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10 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017
CONTENTS
Davie Village. Tara Lowry photo.
14
HEALTH
Last week, the Straight highlighted rising patient violence in health-care facilities; this week, we look at how often private security guards use force against patients in Vancouver hospitals.
START HERE 26 30 52 29 19 30 46 52 25 55 28 12 36 41
> BY TR AVIS LUPICK
21
WINTER ADVENTURE
Snow came early to B.C. ski hills, so we’re bringing you tips on how to make the most of it, as well as an article on B.C. athletes who might be on their way to PyeongChang.
31
ARTS
Dance artist Vanessa Goodman puts theory into motion in her multimedia Wells Hill, looking at life before and after the Internet. > BY JANE T SMITH
44
Books The Bottle Confessions Food Green Living I Saw You Movie Reviews Red Meat Renters of Vancouver Savage Love Straight Stars Straight Talk Theatre Visual Arts
r
TIME OUT
COVER
42 Arts 51 Music
Producer and native son Seth Rogen talks about how and why he decided to take on Tommy Wiseau and The Disaster Artist. > BY ADRIAN MACK
SERVICES
49
MUSIC
Despite the odd restless night on the road. A Perfect Circle’s Billy Howerdel doesn’t regret stepping out from the shadows.
52 Careers 25 Real Estate
> BY MIKE USINGER
52
COVER PHOTO
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One of the questions TransLink is asking the public in its ongoing fare review is about discounts for poor riders. According to the regional transportation agency, there are about 300,000 low-income people in Metro Vancouver who do not get discounted transit passes. At present, the provincial government provides subsidized passes only to low-income seniors and people receiving disability assistance. TransLink, for its part, supports this program by providing these passes to the province at a discount. In its discussion guide, TransLink states that if “no external funding is available, any additional discounts may come from modest increases to fares for other riders”. “Should TransLink explore ways to expand the discounted fare to lowincome residents?” TransLink asks. As far as New Westminster city councillor Patrick Johnstone is concerned, subsidized fares for poor riders shouldn’t come out of the pockets of other transit users, who may earn a little bit more but are not necessarily well-off. “I have a concern about, you know, [the] working poor who don’t necessarily make the lowincome cutoff paying more to ride in order to support people who do make the low-income cutoff,” Johnstone told the Straight in a phone interview. “I don’t want the relatively-low-income people paying for the more-low-income people. That’s not a progressive way to structure the system.” In the discussion guide, TransLink states that the low-income threshold for one person in Metro Vancouver is $20,386 before tax per year. For a family of seven people, it’s $53,460. Johnstone said he is interested in hearing from the provincial government about what it intends to do for low-income riders. The New Westminster councillor believes that it’s the responsibility of the province, not TransLink, to deal with the issue of discounted transit passes for the poor. “It would be more successful, it’s easier to administer, it would work better if another agency under the provincial government was able to provide transit access, a discount, through TransLink as opposed to
A local politico doesn’t want transit users subsidizing poorer riders. TransLink riders paying for this,” Johnstone said. Members of the public have until December 8 to fill out TransLink’s survey, which deals with three main issues: distance-based fares, fare options for frequent riders, and discounts. > CARLITO PABLO
ARE RECREATIONAL COKE USERS AT FENTANYL RISK?
Since fentanyl arrived in B.C., it has obviously become more dangerous for someone to maintain an opioid addiction that requires injecting unknown substances multiple times every day. But what risk does fentanyl pose for, say, a Vancouver lawyer who uses cocaine two nights a month? In search of an answer, the Straight obtained B.C. Coroners Service statistics detailing fatal overdoses where both cocaine and fentanyl were detected as well as cases where both heroin and fentanyl were found. In 2012, cocaine and fentanyl were detected in four bodies where the cause of death was ruled an illicitdrug overdose. Then 21 in 2013, 51 in 2014, 57 in 2015, and 143 in 2016. For heroin and fentanyl, the numbers were 0 in 2012, then 6, 12, 37, and 119 in 2016. (These numbers—the first of their kind made public—only cover “closed cases” and are not directly comparable to data on overdose deaths presented in B.C. Coroners Service monthly reports.) Dr. Mark Lysyshyn is a medical
health officer for Vancouver Coastal Health who specializes in substance use. In a telephone interview, he stressed that one needs to be very cautious with interpretations of the data. Despite appearances, Lysyshyn said, the numbers do not necessarily mean that fentanyl has contaminated a growing segment of B.C.’s cocaine supply. “We don’t know if those are people that took heroin that was actually fentanyl and cocaine, or if they took cocaine that was laced with fentanyl,” he explained. “We can’t tell the difference.” According to Lysyshyn, a likely scenario for many of the “cocaine and fentanyl” cases is that users ingested cocaine that did not contain fentanyl, then ingested what they thought was heroin but was really fentanyl. That would show up as a “cocaine and fentanyl” case, he said, where there was no fentanyl in the cocaine the individual ingested. At the same time, he said, the stats could indicate cocaine is cut with fentanyl with increasing frequency, but we can’t tell to what extent. “It’s very complicated,” Lysyshyn said. Another data source on fentanyl and cocaine is Health Canada’s Drug Analysis Service (DAS), which tracks seizures by law enforcement. According to those numbers supplied to the Straight, the percentage of heroin seizures across Canada found to contain fentanyl has ticked up from 8.7 percent in 2015 to 39.4 percent last year to 60.1 percent during the first nine months of 2017. For cocaine, those numbers are much smaller, at 0.3, 0.9, and 1.8 percent. But that sort of data also comes with caveats. “What police are seizing is not exactly what’s on the street,” Lysyshyn said. Munroe Craig is an outreach director at Karmik, which provides harm-reduction services to nightlife and festival events in B.C. She told the Straight that too many recreational users still believe that fentanyl is a “Downtown Eastside problem”. Craig argued that the statistics support anecdotal reports that fentanyl is finding its way into B.C. cocaine. “We are also talking about people who choose to use substances recreationally,” she said. > TRAVIS LUPICK
The Georgia Straight | Vancouver’s News and Entertainment Weekly | Volume 51 Number 2603 1635 West Broadway, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1W9 www.straight.com Phone: 604-730-7000 / Fax: 604-730-7010 / e-mail: gs.info@straight.com Display Advertising: 604-730-7020 / Fax: 604-730-7012 / e-mail: sales@straight.com Classifieds: 604-730-7060 / e-mail: classads@straight.com Subscriptions: 604-730-7000 Distribution: 604-730-7087 EDITOR + PUBLISHER Dan McLeod ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Yolanda Stepien GENERAL MANAGER Matt McLeod EDITOR Charlie Smith SECTION EDITORS
Janet Smith (Arts/Fashion) Mike Usinger (Music) Steve Newton (Time Out) Adrian Mack (Movies) Brian Lynch (Books) Amanda Siebert (Cannabis) EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATOR Doug Sarti ASSOCIATE EDITORS
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The Georgia Straight is published every Thursday by the Vancouver Free Press Publishing SUBMISSIONS The Straight accepts no responsibility for, and will not Corp. Copies are distributed free every week throughout Vancouver, Burnaby, North necessarily respond to, any submitted materials. All submissions should be and West Vancouver, New Westminster, and Richmond. International Standard Serial addressed to contact@straight.com. Number ISSN 0709-8995. Subscription rates in Canada $182.00/52 issues (includes GST), $92.00/26 issues (includes GST); United States $379.00/52 issues, $205.00/ 26 issues; foreign $715.00/52 issues, $365.00/26 issues. Contact 604-730-7087 if you wish to distribute free copies of the Georgia Straight at your place of business. Entire contents copyright © 2017 Vancouver Free Press, Best Of Vancouver, BOV And Golden Plates Are Trade-Marks Of Vancouver Free Press Publishing Corp.
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arly last October, Nicholas Ellan was admitted to Vancouver General Hospital as a psychiatric patient. A family member had expressed concern for him and contacted authorities. “A VPD officer and a psych nurse came to my residence, knocked on my door, and told me that they had a warrant to bring me in under the [B.C.] Mental Health Act,” Ellan said in an interview at the Georgia Straight. “And I cooperated.” Ellan, a community organizer in the Downtown Eastside, ended up spending 17 days under psychiatric care at VGH. “It got strange,” he said. There was a case of mistaken identity, Ellan said he later learned, where VGH staff believed he was a problematic patient who in the past had acted violently toward staff. He recounted several interactions with private security guards employed by VGH. One of those interactions ended with him forcibly taken to the floor, restrained, and administered a sedative that rendered him unconscious. Ellan does not fault the private security guards employed by Vancouver hospitals (who are provided by Paladin Security Group Ltd., one of the largest security firms in the province). “I can be a loud person,” he said. “I’m tall, over six feet. I’m male, and I’m in my 30s….It’s understandable that they would go to security immediately once I get agitated, visibly agitated. It didn’t make sense to me at the time, but reflecting upon it, I kind of understand.” Ellan’s complaints concern how the care he received changed after that encounter. “A nurse would start shift, order me to get into pyjamas because it was 8 o’clock, and then threaten to call security if I didn’t change immediately,” he explained. “There were a lot of situations where the immediate
14 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017
Nicholas Ellan has been left with an impression that security guards are integrated into patient care. Travis Lupick photo.
response was to call security. “They would rely on the constant presence or the threat of the constant presence of security, and physical force, to maintain order in the ward,” Ellan continued. “It was always understood, or very quickly understood, that if a nurse told you to do something and you didn’t comply, then the end of the road was always sedation and solitary confinement. “It was a claustrophobic experience,” he concluded. “It was a situation where you are coerced into disciplining yourself.” On November 11, the Straight reported that health-care professionals working in Vancouver hospitals have been facing violence more often in recent years. That’s only half the story. Now we report on statistics obtained via freedom-of-information requests that reveal patients are similarly experiencing force used against them by hospital security guards with increasing frequency.
In B.C., when a security guard is called in response to a patient like Ellan exhibiting aggression, they’re instructed to create a report in what’s called the Integrated Protection Services (IPS) system under the category of “Code White”. At Vancouver General Hospital, the number of those reports created each year increased from 306 in 2011 to 482 in 2016 and a projected 570 in 2017. At St. Paul’s Hospital, the same statistic rose from 349 in 2011 to 907 in 2016 and a projected 980 in 2017. Behind every number in the data is an incident report filed by a private security guard assigned to VGH or St. Paul’s Hospital. Through additional freedom-ofinformation requests (more than two dozen for this two-part series), the Straight obtained a sample of the incident reports, comprising those statistics covering a six-month period in 2016. In more than 140 pages, they detail hundreds of incidents. Some are
false alarms, others are resolved without significant drama, and many make for disturbing reading. The documents include situations where no one can dispute that a call for security was warranted. At VGH during the first quarter of the fiscal year 2016-17, for example: “Upon arrival security found staff hands on with patient [redacted] beside the nursing station, [redacted] was actively resistant attempting to break out of staffs grasp by flailing his arms and kicking his feet. Security immediately went hands on and secured the patients arms, with staff assistance Security Officer [redacted] escorted the patient back to his room, at this point Security Officers [redacted] and [redacted] joined the call. Security then placed the patient in bed and applied four soft restraints to all limbs. [Redacted] was actively resistant throughout trying to free his arms from securitys grasp and uttering threats such as see page 16
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Hospitals’ use of force
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In part one of this series, the B.C. Nurses’ Union and other stakeholders highlighted violent actions against hospital staff as a growing concern. Interviewed for part two, Michael Anhorn, executive director of the Vancouver-Fraser branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), emphasized that a person with a mental-health issue is statistically more likely to be the victim of a violent incident than to commit one. However, after reviewing the statistics obtained by the Straight, Anhorn said the sharp increases evident there are part of a complicated picture wherein good things are happening too. “Previously, these events probably occurred in jails or in police stations,” he explained. “Now we are increasingly making sure that a mental-health crisis is attached to the health-care system and not the criminal-justice system.” There’s data to support that suggestion. In recent years, Vancouver police officers brought increasing numbers of mental-health patients to the city’s hospitals. In 2010, there were 2,276 VPD apprehensions under Section 28 of the B.C. Mental Health Act, which allows an officer to take an individual into police custody if they are deemed a threat to themselves or others. The number grew each year until 2015, when it hit 3,050. (Since then, it’s been on a downward trend, projected to hit 2,754 in 2017.) Anhorn said that as this transition continues, one challenge for government is to avoid transposing the harsh security conditions of a prison system while still ensuring hospital staff work in the safest conditions possible. “One of my concerns is that in moving these kinds of crises into the health-care system that we not just re-create a criminal-justice-type system within the health-care system,” he emphasized. The more patients are separated from care professionals via security guards and barriers, the less effective that care is likely to be, Anhorn said. “One of the main drivers of mental health is social connection. If we isolate people, their mental health is going to suffer.” Thomas Kerr is associate director of the B.C. Centre on Substance Use and has published papers examining the roles of security in social services. In a telephone interview, he warned that added safety measures can have unintended consequences that are counterproductive. “The presence of security guards can create hostile conditions which actually prompt escalations,” Kerr told the Straight. “I don’t want to take anything away from security guards, but these are not mental-health professionals. And it can be very, very challenging de-escalating somebody who is unwell and in a hospital environment. “It raises questions about who should really be dealing with these people,” Kerr added, “and if there’s anything that security guards themselves are doing to potentially contribute to this problem.” -
‘you are all going to die.’ All limbs were secured and a 5th point was applied to [redacted] chest, once done security and staff exited the room.” Other reports recount incidents where force may have been necessary but where it was possible that verbal de-escalation could have resolved a situation. At St. Paul’s Hospital in March 2016, for example: “The Patient was speaking on the phone when she began to escalate verbally. While on the phone the Patient began to yell angrily. S/A [redacted] began to approach the Patient, but the Patient knocked over her chair, began yelling at S/A [redacted] and struck S/A [redacted] on the left arm with a hospital phone. At this point S/A [redacted] took physical control of the Patient’s right arm, with S/O [redacted] controlling the right, and assisted the Patient to prone with S/O [redacted] controlling the legs. At the direction of STAFF-OTHER, Security stood the Patient up and physically escorted the Patient to her QR to then assist her to prone position again.” A third incident, which was logged at VGH as occurring in “Q1 2016/17”, describes an interaction closer to the sort of borderline-coercion that Ellan alleged. “Security arrived on scene and were informed by Registered Nurse [redacted] that [redacted] needed to take medication and that no aggression had occured as of yet. Security asked Staff what had prompted them to call a Code White and Staff informed them that the patient ‘looked like he might get upset’. Staff had not yet entered PT [redacted] room or attempted to interact with him. Staff and Security then entered PT [redacted] room where he was sitting in a chair by the window and spoke with him, asking him if he would consent to taking medication. PT [redacted] was non-compliant and began to swear at staff, telling them to ‘fuck off’. Staff and Security both attempted to de-escalate him and he then threatened to sue staff members. At this point, Staff informed him that while he was [redacted] he was obliged to take medication and informed him that he could choose between taking oral medication and IM medication. PT [redacted] chose to take oral medication and after he had finished, Staff and Security exited his room.” Presented with these statistics, Vancouver General Hospital’s operator, Vancouver Coastal Health, declined to grant an interview. It referred questions to Providence Health Care, a partner that operates St. Paul’s Hospital. Elaine Yong, a spokesperson for Providence Health Care, maintained that the increase is largely the result of changes in reporting practices and better staff compliance with incidentreporting standards. Yong also called attention to hospital programs designed to create friendly interactions between patients and security. For example, she compared security guards’ “Client Service Ambassador” program to Wal-Mart’s “Greeter” program, where employees stand at the front of This was written with Cited Podcast. a store to welcome customers.
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lack Friday—known as the biggest one-day shopping blitz in North America— was long thought of as an American tradition. Falling on the day after U.S. Thanksgiving on November 24, it launches the holiday retail season with door-crasher specials and, sometimes, stampeding crowds. In recent years, it has also become a far more popular annual event in Canada, which is also home to massive annual Boxing Day and “Boxing Week” sales. According to Vancouver retail consultant David Ian Gray, Black Friday migrated across the border following the 2008 global financial meltdown when revenue-hungry U.S. corporations instructed Canadian subsidiaries to launch these sales. “Once a few started, other Canadian big boxes then followed,” Gray explained to the Georgia Straight. “In the shaky economy of 2010—and with media building this into a national retail campaign—specialty chains jumped onboard.” In a report last year, Gray’s company, DIG360 Consulting, and the polling company Leger found that of 1,578 Canadians surveyed, almost one-third purchased at least one bargain item on Black Friday in 2016. The report also noted that those between the ages of 25 and 44 participated in Black Friday store and online shopping at the same rate as those between the ages of 18 and 24. “This is the time for self-gifting,” Gray and Leger noted in their report. “Forty-one percent of Canadians browsing or buying on Black Friday weekend were mostly shopping for themselves, which is more likely to impact Boxing Day than gift-buying for others in December.” Gray noted that in 2013, only 38 percent of Canadians browsed or purchased goods advertised on Black Friday on Canadian websites. By 2016, this had risen to 56 percent. There’s been a corresponding drop—73 percent to 46 percent—in store visits on Black Friday over the same period. According to Gray, this has made so-called Cyber Monday (November 27) less relevant on the retail calendar. In an effort to boost store visits on Black Friday and throughout the holiday shopping season, the Kitsilano West 4th Business Improvement Association is offering free valet parking on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m. at the corner of Maple Street and West 4th Avenue. According to the association’s executive director, Jane McFadden, shoppers who use the service will receive a complimentary hot chocolate or coffee at Cafe Gypsy Rose or 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters in the neighbourhood. In return, motorists can make donations to Canuck Place.
It’s part of the association’s annual “Kitsmas” celebration, which features mistletoe in all the stores and four mailboxes on the street that will accept letters to Santa Claus. The Black Friday weekend sales kick things off in a big way. “We now have 22 outdoor stores,” McFadden said. “So it’s a great time for them to slash prices on ski gear, snowboard gear, outerwear, and all the accessories to go with it.” Along West 4th Avenue east of Burrard Street, stores like Comor, Pacific Boarder, RYU, and the Boardroom will be duking it out for shoppers’ attention. Farther west, Patagonia, Arc’teryx, North Face, and other clothing retailers will also be offering Black Friday deals. Even Rain or Shine Homemade Ice Cream is getting involved in Black Friday, offering a second scoop for free. “Almost all of my merchants are onboard for it,” McFadden said. It’s a similar story in Vancouver’s oldest neighbourhood. According to Leanore Sali, executive director of the Gastown Business Improvement Society, more than 35 stores will be offering Black Friday specials. One of the biggest sales will take place at Army & Navy, which bills itself as Canada’s original discount department store. Sali told the Straight that Gastown is home to many locally owned boutiques with products unavailable anywhere else in the city. “Our retailers don’t hold sales that often, so it’s a great opportunity.” One of Gastown’s most popular attractions over the holidays is the annual Yule Duel, in which 23 choirs will converge on the neighbourhood from 6 to 9 p.m. on December 7. Jen Hodge All Stars and Marcus Mosely will perform on-stage. For those who prefer big-name labels, there’s always McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Vancouver, which is a 20-minute Canada Line ride from downtown beside Templeton Station. It’s a village setting with more than 70 stores near Vancouver International Airport. McArthurGlen general manager Robert Thurlow told the Straight that for those who haven’t visited in a while, there’s a new Kate Spade store, a new Armani Exchange store, and an expanded Hugo Boss outlet. McArthurGlen Vancouver is also home to the only Polo Ralph Lauren store in B.C. and the province’s first Under Armour outlet. “We have a lot of unique brands,” Thurlow said. He has witnessed firsthand how Black Friday has caught on in Canada. It’s reflected in total sales at McArthurGlen during the annual blowout. And with a low Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. greenback, he is feeling optimistic about this year’s prospects. “We saw a 26-percent increase in 2016 over 2015,” Thurlow said. “We’re predicting the same kind of number this year for 2017 over last year for Black Friday itself.” -
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Local markets ditch the plastic for bulk a concerted effort to recycle and compost, the number doesn’t bode t’s 10 a.m. on a murky, rainy well for our oceans, wildlife, and enThursday and the Soap Dis- vironment given that it’s surged steadpensary & Kitchen Staples (3718 ily over a period of six years. These Main Street) has just unlocked growing mountains of garbage— its doors. Already, folks are trick- some of it not biodegradable—pose ling in with armfuls of empty jars significant challenges to our climate and containers, the glass and worn and health, among other things. plastics clinking together as they’re Purchasing sustainable, low-impact carried to the drop-off counter products, then, is one method to comin reusable boxes and bags. On bat throwaway culture. And though the Soap side, the Soap DispenGreen Living they’ll be resary has been goplenished with ing gangbusters Presented by liquid soaps, since its launch in 2011—dishampoos, and verting more other cleaners— than 170,000 reand in the Kitchen department, edible goods—before ceptacles from the trash—it’s not the they’re returned to their owners to only place helping to pave the road to be used or savoured sans the single- a greener future. Organic grocers such use packaging that often comes with as Choices Markets and even big-box supermarkets have long stocked nuts, shopping at a big-name grocer. It’s a routine that many Vancou- sugars, flours, and other dried edibles verites have come to know well: in bulk. (Not all of them, however, return, refi ll, and reuse. And if the allow customers to bring their own Soap Dispensary’s recent expansion containers.) Butchers such as Windsor to include bulk food items like local- Quality Meats serve up cuts of freely produced pickles, perogies, and range beef, pork, and chicken in profermented cashew dips is any indi- vided vessels if you ask nicely, and like cation, it’s an increasingly common the Soap Dispensary, the now defunct lifestyle that the Riley Park outpost Basic Refill offered a selection of natis happy to cater to. “People have ural cleaners, personal-care products, been wanting to see more zero-waste and DIY ingredients. With the introduction of Kitchen food, packaging-free food,” Soap Dispensary & Kitchen Staples co- Staples, however, Truong is aiming owner Linh Truong tells the Straight to fill a gap in the city’s zero-waste during an interview at the shop. “It’s community by selling hard-to-find the biggest sort of industry for gen- packaging-free foods like coldpressed nut milk, Greek yogurt, and erating waste, you know?” Truong isn’t wrong: according fresh salsa—all of which is organic to the most recent data available and regionally sourced. The shop from Statistics Canada, households works with its suppliers to ensure across the country sent a staggering that the stock arrives responsibly 9.9 million tonnes of trash—much of in reusable vessels, too. “We do this it disposables from our convenience- sort of closed-loop, return-container driven food culture—to landfills in cycle, which is what we do with our 2014. And though citizens have made soaps,” explains Truong. > BY L UC Y LA U
Offers valid until November 30, 2017. See toyota.ca for complete details. In the event of any discrepancy or inconsistency between Toyota prices, rates and/or other information contained on www.getyourtoyota.ca and that contained on toyota.ca, the latter shall prevail. Errors and omissions excepted. *Lease example: 2018 Prius c Automatic KDTA3P-A, MSRP is $23,830 and includes $1,840 freight/PDI and fees leased at 2.99% over 60 months with $2,450 down payment, equals 260 weekly payments of $58 with a total lease obligation of $17,495. Applicable taxes are extra. Lease 60 mos. based on 100,000 km, excess km charge is $.07. ‡Weekly lease offers available through Toyota Financial Services (TFS) on approved credit to qualified retail lease customers of new and demonstrator Toyota vehicles. Down payment and first weekly payment due at lease inception and next weekly payment due approximately 7 days later and weekly thereafter throughout the term. Visit your Toyota Dealer or www.getyourtoyota.ca for more details. Some conditions apply; offers are time limited and may change without notice. Dealer may lease/sell for less. Each specific model may not be available at each dealer at all times; factory order or dealer trade may be necessary.
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The Soap Dispensary & Kitchen Staples is one of a handful of shops selling packaging-free goods. Fahim Kassam photo.
Not far off, Balance Botanicals (4341 Main Street) has also carved its own niche in Vancouver’s eco-friendly scene. Founded as an extension of the nearby Balance Acupuncture & Massage clinic in 2015, the store sells a large array of medicinal herbs, teas, and spices in bulk, plus body-care items, dried fruit, kitchen utensils, and other goods. Owner Shinobu Hata says she opened the Earth- and healthminded shop after being fed up with the plastics and unnecessary wrappings she was seeing around her. “I’m from Japan, and it is worse [there], actually,” she tells the Straight by phone. “Everything is overly packaged.” Both Truong and Hata relay that they’ve seen their clientele multiply in recent years, thanks in part to the public becoming more educated about waste and the threats facing our environment. Considering Vancouver’s green reputation, it’s not surprising that locals have embraced this way
of living. “We are seeing a lot more people coming in and bringing their own containers,” says Truong, “and refilling and coming back.” Perhaps the biggest sign that Vancouverites are engaging with sustainable consumption practices more than ever is the support behind another zero-waste concept: the soon-to-open Nada. After two years of successful pop-up shops offering granola, coffee, chocolate, and other foods in bulk, founder and CEO Brianne Miller and her team launched a crowdfunding campaign this month to help outfit a Mount Pleasant space they’ve secured for a permanent brick-and-mortar location (675 East Broadway). The group reached its target of $25,000 in less than 24 hours. “We had no doubt that we would fund it over, like, a month’s period,” Miller says by phone. “But having a good chunk of it funded in the first hours was a little crazy.”
