The Georgia Straight - DIY Treats - Dec 17, 2015 by The Georgia Straight

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2 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015

Time is precious. Choose your beer accordingly. Next time you have a Mill St Original Organic Lager, take your time. This way you won’t miss the distinct flavour that comes with only brewing it in small batches, using only the finest ingredients. The result is a light, crisp, refreshing taste with a clean finish. Now that’s something worth savouring.

DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 3

3-Day Jewellery Sale Thursday, Friday, Saturday Only! Additional 20% discount from our already low-pricing policy on all new and antique in-stock jewellery December 17, 18, 19

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4 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015

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Canadian Publications Mail Agreement #40009178, return undeliverable Canadian addresses to The Georgia Straight, 1701 West Broadway, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1Y3

LOCATED IN KITSILANO 2070 WEST 4TH AVE 604.938.7103

DECEMBER 17 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 5

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6 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015

CONTENTS

#1 ON THE WISHLIST HOVERBOARD #SEGUAY GUAY Self-Balancing Scooter cooter Starting from m $479

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HEELYS

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English Bay. Lech Dolecki photo.

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STYLE

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Last-minute gifts? We’ve got you covered. And all these fashion-savvy finds, from indigo-print head wraps to sleek wallets and pastel-hued shoelaces, will fit perfectly into a stocking. > BY LUCY L AU

NEWS

A DTES support worker wants charges laid after he says police arrested and hurt him when he objected to his bike being seized.

608 ROBSON ST. 604-602-1181

> BY TESSA VIK ANDER

START HERE

MOVIES

The Danish Girl says nothing about pastries; Moby gets dicked In the Heart of the Sea; Michael Caine fatuously remembers Youth; Boy & the World takes on fascism and wins.

ARTS

Giving the gift of culture isn’t just in good taste; it’s also quick and easy. Here are a few ideas for bundled tickets and big shows. > BY JANE T SMITH

simonsbikeshop.com 15 54 44 49 46 51 40 55 11 33

HUNDREDS MORE GIFT IDEAS ONLINE & INSTORE!

Health I Saw You Local Motion Real Estate Red Meat Savage Love Straight to the Pint Straight Stars Straight Talk Theatre

COVER

It’s a cliché that you can taste the love, but that’s just what Vancouver’s top bakers say about Christmas gifts you take out of the oven. > BY GAIL JOHNSON

THE BOTTLE

Sparkling wines and Champagne rule the roost for the next few weeks: here’s a selection, from affordable to not quite so. > BY KURTIS KOLT

TIME OUT 35 17 24 46

Arts Events Movies Music

SERVICES 50 Careers 14 Mind, Body & Soul 48 Real Estate

MUSIC

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings are among those who best capture the spirit of the season as the Straight rounds up the best and worst of this year’s Christmas albums.

COVER PHOTO

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DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 7

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IN STORE & ONLINE Gift cards available online now!

These vintage finds are ready to wrap! Edwardian, Victorian, Mid-Century Modern & more! www.eradesign.ca * Price includes shipping. Price may vary in store.

$ 2,600 + tax* GEORG JENSEN SILVER BRACELET

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$ 500 + tax* GEORG JENSEN SILVER RING Era Design Locally Crafted Jewellery 604 688 2714 | 1795 Venables Street etsy.com/shop/EraDesignJewellery eradesign.ca Inspiration updated daily @EraDesignJewellery

STYLE

DIVORCE + FAMILY LAW

Andrea E. Petersen WE’RE HERE TO HELP

Small gifts with big style: (clockwise from left); I Wear the Headdress wrap; Balmain for H&M fragrance; Andrea Wong wallet.

Gifts to stuff stockings in style > BY LUCY L AU

ometimes it’s the small things that cause the most headaches. Collecting cool stocking stuffers means manoeuvring from store to store at the height of mall madness. But don’t worry: we’ve done the work for you. Here are some last-minute stylin’ finds for the fashionable on your list—all stocking-sized.

TOP KNOT I Wear the Headdress’s

luxe head wraps make looking good in freezing temperatures a breeze— without the dreaded hat hair. Drawing from her travels, local maker Sarah Shabacon carefully crafts each piece from ethically sourced fabrics and names them after cities that have inspired their designs. We love the knotted Yala wrap ($45), which features a punchy, made-in-Thailand indigo print that’s sure to stand out in a sea of more neutral colours. Available in I Wear the Headdress’s online shop (iweartheheadress.big cartel.com/products) and carried at stores like Hazel + Jools (4280 Main Street), Wishlist Boutique (2811 West Broadway), and Courtney Boutique (2184 West 41st Avenue).

Australian shoelace brand Mavericks Laces is the brainchild of three graphic designers, so it’s no surprise that its products pack quite the visual punch. For the holidays, the line is offering three trios ($29.95 each) of waxed cotton laces that are guaranteed to jazz up all kinds of footwear, from desert boots to combat boots to leather brogues. Check out the Gelati, a set of pretty pastels—cotton-candy pink, mint green, and powder blue—inspired by the dreamy hues of the irresistible Italian dessert. Available at Eugene Choo (3683 Main Street).

LACED

JOIN THE ARMY If you, like many die-hard fashionistas, weren’t able to join the #BalmainArmy by snagging a piece from the coveted Balmain for H&M collection last month, you’ll want to add this baby to your wish list stat. The French fashion house has created a limited-edition fragrance ($50 for 100 mL) for the on-trend retailer that captures the sophistication of creative director Olivier Rousteing’s glitzy threads. Think an alluring mix of sweet tonka bean, cedar, jasmine, and white musk that’s sure to appeal to the sensual side of men and women alike. Available at H&M Pacific Centre.

PUN INTENDED Cats, clever puns,

and pompoms definitely make the list of our favourite things—which explains why we were pretty stoked to come across the UO Meowy Xmas Beanie ($34). The festive topper features a stripe of silhouettes depicting four crawling cats and a timely “Meowy X-mas” greeting emblazoned in red across the bottom. A red, white, and grey pompom completes the purr-fect holiday gift. Available at Urban Outfitters (various locations).

PACKAGE Help keep your gal organized with designer Andrea Wong’s Sensible Leather Envelope Wallet ($52). Each is handcrafted from a single piece of leather, creating a clean look, and holds all the essentials for a night on the town—and it slips easily into the teeny-tiny clutches reserved for such occasions, too. Pick f lashy silver; a gorgeous offwhite made from cowhide; or vegetable-tanned nude, brown, or black leather that only looks better with age. The wallet also works as a chic business-card holder. Available on Etsy (etsy.com/ca/shop/AWby AndreaWong). -

SMALL

• •

•

Divorce and separation Division of matrimonial property Child custody

• • •

Pre-nuptial Adoption Adult guardianship and trusteeship applications

ACE LEGAL andrea@acelegal.ca 610 - 1125 Howe St., Vancouver, B.C. V6Z 2K8 TEL 604-339-6097 • FAX 604-733-6380

The Georgia Straight | Vancouver’s News and Entertainment Weekly | Volume 49 Number 2504 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)

EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATOR Doug Sarti ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Gail Johnson, John Lucas, Alexander Varty STAFF WRITERS

Tammy Kwan, Lucy Lau, Travis Lupick, Carlito Pablo, Amanda Siebert, Craig Takeuchi SENIOR EDITOR Martin Dunphy ASSISTANT WEB EDITOR Miranda Nelson COPY CHIEF Amanda Growe EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Jennie Ramstad PROOFREADER Pat Ryffranck CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Gregory Adams, Nathan Caddell, David Chau, Jack Christie, Jennifer Croll, Ken Eisner (Movies), George Fetherling, Tara Henley, Michael Hingston, Ng Weng Hoong, Alex Hudson, Kurtis Kolt,

Robin Laurence (Visual Arts), Mark Leiren-Young, John Lekich, Amy Lu, Bob Mackin, Michael Mann, Rose Marcus, Beth McArthur, Verne McDonald, Allan MacInnis, Guy MacPherson, Tony Montague, Kathleen Oliver, Ben Parfitt, Vivian Pencz, Bill Richardson, Gurpreet Singh, Colin Thomas (Theatre), Jacqueline Turner, Jessica Werb, Stephen Wong, Alan Woo ART DEPARTMENT MANAGER

Janet McDonald SENIOR DESIGNER David Ko CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Alfonso Arnold, Rebecca Blissett, Trevor Brady, Louise Christie, Emily Cooper, Randall Cosco, Krystian Guevara, Evaan Kheraj, Kris Krug, Tracey Kusiewicz, Kevin Langdale, Shayne Letain, Matt Mignanelli, Mark “Atomos” Pilon, Carlo Ricci, William Ting, Alex Waterhouse-Hayward DIGITAL PRODUCT MANAGER

Chet Woodside LEAD WEB DEVELOPER Jeffrey Li WEB DEVELOPER Tina Luu WEB ADMINISTRATOR Miles Keir

The Georgia Straight is published every Thursday by the Vancouver Free Press Publishing Corp. Copies are distributed free every week throughout Vancouver, Burnaby, North and West Vancouver, New Westminster, and Richmond. International Standard Serial Number ISSN 0709-8995. Subscription rates in Canada $182.00/52 issues (includes GST), $92.00/26 issues (includes GST); United States $379.00/52 issues, $205.00/ 26 issues; foreign $715.00/52 issues, $365.00/26 issues. Contact 604-730-7087 if you wish to distribute free copies of the Georgia Straight at your place of business. Entire contents copyright © 2015 Vancouver Free Press Publishing Corp.

PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR Mike Correia PRODUCTION

K.T. Dean, Kristen Dillon, Sandra Oswald

AD SERVICES ASSOCIATE

Lyndsey Krezanoski

AD SERVICES ASSISTANT Jon Cranny DIRECTOR OF ARTS, ADVERTISING & MARKETING

Laura Moore SALES MANAGER Sharon Smith ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES

Glenn Cohen, Paul Graham, Robyn Marsh, David Pearlman, Andrea Polz, Patrick Ruel, Dawn Searle, Kathy Skelton

PROMOTIONS + SPECIAL PROJECTS

Navdeep Chhina

ADVERTISING + PROMOTION ASSISTANT

Maya Beckersmith

DIGITAL SALES COORDINATOR

Brenna Woodhouse CIRCULATION MANAGER

Travis Bearpark

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DIRECTOR

Dennis Jangula

CREDIT MANAGER Shannon Li ACCOUNTING SUPERVISOR

Tamara Robinson

ACCOUNTING

Angela Krommidas

RECEPTION/ PROMOTIONS ASSISTANT

Teagan Dobson

SUBMISSIONS The Straight accepts no responsibility for, and will not necessarily respond to, any submitted materials. All submissions should be addressed to contact@straight.com.

DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 9

10 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015

straight talk

IS CHRISTY CLARK STILL UP TO HER EMAIL TRICKS?

B.C. premier Christy Clark has essentially stopped using email, a response to a freedom-of-information (FOI) request suggests. Either that or she has been sending emails and then deleting them. If the latter is true, it would contradict an order Clark gave in response to a scathing report on government record-keeping that the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of B.C. (OIPC) released on October 22. “I’ve told everyone at the political level, ministers, political staff, even if it’s clearly a transitory document that you are required by law to delete—I want you to keep it,” Clark said on October 23. Yet an FOI request for all emails Clark sent from October 19 to 22 and from October 26 to 29 turned up just one document. “Can you send me a copy of that note you typed us for me recently and stuck in my book?” the sender wrote to communications coordinator Chelsea Dolan. (The sender’s name is redacted but it can be assumed it was Clark, given the parameters of the FOI request.) The Straight previously reported that a request for Clark’s emails from a two-week period in December 2014 produced no records. The premier’s office did not grant an interview. The request for Clark’s October correspondence was filed by the NDP. David Eby, New Democrat MLA for Vancouver–Point Grey, told the Straight the lack of records the request produced is noteworthy because it shows that Clark’s email habits did not change despite her instructing staff to retain their communications. “It is hard for me to imagine how you could be the premier and have

one email over two weeks,” Eby said. “It just doesn’t make any sense to me and strongly suggests she is either deleting her own emails or she is not using email to avoid creating records that could be FOId.” The OIPC’s October 22 report details how employees in the premier’s office plus staff at two ministries had “triple deleted” emails, taking extra steps to expunge records from computers. In addition, the OIPC has accused one employee with the Ministry of Transportation of giving false testimony about the practice while he was under oath. That case has been forwarded to the RCMP. Clark has repeatedly claimed that email is not her preferred means of communication and said she conducts government business face to face. The premier tapped former B.C. privacy commissioner David Loukidelis to instruct the government on how it should implement recommendations outlined in the OIPC’s October 22 report. As the Straight went to press, Loukidelis was scheduled to present his findings on December 16. > TRAVIS LUPICK

BORDER COPS INCREASE ACTIVITY AT YEAR’S END

A sizable community of Metro Vancouver residents is on alert this holiday season, fearing raids by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA). In a telephone interview, Harsha Walia, an organizer with No One Is Illegal (NOII), reported that the organization has seen a sharp spike in calls from undocumented immigrants asking for assistance. “We usually get three to five calls a week, and the last month we got probably close to double,” she said. “We are getting more calls from people who are in detention, more

calls from people who had just been visited at their homes or workplaces with deportation orders.” Walia added that NOII observed a similar increase in calls last year and in 2013 at this time. She said that has her wondering if CBSA intensifies enforcement activities toward the end of each year in an effort to meet quotas for deportation orders. “We aren’t trying to be alarmist, but we want people to know that this is going on,” she said. CBSA refused requests for an interview. The CBSA annual report for 2013-14 only quantifies immigration-enforcement actions as a percentage. It states that of foreign nationals identified as inadmissible, 15 percent were removed from the country (exceeding the 12-percent “target”). CBSA also failed to supply more meaningful numbers despite the Straight repeatedly requesting that information since November 26. According to Byron Cruz, an organizer with the group Sanctuary Health, there are between 3,000 and 5,000 undocumented immigrants from Latin America living in Metro Vancouver. Cruz said he has observed the same increase in CBSA enforcement noticed by NOII. “I have been putting things on Facebook, telling people in Spanish: ‘Be careful if you go to the hospital; this can happen to you,’ ” he continued. “So we are making people aware of this.” On December 9, the Straight reported that during the past two years, Fraser Health’s 12 Lower Mainland hospitals collectively referred about 500 patients to CBSA. Cruz said that has undocumented immigrants struggling to access health-care services because of fears that a trip to the hospital can end with them being deported. He noted there is a high degree of public support for

Only a single message was turned up by a freedom-of-information request for the October email activity of Christy Clark, who says she likes to work face to face. Syrian refugees and suggested that undocumented immigrants from Latin America aren’t so different. “Most of them come from situations or from states in Mexico where the war on drugs has hit those provinces,” he explained. “The drug cartels in Mexico are worse than ISIS.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pledged to bring 10,000 Syrian refugees to Canada before the end of the year, plus another 15,000 by the end of February 2016. In 2014, Canada accepted 665 refugees from Haiti, 655 from Colombia, 625 from Mexico, 190 from El Salvador, 165 from Honduras, and 105 from Guatemala. Refugees admitted from Syria in 2014 numbered 1,290. That was up from 145 the previous year and 85 in 2012. Daniel Tseghay is an advocate for refugees from the East African nation of Eritrea. He argued that undocumented immigrants are a symptom of larger problems with Canada’s

system for processing refugees. Tseghay explained that many Latin Americans who enter B.C. under the temporary-foreign-workers program fear returning to their home country but do not have a legal route to remain in Canada. “Their conditions are, to me, fundamentally the same as those of refugees,” Tseghay said. “Refugees and undocumented immigrants are not just fleeing the same things, but they are forced to flee sometimes in the same ways and forced to remain under the radar because of Canada’s border system.” Vision Vancouver city councillor Geoff Meggs recently gave the Straight an update on the implementation of so-called sanctuary city policies designed to ensure that undocumented immigrants can access municipal services. He said staff have produced a draft document he hopes will go before council in the first half of 2016. > TRAVIS LUPICK

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DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 11

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NEWS

Man caught in street sweep > B Y TESSA VIKA ND E R

Downtown Eastside support worker says he suffered nerve damage while handcuffed and held in police custody after he got caught in a “street sweep” of the Downtown Eastside. Sean Ramsay, who works for the Lookout Society, says he was detained for four hours on October 2 and released with no charges. This came after an arrest that he says was made because he protested when city workers impounded his bicycle, which he had locked to a parking meter. According to the city’s Street and Traffic Bylaw, Section 85 A, it is not permitted to attach items to “street furniture”, including meters. “This kind of thing happens to my clients all the time,” Ramsay told the Georgia Straight by phone, noting that it isn’t unusual for DTES residents to be arrested for seemingly trivial matters. “We [support workers] are normally given a bit of grace,” Ramsay added. Doug King, a lawyer for Pivot Legal Society, has been supporting Ramsay with legal follow-up. King says Ramsay got caught in an earlymorning street sweep by police and city workers due to the city’s recent DTES enforcement of the bylaw to prevent street vending. King told the Straight authorities could have just given Ramsay a ticket for contravening the bylaw. “We have this problem where the City of Vancouver makes pretty much everything illegal and leaves it up to the people on the street [police] to decide how the bylaw is enforced, and we know of multiple cases where we would say the bylaw is being misapplied in an abuse of power…and this is a great example of that.” Ramsay said that on the morning of October 2, when he stopped at 261 East Hastings Street to get keys

Sean Ramsay claims cops injured him when he tried to prevent city staff from seizing his bike, which was locked to a parking meter. Tessa Vikander photo.

for his shift, he locked his bike to a parking meter out front. After a city worker told him he wasn’t allowed to do that, Ramsay said, he told the worker he’d only be gone a minute. While he was gone, he said, city workers sawed through his lock and put his bike in their truck. Upon seeing this, Ramsay said, he ran outside and called out to the workers. He said he was then “tackled” by nearby police officers, handcuffed, and arrested for breach of the peace. He said he went to a doctor after his release. “Because the law is written so broadly,” King said, “it gives the police and city workers the power to try and remove a bike, and in that situation they end up doing it for reasons not actually for the public safety or nuisance on the street or cleanliness but because they had this interaction with a person and didn’t get the response that they wanted. They make it personal.”

