Red Cat Records 2. Zulu Records 3. Neptoon Records

BURLESQUE SHOW

1. Kitty Nights Productions 2. Virago Nation 3. Screaming Chicken Theatrical Society

VISIT BEST OF VANCOUVER ONLINE AT STRAIGHT.COM

cool hair. You know, he had a wicked sound. He wrote cool pop songs; he played his ass off. And he made me want to play. So when I heard of his passing, it left a massive hole in my heart.” While Van Halen’s death was a terrible blow to his fans, guitar freaks can take solace in the fact that Martone is doing his best to keep incredibly fast playing (“shredding”) alive and well. He has written two books on it—Shredding the Blues: Heavy Metal Guitar Meets the Blues and Serious Shred: Advanced Scales—and was voted among the top four underground shredders in North America by Guitar One magazine. Would he say that shredding is his forte? “I would say that, as adolescent boys, it was something that we all wanted to do. We all wanted to have the fastest car and drive as fast as we could and burn the tires up and do the craziest things that we could. People say you slow down when you get older, and it could be that. Or sometimes you realize that there’s more to music than the virtuosity and speed—that it’s just one of the parts of the equation. “[Shredding] was what put me on the map, I would say, but I equally love playing something with a clean guitar, slow or just melancholy. I have so many loves of different styles of music, from Allan Holdsworth—which is just chordal, atmospheric sounds—to insane amounts of virtuosity, like the song I wrote called ‘Dinky Pinky’, which almost blows my hands off every time I try and play it. “And anywhere in between.” g NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

SAVAGE LOVE

Kinksters shouldn’t dump traditional dating apps Plus, end the drama in long-distance relationship; feel free to organize your very first hundredsome by Dan Savage

b I’VE ALWAYS BEEN excited by BDSM but I’ve only minimally explored this side of myself until very recently. I’m a straight woman, and it was difficult to find men who wanted more monogamish relationships on the traditional apps and a challenge to be honest about what I am looking for where kink is concerned. I’d often get through a month or so of seeing someone before finding out they wanted a completely monogamous relationship and that they were very vanilla in the bedroom, to boot. I was tired of wasting my time and needed to find a partner who wanted to enjoy a kinky relationship, so I moved from traditional dating apps like Bumble and Hinge and to apps like #Open, Fetlife, and KinkD. While I’ve had a few amazing conversations and meetups, they’ve primarily been with men in open relationships, couples, or guys only looking to hook up. And it seems most people on kinky apps want to only talk about sex. While I do feel drawn to this lifestyle, I am also looking for a partner. I want someone to spend my life with who can also enjoy the kink community with me. How can I find a guy that wants a life partner and a fun and kinky sex life?

- Seeks Partner And Needs Kink

P.S. One more question: I’m currently enjoying casual sex with a male partner who only buys magnum-size condoms but who does not need magnum-size condoms. It’s like fucking a half-empty grocery-store bag. How do I tell him regular condoms would be soooooo much better without making him feel bad?

kinky dating apps or mainstream dating apps or both, SPANK, you’re gonna have a lot of interactions with a lot of guys who aren’t right for you before you find the guy (or guys) who are right for you. And since there are plenty of kinky people on mainstream dating apps—you were one of them—you should be on both. Of the happily partnered kinky people I know, SPANK, half met their partners in “traditional” spaces (bars, workplaces, mainstream dating apps) while the other half met their partners in kinky spaces (munches, fetish parties, kinky dating apps). And while no one should be meeting anyone in a bar or at parties right now—there’s a pandemic on—the more places you advertise online, the likelier you are to line up a compatible partner for when this is all over. And you shouldn’t be surprised—or put off—when someone you meet on KinkD wants to talk about their kinks. When you meet someone via a dating app that brings people together around a shared interest, it’s only natural that your initial conversa-

Whether you’re on

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

what’s more likely, IGNORED: your girlfriend—who can’t take your calls now but could take that guy’s in the middle of the night when you two were living together— is living with and working with a guy she knew before moving away or that your girlfriend is living with and working with and fucking with a guy she moved across the country to be with? I think the latter is far more likely. But even if she’s not fucking him—even if she isn’t holding on to you as a backup or doesn’t want to end things because you pay her phone bill—she doesn’t make time for you and it doesn’t sound like she’s particularly kind to when she can spare you a moment. I don’t know why she hasn’t done the right thing and ended it, IGNORED, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do the right thing for yourself and end it. Kinksters looking for monogamish relationships should determine both sexual and emotional compatability on mainstream and kink dating apps. Photo by Artem Labunsky / Unsplash.