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Nada has now stretched its goal to $40,000 with the hope of constructing an in-house snack-and-smoothie bar that makes use of surplus produce. (It’s on track to smash that objective, too.) Once the packaging-free market opens in the spring of 2018, it will include sections dedicated to seasonal fruits and veggies, dry goods, edible liquids, cleaners, and pet food, among other products. Similar to the Soap Dispensary and Balance Botanicals, the store will have reusable jars available for rent and purchase and stock stainless-steel straws, upcycled produce bags, and other eco-friendly items that make low-impact living a little easier. After all, if plastic- and packaging-free habits continue to gain steam, Vancouverites will need them. “It’s arrived,” states Truong. “Mainstream media is talking about zero waste; city planners are planning projects around zero waste. It’s an exciting time.” -
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NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 19
20 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017
WINTER ADVENTURE
Seven ways to make the most out of winter SKIING THE BACKCOUNTRY IN GLACIER NATIONAL PARK The
> BY C ARL ITO PA BL O AND CHA RL IE SM ITH
famed Rogers Pass in the Selkirk Mountains is a National Historic Site that’s easy to reach by car, and it’s also one of the premier starting points for a memorable backcountry skiing adventure. With about 10 metres of snow per year, there’s never any shortage of powder. If you’re a newcomer to the area, Revelstoke Alpine Adventures offers various packages. While you’re there, check out the Revelstoke Mountain Resort, which offers some of B.C.’s best extreme-skiing opportunities.
T
here may be a good reason why Vancouver has been drowning in rain over the past week and why Cypress and Grouse mountains opened ski and snowboard runs early this year. According to Weather Network chief meteorologist Chris Scott, the Pacific Ocean is developing La Niña, which refers to an ocean-atmospheric phenomenon ordinarily lasting several months. It results in significantly lower surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial region of the Pacific Ocean—and that’s associated with colder weather and greater precipitation in Western Canada. At higher elevations, this can mean more snow. While it’s too early to say if we’ll see a repeat of last year’s massive dumps, the alpine ski and snowboard season has gotten off to a spectacular start. But that’s not the only option. Below, you can see a roundup of other activities for those itching to get outside this winter.
CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING IN THE BULKLEY VALLEY The town of
Smithers in the Bulkley Valley is surrounded by mountains, including the Hudson Bay Mountain Resort, which has four lifts and is just 20 minutes away. Hudson Bay Mountain is also home to the Bulkley Valley Nordic Centre, which has it all: a day lodge, waxing huts, and lit skiing at night. Winter adventurers can also enjoy a breathtaking below-the-treeline experience at the Hankin-Evelyn Backcountry Skiing Recreation Area. Visit the websites of Tourism Smithers, the Northern B.C. Tourism Association, and Destination B.C. for details. For those more interested in crosscountry skiing, there are the Canyon Creek Trails and the Bulkley River Recreation Site. Go big. Go north.
SNOW TUBING ON CYPRESS MOUNTAIN Children as young as
six years old or 42 inches tall can participate in snow tubing, which doesn’t require much skill or practice compared to skiing or snowboarding. All it takes is for one to sit on the inflatable tube to enjoy an exhilarating ride down the hill. Located on the North Shore and a short drive from downtown Vancouver, Cypress Mountain opens its snow tube park next Friday (December 1), operating daily for two weeks. The park will have a varied schedule for the rest of the season until April 1, 2018. There are six lanes in the park, offering a 100-metre ride downhill. A great feature of the facility is its conveyor, which tows riders up, eliminating the need to walk back to the top with the tube. This activity is also easy on the pocket. A park ticket and tube rental for two hours is $23. For safety, only one person is allowed per tube, and park staff can evict visitors who appear to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs. SNOWSHOEING THE TRAILS ON GROUSE MOUNTAIN One thing
that says winter has arrived is the soft crunch of powdery snow underfoot. With snowshoes, one can hear the sound of the season with every step. For beginners as well as those proficient in snowshoeing, Grouse Mountain is an accessible location for this winter activity.
ROBSON SQUARE ICE-SKATING
(Clockwise from top) Cypress Mountain is an easy getaway from Vancouver (Peter Lonergan photo); Pride comes to Whistler in January (GayWhistler.com photo); Grouse Mountain snowshoers can listen to the sound of the season with every step.
Rising more than 1,200 metres on the North Shore, the attraction can be reached by public transit. Visitors can check out Munday Alpine Park and its different trails. The shortest route is the Light Walk, which is a half-kilometre, and there’s also a four-kilometre trail called the Snowshoe Grind. Snowshoeing works well as either a solitary or a group activity. For those wanting to meet new acquaintances, Grouse Mountain offers a number of clinics. There’s one designed for parents to meet others with babies. Another is aimed at people over 50 years old. There’s also a women-only clinic. A group of six can book a private snowshoe tour in the evening, followed by a fondue meal at
Altitudes Bistro. Private tours with- place from Wednesday to next Sunday out the fondue are also available for (November 29 to December 3). (For more on the film fest, see page 44.) groups of eight. WHISTLER PRIDE & SKI FESTIVAL
Who doesn’t enjoy a hot toddy after a day on Whistler or Blackcomb—two of the most-visited ski hills in the world? Last year’s Whistler Pride & Ski Festival welcomed winter warriors from more than two dozen countries and was named the top gay winter event by GayTravel.com. This winter, it takes place from January 21 to 28, featuring a special appearance by the Cube Guys (Italian DJs Roberto Intrallazzi and Luca Provera). And if you can’t wait that long to visit the village, there’s always the star-studded Whistler Film Festival, which takes
NORDIC SKIING AT MANNING PARK With more than 70,000 hec-
tares, Manning Provincial Park bridges the divide between B.C.’s coastal rainforest and the semiarid Okanagan region. Year-round it’s home to more than 300 kilometres of trails, as well as the Manning Park Resort, which can house more than 450 people in a range of accommodations. With more than 60 kilometres of classic skate and groomed cross-country trails, it’s a prime destination for Nordic skiers. There is also a range of downhill runs for skiers and snowboarders.
Although Trout Lake froze and many laced up for a number of days there last winter, that was the first time this kind of event had happened in two decades. With temperatures rarely dipping below zero, the city doesn’t have anything like the Rideau Canal in Ottawa. But thanks to the Robson Square Ice Rink, residents and visitors are able to feel the air on their cheeks as they go round and round the outdoor winter arena. They also don’t have to worry about the rain, because it’s covered by a dome. And the biggest thing about the rink is that people can skate for free. Located in the heart of downtown Vancouver, the Robson Square Ice Rink is close to shopping, dining, and other establishments. The rink at 800 Robson Street will welcome skaters starting on December 1 and throughout the season until the end of February. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Sunday to Thursday. On Fridays and Saturdays, visitors have two more hours in the evening, until 11 p.m. There’s also a concession selling hot drinks and snacks, as well as cash-only rentals for those who do not have their own skates. -
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WINTER ADVENTURE
Spencer O’Brien placed fourth in big air at last year’s Winter X Games and is considered one of the world’s top snowboarders. Chris Witnicki photo.
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M
ountains like Big White, Sun Peaks, and, of course, Whistler and Blackcomb make B.C. something of an elite training ground for alpine sporting events. So with the 2018 Winter Olympic Games less than 100 days away, Canada’s West Coast is crowded with many of the country’s very best athletes. In a telephone interview, Brendan Matthews, director of business operations for Canada Snowboard, said the team that travels to the 2018 host city of PyeongChang, South Korea, won’t be named until January. But he told the Straight there are a few B.C. athletes who are thought to stand a very good chance of making the list. “New for 2018, big air is included in the Olympics,” Matthews said. “And we [in B.C.] have some of the top athletes in the world in both slopestyle and big air right now.” That includes Darcy Sharp, who is originally from Comox but today lives in Whistler, and Spencer O’Brien, who was born in Alert Bay but has called Whistler home since she was 17. Sharp has been on a hot streak for the past two years, winning a silver in slopestyle at the 2017-18 New Zealand Winter Games, for example, and placing second at the Banana Open summer 2017 competition in China. O’Brien placed fourth at last year’s Winter X Games big-air competition in Oslo. The rules of the 2018 Olympics say snowboarders must compete in both big air—in which athletes sail off one very large jump, usually doing a combination of spins and f lips through the air—and slopestyle, which consists of a series of jumps and rails. Matthews said Canada has as many as six snowboarders who are good enough to contend for Olympic medals in those events this year but is only allowed to send
four of them. “So the drama is on,” he added. B.C. has a list of riders competing to represent Canada in snowboard cross (where athletes race at the same time). Among them Matthews mentioned Kevin Hill of Vernon, Carle Brenneman of North Vancouver, and Chris Robanske and Zoe Bergermann, both of Squamish. Matthews noted that B.C.’s big mountains have drawn riders here from across Canada, and he added that it’s the staff at those hills who keep the talent here. He mentioned Whistler Blackcomb and Big White specifically, both of which prepare terrain on which Olympic hopefuls train ahead of each Winter Games. “Partners like those two have been really influential in developing our athletes,” Matthews said. Discussing skiing with the Straight, Alpine Canada athletic director Martin Rufener said there are two names that B.C. should be excited about: Manuel Osborne-Paradis and Benjamin Thomsen. Based out of North Vancouver and Invermere, respectively, both athletes hope to travel to PyeongChang. Rufener said he’s enjoying watching their roads to the Olympics because the two of them are coming from very different places. In 2017, Osborne-Paradis ranks 11th in the world in downhill and 28th overall, while Thomsen is rated 28th in downhill and 81st overall. “Manny is right up there…looking good to make the first qualification to go to Korea and to have a chance there to win a medal,” Rufener said. “Ben is in a different position. He’s coming back from an injury after a couple of years, finally getting back healthy. He has a long way to qualify, because he’s starting far back in the field. “But they’re both guys from B.C. who have a good chance of going to the Games,” Rufener added. -
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22 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017
WINTER ADVENTURE
VR captures northern B.C.’s backcountry Outdoor enthusiasts can drop by the Arc’teryx store on West 4th Avenue in Kitsilano for a spectacularly immersive experience (This article is sponsored by Arc’teryx.)
B
ritish Columbia in winter is one of the most magical places on earth. The snow casts its spell over the landscape turning it into a rugged and beautiful wilderness, eager to be explored. No matter how much we prepare for the winter season, there is nothing quite like the sheer exhilaration of standing atop the mountain, anticipating our first run. Skiing and snowboarding give us the opportunity to make our mark on the land, while still being at one with nature; to be a part of a community, while embracing the solitude; to practise a physical exertion while enjoying the peacefulness of mind; to find our sanctuary but exist in a vast, open space; and, to escape, while finding ourselves. Somewhere between the contradictions, is a perfect balance which, in many ways, lends to skiing and snowboarding’s appeal. We constantly crave the thrill of our next run. And living in Vancouver, a city surrounded by mountains, we don’t have to look too far to find it. But for those of us who love the outdoors, this time of year ignites a greater sense of adventure. And we want to know that our ski gear is going to stand up to the high expectations of our prowess on the mountain. Arc’teryx, which started in our very own north shore, specializes in technical highperformance apparel, outerwear, and equipment, which is durable enough to withstand the very worst that Mother Nature can throw at it, and which enables and inspires those of us who live at the edge of our passions. We dream of discovering unchartered territories with fresh pow’ where we can carve our own paths. For the first time ever, Arc’teryx, Destination B.C., and the Northern B.C. Tourism Association could be about to turn our backcountry ski and board fantasies into a reality—of sorts. The newly launched Hut Magic allows you to be transported to the Coast Mountains near Smithers, B.C., in a virtual reality (VR) backcountry experience. British Columbia’s north is one of the province’s hidden gems offering a vast wilderness of pristine glaciers,
Want to experience a big mountain line in northern B.C. without leaving Vancouver? Arc’teryx makes it possible, thanks to dazzling virtual reality.
raw rugged beauty, and untracked snow. And while the journey to northern B.C. is well worth it, we only have to travel as far as our local Arc’teryx store in Kitsilano to capture a taste of the experience. Sounds too good to be true? Let us replace our rose-tinted spectacles with a pair of virtual reality goggles and let the magic happen. They say seeing is believing and now is your chance. Virtual reality immerses us in a completely new world through a special headset allowing us 360-degree views and little to no sensory input from the room— or one of 17 Arc’teryx stores across North America—that you’re actually in. With the help of partnerships including Google, Hut Magic delivers a unique storydriven VR experience that captures the very
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essence, beauty and transformative power of B.C.’s wilderness. And according to Marsha Walden, chief executive officer of Destination B.C., it hopes this little bit of immersive mountain magic will captivate adventure seekers who live an Arc’teryx life. “What’s incredible about Hut Magic is that you’re not just watching the action, you’re actually a character in the story,” says George Weetman, director of global consumer experience and digital commerce at Arc’teryx. So it would seem that magic really does exist if you’re brave enough to go find it. But if the virtual version has you wishing for your own real-life fairy tale, then Arc’teryx, Destination B.C., and the Northern B.C. Tourism Association are offering the adventure of a lifetime to get you outdoors.
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Go to straight.com/contests and enter for your chance to win two Arc’teryx jackets; a Granville Island Brewing–branded cooler with built-in speakers and stocked full of Winter Ale; three nights with a fully insured Hastings Overland winter ski jeep equipped with winter tires, GPS, organizer space in the rear, and Thule cargo box to get you safe and sound to Revelstoke; and a full day backcountry tour with Great Canadian Snowmobile Tours, including instruction, guides, avalanche gear, mountain snowmobile, lunch, and even a beer at the lodge to cap off the day. All that’s left to you is to find yourself a place to rest your head for the night. Talk about living the dream. For more information visit Arc'teryx at 2033 West 4th Avenue in Kitsilano or call 604-737-1104.
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WINTER ADVENTURE
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Gearing up to take to the slopes in style This year’s hottest items include super slip-resistant gloves, cool helmets, and street-style-approved boots
T
> B Y LUCY LAU
he mountains have opened, fresh powder is upon us, and, if you consider yourself a real West Coaster, it’s time to hit the chair lifts. And with the start of every ski, snowboard, and winter-sporting season comes a welcome excuse to upgrade—or invest in—your equipment stash. From super slip-resistant gloves to street-style-approved boots, we’ve rounded up some of the year’s hottest gear from a few of our favourite local shops, so you can fly down those slopes or conquer that rock ’n’ roll grind and look good doin’ it. Shredding on a budget? Don’t forget to check out Vancouver’s many recreationally oriented consignment stores, including Sports Junkies (102 West Broadway) and Cheapskates (3644 West 16th Avenue), where you can find gently used coats, helmets, and more, at reasonable prices.
BLACK FRIDAY GASTOWN ALWAYS LOOKS GOOD IN BLACK
NOVEMBER 24 Angel, 2 Powell St.
L’Atelier Home, 452 W. Cordova St.
Army & Navy, 36 W. Cordova St.
lululemon lab, 50 Powell St.
Artemisia, 452 W. Cordova St.
m0851, 44 Water St.
Bertacchi Hat Shop, 207 Abbott St.
Menu Skate Shop, 114 Water St.
Bruce Eyewear, 219 Abbott St.
Motherland, 466 W. Cordova St.
David’s Tea, 164 Water St.
Neighbour, 125 - 12 Water St.
Durant Sessions, 315 W. Cordova St.
Neighbour / Woman, 45 Powell St.
Dutil Denim, 303 W. Cordova St.
Nifty Do, 227 Carrall St.
E:CLE, 486 W. Cordova St.
Nouvelle Nouvelle, 209 Abbott St.
Frank & Oak, 316 W. Cordova St.
Oak + Fort, 355 Water St.
Haven, 52 E. Cordova St.
OK Boot Corral, 205 Carrall St.
John Fluevog, 65 Water St.
Old Faithful, 320 W. Cordova St.
Karma Athletics, 308 Water St.
One of a Few, 354 Water St.
Kimprints, 41 Powell St.
Poppy & Rye, 131 Water St.
MY FAIR LADY Christmas may still be a month away, but who’s to say you can’t get into the holiday spirit a little early on the slopes? Tempered by a moody palette of burgundy and navy, the “Stellar” Fair Isle print on Burton’s women’s Park glove ($69.99) is an apt nod to the most wonderful time of the year. Better yet, the mitts are equipped with all sorts of proprietary technology from the premier snow-gear manufacturer, including Screen Grab, which allows you to navigate fussy touchscreens with your gloved fingers, and the very-fun-to-say Sticky Icky, which promises a slip-resistant grip on anything you get your hands on. Yes, that includes your smartphone during impromptu chair-ride selfies and beers during the après-ski rush. Find them at Comor Sports (1766 West 4th Avenue).
Roden Gray, 8 Water St. Rowan Sky, 334 W. Cordova St.
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Salmagundi, 321 W. Cordova St. Silver Gallery, 308 Water St.
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24 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017
The Basement, 235 Cambie St. The Block, 350 W. Cordova St. The Latest Scoop, 159 Water St.
Eyewear has the ability to make a statement and ski and snowboard goggles are no exception. That’s why we love Spy Optics’ unisex Doom goggles ($249), which feature an oversized design—always flattering—and two coloured lens options that can be swapped out depending on your mood. Ideal for both skiing and snowboarding, the dual-layer FOUR EYES
glasses are antifog and antiscratch, and amp up the contrast in heavy rain or snow, allowing you to shred safely in even the most challenging conditions. Plus, the superdense face foam zaps unpleasant sweat and moisture in a snap. Choose from grey with violet and green lenses or black with red and yellow lenses. Find them at Mountain Equipment Co-op (various locations).
THREE ALARM Given the fanfare surrounding Adidas’s street-style kicks of late, you’d be forgiven for being completely oblivious to the brand’s snowboarding line. We’re here to tell you, however, that the German sports company makes some of the best winter sporting gear around. And with the popularity of Stan Smiths and Originals at an all-time high, there’s no better time to get in on the game. Start with the men’s Tactical ADV boots ($399.99), a comfy snowboarding shoe boasting ultra-responsive cushioning, a flexible cuff, and foam lining that snugly shapes to the contours of your feet. A striking colour scheme and the label’s recognizable three-stripe trademark running down the exterior are the powdered-sugar icing on the cake. Find them at Pacific Boarder (1793 West 4th Avenue).
A COOL HEAD Stay safe, stylish, and visible in snowy conditions as you’re ripping through terrain with Giro’s Essence MIPS women’s helmet ($329.95). Equipped with the industry-approved MultiDirectional Impact Protection System, which reduces impact on the brain tissue better than traditional helmets, the Essence is armed with handy features like venting that functions as warm, audio-compatible ear pads and an integrated movable visor that protects you from cold and slush while keeping your glasses and eye makeup intact. Plush foam offers comfort against the bridge of the nose and cheekbones and adjustable ventilation allows you to let cool air in as needed so you can ride and relax at comfortable temps. Find it at West Coast Sports (1675 West 4th Avenue). -
HOUSING
Renters of Vancouver: “It was very devious” > B Y KATE WIL SON
Renters of Vancouver takes an intimate look at how the city’s residents are dealing with the housing crisis. Tenants choose to remain nameless when sharing their stories.
“I
moved into a 10-bedroom house on August 1. By the end of October, I was forced out—even though I had an agreement until April 2018. “I’d already had a few bad experiences with landlords in the past, so I knew how important it was to have a good contract. What I liked about this place was that, on paper, it looked like all the ‘i’s were dotted and ‘t’s were crossed. Unfortunately, that turned out not to be the case. “There were two strange clauses in the contract. One was that I could only have a guest stay overnight twice a week, and it would cost me $15 a night after that. The second was that the landlord would stay over occasionally in the flex room that was just off the living room. It wasn’t a homestay arrangement, and I was under the impression that she’d rarely be there. I figured it would be fine. “First, the roommate who lived on the top floor with me was kicked out. He’s Australian and used the ‘c’ word quite liberally. That really offended her, and she told him to watch it. One day when he was running late for school, he forgot to wash his dishes, and she evicted him. “Next she turned on me. One day she called, and between working and studying I couldn’t pick up.
This tenant says his landlord charged a fee after his girlfriend spent the night but wouldn’t give a receipt. Kate Wilson photo.
I got off the bus and walked in the back door, because it’s the closest to the stop. The landlord was at the house, and she confronted me about not picking up the phone and that I was using the back door. She said that I wasn’t allowed, which was news to me. She then said that she’d come to talk about my girlfriend staying over and that she would charge me for it. I said it was fine and that she should go ahead, as long as I got an itemized receipt. She refused to give me one.
“She wanted me to apologize for having my girlfriend around. I wrote to her and said that I didn’t have anything to apologize for: I paid my rent on time; I did all the chores; I kept my room tidy; I did the hour of gardening every month which I was told to do—everything that the contract said. “The landlord would only communicate through her personal assistants. When I asked for confirmation that the assistants represented her, so that I would be covered
if I wanted to use our conversations as evidence if needed, that rattled the landlord. She wouldn’t be able to turn around and say that the conversations weren’t endorsed by her. She sent me a long email back telling me to stop acting like a lawyer. She said the situation was stressing her out. Then she wrote that as a student from Mexico, to the best of her knowledge, I wasn’t a Canadian citizen and that I was here as a guest. She was calling me a second-class citizen, which was really low.
“At that point I went to the Residential Tenancy Branch. They said that I fell in a grey area. Because she stayed for one night of the month at our house, she could catalogue that she shared a bathroom or kitchen with us. As a result, the Tenancy Act doesn’t apply and we had no rights. I then realized that it was the reason why she insisted on calling us ‘lodgers’ rather than ‘tenants’. The house had a caretaker who was a relative, and they were designated the ‘lead tenant’. The fact that we were lodgers meant that I had no recourse to her constant bullying. “It was very devious, because it meant that if we had any disputes, we’d have to go through court, which is really expensive, rather than the Residential Tenancy Branch. What made it worse was that the landlord was a real-estate agent. Apparently, she had three more houses in the area and did the same thing to everyone. “I was really worried that if I went to court it would be easy for her to plant something in my room—she had access all the time—and I would be thrown out of the country or that I’d get a black mark on my profile because I want to apply for PR and citizenship. So I decided to cut my losses. I proposed that we should agree to end the tenancy, and that I should leave in November. She said it had to be October. “I’ve now found a new apartment for myself and I’m moving in soon. It’s handled by a building manager, and I’m definitely named as a tenant. This time, I feel like I’ll be covered.” -
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NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 25
BOOKS
Pick explores Israel’s roots > B Y G E O R G E FETHE R LING
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26 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017
✁
T
he Canadian author Alison Pick’s novel Far to Go was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, one of the two or three most prestigious literary awards in the English-speaking world. That was seven years ago. To repurpose an old vaudeville punch line, “So what’s she done lately?” The answer is her complex, inspiring, and artful new novel Strangers with the Same Dream. It is set in 1921 in a kibbutz in what was then called the British Mandate in Palestine but is now part of the state of Israel. In a telephone interview from her home in Toronto, Pick is quick to explain that writing the new book didn’t take up all those years, for in the period between the two novels she also completed her extraordinary memoir Between Gods, published in 2014. It was a startling revelation of how she discovered that her father and his family were Jewish. “I was a 10-year-old kid on the playground” when an anti-Semite accused her of being a Jew. “I denied it,” she says, “because I had never heard that mentioned at home.” She had not been told that so many members of her father’s family, representing several generations, had perished in the Holocaust. It took years of patient lock-picking to get the gruesome facts out in the open. The result of her doing so was a serious battle with depression. What affected her even “more than hearing the stories was not having heard them” earlier. Judaism is, of course, passed down matrilineally and Pick’s mother was Christian. That seems only to have increased the writer’s desire to learn about a second faith. An early novel, The Sweet Edge, had given her enough authority to apply for a travel grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. In all she went to Israel three times over
Alison Pick’s Strangers with the Same Dream is set on Israel’s oldest kibbutz, highlighting the mindset of early-20th-century Jewish pioneers. Emma Lee photo.
a two-month period. “My Hebrew’s not good, so I needed a translator,” she says. “I was received warmly.” Her new book is set in 1921 because that was the year that the oldest continuing kibbutz (cooperative agrarian settlement) was founded. It was the largest one as well, and has kept an extensive archive. Most of the original members arrived as young people. “There was one man who began living there when he was 10. He was still alive when I was there but he’s since died.” In 2009 (“when I was seven months pregnant”) she began studying under a rabbi and eventually converted to Judaism, though she says that her attraction to it is perhaps more cultural than religious. Strangers with the Same Dream is told in three sections, giving multiple viewpoints on the different characters’ ambitions and on the
disagreements and disappointments that always seem to attend attempts at communal living. This year marks the hundredth anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, in which the British pledged to create a Jewish homeland in the Middle East but only if Arabs were not subordinated. Pick is careful and fair-minded in how she treats the beginnings of the tension between the two cultures that we see every day on the news. Most important of all, Strangers with the Same Dream is a finely crafted work of fiction. Pick is also a published poet. And it shows. Alison Pick will read from Strangers with the Same Dream at the Jewish Community Centre on Saturday (November 25), as part of the Jewish Book Festival.
BOOKS
Carys Cragg is a Douglas College instructor and the author of Dead Reckoning: How I Came to Meet the Man Who Murdered My Father.