King said Ramsay will be filing a complaint with police about the incident and requesting the Crown to lay charges. Const. Brian Montague, a police media-relations officer, told the Straight: “It’s the city that creates the bylaw.…We have the ability to enforce the laws; it doesn’t mean we have to enforce the laws. We do use our discretion.” The Downtown Eastside requires frequent garbage removal, Montague said. So that no one interferes with that cleanup, police accompany city workers while they remove waste. Montague noted that officers have authority to make arrests based on a “breach of the peace” when they think someone might commit a crime. “It’s a preventative measure for things like assault or mischief or other criminal offences, and what happens is that they get arrested and detained until there is no more concern for that breach of the peace.” -

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DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 13

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AFTER SUICIDE SUPPORT GROUP Meetings every other Wednesday 7pm Call Sylvia Cust, RCC, Counsellor at CHIMO Crisis Service in Richmond 604-279-7077 Richmond Caring Place, 7000 Minoru

Genital Herpes Support Group for Women Are you living with Genital Herpes in Vancouver? We are a group of women that draws upon each others knowledge and strength to grapple with this sometimes trying condition. Through mutual support and honest conversation we aim to address the physical and emotional health implications of this virus and how it affects romantic relationships, sex, dating & life in general. Contact: ghsupportgroup@gmail.com

AL-ANON FAMILY GROUPS Does someone else's drinking bother you? Al-Anon can help. We are a support group for those who have been affected by another's drinking problem. For more information please call: 604-688-1716

Heart of Richmond - AIDS Society operates a confidential support group for persons with HIV/AIDS, or persons affected (family, friends or care givers) by the disease. For info - 604-277-5137 www.heartofrichmond.com

Battered Women's Support Services provides free daytime & evening support groups (Drop-ins & 10 week groups) for women abused by their intimate partner. Groups provide emotional support, legal information & advocacy, safety planning, and referrals. For more information please call: 604-687-1867

Is your life affected by someone else's drug use? Nar-Anon Family Group Meeting Every Friday 7:30-9:00 pm at Barclay Manor, 1447 Barclay

A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY A working guide for healing using the 12 Steps and references to Biblical teachings. More info: marylou@canadianmemorial.com

BC Balance & Dizziness provides information & support for persons with balance, dizziness & vestibular disorders. Bi Monthly info meetings @ St. Paul's Hospital. Call for info. 604-878-8383 www.BalanceAndDizziness.org Drug & Alcohol Problems? Free advanced information and help on how quit drinking & using drugs. For more information call Barry Bjornson @ 604-836-7568 or email me @livinghumility@live.com

Nar-Anon 604 878-8844

Anorexics & Bulimics Anonymous 12 Step based peer support program which addresses the mental, emotional, & spiritual aspects of disordered eating Tuesdays @ 7 pm @ Avalon Women's Centre 5957 West Blvd - 604-263-7177 Join a FREE YWCA Single Mothers support group in your local community. Share information, experiences and resources. Child care is provided for a nominal fee. For information call 604-895-5789 or Email: smacdonald@ywcavan.org

1807 Burrard St (@ 2nd) • 604.336-4448 1232 Burrard St (@ Davie) • 604-428-2420 2580 Kingsway (@ 34th) • 604-336-0420 2619 W. 4th Ave (@ Bayswater) • 604-336-6420 211 E. 16th Ave (@ Main) • 604-336-5420 6657 Main St (@ 51st) • 604-336-7420

Women Survivors of Incest Anonymous A 12 Step based peer support program. Wed @ 7pm @ Avalon Women's Centre 5957 West Blvd 604-263-7177 also www.siawso.org Anxiety? Depression? Free Mental Wellness Support Group held on Saturdays (10:30 am – 12:30) Promotes a holistic approach to healing (body, mind & spirit). Networking and interactive learning experience in a safe, non-judgmental environment. For more information call 604-630-6865 or visit www.mentalwellnessbc.ca ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION Looking to start a parent support group in Kitsilano. Please call Barbara 604 737 8337 Distress Line & Suicide Prevention Services NEED SOME ONE TO TALK TO? Call us for immediate, free, confidential and non-judgemental support, 24 hours a day, everyday. The Crisis Centre in Vancouver can help you cope more effectively with stressful situations. 604-872-3311

MOOD DISORDERS

SUPPORT GROUPS We have peer-led support groups all over the Lower Mainland for people with depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety led by well-trained facilitators. Group sessions during days, evenings, or Saturdays. For location and times of groups:

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866 East Broadway • 604-876-2163 5038 Victoria Dr (@ 34th) • 778-379-4420 1108 Richards St (@ Helmcken) • 604-891-1420 991 Marine Dr (North Van) • 778-340-2420 11295 Clearbrook Rd (Abbotsford) • 1-604-746-0420 5536A Wharf Street (Sechelt) • 1-604-885-0191

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or decades, people have assumed that physical diseases are often caused by infections but mental illness is rooted in genetics or the inner workings of the mind. But what if severe and chronic mental disease were something you could contract from a pathogen, like the flu? Would it change the way you view a homeless person who might be muttering to himself as he passes by? That’s the provocative thesis of U.S. medical writer Harriet Washington’s new book, Infectious Madness: The Surprising Science of How We “Catch” Mental Illness. And she backs it up with an onslaught of data published in peer-reviewed journals. Let’s start with the common house cat. Citing schizophrenia researcher E. Fuller Torrey, Washington notes that felines transmit the Toxoplasma gondii parasite to people. Torrey, executive director of the Marylandbased Stanley Medical Research Institute, has been arguing for years that T. gondii can, on occasion, cause schizophrenia. Washington reports that in 2008, Torrey and researcher Robert Yolken “published a study indicating the peak age for becoming infected by T. gondii, between eighteen and thirtyfive, coincides with the peak age of the first signs of schizophrenia”. “They also noted that in areas where felines are rare, the prevalence rates of both toxoplasmosis and schizophrenia are low,” Washington adds. Here’s another shocker in the book. A “likely mechanism for exposure to T. gondii” is public sandboxes. According to Torrey and Yolken, their research revealed that between four and 24 house cats used each uncovered public sandbox they studied as a litter box, leaving T. gondii eggs and cysts that are picked up by kids. Of course, children are exposed to these eggs and cysts in other locations as well. Not everyone who carries the T. gondii parasite develops an illness. In fact, Washington reports, up to 50 percent of residents of France and 25 percent of Americans are infected. It’s a reflection of how prevalent cats are in those societies. “But Torrey and Yolken found that symptoms from headache to fever to anorexia were common even in adults with healthy immune systems,” Washington writes. “Moreover, decades of human studies in countries such as the Czech Republic, Turkey, and Mexico have revealed that T. gondii dramatically changes the mental status of adults.” She cites studies suggesting that men who are infected are more than twice as likely to be involved in traffic

accidents; infected women are more receptive to having sex; and infected mothers of newborns are more likely to commit suicide. It’s not just T. gondii that poses a potential threat to one’s mental state. In Infectious Madness, Washington also zeroes in on the effects that malaria, rubella, HIV, influenza, Helicobacter pylori, Streptococcus, and other pathogens can have on mental health. “Respected scholars at premier institutions have published clues to connections between various infections and autism, schizophrenia, obsessivecompulsive disorder, major depression, and more in peer-reviewed scientific journals,” Washington writes. “The evidence is mounting rapidly.” Although it may sound worrisome, this could be beneficial if these links are conclusively established and accepted by the medical community. That’s “because identifying which pathogens cause specific strains of mental illnesses will enable precise treatment”. One of the most intriguing parts of her book concerns the role of intestinal flora in regulating health. There are 100 trillion bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microbes living in a human’s intestines. “Embedded within the walls of your gut’s microbial rain forest is a web that has a thousand times more neurons than your brain,” Washington writes. “This neural web of cells, dubbed the enteric nervous system, or ENS, weighs twice what your brain does and deploys neurotransmitters that communicate with the brain.” If the walls of the intestine become porous—leaky, in Washington’s word—this can enable pathogens to enter the bloodstream, where they may cause havoc elsewhere, including in the brain. Infectious Madness mentions scientists who argue that some autism cases could be linked to more permeable guts in children. The book closes by examining several diseases—including sleeping sickness and AIDS—that cause mental deterioration and that often go untreated in poor countries because of the cost of medication. “Given these varied challenges, what would be the smart move to protect the developing world from infectious diseases that may destroy minds, from the ailments spread by worms and tsetse flies to HIV and influenza?” Washington writes. She concludes that, obviously, antibiotics and psychoactive agents, as well as clean water and better sewage disposal, must be made more available. But she writes that even the simple aspirin pill can help in dealing with neuropsychiatric disorders. That’s because its anti-inflammatory effects help protect the brain. -

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DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 15

Recycle Your Christmas Tree

FA C T O R Y

Lions Club Chipping Events: Saturday, January 9 and Sunday, January 10 from 10am to 4pm at these locations:

Christmas trees will be collected the weekend of January 16-17. Set out your tree before 7 am on January 16 for collection. Trees should be set out on their own and laid on their sides. Do not place your tree inside your Green Bin or bag or bundle it.

Drop-Off Depots:

• Kerrisdale Community Ice Rink parking lot 5670 East Boulevard north of 41st Avenue

You may drop off your tree at no charge until January 31 at the Vancouver South Transfer Station, 377 Kent Avenue North, or Vancouver Landfill, 5400 72nd Street, Delta.

• Kitsilano Beach parking lot Cornwall Avenue and Arbutus Street • Sunset Beach upper parking lot Beach Avenue and Broughton Street

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• Rona Home & Garden Grandview Store 2727 East 12th Avenue – overflow parking lot north of Grandview Highway, south of 12th Avenue

END OF LINE & DISCONTINUED STYLES

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Donations of cash and nonperishable food items will be accepted and distributed to local charities.

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performance, and the Vancouver Public Library’s Tales for a Winter’s Night. To Dec 31, VanDusen Botanical Garden (5251 Oak). Tix $16/12/9/kids under two free, info www.vancouver.ca/parks-recreationculture/festival-of-lights.aspx.

ENCHANTED NIGHTS AT BLOEDEL Patrons can walk through a miniature world of artisan fairy and sprite villages with magical lights, holiday music, and live entertainment set amongst the dome’s tropical plants and exotic birds. To Jan 3, 4-9 pm, Bloedel Conservatory (4600 Cambie, Queen Elizabeth Park). Tix from $7.25, info www.vancouver.ca/enchantednights/.

events/ timeout CHRISTMAS FORUMS TAKE ACTION BENEFITS FASHION FOOD AND DRINK ET CETERA KIDS’ STUFF SPORTS ATTRACTIONS OUT OF TOWN

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CHRISTMAS 2THIS WEEK VANCOUVER CHRISTMAS MARKET Sample old European favourites or new flavours while you search for the perfect handmade gift at booths run by over 50 venders. Other highlights include gingerbread decorating, a Christmas-traditions scavenger hunt, and a Christmas carousel. To Dec 24, 11 am–9 pm, Queen Elizabeth Plaza (W. Georgia & Hamilton). Tix $8/4, info www.vancouverchristmasmarket.com/. BRIGHT NIGHTS IN STANLEY PARK Experience the lights, displays, and live performers at this annual, family-friendly holiday event. To Jan 2, Stanley Park Miniature Train (Stanley Park). Tix $11/8/6/free for kids under two, info www.vancouver.ca/parksrecreation-culture/bright-nights-train.aspx. CHRISTMAS AT FLYOVER CANADA Guests of all ages are invited to join Santa on a flight across Canada and onward to the North Pole as he searches for his missing elves. To Jan 5, 2016, 10 am–9 pm, FlyOver Canada (201-999 Canada Place). Tix $14.95-19.95, info www. flyovercanada.com/tickets/christmas/. FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS Stroll with friends and family through interactive themed areas and enjoy the Dancing Lights show on Livingstone Lake, the gnome

CANYON LIGHTS See the world’s tallest living Christmas tree, go on a Snowy Owl prowl, decorate gingerbread cookies, make your own Christmas card, and sing along with the holiday band. To Jan 3, Capilano Suspension Bridge (3735 Capilano Rd., North Van). Tix $12-37.95/ kids under six free, info www.capbridge. com/explore/canyon-lights/. VANCOUVER WINTER WONDERLAND Indoor Christmas festival features interactive events and family-friendly activities such as a three-storey snow globe, a giant Christmas tree, holiday merchants, arts and crafts, food venders, and Santa and his reindeer. To Dec 20, PNE Forum (2901 E. Hastings). Info www.vancouverwinterwonderland.com/. YALETOWN KISSMAS The Yaletown Business Improvement Association presents an early evening of holiday-themed activities like a Kiss Camera, the Yaletown Kissmas Money Booth, a live DJ from KiSS Radio, hot apple cider and cocoa, and free swag bags for the first 100 guests. Dec 19, 4-7 pm, Bill Curtis Square (Mainland and Davie). Free admission, info www.yale towninfo.com/event/yaletown-kissmas/.

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THE STORY OF CHRISTMAS 2015 Coastal Church presents a special Christmas service featuring powerful music, humour, and an inspiring message. Dec 20, 10:30 am; Dec 19, 7 pm, Queen Elizabeth Theatre (650 Hamilton). Free admission, info www.coastalchurch.org/.

$30 at The Village Dispensary #206 - 1540 W 2nd Ave (behind the waterfall) www.thevillagedispensary.ca

FORUMS 2THIS WEEK INTRO TO DIGITAL MARKETING WORKSHOP Learn about the core principles, key touch points, and major digital channels that encompass a career in digital marketing. Dec 16, 6-8 pm, BrainStation Vancouver HQ (410-1110 Hamilton). Free admission, info www.brainstation.io/event/ intro-to-digital-marketing-20151123155122/. GABRIELLE BERNSTEIN WORKSHOP In a two-hour workshop, New York Times

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DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 17

Events time out

from previous page

best-selling author and international speaker Gabrielle Bernstein teaches you how to amplify your intuition and keep guidance flowing freely. Dec 16, 7-9 pm, Semperviva Yoga (1985 W. Broadway). Tix $75, info www.semperviva.com/event/ gabrielle-bernstein-workshop-event/.

Make us your first call after a car accident.

HOW TO HAVE A GREAT ORGASM Women’s guide to self-pleasure includes all the details from the basics of getting started to more advanced tips and techniques. Dec 16, 7:30 pm, The Art of Loving (369 W. Broadway). Tix $25, info www. artofloving.ca/. SPEAKER SERIES: CALEY VANULAR, MARKETING AND CONTENT CREATION Caley Vanular talks about her freelance journey, how she built her brand, and her learnings and experiences along the way. Dec 17, 12-1 pm, BrainStation Vancouver HQ (410-1110 Hamilton). Free admission, info www.brainstation.io/event/speakerseries-caley-vanular-2015121135127/.

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GETTING TO KNOW FACEBOOK Learn the basics of Facebook and stay connected with friends and family. Dec 18, 10:1511:45 am, Vancouver Public Library Central Branch (350 W. Georgia). Free admission, info www.vpl.ca/.

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PHILOSOPHERS’ CAFE—ETHICS AND SOCIO-TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE Forum explores how ethics can keep up with and remain relevant in an environment of ever-faster change. Dec 18, 10:30 am–12 pm, West Vancouver Memorial Library (1950 Marine Dr., West Van). Free admission, info www.westvanlibrary.ca/.

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DIGITAL AND INTERNET SAFETY Get tips on how to use digital devices and the Internet safely and wisely. Dec 19, 2-3:30 pm, Vancouver Public Library Central Branch (350 W. Georgia). Free admission, info www.vpl.ca/.

TAKE ACTION 2THIS WEEK INVISIBLES AND DISPOSABLES: MARKING INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS DAY 2015 Learn more about the lives and stories of migrant and temporary foreign workers at the celebration of International Migrants Day. Dec 18, 6-8 pm, Lakeview United Church (2776 Semlin). Free admission, info www.migrantebc.com/.

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BENEFITS 2THIS WEEK LIGHTS OF HOPE AT ST. PAUL’S HOSPITAL Annual fundraising lighting display features over 10 kilometres of twinkling lights, built entirely by volunteers using donated materials. To Jan 4, St. Paul’s Hospital (1081 Burrard Street). Free admission, info lightsofhope.helpstpauls.com/. PYJAMA PARTY East Van choirs Kingsgate Chorus, the Mount Pleasant Regional Institute of Sound, and ESCHOIR raise money for the Vancouver Women’s Health Collective. Dec 16, 7:30 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $14.99, info www.rickshawtheatre.com/. SALLY SKATES WITH THE SALVATION ARMY Join the Salvation Army for skating games, great music, and entertainment. Bring a nonperishable food item to support the Salvation Army’s food programs in Vancouver. Dec 19, 11 am–3 pm, Robson Square Ice Rink (Robson and Howe). Info www.salvationarmy.ca/britishcolumbia/. THE BIG ELF RUN The Elf Run winds its way along the forest trails before looping onto the seawall past 13 city landmarks. Dec 20, 12-6 pm, Lumbermen’s Arch (Stanley Park). Tix $10-30, info www.elfrun.ca/. A BAROQUE CHRISTMAS Enjoy festive decorations and music by the Bergamasca Recorder Ensemble amidst early pioneer and First Nations artifacts. Proceeds go to the Old Hastings Mill Store Museum. Dec 20, 1-4 pm, Old Hastings Mill Store Museum (1575 Alma). Admission by donation, info www.hastings-mill-museum.ca/.

FASHION 2THIS WEEK GATHER: DESIGNER MARKET Shop for clothing, jewellery, and accessories created by Vancouver designers Downtown Betty, Gypsalove, Sweet Harriet Design Co, Balsam and Vine, Street & Saddle, Sammy & Stone, Get Em On, GOOD Husbands Apparel, Jackson Rowe, I Wear the Headress, and Brunette Is the New Black. To Dec 18, 10 am–8 pm, Little Mountain Shop (4386 Main). Info www. facebook.com/events/940748599330305/. WOMEN’S WINTER FAIRE Over 50 of B.C.’s woman artisans present fashion and upcycled clothes, as well as chocolate, pet accessories, jewellery, and journals. Dec 19-20, 11 am–5 pm, Heritage Hall (3102 Main). Info www.soundsandfuries.com/faire/.