tions revolve around that shared interest. If you were posting ads on Farmers Only or Christian Cafe, your first chats would very likely revolve around, I don’t know, the price of corn or the exact moment you sold your soul to Donald Trump. Whichever kind of app you meet a guy on, you’re going to have to do the same two things—the same work, the same vetting, the same screw diligence—just in a different order. When you meet a guy on Bumble, SPANK, you establish baseline emotional compatibility first and then, eventually, you have a conversation about sex. With guys you meet on KinkD, you establish baseline sexual compatibility first—by talking about your mutual sexual interests—and eventually get around to determining whether you’re emotionally compatible. And, again, since you could meet someone with whom you are emotionally and sexually compatible on either kind of dating site—mainstream or kinky—you should keep your ads up on both. P.S. Loose condoms come off and loose condoms leak, SPANK, so a guy who uses XXL condoms on a medium dick puts you at greater risk of contracting an STI or having an unplanned pregnancy. And for what? To impress the checkout clerk at CVS? Don’t worry about making him feel bad. Tell him he gets condoms that fit or he finds someone else to fuck. b I’VE LIVED WITH my girlfriend for over a year now till about a month ago, when she moved to the East Coast, so now we’re in a long-distance relationship. I supported her move because she’s following her dream

NOVEMBER 19 – 26 / 2020

career and we decided to stay together since communication nowadays is pretty easy. But every time I try to text or call she responds that she’s too busy or exhausted. I could understand if this was once in a while, but it’s literally all the time. This has put a strain on our communication. I became irrational with these red flags and I looked up her address and a guy’s name popped up including his phone number. Then I did perhaps the most irrational thing ever and looked up our phone bill and his number is everywhere on her section of the bill. I asked her who this dude is and she states he’s her landlord and employer. That’s not a red flag, but him calling at 1 a.m. when I was working night shifts before she moved is. I confronted her and she became defensive and turned everything back on me. She called me crazy and hurled more than one “fuck you” at me and threatened to call the cops on me. I’ve admitted to my wrongdoing in violating her privacy and I’ve repeatedly asked her to talk about it but it always turns into a fight. We’ve been together two years and I’ve never met any of her friends or her 20-year-old son. What do you think? - I’m Getting Nothing Outta Relationship Except Drama

I think there’s only so much time you should waste on a person who doesn’t have time for you—to say nothing of a person who isn’t particularly kind to you and, after two years, hasn’t integrated you into her life in a meaningful way. I also think you need to ask yourself

b I EXPECT MANY of your astute readers will have written to you about this, but here goes anyway: you described the wannafuckmath when arranging a foursome as far more complicated than the wannafuckmath when arranging a threesome. But the wannafuckmath isn’t actually very complicated. For any n-some, the Wannafuck number = n • (n-1). So for the humble twosome, it’s 2 • 1. Two! Just what you’d expect. For a threesome, it’s 6. For a foursome, it’s 12. So a foursome is wannafuckmathematically six times more complicated than a twosome but only twice as complicated as a threesome. Even the rarely seen hundredsome only has a wannafuck number of 9,900: large, perhaps unachievable, but not infinite.

- Math Is Sexy Today and Yesterday

I was once in a room where at least a hundred

people were having sex—in Berlin, naturally—so I have seen the elusive hundredsome with my own eyes. Or the hundred-andthen-some, I should say. (And to be clear: I was a witness, not a participant.) But unlike a threesome or a foursome, a hundredsome isn’t an arranged-in-advance/by-invitationonly affair. It’s more of a book-a-largeenough-space-and-advertise-it-extensivelyand-they-will-come affair. So, paradoxically, hosting a by-invitation-only threesome or foursome—or even a by-invitation-only tensome—where you establish in advance that everyone is attracted to each other may be more difficult to pull off than hosting a Berlin hundredsome. g

Email: mail@savagelove.net. Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. On this week’s Lovecast, Ask a Sub’s Lina Dune, and the anxious return of “Dr. Bummer”: www.savagelovecast.com.

Careers

HERITAGE DRYWALL LTD

is looking for Drywall Installers and Finishers. Job location: Greater Vancouver, BC Perm, F/T, wage - $ 28.00 /h. Requirements: Experience 3-4 years, Good English. Education: Secondary school Main duties: Preparation of the drywall sheets for installation; Installation of drywall sheets; Securing of drywall sheets in metal or wooden studs or joists; Filling joints, holes and cracks with joint compound; Applying successive coats of compound, sand seams and joints. Company’s business address: 20448 – 90 Crescent, Langley BC V1M 1A7 Please apply by e-mail: heritagewall@gmail.com

POLAR EXTERIOR INC.