Cragg connected with her father’s murderer > B Y TA R A HENLEY
W
hen Douglas College instructor Carys Cragg was 11 years old, the unimaginable happened. At 4 in the morning, a man broke into her Calgary home and, when confronted, killed her father. The tragedy altered the course of her life, sending shock waves through her entire existence. She spent the next two decades recovering. By the time Cragg was 29, she was living in Vancouver, working as a youth outreach counsellor, and mostly thriving. One day she wound up talking with a colleague about her dad’s death. She had told people about the man who took her father’s life many times before, but this person’s response was different: “Do you know anything about him?” It was a light-bulb moment. “There was just something missing,” Cragg tells the Straight over coffee. “I had quote-unquote successfully dealt with the loss of my dad, and now I wanted to deal with this part. This part was never talked about, never dealt with, probably because we were just so young.… But young people grow up, and ask questions, and I’m a question asker.” Cragg knew the offender was 22 at the time of the crime, a drug addict with a long criminal record, looking to pay off drug debts. Suddenly, she wanted to know more. What followed was a two-year foray into restorative justice, which she chronicles in her new book Dead Reckoning: How I Came to Meet the Man Who Murdered My Father. The memoir includes correspondence between her and the offender, whom she eventually visited in prison in Drumheller, Alberta. “I didn’t go in full-force angry,” Cragg says of the experience, which proved transformational. “Most people wanted me to go in with full force and were surprised that I didn’t. But I just knew, that’s not how you connect with someone. That’s not how you get information you need. That’s not how you try and understand someone. “When you are attempting to understand someone’s life,” she adds, “you have to become compassionate towards those circumstances.” She learned that his family history was one of violence, alcoholism, and abuse, and that he was made a ward of the court at the age of 11. For years, she’d wondered what this man’s life had been like, and when he told her he’d grown up in foster care, it confirmed something for her. “His family wasn’t taken care of, and his family’s family wasn’t taken care of,” she says. “It’s that generational neglect and abuse. So I’m not surprised of his trajectory.
It just happened to be that my dad got in his way.” Cragg found that she felt a lot of empathy for the man, who responded to her letters with emotion and vulnerability. He expressed gratitude, and was anxious to put her at ease; he seemed profoundly touched by the connection she extended to him. “I found it moving,” she says. “And that is a complex piece of this.” As their correspondence progressed, Cragg began hearing from Drumheller that the man’s behaviour was changing. “That’s so interesting,” she says. “That what I’m doing—even though it’s for me—was benefiting him.” The turning point, she thinks, came with exchanges they had about her father. “I’ve always wanted to keep my dad alive in my life, in a really generative way,” Cragg says. “I got a sense really early on in the letters that he knew nothing about my dad, and then he confirmed that, past what they would say in newspapers. I was devastated that he knew nothing about him. I fundamentally thought, ‘You cannot rehabilitate yourself, or try to account for what you have done—or even communicate with me, and understand what I feel—without knowing who you took away.’ I know that when he learned about my dad, and that energy he had, and the things he did and accomplished and contributed, he seemed also devastated. He also confirmed that that was necessary to him improving, or getting better. I thought, ‘Wow, that was so essential to both of us. It was essential for me to tell you, and it was essential for you to move forward.’ ” In September, after 25 years behind bars, the man was paroled. For Cragg, this is a profound relief. “It’s not so much that I cared about his growth, it was more like I cared that it wasn’t the opposite,” she says. “I cared that he wasn’t continuing to be destructive.…Because that stuff made me feel worse. It made me get stuck on it, it made me feel more tied to it. So him moving into full parole, and working and having good jobs and good connections, makes me feel better because I can move on.” Still, this should not be mistaken for a straightforward story of forgiveness. “I also feel total anger towards him, and pity and disgust sometimes.…and total judgment,” Cragg says. “So I feel all of the feelings towards him—including empathy. “My story is not simple,” she adds. “But no justice story is simple.” -
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m i d l a n d a p p l i a n c e.c o m
Carys Cragg will speak about Dead Reckoning: How I Came to Meet the Man Who Murdered My Father at the Vancouver Public Library central branch on Monday (November 27).
NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 27
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agittarius month has just begun but isn’t wasting any time pumping up the volume and spreading the wealth. Encompassing the U.S.’s Thanksgiving and Black Friday’s retail bonanza, Mercury’s trine to Uranus keeps the social and seasonal action going strong through Saturday. Sunday/Monday are transition days. Ease up; relax; go with the flow. Late Monday evening, Mercury teams up with Saturn. It’s an apt transit for the end of a trip, visit, semester, or some other finish line or last leg. Whether forced, required, or desired, Mercury/Saturn can bring matters to a stop, limit, or wrap-up. On another note, a new reality sets into play. Mercury/Saturn can shape, define, or solidify in some well-timed way. It is an excellent transit for getting the task accomplished. Use it to broach a subject; negotiate a better deal; get it under better control; tighten up on organization, budgets, or boundaries; or sign a contract or make it official. Having outlined the plus and minus, with Uranus in the mix, overall Mercury/Saturn should make you feel you are gaining ground. Take full advantage of the start of the new week while time works to your benefit. Stirring it up as early as Tuesday, Mars builds toward an opposition with Uranus. While they’ll keep the excitement, social action, and opportunity going strong, Mars/Uranus is a stressproducing, anything-goes, suddenonslaught or sudden-strike transit. They’ll peak next Friday, the day before Mercury begins retrograde, and two days before a super full moon. Stay hopeful; have fun; take your best shot; but also keep on watch!
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ARIES
March 20–April 20
Through Saturday, the stars help you to make the most of it with ease. Mercury/Uranus keeps time on the beat with synchronicity. You’ll have no trouble coming up with good ideas, fresh conversation, places to be or things to do. Sunday/Monday, simplify as best you can. As of Tuesday, you’re on a full recharge. Don’t buy into the stress. Focus on one thing at a time.
have to offer. Thursday to Saturday, socializing keeps it fresh. Sunday/ Monday, easing up is best. Tuesday, the Aries moon replenishes you, it, and them. Feel a sense of heightened expectation or living for what’s coming your way soon? It’s the effect of Mars/Uranus on a buildup!
VIRGO
LIBRA
SCORPIO
SAGITTARIUS
August 23–September 23
Thursday to Saturday, your days are full up with one thing after another. Even so, Mercury/ Uranus keeps you up to speed and feeling pleased. Sunday, easy up. Monday, ease into it. As of the end of Monday and into Tuesday, Mercury/Saturn takes you past a finish line and sets you onto the next big thing. Don’t worry about tomorrow; deal with today. September 23–October 23
Never a dull moment; Mercury/Uranus keeps the conversation and social action going strong through Saturday. Sunday/ Monday, soak it up and wrap up what’s left. As of Tuesday, it’s time to plug yourself in again and to go full tilt. Aim for the shortest route to the goal, but don’t do it if it doesn’t feel right or natural. Next weekend dishes up something fresh. October 23–November 22
You should have no trouble working it out, fulfilling requests, and making good use of the time you have to spend. Mercury/ Uranus keeps you quick on the ball and synchronizing well through Saturday. Sunday/Monday, no matter what claims your attention, it’s easy to get lost in it. Tuesday/Wednesday, cut to the chase. Tackle what’s immediate; aim for straightforward, short, and fast. November 22–December 21
Thursday’s fresh wind suits you to a T. Mercury/Uranus keeps you well entertained, with plenty of energy, great downloads, stories to tell, and smiles to share through the weekend. Connect, socialize, and share or go off and do your own thing. Either way, it’s all TAURUS good. Sunday/Monday are regroup April 20–May 21 and transition days. Tuesday/WedA change of scenery hits nesday, it’s full steam ahead; there’s it right. Now through Monday, the no time to waste. stars provide a great window of opCAPRICORN portunity. Enjoy the moment; take December 21–January 20 it as it comes. On the bigger-picture Through the weekend, a note, Mercury/Saturn can put a more serious spin on health, wealth, and change of pace or getaway couldn’t relationship challenges through the be better timed. Inspiration, stimulamiddle of January. The start of the tion, and conversation are on ready new year is ideal for major personal dial-up. You won’t have any trouble bringing it up to speed. Sunday/Monand lifestyle reinvention. day, it’s a natural progression. As of GEMINI Tuesday, the stars pick up the pace May 21–June 21 again. Quick, straightforward, and Whether it’s spur-of-the- efficient is your best play or choice. moment or long in the works, you’ll hit AQUARIUS a “feels good/feels right� track through January 20–February 18 the weekend. Mercury/Uranus keep Mercury in good shape conversations and social activities fresh and upbeat. Sunday/Monday, with Uranus through Saturday and you can ease your way along. Tuesday/ with Saturn late Monday night sets Wednesday calls for more push, more you up for a great few days to get your output, or more outlay. Aim for the social or shopping fill. They keep you shortest route to getting the job done. up to speed with the requirements, deadlines, and the rest of the official Simple and straightforward is best. stuff, too. Tuesday/Wednesday, get at CANCER it; streamline as best you can.
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28 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017
June 21–July 22
Thursday/Friday, something new, fresh, or spontaneous hits it right. Aim to make the most of your time through the weekend. One-on-one or spending it with a few, there’s good sharing to be had. Saturday to Monday, you’ll find your most natural/relaxed stride. As of Tuesday, the next push is on. Face it/ take it one thing/one step at a time.
LEO
July 22–August 23
PISCES
February 18–March 20
Something special on the horizon? Whether it’s the holidays or something else that keeps you in a heightened state of anticipation, Mercury/Uranus and Mercury/ Saturn suggest it couldn’t be better timed. Saturday/Sunday, it’s time to switch gears. Tuesday calls for a start-to-finish full thrust. Aim to get it done sooner rather than later. -
Regarding activity and so- Book a reading or sign up for Rose’s cial matters, play it moment to mo- free monthly newsletter at www.rose ment and you’ll gain the best your days marcus.com/.
FOOD
Gelato scene set to heat up
WEEKLY SPECIALS
> BY TA M MY KWAN
W
hen we broke the news about Vancouver’s well-loved gelato shop Bella Gelateria being abruptly put up for sale in August, there were a lot of questions about whether the local business near Canada Place would continue. Even though two of its sister locations will no longer exist (one in Yaletown and one that was in development in Olympic Village), the flagship Coal Harbour storefront (1001 West Cordova Street) remains and is still serving up its tasty treats under new ownership and gelato makers. Andrés Bermúdez is the general manager and one of two new gelato masters at Bella Gelateria, which is now owned by James Feng Wang. Bermúdez learned how to create gelato in Miami, Florida, and has 10 years of experience making this popular frozen treat. The company’s other newly named gelato master is Eric Dorval, who received a certification from the Carpigiani Gelato University near Bologna, Italy. Both maestros have worked under the helm of James Coleridge, who was previously Bella Gelateria’s gelato maker, shareholder, and face of the company. Coleridge initially owned the renowned dessert shop with his estranged wife, Anna, who was also a shareholder and most recently the sole director. “People come here and they think that just because James is not here, the quality of the gelato will [have decreased],” Bermúdez told the Straight in a phone interview. “But on a day-to-day basis, I was the one making the product that the public has been eating.” Bermúdez emphasizes that the main change at the gelato shop is only in management.
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SUGARBUSH VOL. 1 - NOV 24 Bella Gelateria has closed two of its locations, but its flagship storefront is going strong. Meanwhile, its former gelato maker is planning his comeback.
“We have been working with the new owner since early October, making new flavours, and keeping up with the demand of seasonal flavours and experimenting with new things that we can bring to the public,” explained Bermúdez. One of the featured October gelato flavours was pumpkin cheesecake. Upcoming seasonal flavours include the Black Carrot (carrot and black cardamom) and Jack on Jack (jackfruit and honey Jack Daniel’s). “I think Vancouver should be curious and interested about what Bella will be bringing to the public,” said Bermúdez. “We are going to keep the same quality, but we want to try to make it better in terms of innovation, flavours, and new products.” The new maestro also tells us that Wang has plans to expand next year and open two more locations in Vancouver and perhaps others across Canada in the future. Although James Coleridge has not been involved with or represented the downtown gelato establishment since September, he is gearing up to make a big comeback to the city’s frozen-treats realm.
“I wish [Bella Gelateria] well,” Coleridge told the Straight by phone. “But I plan on coming back to Vancouver in the gelato scene for summer 2018 as James’s Gelato. Wait until you see what I’m going to do.” We reported that Bella Gelateria’s previous gelato master claimed to have been kept in the dark about the sale of the company a few months ago, which resulted from a family feud that got messy. But Coleridge tells us that he has since received plenty of strength from Vancouver, especially from local individuals who are also in the frozen-dessert marketplace. “I’ve been honoured and humbled by the love and support I’ve received since the director of the company took away my dream,” said Coleridge. “I can tell you that I am very excited about the future like never before. With the foundation and support that I have, you can take away my assets of how to make gelato, but you cannot take away my passion and my spirit.” Beyond the fact that complications can arise from running businesses, one thing is certain: Vancouver will never be short of delicious frozen desserts. -
23TOY ZEBRA 26 SWEETZ 24 25
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Pick your favourites in the local dining scene NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 29
FOOD
> Go on-line to read hundreds of I Saw You posts or to respond to a message < THE GIRL IN THE PINK JACKET
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 20, 2017 WHERE: Safeway Burquitlam I have never done this before, but how else am I going to find a stranger in a metro area with over 2.5 million people? I was at Safeway by accident, suddenly I heard a voice behind me coming from the most beautiful woman I have ever seen asking me about candles, like I was some kind of candle connoisseur. Even saying goodbye to me at the store for my great insight that ultimately turned out to be useless. If I had one wish in the world it would be to bump into you again.
BURRITO BABE IN SEINFELD HAT
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 19, 2017 WHERE: Budgies Burritos Whenever I come in to Budgies to get my Henry, I’m captivated by you! Rarely do see frosted tips pulled off by such a handsome man! Are you a Newfie? I can’t tell if you have an accent or not and I haven’t been brave enough to ask even though I think I see you smiling at me sometimes. Maybe we'll chat over a burrito one day? If you see this.
CHOICES MARKET YALETOWN
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 14, 2017 WHERE: Davie and Richards Choices. Every now and then I get a chance to have a micro conversation while paying for stuff I already bought. My fridge is full and somehow we still haven't connected. I crumple every time I'm about to ask for your Instagram or phone number. I'll settle for an email at this point. Commented on your glasses frame, maybe in a crazy world you read this... I hope we run into each other outside of your work.
BABE IN THE BRAIDS
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PERSIA FOODS QT
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 17, 2017 WHERE: The Waldorf
I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 17, 2017 WHERE: Persia Foods
You caught my eye at the Mob Bounce show at the Waldorf. You were dressed in all black with two french braids. Pretty little face with dark lip stick. We spoke briefly at the after hours about monogamy and exes. You left before we could chat again but maybe you’ll read this...
To the handsome guy at Persia Foods (Kits) on Friday night - we both ended up in the bulk food section and you offered me a bag for my almonds. You were super good looking and I was tempted to tell a terrible joke about cashews but refrained from embarrassing myself too much, opting instead to mumble an awkward “thank-you”. We made eye contact again on the bus later, and I regret not introducing myself!
BRUNETTE W/ NOSE PIERCING....DOWNTOWN PASSPORT OFFICE
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 16, 2017 WHERE: Passport Office I crossed paths with you at the passport office in Sinclair Centre in downtown Vancouver this morning (Nov. 16). You caught my eye when you were saying bye to your friend. We exchange a couple of long stares and smiles and then we were at the counter beside each other where we did it again. But, I didn’t know what the etiquette was on hitting on someone in the passport office ; ) I waited in the hall to see if I could catch you, but you were out the exit before I even saw you and I lost sight of you behind a bus. You are 5’8-ish, brunette, amazing smile with a nose piercing. I’m the brunette guy with a beard and dark blue/ gold hat. If by some long shot you see this, shoot me a message. Let me know what you were wearing to confirm it’s you. It was pleasure sitting in that endless lineup by ya!
CULTURE CRAWL CUTIE
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 18, 2017 WHERE: 1000 Parker St. Studios You: cheeky, tall, well dressed, septum ring. Me: tall, quiet, green hair. You were teasing my friend and I about being on our phones and then tried to play it off like you wanted to join our “text accepted group”.
PACIFIC MAIL & PARCEL
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 18, 2017 WHERE: USA Pacific Mail and Parcel Saw beautiful woman at Pacific Mail and Parcel. We where trying to figure out where to stand in lineup to avoid cold from door. I joked about getting a gym book twice which I did because of mail error. You told me you lifted weights so I gladly gave you a copy. Would love to do coffee and chat:) Tell me which book and I'll know it's you and what we did before I left :) Hope to hear from you
SKYTRAIN GLANCE
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I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 14, 2017 WHERE: SkyTrain - Expo Line Tuesday Nov 14, you were wearing a black jacket and I was wearing a black hat with a beige scarf. We both got on the SkyTrain at Joyce Stn. You sat down and I waited a bit to sit down just across so I could see you better. I was thinking of getting closer and then you changed your seat and I hesitated a few times to sit with you, but I’m shy and not of those that approach strangers. I’m sure you will remember who I am if you read this. I got off on Granville, while you were putting on your touque. You looked perfectly handsome. I’m Latino, you are Asian. Hit me up and let’s go for coffee!!
Visit straight.com to post your FREE I Saw You _
Less orthodox wines satisfy
S
o you’re a big fan of Brit- of crafting wines of integrity. Moon ish Columbian wine but Curser’s Arneis 2016 ($22.52, www. Gewürztraminer is mak- mooncurser.com/) puts the variety ing you gloomy, or you’re on a proper pedestal, even though feeling “meh” about Merlot? There’s it’s more at home in northern Italy, plenty of opportunity to go beyond known for flinty, floral, and citthe norm around these parts, as rusy character. Take all those elemany wineries have been increas- ments here and add some extra ingly creative and occasionally auda- fresh-squeezed lime, a hint of salcious with wine styles and varieties inity, and juicy acidity and you are that often stray from the pack. primed for that next sip. Shall we start with a little bubble? On the red side of things, Moon Stoneboat’s Bubble Boat Brut ($15.99, Curser Dolcetto 2016 ($23.39) is www.stoneboatvineyards.com/) out of another northern Italian variety, Oliver eschews the typical Chardon- here with plum pudding and balnay or Pinot Noir composition of many samic aromatics, loads of crunchy sparkling wines, red and purple instead employing minera l-d riven a frisky, aromatic fruit on the palblend of Schönate, and a sweet Kurtis Kolt burger, Kerner, Pilift of spearmint not Blanc, and Müller-Thurgau. What toward the end. That minerality happens when you grow these cool- is echoed in Moon Curser Carméclimate varieties in South Okanagan nère 2015 ($37.30), but with a little heat, have the initial ferment age on more oomph; it’s drenched with lees for a couple of months, and then black berry fruit, fresh anise, bay have it go through a bubble-inducing leaf, and a touch of spice on the finsecond ferment in tank? Well, you get ish. A charmer begging for grilled swept away with tropical notes of pine- meats or charcuterie. apple, papaya, and plantain, all bright Heading back north to Okanagan and fizzy with elegance and cheer. Falls, Stag’s Hollow has also been gainAbout 20 minutes south, in Osoy- ing a reputation in recent years for exoos, we find a sense of adventure and panding both wine styles and varieties whimsy at Moon Curser, and it has beyond the status quo. For a couple of existed since the winery’s inception tasty examples, look no further than as Twisted Tree more than a decade Stag’s Hollow Grenache 2016 ($25.99, ago. At that time, it cheekily added www.stagshollowwinery.com/)—an Carménère (the long-lost Bordeaux opulent, purple wonder with heaps variety experiencing a Chilean ren- of Coronation grapes, mulberries, aissance) to its Six Vines blend, and fresh sage—and Stag’s Hollow which was quite the departure from Hart 2013 ($27), a fortified Merlot other British Columbian Cabernet- aged two years in oak, resulting in and Merlot-centric odes to the red an Okanagan spin on a traditional blends of Bordeaux. port. Either of these will suit the It kicked things into high gear season well. after its rebrand to Moon Curser Over at Quails’ Gate, winemaker Vineyards in 2011, adding a host Nikki Callaway has just released of varieties rather uncommon in Quails’ Gate Cailleteau Gamay our region. I appreciate the sense of Nouveau 2017 ($19.99, www.quails playfulness here, but that playful- gate.com/). This delicious and juicy ness has never been at the expense berry-driven wine (with a tiny pinch
The Bottle
of white pepper) is a nod to the Beaujolais Nouveau wines of France, which see the grapes harvested, processed, and bottled in a short time period, offering a first look at the most recent vintage. Do serve with a bit of a chill, and ensure you have a backup bottle at the ready. Finally, some alternative approaches may be subtle but can lead to more sweeping efforts across the province. Often, our takes on Bordeaux reds involve Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Sometimes they’ll be rounded out by a smattering of Malbec and/or Petit Verdot, blend components we also see in that hallowed region of France. In recent years, we’ve seen some local wineries toss a little Syrah into the mix, which often adds a smidgen of pepper and meatiness to a blend, something I’m often a fan of. I’ve noted this percentage has climbed from single digits to a significant fraction of these sorts of wines during the past few years, which made me do a double take at another riff on Bordeaux I recently came across. Pentâge Winery’s Hiatus 2013 ($23, www.pentage.com/) starts out with the quintet of traditional Bordeaux red grapes, but then they’re rounded out by a small splash of Tempranillo, the famed variety from Spain’s Rioja region. Brambly forestfloor character is abundant on both nose and palate, with currants, dried leaves, and a few fresh French herbs bringing plenty of character. There’s also a wee bit of a plummy tobacco character fleshing things out. That could be the typicality of Tempranillo or it could be the power of suggestion. For such a complex, enjoyable wine at this price? I’m happy regardless. Prices listed are winery-direct; expect them to be a few bucks more at private wine stores around town. -
THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE VSO’S
TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS CONCERTS
William Rowson conductor Christopher Gaze host EnChor: Gerald van Wyck director UBC Opera Ensemble: Nancy Hermiston director Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Lower Mainland’s most beloved Holiday music tradition. Kick off your Holiday season on the perfect note, with the VSO Traditional Christmas concerts, featuring carols, Christmas classics, and audience sing-alongs. ST. ANDREW’S-WESLEY CHURCH, VANCOUVER Friday, December 8 at 7:30pm Saturday, December 9 at 4pm & 7:30pm Sunday, December 10 at 7:30pm SOUTH DELTA BAPTIST CHURCH, DELTA Wednesday, December 13 at 7:30pm KAY MEEK CENTRE, WEST VANCOUVER Thursday, December 14 at 4pm & 7:30pm CENTENNIAL THEATRE, NORTH VANCOUVER Friday, December 15 at 4pm & 7:30pm BELL PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE, SURREY Saturday, December 16 at 4pm & 7:30pm MICHAEL J. FOX THEATRE, BURNABY Sunday, December 17 at 4pm & 7:30pm
ST. ANDREW’S-WESLEY CHURCH
@VSOrchestra
TICKETS: vancouversymphony.ca 30 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017
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ARTS
In 1962, Canadian BY JANET SM IT H
media theorist Marshall McLuhan effectively predicted the Internet. In The Gutenberg Galaxy, he wrote about an electronic age when technology would unite people in a “global village” where everyone had equal access to information. Two years later, in his book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, he went on to talk about how the method of communication would become the most influential fact of the electronic age. Hello, smartphones: by 2017, we know more than ever that “the medium is the message.” As a dance artist, Vanessa Goodman feels that one of the most eerily prescient things McLuhan said was that technology would become an extension of our physical selves. Consider the way we jump to attention when our cellphone buzzes in our pocket. “With what we’re experiencing now, I feel there’s a strong relevance to revisit what he said,” the Action at a Distance artistic director tells the Straight over the phone before rehearsal at SFU Woodward’s. “So much of what he predicted has come true.” In fact, Goodman has devoted three years to exploring those ideas physically, sonically, and visually in her multimedia Wells Hill. But Goodman’s fascination with the theorist goes far beyond the artistic and into the realm of the personal. She grew up in the Toronto house where McLuhan once lived—the Tudor-style residence at 29 Wells Hill Avenue. “My parents were always interested in art: my dad owned a jazz club for a short while, my mom was an art conservator. And I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know it was Marshall McLuhan’s house,” Goodman says, recalling that her parents never painted over a basement wall where McLuhan’s son Michael had scrawled his name. She also clearly remembers the day a commemorative plaque was dedicated at the house
Movement is the medium
Blending light, sound, video projections, and movement, Wells Hill explores the prescient ideas of Marshall McLuhan and Glenn Gould. David Cooper photo.
Goodman slowly now split the new, full-length rendition into two began building the distinct sections. “The piece works chronologically: To understand Vanessa Goodman’s Wells Hill, you have to start with work, integrating low-fi the first part is pre-Internet and the second is postthe house she grew up in—and where Marshall McLuhan once lived and high-tech elements, Internet—or at least, where we are today,” Goodfrom the electronic man says. “So the second is the hyperspeed essence site. “That’s when they revealed to my family soundscore by Scott Morgan (of Loscil) and Gab- of our consumption of information today.” Staging the work at SFU, where she earned her dejust how many amazing people had come to the riel Saloman to projections that include sometimes house and met with Marshall in his study. And glitched-out black-and-white footage of McLuhan gree at the School for the Contemporary Arts, brings and Gould speaking. (Goodman collaborated with her full circle: she presented a short, early work one was Glenn Gould.” Here’s where the story gets even more bizarre. It Ben Didier and Milton Lim on the projections.) there in 2010 when the Woodward’s site opened its Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre. turns out that Goodman’s parents had also lived in For those video elements, she applied multiple But the program is also part of Celebrate Gould’s former Toronto apartment before she was processes, working from original film Canada 150+, and joins the international born. “It was one of those weird moments and inter- of the two men, and then employing DanceHouse presentation series. sections,” says the choreographer, who explores the everything from an old cathode-ray Check out… STRAIGHT.COM “DanceHouse has been incredibly way McLuhan and Gould’s theories intersected and projector to VHS recording. Visit our website “I like to use older technology to inf luential to me: it’s inspired me to contradicted throughout Wells Hill—and the way for morning-after study abroad and study with some they altered how we consume art and information. make something new,” Goodman reviews and local says. “I even made a lo-fi hologram of those companies,” Goodman says. arts news FLASHFORWARD TO a few years ago, and for this [version]. “They have actually blown my mind Goodman was relaying that anecdote to Michael “It’s always my goal to make an imwith some of their programming, so Boucher, director of SFU’s Cultural Programs & mersive environment—to make the room I’m pinching myself that I’m part of that.” Partnerships, when he encouraged her to take dance,” she adds, bringing to mind her 2014 work And the real house that she grew up in? Although on the two icons and their complex concepts with the Contingency Plan, What Belongs to You, it doesn’t make its way into Wells Hill in any literal in her next work. At fi rst, Goodman, who had which created an ethereal, ever-moving environ- fashion, it still plays a huge role in Goodman’s perjust won the 2013 Iris Garland Emerging Chor- ment with just sheets of plastic and a few hundred sonal life. “It’s where I go when I go there to visit eographer Award, admits she felt trepidation. balloons. “That’s always my puzzle.” family,” she says. “I still sleep in the same bed.” “They’re both such prolific characters and icons Wells Hill has evolved since shorter versions in their own right,” she says. “But when I started appeared at the Chutzpah Festival, the Shadbolt SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs, DanceHouse, to read their material, I realized I could apply Centre for the Arts, and Small Stage. It features and SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts these theories to create dance. I began to fi nd my seven dancers: Lara Barclay, Karissa Barry, Dario present Wells Hill at the Fei and Milton Wong way through: my medium is movement and my Dinuzzi, Bynh Ho, Arash Khakpour, Alexa Mar- Experimental Theatre from Friday to Sunday (Novmessage is that I’m interested in embodiment.” don, and Bevin Poole. And Goodman says she’s ember 24 to 26).