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VISIT BCFORD.CA OR YOUR BC FORD STORE TO GET THE DEAL YOU WANT AND THE VEHICLE YOU WANT TODAY. WISE BUYERS READ THE LEGAL COPY: Vehicle(s) may be shown with optional equipment. Dealer may sell or lease for less. Limited time offers. Offers only valid at participating dealers. Retail offers may be cancelled or changed at any time without notice. See your Ford Dealer for complete details or call the Ford Customer Relationship Centre at 1-800-565-3673. For factory orders, a customer may either take advantage of eligible raincheckable Ford retail customer promotional incentives/offers available at the time of vehicle factory order or time of vehicle delivery, but not both or combinations thereof. Retail offers not combinable with any CPA/GPC or Daily Rental incentives, the Commercial Upfit Program or the Commercial Fleet Incentive Program (CFIP). ¥Offer valid between December 11, 2015 and January 4, Available in most new 2016 (the “Offer Period”) to Canadian residents. Receive $500 (on 2016 model years) or $750 (on 2015 model years) towards the purchase or lease of a new Ford Fusion, Mustang (excluding 50th Anniversary Edition and Shelby), Taurus, Flex, Escape, Expedition, Transit Connect, E-Series Cutaway, Transit Van/Wagon, Transit Cutaway/Chassis Cab, F-150, F250 to F-550, (all F-150 Raptor models excluded) (each an Ford vehicles with 6-month “Eligible Vehicle”). Only one (1) bonus offer may be applied towards the purchase or lease of one (1) Eligible Vehicle. 2015 models may be in limited supply.Taxes payable before offer amount is deducted. Offer is not raincheckable.*Until January 4, 2016, receive 0% annual percentage rate (APR) purchase financing on new 2015: Focus BEV, C-MAX, Mustang (excl. Shelby and 50th Anniversary), Transit Connect, pre-paid subscription F-150 Super Cab XL (except in Quebec, where F-150 SuperCab XL receives 0% APR purchase financing up to 36 months) and 2016: Escape, F-250 Gas Engine models for up to 72 months, or 2015: Focus (excluding BEV) and 2016: Fusion models for up to 84 months to qualified retail customers, on approved credit (OAC) from Ford Credit Canada Limited. Not all buyers will qualify for the lowest interest rate. Example: $25,000 purchase financed at 0% APR for 48/ 60/ 72/ 84 months, monthly payment is $520.84/ $416.67/ $347.22/ $297.62, cost of borrowing is $0 or APR of 0% and total to be repaid is $25,000. Down payment on purchase financing offers may be required based on approved credit from Ford Credit Canada Limited.**Until January 4, 2016, receive $500/$750/ $1,000/ $1,500/ $2,000/ $2,500/ $2,750/ $3,500/ $3,750/ $4,250/ $4,500/ $4,750/ $6,000/ $10,000/ $11,500 in “Year-End Clearout Cash” (Delivery Allowances) with the purchase or lease of a new 2016: Explorer/2015 and 2016: Focus, C-MAX; 2016: Fiesta, Fusion/ 2015: Edge, Flex; 2016: Edge, Expedition/ 2015: Transit Connect; 2016: E-Series Cutaway, Transit, F-250 Gas Engine, F-350 to F-450 (excluding Chassis Cabs) Gas Engine/2015: Taurus (excluding SE); 2016: Transit Connect, F-350 to F-550 Chassis Cabs/ 2015: E-Series Cutaway, Transit/ 2015: F-150 Regular Cab (excluding XL 4x2) 5.0L; 2016: F-150 Regular Cab (excluding XL 4x2)/ 2016: F-250 Diesel Engine, F-350 to F-450 (excluding Chassis Cabs) Diesel Engine/ 2015: F-150 SuperCrew 4x4; 2016: F-150 SuperCab and SuperCrew / 2015: Fiesta, Fusion, Explorer, Escape/ 2015: F-350 to F-550 Chassis Cabs / 2015: F-150 SuperCab/ 2015: Expedition / 2015: F-250 Gas Engine, F-350 to F-450 (excluding Chassis Cabs) Gas Engine/ 2015: F-250 Diesel Engine, F-350 to F-450 (excluding Chassis Cabs) Diesel Engine -- all stripped chassis, F-150 Raptor, Medium Truck, Mustang Shelby and 50th Anniversary excluded. 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18 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015

2THIS WEEK VIDLASER DARK SIDE OF THE MOON Roundhouse Productions presents a new immersive video and RGB laser format every Friday and Saturday night. To Feb 7, 8:15-11:30 pm, BCIT Burnaby Campus (3700 Willingdon Ave., Burnaby). Tix $11, info www.RoundhouseShows.com/. ROBSON SQUARE ICE RINK Skating is free with your own skates, otherwise rentals are available. Skate rentals are $4 (helmet included) and ice cleats are $2. The rink also features a concession stand with snacks and warm drinks. To Feb 28, 9 am-9 pm, Robson Square Ice Rink (Robson and Howe). Free admission, info www.robsonsquare.com/. THIRD THURSDAY CABARET Variety show features performances by Amber McIntyre-Byatt, Suzie Rose, Maggie Winston, Nayana Fielkov, Aaron Malkin, A

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Events time out

Give a

d r a C t f i G d r a o B k r a one! P

very e r o f s e c erien p x e t a e r G

from page 18

Raven Called Crow, Yuki Ueda, Midnight Truffle, Raj Gill, Maggie Blue O’Hara, Francoise Thibault, and Benedict Marsh. Dec 17, 8-10 pm, Dusty Flowershop Studio (2050 Scotia). Tix $12-20, info www.dustyflowerpotcabaret.com/.

THE ’90S MERRY CHRISTMAS BURLESQUE SHOW What Surname, Vixen Von Flex, Jungle Kat, Clare Voyeur, and April O’Peel perform a burlesque tribute to the 1990s. Dec 19, 8 pm, Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway). Tix $20/15, info www.riotheatretickets.ca/. TOMBOY: HOW THE EMPIRE STOLE CHRISTMAS Star Wars-themed Christmas celebration featuring burlesque and dancing by Trixie Hobbitses, Sasja Smolders, Draco Muff-Boi, Ginger Femmecat, and Lace Cadent, as well as music by Kasey Riot. Dec 19, 10 pm, Media Club (695 Cambie). Tix $10, info www.facebook. com/events/901290846645303/. WINTER SOLSTICE LANTERN FESTIVAL The Secret Lantern Society transforms the garden with hundreds of handmade lanterns, live music, shadow puppets, and aromatic tea. Dec 21, 6-10 pm, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden (578 Carrall). Tix $8-20, info winter-solstice-2015. eventbrite.ca/.

FREE

NOTHING BUT TREBLE: A VAUDEVILLE AFFAIR Night of variety acts features performances by Rossi Gang, Burgundy Brixx, Vixen Von Flex, Frankie Faux, and Little Miss Risk. Dec 23, 9 am, Fox Cabaret (2321 Main). Tix $15, info www.nothingbuttreble.net/.

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KIDS’ STUFF 2THIS WEEK MINI-RAIL RIDES The Historic CPR 374 Locomotive will be decorated for the holidays and a mini-rail train will be giving adults and children rides around the pavilion. To Dec 23, 10 am– 6 pm, Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre (183 Roundhouse Mews). Tix $2, info www.wcra.org/. JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH Carousel Theatre for Young People presents a kid-

friendly play about a boy who discovers a magical peach inhabited by fantastical creatures. Based on the book by Roald Dahl. To Jan 3, Waterfront Theatre (1412 Cartwright St., Granville Island). Tix $35/29/18, info www. carouseltheatre.ca/production/james/.

SLIP-SLIDING WITH OTTERS Take part in an entertaining exploration of otters and discover the habitats of these aquatic animals. Dec 19, 1-3 pm, Lost Lagoon Nature House (west foot of Alberni in Stanley Park). Tix $10/5, info www.stanleypark ecology.ca/event/slip-sliding-with-otters/.

SPORTS 2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS CANUCKS VS. KINGS The Vancouver Canucks take on the Los Angeles Kings. Dec 28, 7 pm, Rogers Arena (800 Griffiths Way). Tix $61.25-231.25 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticketmaster.ca/.

ATTRACTIONS EDGEWATER CASINO Casino in the downtown core offers 24-hour gaming, over 60 table games, a poker room, a high-limit section, 500 slot machines, restaurants and lounges, and live entertainment including concerts and televised UFC events. 750 Pacific Blvd. S. Info 604687-3343, www.edgewatercasino.ca/

OUT OF TOWN 2THIS WEEK SEAHAWKS VS. BROWNS The Seattle Seahawks take on the Cleveland Browns. Dec 20, 1 pm, CenturyLink Field (Seattle, Wash.). Tix US$62-540 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticketmaster.ca/.

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

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WALL FINANCIAL C O R P O R AT I O N

MOVIES REVIEWS THE DANISH GIRL Starring Eddie Redmayne. Rated PG. For showtimes, please see page 24

Almost everything reads as forced and arti-

2 ficial in The Danish Girl, which decorously

botches the decidedly timely story of Einar Wegener, who undertook the world’s first genderreassignment surgery in 1930, with tragic results. As he was in his transformative role in The Theory of Everything, Eddie Redmayne is compellingly present here. Unfortunately, Lucinda Coxon’s script, which further fictionalizes David Ebershoff’s same-named novel, is so reductive, Redmayne barely hits the notes possible with a character of this complexity. Worse, the screenplay doesn’t allow anyone—even casual walkons—a single line that doesn’t point back, in neon, to the movie’s central theme. In a tale of precocious gender fluidity, mostly set in a gorgeously shot Copenhagen, director Tom Hooper (whose Les Misérables made Redmayne a star) could have allowed some ambiguity all around. He gives roughly half the space to Einar’s devoted wife, Gerda, but the part is a troubling setback for Sweden’s Alicia Vikander, leaning on

Transforming experiences

Eddie Redmayne (right, with Alicia Vikander) portrays Denmark’s Einar Wegener, the first person to undergo gender-reassignment surgery, in The Danish Girl.

skills of their crews, are amply illustrated in Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick, itself based on the same event depicted here. In the Heart of the Sea recounts the wreck of A man becomes a gender-fluid pioneer in The Danish Girl; the whaleship Essex in 1820, Hitchcock/Truffaut examines the auteurs’ relationship bookending those events a brittle English accent (these are supposed to be with scenes of Herman Melville himself interDanes, anyway) and mugging her way aggressively viewing the last survivor. It is a story rich with action and tragedy. As a through every scene. Other people, like Einar’s ballerina pal (Amber Heard) and his childhood crush movie, unfortunately, it is leaden and dispiriting to (Rust and Bone’s Matthias Schoenaerts), come and the point where I was wondering what went wrong. Ron Howard is a very good director, and Chris go with little resonance in the story, which comHemsworth is as charismatic a lead as you could presses a two-decade saga into a few key years. Our central couple are introduced as starv- wish to portray Owen Chase, first mate of the illing young painters in 1926 (when both were ac- fated Essex. He has an in-and-out Nantucket accent tually over 40), but the movie shows no interest and not much to say, but he ably sells his resentin their talents except as narrative tools. In real ment and conflict with the better-connected Essex life, Einar’s evolution into Lili Elbe began in 1913, skipper George Pollard, portrayed by that skilled when—as the movie depicts—he subbed for one performer and former vampire-hunting president of his wife’s female models, instantly recognizing Benjamin Walker. The production values are fine when it comes the call of the silk. By then, Gerda was a fabulously successful magazine illustrator, portraitist, to the docks and crafts of New England in the and purveyor of flapper-era erotica in the man- age of sail, and the Essex itself has been lovingly ner of Tamara de Lempicka. What followed was reproduced, masts and cordage in plenty, pawls the gradual realignment of a popular couple; they clacking, giant cauldrons rendering fat from the challenged conventions and even got involved flensed strips of blubber. The glaring and conceivably fatal flaw is that the with a nascent gay-rights group, although Gerda eventually got a divorce and married an Italian intact whales are so obviously computer-generated. diplomat who robbed her blind—all events argu- The sea-action graphics in this movie are comparably more engaging than anything in this film’s able to Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag for the PS4. That’s impressive in a game, but in a contemportasteful parade of noble sufferings. > KEN EISNER ary big-budget epic, it is a distraction. At no point does it seem like anyone is actually threatened by a IN THE HEART OF THE SEA murderous whale. The resultant scenes of despairing abandonment become, alas, only too relevant. Starring Chris Hemsworth. Rated PG. For > RON YAMAUCHI

showtimes, please see page 24

It is astonishing to think that frail wooden

2 vessels, powered only by wind and tide,

YOUTH Starring Michael Caine. Rated PG. For showtimes,

could and did undertake vast voyages, steering by please see page 24 sun and stars. Whalers were among the toughest The title here is what’s been lost by the of their voyagers, hunting the massive creatures main protagonist, Fred Ballinger, a retired on trips that could last three years. The perils of these expeditions, and the great conductor looking back on his life, which also

WEEK IN WIDESCREEN

HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT Published in 1966, Hitchcock/ Truffaut was a game-changer. “François Truffaut was going to [Alfred] Hitchcock as a fellow filmmaker and saying, ‘I want to correct the impression that you’re just a great entertainer and prove how foundational you’ve been to me and to the art of cinema,’ ” said filmmaker Kent Jones, in a call to the Straight. “So—it was a really big deal.” Jones’s film, also titled Hitchcock/ Truffaut (opening Friday [December 18] at the Vancity Theatre), digs deep into the origins of the book. Read our interview with Jones at Straight.com. -

> KEN EISNER see next page

MOVIES

The projector

What to see and where to see it

PSYCHO Janet Leigh takes her last shower once again when the Vancity Theatre kicks off a mini retrospective of the films of Alfred Hitchcock and François Truffaut on Friday (December 18).

THE 400 BLOWS The legendary debut by the legendary François Truffaut proves once again that no wave has ever been more important to us than the new wave. Screening Saturday (December 19) at the Vancity Theatre.

TOKYO STORY With the kids camping outside whichever theatre is showing Star Wars, here’s an opportunity to see Yasujiro Ozu’s 1953 masterpiece on the big screen, starting Tuesday (December 22) at the Cinematheque.

Auteur, auteur

included composing some ghastly music, as we later learn. Fred is played by Youth’s main asset, Michael Caine, and even he struggles to invest much integrity in the sophomoric screenplay by director Gilbert Paolo Sorrentino, who previously struggled with the English language, and lost, in the Sean Penn debacle This Must Be the Place. The Italian filmmaker, who’s only 45, won awards for The Great Beauty, which also made an aging aesthete poke around his fading embers. There, Toni Servillo’s geriatric sexism was backed by the glory of Rome and the ghost of Federico Fellini. This time, in a tale hermetically sealed in a gigantic Swiss sanatorium resembling the centrepiece of The Grand Budapest Hotel, Sorrentino gleefully trots out visual effects lifted from Fellini, Wes Anderson, Alejandro Iñárritu, and other bold stylists, at the expense of plot coherence and emotional credibility. (He also displays the odd quirk of ending close-up–heavy sequences with establishing shots that probably should have started them.) With so much effort spent mocking the spa time of the grotesque and wealthy, it’s hard to care about people randomly shoved to the foreground. These include the ex-conductor’s lifelong friend, a failing filmmaker played with shocking imprecision by Harvey Keitel; for most scenes, he doesn’t appear to know his lines or, more likely, just detests them. And Fred’s newly dumped daughter keeps showing up, proving that Rachel Weisz can be genuinely bad without proper direction. Her endless speeches about absent fathering and neglected mommies are the kinds of monologues that get actors salivating on the page and, later, cringing in the screening room. Jane Fonda appears briefly, in full Norma Desmond pancake for her own angry soliloquy. Paul Dano fares better, since he hardly speaks as a Johnny Depp–type movie star working on his next role. But even before the guy arrives at a hotel breakfast made up as Adolf Hitler, you realize that Sorrentino doesn’t give a damn about anybody, only about the effect of the moment. In that sense, his creations are already dead.