is looking for Carpenters. Greater Vancouver, BC. Permanent, Full time. Wage - $ 27.00 per/h Skills requirements: Experience 2-3 years, Good English. Education: Secondary school Main duties: Read and interpret blueprints, determine specifications; Measure, cut, shape, assemble and join materials made of wood, lightweight metal and other materials; Operate measuring, hand, and power carpentry tools (i.e. drills, saws, guns). Fit and install trim items as required; Supervise helpers and apprentices; Follow established safety rules. Company’s business address: 1265 Benneck Way, Port Coquitlam BC, V3C 5Y8 Please apply by e-mail: polarexteriorinc@gmail.com

Trustin Construction LTD

is looking for Floor Layers. Greater Vancouver area, BC. F/Time, Permanent Wage - $21.50 hourly. Experience 2-3 years, good English. Education: Secondary school. Main duties: Measure and mark surfaces to be covered; Measure, cut and fasten underlay; Prepare and install hardwood floors; Measure, cut and install carpeting; Measure, cut and install resilient floor covering; Operate and maintain measuring, hand and power tools. Follow established safety rules Company’s business address: 208-6939 Hastings St., Burnaby BC V5B 1S9 Please apply by e-mail: hrtrustinconstruction@gmail.com

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A MDABC peer-led support group is a safe place to share your story, your struggles and accomplishments, and to listen to others as they share similar concerns. Please Note: Support groups are not intended to provide counselling/therapy. Please visit www.mdabc.net for a list & location of support groups or call 604-873-0103 for info. AL-ANON FAMILY GROUPS Does someone else's drinking bother you? Al-Anon can help. We are a support group for those who have been affected by another's drinking problem. For more information please call: 604-688-1716 Anorexics & Bulimics Anonymous 12 Step based peer support program which addresses the mental, emotional, & spiritual aspects of disordered eating Tuesdays @ 7 pm @ Avalon Women's Centre 5957 West Blvd - 604-263-7177 Battered Women's Support Services provides free daytime & evening support groups (Drop-ins & 10 week groups) for women abused by their intimate partner. Groups provide emotional support, legal information & advocacy, safety planning, and referrals. For more information please call: 604-687-1867 Distress Line & Suicide Prevention Services NEED SOME ONE TO TALK TO? Call us for immediate, free, confidential and non-judgemental support, 24 hours a day, everyday. The Crisis Centre in Vancouver can help you cope more effectively with stressful situations. 604-872-3311 Drug & Alcohol Problems? Free advanced information and help on how quit drinking & using drugs. For more information call Barry Bjornson @ 604-836-7568 or email me @livinghumility@live.com Fertility Support Group Discover new perspectives make positive changes and learn simple tools to take charge of your reproductive wellness while connecting with other women. The meetings provide a space for open discussion.2nd Tuesday of each month 7:45 8:45pm (Sign up required) Reg & Info call: 604-266-6470 or www.familypassages.ca Genital Herpes Support Group for Women Are you living with Genital Herpes in Vancouver? We are a group of women that draws upon each others knowledge and strength to grapple with this sometimes trying condition. Through mutual support and honest conversation we aim to address the physical and emotional health implications of this virus and how it affects romantic relationships, sex, dating & life in general. Contact: ghsupportgroup@gmail.com Heart of Richmond - AIDS Society operates a confidential support group for persons with HIV/AIDS, or persons affected (family, friends or care givers) by the disease. For info - 604-277-5137 www.heartofrichmond.com IBD Support Group Suffer from Crohn's and ulcerative colitis? Living with IBD can often be overwhelming, but you're not alone! 3rd Wed of each month the GI Society holds a free IBD support group meeting for patients & their families to come together in an open, friendly environment. 7:00pm at #231 - 3665 Kingsway. For more information call 604-873-4876

SEXAHOLICS ANONYMOUS - Vancouver, BC For those desiring their own sexual sobriety, please go to www.sa.org for meetings times and places. We are here to help you from being overwhelmed. Newcomers are gratefully welcomed. Is your life affected by someone else's drug use? Nar-Anon Family Group Meeting Every Friday 7:30-9:00 pm at Barclay Manor, 1447 Barclay

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Join a FREE YWCA Single Mothers support group in your local community. Share information, experiences and resources. Child care is provided for a nominal fee. For information call 604-895-5789 or Email: smacdonald@ywcavan.org

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DREAM JOBS DREAM TALENT SINCE 1998 NOVEMBER 19 – 2619 / 2020 THETHE GEORGIA STR AIGHT 39 NOVEMBER – 26 / 2020 GEORGIA STRAIGHT 39

THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT

NOVEMBER 19 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 26 / 2020

The Georgia Straight - The Best of Vancouver - November 19, 2020

Articles inside

HEALTH

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MUSIC

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November 19 – 26 / 2020

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