THINGS TO DO
ARTS
Editor’s choice STRINGS AND SAMPLING New York–based pianist Uri Caine is perhaps best known for being a decidedly avant-garde interpreter of classical composers such as Gustav Mahler and Ludwig van Beethoven. But he’s also an inspired composer in his own right, one of several sides of his personality that will find expression in Vancouver New Music’s upcoming concert. Part of the program will feature the pianist performing with an all-star string quartet made up of violinists Cam Wilson and Molly McKinnon, violist John Kastelic, and cellist Marina Hasselberg. But the concert will also find members of VEE (the Vancouver Electronic Ensemble) sampling, slicing, and electronically enhancing Caine’s playing; that subgroup includes Joda Clément, Lee Hutzulak, Constantine Katsiris, Jules Lavern, Stefan Smulovitz, prOphecy sun, and VNM artistic director Giorgio Magnanensi. You’d have to go to Darmstadt or Detroit to find a deeper electronic talent pool. Vancouver New Music presents Uri Caine + Ensemble at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre on Saturday (November 25).
High five
Five events you just can’t miss this week
1
MIXED PROGRAM (November 25 at the Scotiabank Dance Centre) Hot new names on the scene as part of the Dance in Vancouver showcase.
2
ROMANTIC RACHMANINOFF (November 25 to 27 at the Orpheum) Irish star Barry Douglas tackles the lush but punishing Piano Concerto No. 2.
3
BIBISH DE KINSHASA (November 28 to December 2 at Studio 16) Storytelling, talk show, and even a meal meld in this look at Africa.
4
ONEGIN (To December 31 at the Arts Club Theatre) If you missed this awe-inspiring musical last year, now’s your chance.
5
N. VANCOUVER (To February 18, 2018, at the Polygon Gallery) Peek inside the new architectural landmark and catch stunning work by the likes of Stan Douglas and Jeff Wall.
In the news MAKING RADIO WAVES The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s British-born maestro Bramwell Tovey will become the new principal conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra in January 2018. He takes the reins from Keith Lockhart, who has held the position for seven years. Tovey has been music director at the VSO since 2000, but will leave the position in 2018 to become the VSO’s music director emeritus. He will be the longest-serving conductor in the history of the organization. The new role will see him work with the BBC Concert Orchestra for five years; he’ll helm a Radio 3 concert at Watford Colosseum in February 2018, before leading the orchestra in its 201819 season at the Southbank Centre. As well as artistic programming, Tovey will take a leading role in the BBC Concert Orchestra’s learning and education activities, including mentoring emerging conductors and orchestral players. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra announced earlier this year that Dutch conductor Otto Tausk will take over from Tovey when he steps down in July 2018. In September, the Straight also reported Tovey has been named director of orchestral activities for the Boston University School of Music. NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 31
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Today the Orpheum is a designated heritage building in Vancouver and a National Historic Site. But it took a steadfast campaign in the 1970s to save it.
Orpheum Theatre still looking nifty at 90 A 1920s-themed party will celebrate the storied venue that almost met with the wrecking ball > B Y L UCY LAU
R
HANDEL’S
MESSIAH DECEMBER 9 2017 AT 8PM I ORPHEUM THEATRE
LYDIA AVSEC/ COPILOT DESIGN
LESLIE DALA CONDUCTOR I FEATURING: VANCOUVER SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
MELANIE KRUEGER SOPRANO I EMMA PARKINSON MEZZO SOPRANO ISAIAH BELL TENOR I GREGORY DAHL BARITONE
TICKETS & INFO: VANCOUVERBACHCHOIR.COM
nomadas
AUDIO/VIDEO INSTALLATION & LIVE PERFORMANCE
NOV 22–25 | NOV 29–DEC 2, 8 PM SFU GOLDCORP CENTRE FOR THE ARTS | 149 W. HASTINGS ST.
HENRY DANIEL CHOREOGRAPHY & DIRECTION CHIMERIK 似不像 SAMMY CHIEN & SHANGHAN CHIEN NEW MEDIA/PROJECTION DESIGN ALAN STOREY SET DESIGN ADAM BASANTA SOUND DESIGN
FREE AUXILIARY EVENTS AUDIO/VIDEO INSTALLATION: 6:00-7:30 PM PRE-SHOW CONVERSATION WED, NOV 22, 7 PM
WWW.SFUWOODWARDS.CA | WWW.SFU.CA/SCA
32 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017
during this time that the ornate, hand-painted dome—a piece that, unbeknownst to many Vancouverites, depicts Merrick and Nelson as biblical, musically inclined figures—was introduced. (Merrick’s wife and daughter also appear as a lady in red and an instrumenttoting youth, respectively.) “It really is interesting that they [the architects and designers] have all these little secrets that are in the dome,” says Haynes. “Everyone thinks this is a classical piece.” Today, the Orpheum is a designated heritage building in Vancouver and a National Historic Site. To celebrate the cinema turned concert hall’s 90th anniversary, Vancouver Civic Theatres—the municipal body that owns and manages the building—will be throwing a 1920s-themed soiree in partnership with the VSO. Hosted by its maestro Bramwell Tovey and CBC’s Bill Richardson, the event will give a nod to the Orpheum’s storied past with a parade of vaudevillians—tap dancers, singers, and acrobats, for example—and screenings of silent films accompanied by Tovey on piano. Betty Haswell, a 96-year-old musician who played the institution’s Mighty Wurlitzer in the ’40s and ’50s, will also return to the stage for a performance on the pipe organ, which is the last remaining instrument of its kind in its original location in Canada. Tickets are $19.27—a reference to the Orpheum’s year of opening—and attendees are encouraged to dress in ’20s garb or attire that ref lects their heritage. It’s an apt toast to arguably the city’s most iconic live-music venue, one that has seen everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Beck to Princess Margaret walk through its doors over the years. In fact, it’s not just locals who recognize the Orpheum’s significance. Take it from the legendary Tony Bennett, who, after asking musicians to set their instruments down and for sound equipment to be switched off, performed an a cappella rendition of “Fly Me to the Moon” at the hall in 2012. “You heard every single word he sang,” recalls Haynes. “And then he said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, that’s what you have in the city of Vancouver. Hang on to it and never, ever let it go.’” -
ob Haynes, chair of the Vancouver Civic Theatres board, remembers his first time at the Orpheum fondly. It was the early ’60s and he, just 12 years old, had purchased tickets to see a film at the theatre, which was operated by the now defunct Famous Players at the time. With its high ceilings, opulent interior, and plush red carpeting, the venue left the young Haynes gobsmacked. “You would come off Granville Street…and you’d go, ‘What is this? Where am I?’” he recalls during a recent behind-the-scenes tour of the institution. “All of a sudden, it’s dark, there’s sparkle and glitter and everything, and then you’d come into the Grand Hall and you’d have no idea what you were in for. It was really a magical experience.” That this enchanted setting continues to wow guests to this day is no accident. Opened as a vaudeville house in 1927, when musicians, jugglers, dancers, and other entertainers frequently made the rounds, the Orpheum was designed by Scottish-born architect Marcus Priteca, who, according to Haynes, had a knack for dreaming up spaces that absolutely captivated their inhabitants. “He knew how to create that ambiance, make people think that they’re in a palace,” he says. Ninety years later, that feeling has been meticulously maintained in the nearly 3,000-seat room, though not without a few hiccups along the way. Once known as the New Orpheum—one of only three places in the city that played host to travelling vaudevillians—the theatre was acquired by Famous Players in the 1930s and began regularly screening films. By the ’70s, however, the company had plans to demolish and convert the space into a multiplex. The decision was met with public outcry. “Anyone who was a who’s who in the city got involved to save the Orpheum,” explains Haynes. A steadfast campaign proved successful and, with the support of all three levels of government, the City of Vancouver purchased the Orpheum as the new home of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. A renovation involving architects Paul Merrick and Ron Nelson followed, resulting in a widened stage and, thanks to the installation of The Orpheum’s 90th-anniversary acoustic shells and baff les, im- celebration takes place on Friday proved sound distribution. It was (November 24).
TREA
T
FO
LIDAY
RT HE W HOLE FA
A HO
MI LY!
NOVEMBER 23 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 30 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 33
ARTS
PuSh festival unveils its 2018 programming PuSh Festival of Performing 2 The Arts has just announced its
ACTION AT A DISTANCE (VANCOUVER) WELLS HILL A SPECIAL CELEBRATE CANADA 150+ EVENT CHOREOGRAPHY BY VANESSA GOODMAN
TICKETS & INFO: DANCEHOUSE.CA
NOVEMBER 24 & 25, 8PM NOVEMBER 26, 2PM SFU GOLDCORP CENTRE FOR THE ARTS BEN DIDIER, PHOTO
34 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017
S E A S O N PA R T N E R S
programming, and it features a special Spotlight on Ireland as well as a strong contingent of shows from Australia and elsewhere. The 14th annual edition of the interdisciplinary festival is scheduled to take place from January 16 to February 4, 2018, at venues around town. It will feature 28 shows from 11 countries, and, aside from its 20 main-stage shows at various theatres, the Fox Theatre will again play host to the cutting-edge Club PuSh offerings, with the help of New West’s Anvil Centre, which will step up to host three of those productions; Brit drag artist Dickie Beau, three-octavescaling American Joseph Keckler, and local cello innovator Cris Derksen play both venues as part of that series. Additionally, the fest will be offering an array of industry networking events at the PuSh Assembly, plus the PuSh Film Series, workshops, and more. Amid the Spotlight on Ireland, look for THEATREclub’s I’m Not Here in a copresentation at the Cultch (January 24 to 28) in which rising Emerald Isle talent Doireann Coady sings and tells stories about the lingering grief over her dead brother. The Cultch also copresents Emmet Kirwan’s Dublin Oldschool, a spoken-word spiced tale of a wild reunion between two estranged brothers: wannabe DJ Jason and washed-up junkie Daniel (January 30 to February 3). And finally, watch for Reassembled, Slightly Askew by Northern Ireland’s Shannon Yee, in which she immerses her audience in her experience of traumatic brain injury, using hospital beds and headphones (January 17 to February 4 at the Culture Lab). From the Land Down Under, watch for Nicola Gunn’s frenzied yet somewhat self-explanatory Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster at the Scotiabank Dance Centre January 17 to 19, as well as fest fave Tim Watts’s It’s Dark Outside, a puppet- and animation-filled journey of a man facing dementia, presented with the
Vancouver International Children’s Festival at the Waterfront Theatre from January 24 to 28. Over at Performance Works from January 24 to 27, fellow Aussies Antony Hamilton and Alisdair Macindoe perform the Bessie Award– winning Meeting, complete with 64 robotic percussion instruments. And at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre, singer-guitarist Tamara Saulwick brings Endings to life, using record players and a reelto-reel recorder to explore mortality. One of the fest’s biggest events will be The Eternal Tides, by Taiwan’s Legend Lin Dance Theatre—a monumental dance-based spectacle about water, copresented with TAIWANfest and staged at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre one night only, February 3. The local contingent of shows is equally strong, including Neworld Theatre’s hotly anticipated King Arthur’s Night January 31 to February 4 at the Frederic Wood Theatre, an epic, “radically inclusive” work that features a live band, a 20-person choir, and cast that includes actors with Down syndrome. Vancouver mavericks Hong Kong Exile prepare to unveil their Foxconn Frequency (no. 3) January 31 to February 21 at Performance Works—complete with piano drills and artists hooked up to seven video outputs, five speakers, and multiple 3-D printers. And musicphiles won’t want to miss Radio Rewrite, Turning Point Ensemble’s tribute to Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood and his icon, Olivier Messiaen (January 19 and 20 at the Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre). There is more, much more, from a British-German Blind Cinema that blindfolds audience members to superdrummer Antonio Sánchez performing the score to the 2015 Oscar-winning movie Birdman live, in partnership with the Vancouver International Film Festival. Find the full lineup at pushfestival. ca/, where an array of PuSh passes will go on sale Wednesday (November 22). > JANET SMITH
Orchid Ensemble stages a multimedia spectacle > B Y A LE XAN DER VAR TY
L
academic: Dulic’s Centre for Culture and Technology student Amberley John, a member of the Oneida First Nation, is illustrating the Bear story, and the production incorporates new media technology developed by the CCT’s Kenneth Newby. In Music of the Heavens, the images will be as lively as the sounds: using touch-screen tablets, Dulic and her crew will be able to play with their images in real time. The show’s bigger purpose, however, is to show that, on the cosmic level, all of these varied populations are alike. “People make up all different stories to explain the movement of the stars, or to reflect their own emotions and ideas,” Tung says, “but basically we are looking at the same stars. That’s the one common thing— and the stories are often about love!” That plays out in her own Weaver Woman, which retells a more-thantwo-thousand-year-old Chinese myth about the heavenly maker of clouds and her earthbound lover. Local composer John Oliver’s Celestial Storehouse draws on the Greek legends of Perseus, Pegasus, and Andromeda. And for a new and as-yet-untitled piece by Stefan Smulovitz, the creative team has animated 3-D stars made by Kelowna residents, which the interactive-electronic pioneer has turned into a score for guided improvisation. Add the instrumental talents of Tung’s Orchid Ensemble colleagues Jonathan Bernard on percussion and zheng (Chinese zither) specialist Dailin Hsieh, and the night should be not just fascinating, but heavenly. -
an Tung, it seems, is a Cow. So, too, is her creative partner, Aleksandra Dulic. But there’s nothing of the pasture about either of these sophisticated artists, other than that, according to Chinese astrology, they were both born under the sign of the bovine. So what distinguishes such celestial ruminants from Dogs, Dragons, or Rabbits? “Work, work, work,” says Tung, from her East Vancouver home. She’s not kidding. The night before, the Orchid Ensemble’s singer, erhu virtuoso, and artistic director had been up until 5 a.m., finishing some scores for Music of the Heavens, the group’s new multimedia spectacular. Meanwhile, in Kelowna—where she teaches interactive art at UBC Okanagan— Dulic has been so busy compiling the production’s visuals that she has to take the Straight’s call in her car. “I’m a Cow too,” she says, laughing. “So, Lan and I, that must be why we’ve been working together for so long. We coproduce these things, and we never seem to give up. It’s always some crazy big show, and they’re getting better and better every time, and more complex.” All of this work, she adds, is aimed at bringing different communities together—and not just the Aboriginal, Chinese, and European groups whose legends are explored in Music of the Heavens. Yes, Canada’s First Nations are represented with The Three Brothers and the Giant Bear, a Haudenosaunee myth about a supernatural ursine and its eventual death; the bear’s blood is what turns The Orchid Ensemble presents Music of the autumn leaves red. But the pro- the Heavens at the Norman Rothstein ject also links the art world with the Theatre on Thursday (November 23).
ARTS
Vetta gets serious about strings > BY A LEX A NDER VA R TY
J
oan Blackman has a bone to pick with Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky. According to Vetta Chamber Music’s artistic director, she’s had to play fast and loose with the late, great Russian’s instructions for his Souvenir de Florence, for one simple reason: he “didn’t know what he was talking about”. She’s referring to a moment in this rarely performed string sextet where the first cello has a moment in the spotlight, yet the other five musicians are asked to play fortissimo, or very loudly. And this, she says, just isn’t going to happen. “We have to sound more like a pianissimo orchestra accompanying,” Blackman explains, on the line from her Vancouver apartment. “Even though it has to look exciting, and it has to sound exciting, it just doesn’t work otherwise.…And Tchaikovsky knew it was going to be a problem; he confessed to his brother that he didn’t know what he was going to do with the six voices. But then he was boasting afterwards: ‘Oh, what a great fugue!’ apparently.” Less musically astute listeners might have another quibble with the piece: although it was named for the Tuscan capital, its only Italianate moments surface in the second movement, when the pizzicato strings briefly conjure up a plucked mandolin or guitar. Otherwise, as Blackman notes, it’s as Russian as Russian can be. But there is some intriguing Italian content in Vetta’s upcoming Seriously Strings concert, in the form of another underperformed work, Giacomo Puccini’s Crisantemi, a brief requiem for his friend and patron, the Duke of Savoy. “It’s simple, but not very simple,” Blackman says of this rare venture into chamber music from the great opera composer. “Somebody in our group
Vetta violinist Joan Blackman delivers the details on everything from Tchaikovsky’s challenging Souvenir de Florence to a beloved Mozart viola quintet.
said they’d never played it before, and someone else said, ‘Oh, it’s simple.’ And I thought, ‘Yeah, but it’s not simple to make it sound beautiful.’ ” Crisantemi is a quartet; Souvenir de Florence is, as noted, a sextet. In between, naturally enough, the Vetta players will essay a quintet, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Viola Quintet in G Minor. (For this week’s three performances, Blackman will be joined by her fellow violinist David Gillham, violists Nicolò Eugelmi and Tawnya Popoff, and cellists Joseph Elworthy and Rebecca Wenham.) For Blackman, this late-career composition represents peak Mozart: it is darker than many of the Viennese composer’s commissioned works, yet retains the former child prodigy’s penchant for humour and surprise. “He just goes from tragic to more tragic, and then all of a sudden, at the end, there’s this cute thing, like ‘Oh,
nothing ever happened. Hahaha,’ ” she says, laughing. “He was exploring all of this very personal, tragic stuff with the G-minor key—and then, all of a sudden, ‘Forget it: G major!’ So maybe he’s laughing at himself, or just saying ‘Okay, there’s all that, but let’s just forget it.’ Who knows? They didn’t have psychologists back then.” More than three centuries on, Mozart’s motives remain obscure, but Blackman is well aware why she’s making this particular work Seriously Strings’ centrepiece. “I will never get tired of playing it,” she says, “and I believe people love to hear it, too.” Vetta Chamber Music presents Seriously Strings at West Point Grey United Church at 2 p.m. on Thursday and 7:30 pm on Friday (November 23 and 24), and at Pyatt Hall at 2 p.m. on Sunday (November 26).
REJOICE!
European Carols & Readings 8pm FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2017 Dunbar Ryerson United Church Bryn Nixon, organ Vancouver Chamber Choir Jon Washburn, conductor Chilly December days herald the warmth and intimacy of Christmas choirs singing the Nativity story. You are invited – join conductor Jon Washburn, organist Bryn Nixon and the Vancouver Chamber Choir for an evening of beloved favourites and new discoveries, all in the welcoming ambience of Dunbar Ryerson United Church. Music of Praetorius, Bach, Berlioz, Rubbra, Sibelius, Joubert, Tavener, Quinn, Mendelssohn and traditional carols galore.
1.855.985.ARTS (2787) vancouverchamberchoir.com
NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 35
ARTS
“A LAUGH-A-MINUTE PLAY, PERFORMED WITH GREAT SKILL AND INSIGHT”
BUY NOW
—Entertainment Vancouver Paul Herbert and Jennifer Copping. Photo by David Cooper
By Stacey Kaser and Alison Kelly
SURVIVING THE PERFECT HOLIDAY DISASTER
COMMUNITY PARTNER | 2017–18 SEASON
Now playing till Dec 24! playing at stanley industrial alliance stage
granville island stage
goldcorp stage at the bmo theatre centre
As one of Wilderness’s troubled youths, Heather Barr excels as Dylan, who has suffered through years of gender dysphoria, Emily Cooper photo.
Play ventures deep into the wilds of teen trauma Wilderness refuses to shy away; Only Drunks is still timely today; Satellite(s) confronts housing crisis T HEAT RE WILDERNESS Written by Seth Bockley and Anne Hamburger. Directed by Genevieve Fleming. Produced by Studio 58/ Langara College. At Studio 58 on Saturday, November 18. Continues to December 3
There
are several choreomusic sequences in Studio 58’s new production, Wilderness, but there’s one standout. It’s a flashback to the night that the play’s six troubled youths were “gooned”— or transported to Utah for wilderness therapy, a very real, lucrative, and largely unregulated “last resort” for desperate parents who don’t know what to do with their children. From the choreography to the music, the sequence is brilliantly staged and deeply chilling. In part, Wilderness’s refusal to shy away from the violence and trauma of how these kids arrive at camp absolves the play of its tacit endorsement of wilderness therapy, at least as depicted here by writers Seth Bockley and Anne Hamburger. The script emerged out of two years of interviews with real families who sent their children to wilderness therapy, something Hamburger herself did, as well. The campers are Dylan (Heather Barr), Elizabeth (Alina Blackett), Mikey (Aidan Drummond), Sophia (Jessie Liang), Chloe (Caitlin Volkert), and Cole (Nolan McConnellFidyk), and we get to know each of their stories, as well as spending time with their parents and their camp counsellors—most of whom are depicted as unrelentingly cheery individuals who use a lot of therapyspeak. As the teens slowly bond and begin to share their devastatingly real stories of everything from drug abuse and self-harm to mental illness and child abuse, there are some great scenes and performances from the talented cast. McConnell-Fidyk has an easy, defiant charm as Cole, and a magnetic stage presence. Barr conveys Dylan’s journey—coming out as a transgender man and coming into his own, finally, after years of gender dysphoria—beautifully, and brings tremendous nuance to Dylan’s character development from wounded and angry to jokey and confident. There aren’t any
2 graphed
36 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017
easy answers to why some of these young people have ended up in wilderness therapy; no two stories are the same and there’s not going to be a clear path for anybody going forward, either child or parent. What doesn’t work as well is Wilderness’s heavy reliance on songs by the likes of Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, and Pink Floyd. For the most part, it doesn’t need these emotional shortcuts, and save for the gooning sequence, the music and choreography aren’t integrated well enough throughout. We already care about these characters, and it’s so much more effective when they’re in scenes together, fighting, talking, sharing, laughing, or breaking each other’s hearts. It’s important to give space to these youths and these issues, particularly when so many young people are trying so hard to survive—not just in the wilderness but within themselves.
> ANDREA WARNER
ONLY DRUNKS AND CHILDREN TELL THE TRUTH Written by Drew Hayden Taylor. Directed by Columpa C. Bobb. At the Firehall Arts Centre on Wednesday, November 15. Continues until December 2
In everything that’s been said
2 and written about Only Drunks
and Children Tell the Truth, the word most often employed is timely. With its 1996 Toronto premiere and first Firehall production in 1997, the second in Drew Hayden Taylor’s trilogy of plays about identity—centred on an Ojibwa First Nation woman seized by the government as a child and adopted out to a wealthy white family—helped to bring to light the now notorious “’60s scoop”. Twenty years on and, sadly, timely is still an apt descriptor. Despite commissions, inquiries, debates, and protest movements, blessed little has improved for Canada’s First Nations. In Firehall’s current production, the other, more felicitous meaning of timely also comes to bear in that director Columpa C. Bobb originally workshopped the role of Barb, thereby bridging two decades and two casts. The results, while uneven at times, are worth the price of admission. The story line follows Janice Wirth/ Grace Wabung (Chelsea Rose Tucker), see page 39
TICKETS FROM $22
604.251.1363
THECULTCH.COM
1895 VENABLES ST.
NOVEMBER 23 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 30 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 37
SFU Woodward’s Holiday tradition featuring over 30 live music numbers!
303 E 8TH AVE, VANCOUVER
Starring JIM BYRNES Award-winning Musician & Storyteller
FAM ILY GROU & P DISC OUN SCHO TS + MATI OL NEES
BAH HUMBUG! An Eastside Christmas Carol directed by Jessie Award-winner James Fagan Tait DECEMBER 7 – 16 EVENINGS & MATINEES
SFU’S GOLDCORP CENTRE FOR THE ARTS 149 W. HASTINGS ST, VANCOUVER
SFUWOODWARDS.CA
FRONT.BC.CA /TOQUE
604 876 9343
DEC 1–3 WESTERN FRONT’S ANNUAL FUNDRAISER & CRAFT FAIR
FRIDAY DEC 1ST 6PM → 10PM SATURDAY DEC 2ND 11AM → 5PM SUNDAY DEC 3RD 11AM → 5PM
Admission by donation Proceeds support Western Front’s art and music programs
Gifts from $5 to $500
Image Richard Tetrault, Alley Variation #3, woodcut and metal print 2012, with photo of Jim Byrnes by David Cooper.