A towering record

ALL THINGS MUST PASS Twenty years ago, movies like Empire Records celebrated music retailers as cultural and community hot spots. Here in 2015, director Colin “Son of Tom” Hanks gives us their epitaph, with founder Russ Solomon telling the whole story of Tower Records, from its origins in a Sacramento drugstore to the monolithic chain that finally crashed in 2006. The doc, subtitled The Rise and Fall of Tower Records, gets a screening at the Rio Theatre on Thursday (December 17). -

DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 21

recalling the futurism of WALL-E and from previous page even the retrorobotics of Metropolis. Photography and live-action footage BOY & THE WORLD are incorporated in this wordless indictment of fascist corporatism that Directed by Alê Abreu. Rating may be too strong for small children unavailable. For showtimes, please or weak-minded bureaucrats. But as a see page 24 breezily paced 80-minute look at what As cartoons get slicker and ever can still be scribbled on paper, this Boy more computerized, it’s heart- can’t be beat. > KEN EISNER ening to find stragglers that evoke the era of 2-D drawings. Boy & the World goes further than that, con- HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT juring life as viewed by a child—al- A documentary by Kent Jones. Rated beit one with a shrewd eye and some PG. For showtimes, please see page 24 very sharp crayons. An early Christmas present for Told without recognizable words, movie lovers, Hitchcock/Trufbut with a flow of natural sounds and all manner of Brazilian music—which faut elaborates on the groundbreaking makes notable use of percussion- book of the same name, by which the ist Naná Vasconcelos—the fablelike most popular surfer of the French new story follows an unnamed boy’s jour- wave helped lift Hollywood’s Master of ney. Said lad is really just a stick figure Suspense out of the genre ghetto and with a circle for a head, initially seen into the pantheon of timeless auteurs. François Truffaut began as a against stark white backgrounds. But that allows him to stand in for mil- critic, of course, and helped perlions of curious children born into form a fast triage on the hundreds rural poverty, in places unlikely to of American and British films deprovide them with all the knowledge nied French audiences during the German occupation. Film noirs and resources they need. The kid in this case is all too typical- were directly influenced by 1930s ly dad-bereft, and he soon leaves his Franco fare, but young Gallic types junglish enclave in search of his absent hadn’t seen This Gun for Hire and father and the wider world. When our other wartime B movies. Once they boy is confronted by urban realities, started making their own flicks, linear imagery explodes into deeper the new wavers returned the favour colours and geometric patterns, some with metagenre riffs like Breathless,

Movie reviews

3 GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD NOMINATIONS

*(DRAMA)

BEST ACTOR •EDDIE REDMAYNE BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS • ALICIA VIKANDER

“A CINEMATIC LANDMARK .” PETER DEBRUGE, VARIETY

“++++. GORGEOUS, HEARTBREAKING AND UNFORGETTABLE. EDDIE REDMAYNE GIVES THE PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR.” REX REED, NEW YORK OBSERVER

“TOM HOOPER HAS CRAFTED A WORK OF PROBING INTELLIGENCE AND PASSIONATE HEART.” PETER TRAVERS, ROLLING STONE

“ALICIA VIKANDER CONJURES SOMETHING DAZZLING AND UNEXPECTED.” CHRIS NASHAWATY, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

FOCUS FEATURES PRESENTS A WORKING TITLE/PRETTY PICTURES PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH REVISION PICTURES AND SENATOR GLOBAL PRODUCTIONS A FILM BY TOM HOOPER EDDIE REDMAYNE ALICIA VIKANDER “THE DANISH GIRL” CASTING MUSIC BEN WHISHAW SEBASTICOSTUMEAN KOCH AMBER HEARD AND MATTHIAS SCHOENAERTS BY NINA GOLD BY ALEXANDRE DESPLAT MAKE-UP AND PRODUCTION DIRECTOR OF HAIR DESIGNER JAN SEWELL DESIGNER PACO DELGADO EDITOR MELANIE ANN OLIVER ACE DESIGNER EVE STEWART PHOTOGRAPHY DANNY COHEN BSC COPRODUCER

EXECUTIVE JANE ROBERTSON PRODUCERS LIPRODUCED NDA REISMAN ULF ISRAEL KATHY MORGAN LIZA CHASIN THEBASEDBOOKONBY DAVID EBERSHOFF SCREENPLAY BY LUCINDA COXON BY GAIL MUTRUX ANNE HARRISON TIM BEVAN ERIC FELLNER TOM HOOPER DIRECTED BY TOM HOOPER #TheDanishGirl NUDITY, VIOLENCE MOTION PICTURE: © 2015 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ARTWORK: © 2015 FOCUS FEATURES LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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22 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015

> KEN EISNER

PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT A documentary by Lisa Immordino Vreeland. Rating unavailable. For showtimes, please see page 24

The art world is always shaped

2 in part by neurotic dabblers.

But few collectors, promoters, or

“A must-see doc for any art—lover” NY Times

BEST ACTOR* EDDIE REDMAYNE •BEST ACTRESS* ALICIA VIKANDER

SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARD NOMINEE

Elevator to the Gallows, and Truffaut’s own Shoot the Piano Player. Hitchcock was sui generis, however, and after Truffaut scored with his semiautobiographical debut, The 400 Blows, he used his clout to set up a series of interviews designed to rehabilitate the British director’s reputation. The fact that Hitch staged his own revival with the low-budget, self-financed Psycho made the book an easier sell. And the repartee—despite each man’s inability to speak the other’s language—gave the semi-orphaned Frenchman access to one of several cinematic daddies who sustained him over the years.

ONE OF THE MOST COLOURFUL FIGURES IN MODERN ART

INCLUDING

Brazil’s animated Boy & The World evokes the era of 2-D drawings.

Sadly, Truffaut died suddenly not long after updating the 1966 book in response to Hitchcock’s death in 1980. Directed by film scholar Kent Jones, who helmed tributes to Elia Kazan and horrormeister Val Lewton, this expansion has the obvious advantage of including numerous clips, even if it spends far more time with Alfred than it does with François, perhaps to the 80-minute film’s deficit. The non-gossip-prone movie examines one weakness that became a strength: the style-obsessed Englishman’s tendency to put his performers “under an iron umbrella”, as David Fincher puts it. The talking heads here are all directors, including Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Martin Scorsese, and the Truffaut-like Olivier Assayas—none of whom are likely candidates for Hitchcock worship. They make the case, though, that no auteur gets very far today without studying the Man Who Filmed Too Much.

FIFTH AVENUE

PEGGY GUGGENHEIM ART ADDICT A Film by Lisa

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gallerists have left marks as lasting as those made by Peggy Guggenheim. Born in 1898, Marguerite Guggenheim survived so many upheavals, her life would have been interesting apart from any creative ambitions. Her father, Benjamin, went down with the Titanic, and she became poor relation and black sheep to her gruff uncle Solomon, the mining magnate after whom the Guggenheim Museum is named. Young Peggy worked in a bookstore before hitting Paris in its between-the-wars heyday, befriending and collecting the works of Picasso, Braque, Brancusi, Calder, and many others, including surrealist Max Ernst, whom she briefly married. She championed their modernism in London and New York galleries, and was able to save a huge trove of it when the Nazis invaded France. Self-conscious about her plain appearance (and a bad nose job she never got fixed), Peggy was famously promiscuous, bedding postwar artists like Jackson Pollock almost as a precondition of representation at her galleries in Manhattan and, later, Venice. Such things are touched upon in Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict, rather haphazardly assembled by Lisa Immordino Vreeland, who previously profiled Diana Vreeland, her grandmother by marriage. Considering the aesthetic preoccupations of its subject, it’s a shame that more care wasn’t lavished on the visual material, here padded out with generic newsreel footage and stills. There are also problems with the core material: recently rediscovered audiotapes of the latter-day Guggenheim in conversation with gaga biographer Jacqueline Weld. The voices come through with wildly fluctuating sound levels and quality— something relatively easy to fix with today’s technology. Still, Guggenheim is unusually frank about her life and career, and the movie helps put to rest the absurd argument that her taste was shaped by the men around her. She may have exercised iffy judgment in some areas, but she always knew what she liked.

> KEN EISNER

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE ROAD CHIP Starring Jason Lee. Rated G. For showtimes, please see page 24

every

American-made

2 children’s film, The Road Chip

is an indoctrination exercise designed to turn your precious offspring into politically complacent consumers with a future portioned out in insulin injections. If Pixar is responsible, to this end, for the more prestigious and definitely subtler product, there’s only a kind of depressing transparency to second- and third-tier efforts like this one, and not a whiff of entertainment value. The previous Chipmunks film, 2011’s Chipwrecked, at least had a gonzo Jenny Slate in a pair of scoutmaster shorts to keep parents (mostly dads) interested. Road Chip offers an overexerting Tony Hale to remind us of how brilliantly written Arrested Development was, and how terribly he flails without a script. (Sadly, the great Jennifer Coolidge is given about two minutes of screen time to make even less of an impact. John Waters also has a cameo. Why?) Hale is TSA agent Benson Suggs, who chases Alvin and his two brothers across the States after putting the singing chipmunk trio on a no-fly list. It’s also a personal vendetta, explained in a flashback not so frostily designed to bump up sales of 1958’s “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)”. During a stopover in New Orleans, everyone gets caught up in a Mardi Gras version of “Uptown Funk”. As a Homeland Security officer, Suggs more accurately should have been hung from a lamppost. The U.S. spends trillions annually on defence and intelligence. The Chipmunk films generally come in at around $75 million. Somewhere out of that grey area of stupid money and misallocated funds emerges a scene in which Theodore takes a little coffeebean-sized Chipmunk shit on the floor of LAX. Way to go, Brownie. > ADRIAN MACK

MOVIES

The return of the Threepio Anthony Daniels has enjoyed a long career as Star Wars’ most famous droid

Celebration and Empowerment of Woman's Sexuality TM

> BY JOHN L UC AS

uch is the secrecy surrounding Star Wars: The Force Awakens that we still don’t know anything about the characters that certain actors play. The cast list on the soon-to-be blockbuster’s IMDb page, for instance, includes Simon Pegg and Warwick Davis, but there are blank spots where their characters’ names ought to be. Is Davis reprising his Return of the Jedi role of Wicket? Do Ewoks even live that long? There can be no such speculation about Anthony Daniels’s role. He is, and always has been, C-3PO, the fussy and flappable golden protocol droid who is equal parts Stan Laurel and Felix Unger. Mind you, exactly what Threepio does in The Force Awakens (which opens on Friday [December 18] ) is uncertain. When the Georgia Straight calls Daniels, the first order of business is confessing that we haven’t seen the movie yet. “Neither have I, actually,” the 69-year-old English actor admits over the phone from Toronto. Daniels has, however, watched his own bits and enough of the rest to make him keen on experiencing the whole thing. “I really am excited to see this,” he says. “Everything I’ve seen of it so far has been really rather wonderful and very much going back to the old films, the style of George’s original trilogy.” “George” is, of course, George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars mythos, beginning with the 1977 original. He sold his production company, Lucasfilm—and with it the entire space-opera franchise— to Disney in 2012 and was not involved with the making of The Force Awakens. J. J. Abrams directed this seventh episode of the saga, which was written by him with Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt. It’s the first Star Wars movie to be released in a decade, but that doesn’t mean Daniels has had any time off from playing Threepio.

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In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Anthony Daniels plays the prim and proper golden droid C-3PO, a role that has sustained him for almost four decades.

The droid has given him steady work in the interim, with the character appearing in everything from video games and The Lego Movie to small-screen series, including The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. “I have been incredibly lucky to have been the voice of C-3PO in all sorts of spinoffs—as you said, Clone Wars; hugely popular,” Daniels says. “Now we’ve got Rebels. We had [the 1985 Saturday-morning cartoon] Droids. “My total bliss is anything to do with Lego. We’ve just done Droid Tales, and we did The Yoda Chronicles. We can poke affectionate fun at the whole thing. Everybody’s a Lego figure. When people said, about going on The Force Awakens, you know, ‘Was it strange to be back as Threepio?’, not at all, because most months of the year I am in a studio in London recording one of those cartoon things.” In other words, playing this single

character has become the actor’s career. Daniels acknowledges as much and does so without a trace of resentment. Star Wars, it seems, has been very, very good to him—even if hobbling around in a robot suit hasn’t always been fun. “It’s a delightful career,” he says. “Because difficult though Threepio is to play physically and, to some extent, vocally—you know, a whole day’s recording is quite tiring as Threepio— the payoff is that I’m very, very fond of him. And I think he might be fond of me, but we’ll never know. Maybe one day we’ll do a split-screen thing.” And with that, the Straight’s allotted time is up, but before Daniels moves on to his next interview, he switches to C-3PO’s prim cadence and signs off with six words that any fan of that galaxy far, far away would be delighted to hear: “May the Force be with you.” -

©HFPA

FROM THE DIRECTOR OF ACADEMY AWARD® WINNER THE GREAT BEAUTY

Big Short sees big picture > B Y A DRIAN MACK

ormer Wall Street banker Ben Rickert thinks we’re doomed and Adam McKay has to give it up: he’s probably right. “Yeah,” the filmmaker says, calling the Georgia Straight from Los Angeles. “I had the scariest conversation with him, because he’s not a wackadoodle, he’s a very smart guy, and he explained to me in mathematical terms how the world is going down the toilet in the next 100 to 150 years. So, um—yeah! Scary stuff!” Indeed, but one problem at a time. Rickert isn’t real, but the man he’s based on, Ben Hockett—with whom the director actually consulted—is one of the key players in the true events captured in McKay’s latest feature, The Big Short, opening Friday (December 18). The last time we heard from McKay, he was promoting Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, although you can see the future in an earlier film by the former SNL staffer. Wall Street was the villain in 2010’s slyly subversive The Other Guys, but The Big Short attacks 2008’s global financial meltdown head-on, telling the insane story of the small handful of mavericks who did the math, predicted the crisis, and then discovered it was infinitely worse than they ever imagined. “They told all the villagers to head for the hills because the tsunami’s coming, and the tsunami is even bigger than the hills,” as McKay puts it. “There was no chance for heroism, and they all kinda walked away just shattered.” Doomsday scenarios and the high crimes of America’s financial elite aside—and The Big Short flips a particularly hair-raising factoid at its audience just prior to its end credits—this is an exhilarating film, animated equally by rage and the seriocomic chops of its cast. Ryan Gosling stars as the venal and supertanned banker Jared Vennett, who narrates (hilariously); Christian Bale disappears into his role of Aspergian one-eyed finance manager Michael Burry; Brad Pitt goes to town as the New Age–y Rickert. Meanwhile, a host of guest stars, including Anthony Bourdain and Selena Gomez, show up to explain (also hilariously) arcane financial concepts like collateralized debt obligation. (McKay calls it “the language of power”.) It’s Steve Carell, however, who makes possibly the biggest impression, playing the one guy who legitimately

“‘YOUTH’ IS SUPERIOR CINEMA,

ARDENT AND ARTFUL, HYPNOTIC AND HAUNTING.” Peter Travers,

“A STELLAR CAST,

LED BY A MARVELOUS MICHAEL CAINE AND INCLUDING HARVEY KEITEL, RACHEL WEISZ, PAUL DANO AND JANE FONDA,

ALL DOING EXCELLENT WORK.” Kenneth Turan,

The Big Short filmmaker Adam McKay has come a long way from blockbuster comedies like Anchorman.

acted out of something besides self-interest. Even as he serviced his clients, hedge-fund manager Mark Baum crusaded to expose the outlandish corruption undermining an out-of-control banking system. It’s a long way from the “mentally retarded” (their words!) Brick Tamland. “Everyone knows Carell’s amazing, but I’d started seeing these hues and tones coming out of him that I hadn’t seen before, and, sure enough, when he jumped into this movie, he just went after it. It was a sight to behold,” McKay says. “I also knew that he had a bit of a bulldog demeanour, which is what Baum has. Most of all, I knew that he has great taste, that he’s never gonna play this guy as a larger-than-life cartoon. And that was my fear with that character, ’cause the real guy is kind of a larger-than-life cartoon. Carell walked into the room with exactly those instincts.” It’d be interesting to note if anyone mathematically predicted his surprise emergence as one of the best actors currently working in film. -

COARSE LANGUAGE, SEXUALLY SUGGESTIVE SCENE, NUDITY

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EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT STARTS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18 FIFTH AVENUE

Check theatre directory or go to www.tribute.ca for showtimes

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www.wildliferescue.ca DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 23

Cinemas Caprice, Landmark Cinemas 10 New Westminster, Landmark Cinemas 12 Guildford Surrey, Landmark Cinemas 6 Esplanade North Vancouver, Scotiabank Theatre Vancouver, SilverCity Coquitlam & VIP Cinemas, SilverCity Metropolis Cinemas, SilverCity Mission and SilverCity HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT Mathieu Amalric, Riverport Cinemas Wes Anderson, and Peter Bogdanovich are featured in A Letter to Elia writerREPERTORY CINEMAS director Kent Jones’s documentary about Francois Truffaut’s 1966 book Cinema Times are current as of Friday, December 18 According to Hitchcock. Rated PG. 80 mins. Vancity Theatre THE CINEMATHEQUE 1131 Howe St., Vancouver, 604-688-3456, www.thecinemaPEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT theque.ca 2BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB Director Lisa Immordino Vreeland’s docuFri 6:30; Sat 4:30, 8:10 2NOTEBOOK ON mentary chronicles the arts patron who transformed a modest fortune and impec- CITIES AND CLOTHES Fri 8:30; Sat 6:30; Mon 8:20 2TOKYO STORY Tue 6:30; Wed 8:20 cable taste into one of the premiere 2TOKYO-GA Mon, Wed 6:30; Tue 9:00 collections of 20th-century art. 96 mins. THE DANISH GIRL Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, and Amber Heard star in Les Misérables director Tom Hooper’s biographical drama about transgender pioneer Lili Elbe. Rated PG. 120 mins. Cineplex Fifth Avenue Cinemas

movies/ timeout NEW THIS WEEK REPERTORY CINEMAS SPECIAL EVENTS FIRST-RUN SHOW TIMES

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NEW THIS WEEK ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE ROAD CHIP Jason Lee stars in Old Dogs director Walt Becker’s comedy about three chipmunk siblings who become convinced that their father figure is about to dump them. Rated G. 88 mins. Cineplex Cinemas Langley, Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas, Cineplex Odeon Meadowtown Cinemas, Cineplex Odeon Park & Tilford, Cineplex Odeon Strawberry Hill, Galaxy Cinemas Chilliwack, Hollywood Cinemas Caprice, Landmark Cinemas 10 New Westminster, Landmark Cinemas 12 Guildford Surrey, SilverCity Coquitlam & VIP Cinemas, SilverCity Metropolis Cinemas, SilverCity Mission and SilverCity Riverport Cinemas THE BOY AND THE WORLD Alê Abreu’s animated film sees a small boy trace his missing father’s footsteps from a rural cabin to the big city. Vancity Theatre

Vancity Theatre

SISTERS Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, and Maya Rudolph star in Pitch Perfect director Jason Moore’s comedy about two sisters who decide to throw one last house party before their parents sell their family home. Rated 14A. 118 mins. Cineplex Cinemas Langley, Cineplex Odeon Meadowtown Cinemas, Cineplex Odeon Park & Tilford, Cineplex Odeon Strawberry Hill, Galaxy Cinemas Chilliwack, Hollywood Cinemas Caprice, Landmark Cinemas 10 New Westminster, Landmark Cinemas 12 Guildford Surrey, Scotiabank Theatre Vancouver, SilverCity Coquitlam & VIP Cinemas, SilverCity Metropolis Cinemas, SilverCity Mission and SilverCity Riverport Cinemas STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Thirty years after defeating the Galactic Empire, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his allies face a new threat from the evil Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and his army of Stormtroopers. Rated PG. 136 mins. Cineplex Cinemas Langley, Cineplex Odeon Meadowtown Cinemas, Cineplex Odeon Strawberry Hill, Dunbar Theatre, Galaxy Cinemas Chilliwack, Hollywood

VANCITY THEATRE 1181 Seymour St., Vancouver, 604-683-3456, www.viff.org/ theatre 2BOY AND THE WORLD Fri, Tue 5:00; Sat 12:00; Sun 5:15; Mon 4:30; Wed 5:20; Thu 12:15 2GLOBE ON SCREEN: JULIUS CAESAR Tue 12:00 2HITCHCOCK/ TRUFFAUT Fri 8:30; Sat 4:15; Sun 6:50; Tue 6:40 2PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT Fri 6:40; Mon 2:30; Tue 3:15; Wed 3:30 2ROYAL OPERA HOUSE: GUILLAUME TELL Wed 11:00 2SINGING IN THE DARK Sun 3:00 2VINCENT VAN GOGH: A NEW WAY OF SEEING Mon 12:30

SPECIAL EVENTS HEART OF A DOG Filmmaker Laurie Anderson reflects on the deaths of her beloved dog Lolabelle and her mother. To Dec 17, Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour). Tix $11/9 (plus membership fee), info www.viff.org/theatre/. MY INTERNSHIP IN CANADA Philippe Falardeau’s political comedy sees an independent Quebec MP hold the decisive vote in a national debate that could send Canada to war in the Middle East. To Dec 17, Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour).