“A JEWEL OF A PERFORMANCE” —VANCOUVER OBSERVER
Tickets from $25 Family Packs Available
Ballet BC presents Alberta Ballet
The Nutcracker Choreography Edmund Stripe | Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Featuring Live Music by The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
You Are It A BRACINGLY HONEST LOOK AT HOW FRIENDSHIP DEVELOPS CREATED BY SHERRY J. YOON & DEB WILLIAMS FEATURING DEB WILLIAMS & CARMEN AGUIRRE
8PM NOVEMBER 29 - DECEMBER 9 December 28 29 30 | 7:30pm December 29 30 | 2pm Queen Elizabeth Theatre | balletbc.com
SUPPORT FOR BALLET BC HAS BEEN GENEROUSLY L PROVIDED BY
THE FISHBOWL ON GRANVILLE ISLAND 1398 CARTWRIGHT STREET
tickets $15-20 at bocadellupo.com/micro PHOTO BY DARREN MAKOIVICHUK.
CHRISTMAS WITH
CHOR LEONI December 15 & 18 ST. ANDREW’S-WESLEY UNITED CHURCH, VANCOUVER | 4:30 PM & 8 PM
December 16
Artist Invitation
Caravans: International Indigenous Arts Fair Hosted by The Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts (DECA)
NOVEMBER 30 3 DECEMBER 3, 2017 Chinese Cultural Centre,
CANCELLED
50 East Pender St., Vancouver
W We’re offering ffering artists from all a cu cultures, artist non-profit ofit umbrella, umbrella umbrell mbrella and art businesses the opportunity to exhibit groups under a non-profi and sell their cultural artwork and crafts of any genre over the course of the fair. Cultural artwork can be paintings, carvings, sculptures, drawings, prints, jewellery, one-offs, your favorite creations. For more information, and to purchase your table contact DECA: RobynL.deca@gmail.com
WEST VANCOUVER UNITED CHURCH | 1:30 PM
www.dtescentreforthearts.com The event will open to the public to view and purchase artwork:
SECTION A $45 | SECTION B $35 | SECTION C $30 | SECTION D $25 | STUDENTS WITH ID $10
chorleoni.org 1.877.840.0457
Erick Lichte
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
6:00pm-9:00pm - November 30, Noon-9:00pm - December 1 & 2 Noon-5:00pm, December 3 Sponsorships & Partners
Jim Green Foundation 38 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017
“…brilliantly staged and deeply chilling.” Andrea Warner, The Georgia Straight
Chelsea Rose Tucker as Janice Wirth/Grace Wabung and Chris Cound as Tonto in the Firehall’s Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth. Emily Cooper photo.
> STEVEN SCHELLING
SATELLITE(S) Written by Aaron Bushkowsky. Directed by Bill Dow. Produced by Solo Collective. At Performance Works on Friday, November 17. Continues to November 26
Vancouver is in the midst of a
2 housing emergency, but rath-
er than focus on shelter as a human right, much of the conversation
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THE ETERNAL TIDES. ORIGINAL PHOTO: CHIN CHENG-TSAI
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a high-powered and high-strung entertainment lawyer who has recently discovered (in the previous installment of the trilogy, Someday) that the Children’s Aid Society of Ontario illegally removed her from her birth family. Janice arrives back from two months’ vacation to find her estranged sister Barb (Ashley Chartrand), Barb’s strange boyfriend, Rodney (Braiden Houle), and complete stranger Tonto (Chris Cound) in her immaculate Toronto condo. Barb explains that their mother, Anne, died four days ago and hopes to convince Janice to return to the Otter Lake Reserve to pay her last respects. It’s a bit of a rough start for the cast, who seemed underrehearsed in the first act. Janice’s self-defence attack on Tonto was, on review night, almost comically misdelivered and the awkwardness on-stage came less from the situation in which the characters found themselves and more from the uncertainty of the actors. Overcoming some questionably harsh lighting cues, the quartet regained its footing when it broke off into pairs, especially Janice and Tonto, whose simmering flirtation was enhanced by the on-stage chemistry between Tucker and Cound. Act 2, when Janice returns to her birth family’s home in Otter Lake, is much stronger, thanks mostly to bravura performances by Tucker and Chartrand. Barb suggests the sisters get drunk in order to get to know each other better, citing their late mom’s saying: “Only drunks and children tell the truth.” Flailing in their cups, Janice and Barb get progressively more confrontational but eventually come to a hard-won, albeit tentative, understanding that reads as unforced, much to the actors’ credit. Ultimately, the strong second act propels the production beyond its shaky early scenes. Any frustration as the lights fade to black stems from the fact that Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth stops where the last play in the trilogy, 400 Kilometers, begins. While the play is self-contained, it’s still a tough break for a post-Netflix audience used to binge-watching multiple episodes in a row. Perhaps if the seats fill up for this production (and, really, they should), we’ll be treated to the next layer of the story in a timely manner.
keeps coming back to the racist assumption that “overseas billionaires” are buying up all the houses, tearing down “our” history, and making the dream of homeownership an untenable one for “real” Vancouverites. But what makes a real Vancouverite? Whose history is prioritized and lionized? How much longer will wealthy and upper-middleclass white settlers get to couch their racism in displacement woes without interrogating their own complicity in pushing Vancouver to this breaking point? Many don’t give a hoot about the actual emergency—a shrinking rental market and zero vacancy—rather than owning the land that doesn’t belong to us anyways. In Satellite(s), playwright Aaron Bushkowsky skims the surface of these questions, and then refuses to go further. Jan (Jillian Fargey) is a third-generation Vancouverite and writer obsessively documenting all of the multimillion-dollar homes in her neighbourhood that have been bought up by “people like” Cherry (Sharon Crandall), a Beijing-based realtor who drops $5.2 million on the house next door to Jan’s. Cherry installs her 17-year-old son Li (Mason Temple, in a standout performance) in the house and Jan, who has no children, is apoplectic. Under the guise of research for her book, Jan even purchases a ticket to f ly to Beijing and confronts Cherry about ruining Jan’s Vancouver, also asking what kind of “monster—er, mother” abandons her child. Cherry calls Jan out for her entitlement and hypocrisy, but she also breaks down and Bushkowsky pens a monologue that exalts Vancouver as a promised land of greatness compared to China, apparently a land of environmental and political toxicity in which Li would have no future except that of factory worker. The cast is great, but there are a lot of problematic elements at work in Satellite(s). Though the nest of subplots surrounding cheating—involving Jan’s husband, Andy (Alex Zahara), another realtor named Sandy (Meaghan Chenosky), and Omar (Anousha Alamian), a city official—makes for some funny lines and scenes, the play never quite jells. Each of these characters is tasked with trying to extrapolate some deeper meaning from their poor choices. Invariably, they all circle back to one thing: loneliness. But it feels like a Deep Meaning Band-Aid rather than a successfully cohesive narrative because it doesn’t address the fact that Cherry and Li are characters steeped in stereotypes. Jan gets called on her behaviour and thoughts a few times, but it’s not enough. Racism is violence, and nonracialized writers need to think carefully about using it as a door through which to explore the “deeper motivations” of white characters.
IA
from page 36
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Only Drunks
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Full Lineup Announced!
> ANDREA WARNER
NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 39
OCTOBER.28.2017 TO JANUARY.28.2018
THE FABRIC OF OUR LAND Salish Weaving
Supporting Sponsor
November 19, 2017 – April 15, 2018 This project is supported by the Museums Assistance Program at Canadian Heritage/ Ce projet est appuyé dans le cadre du Programme d’aide aux musées de Patrimoine canadien
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PRINCIPAL DANCERS from the PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET ARTISTS from the NATIONAL BALLET OF CHINA
experience the gallery’s inaugural exhibition, N. Vancouver. N. Vancouver asks how a specific locale can be reflected through existing and newly-commissioned artworks by artists from
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40 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017
ARTS
Rediscovering a stitch in time Precious Salish weavings arrive back home to celebrate a once lost art form VISUAL AR TS THE FABRIC OF OUR LAND: SALISH WEAVING At the Museum of Anthropology at UBC to April 15, 2018
At the media preview of The of Our Land: Salish Weaving, Musqueam artist Debra Sparrow declared that the gallery in which the exhibition was installed was, at that moment, â&#x20AC;&#x153;a very honourable placeâ&#x20AC;?. Honourable, she said, because it held some of the oldest Salish weavings in existence. Dating from the early 1800s and borrowed from museums in England, Scotland, Finland, and the United States, these treasured blankets are works of great integrity and knowledge, Sparrow said. As she stood in a temporary exhibition space at the UBC Museum of Anthropology, surrounded by precious examples of a vibrant art, she added, â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is a room where our ancestors are gathering.â&#x20AC;? Most of the loaned works on display (five in MOAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Audain Gallery and five in its Textile Research Lab) were woven from hand-spun mountain-goat wool, often supplemented with the hair of a woolly dog, now extinct. Patterns are mostly geometric and include zigzags, diamonds, and checkerboards, as seen in a finely woven blanket from the collection of the National Museum of Finland. Pure white blankets are also on view here, as in an openwork example whose origins are unrecorded. Now in the collection of the Peabody Museum, Harvard, it is known to have arrived in Montreal before 1819. Also incorporated into the weave were bird down, cedar bark, and other fibres, derived from local plants such as stinging nettle, milkweed, and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Indian hempâ&#x20AC;?. For countless centuries, Salish blankets were created for both ceremonial and utilitarian purposes. Worn as robes, they were valued as symbols of authority and social standing. They were also seen as objects of prestige and exchange, mountaingoat wool, then as now, being a precious material. Precious, too, were the intense labour and consummate skill invested in the weaving. Records of early Spanish and English explorers attest to the beauty and technical accomplishment of the woven blankets the Salish people wore at the time of contact. By the early 20th century, however, colonization; government suppression of Indigenous languages, cultures, and ceremonies; and an abundance of cheap trade blankets had all eroded traditional carding, spinning, dyeing, and weaving techniques. Previously handed down from mother to daughter, weaving either
Sat. Dec. 2 | 8 pm Orpheum Annex
2 Fabric
A special evening of world music, folk & modern works, vibrant strings and winds, operatic song & ecstatic dance!
TICKETS: vicothread.bpt.me
Winter Harp
Harps, flute, violin, medieval instruments, percussion & song Carols & stories to wrap you in the Christmas spirit Krista Pointâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sheep-wool and natural-dye creation shows how Salish weaving has enjoyed a rebirth in contemporary times. Derek Tan photo.
disappeared or became dormant. So did knowledge of intricate patterns and their symbolic meanings. In the 1960s, however, Salish women in the Fraser Valley came together to relearn Indigenous weaving practices, forming the Salish Weavers Guild in 1971. Weavers from other Salish nations followed, resulting in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intense production and ever-expanding knowledge base. Spurred by a request from Musqueam councillor and master weaver Wendy Grant-John (who spearheaded the renewal of Musqueam weaving in the 1980s), curated by the MOAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Susan Rowley, and shaped by consultation with a number of Salish weavers, the show also includes historic works from the MOAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collections. Modern weavers, from 1960 forward, are represented here too, with rich examples of blankets, cloaks, and dance regalia by Virginia Adams, Barbara (Cayou) Marks-McCoy, Krista Point, and Tracy Williams, among others. Early in the weaving revival, Marks-McCoy wove a richly patterned and subtly hued blanket by studying photographs of a work collected in Fort Langley
in the 1800s and now in the collection of the Perth Museum and Art Gallery in Scotland. That historic blanket is one of the works now on view at MOA, and it is thrilling to see it in close proximity to Marks-McCoyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Complementing the weavings are historic photographs, a 1928 silent film of Harriett Johnnie carding, spinning, and weaving a blanket, and ancient spindle whorls in stone and bone. In the middle of the gallery is an old wooden loom, which Debra Sparrow will work on periodically during the run of the show to create a new blanket. In the meantime, a large and colourful blanket she wove in collaboration with her sister Robyn Sparrow is hung near the entrance to the museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Great Hall. It is a tribute to their mother, Helen, and, in a sense, to all the mothers and grandmothers who for so many centuries passed their knowledge and their understanding along to younger generations of weavers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our ancestors speak through this weaving,â&#x20AC;? the label copy says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Through all our weavings.â&#x20AC;?
> ROBIN LAURENCE
December 16, 7:30 p.m. 6W $QGUHZ¡V :HVOH\ 8QLWHG &KXUFK 7LFNHWV DW WLFNHWVWRQLJKW FD
December 13 & 14, 7:30 p.m.
%OXH6KRUH )LQDQFLDO 3HUIRUPLQJ $UWV &HQWUH &DSLODQR 8QLYHUVLW\
December 17, 3 & 7 p.m. 7KH $FW 0DSOH 5LGJH
www.winterharp.com
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NOVEMBER 23 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 30 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 41
THE SHIPMENT SpeakEasy Theatre presents the West Coast premiere of Young Jean Lee’s provocative play about black identity. Nov 22–Dec 2, The Cultch (1895 Venables). Tix $22.50-31.25, info www. speakeasytheatre.ca/theshipment.html.
A BAROQUE CHRISTMAS
Bach and More for Christmas
ONEGIN The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Amiel Gladstone and Veda Hille’s musical about a dissipated rogue whose romantic charms stir the passions of the residents of a country estate. Based on the poem by Pushkin and the opera by Tchaikovsky. Nov 23–Dec 31, Granville Island Stage (1585 Johnston, Granville Island). Info www.artsclub.com/.
ar ts/ timeout THEATRE DANCE MUSIC COMEDY LITERARY EVENTS ET CETERA GALLERIES MUSEUMS OUT OF TOWN
< < < < < < < < <
THEATRE 2OPENINGS John William Trotter
THE SOCIETY FOR THE DESTITUTE PRESENTS TITUS BOUFFONIUS Rumble Theatre presents a play about what happens when five performers on the edge of civilization decide to put on a contemporary version of Titus Andronicus. Nov 22–Dec 3, The Cultch (1895 Venables). Tix $22-49, info www.thecultch.com/events/ society-destitute-presents-titus-bouffonius/.
8pm SATURDAY DECEMBER 16, 2017 The Orpheum
with John William Trotter | Vancouver Chamber Choir Pacifica Singers | Vancouver Youth Choir Vancouver Chamber Orchestra The great Baroque composers knew how to write music that literally dances with joy. Make it a party – meet the Vancouver Chamber Choir family of choirs, orchestra and soloists in the Orpheum for a concert which celebrates the Christmas season like no other. Our guest conductor is John William Trotter, the Choir’s former Associate Conductor, who will lead the various forces in music of Bach, Vivaldi and carols for all to sing.
A FIREHALL ARTS CENTRE PRODUCTION
Afternoon Show: 3:00pm
ONLY DRUNKS & CHILDREN TELL THE TRUTH DIRECTED BY
COLUMPA C. BOBB
Richard Ouzounian CBC RADIO
604.689.0926
firehallartscentre.ca
M NKEY & other KING folktales Music, magic, mime, and tons of laughs Saturday, November 25
DREW HAYDEN TAYLOR
“a combination of heartache and hilarity that works wonderfully”
Vancouver Chinese Instrumental Music Society presents
FOR KIDS AND KIDS-AT-HEART
1.855.985.ARTS(2787) vancouverchamberchoir.com
280 East Cordova Street
The Annex 823 SEYMOUR , 2ND FLOOR
(PWYC Nov 15, 22, 29)
42 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017
BIBISH DE KINSHASA Théâtre la Seizième presents the story of a journalist who leaves her native Congo looking for a more promising future. Nov 28–Dec 2, 8 pm, Studio 16 (1555 W. 7th). Tix $26-30, info www. seizieme.ca/bibish-de-kinshasa/?lang=en. EAST VAN PANTO: SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARVES Theatre Replacement’s kid-friendly production sees the title character flee the wicked Queen of North Vancouver across the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge, landing at the PNE. Nov 29–Jan 6, 2018, York Theatre (639 Commercial). Tix from $22, info www. thecultch.com/events/east-van-pantosnow-white-seven-dwarves/.
2ONGOING ONLY DRUNKS AND CHILDREN TELL THE TRUTH Indigenous playwright Drew Hayden Taylor’s work is an account of the Sixties Scoop, in which Indigenous children were taken from their homes and placed with non-Indigenous families. To Dec 2, Firehall Arts Centre (280 E. Cordova). Tix from $20, info www.firehallartscentre. ca/onstage/drunks-children-tell-truth/. SATELLITE(S) Solo Collective Theatre presents a play based on Caroline Adderson’s book about the city’s housing landscape, Vancouver Vanishes. To Nov 26, Performance Works (Granville Island). Info www.solocollective.ca/. THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Stacey Kaser and Alison Kelly’s play about a perfectionist who’s desperately holding fast to her Christmas traditions. To Dec 24, Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre (162 W. 1st). Info www.artsclub.com/. SINK OR SWIM Gateway Theatre presents actor Beverley Elliott in an evening of songs and stories inspired by her life. To Nov 25, 8 pm, Gateway Theatre (6500 Gilbert Rd., Richmond). Info www.gatewaytheatre.com/.
DANCE 2THIS WEEK THE 11TH BIENNIAL DANCE IN VANCOUVER Dance works by Aeriosa, Co.ERASGA, Karen Jamieson, Margaret Grenier, Dancers of Damelahamid, Lesley Telford, Inverso, Mahaila PattersonO’Brien, Marissa Wong, TWObigsteps Collective, Meredith Kalaman, Shay Kuebler, Radical System Art, Wen Wei Dance, Ziyian Kwan, and dumb instrument Dance. Nov 22-25, Scotiabank Dance Centre. Info www.thedancecentre.ca/.
Featuring Storytellers Gerardo Avila and Angela Brown
Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble Sarah Tan | guzheng Qing Chang | sanxian
NOMADAS Henry Daniel’s project is an audio/video installation and live performance that takes inspiration from the current large-scale movements of bodies across international spaces. Nov 22-25; Nov 29–Dec 2, SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (149 W. Hastings). Tix $7-15, info www.sfuwoodwards.ca/. IN CIRCULATION Company 605, led by artistic codirectors Lisa Gelley and Josh Martin, presents dance performances. Nov 22-25, 8 pm, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts (6450 Deer Lake Ave., Burnaby). Tix $15-36, info tickets.shadboltcentre.com/. DIGITAL FOLK STRIKES BACK! Event features video games, a costume party, music and dance performances, and an installation as part of the biennial Dance in Vancouver. Nov 23-24, 9 pm, Left of Main (211 Keefer). Tix $20/15, info bit.ly/2cCGusT. ACTION AT A DISTANCE DanceHouse presents the local dance company in the world premiere of choreographer and artistic director Vanessa Goodman’s Wells Hill in celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary. Nov 24-25, 8 pm; Nov 26, 2 pm, SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (149 W. Hastings). Info www.dancehouse.ca/.
NOV 11 -DEC 2 Tue 7pm Wed-Fri 8pm Sat 3pm & 8pm Sun 3pm Wed 1pm
THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE Carousel Theatre for Young People presents Joseph Robinette’s adaptation of the C.S. Lewis book about four siblings who step through a wardrobe into an enchanted land. Nov 25–Dec 31, Waterfront Theatre (1412 Cartwright St., Granville Island). Tix $35/29/18, info www. carouseltheatre.ca/production/the-lionthe-witch-and-the-wardrobe/.
WILDERNESS Canadian premiere of Seth Bockley and Anne Hamburger’s play about six troubled teens who are kidnapped by desperate parents and sent to a remote wilderness therapy camp as a last resort. To Dec 3, 8 pm, Studio 58 (Langara College). Tix $25/21/20, info www.ticketstonight.ca/.
Jirong Huang | erhu Ling Yang | pipa
straight choices
General $15 | Students & Seniors $10 Children (12-yrs and under) $5 monkeyking.brownpapertickets.com or at the door from 2pm
MUSIC 2THIS WEEK VETTA PLAYS MOZART Vetta Chamber Music presents works by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Puccini. Nov 23, 2 pm,
SOMETHING TO ROAR ABOUT Carousel Theatre for Young People invites audiences to step through the wardrobe again and enter the magical world of C.S. Lewis’s best-loved book. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe brings all of Narnia’s favourite and feared characters to life on-stage, from Aslan (Ian Butcher) to the White Witch (Sereana Malani), with Tim W. Carlson, Chris Lam, Adele Noronha, and Kaitlynn Yott playing the Pevensie siblings. Expect lush costumes, live music, and more in this slightly different but still snow-sprinkled holiday offering, which runs at the Waterfront Theatre from Saturday (November 25) to December 31. West Point Grey United Church (4595 W. 8th). Tix $20, info www.vettamusic.com/. MUSIC OF THE HEAVENS The Orchid Ensemble presents a concert that explores the mythology and beliefs that make up the diverse fabric of Canadian and Indigenous cultures. Nov 23, 8 pm, Norman Rothstein Theatre (950 W. 41st). Tix $15-20, info www.orchidensemble. com/music-of-the-heavens/. URI CAINE AND ENSEMBLE Vancouver New Music presents the New York City-based pianist in an evening of music with a string quartet and the Vancouver Electronic Ensemble. Nov 25, 8 pm, Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre (181 Roundhouse Mews). Tix $35/25/15 (plus service charges and fees) at www.brownpapertickets. com/, info www.newmusic.org/. ROMANTIC RACHMANINOFF Conductor Lawrence Renes leads pianist Barry Douglas and the VSO in a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 in B-Flat Major. Nov 25, 8 pm; Nov 26, 2 pm; Nov 27, 8 pm, Orpheum Theatre (601 Smithe). Info www.vancouversymphony.ca/. VETTA PLAYS MOZART Vetta Chamber Music presents works by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Puccini. Nov 26, 2 pm, Pyatt Hall (843 Seymour). Tix $35, info www.vettamusic.com/.
2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS MEI LANFANG BEIJING OPERA TROUPE Combining music, drama, martial arts, and acrobatics, Beijing opera was declared as “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” by UNESCO in 2010. Directed by maestro Ye Shaolan and starring Li Hongtong. Dec 22, 7 pm; Dec 23, 2 pm; Dec 23, 7 pm, Queen Elizabeth Theatre (650 Hamilton). Tix $38-268 (plus service charges and fees) at www. megaboxoffice.com/, info 604-343-6260.
COMEDY 2ONGOING THE COMEDY MIX 1015 Burrard, Century Plaza Hotel & Spa, 604-684-5050, www. thecomedymix.com/. Comedy club with pro-am night Tue at 8:30 pm, showcase Wed at 8:30 pm, and featured headliners Thu at 8:30 pm and Fri-Sat at 8 and 10:30 pm. Cover $8 Tue, $10 Wed, $15 Thu, $18 Fri, $20 Sat. 2TOM RHODES Nov 23-25 2CHARLIE DEMERS Nov 30-Dec 2 2GABRIEL RUTLEDGE Dec 7-9 YUK YUK’S COMEDY CLUB 2837 Cambie, 604-696-9857, www.yukyuks.com/vancouver/. Comedy club with Top Talent Tue at 8 pm, amateur night Wed at 8 pm, and professional headliners Thu-Fri at 8 pm and Sat at 7 and 9:30 pm. Cover Tue $10, Wed $7, Thu $10, and Fri-Sat $20. 2BYRON BERTRAM Nov 23-25 2BOBBY LEE Nov 30-Dec 2 VANCOUVER THEATRESPORTS LEAGUE Some of the world’s most daring and innovative improv. Christmas Queen 4: Secret Santa (Wed, Thu, Fri, and Sat, 7:30 pm); Christmas Queen Drag Race (Sat, 11:15 pm); #NoFilter (Thu, 9:15 pm); Ok Tinder (Fri, 11:15 pm); Rookie Night (Sun, 7:30 pm); TheatreSports (Tue, 7:30 pm; Wed, 9:15 pm; Fri and Sat, 9:30 pm). Nov 22-29, The Improv Centre (1502 Duranleau, Granville Island). Info www.vtsl.com/.
2THIS WEEK CHRISTMAS QUEEN 4: SECRET SANTA The Vancouver TheatreSports League presents a holiday-themed comedy show
see next page
that sees the Queen and Santa exchange bodies in a Freaky Friday-style magical sleight-of-hand. Nov 22–Dec 23, The Improv Centre (1502 Duranleau, Granville Island). Info www.vtsl.com/.
DREW LYNCH JFL NorthWest presents the American standup comedian and actor. Nov 23, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway). Tix $21.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticketfly.com/.
AERIOSA CO.ERASGA
SOPHIE BUDDLE LIVE ALBUM TAPING Vancouver comedian records a live album. Nov 28, 29, 8-10:30 pm, The Comedy MIX (1015 Burrard). Tix $10, info www.eventbrite.com/e/sophie-buddlelive-album-taping-tickets-39535015295.
LITERARY EVENTS 2THIS WEEK JCC JEWISH BOOK FESTIVAL The community-wide event brings together prominent and emerging Jewish writers and non-Jewish writers with Jewishinterest subject matter in literature, the arts, philosophy, theology, history, and current events. Nov 25-30, Jewish Community Centre (950 W. 41st). Tix from free to $24, info www.jewishbookfestival.ca/.
ET CETERA 2THIS WEEK FIGHT FOR BEAUTY Exhibition features public art projects undertaken with worldclass creatives, architecture from architects who are artists in their own right, and fashion by some of the greatest designers in recent history. To Dec 17, Fairmont Pacific Rim (1038 Canada Place). Free admission, info www.fightforbeauty.ca/. KURIOS: CABINET OF CURIOSITIES Cirque du Soleil presents a new production that takes you into the curio cabinet of an ambitious inventor who defies the laws of time, space, and dimension in order to reinvent everything around him. To Dec 31, Concord Pacific Place (88 Pacific). Tix from $49, info www.cirquedusoleil.com/kurios/.
on the web!
Morna Edmundson, Artistic Director
KAREN JAMIESON & MARGARET GRENIER KAREN JAMIESON DANCE DANCERS OF DAMELAHAMID LESLEY TELFORD INVERSO
Chez Nous
MAHAILA PATTERSONO’BRIEN MARISSA WONG TWOBIGSTEPS COLLECTIVE
Christmas with Elektra
MEREDITH KALAMAN
Saturday, December 2, 2017 | 7:30 pm
SHAY KUEBLER RADICAL SYSTEM ART
Dunbar Ryerson United Church, 2195 W 45th Ave, Vancouver
WEN WEI DANCE
Sunday, December 3, 2017 | 3:00 pm Highlands United Church, 3255 Edgemont Blvd, North Vancouver
ZIYIAN KWAN DUMB INSTRUMENT DANCE
FEATURING
Benjamin Britten’s timeless 'A Ceremony of Carols’ with harpist Vivian Chen
THE 11TH BIENNIAL
GUEST ARTIST
West Vancouver School District Women’s Honour Choir Adults: 35 | Senior: 30 senior 65 and over Student: $15 with valid ID $
$
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Julianne Chapple: Self Portrait/photo Andi McLeish.
THE TRAILER PARK BOYS Ricky, Julian, Bubbles, and Randy perform on their Dear Santa Claus Go F#ck Yourself Tour. Nov 29, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Queen Elizabeth Theatre (650 Hamilton). Tix $49.50-89.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticketfly.com/.
JULIANNE CHAPPLE
DANCE IN VANCOUVER November 22-25, 2017 Scotiabank Dance Centre
Tickets ticketstonight.ca Info thedancecentre.ca
DEBRA SPARROW’S TOUR OF THE FABRIC OF OUR LAND Musqueam weaver Debra Sparrow shares her personal relationship to early Salish weavings and illuminates their cultural contexts. Nov 23, 7 pm, The Museum of Anthropology at UBC (6393 NW Marine Drive). Free with museum admission, info www.moa.ubc. ca/portfolio_page/debra-sparrows-tourof-the-fabric-of-our-land/. ORPHEUM 90 Bill Richardson and Maestro Bramwell Tovey host an evening of music, silent film and live vaudeville in celebration of the Orpheum Theatre’s 90th anniversary. Nov 24, 7:30 pm, Orpheum Theatre (601 Smithe). Tix $19.27, info www.vancouvercivictheatres.com/events/orpheum-90/.
A TIMELESS CLASSIC! FEATURING LIVE MUSIC & SEASONAL CAROLS
GALLERIES THE POLYGON GALLERY 101 Carrie Cates Crt., North Vancouver, 604-986-1351, www.thepolygon.ca/. 2N. VANCOUVER (Polygon Gallery’s inaugural exhibition explores how a specific locale can be reflected through existing and newly commissioned artworks by artists from Vancouver and beyond) to Apr 29 VANCOUVER ART GALLERY 750 Hornby, 604-662-4719, www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/. 2ENTANGLED: TWO VIEWS ON CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN PAINTING (exhibition offers insight into two distinctly different modes of painting that have come to dominate contemporary painting in Canada) to Jan 1
MUSEUMS THE MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY AT UBC 6393 NW Marine Drive, 604-822-5087, www.moa.ubc.ca/. 2AMAZONIA: THE RIGHTS OF NATURE (exhibition features Amazonian basketry, textiles, carvings, feather works, and ceramics both of everyday and of ceremonial use, representing Indigenous, Maroon, and white-settler communities) to Jan 28
OUT OF TOWN 2THIS WEEK STONE AND SKY Exhibition features paintings that explore Canada’s mountain landscapes. To Feb 26, Audain Art Museum (4335 Blackcomb Way, Whistler). Info 604962-0413, www.audainartmuseum.com/.
TIME OUT ARTS LISTINGS are a public service provided free of charge, based on available space and editorial discretion. Submit listings online using the event-submission form at straight.com/AddEvent. Events that don’t make it into the paper due to space constraints will appear on the website.
Russell Roberts Photo: David Cooper
CHARLES DICKENS MICHAEL SHAMATA DIRECTED BY RACHEL PEAKE BY
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NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 43
MOVIES
It’s like a kind of hoodoo. As the end credits BY ADR IAN M ACK
roll on The Disaster Artist (opening in Vancouver on December 8), we’re treated to a split-screen demonstration of the film’s deeply religious attention to detail, with scenes from the infamous cult movie The Room unspooling on one side and actor-director James Franco’s spookily perfect recreations playing on the other. After the previous 100 minutes or so of Franco’s sweet, heartfelt, but downright uncanny on-screen embodiment of Room “auteur” Tommy Wiseau— complete with the bulldog physique, droopy eye, droopier hair, and Martian accent—these final strokes almost feel like we’re witnessing filmmaking as an act of ultrafetishistic ritual magic. With an instantly familiar roar of laughter, Seth Rogen asks: “Is there any difference between the two? “To us, things are most exciting when it really feels as if we’re doing something that all logic would dictate nobody should be doing,” the Vancouver-born star says, calling the Georgia Straight from L.A. “We always consider the audience—we talk about that a lot—but we also talk about how we want to be doing
Flirting with a Disaster Artist
Seth Rogen plays put-upon script supervisor Sandy Schklair in The Disaster Artist, James Franco’s hilarious and touching tribute to Tommy Wiseau’s cult film, The Room.
moment during one of the The Room’s frequent and usually sold-out visits to Vancouver’s Rio Theatre. Franco promptly optioned Sestero’s book and How Seth Rogen, James Franco, and the Rio Theatre came took the project to Rogen and Goldberg’s Point Grey together to honour everyone’s favourite “worst” movie Pictures. Despite the fact that stuff that just seems totally fucking batshit crazy. It’s everybody involved understood that Wiseau could the exact right combination to pursue.” be a tad controlling—he owns the sole rights to The Who would argue the point? In the 10 years Room—but also possibly quite unpredictable, and since Superbad, and alongside writing-producing definitely very alien, Point Grey said yes. partner Evan Goldberg, Rogen has pursued that “I kinda have a standing thing with Franco combination to astronomical Hollywood success. where I will just generally do whatever he wants He’s so likable (and bankable) that Rogen’s mojo to do,” Rogen offers with a low chuckle. “Yes, even survived 2014’s The Interview, easily the most Tommy’s very unpredictable, but he ultimately batshit of any of the team’s enterprises. (“There wants fame and recognition, and we were going to was maybe a moment where I was, like, ‘maybe be providing him with that—in an ideal world. So they won’t let me work anymore,’ ” he allows, he wasn’t the biggest challenge, in my head. What speaking of the almighty hell that Sony weathered I talked the most about was making a movie that thanks to that picture.) didn’t feel like it was just making fun of someBut if assassinating Kim Jong-un is one thing, thing. To me, the much more interesting idea grappling with Tommy Wiseau is another. Based was exploring what was good about the movie, on the 2013 book, The Disaster Artist tells the and what was valid about the movie, and why, of story of coauthor Greg Sestero’s friendship with all the bad movies out there, this is the one that the unfathomably strange Mr. Wiseau and the people gravitate to, and this is the one that I’ve movie that would make upside-down celebrities seen 10 times, and this is the one that continues to out of both of them. Rogen recalls getting in on be endlessly fascinating.” the ground floor of the phenomenon that is The At the magnetic centre of that fascination, natRoom, a mind-bending collision of insane dia- urally, is Wiseau himself. The Internet has cracked logue, unhinged melodrama, and performances his real age and origin—if not the source of his so inept they achieve a sort of other-dimensional uniquely lovable derangement—but in the spirit wholeness. All of this was self-financed by the of the book, The Disaster Artist prefers to let its mysteriously affluent, if cinematically maladroit, version of Wiseau insist in his impenetrable acwriter-director-star Wiseau to the reported tune cent that he’s from New Orleans. Megan Mullaly of $6 million and initially released for two plays Sestero’s mother in one of the film’s countless legendarily sad weeks in Los Angeles in 2003. cameos, justifiably alarmed when a pasty, middle“I loved it!” Rogen says. “I mean, I loved it in aged vampire creature whisks her son from San that I thought it was terrible, but I saw the movie Francisco to Hollywood, all while insisting that actually pretty soon after it first came out. It was a he’s the same age as the then 19-year-old Greg. thing, at the time, if you worked in comedy in any Playing against his brother Dave as Sestero, way. I remember when we were making Knocked Franco’s transformation is phenomenal. But the Up and 40-Year-Old Virgin—we were all obsessed film strives for more than just a handful of imwith this movie.” pressive impersonations, and The Disaster Artist Cut to 2013: the film has become a bona fide cult becomes, ultimately, as touching as it is hilarious. phenomenon, and Rogen’s old Freaks and Geeks There’s a poignancy to this oddball friendbuddy James Franco finally has his conversion ship, which ultimately survived Sestero’s tell-all
(“Forty percent true”, by Wiseau’s characteristically inscrutable metrics), and there’s sincere respect for the reality-distortion act that Wiseau has somehow mastered. In contrast to, say, an Ed Wood Jr.—who died a homeless alcoholic pornographer long before Tim Burton’s biopic scrubbed him clean—the indefatigable Wiseau has taken to his reputation with amazing gusto, somehow synthesizing the attention, with a charming if bizarre mix of arrogance and vulnerability, into something positive. “I think that it is a conscious choice that he’s made,” suggests Rogen, who takes on the role of The Room’s beleaguered script supervisor, Sandy Schklair. “And while we were making the movie, I talked a lot about trying to dramatize that moment, the moment where you embrace the result of your work rather than the intention of your work. I actually think it’s very noble in some ways to be able to dissociate your original motivation from your ultimate result and accept that people love the thing you did for all the wrong reasons, basically. Again, what’s so fascinating about this movie is that there’s something that’s incredibly egotistical about it, and there’s also something that’s incredibly self less about it, in a weird way.” Wiseau’s “near politician-level savviness”, as Rogen admiringly puts it, would ultimately have real-world impact on Franco’s film. Get past those end credits, and The Disaster Artist has one more Easter egg in store, with the two Wiseaus warily circling each other at a rooftop party. In his inimitable style, the real Tommy holds his own in a scene that Rogen is pleased to report was captured in one take. And then he reveals that they were “contractually obliged” to use it. “We could not clear the music from the movie The Room without it,” he says, guffawing again. “Originally, we didn’t have to include it in the movie, and then because we wanted to use some footage that we hadn’t cleared, he made us put it in. And then we started to think it was incredibly funny that, somehow, he was infiltrating our work and affecting it, and it just kinda became even more meta.” Tommy wins again. Actually, we all do. -
WHIS TLER 2017: HOT PI CKS FR O M A C O O L FE ST >>>
V
isitors to the Whistler Film Festival have the chance to preview The Disaster Artist, where it screens twice. The festival opens Wednesday (November 29) with Gary Oldman’s Oscar-courting performance as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, although it was a light year in general for highprofile releases, according to the WFF’s Paul Gratton. And that’s hardly a bad thing. “It’s the strongest slate of American indie films that I’ve ever had,” notes the veteran director of programming, calling the Georgia Straight from Toronto. There’s his acquisition of The Ballad of Lefty Brown, to give just one example, a title handled south of the border by sizzling-hot distributor A24 but still lacking a deal in Canada. (Star Bill Pullman will be honoured at Whistler for what many are calling a career-best effort in the vein of The Hero.) Metawesterns aside, Gratton adds that the focus in both inter-
about a Muslim woman’s adventures inside the world of bump and grind. For obvious reasons, he says, we’ve entered an era in which people are moved “to very publicly define themselves in terms of what they believe and what they stand for”. With an attendant increase in the number of films made by women, here are five programmer picks from a festival that continues to make good on its promise of a “cool” take on the big-screen scene.
Two adolescent girls enter into an intense, life-changing friendship in Ingrid Veninger’s Porcupine Lake, coming to this year’s Whistler Film Festival.
national and Canadian features this year trends toward alternative and transgressive lifestyles,
44 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017
as in the Québécois transgender dramedy Venus or the stereotypebashing Becoming Burlesque,
PORCUPINE LAKE The latest from Toronto’s Ingrid Veninger came about when actor Melissa Leo agreed to provide seed money to the filmmaker at 2013’s WFF. “This is a film that deals with that ineffable magic moment where a young, about-to-be-adolescent girl falls madly in love with her closest girlfriend for life,” says Gratton, who believes it’s one of the Modra director’s best films. “We’ve all witnessed it, but I can’t
> BY ADRIAN MACK
☞
think of too many movies that have tried to actually get into it.” ORDINARY DAYS The Rashomon device of multiple perspectives has been overused in cinema, but Ordinary Days employs three different directors, including Jordan Canning, to build its prismatic take on the disappearance of a college student. “I just think if you’re a young filmmaker walking out of this, you’re gonna go ‘Wow…’” BERNARD AND HUEY “I like to challenge the audience with at least one film a year where people might go, ‘I think I was just offended,’” Gratton says with a chuckle about a project that began with a 30-year-old script by Jules Feiffer and now stars David Koechner and Jim Rash as sexually competitive midlifers. “It’s brilliant, but the ugliness of the misogyny, what comes out of their mouths, probably ref lects a lot of the behaviours we’re seeing see next page
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Safe European film festival
Sitaruâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s realist drama parlays hallmarks of Romanian newwave cinema into a smart foray into a moral minefield. Multilingual Radu is working as a fixerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a local journalist hired by a foreign correspondent (in this case, Agence France-Presse) to help arrange a story. When he gets a potentially career-boosting scoop on a Romanian teenager trafficked into sex work in Paris, Radu and two French TV news staffers try to get an interview with her once sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s repatriated back to Romania. But with the trio facing numerous roadblocks and the girlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vulnerability becoming more apparent, Radu realizes they risk becoming as exploitive as her former kidnappers. Rather brilliantly, the film defies expectations with its relaxed approach, and the ethical issues raised by this thought-provoking piece have relevance for everything in our screen-saturated lives, from reality TV to social media. In Romanian, French, and English, with English subtitles; November 25 (6:30 p.m.) > CRAIG TAKEUCHI
This compelling mystery-drama follows 12-year-old Socrates through his initially carefree days in a placid Cypriot village. His firecracker-lighting ways with cousin Marcos soon awakens Socrates to his uncleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s abuse of his wife and children. When he takes matters into his own hands, Socrates gets far more than he bargained for and becomes increasingly enmeshed in the unearthing of what seems to be a bottomless pit of dark secrets. For his feature-film debut, filmmaker Petros Charalambous captures a strong sense of age and place, deftly conveying the nuances of small-town life from an adolescent point of view and weaving a story that bristles 11TH A GRADE (Bulgaria) If this Sofia-set flick proves with convincing details, genuine surprises, and natural anything, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that substitute teachers get it bad around performances. In Greek with English subtitles; Novemthe globe. The kids in this unruly Grade 11 show up high, ber 29 (8:30 p.m.) > CT
Whistler 2017
from previous page
revealed in the sex scandals that are going around now.â&#x20AC;? MOBILE HOMES Imogen Poots dras-
tically unpretties herself as â&#x20AC;&#x153;the worst mother you can imagineâ&#x20AC;? for a Canada-France coproduction set inside the most marginalized of Maritime communities, one of the few domestic films to play at Cannes. Gratton cites Pootsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;incredibleâ&#x20AC;? performance in â&#x20AC;&#x153;a sort of
BOY ON THE BRIDGE (Cyprus)
Canadian version of the kitchen-sink And itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very clear that, initially, drama, like if The Florida Project had they really have no use for him,â&#x20AC;? been made without the kidsâ&#x20AC;?. Gratton says, adding that the â&#x20AC;&#x153;extremely chargedâ&#x20AC;? film is marked by the THERE IS A HOUSE HERE Even Hurt filmmakerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s characteristically with Inuk rock singer Lucie Idlout â&#x20AC;&#x153;blisteringâ&#x20AC;? honesty. as his guide, Alan Zweig was met with suspicion when he showed up in Inuvik intending to document The Whistler Film Festival takes place life in the northern community. from Wednesday (November 29) â&#x20AC;&#x153;He introduces his own biases and to next Sunday (December 3). Find prejudices and ref lects on them as more information at www.whistler he tries to get people to open up filmfestival.com and visit Straight.com and not just give him pat answers. for reviews, features, and more.
Another
Wolfcop DECEMBER 1
THE FIXER (Romania/France) A gem of the fest, Adrian
heckle the instructor, and mock each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;standard stuff whether you live in Bulgariaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s capital, Baton Rouge, or Brixton. What makes director Michaela Komitovaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s light and glossily commercial take a little different is that the teacherâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Lina Nikolova (Yana Marinova)â&#x20AC;&#x201D;is a dancer who is striving on her off-hours to open her own studio. That means she can challenge her students to dance battles and meet them on their own terms, making her less easy to mock than the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stricter instructors. But North American audiences will cringe at the ways the boys in the class repeatedly ogle herâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and the way she seems to accept it as flattery. And letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not even talk about the scene where she meets them at a bar. As for the dance? The kids show some mad hip-hop skills but Ms. Nikolova is straight outta Solid Gold. Maybe subs here donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have it so bad after all. In Bulgarian, with English subtitles; November 27 (8:45 p.m.) > JANET SMITH
RICK ESTRIN AND THE NIGHT CAP6 With Special Guests The Twisters SP ³7KHVH DUH VHULRXV PXVLFLDQV KDYLQJ D KRWWHU WKDQ KRW JRRG WLPH ,WœV WRXJK WR VWD\ LQ \RXU VHDW ZKHQ (VWULQ DQG KLV PXVLFDO FRKRUWV JHW FRRNLQJ ´ Chicago Sun-Times
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REXIT, war in Ukraine, fascism in Poland, Germany in the throes of a paralyzing constitutional crisisâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;if Europe itself appears to be fracturing before our very eyes, the European Union Film Festival keeps ticking along like some sort of cheerily unflappable diplomat out of Brussels. Now in its 20th year, the EUFF returns to the Cinematheque on Friday (November 24) with Estonian comedy The Dissidents and ends 25 films later, on December 4, with Jan HĹ&#x2122;ebejkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s critically acclaimed Czech drama The Teacher. Here are a few picks from the Straightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Europhiles. Find more at Straight.com.
2017
NOV 29
Romaniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s The Fixer is one of the gems at a European Union Film Festival that comes to Vancouver despite trouble at home.
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NOVEMBER 30
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NOVEMBER 23 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 30 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 45
MOVIES
Photographer “JR” and cinema legend Agnès Varda team up for Faces Places, one of the most enchanting films of the year.
Faces Places comes up aces THELMA
REV IEWS FACES PLACES A documentary by Agnès Varda. In French, with English subtitles. Rated PG
“You can make something out of anything,” says a hobo collage artist living alone in the woods outside of Paris. “All you need is an idea.” He’s just one of the many offbeat, marginalized, or simply ordinary people celebrated in this ceaselessly enchanting tour de France. And his upbeat notion is animated by our lovable hosts, veteran filmmaker Agnès Varda, 88, and the 33-year-old photographer called JR, who specializes in plastering giant portraits on available walls, water towers, and railcars. They met on the festival circuit and decided to make a movie together; the most beguiling charm of Faces Places (French title: Villages Visages) is that they keep letting you in on their improvisations as they drive across the country, and eventually to Switzerland, in JR’s big, black cameramobile—out of which those giant posters are manufactured. At it since 1955, Varda’s the nouvelle vague survivor (Vagabond is perhaps her best-known feature) whose retinue originally contained husband Jacques Demy, pal François Truffaut, and mentor Jean-Luc Godard. The last-named’s presence is strong, from JR’s ubiquitous hat and dark glasses to a scene from JLG’s 1964 Bande à part that they re-create in the Louvre, later, when his presence also becomes an absence. Along the way, they visit a forgotten coal town, lonely farmers, oft-striking dockworkers, and rival goat-keepers (one side lets them keep their horns, the other doesn’t), among many others. All are amused to be part of the artistic process, and their delight at being recognized—we’re talking images more than 10 times the subject’s size—is contagious. They also visit the humble grave of Henri Cartier-Bresson and childhood home of Varda’s early friend and photo subject Guy Bourdin, who later became a top fashion photographer. Through it all, the directors tease each other playfully and, through play, reveal the seriousness of their methods. In one time-lapse sequence, we see how much effort is required for JR’s crew to mount a huge portrait (of Bourdin) on a World War II beach bunker in Normandy—only to find it entirely washed away the next morning. For her part, the pixielike Varda, who just received a special Oscar for her body of work, takes everything in stride. Her eyes are fading, but life’s still a blast. “Chance has always been my best assistant,” she insists. And who can argue?
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> KEN EISNER
Starring Elie Harboe. In Norwegian, with English subtitles. Rated PG
A seemingly capable young begins university in Oslo, far from her parents’ watchful eyes for the first time. Raised in the country as a soft-spoken Christian with few social skills, Thelma (up-and-coming Eili Harboe) frequently calls her sensitive doctor dad (Henrik Rafaelson) for advice about booze and friends. However, as presaged in the film’s disturbing preamble, her folks’ attempts at remote control involve more than the usual empty-nest anxiety. Our young protagonist has typical problems fitting in, but everything erupts when she bumps into a willowy fellow student (NorwegianAmerican model and songwriter Kaya Wilkins) who awakens her to various things she’s not supposed to be thinking about. Whether because of faulty wiring or a lifetime of repression—we’re never really sure in this taut, if austere, thriller—her response is to fall into epilepsylike fits that make no medical sense. Even harder to fathom is the fact that lights f licker and crows hurl themselves at plate-glass windows when Thelma is, um, aroused. The film is an artfully measured step towards the uncanny for Danish-born writer-director Joachim Trier, who took more naturalistic approaches to depression, grief, and isolation in the breakthrough Oslo, August 31st and his Englishlanguage follow-up, Louder Than Bombs. Working with his usual collaborators, including writer Eskil Vogt and cinematographer Jakob Ihre, Trier has fashioned a paranormal mystery in which comingof-age and coming-out tales are combined and then given jolts of sex, religion, and science, complete with conscious nods to genre classics like Carrie and The Birds. The exquisitely shot Thelma operates on a level of dreamlike metaphor in which the basic notion of escaping the grip of childhood is mixed with dark imagery of infanticide, self-destruction, and plain old poor impulse control—with a special emphasis on the power of water and electricity. Oh, and did I mention snakes? The director’s confident sense of tonal contrast demands a lot from his appealing lead, who was also in the Norwegian disaster movie The Wave, and she delivers. Here, a tsunami of emotions is channelled into a stylishly subtle puzzle that rewards patience with odd kicks and unsettling ideas.