GOLDEN GLOBE® NOMINEE (DRAMA)

BEST ACTRESS · SAOIRSE RONAN © H F PA

“ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR, SEE IT ON THE BIG SCREEN.” SCOTT MENDELSON,

“EASILY THE YEAR’S BEST LOVE STORY.” PETER TRAVERS,

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Tix $11/9 (plus membership fee), info www.viff.org/theatre/.

ALL THINGS MUST PASS: THE RISE & FALL OF TOWER RECORDS Chuck D, Dave Grohl, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, and David Geffen are featured in director Colin Hank’s film about the former retail powerhouse. Dec 17, 7 pm, Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway). Tix $12/10, info www.riotheatre.ca/. HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT SERIES Screenings of 17 films by Hitchcock and Truffaut, including Psycho, North by Northwest, The 400 Blows, Shoot the Piano Player, The Birds, Rear Window, Rope, The Wrong Man, The Lodger, and The 39 Steps. Dec 18–Jan 7, 2016, Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour). Tix $11/9 (plus membership fee), info 604-683-3456, www.viff.org/theatre/.

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

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THE SHORTEST DAY FILM CELEBRATION New shorts, film-festival favourites, and award-winning favourites divided into thematic programs such as kids, family, drama and comedy, and musical. Dec 20, 1:30-7 pm, The Cinematheque (200 - 1131 Howe Street). Free admission, info www.theshortestday.ca/en/. SINGIN’ IN THE DARK Vancouver film scholar Michael van den Bos presents a curated selection of vocal performances by stars like Louis Armstrong, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Judy Garland, Jeanette MacDonald, and Frank Sinatra. Dec 20, 3 pm, Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour). Tix $11/9 (plus membership fee), info 604-683-3456, www.viff.org/theatre/. VINCENT VAN GOGH: A NEW WAY OF SEEING The film marks both a major re-showing of the VanGogh Museum’s collection and a celebration of the 125th anniversary of Van Gogh’s death. Dec 21, 12:30 pm, Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour). Tix $11/9 (plus membership fee), info 604683-3456, www.viff.org/theatre/. JULIUS CAESAR FROM SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE THEATRE Dominic Dromgoole’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s play explores the conflicts between dictatorship and republicanism, private virtue and mob violence. Dec 22, 12 pm, Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour). Info www.viff.org/theatre/. STOP MAKING SENSE Jonathan Demme’s concert documentary chronicles the Talking Heads, shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre in December 1983. Dec 18, 9:30 pm, Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway). Tix $12/10, info www.riotheatre.ca/. MAVIS! Feature documentary focuses on gospel-soul legend and civil-rights icon Mavis Staples and her family group the Staple Singers. Dec 20, 4:45 pm, Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway). Tix $12/10, info www.riotheatre.ca/. BLACK CHRISTMAS Bob Clark’s holiday slasher flick sees a sorority house get terrorized by a stranger who makes frightening phone calls during the Christmas break. Dec 20, 9:15 pm, Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway). Tix $10/8, info www.riotheatre.ca/. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: THE ENCHANTED CHRISTMAS Screening of the animated film that sees Belle do her best to warm the Beast’s castle with the spirit and hope of the season. Dec 21, 2-4 pm, Vancouver Public Library Central Branch (350 W. Georgia). Free admission, info www.vpl.ca/. SPIKE & MIKE’S FESTIVAL OF ANIMATION Adults-only evening of animation features holiday shorts such as “The Toke Before Christmas”, “12 Days of Elves”, “Daisy”, “Reggae Shark”, “Saga of Biorn”, and “Frannie’s Christmas”. Dec 22, 23, 9:30 pm, Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway). Tix $15/12, info www.riotheatre.ca/. THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE PRESENTS... GUILLAUME TELL Damiano Michieletto makes his Royal Opera House debut with a new production of Rossini’s final opera. Dec 23, 11 am, Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour). Tix $18 (plus membership fee), info www.viff.org/theatre/.

FIRST-RUN SHOWTIMES Times are current as of Friday, December 18

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SAOIRSE RONAN NEW YORK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE

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CINEPLEX ENTERTAINMENT

PARK Check theatre directories for showtimes 3440 Cambie Street • 604-709-3456

24 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015

88 WEST PENDER • 604-806-0799

CINEPLEX ENTERTAINMENT

PARK & TILFORD 200-333 Brooksbank Ave. • 604-985-4215

CINEPLEX FIFTH AVENUE CINEMAS 2110 Burrard St., Vancouver, 604-734-7469, www. cineplex.com 2CAROL Fri-Wed 1:00, 4:00, 6:45, 9:45; Thu 1:00, 4:00, 6:45 2THE DANISH GIRL Fri-Wed 1:30, 4:30, 7:30, 10:20; Thu 1:30, 4:30, 7:30 2SPECTRE Fri-Sun, Tue-Wed 12:25, 3:40, 7:00, 10:15; Mon 12:25, 3:40, 10:15; Thu 12:25, 3:40, 7:00 2SPOTLIGHT Fri-Sun, TueWed 1:45, 4:45, 7:40, 10:35; Mon 1:45, 4:45, 7:45, 10:35; Thu 1:45, 4:45, 7:40 2YOUTH FriWed 12:30, 3:30, 6:20, 9:15; Thu 12:30, 3:30, 6:20 CINEPLEX ODEON INTERNATIONAL VILLAGE CINEMAS 88 W. Pender, Vancouver, 604-806-0799, www.cineplex. com 2ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE ROAD CHIP Fri-Wed 12:30, 2:50, 5:15, 7:35, 9:55; Thu 12:30, 2:50, 5:15, 7:35 2THE BIG SHORT Wed 1:00, 4:05, 7:10, 10:15; Thu 1:00, 4:05, 7:10 2BRIDGE OF SPIES Fri-Wed 10:15 2BROOKLYN Fri-Sat, Mon-Wed 1:00, 3:40, 6:40, 9:20; Sun 12:45, 3:55, 6:40, 9:20; Thu 1:00, 3:40, 6:40 2THE GOOD DINOSAUR Fri-Thu 5:20 2KRAMPUS Fri-Wed 12:25, 2:55, 5:30, 8:05, 10:30; Thu 12:25, 2:55, 5:30, 8:05

2LEGEND Fri-Wed 12:55, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00; Thu 12:55, 4:00, 7:00 2THE MARTIAN Fri-Thu 3:45 2THE NIGHT BEFORE Fri-Wed 12:20, 3:00, 5:25, 8:00, 10:25; Thu 12:20, 3:00, 5:25, 8:00 2THE PEANUTS MOVIE Fri-Thu 3:10, 5:35 2ROOM Fri-Sat, Tue-Wed 1:05, 3:55, 6:45, 9:35; Sun 3:55, 6:45, 9:35; Mon 1:05, 3:55, 9:45; Thu 1:05, 3:55, 6:45 2A SECOND CHANCE Fri-Tue 12:50, 3:50, 6:50, 9:50 2SPOTLIGHT FriTue 1:10, 7:10, 10:15; Wed 1:10, 7:05, 10:20; Thu 1:10, 7:05 2SURPRISE Fri-Sat, Mon-Wed 12:50, 3:15, 5:40, 8:05, 10:30; Sun 1:30, 3:20, 5:40, 8:05, 10:30; Thu 12:50, 3:15, 5:40, 8:05 2TRUMBO Fri-Tue 4:10, 10:20; Wed 4:10, 10:25; Thu 4:10

CINEPLEX ODEON PARK & TILFORD 333 Brooksbank Ave., North Vancouver, 604-9854215, www.cineplex.com 2ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE ROAD CHIP Fri 7:05, 9:25; Sat 12:00, 2:20, 4:45, 7:05, 9:25; Sun 2:20, 4:45, 7:05, 9:25; Mon-Wed 12:00, 2:20, 4:45, 7:05, 9:55; Thu 12:00, 2:20, 4:45, 7:05 2BROOKLYN Fri 6:50, 9:35; Sat-Sun, Tue-Wed 1:10, 3:50, 6:50, 9:35; Mon 1:10, 3:50, 6:50, 10:00; Thu 1:10, 3:50, 6:50 2THE GOOD DINOSAUR Sat-Thu 4:30 2THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY, PART 2 Fri 7:00, 10:00; Sat-Sun 12:30, 3:40, 7:00, 10:00; Mon-Wed 12:30, 3:40, 7:00, 9:50; Thu 12:30, 3:40, 7:00 2IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE Mon 7:00 2KRAMPUS Fri-Wed 9:45 2SISTERS Fri 7:20, 10:15; Sat-Sun 1:30, 4:25, 7:20, 10:15; Mon-Wed 1:30, 4:25, 7:20, 10:00; Thu 1:30, 4:25, 7:20 2SPECTRE Fri 6:40, 9:55; Sat-Sun 12:10, 3:25, 6:40, 9:55; Mon-Wed 12:10, 3:25, 6:40, 9:30; Thu 12:10, 3:25, 6:40 CINEPLEX ODEON STRAWBERRY HILL 12161 72nd Ave, Surrey, 604-501-9420, www. cineplex.com 222G TUSSI GHAINT HO FriSun 1:05, 3:55, 6:55, 9:50; Mon-Thu 1:00, 3:55, 6:55, 9:50 2ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE ROAD CHIP Fri-Thu 12:35, 2:50, 5:15, 7:35, 9:55 2BAJIRAO MASTANI Fri-Sun 12:25, 3:50, 7:05, 10:20; Mon-Thu 12:25, 3:40, 7:05, 10:20 2DILWALE Fri-Sun 12:15, 3:30, 6:45, 10:05; Mon-Thu 12:00, 3:15, 6:50, 10:05 2THE GOOD DINOSAUR Fri-Thu 5:00 2THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY, PART 2 Fri-Sun 1:20, 4:30, 7:45, 10:40; Mon-Thu 1:20, 4:30, 7:25, 10:25 2IN THE HEART OF THE SEA Fri-Thu 1:40, 7:10 2SISTERS Fri-Sun 2:00, 4:50, 7:40, 10:30; Mon-Thu 2:00, 4:50, 7:40, 10:35 2STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS FriSun 12:00, 3:15, 6:30; Mon-Thu 11:45, 3:00, 6:15 2THANGA MAGAN Fri-Sun 12:45, 4:00, 7:15, 10:25; Mon-Thu 12:30, 3:45, 7:00, 10:15 CINEPLEX PARK THEATRE 3440 Cambie St., 3440 Cambie St., 604-709-3456, www. cineplex.com 2BROOKLYN Fri 4:00, 6:40, 9:20; Sat 1:25, 4:00, 6:40, 9:20; Sun 1:25, 4:00, 6:30, 9:00; Mon-Wed 4:00, 6:30, 9:00; Thu 3:30, 6:00 DUNBAR THEATRE 4555 Dunbar St. at 30 Ave., Vancouver, 604-222-2991, https:// www.facebook.com/DunbarTheatre 2STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Mon 12:10, 3:15, 7:00, 10:10 RIO THEATRE 1660 E. Broadway, Vancouver, 604-878-3456, www.riotheatre. ca 2BAD SANTA Fri 11:30 2BLACK CHRISTMAS Sun 9:15 2A CHRISTMAS STORY Sun 7:00 2CORALINE Sat 1:00 2FANTASTIC MR. FOX Mon 7:00 2THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY, PART 2 Mon 9:00; Tue-Wed 6:30 2MAVIS! Sun 4:45 2THE PRINCESS BRIDE Fri 7:00; Sun 1:30 2STOP MAKING SENSE Fri 9:30 SCOTIABANK THEATRE VANCOUVER 900 Burrard St., Vancouver, 604-630-1407, www.cineplex.com 2CREED Fri 7:15, 10:20; Sat-Tue 10:20, 1:00, 4:10, 7:15, 10:20; Wed 10:20, 1:00, 4:10, 10:50; Thu 4:20, 7:20, 10:35 2THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY, PART 2 Fri-Wed 1:20, 4:25, 7:35, 10:50; Thu 1:00, 4:00, 7:10, 10:40 2IN THE HEART OF THE SEA Fri 10:20, 1:45, 7:45; Sat-Wed 10:35, 1:40, 7:45; Thu 1:20, 7:30 2IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE Wed 7:00; Thu 12:30 2SISTERS Fri 11:00, 1:20, 4:15, 7:55, 10:45; Sat-Sun, Tue 11:00, 1:50, 4:55, 7:55, 10:45; Mon 12:35, 4:55, 7:55, 10:45; Wed 10:05, 12:55, 3:55, 7:55, 10:45; Thu 12:50, 3:45, 6:55, 10:10 2SPECTRE Fri-Sat, Mon 3:25, 6:55, 10:25; Sun, Tue-Wed 12:00, 3:25, 6:55, 10:25; Thu 12:05, 3:25, 6:50, 10:25 2STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Fri, Sun-Wed 12:20, 3:35, 6:50, 10:05; Sat 11:45, 3:00, 6:15, 9:30; Thu 11:25, 2:40, 5:55, 9:10 SILVERCITY METROPOLIS CINEMAS 4700 Kingsway Ave, Burnaby, 604-435-7474, www.cineplex.com 2ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE ROAD CHIP Fri 10:10, 10:30, 1:30, 5:15, 7:35, 9:55; Sat 12:50, 2:55, 5:15, 7:35, 9:55; Sun-Thu 10:10, 12:30, 2:50, 5:15, 7:35, 9:55 2CREED Sat-Wed 11:00 2THE GOOD DINOSAUR Fri 5:05; Sat 3:00, 5:30; Sun-Thu 2:30, 5:05 2THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY, PART 2 Fri 1:00, 4:15, 7:40, 10:55; Sat 1:10, 4:20, 7:40, 10:55; Sun-Thu 10:10, 1:10, 4:20, 7:40, 10:55 2IN THE HEART OF THE SEA Fri-Sat, Mon-Thu 12:30, 6:55; Sun 12:45, 6:55 2IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE Wed 7:00; Thu 12:30 2KRAMPUS Fri 2:00, 4:25, 6:50, 9:10, 11:30; Sat-Tue 1:55, 4:25, 6:50, 9:10, 11:30; Wed 2:05, 11:30; Thu 6:35, 9:05, 11:30 2SISTERS Fri, Sun-Wed 11:00, 2:00, 4:55, 7:50, 10:45; Sat 10:30, 2:00, 4:55, 7:50, 10:45; Thu 11:00, 2:10, 4:55, 7:50, 10:45 2SPECTRE Fri-Sat 11:30, 3:00, 6:45, 10:15; Sun 12:20, 3:50, 7:25, 11:05; MonThu 11:30, 3:00, 6:40, 10:20 2STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Fri, Sun, Thu 12:45, 4:00, 7:15; Sat, Mon-Wed 12:00, 3:15, 6:30 VANCOUVER AQUARIUM 4D EXPERIENCE THEATRE 845 Avison Way, Vancouver, 604-659-3474, vanaqua.org 2THE POLAR EXPRESS 4-D EXPERIENCE Fri 11:15, 12:30, 1:45, 3:00, 4:15; Sat-Wed 10:45 am (every 30 minutes until 5:15 pm); Thu 10:45 am (every 30 minutes until 3:15 pm)

TIME OUT MOVIE LISTINGS are a public service provided free of charge, based on available space. Every effort is made to acquire accurate weekly movie listings by press time, but info is subject to change without notice. To avoid disappointment, please confirm films and times by checking the cinema’s website.

ARTS

Left to right: talk-show fans will be thrilled with a ticket to Trevor Noah at the JFL NorthWest Comedy Fest; Opera Warriors will appeal to spectacle lovers; Nicola Benedetti is a hot ticket at the VSO.