2 woman
> KEN EISNER
MEET BEAU DICK: MAKER OF MONSTERS A documentary by Natalie Boll and LaTiesha Fazakas. Rating unavailable
The monsters in the subtitle are
2 not the Hollywood sort, even
though the late maker profiled here knew how to add some showbiz razzle-dazzle to work that was probing, respectful, mysterious, and—most of all—playful. The exemplary Meet Beau Dick, which celebrates the successful dance with modernity of a gifted traditional carver, was directed by Natalie Boll and LaTiesha Fazakas. The latter is a veteran gallerist and member of Dick’s extended family who took advantage of Boll’s extensive production background to pull together a fairly comprehensive look at the artist. Born Benjamin Kerry Dick in 1955, at the north end of Vancouver Island, he started as a troubleprone rock ’n’ roll rebel who dug further and further into the integrity of older First Nations forms as he grew older (and his hair and beard grew longer). Dick’s own trove of archival footage and early images helps round out a picture that he partially narrated before dying earlier this year, just before the film was finished. He started out by assisting his father and grandfather in carving traditional totem poles but, after moving to Victoria and then Vancouver, was also drawn to more Eurocentric concepts, and even Japanese manga. This led to unique fusions—especially with his exquisite masks—that saw him embraced by both the gallery world and the First Nations groups he increasingly represented, as seen in the 2013 copper-cutting ceremony captured on film here, at the B.C. Legislature, to protest neglect (and worse) of Indigenous treaty rights. The fact that you couldn’t separate his art from his politics—and he wore both lightly, as a kind of trickster-shaman—is one reason an on-screen curator calls Dick “probably the best West Coast artist since contact”. It’s too bad so many of us missed meeting him, but this lovingly made 90-minute effort makes the case that his time isn’t over yet. > KEN EISNER
THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS Starring Christopher Plummer. Rating unavailable
If nothing else, The Man Who
2 Invented Christmas offers an
alternative to yet another rendition of A Christmas Carol—a story that’s seen everyone from Alastair Sim to Bill Murray to Scrooge McDuck see next page
ESTONIA
Debt-stressed Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens) suffers another visit from Ebenezer Scrooge (Christopher Plummer) in The Man Who Invented Christmas.
tackle the role of the fabled miser. Instead, the movie gives a light, lushly staged treatment to the story of how writer Charles Dickens came to pen the second-mostfamous Christmas story. At the same time, he revived a holiday that was largely seen, in his time, as an excuse for workers to take a day off. And it’s surprising, frankly, that no one’s thought to put this on film before. Based on a well-researched book by Les Standiford and adapted by Canadian writer Susan Coyne, the film plays on the way Dickens’s own debt-stressed journey reflected Ebenezer Scrooge’s, and on the reallife people who inspired characters like Jacob Marley and Tiny Tim. In 1843, a 31-year-old Dickens had written a series of flops. With four children, a fifth on the way, and a home renovation spiralling out of control, he was forced to write a hit in just six weeks. Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens faces an onerous task: he’s got to bring to life a Dickens we haven’t seen on-screen before, one who’s young, hyperenergized, and prone to writer’s block, whining about London’s fog, and crazy outbursts. His Dickens is haunted by both a spendthrift father (a wonderful Jonathan Price) and an Oliver Twist–worthy trauma from his past). But director Bharat Nalluri is loathe to take the story too dark—always falling on the side of holiday treat. Nalluri and Coyne also make use of ample opportunity to conjure the ghosts and famous characters as they appear to Dickens, including Christopher Plummer as a sharp-tongued Scrooge who repeatedly visits the writer. (“I’m the author here!” Dickens asserts to his crotchety muse. “Allegedly,” Scrooge cracks.) The production team meets great expectations from the audience, lovingly evoking lamplit Victorian London streetscapes (actually Dublin), as well as the grandeur of star writer Dickens’s home. Mychael Danna’s whimsically uplifting score tries a little too hard to try to remind us we’re watching a Yuletide fairy tale rather than, say, a treatise on the social inequity of 19th-century London. Still, Christmas Carol fans will glean a lot of surprise details about Dickens here, while still enjoying some of the supernatural treats of the original. Yes, The Man Who Invented Christmas is creative and fresh enough to fit as smoothly as gingerbread and eggnog into your holiday ritual. > JANET SMITH
LAST FLAG FLYING Starring Bryan Cranston. Rated 14A
In Hal Ashby’s The Last De-
2 tail—a key film of the natural-
istic 1970s—two sailors are tasked with bringing a very minor miscreant from San Diego all the way to Portsmouth, Maine, where the navy brig awaits him. Robert Towne’s pitch-perfect script was based on the novel by Darryl Ponicsan, and it’s no coincidence that in Last Flag Flying, Ponicsan’s screenplay (taken from his own recent novel) picks up in Portsmouth, in 2003, with a sailor who spent time in that hole before settling into a dull life as a clerk at the same station. Steve Carell plays Larry “Doc” Shepherd, the mild-mannered exsailor in question, who learns that his son has been killed during the new war in Iraq. Also a recent widower, he responds by seeking two slightly older ex-Marines he served with in Vietnam. One’s an alcoholic barkeeper named Sal Nealon (Bryan Cranston) and the other is troublemakerturned-preacher Richard Mueller (Laurence Fishburne)—called Mueller the Mauler in Saigon, for his sexcapades, not combat skills. This trio roughly equates to that threesome from 30 years earlier, with cast leader Cranston subbing for Jack Nicholson’s “Badass” Buddusky, Fishburne evoking the self-contained Mulhall of lesser-known Otis Young (who himself went on to become a pastor), and Carell a tad slow on the uptake, like Randy Quaid’s goofily hapless Meadows. Except for Cranston’s effortful attempts to channel Nicholson by way of Robert De Niro (“Hey, I’m half Italian,” Sal yells at one point), resemblances end there. Where the first movie captured young men adrift in the sea change of American life during one pointless war, this one settles for an acting exercise in which three experienced players simply lock into fairly superficial aspects of their characters, yielding platitudes and punch lines, not genuine insights. Richard Linklater, who usually works from his own scripts, often in concert with his main actors, would seem to be a good fit for the material. But for a long two hours, he seemingly surrenders to a sort of bland nostalgia that encompasses dull cinematography, sterile acoustic-guitar music, formless scenes that last too long, and exposition that often makes little real sense— all better suited to cable-TV drama than to an honest exploration of America at another lethal crossroads. Its details don’t last.
POLAND
The Dissidents (Sangarid)
Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge
This '80s-set action comedy follows three Estonian dreamers who flee the Soviet Union in search of the suave “free world."
The courageous, controversy-courting life of trailblazing physicist and chemist Marie Curie is poetically explored in this lavish biopic.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24 – 6:30 PM
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24 – 8:30 PM
ROMANIA
FRANCE
The Fixer (Fixeur)
Les ogres
A journalism trainee is hungry for his career-making break in prolific Romanian director Adrian Sitaru’s understated moral drama, inspired by true events.
A freewheeling, intergenerational theatre troupe tours Chekhov and emotional minefields in director Léa Fehner’s sophomore film.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25 – 6:30 PM
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25 – 8:30 PM
LUXEMBOURG
SWEDEN
Mammejong
Eternal Summer (Odödliga)
The unhealthy relationship between an adult son and his mother is explored in Jacques Molitor’s fiction-feature debut.
The fourth feature from Swedish phenom Andreas Öhman is an amour-intoxicated, lovers-on-the-lam tale in the style of Bonnie and Clyde and Badlands.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26 – 6:30 PM
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26 – 8:20 PM
LITHUANIA
BULGARIA
Emilia (Emilija)
11th A Grade (XI A)
Life for an artist behind the Iron Curtain is portrayed in Donatas Ulvydas’s searing, politicallycharged period drama.
A competitive dancer tests her mettle as a high-school teacher in Michaela Komitova’s comedic, crowd-pleasing first feature.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 27 – 6:30 PM
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 27 – 8:45 PM
PORTUGAL
HUNGARY
Saint George (São Jorge)
Kincsem
The third feature from Marco Martins is a brooding, bare-knuckled drama that holds a sobering mirror to Portugal’s recent hardships.
This domestic blockbuster is based on the true story of the legendary thoroughbred — to this day, the most decorated racehorse ever.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28 – 6:30 PM
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28 – 8:45 PM
AUSTRIA
Night of a 1000 Hours
(Die Nacht der 1000 Stunden) This second career feature from Virgil Widrich is a fantastical blend of historical fiction, whodunit thriller, and beyond-the-grave horror.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29 – 6:30 PM
CYPRUS
Boy on the Bridge (To agóri sti géfyra) A country kid finds himself at the centre of a murder investigation in Petros Charalambous’s much-praised debut feature.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29 – 8:30 PM
> KEN EISNER
NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 47
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With your hosts Dalannah Gail Bowen and Vancouver’s own ‘Ambassador of the Blues’ Jim Byrnes U Rob Montgomery and Incognito U Billy Dixon's Soul Train Express U Gary Comeau and the Voodoo All Stars U Jim Byrnes with The Sojourners AND NEW THIS YEAR, A ONE-OF-A-KIND, ONE NIGHT ONLY
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MUSIC
For the first time ever, A Perfect Circle’s
BY MIKE US IN G ER
Billy Howerdel has found himself having trouble adjusting to life on the road—a place where he’s spent a good chunk of his adult life. “We just pulled up to Toronto, Canada, and I just woke up on the bus,” says the affable guitarist, sounding completely Zen-like on a call from the Centre of the Universe. “I usually sleep well on the bus, but this is the first tour in 30 years that I’m not sleeping well. Normally it’s something that I look forward to—going on tour and being able to snuggle into that little cocoon on the bus—but it just hasn’t worked out that way.” Rather than taking the Fifth, Howerdel is perfectly open about what might be troubling him. The 47-year-old became famous as a cofounder of A Perfect Circle, which was originally promoted as a side project of Tool’s Maynard James Keenan and then eventually exploded into something more. The alt-metal experimentalists roared out of nowhere with a 2000 debut, Mer de Noms, that eventually went platinum. Two follow-ups—Thirteenth Step (2003) and Emotive (2004)—would solidify the band’s status as hockey-arena headliners, which holds true today. But on A Perfect Circle’s current tour, Howerdel and Keenan are discovering that keeping fans engaged isn’t always easy when you haven’t released new material since George Bush was getting ready to start his second term in the White House.
Their road goes ever on
A Perfect Circle hasn’t issued an album of new music since 2004’s Emotive, but a long-awaited new release is slated to see the light of day next year.
end would not only teach him plenty about being a professional but help him make countless contacts. Those would include wellBilly Howerdel has had a few sleepless nights, but respected musicians like A Perfect Circle’s guitarist is happiest when on tour drummer Josh Freese Making things even more of a challenge was that (Guns N’ Roses), bassist Paz Lenchantin (the Pixthe group had hoped to release a new album this ies), and Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone year, something that now won’t happen until at least Age), all of whom would play on Mer de Noms. 2018. An earlier run of shows in the spring went off Howerdel notes that he spent around eight years big-time, with Howerdel and his bandmates playing jumping from tour to tour with bands as a tech. to packed houses. This fall has been different. But rather than partying at the end of the night, So, after initially suggesting he’s not sure what’s he was always thinking about the future. been keeping him awake at night, Howerdel then “I really didn’t live anywhere,” Howerdel says. “I offers: “Maybe it’s that I’ve got too much on my was always on the road with nothing but a credit mind—like trying to finish this record on top of card, a phone card, and life insurance. I was saving touring. Probably my mind is just racing too much. up money and writing songs to make APC happen. The shows haven’t been as well-attended as the I put enough money away in the bank that I was spring, and that’s been a little bit of a head-scratch- able to basically finance the first record, and that er for us. You can try and figure those things out, was a scary thing. I could have not made it, and inbut that turns into an exercise in frustration. stead ended up broke and having to start all over.” “It’s for people in different parts of this organizaHowerdel says his expectations were low even tion—managers and booking agents and promot- though A Perfect Circle moved quickly from playing ers—to worry about more than me,” he continues. its first show at the Viper Room to appearing at the “But I’d be lying to say that it didn’t matter to me— inaugural edition of Coachella. Initial shows were in it’s nice when you go out and see a full room, and small clubs that typically held 100 to 300 fans. the spring was mostly like that. But then again, it’s “Tool was a theatre band at that point, and only been a few shows, so maybe it’s just a little ego Maynard’s name brought a lot of weight to A Pertrip on my part.” fect Circle, even though that didn’t translate to That the guitarist laughs self-deprecatingly at ticket sales,” the guitarist says. the ego-trip part of his assessment speaks volumes Nonetheless, things began to take off in 2000 about his easygoing attitude toward rock stardom. after A Perfect Circle found itself enlisted as Far from being self-absorbed and convinced of his the opening act on a Nine Inch Nails tour for own brilliance, he couldn’t come across as more The Fragile, then began to gain serious traction down-to-earth, as willing to discuss his passion when shit-hot director David Fincher helmed for cooking as he is to talk music. the band’s video for “Judith”. As noted, it’s not like he isn’t used to seeing the Flashforward nearly two decades, and a couple world from a tour bus. Long before forming A Per- of sleepless tour-bus nights are doing nothing to fect Circle with Keenan—a former roommate— make Howerdel regret the path that he continues Howerdel already had a pretty good idea how to to follow with A Perfect Circle. carve out a successful career in the music business. “I was happy behind the scenes and always His start came behind the scenes working as a enjoyed it, but doing this was always the plan guitar tech, first for bar bands, then eventually for for me. When I was 17 or 18 and trying to figure megastars like Guns N’ Roses. Years on the back out what I wanted to do, this was the trajectory.
CHECK THIS OUT You gotta see GARY NUMAN Talk about tapping into the Zeitgeist. Synth-pop pioneer Gary Numan’s latest album, Savage (Songs From a Broken World), might be a concept record about a dystopian future society ravaged by global warming, but its apocalyptic tone feels perfectly in tune with life in the era of Trump. Maybe that’s why Savage has done better than anything else Numan has released since his new-wave-era heyday—the LP hit the No. 2 spot on the official U.K. album chart and also gave the man born Gary Anthony James Webb his first Top 40 entry on the Billboard 200 since 1979. Not bad for a record with such uplifting song titles as “My Name Is Ruin” and “The End of Things”! All of this suggests that Numan has attracted a lot of new converts recently, but longtime fans needn’t worry. When he plays the Rickshaw Theatre on Thursday (November 23), he is practically obligated to play “Cars” and “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?”. -
I didn’t really assign any amount of years to it, but I always thought from age 18 that I wanted to be a tech, move into being a production manager, move into being a musician, and then do acting, directing, and producing movies. That was my long-term 50-year plan. And it’s sort of taking that shape.” A Perfect Circle plays the Pacific Coliseum next Thursday (November 30).
in + out
Billy Howerdel sounds off on the things that enquiring minds want to know.
On his pre-APC life: “I really enjoyed teching. I liked the freedom of it, and there were times that I was making more money than the bands that I was working for, so that was nice.”
On cooking: “I got into it after getting some food allergies while doing the Guns N’ Roses gig. I think it was from eating the same things all the time in a really stressful environment. A lot of the stress was the hours—I like late hours, but not that late. So after I figured out what I couldn’t eat, I started to think about how I like to eat good and how I like, for lack of a better word, gourmet food. I don’t mean gourmet French food—more just good ingredients cooked simply. So I learned to cook from there—I have kids and I became the cook in the family. It’s one of those things I feel I really get.” On similarities between his passions: “I get as much satisfaction out of somebody enjoying a good meal as I do from playing a great show. Somebody asked what it’s like to have thousands of people singing your songs back to you. If you’re a cook and have made a meal that people are salivating over and complimenting you for, it’s very similar.”
MUSIC Let’s talk about TRULY SICK Marilyn Manson recognized Charles
Manson’s death by tweeting a photo of the killer with a link to “Sick City”, a song Charlie wrote and Marilyn covered. KISS’s Paul Stanley called the tweet a “pathetic” bid for publicity—and, after 45 years as Gene Simmons’s bandmate, he’s an authority on the subject.
FROM THE GUTT The Stone Temple Pilots debuted a new singer—the unfortunately named Jeff Gutt—in Los Angeles on November 14. The frontman, who beat out 15,000 applicants for the job, was formerly of nu-metallers Dry Cell and competed on The X Factor. Incredibly, STP is now more pathetic than the life of Scott Weiland. AWK-WARD Asked about sexual harrassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, Morrissey told a German journalist “Some people are very awkward when it comes to romance.” Reducing Moz’s chances of getting into Shirley Manson’s pants by 342 percent, the Garbage singer promptly tweeted “Fuck U Morrissey.”
Fresh and local DIRTBAG REPUBLIC DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE Dirtbag Republic’s sophomore record features a liner-notes photograph of the group titled “Cast of Characters”. The same concept neatly describes the subjects of the album’s songs. Downtown Eastside, as the name suggests, details the exploits of a colourful collection of individuals. Opening number “Junkie Girl” introduces a smoke-bumming sex worker who plays “Frogger classic in your car”; follow-up “Homeless” discusses an alcoholic who beats a woman after selling his possessions. It’s prescient, relatable stuff for anyone who’s ventured down East Hastings at night—and therein lies the album’s charm. Name-checking a host of local spots—the defunct White Lunch and San Francisco Pawn included—the album conjures a familiarity and nostalgia befitting its old-school musical feel. Dirtbag Republic mixes cutting social commentary with screaming guitar solos, gravelly vocals, and glossy production. Balls-out and relentless, Downtown Eastside makes up for what it lacks in variety with invigorating energy. Pro tip: it’s even louder than you’re imagining.NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 49
MUSIC
Proznick turns a tough time into Sun Songs
W
heelchair-bound and scarcely present, Jodi Proznick’s mother is in an extended-care facility, in the late stages of the terrible disease known as dementia. But the local bassist can still hear her voice whenever life gets tough, offering the kind of homespun wisdom that you’re unlikely to find in any self-help book. “She’s a rodeo girl, right?” Proznick explains, interviewed on her cellphone from downtown Vancouver. “She grew up on the Prairies, with horses. So my favourite quote from my mom was ‘Jodi, there’s always a pony in the big pile of shit.’ And I didn’t really understand that until the past eight years unfolded, with a whole lot of foundational stuff getting pummelled.” Proznick goes on to explain that, just as she and her pianist husband, Tilden Webb, had their first child, her mother was entering the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Anyone who’s lost a parent that way knows that it’s a frightening time for the entire family; add the stresses of motherhood, and it’s no wonder the bassist felt far too overwhelmed to think of making her own music—even if she kept up with her career as an educator and first-call instrumentalist on the local jazz scene. Still, fragments of tunes and snippets of lyrics kept accumulating until, about a year and a half ago, Proznick realized that she had the bones of what would eventually become Sun Songs, an undeniable creative breakthrough. It’s the pony she unconsciously knew she’d find: between her delight in her son and her fear for her mother, she’s broken with the instrumental format of her 2006 debut, Foundations, to write a collection of songs that look at love from multiple perspectives. The tone is often bittersweet, understandably, but Proznick’s resilience shines through. “That earlier album was bouncy, joyful, and swinging—you know, a part of my personality that I wanted to express and explore,” the 42-year-old musician says. “But this has really shifted things. I’m more comfortable with my grief and my fear and my anger—and I’m realizing that’s incredible soil for art-making. I just don’t know if I can ever go back.” Sun Songs being about the bonds of family, it’s appropriate that its making was a family affair. The always stylish Webb plays especially beautifully on the disc, and Proznick credits her husband with stepping back from the creative process so she could find her own compositional voice. “He said ‘I’m going to pour my heart into playing the piano for you, but you need to do this. This is your story,’” she explains. “So I knew I had to create amazing voicings to realize it, and I wrote it at the piano. It’s really about the composition, not about being a fancy bass player.”
Respected Vancouver jazz bassist Jodi Proznick waded through a lot of emotions for Sun Songs, into which she processsed her mother’s illness while being inspired by the birth of a first child.
Jesse Cahill’s resolutely sympathetic drumming might have something to do with the fact that he’s married to Proznick’s sister. Saxophonist Steve Kaldestad has known Webb since high school, and Proznick almost as long. And, claiming that she has too sunny and small a voice for the material, Proznick made the wise choice of asking another family friend, Laila Biali, to sing. The Montreal chanteuse responded with one of the most emotionally engaging performances of her career. So now that she’s found her pony, where will Proznick ride next? As of yet, she’s not quite sure. But when her next round of inspiration strikes, she knows she’ll be ready. “This has been a special project. It’s very personal and vulnerable, and I feel like throwing up some days,” she allows. “But I also know that you have to be brave, and you have to be willing to open up your heart, and that’s where the juicy stuff happens.”
Buddy let himself be challenged as part of an endless process There’s no bigger myth in the music in-
2 dustry than that of overnight success.
home in West Hollywood. “He’s just so different from everybody else. Of all the producers, he had me make the most attempts on records. We tried so many different types of songs working together, and sometimes it was just harder than others to keep up with the swag. We did a bunch of different ideas, like singing different parts, or trying new cadences or melodies, or getting different kinds of beats to try to rap on. That’s not the norm.” Between 2009 and 2014—with the exception of single “Awesome Awesome” in 2011— Sims wrote numerous songs that were never released. Growing up in Compton but avoiding the pitfalls of the notorious neighbourhood by attending the nonprofit Amazing Grace Conservatory, a performing-arts program, Sims spent those years figuring out, as he puts it, how to move. “I was learning who to trust, who not to trust, and what the untrustworthy people look like,” he says. “Working out the vibes. I learned the etiquette of the studio, how to act outside the studio, and interacting with different personalities all at once. The whole game, really.” That’s not to say Sims wasn’t impatient to get his music heard. 2014 was an explosive year for the rapper, who, eager to release his creations, compiled his favourites into a collection he called Idle Time: a diverse group of 13 songs with features from superstars including Miley Cyrus, Kendrick Lamar, and Robin Thicke. Without a marketing plan, though, the record failed to generate much buzz beyond the music blogs. “I put that mixtape together myself, and put it out,” he recalls. “There wasn’t any big rollout strategy. I just leaked my own mixtape early on. That’s why there weren’t any music videos or nothing, and I didn’t go on tour after that mixtape. It was just on the Internet, really. That was a big lesson too: to take time, have patience, and work with a team.” Finally, Sims’s waiting game has paid off. The rapper this year dropped Kaytranadaproduced EP Ocean & Montana—a record that runs the gamut from chilled reggae to off-kilter funk—and Magnolia, a five-track effort that showcases his impassioned singing and tight flow over trap beats courtesy of duo Mike & Keys. It’s a huge step up in quality from Idle Time, and a development that the artist is proud of. “I had to figure out myself and my management, my team around me, and really focus on my craft and my sound,” he says. “I was working with a bunch of different producers and living life, getting a bunch of life experience. That definitely comes out in these songs.”
Ask any musician making headway in the mainstream, and they’ll highlight the years of hard graft in their bedrooms, shitty backroom tours, and bombing on-stage. The incubation period varies, of course, but for some it lasts much longer than expected. For hip-hop artist Simmie Sims, better known by his stage name Buddy, it took eight drawn-out years to finally drop two highprofile EPs. While that might seem like a long time to be waiting in the wings, the rapper and singer saw the benefit of having the chance to develop at his own pace. His mom might agree. Signed by Pharrell Williams to his label at just 15 years old, Sims was taken under the wing > ALEXANDER VARTY of the 10-time Grammy winner while still in > KATE WILSON high school, and given the chance to perfect Jodi Proznick hosts a release party for Sun his sound outside of the spotlight. Songs, with Laila Biali guesting, at Frankie’s Jazz “No one challenged me more than Pharrell,” Buddy plays the Vogue Theatre on Friday (NovClub on Thursday (November 23). Sims tells the Straight on the line from his ember 24).
Pigat keeps it positive with Cousin Harley
T
he Reverend Horton Heat, he counts himself lucky to have hung also known as Jim Heath, out with, or opened for, some of the has long said he’s a fan of great rockers of our time, from Jeff Vancouver, declaring it one Beck to Dave and Phil Alvin (with of the best cities he plays. Ask him whom Cousin Harley shared a bill a why, and—besides the usual suspects little over a year ago at the Imperial). like scenery, sushi, and appreciative That show was maybe a bit less social audiences—he’ll tell you, “You’ve got than the Commodore gig with the Revone of the hottest rockabilly guys erend, as the Alvins had had a breakever up there, named Paul Pigat. He’s down outside Seattle, so were under the cool, he’s really good.” gun and didn’t really have time to gab. Heath put his money where his But Pigat recalls meeting Phil Alvin mouth is this past May at the Com- years ago at a birthday party. modore, when he “He never did get brought Pigat onmy name right and stage with him for kept on calling me a cover of the stan‘Paul Pig Hat from Allan MacInnis dard “Rock This Canada’! Those were Joint” and an encore. But how did that Phil’s wilder years, if you get my drift.” get set up, exactly? Pigat’s current rhythm section inPigat is happy to explain. “I met cludes snazzily dressed standup bassJim a few years back in Austin at the ist Keith Picot (who, Pigat says, tried Ameripolitan Awards,” he says. “I to pick up his girlfriend the first time was about to play with James Bur- they met) and drummer Jesse Cahill. ton and [Heath] came up and started Though the first Cousin Harley chatting. I’ve been a fan for years, and album, 2003’s Jukin’, features an enwas really surprised he knew who I tirely different rhythm section (Pete was. When I found out he was playing Turland and Steve Taylor), a casual at the Commodore, I got his number listener might not notice the differfrom a mutual friend and invited him ence between then and now. The two out for dinner before the show. He albums even share a couple of songs, and the rest of the band are awesome namely covers of Merle Travis’s “Dicats and a blast to be around.” vorce Me C.O.D.” and “Fat Gal”. Pigat is talking to the Straight “I’ve always been a fingerpicker and from the road, reached in Fort St. Merle is top of the heap for me,” PiJohn, where he is touring his new gat explains. “Playingwise, his backCousin Harley album, Blue Smoke: beat is really driving, and, although The Music of Merle Travis. He says most people don’t hear it, I think his
Local Motion
50 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017
While he describes himself as anything but politically correct. Paul Pigat (left) is careful to keep the humour playful on Blue Smoke. Adam PW Smith photo.
playing was really a cornerstone to what would become rockabilly and rock ’n’ roll. Some of these tunes have been in the Cousin Harley repertoire since the beginning. That’s why it was important to do the recording.” Pigat notes that the record comes out just in time to mark Merle Travis’s 100th birthday. “He’s a cornerstone of our sound, along with Motörhead!” If you find that reference puzzling, note that Cousin Harley sometimes gets called “the Motörhead of rockabilly”. Pigat never got to meet
Lemmy, despite having a mutual friend in Lemmy’s rockabilly side project Headcat, but says “His attitude is what I try and channel onstage—just a little more hillbilly.” Some of the songs on Blue Smoke, like “Fat Gal”, might raise an eyebrow, based on the title alone, but that song—like the Reverend Horton Heat’s “Big Little Baby” or AC/ DC’s “Whole Lotta Rosie”—is in fact a fond and playful tribute to its plus-sized subject, what Pigat calls “a love song about the beauties of the Rubenesque lady”.
“If they had a negative connotation I wouldn’t do them,” he says. “These songs are about the positive and have that classic Merle wry sense of humour.” As Pigat sees it, humour is an integral part of traditional country music. “It’s not,” he suggests. “all about crying in your beer!” As for political correctness, Pigat reckons there’s too much of it in the world now. “As long as the humour is positive, I’m all for it.” Which brings us to “Dark as the Dungeon”. It’s a coal-mining song, sure—like Travis’s “Sixteen Tons”, also covered on the album—but people familiar with Johnny Cash’s prison recordings will know that Cash, in covering the song, gets some rude titters from inmates when he sings about being “less of a man for the lure of the mine”. It’s pretty much impossible to hear the Cash version and not think it was written as a caution against prisoners resorting to anal sex with each other. But Pigat laughs and says he figures that was an accident. “Merle was from coal-mining country, so I really doubt he meant that!” Cousin Harley hosts a launch party for Blue Smoke: The Music of Merle Travis at the Rickshaw on Saturday (November 25). See Straight.com online for a longer version of this article.
GARY NUMAN Electronica artist tours in support of new album Savage, with guests Me Not You. Nov 23, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). SOLD OUT.
music/ timeout CONCERTS < CLUBS & VENUES <
CONCERTS 2JUST ANNOUNCED COM TRUISE American electronica musician performs a DJ set. Dec 1, doors 10 pm, show 10:30 pm, Open Studios (200252 E. 1st). Tix $25 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticketweb.ca/. FROM NEW YORK: CHAMPIAN FULTON QUARTET The charismatic New York vocalist/pianist Champian Fulton returns to Vancouver with her mellifluous vocal style and impeccable taste in repertoire. Presented by Coastal Jazz. Dec 8-9, 8 pm, Frankie’s Jazz Club (765 Beatty). Tix $20, info www.coastaljazz.ca/. AN OLDE ENGLISH CHRISTMAS Celebrate the season with music by 1960s English beat-rock band Herman’s Hermits, with vocalist Peter Noone. Dec 22, River Rock Casino (8811 River Rd., Richmond). Tix from $49.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.riverrock.com/. DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL American emo band performs on its We Fight Tour 2018. Feb 21, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix on sale Nov 24, 10 am, $39.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. DOROTHY Los Angeles rock band performs on its Freedom Tour 2018. Feb 23, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Biltmore Cabaret (2755 Prince Edward). Tix $70/20 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu Records, and www.ticketfly.com/. LUCY ROSE U.K. folk-rock singersongwriter tours in support of latest album Something’s Changing, with guest Charlie Cunningham. Mar 10, doors 7 pm, show 10 pm, Venue (881 Granville). Tix $20 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.
HARP DOG BROWN AND HIS TRAVELIN’ BLUES BAND Vancouverbased blues artist performs with his band. Nov 24, 7-9:15 pm, Blue Frog Studios (1328 Johnston Rd., White Rock). Tix $47, info www.bluefrogstudios.ca/. PASSION FOR JUSTICE 2017 Vancouver LGBT band Queer As Funk headlines at a fundraiser for the Pivot Foundation, the Pivot Legal Society’s charitable partner. Other highlights include a raffle and a silent auction. Nov 24-25, 7 pm–1 am, WISE Hall (1882 Adanac). Tix $35, info www. pivotlegal.org/passion_for_justice_2017. THE DREADNOUGHTS Vancouver folkpunk band performs at a release show for its first album in seven years, with guests Raygun Cowboys and Still Spirits. Nov 24, 8 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $20 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Highlife Records, and www.rickshawtheatre.com/. DON STEWART CHRISTMAS CONCERT Don Stewart presents a holiday concert with guests Kenny Wayne and the Ron Johnston Quintet. Nov 24, 25, 8 pm, PAL Theatre (8th floor, 581 Cardero). Tix $30, info www.donstewart.ca/. THE TENORS Canadian operatic-pop supergroup tours in support of its upcoming holiday album Christmas Together. Nov 24, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Queen Elizabeth Theatre (650 Hamilton). Tix $120/90/66/36 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. DON MCGLASHAN “Kiwi pop master” (Rolling Stone) and former Mutton Bird Don McGlashan makes solo Vancouver stop, presented by Rogue Folk and Cap Global Roots. Nov 24, 8 pm, St. James Hall (3214 W. 10th). Tix from $25, info www.capilanou.ca/centre/. BAIO American electronica musician and Vampire Weekend member tours in support of latest solo release Man of the World. Nov 24, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Fox Cabaret (2321 Main). Tix $15 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu Records, and www.ticketweb.ca/. BLUE MOON MARQUEE Canadian modern-blues band, with guests the Milk Crate Bandits and Gillian Moranz. Nov 24, 8-11 pm, WISE Hall (1882 Adanac). Admission by donation ($10 suggested), info www. facebook.com/events/125006808210520/. FROM NEW YORK: JEREMY PELT QUINTET The newest of esteemed trumpet player and composer Jeremy Pelt’s
musical projects, this young group has a unique chemistry that comes to life within each of Jeremy’s original compositions. Presented by Coastal Jazz. Nov 24-25, 8 pm, Frankie’s Jazz Club (765 Beatty). Tix $25, info www.coastaljazz.ca/.
THE RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE Canadian indie-rock band tours North America, with guests Yukon Blonde. Nov 24, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix $25 (plus service charges and fees) at www.live nation.com/.
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TASH SULTANA Australian indie-rock singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist known for her singles “Jungle” and “Notion”. May 24, doors 5:30 pm, show 7 pm, Malkin Bowl (610 Pipeline Road, Stanley Park). Tix on sale Nov 24, 10 am, $39.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.
2THIS WEEK COCO LOVE ALCORN Canadian jazz-pop singer-songwriter and her band perform as part of their Wonderland: An Invitation to Sing tour. Nov 21-22, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway). Tix $25/20, info www.riotheatre.ca/. PRINCESS NOKIA New York hip-hop artist. Nov 23, Celebrities Nightclub (1022 Davie). Tix $22.50, info www.bplive.ca/. COLIN BULLOCK Canadian-Australian pop singer-songwriter performs at an album-release show for As Big As the Sky. Nov 23, 7 pm, St. James Hall (3214 W. 10th). Tix $25, info www.colinbullock.com/. A CINEMATIC MUSICAL EVENING FOR INDIVIDUALS OF FINE TASTE, WITH VANCOUVER TRIO GHAZM Taking place in a 120-year-old historic building, this musical event incorporates throat singing, Nintendo DS, a two-storey pipe organ, and electronic dance music. Nov 23, doors 6 pm, show 7 pm, 1130 Jervis. Tix $15, info www.weareghazm.com/. ARCH ENEMY AND TRIVIUM Swedish death-metal band coheadlines with American heavy-metal band, with guests While She Sleeps and Fit for an Autopsy. Nov 23, 7 pm, Vogue Theatre (918 Granville). Tix $38.50 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat Records and www.mrgconcerts.com/. JODI PROZNICK Cellar Live presents the launch of the JUNO-nominated jazz bassist’s upcoming album Sun Songs. Nov 23, 8-10 pm, Frankie’s Jazz Club (765 Beatty). Tix $20, info www.coastaljazz.com/. ZIMBAMOTO Caravan World Rhythms presents the Vancouver Afro-fusion band in a release show for debut album Tambai, with guests MNGWA. Nov 23, 9 pm, WISE Hall (1882 Adanac). Tix $20/15, info www. facebook.com/events/176941102862862/.
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SYD American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, disc jockey, and audio engineer tours in support of her upcoming solo release Always Never Home. Nov 24, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Vogue Theatre (918 Granville). Tix $25 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat Records and www.ticketfly.com/. ROGUE FOLK CLUB FUNDRAISER Live music by Stephen Fearing, Marin Patenaude, Ben Rogalsky, and the East Van Country Band, and the Gabriel Dubreuil Trio. Nov 25, 6:30 pm, St. James Hall (3214 W. 10th). Tix $30, info www. roguefolk.bc.ca/concerts/ev17112520. COUSIN HARLEY Vancouver rockabilly band performs at a CD-release party for Blue Smoke: The Music of Merle Travis, with guests the Rocket Revellers and the Wheelgrinders. Nov 25, 8 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $20 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu Records, and www.rickshawtheatre.com/. SARATOGA AND JOEY ROBIN-HACHÉ Folk duo coheadlines with folk-rock singer-songwriter. Nov 25, 8 pm, Studio 16 (1555 W. 7th). Tix from $10, info www. lecentreculturel.com/en/coup-de-coeurfrancophone-de-vancouver/detail/ saratoga-joey-robin-hache/4252. MOGWAI Scottish postrock band composed of Stuart Braithwaite, Dominic Aitchison, Martin Bulloch, and Barry Burns. Nov 25, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix $28 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat Records and www.ticketmaster.ca/. ADONIS PUENTES AND THE VOICE OF CUBA ORCHESTRA Cuban-Canadian jazz singer-songwriter and his band perform at an album release concert. Nov 25, 9:30 pm, Russian Hall (600 Campbell). Tix $32.50, info www.vancuba.com/adonis-puentes/.
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OUR LADY PEACE AND MATTHEW GOOD Canadian alt-rock band coheadlines with Canadian alt-rock singer-songwriter on their cross-country tour. Mar 31, doors 6 pm, show 7 pm, Abbotsford Centre (33800 King Rd., Abbotsford). Tix on sale Nov 24, 10 am, $86/60.50/46 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. EAGLES American rock band from the ’70s (“Take It Easy”, “Lyin’ Eyes”, and “Hotel California”). May 10, Rogers Arena (800 Griffiths Way). Tix on sale Dec 1, 10 am, at www.livenation.com/.
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BLUEMARTINIJAZZCAFE.COM 1516 YEW STREET, VANCOUVER, BC | 604 428 2691
254 East Hastings | liveatrickshaw.com NOVEMBER 23 – 30 / 2017 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 51
MOVIES ARTS MUSIC THEATRE FOOD Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get the latest entertainment scoop Signup at straight.com/newsletters
The Georgia Straight Confessions, an outlet for submitting revelations about your private lives—or for the voyeurs among us who want to read what other people have disclosed.
at Red Cat, Highlife Records, and www. riotheatretickets.ca/.
MADE IN JAMAICA Take in an evening of music by reggae-pop artist Sean Kingston, with guest Peter Jackson. Nov 25-26, 10 pm–2 am, Harbour Event Centre (750 Pacific Blvd.). Info www.myshowpass. com/skyvr/.
THE KILLERS American rock band tours in support of latest studio album Wonderful Wonderful. Dec 6, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre (6066 Thunderbird Blvd., UBC). Tix $95/75/55 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.
from previous page
LAILA BIALI Canadian jazz-pop singersongwriter and pianist. Nov 26, 7:30 pm, The ACT Arts Centre (11944 Haney Pl., Maple Ridge). Tix $36/32/15, info www. theactmapleridge.org/act-presents/actpresents-series/laila-biali/.
Scan to confess Surrey Transit Fares to Vancouver The irony is that I live in Slurrey so that I can save money, and now my transit fares are going up by distance. Ugh. Driving it is again.
I hate listening to ukuleles Sorry but I won’t come to your ukulele show. It makes my ears bleed.
Crazy Dog Lady I was just waiting for an elevator and a guy with an in-training assistance dog came up to stand beside me. I know you’re not supposed to pet them so I stood there, looking at the dog out of the corner of my eye, willing it to come over and sniff me. He did and got a swift reprimand from his trainer. It took everything I had not to pet that dog.
‘Renters of Vancouver’
DISPATCH American indie-roots band performs on an acoustic tour in support of new album America, Location 12. Nov 26, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, The Imperial (319 Main). Tix $45.50/40.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. PETUNIA AND THE VIPERS Canadian country-roots band. Nov 27, 8-11 pm, WISE Hall (1882 Adanac). Admission by donation ($10 suggested), info www.facebook. com/events/1905584246374742/. PALE WAVES Dark-pop band from Manchester, England, tour in support of second single “Television Romance”. Nov 27, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Fox Cabaret (2321 Main). Tix $15 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. BELPHEGOR Austrian extreme-metal band tours in support of new album Totenritual, with guests Cryptopsy, Panzerfaust, and Kafirun. Nov 28, 7 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $30 (plus service charges and fees) at www. rickshawtheatre.com/. ANGUS AND JULIA STONE The Australian brother-and-sister folk-indie pop duo performs in support of its forthcoming full-length album. Nov 28, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Vogue Theatre (918 Granville). Tix $32.25 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.
Sounds like you guys want a landlord in China that you’ve never met, like mine. He won’t pay to fix anything, but he never bothers me with any stupid shit.
Daytime running lights DO NOT replace headlights I really wish people would stop being such idiots and only using their DRLs at night and when it’s raining or snowing. Your dashboard might be lit, and you think you can see in front of you just fine. But there’s this nifty invention -that all cars are equipped with - called tail lights, and they DON’T go on unless your headlights do.... (con’t @straight.com)
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PERIPHERY AND ANIMALS AS LEADERS American metal bands coheadline on their Convergence Tour, with guests Astronoid. Nov 28, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix $35 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. MICHEL RIVARD AND MEHDI CAYENNE Francophone folk-rock singer-songwriter coheadlines with Francophone folkpunk musician. Nov 29, 8 pm, Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton). Tix from $25, info www.lecentreculturel.com/. JONNY LANG American blues-rock vocalist-guitarist tours in support of upcoming studio album Signs. Nov 29, doors 7 pm, show 8:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix $45 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.
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RICK ESTRIN AND THE NIGHTCATS American four-piece electric-blues band, with guests the Twisters. Dec 1, doors 6:30 pm, show 7:30 pm, Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway). Tix $35 at the door/30 in advance (plus service charges and fees)
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NOT SO SILENT NIGHT Inaugural fundraiser features music by Dear Rouge and a DJ. Partial proceeds go to Covenant House Vancouver. Dec 7, doors 8 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix $25/15 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. JAY-Z The American rapper and businessman performs on his 4:44 tour in support of latest album 4:44, with guest Vic Mensa. Dec 11, Rogers Arena (800 Griffiths Way). Tix at www.livenation.com/. KEITHMAS VIII—A FOODBANK FUNDRAGER Celebrate the birthday of Keith Richards and help raise money for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank as you enjoy music by the Pointed Sticks and Rich Hope. Dec 16, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $17 (plus service charges and fees) at www.rickshawtheatre.com/, info www. rickshawtheatre.com/1031/keithmas-viiindash-a-foodbank-fundrager/.
23 2JEREMY PELT QUINTET Nov 24 2KATHERINE PENFOLD Dec 3 2CHAMPIAN FULTON QUARTET Dec 8 2COOL SCHOOL: GET HIP TO JAZZ WITH CHAMPIAN FULTON Dec 9 2EMILY CHAMBERS Dec 10 2SIOBHAN WALSH GROUP: A TRIBUTE TO ARETHA FRANKLIN Dec 15 2MICAH BARNES Dec 17 2WE THREE QUEENS Dec 22
FUNKY WINKER BEANS 37 W. Hastings. Evil Bastard Karaoke Experience seven days a week. THE IMPERIAL 319 Main, 604-868-0494. 2DISPATCH Nov 26 2LEIF VOLLEBEKK Dec 6 2MARK FARINA Dec 22 IVANHOE PUB 1038 Main, 604-608-1444. Pub with live bands on weekends and open jam night Sun from 4 to 8 pm. Pool tourney Thu. No cover. 2HARPDOG BROWN Nov 23 & 30 268 LIPS Nov 24 2PURPLE GANG Nov 25 2SONS OF THE HOE Nov 26 RAILWAY STAGE AND BEER CAFÉ 579 Dunsmuir, 604-564-1430. 24 taps of local craft beer. Comedy Tue, darts Wed, live music Wed, Thu, Fri, and all day/night Sat. 2BOOGIE NIGHTS WITH LOS DUENDES Nov 23 2MAKE IT POP! QUIZ - NERD ALERT Nov 23 2TODDCAST PODCAST VOL FOUR WITH CRNKSHFT Nov 24
CONTACT Winter music festival features performances by Marshmello, Armin Van Buuren, Adventure Club, Carnage, Tchami, Rezz, Alan Walker, Mr Carmack, Malaa, Cash Cash, Ekali, Destructo, Ghastly, Henry Fong, Tokimonsta, Say My Name, Falcons, Melvv, Parker, and Whipped Cream. Dec 26-27, BC Place Stadium (777 Pacific Boulevard). Tix at www.contact-festival.com/.
RICKSHAW THEATRE 254 E. Hastings, 604-681-8915. 2GARY NUMAN Nov 23 2THE DREADNOUGHTS Nov 24 2COUSIN HARLEY Nov 25 2BELPHEGOR Nov 28 2PERE UBU Nov 30 2POWERCLOWN AND HAM WAILIN’ Dec 1 2THE PACK A.D. Dec 8 2JULIEN BAKER Dec 9 2KEEP IT ALL THE YEAR Dec 14 2DEATHMAS FESTIVUS Dec 15 2KEITHMAS VIII Dec 16 2METROPOLIS NOIR NEW YEAR’S EVE: AN EVENING OF THE TRAGICALLY HIP SONGS Dec 31
CLUBS & VENUES
ROGERS ARENA 800 Griffiths Way, 604-8997400. 2JAY-Z Dec 11
BACKSTAGE LOUNGE Arts Club Theatre, 1585 Johnston, Granville Island, 604-6871354. Vancouver’s only live-music venue on the water, with music nightly. Hot Jazz Jam night on Tue. 2TOY ZEBRA Nov 23
ST. JAMES HALL 3214 W. 10th, 604-7363022. 2COLIN BULLOCK Nov 23 2DON MCGLASHAN Nov 24 2ROGUE FOLK CLUB FUNDRAISER Nov 25 2VAN DJANGO Dec 9
BILTMORE CABARET 2755 Prince Edward, 604-676-0541. 2SALES Dec 1
VENUE 881 Granville, 604-646-0064. 2SLOW MAGIC Nov 30 2COLLIE BUDDZ Dec 13
BLUE MARTINI JAZZ CAFE 1516 Yew, 604-428-2691. Live jazz, soul, and blues. Closed on Mondays. COBALT 917 Main, 778-918-3671. 2SHABAZZ PALACES Dec 1 2TENNIS Dec 2 2METZ Dec 8 2ALEX LAHEY Dec 12 COMMODORE BALLROOM 868 Granville, 604-739-4550. 2THE RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE Nov 24 2MOGWAI Nov 25 2PERIPHERY AND ANIMALS AS LEADERS Nov 28 2JONNY LANG Nov 29 2FRANZ FERDINAND Dec 5 2NOT SO SILENT NIGHT Dec 7 2CAM Dec 14 2THE FUNK HUNTERS Dec 21 FORTUNE SOUND CLUB 147 E. Pender, 604-569-1758. 2HOT CHIP DJ’S Nov 23 2BEATGINNINGS 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY Dec 1 2URBAN RENEWAL PROJECT FIVE YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOW Dec 6 FRANKIE’S JAZZ CLUB 765 Beatty, 778-727-0337. 2JODI PROZNICK Nov
VOGUE THEATRE 918 Granville, 604-5691144. 2ARCH ENEMY AND TRIVIUM Nov 23 2SYD Nov 24 2ANGUS AND JULIA STONE Nov 28 2JHENE AIKO Dec 8 WISE HALL 1882 Adanac, 604-254-5858. 2WINONA WILDE Nov 23 2ZIMBAMOTO Nov 23 2PASSION FOR JUSTICE 2017 Nov 24 2BLUE MOON MARQUEE Nov 24 2THE TIRED SUNDAY CHOIR AND TRACTOR GREASE FOLK Nov 26 2PETUNIA AND THE VIPERS Nov 27 2CAROLYN MARK Nov 30 2GOOD LOVELIES Dec 6
TIME OUT MUSIC LISTINGS are a public service provided free of charge, based on available space and editorial discretion. Submit listings online using the event-submission form at straight.com/AddEvent. Events that don’t make it into the paper due to space constraints will appear on the website.
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Choose aroma, mix and match Magic Rock brilliant colours for pillars and figurines. Votives and Bull's I's in stock. In beeswax or beeswax mix. Text to place so that I can send video to watch 'em glitter. Please place orders IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS, or price list & quotes on special orders. Ann 778 903-6319 Order now to allow time for Christmas and shipping. They're custom made! Have a home party to earn for Christmas!
Infertility Awareness Assoc. of Canada (IAAC) provides educational material & support to individuals or couples experiencing infertility. Meetings: 7 pm the 2nd Wed of the month. Richmond Library & Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate. Info 523-0074 or www.iaac.ca
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411 Seniors Centre Society 704 – 333 Terminal Ave. Van 604 684 8171 An inclusive centre for older adults, 55+ on low income, and those with disabilities, offering year-round educational, health-related, recreational activities. Information & Referral to assist seniors with resources & services in the community ie seniors benefits, income tax preparation & government services. Hours: Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm 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
MUSIC
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savage love I’m a 20-something straight
woman. About a month ago, I had a really vivid dream in which I was at a party and engaging with a guy I had just met. We were seriously flirting. Then my fiancé showed up—my real, flesh-and-blood, sleeping-nextto-me fiancé—who we’ll call G. In the dream, I proceeded to shower G with attention and PDA; I was all over him in a way we typically aren’t in public. I was clearly doing it to get a reaction from the guy I’d just spent the last dream hour seducing. It was as if it had been my plan all along. Last night, I had a similar dream. This time, the guy was an old highschool boyfriend, but otherwise it was the same: flirty baiting, followed by the use of G to reject and humiliate the other guy. I was really turned on by these dreams. In real life, whenever another woman has flirted with G, I get aroused—conscious of some feelings of jealousy but drawing pleasure from them. And when other men have flirted with me, I get similarly aroused for G. There is definitely a component in that arousal that wants to tease and mock these other men with what they can’t have, even though the teasing is just in my head. I would never use another person like I do in these dreams/fantasies, because it’s cruel. But could this become a healthy role-playing outlet for me and G? Are there ethical implications to hurting strangers (albeit imaginary ones) for sexual pleasure? From what little I know of degradation/humiliation kinks, it’s important that the person being degraded is
experiencing pleasure and satisfaction. Is it healthy to make someone’s (again, an imaginary someone’s) unwilling pain a part of our pleasure? If G is into it, this would be our fi rst foray into fantasy/role-playing/whatever. But I worry that I might be poisoning the well by pursuing something so mean-spirited. > MY EXTRA-AROUSING NASTINESS
We watch imaginary people being harmed—much more grievously harmed—in movies and on television and read about imaginary people being harmed in novels. Th ink of poor Barb in Stranger Things or poor Theon Greyjoy in Game of Thrones or poor Christian in Fifty Shades of Grey. If it’s okay for the Duffer brothers and HBO and E. L. James to do horrible things to these imaginary people to entertain us, MEAN, it’s okay for you and your boyfriend (if he’s game) to do much less horrible things to an imaginary third person to entertain yourselves. But why limit this to fantasy? Why not fuck your fiancé’s brains out after fl irting with and subsequently humiliating a living, breathing, willing third? But first, MEAN, give some thought to what exactly turns you on about this and then discuss it with your fiancé. It turns you on to see your partner through another’s eyes for obvious reasons: when someone else wants to fuck him, you see him with fresh eyes and want to fuck him that much more. As for the power-play
> BY DAN SAVAGE aspects of your fantasy, does your turn-on evaporate if your victim is a willing participant? And how do you feel about threesomes? Threesomes don’t have to involve intercourse or outercourse or any other sort of ’course, of course. Bringing someone else in—someone who gets off on the idea of being humiliated—counts as a threesome, even if all your third “gets” to do is be ditched in a bar. You could even work up to letting your willing third watch and/or listen while your fiancé gets to do what he will never get to do—fuck your amazing brains out— which would allow for the humiliation games to continue all night long. Once G is on board, MEAN, you can start with a little role-playing about this scenario. Then, once you’ve established that this is as exciting for G as it is for you, advertise for your willing third. The Internet is for porn, first and foremost, but it’s also pretty good at bringing likeminded kinksters together. As long as your third consents to the play and gets off on it, you aren’t poisoning the well or doing harm. And if you’re worried it won’t be as much fun if your victim is a willing participant, MEAN, remember there will be witnesses, i.e., other people in the bar who won’t know it was a setup, and in their eyes you will be cruelly humiliating this poor schmuck. Not into threesomes of any sort? Well, fl irting is just fl irting—it’s not a binding contract—and there’s no law that requires all fl irtations to be strictly sincere and/or immediately actionable. A little casual
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I react to his “public requests” with nausea and panic because I know he will be enraged for a week if we don’t go. I have even suggested that he go outside the marriage, but he wants me to be a part of it. Everything else in our relationship is great. We have a house, a child, and pets. I’m not sure if all that needs to My husband and I have been be broken over this. > DENIAL ENRAGES SELFISH together for 15 years, married for PARTNER AND I’M REELING five. He is more sexually adventurous than I am, but I try to keep up. At his request, we have gone to I’m running out of column here, a few sex clubs in our area to have DESPAIR, so I’m going to have to be “public sex”. That’s his main inter- blunt: your husband is a selfish, emoest. He promised that it would be a tionally abusive, manipulative assone-time thing but insisted we keep hole, and you should leave him. You going back. He told me that if I ever gave his kink a try, and not only was got uncomfortable, we didn’t have it not for you, it makes you fucking to go back. I told him I did not want miserable. You gave him the okay to to go to any more sex clubs, and he find other sex partners to explore this found a loophole: sex booths at porn with, and that wasn’t good enough shops. If I have to do sex in public, for him. He has responded not with booths are best because they aren’t the gratitude you deserve—for the very popular and there is some effort you made, for the permission privacy. Th is wasn’t good enough you gave him—but with emotionfor him. He wants an audience, he ally abusive behaviour. And what’s wants to see me with others, et cet- his goal? To make your life a living era. I hate this. I hate how it makes hell until you consent under duress? me feel. I hate it. He says all the right That wouldn’t be genuine consent, things—he respects me, he knows a DESPAIR, and therefore not consent relationship is a two-way street, et at all. Being served with divorce pacetera—but he is constantly furi- pers may open his eyes. If so, perhaps ous with me about this. He tells me your marriage can be saved. If not, I don’t contribute anything to our go through with the divorce. relationship and that we don’t have a true partnership—all because I On the Lovecast , look out, mondon’t want to have sex in public with ogamy, here comes Esther Perel: him or with strangers. Right now, savagelovecast.com. Email: mail@ he’s storming around the house in a savagelove.net. Follow Dan on Twitrage about this and I am tired of it. ter @fakedansavage. ITMFA.org. flirtation with someone else before your fiancé rolls into a bar is permissible—but you’ll have to let the other person know right away that you have a fiancé and that this flirtation isn’t going anywhere, and then you can’t go too crazy with the PDA once your fiancé arrives.
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