A present that really performs

The bold OPERA WARRIORS Grand Peking Opera specinterdisciplinary bonan- tacle hits the Queen Elizabeth Theatre stage on Januza offers up a four-show ary 5 and 6, as part of a cultural exchange program ($119) and six-show ($176) by Image China. The dance- and acrobatics-driven pass. That means choos- work is created by the team behind the 2008 Beijing ing from a roster that Olympics opening ceremony and requires the QE spans everything from to pull out its first seven rows just to accommodate inventive French circus the show’s scale. Buy it for: Armchair travellers who (Association Immédiat, like their shows big. Info: operawarriors.com/ Compagnie Sacékripa) to boundary-pushing music 88 TUNED BONGOS PIANO SERIES You can Tickets to everything from edgy interdisciplinary festivals to (Roomful of Teeth). A few pick up two bundled concerts for just $25 in the standup comedians will please the culture vultures on your list bigger shows require a Western Front’s celebration of experimental piano surcharge. Buy it for: The works: renowned jazz virtuoso Anthony Davis on Giving the gift of the performing arts does a artistic adventurer. Info: pushfestival.ca/ March 24 and Ground/Terre Duo (with piano, toy lot more than show your good taste. Not only does piano, Indian harmonium, and tabla) on April 1. BY JANET SM IT H it serve up an experience instead of yet another ARTS CLUB THEATRE Sure, you can buy your Buy it for: The musical explorer. Info: front.bc.ca/ mall-bought consumer item, it is something you favourite theatre nut single tickets to upcoming shows like Pride & Prejudice and Billy Elliot. But FIREHALL ARTS CENTRE Four- and six-ticket can pick up easily this late in the game. Here are just a few options for last-minute tick- there are also 6Tix Vouchers that let the per- packages are here, too, but we like the idea of buying ets and passes for the culture vulture on your list. son mix and match any Arts Club productions a gift certificate (say, $66 for two weekend tickets or ($349), and 4Tix Vouchers ($159) that let them $112 for four weekday tickets). Recommend ChelVANCOUVER SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The choose from productions at the Granville Island sea Hotel: The Songs of Leonard Cohen, a critically VSO’s Sampler Pack gift lets you customize a four- Stage and the new Goldcorp Stage at the BMO lauded ode to the poet-songwriter that continues to ticket package for as low as $99 (and $125 or $140 for Theatre Centre. Buy it for: Drama queens and January 9; the creepy Alley Theatre smash hit Little Premium Sampler seating). Opt for the Sampler Pack their kings. Info: artsclub.com/ One in February; or Postsecret: The Show (2016) later Gift Certificate if you want the recipient to choose the same month. Buy it for: Those who like the concerts. There are big names left in the season, THE CULTCH The venerable institution theatre that feeds the brain as much as the including Nicola Benedetti, Louis Lortie, Joyce Yang, has a Flex 4 package ($162), but the even heart. Info: firehallartscentre.ca/ Check out… and Avan Yu, as well as VSO Pops concerts. Buy it more flexible gift certificate might be STRAIGHT.COM CHAN CENTRE FOR THE PERfor: The avid concertgoer. Info: www.vancouversym the best option, with so much going on. Visit our website FORMING ARTS Build-your-own Highlights next year include Heathers phony.ca/concerts/sampler/ or 604-876-3434 for morning-after three-ticket packages rock, allowing the Musical and Richard Sheridan’s reviews and local arts news ALBERTA BALLET’S THE NUTCRACKER Here’s The Rivals. Buy it for: The die-hard East your giftee to choose from a wide-rana gift the recipient can use right after Christmas, Van resident. Info: thecultch.com/ ging roster of global music. Jazzers will extending the holiday spirit. Alberta Ballet’s renswoon at names like Branford Marsalis and dition is set in imperial Russia and is gorgeously SCHUBERTIADE The Vancouver Recital Society folkies will love Arlo Guthrie. Prices are $92 to $184, gilded. Buy it for: Nostalgics and balletomanes. is celebrating the transcendent sounds of Franz depending on seating. Buy it for: The well-travelled Schubert in April, and it’s offering three-show with well-trained ears. Info: www.chancentre.com/ Info: balletbc.com/performance/the-nutcracker/ packages for the concerts that will feature artists JFL NORTHWEST COMEDY FEST Give the gift including Israeli pianist Inon Barnatan, American VANCOUVER THEATRESPORTS LEAGUE A of laughs with tickets to some of the headliners piano sensation Jonathan Biss, violinist Benjamin gift from the city’s fave improv group is also a gift at this comedy free-for-all February 18 to 27. Big Beilman, and the Doric String Quartet. Prices de- to yourself: purchase a gift certificate worth $50 acts include Trevor Noah, Wanda Sykes, and Lewis pend on seats, but you can get a spot at three shows or more and you will receive two free vouchers to Black. Buy it for: The class clown. Info: www.jfl for about $170. Buy it for: The discerning classical- a Wednesday or Thursday show. Buy it for: Somenorthwest.com/ one who needs a laugh. Info: www.vtsl.com/ music lover. Info: vanrecital.com/

THINGS TO DO

PUSH PASS

ARTS High five

Editor’s choice THE SOUND OF PEANUTS The Vince Guaraldi Trio’s “Linus and Lucy” from the 1965 TV classic A Charlie Brown Christmas is essential to any holiday playlist. But there’s nothing like hearing the jazzynostalgic strains performed live. That’s just what we’ll get at the Vancouver Chamber Choir’s A Charlie Brown Christmas, complete with actors, a jazz duo, and the Vancouver Youth Choir. Schroeder won’t be making an appearance at the keyboard, but Daniel Reynolds plays the famous piano tunes and Jodi Proznick keeps the rhythm on bass. The Vancouver Chamber Choir presents A Charlie Brown Christmas at Shaughnessy Heights United Church on Saturday (December 19).

Five events you just can’t miss this week

VIVALDI’S FOUR SEASONS (At the Chan Centre on December 18 and 19) Kickass Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman playing this masterpiece with the VSO? Unmissable.

THE GRAHAM HATES CHRISTMAS SHOW (At Hot Art Wet City on December 18) Alt-comedian Graham Clark and guests ridicule holiday films.

LACHLAN PATTERSON (At the Vancouver Playhouse on December 20) The subdued Canadian Last Comic Standing star in his own solo show.

MIXED NUTS (At the Vancouver Playhouse on December 18 and 19) Scout rising dance stars as Arts Umbrella puts a twist on The Nutcracker.

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (At the Arts Club’s Granville Island Stage until December 26) This retro holiday heart-warmer never gets old.

Guest pick

A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL Publicist and talent coordinator Jodi Smith of JLS Entertainment has clients that include Ballet BC, the PNE, the Cultch, Carousel Theatre, CelticFest, and the Chutzpah Festival. Here’s her recommendation for this week: “I thoroughly enjoyed A Christmas Story. The casting is pitch-perfect and Valerie Easton’s direction and choreography help light up the stage. It’s the ideal show to bring the whole family to and will delight all ages with its energy and feel-good story. Based on the 1983 movie, which I have seen several times, the musical version doesn’t miss a beat.” A Christmas Story runs at the Arts Club’s Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage until December 27. DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 25

ARTS

VIVALDI’S FOUR SEASONS

WITH VADIM

GLUZMAN

FRIDAY & SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18 & 19 CHAN CENTRE, UBC

MOZART Divertimento in D Major Salzburg Symphony No.1 KANCHELI Eine kleine Daneliade MOZART Eine kleine Nachtmusik VIVALDI Four Seasons* Vadim Gluzman leader/violin* The Vancouver Symphony presents a can’t-miss annual tradition: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at the Chan Centre! The VSO welcomes one of the world’s greatest violinists, the extraordinary Vadim Gluzman, to perform this timeless classic, on his amazing ‘ex-Leopold Auer’ Stradivarius violin made in the year 1690. SPONSORED BY

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Ballet BC presents Alberta Ballet

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Dec 29 30 Dec 30 31

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ARTISTS OF ALBERTA BALLET. PHOTO BY DARREN MAKOIVICHUK.

26 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015

Immersive video projections, text, music, and movement meld in Saudade, a sign of the collaborative spirit at the School for the Contemporary Arts. Rob Trendiak photo.

Saudade explores new interdisciplinary frontiers Inspired by Wings of Desire and Blade Runner, dance artist Rob Kitsos makes a multimedia collaboration

> B Y JAN ET SMITH

n the darkened Studio T at SFU Woodward’s, projections of an abstracted Berlin cityscape are melting down from four screens and across the floor to where we’re sitting, like a slow-moving f lood. At other points, media designer Remy Siu conjures a galaxy of moving stars throughout the space, and a warping, perspective-stumping grid on the f loor. This is the high-tech, immersive world the dancers in choreographer Rob Kitsos’s new Saudade will inhabit. And this is also the new frontier of dance being explored in the campus’s interdisciplinary School for the Contemporary Arts. Kitsos’s research project was built, from the beginning, with Siu, composer Nancy Tam, and dramaturge DD Kugler, so its music, movement, and multimedia worlds are seamlessly integrated. “I love that technology can enhance our kinesthetic response to movement,” Kitsos, an associate professor in the School for the Contemporary Arts, says, sitting in the theatre and looking down at the imagery. Speaking of the multimedia projections, he adds: “They’re interactive and responsive, shifting things on the floor with the dancers and projecting things on their bodies.” Kitsos explains Saudade (the Portuguese word for wishful, melancholic longing) was inspired by two iconic 1980s films: Wim Wenders’s Wings of Desire and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. Kitsos was interested in the visual “aura” they both had and in the idea of the nonhuman characters—angels in the former film, replicants in the latter—who yearn for human experience. As Kitsos writes in his program notes, “Both films investigate—through textures, sprawling landscapes, duration of light—a timeless longing.” From that inspiration he started immediately to build the piece with the other interdisciplinary artists. It’s a way of working that strongly ref lects the approach of the new interdisciplinary curriculum at SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts, where Kitsos sits as undergraduate chair. It’s a program where musicians, filmmakers, dancers, visual artists, and theatre artists sit side by side in class, forming relationships and bouncing ideas off one another. Describing the curriculum’s core subjects, Kitsos explains, “Everyone takes composition, for example.

Musicians, dancers: and they all take it. “So I feel my research and my piece reflect the philosophy of the school,” continues Kitsos, whose five dancers include several from the program. “In the first year you’re creating those relationships—you’re meeting a composer and a filmmaker. And often they become collectives when they graduate.” The drive to mash forms and incorporate immersive multimedia also reflects what’s happening in contemporary performance, he adds. “It’s Crystal Pite, Robert Lepage—those kinds of influences,” he says. “And technology has become more user-friendly. When I’m sitting here, I can say, ‘Can we try that?’ and typically ‘that’ would have taken five hours in the studio before. And now, on a laptop, we can compose on the spot.” Many of the artists involved in Saudade will still be creating “on the spot” when the piece is performed. Siu can manipulate his imagery and make it respond to dancers’ movement, and composer Tam says she has sound files she can trigger during the show, while performing on an analogue synthesizer and other instruments. The sound, like the projected imagery, surrounds the viewers in the studio, with speakers mounted around the space. The resulting piece, Kitsos says, feels very cinematic, collagelike, and immersive. Film fans will recognize some visual references to the source material, including those images of Berlin from Wenders’s art-house romantic fantasy, and mechanical nods to the replicants of Scott’s dystopian sci-fi noir. Amid all this, the dancers are lit in glowing, golden hues. Two move flowingly and gracefully, like the angels they represent, while you recognize the two Blade Runner–inspired replicants by their rigid, robotic body language. In the middle of them all is a human character—the one they all watch curiously, yearning to experience life as she does. “What the angels were wanting in Wings of Desire and what the replicants were longing for in Blade Runner was more life,” Kitsos says. “So it becomes an investigation of what it means to be human.” It also becomes an investigation of what humans can achieve when given cutting-edge tools and an open, collaborative framework. Saudade is at SFU Woodward’s in the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts from Thursday to Saturday (December 17 to 19).

DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 27

ARTS

Creating a Chor Leoni carol

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here’s going to be a little bit of New York City in Vancouver this Christmas, courtesy of Chor Leoni. And there’s now a little bit of the Pacific Northwest in New York, too, thanks to Terre Roche. The Big Apple songwriter and the local men’s choir have been conducting a long-distance love affair that in some ways dates back to Roche’s earliest days as a performer—even before she enjoyed international popularity as part of sister act the Roches. “I guess when we were in high school we used to go carolling,” the middle member of the three Roche siblings recalls, on the line from her Manhattan home. “We were always into singing Christmas carols during the season. Maggie [Roche] and I and Barbara Morillo, we were the original Caroling Carolers; we used to sing in the street here in New York, and go into the bars and on the buses and stuff. Barbara had an amazing thing with harmony, and we would just get into it. Christmas songs were so great to do that with—they really lend themselves to a cappella singing.” The Caroling Carolers have since evolved into an ongoing seasonal tradition, with Roche and friends warming up frosty Washington Square every December. At one point, the singers even won a Japanese recording contract, which is why Roche ended up writing what’s become a contemporary carol classic, “Star of Wonder”. “The Japanese company wanted us to write some original songs, so I did,” she says. “And I always felt like that song was channelled somehow, because I wrote it on the piano, and I don’t really play the piano. And when I finished the song, I realized that I’d really written it for my very close friend Joanna Walton, who was killed in the Lockerbie airplane bombing. “Since then,” she continues, “the

Chor Leoni will debut a Pacific Northwest–flavoured piece by composer Terre Roche at its Christmas concert. Listen for the sound of “winter wind in evergreen trees”.

song has had a life of its own. A lot of people have covered it, and it’s gone out into the choral repertoire, and people have done versions of it on the guitar—without me really pushing it out there.” Somehow the song found its way to Chor Leoni artistic director Erick Lichte, then mourning a loss of his own—the death of his mentor and Chor Leoni’s founder, Diane Loomer. He slotted “Star of Wonder” into his group’s 2013 Christmas concert, and was happy enough with how it sounded that he sent a video to its composer. “I just was stopped in my tracks,” Roche says. “I’d heard so many versions of that song, and when I heard their version, I thought, ‘This is the way this song is meant to be sung.’ “The first thing that I noticed was that he really brought out the melody of the song,” she continues, noting that her tune is meant to be passed between three different vocal ranges. “The other thing was the way that he would leave spaces in between the phrasing. To me, that was very powerful—a lot of times people won’t allow things to settle like that, because

they’re afraid the audience is going to start clapping or something.” Roche gave the Chor Leoni video a prominent place on her website, which in turn led Lichte to ask her for something created with his men’s choir in mind. Hence “Breath of Winter”, written from a happier place and with more of a celebratory solstice feel. In it, Roche’s Catholic roots are balanced by images drawn from the natural world—including a gentle snowfall and the sound of the winter wind in evergreen trees. “I put the pine trees in there; that’s kind of my nod to the Pacific Northwest,” Roche explains. “Even though the Christmas story happened in the desert, this song is really happening in Vancouver.” If the popularity of her earlier “Star of Wonder” is any indication, however, by next Christmas “Breath of Winter” may well be heard around the world. Christmas With Chor Leoni takes place at St. Andrew’s–Wesley United Church on Friday (December 18) and West Vancouver United Church on Saturday (December 19).

arly Music Vancouver is ringing in some changes to its annual Christmas offering. After 11 years of Festive Bach Cantatas, devoted to works by J.S. Bach, the repertoire is opening up to different composers and styles. Praetorius Christmas Vespers, the concert for 2015, explores the beginnings of Baroque in northern Europe with works by another German master organist and composer, the prolific Michael Praetorius (1571–1621). The program reproduces a Lutheran afternoon service from the early 17th century, with orchestra, congregation, and audience sing-along parts. “Part of the fun of the project is that in trying to re-create the sound of this service—and we’re not pretending it’s a worship service—you need to have a group as the German congregation,” says music director David Fallis, reached at his Toronto home. “So in each city where we perform, there’s a local choir with us.” At the Chan Centre, Vancouver’s Laudate Singers will join the EMV Vocal and Instrumental Ensemble and Montreal’s La Rose des Vents cornetto and sackbut ensemble onstage—some 50 artists in total. The central part of the program is Praetorius’s Lutheran four-part setting of the praise song the Magnificat— known as “The Song of Mary”—in which he inserted German carols. This was not an unusual practice. “Luther was a great believer in the power of music to lead worshippers, and it was very much in the spirit of Lutheranism. They wanted the congregation to join in more often—all members should understand what they’re saying and singing. So at Christmastime or Easter or Pentecost, they would let the congregation sing favourite hymns in the middle of the Magnificat. Praetorius writes

about this: ‘You don’t have to do all the verses, just one or two, then you go on with the Magnificat, and stop again and let them sing again.’ The sense was that if it’s an important feast day, then everyone should be singing. “Praetorius’s music is often complicated—there’s no way the congregation could join in,” Fallis continues. “And then you stop this and you let them sing. It’s an interesting way of including the audience. The professional musicians still have a lot to do and can show their talents, but at the same time the congregation will feel part of it as well.” Fallis’s vocal arrangements for Praetorius Christmas Vespers feature the German antiphonal practice of wechselgesang—literally, “changesong”. “Some of these were long, and to provide variety the congregation and the professional musicians would sing verses alternately,” he explains. “So it goes back and forth between the two. We have two kinds of wechselgesang: between the musicians on-stage and the audience,

and—in the spirit of Lutheranism, where you would never be asked to sing in anything other than your native language—between the audience singing in English and the musicians answering in German.” While we don’t know if Praetorius ever heard Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, his compositions do show the influence of innovative developments in Italian music of the time. “One of these, that Praetorius uses in ‘Meine Seele’ [part of his Magnificat], is the echo effect. At one point he sets a triple echo between three sopranos. Also, the vocal style of some of the soloists is quite virtuosic, which was quite new in Germany. Similarly, the writing for the instruments is at times virtuosic, and some of the harmonies were very up-to-date. It’s a real challenge to be able to write simple music and complex music and make it feel of a whole as he does.” Praetorius Christmas Vespers is at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on Sunday (December 20).

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28 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015

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DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 29

ARTS

Creating a Chor Leoni carol

MEDIA SPONSORS

Chor Leoni will debut a Pacific Northwest–flavoured piece by composer Terre Roche at its Christmas concert. Listen for the sound of “winter wind in evergreen trees”.

$28!

A HEART-WARMING JOURNEY INTO A MAGICAL WORLD

DECEMBER 17–22 PRINCIPAL DANCERS from SAN FRANCISCO BALLET & PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET

LIVE MUSIC performed by THE VANCOUVER OPERA ORCHESTRA THE CENTRE IN VANCOUVER. 777 HOMER ST.

TICKETMASTER.CA 1.855.985.5000 PRODUCTION TITLE SPONSORS

#GOHNUTCRACKER *NOT INCLUSIVE OF SERVICE AND FACILITY FEES. CASTING SUBJECT TO CHANGES.

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28 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015

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DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 29

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s a student of both the violin and its Persian cousin, the kamancheh, Sina Ettehad is in a better position than most to bridge the cultural divide between Canada, where he now lives, and Iran, where he was born. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been pursuing since at least 2010, when his four-piece Kereshmeh Ensemble teamed up with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra for a groundbreaking evening of cross-cultural exploration. But this kind of interplay isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a one-way street, as he notes when the Georgia Straight reaches him at home on a rainy North Vancouver afternoon. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I live in Vancouver, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m part of this cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s culture, so I like to communicate with different musicians and different culturesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and eat sushi!â&#x20AC;? Ettehad says, laughing. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work and play music in that way, as well.â&#x20AC;? The kamancheh virtuosoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s next project illustrates his commitment to this ideal: not only is he joining local tabla master Amarjeet Singh to explore the links between Persian and North Indian styles, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also reaching out to Hildegardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ghost, a femalefronted quartet whose music occupies the intersection between contemporary composition, avant pop, and jazz improvisation. And with the UBC Persian Club presenting their Fusik: Worldly Approaches to Improvisation show at West Vancouverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kay Meek Centre, a culturally diverse audience is guaranteed. As Ettehad explains, Hildegardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ghostâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;with Roisin Adams on piano, Elisa Thorn on harp and electronics, Jeff Gammon on upright bass, and Justin Devries on drumsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; will open, he and Singh will appear as a duo, and then all six musicians will improvise on one of Adamsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

tunes and one of his own. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When I was in first year of the music program at UBC I had a chance to see all my colleagues perform, and I greatly noticed jazz musiciansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; approach to improvisation,â&#x20AC;? he explains. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was totally different than the way Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d been trained in the Persian modal system, but I could also see similarities, and the first one was freedom. Jazz musicians have a kind of freedom, and in Persian music we have the freedom to do whatever we like, actually. So I was fascinated by that, and I decided to set up a kind of group-music improvisational event.â&#x20AC;? Further expanding their shared vocabulary is that the Hildegardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ghost tune theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll use as an improvisatory launch pad is called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Untangoâ&#x20AC;?, in itself a jazz-flavoured exploration of the late Astor Piazzollaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nuevo tango style. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in a kind of G harmonic minor, which is really close to the Persian mode called EsfahÄ n,â&#x20AC;? Ettehad notes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I can really feel how the music goes up and down in the phrasing and the dynamics, so I decided, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Well, I can work with this.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;? That goes for Adams as well. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m ecstatic to play with Sina and Amarjeet, and also excited about expanding Hildegardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ghostâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s following,â&#x20AC;? she says in a separate telephone interview. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been pretty East Vanâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;centric, so the opportunity to play the Kay Meek theatre is a great oneâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re also in preliminary talks about touring this project.â&#x20AC;? Cross-cultural music is an idea with legsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be interesting to see where those limbs will take these happy collaborators once their journey is properly launched. Fusik: Worldly Approaches to Improvisation takes place at West Vancouverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kay Meek Centre on Thursday (December 17).

The beloved hit is back for the Holidays! A Firehall Arts Centre production

CHELSEA HOTEL The Songs of

Leonard Cohen

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30 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT DECEMBER 17 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 24 / 2015

DEC 15 JAN 9

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INTERNATIONAL PERFORMING ARTS FESTIVAL

DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 31

— The Georgia Straight

— The Vancouver Sun

Theatre Replacement’s

PHOTO of THE CAST of

32 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015

by EMILY COOPER

ARTS

Spooky, punked-out Ebenezer darkens Dickens TH E AT RE EBENEZER By Daniel Deorksen and David Newham. Music by Daniel Deorksen. Directed by David Newham. A Seven Tyrants Theatre production. At the Jericho Arts Centre on Thursday, December 10. Continues until January 2

Guaranteed: you have not

2 seen A Christmas Carol like

this before. This Seven Tyrants Theatre adaptation of Charles Dickens’s novella takes the ghostly aspect of the tale and runs with it. In spooky whiteface and punked-out costumes, the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come become unearthly storytellers. In his black helmet and long, black coat, Yet to Come has the sulphurous whiff of a Nazi ghoul about him. In lots of ways, this darkness works. In actor Andrew Wheeler’s hands, there’s a deliberate cruelty about Scrooge’s miserliness that reminded me—I kid you not—of Stephen Harper. And that’s appropriate: after all, A Christmas Carol is a warning about the brutalities of capitalism. And, in some ways, Marley’s Ghost is terrific. Decked out by costumer Ines Ortner to look like a combination biker and dead sea dog, he wears chaps and fringed leathers, and he sports a braided beard and hair so wild that, in the final effect, he becomes an animated fetish object. When this Marley rages at a tooth-picking, disdainfully unimpressed Scrooge, his roar brings the moneylender, gasping, to his knees, and makes your blood run cold. The scene with Marley, which comes early, starts to reveal the shortcomings of director David Newham’s approach, however: he’s not entirely in control of his style. Simon Webb, who plays Marley, does his best to fill the character with archetypal torment, but his delivery is so slow that the scene starts to feel like a butoh performance. Newham also acts as the lighting designer, and although his eyeballsearing effects—crimson-lit actors in front of a sapphire wash—can be exciting, it feels clumsy when the performers fall into darkness or cast one another into annoying shadows. For the most part, Daniel Deorksen’s music doesn’t work. In Act 1, “A Mezziwig Fezziwig Christmas” wants to be a showstopper, and, in

Seven Tyrants Theatre’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol takes the ghostly aspect of the tale and runs ghoulishly with it. David Newham photo.

an unfortunate way, it is. Musically, Act 2 improves: “Happier Times”, sung by Scrooge’s clerk, Bob Cratchit, is affecting. And the pace of the storytelling gets tighter. Performances throughout are uneven, however. Wheeler’s unsettling Scrooge is fantastic. Thomas Jones’s Christmas Past is engagingly sprightly. And especially when he plays Scrooge’s nephew Fred as drunk, Mike Stack, whose central character is Christmas Yet to Come, is lugubriously witty. Melissa Morris brings insinuating sexiness to Christmas Present, but her small voice is often hard to hear. The scene featuring Scrooge’s sister Fanny (Masae Day) is physically unfocused and Scrooge’s exchange with his fiancée, Belle (Martha Ansfield-Scrase), is even more problematic. That’s because this production’s style has trouble with innocence. Usually, Belle is presented as the embodiment of self-effacing goodness; here, she is a screaming, selfdramatizing neurotic, so Scrooge’s abandonment of her, which should be seen as part of his downfall, starts to look like a healthy choice. The general level of darkness also gets in the way of Scrooge’s rebirth. It’s odd to see that rejuvenation celebrated by storytellers whose faces are still covered with demonic makeup. Nonetheless, there’s a lot to enjoy here. When things get slow you can always let your eyes linger on Ortner’s bizarrely detailed costumes.

I applaud the audacity of this project.

> COLIN THOMAS

A CHRISTMAS CAROL: ON THE AIR By Peter Church. Directed by Sarah Rodgers. A Pacific Theatre production. At Pacific Theatre on Wednesday, December 9. Continues until January 2

I haven’t been keeping close

2 count, but this is approximate-

ly the four thousandth time I’ve seen some version of A Christmas Carol. Everybody from Barbie to the Smurfs has taken a swing at it. Pacific Theatre’s A Christmas Carol: On the Air presents Charles Dickens’s classic as if it were being performed in a radio studio for a live audience in the early 1940s. But why? The story of Scrooge, the miser who is visited by three spirits who persuade him to give up his moneygrubbing ways, can be very moving, but playwright Peter Church’s adaptation doesn’t add anything fresh to its telling in terms of either insight or entertainment. For a while, it’s mildly distracting to watch the performers create foley effects—rotating a drum within a canvas wrap to create the sound of wind, for instance. And some of the vocal textures, including creepy mutterings from the ghoulish children Ignorance and Want, are effective. Under Sarah Rodgers’s direction, however, the convention of the staged radio play gets murky.

When the Spirit of Christmas Past takes Scrooge to a dance held by his old employer, Mr. Fezziwig, the cast performs a fully choreographed number. For the radio. Church also does wonky things: after we’ve seen the dissolution of the relationship between the young Scrooge and the virtuous Belle, another performer grabs a mike and sings a torchy version of “I’ll Be Seeing You”. That’s the only time that the 1940s seep into the 1840s. For the rest of the evening, they’re in their separate silos. Speaking of the period, although Church has set his adaptation at the beginning of World War II, he makes no reference to that conflict—even though Dickens’s story is about loneliness, cruelty, and family ties, among other things. Church contents himself instead with the glib and implicitly condescending device of inserting radio commercials for things like Jell-O and Camel cigarettes. In this Pacific Theatre production, the quality of the acting varies. Kirsty Provan becomes a fantastically eccentric—spooky, innocent—Christmas Past, and she is slyly roguish as the old woman who pillaged Scrooge’s deathbed. Julia Siedlanowska also impresses—with tender simplicity—as Belle and Tiny Tim, the handicapped son of Scrooge’s clerk, Bob Cratchit. As Cratchit and in a number of other roles, Matthew Simmons is touching. Chris Lam motors through his portrait of Scrooge’s nephew Fred, however. And, for most of the evening, Paul Griggs’s take on Scrooge, a role that requires enormous charisma, is only serviceable. Other people liked this show. They’re probably nicer than I am. > COLIN THOMAS

THE WIZARD OF OZ Book by John Kane. Music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg. Directed by Barbara Tomasic. A Gateway Theatre production. At the Gateway Theatre on Friday, December 11. Continues until January 3

If you can’t f ly Glinda, why

2 bother? Okay, that question is

a bit reductive. The Wizard of Oz tells the story of Dorothy Gale, a girl from Kansas who finds herself transported to a magical kingdom and must find her way home. Magical is the key word here. You can create that magic with special effects—like f lying—or you can create it with

simple props and a lot of imagination. But this Gateway Theatre production gets stuck in the middle: it looks like a low-rent attempt at a big-budget vision. When Glinda, aka the Good Witch of the North, arrives, a white light travels across Sean Nieuwenhuis’s video design. There’s a lot of sparkly music. Then the Good Witch saunters on from the wings. And when the Wicked Witch of the West supposedly f lies off, the puff of smoke doesn’t begin to conceal the actor clunking down a set of stairs. Designer Lauchlin Johnston’s set fails. The scene in which Dorothy and her friends the Scarecrow, the Tinman, and the Cowardly Lion request an audience with the Wizard is all about their getting in the door. But on Johnston’s set, there is no door. And the aforementioned stairs, which get moved into different configurations, are huge, green, and clumsy. Fortunately, there are a number of bright lights in the acting company. Bridget Esler (Dorothy) has a lovely, throaty voice that’s perfect for this sentimental material, and she is buoyantly charming as an actor. Victor Hunter makes a sweetly goofy and rich-voiced Scarecrow. And, to hilarious effect, Tom Pickett plays the Cowardly Lion as an overgrown toddler, who also happens to be a consummate showman. Oddly, director Barbara Tomasic has cast a woman, Lindsay Warnock, as the Tinman and the Tinman’s Kansas counterpart, a male farm hand named Hickory. Doing so without changing the sex of the characters feels arbitrary and is distracting. Costumer Carmen Alatorre decks out the Good Witch in an outrageous ensemble that includes layers of grey netting and sparkly stiletto boots, but Jill Raymond plays the character with pavementf lat diffidence. As the Wicked Witch, Tara Travis occupies the opposite end of the spectrum: she throws herself into her role. Whether she’s acting or just mugging is debatable, however. Travis cackles and crosses her eyes, but it’s all superficial; her Witch never feels genuinely motivated, real—or scary. The huge company, which includes a lot of kids, is uneven. Under Christopher King’s direction, the band sounds great. > COLIN THOMAS

CHOR LEONI Erick Lichte

Paula Kremer, Artistic Director

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

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ALL THE JOY AND BEAUTY OF THE FESTIVE SEASON

Christmas Reprise XIII Evoking the true warmth and pure magic of the holiday season, +PZQ[\UI[ :MXZQ[M @111 WɆMZ[ I _MTKWUM ZM[XQ\M NZWU \PM P][\TM and bustle of the season and an oasis of pure Christmas spirit. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2015 AT 2 PM HOLY ROSARY CATHEDRAL 646 RICHARDS ST, VANCOUVER

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December 18, 2015

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December 19, 2015 WEST VANCOUVER UNITED CHURCH 2 PM

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DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 33

ENTERTAINMENT CALENDAR

Way). Tix $37/34, info www.capilanou.ca/ blueshorefinancialcentre/. Dec 19, 7:30 pm, St. Andrew’s–Wesley United Church (1022 Nelson). Tix $38, info www.winterharp.com/.

ORPHEUM

PRESENTS

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QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE

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holiday ar ts/ timeout CHRISTMAS 2ONGOING A CHRISTMAS STORY, THE MUSICAL The Arts Club Theatre Company presents a festive musical about a young boy’s quest for an official Red Ryder carbineaction BB gun. Based on the 1983 film. To Dec 27, Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage (2750 Granville). Tix from $29, info www. artsclub.com/. IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE The Arts Club Theatre Company presents the holiday classic about an angel who helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would have been like if he’d never existed. To Dec 26, Granville Island Stage (1585 Johnston, Granville Island). Tix from $29, info www.artsclub.com/. INSPECTING CAROL Vagabond Players presents the story of a wannabe actor who is mistaken for an informer for the National Endowment for the Arts. To Dec 19, Bernie Legge Theatre (Queen’s Park, 1st St. and 3rd Ave., New West). Tix $15, info www.vagabondplayers.ca/. MRS. CLAUS’S KITCHEN Family-friendly holiday musical sees Mrs. Claus discover a magical recipe for drawing families together. To Dec 20, Presentation House Theatre (333 Chesterfield Ave., North Van). Tix from $15, info 604-990-3474, www.phtheatre.org/. HANSEL AND GRETEL: AN EAST VAN PANTO The Cultch presents Theatre Replacement’s local spin on the classic fairy tale. Script by Charles Demers, with music by Veda Hille. Directed by Stephen Drover. To Jan 3, York Theatre (639 Commercial). Tix from $20, info www.thecultch.com/events/hansel-andgretel-an-east-van-panto/. CHRISTMAS CAROL: ON THE AIR Sara Rodgers directs a radio-play-style rendition of Charles Dickens’s classic Christmas tale of a miser who sees the error of his ways. To Jan 2, Pacific Theatre (1440 W. 12th). Tix $22.9929.99, info www.pacifictheatre.org/ season/2015-2016-season-3/mainstage/ a-christmas-carol-on-the-air/.

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Let your loved ones choose any Arts Club show at our three stages with a gift certificate or a 6Tix voucher package!

BAH! HUMBUG! A new take on Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol sees local musician Jim Byrnes star as a modernday, sushi-loving Scrooge. Presented by SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs and Vancouver Moving Theatre, in partnership with Full Circle Productions. To Dec 19, 7:30-9 pm, SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (149 W. Hastings). Tix $29/15, info www.sfu.ca/sfuwoodwards/events/ events1/2015-2016Fall/BahHumbug.html. WAR FOR THE HOLIDAYS Forbidden Vancouver presents writer-director Tiffany Anderson’s play about Christmas in 1915. To Dec 19, 8-10 pm, Roedde House Museum (1415 Barclay). Tix $35/25, info www.forbiddenvancouver.ca/war-for-theholidays/.

2THIS WEEK ROAM GALLERY HOLIDAY 60-120-240 ART SHOW Up to 200 pieces of art created by B.C. emerging and established artists will be displayed all over the mall, each priced at $60, $120, or $240. To Jan 5, City Square Shopping Centre (555 W. 12th). Info www.roamgallery.com/. ROBSON SQUARE’S 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS Music series sees local musicians perform holiday favourites. To Dec 24, Robson Square Ice Rink (Robson and Howe). Free admission, info www. robsonsquare.com/.

stanley industrial alliance stage

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34 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015

granville island stage

goldcorp stage at the bmo theatre centre

CHRISTMAS PRESENCE A night of music, stories, poems, and readings for the holiday season featuring Ron Reed, Nelson Boschman, Rick Colhoun, Jordan Klassen, Peter La Grand, Garth Bowen, Anna Vandas, and Michael Hart. To Dec 21, 8 pm, Pacific Theatre (1440 W. 12th). Tix $24.99, info www. pacifictheatre.org/season/2015-2016-season3/mainstage/christmas-presence-2015/. CHRISTMAS QUEEN 2 The Vancouver TheatreSports League presents a holidaythemed improv-comedy show that sees a larger-than-life fairy-tale character create chaos in Santa’s workshop on Christmas Eve. To Dec 20, The Improv Centre (1502 Duranleau, Granville Island). Tix $10-22, info www.vtsl.com/show/christmas-queen-2/. WINTER HARP Vancouver classical ensemble uses harps, flutes, medieval instruments, percussion, poetry, and song to evoke memories of Yuletides past. Dec 16-17, 7:30 pm, BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts (2055 Purcell

IMPROV AGAINST HUMANITY The Fictionals present a holiday-themed edition of the comedy show inspired by cult-hit card game Cards Against Humanity. Dec 16, 8-10 pm, Rio Theatre (1660 E. Broadway). Tix $12/10, info www.thefictionals.com/. GOH BALLET’S THE NUTCRACKER Goh Ballet presents the classic Christmas ballet about a young girl and a gift that comes to life. Dec 17-22, 7:30-9:30 pm, The Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts (777 Homer). Tix $35-100, info www.gohnutcracker.com/. CHRISTMAS WITH CHOR LEONI Chor Leoni performs favourite carols, Renaissance motets, sing-alongs, Biebl’s Ave Maria, and a new carol by Terre Roche. Dec 18, 4:30 pm, 8 pm, St. Andrew’s–Wesley United Church (1022 Nelson). The concert also runs Dec 19, 2 pm, at the West Vancouver United Church. Tix $10-40, info www.chorleoni.org/concerts-events/events/christmas-chor-leoni/. A DYLAN THOMAS CHRISTMAS The Vancouver Chamber Choir presents a concert of English, German, and other holiday songs as well as a performance of Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales. Dec 18, 8 pm, Shaughnessy Heights United Church (1550 W. 33rd). Tix $27.50-32, info www.vancouverchamberchoir.com/. LIVE OUTDOOR NATIVITY PLAY Experience the mystery of the birth of Jesus, pet the animals, and listen to a choir. Dec 19, 1-3 pm, St. John’s Shaughnessy Church (1490 Nanton). Free admission, info www.sjs.net/.

on the web!

For up-to-the-minute, searchable Arts listings on your phone, visit

www.straight.com

A CHRISTMAS REPRISE XIII The Vancouver Cantata Singers present a concert of traditional carols and a few newer holiday compositions. Dec 19, 2 pm, Holy Rosary Cathedral (646 Richards (at Dunsmuir)). Tix $30/20/10, info www. vancouvercantatasingers.com/. THE LAUDATE SINGERS All-ages Christmas concert. Dec 19, 2-3 pm, West Vancouver Memorial Library (1950 Marine Dr., West Van). Free admission, info www. westvanlibrary.ca/. A VERY SINFONIA FAMILY CHRISTMAS The Lions Gate Sinfonia performs a seasonal, sacred, and secular selection, ranging from Handel’s Messiah to family-friendly hits. Dec 19, 7:30 pm, Centennial Theatre (2300 Lonsdale Ave., North Van). Tix $12-39, info www.lionsgatesinfonia.com/. A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS The Vancouver Chamber Choir presents a concert performance of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Includes English, German, and other holiday songs. Dec 19, 8 pm, Shaughnessy Heights United Church (1550 W. 33rd). Tix $10-32, info www.vancouver chamberchoir.com/. JOY! A SENSATIONAL CELEBRATION: CHRISTMAS CONCERT A full orchestra and a 40-voice choir perform music ranging from gospel to traditional to contemporary. Dec 20, 9-10:30 am, 11 am–12:30 pm, Canadian Memorial United Church (W. 15th and Burrard). Free admission, info www.canadianmemorial.org/. STILLE NACHT: A GALLERY SINGERS CHRISTMAS The Gallery Singers present an afternoon of German Christmas music and traditional favourites. Dec 20, 3 pm, Redeemer Lutheran Church (1499 Laurier). Tix $18/9, info www.gallerysingers.ca/. FESTIVE CANTATAS: PRAETORIUS CHRISTMAS VESPERS Early Music Vancouver, in partnership with the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Early Music Guild of Seattle, and Victoria’s Early Music Society of the Islands, presents a concert of Michael Praetorius’s work. Dec 20, 3 pm, Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (6265 Crescent Rd., UBC). Tix $17.50-66, info www.earlymusic.bc.ca/. THE SINGING HEART The Phoenix Chamber Choir presents a Christmas concert featuring new music and old favourites. Dec 20, 7:30 pm, Ryerson United Church (2195 W. 45th). Tix free to $25, info www.phoenixchoir.ca/. VOC SWEET SOUL GOSPEL CHRISTMAS Checo Tohomaso and the dynamic VOC Sweet Soul Gospel Choir mix together the sounds of soul, gospel, R&B, jazz, Hawaiian, calypso, and reggae to celebrate the Christmas season. Dec 22, 7:30 pm, St. Andrew’s–Wesley United Church (1022 Nelson). Tix $20/15/10, info www.vocsoulgospelchoir.com/.

2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS THE NUTCRACKER Ballet BC presents Alberta Ballet in the classic holiday ballet about a young girl and her magical Christmas gift. Includes live music by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Dec 29-31, Queen Elizabeth Theatre (650 Hamilton). Tix $35-110, info www.balletbc. com/performance/the-nutcracker/.

straight choices

ar ts/ timeout THEATRE DANCE MUSIC COMEDY LITERARY EVENTS ET CETERA GALLERIES MUSEUMS OUT OF TOWN

PEACE ON EARTH The Vancouver Cantata Singers have the perfect cure for mall feet: an afternoon concert of holiday carols and other gems held in the heart of the shopping madness. Feel lucky if you can get tickets to their annual Christmas Reprise at Holy Rosary Cathedral this Saturday (December 19) at 2 p.m. The program includes Francis Poulenc’s Salve Regina, “O Tannenbaum”, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”, and its rousing traditional closer: Franz Biebl’s rendition of “Ave Maria”.

< < < < < < < DANCE < 2THIS WEEK <

THEATRE 2OPENINGS MURDER MYSTERY DINNER Event sees professional actors put a comedic spin on the classic whodunnit. Dec 17, 7-10 pm, Ten Ten Tapas (1010 Beach Ave). Tix $68, info www.tententapas.com/. LOOSE CANNONS 2 Instant Theatre presents an improvised action-movie blockbuster about two mismatched cops who can’t seem to get along. Dec 17-19, 8-9:30 pm, Havana Theatre (1212 Commercial). Tix $10/8, info www.instanttheatre.com/shows/.

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

www.straight.com

2ONGOING

SAUDADE Interdisciplinary performance inspired by the postwar Berlin in Wim Wenders’s Wings of Desire and the futuristic dystopia of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. Dec 17-19, 8-9 pm, SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (149 W. Hastings). Tix $25/10, info www.sfuwoodwards.ca/. MIXED NUTS Arts Umbrella Dance Company presents a modern, energetic retelling of classic holiday ballet The Nutcracker. Dec 18, 7 pm; Dec 19, 2 pm; Dec 19, 7 pm, Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton). Tix $15, info www.artsumbrella. com/events/mixed-nuts/.

MUSIC 2THIS WEEK EDMAR CASTANEDA AND DAFNIS PRIETO Music in the Morning presents music by Edmar Castaneda and Dafnis Prieto. Dec 16-18, 10:30-11:30 am, Vancouver Academy of Music (1270 Chestnut). Tix $35/33/16, info www.music inthemorning.org/.

VIVALDI’S FOUR SEASONS Violinist Vadim Gluzman leads the VSO in a performance of Mozart’s Divertimento in D Major and Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Kancheli’s Eine kleine Daneliade, and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Dec 18-19, 8 pm, Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (6265 Crescent Rd., UBC). Tix $26.75-66, info 604876-3434, www.vancouversymphony.ca/.

COMEDY 2JUST ANNOUNCED ADAM CAROLLA American comedian, actor, radio personality, TV host, and author holds a live podcast taping of The Adam Carolla Show. Apr 22, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix on sale Dec 18, 10 am, $38 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

2ONGOING LAFFLINES COMEDY CLUB 530 Columbia St., New Westminster, 604-5252262, www.lafflines.com/. 2DINO ARCHIE Dec 18-19 2GLENN WOOL, KYLE JONES, RON VAUDRY Dec 31 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 & 10:30 pm. Cover $8 Tue, $10 Wed, $15 Thu, $18 Fri, $20 Sat. 2KEVIN BANNER Dec 17-19 2DINO ARCHIE, KYLE BOTTOM, CHARLIE DEMERS, DARCY MICHAEL Dec 31 2ILIZA SCHLESINGER Jan 14-16 2BRYAN CALLEN Jan 21-23 2DEBRA DIGIOVANNI Jan 28-30

2THIS WEEK

ACTIVE FICTION PROJECT Self-guided stories are hidden in public spaces for readers to discover by walking or biking through the same neighborhood in which the story unfolds. To Dec 31, Main & E. 28th (216 E. 28th). Info www.activefiction project.com/.

KEVIN BANNER Vancouver-based standup comedian performs a solo show. Dec 17-19, The Comedy MIX (1015 Burrard, Century Plaza Hotel & Spa). Tix $20/18/15, info www.thecomedymix.com/. FRESH FACES COMEDY SLAM WITH DYLAN RHYMER New comedy talent competes for cash and prizes. Dec 17, 8 pm, Lafflines Comedy Club (530 Columbia Street). Tix $10/5, info www.lafflines.com/. LACHLAN PATTERSON Canadian-born comedian and actor performs a solo show. Dec 20, 8 pm, Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton). Tix $26.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticketmaster.ca/.

LITERARY EVENTS 2THIS WEEK READ ME A STORY EXHIBITION Explore a multicultural collection of folktales and fairy tales from around the world, interact with gigantic murals illustrating timeless folktales, and reserve your classroom or youth group for free B.C. curriculum-relevant workshops. To Dec 16, Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre (183

VANCOUVER TELLERS: WE TELL STORIES Hear stories from Philomena Jordan, Mia Zhou, Rita Taylor, Chen Ha, and Ann Linton. Dec 20, 7-9 pm, St. Mark’s Church (1805 Larch). Tix $7, info www.vancouvertellers.com/.

ET CETERA 2THIS WEEK KOOZA Cirque du Soleil presents writerdirector David Shiner’s production that uses acrobatics and clowning to tell the story of a loner in search of his place in the world. To Dec 27, Concord Pacific Place (88 Pacific). Tix from $45 at www.cirquedusoleil. com/, info www.cirquedusoleil.com/. LOVE MUSICALLY Off Key Improv presents a musical tribute to the holiday movie Love Actually. Dec 16-20, Studio

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VANCOUVER THEATRESPORTS LEAGUE Some of the world’s most daring and innovative improv. Christmas Queen 2 (every Wed, Thu, Fri, and Sat, 7:30 pm; every Sun, 2 pm, 7:30 pm); Improv After Dark (every Fri and Sat, 11:15 pm); Off Leash (every Wed and Thu, 9:15 pm); TheatreSports (every Fri and Sat, 9:30 pm). Dec 16-23, The Improv Centre

CHINA ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT GROUP PRESENTS HUAJIN DANCE DRAMA ENSEMBLE OF SHANXI ACADEMY OF ARTS

THE DAISY THEATRE Renowned puppeteer provocateur Ronnie Burkett and his resident company of over 40 marionettes perform unique shows. To Dec 20, The Cultch (1895 Venables). Tix from $20, info www.thecultch.com/.

AN EPIC TALE OF POWER, PASSION AND THE PEKING OPERA TOLD THROUGH DANCE

“[Opera Warriors’] performances are best measured in megawatts.”

MATCH GIRL Port Moody’s Rebel Haunt Theatre partners with Stone’s Throw Productions to present a new play by Sarah Dixon. Based on the story by Hans Christian Andersen. To Dec 18, 7:25-7:45 pm, Pacific Theatre (1440 W. 12th). Info www.pacifictheatre.org/.

22ND ANNUAL

— THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

THE WIZARD OF OZ Gateway Theatre presents a reinterpretation of the classic 1939 film about a young girl who travels to a magical land and must find her way back home. To Jan 3, 8-11 pm, Gateway Theatre (6500 Gilbert Rd., Richmond). Tix $48/20, info www.gatewaytheatre.com/wizard/.

CHELSEA HOTEL: THE SONGS OF LEONARD COHEN Six performers play 17 different instruments in a rollicking tribute to Canadian author, poet, and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. To Jan 9, Firehall Arts Centre (280 E. Cordova). Tix from $23, info www.firehallartscentre.ca/.

Roundhouse Mews). Free admission, info www.readmeastory.ca/.

YUK YUK’S COMEDY CLUB 2837 Cambie, 604-696-9857, www.yukyuks.com/. Comedy club with amateur night Wed at 8 pm, talent showcase Thu at 8 pm, headliners Fri-Sat at 7 pm and 9:30 pm. Cover $7 Wed, $10 Thu, $20 Fri-Sat.

PETER AND THE STARCATCHER The Arts Club Theatre Company presents director Rick Elice’s adaptation of Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson’s Peter Pan prequel. Music by Wayne Barker. To Dec 27, Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre (162 W.1st). Tix from $29, info 604687-1644, www.artsclub.com/.

SLEEPING BEAUTY MUSICAL PANTOMIME Metro Theatre presents writer-director Catherine Morrison’s tale of a cursed princess rescued by a tech-savvy prince. To Jan 2, 7 pm, Metro Theatre (1370 SW Marine). Tix $27/24/17, info www.metrotheatre.com/.

(1502 Duranleau, Granville Island). Tix $8-22, info www.vtsl.com/.

Saturday/Sunday, December 19, 20 Heritage Hall, 3102 Main @ 15th Ave.

TWO PERFORMANCES ONLY! CANADIAN PREMIERE JANUARY 5 & 6, 2016 QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE TICKETS FROM $28* 1.855.985.ARTS (2787) | TICKETMASTER.CA | OPERAWARRIORS.COM MEDIA SPONSORS

50+ vendors Hours: Sat/Sun 11 am - 5 pm $3-5 door donation to Syrian Refugee Fund See www.soundsandfuries.com/faire “A taste of BC’s nest Women Artisans”

DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 35

Arts time out

from previous page

straight choices

1398 (1398 Cartwright, Granville Island). Tix $18, info www.offkeyimprov.com/.

GALLERIES VANCOUVER ART GALLERY 750 Hornby, 604-662-4719, www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/. 2NEXT: A SERIES OF ARTIST PROJECTS FROM THE PACIFIC RIM (Vancouver-based artist Christos Dikeakos considers the economic and cultural values involved in transactions of Northwest Coast art) to Jan 31 2EMBRACING CANADA: LANDSCAPES FROM KRIEGHOFF TO THE GROUP OF SEVEN (exhibition surveys the history of artistic engagement with the Canadian landscape from c. 1840 to 1940, a period that produced many Canadian artists) to Jan 24

MUSEUMS MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY 6393 NW Marine Dr., UBC, 604-822-5087, www.moa. ubc.ca/. 2CESNA EM, THE CITY BEFORE THE CITY (one of three unified exhibitions that connect Vancouverites with the ancient village and burial site upon which Vancouver was built. Highlights include soundscapes and original videography) to Dec 30 2(IN)VISIBLE: THE SPIRITUAL WORLD OF TAIWAN THROUGH CONTEMPORARY ART (works by seven contemporary Taiwanese artists who explore the coexistence of modernity and tradition while showcasing the significance of the spiritual world of Taiwan) to Apr 3 MUSEUM OF VANCOUVER 1100 Chestnut, 604-736-4431, www.museumofvancouver. ca/. 2CESNA EM, THE CITY BEFORE THE CITY (one of three unified exhibitions that

STRING HEAVEN It’s one of the most magical holiday concerts on the roster: centuries-old music, period costumes, historical instruments, and candlelight combine at Winter Harp. The songs range from familiar carols to Celtic, medieval, world, and Spanish tunes, and along with Celtic and classical harps, you’ll hear drums, tambourines, temple bells, flutes, and a haunting bass psaltery and Swedish nyckelharpa. Concerts this year happen Wednesday and Thursday (December 16 and 17) at the BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts at Capilano University in North Vancouver; Saturday (December 19) at St. Andrew’s–Wesley United Church; and Sunday (December 20) at the ACT in Maple Ridge. Prepare to be transported back, wa-a-a-y back, to Christmas past. connect Vancouverites with the ancient village and burial site upon which Vancouver was built) to Dec 30

OUT OF TOWN 2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS AMY SCHUMER American superstar comic and actor, star of TV’s Inside Amy Schumer, performs a New Year’s Eve comedy show. Dec 31, 8 pm, Key Arena (305 Harrison St., Seattle, WA).

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Tix US$146/75.50/55.50/40.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticket master.ca/.

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

FOOD

Butter Baked Goods owner Rosie Daykin shares simple recipes in her cookbook Butter Celebrates! (below left); Last Crumb Bakery’s Joanne Lee loves how her treats (right) delight people. Amanda Siebert photo.

A taste of the holiday season

to open a bakery—the joy can buy jujubes or make your own marshmallows that people receive when and add those on; it’s super fun.” you make something. It If you’d like to make seasonal sweets to give away makes people so happy.” but don’t have the culinary chops of the pros, stay What better holiday gift, calm. The experts have plenty of advice for novices. then, than a batch of fresh“Think of something simple in terms of recily baked goodness? The pes; don’t go for the crazy Linzer cookies with Lees and other top Van- homemade jam,” Waterfall says. “If you don’t couver bakers say you can’t have much time or you don’t have a KitchenAid go wrong with something [mixer], buy butter cookies and dip them in melthomemade and delicious. ed chocolate or personalize them somehow.” Even if you aren’t an expert baker, the pros offer advice on “I love making people Rosie Daykin, owner of Butter Baked Goods how to make some of the most festive gifts for Christmas cakes,” says Lee, who notes and Café, suggests using a simple recipe like one Growing up in Dunbar, Joanne Lee remem- that the Last Crumb pays homage to her mom, who for pecan shortbread, which she shares in her bers feeling envious of her classmates’ lunches in died of pancreatic cancer six years ago. (“My mom latest cookbook, Butter Celebrates!: A Year of BY GAIL JOHN SON elementary school. It’s not that the Vancouver loved my banana bread,” she says. “We talked about Sweet Recipes to Share With Family and Friends. native didn’t like the egg tarts and coconut buns opening a bakery when she was in the hospital, and “If you’re thinking of something seasonal, this her Chinese-born mom lovingly packed in her it gave her strength. She was really excited about couldn’t be easier to make,” Daykin says on the brown bag; it was more that she found herself it.”) “Regardless of what type of occasion it line from her West Side café. “There are salivating over treats that were foreign to her is, people are always going to be so deminimal ingredients, and it comes family, like brownies and chocolate-chip cook- lighted if you make something yourself. together so quickly. It’s very rewarding Check out… ies. The second she tasted one of those North It takes time and effort, and people STRAIGHT.COM and so delicious. American standbys, she was hooked. She was know that and appreciate that.” “My advice to anybody at this time Visit our website about eight when she made her first batch of Eleanor Waterfall, who heads of year is don’t overextend yourself,” for related content and to comment on brownies, and that culinary venture launched Cadeaux Bakery, admits that few she says. “I like to put out a platthis story her lifelong love of baking. people give baked goods to her as a ter with a variety of baked goodies A former HR professional, Lee turned that gift—not many have the gumption to every year, so I will make one treat a hobby into a career three years ago, opening try to impress the former pastry chef of night over two weeks or a week and a half. the Last Crumb Bakery and Café on Main Lumière, Chambar, and other restaurants—but That makes things very manageable. And know Street with her sister, Julianne. she says she’d be thrilled to receive some. your strengths. I want you to try new recipes, “When I was little, I used to get issues of “When I receive homemade baked goods, it’s but if there’s something you’re really good at, do Homemaker magazine,” Lee recalls during an one of my favourite gifts,” Waterfall says on the that. I’m pretty sure Santa would be happy with interview at the pair’s airy spot. “I would always line from her Gastown shop. “When people bake a plate of chocolate-chip cookies.” get so excited looking at the recipes.…I started for a Christmas gift, you can really taste the love.” You may want to emulate Daykin’s Yum Balls, making my own birthday cakes. Waterfall recommends making a Yule log for Waterfall’s Christmas tree built out of sugar “I had a fascination with North Amer- a standout edible present. cookies, or the Lees’ mini gingerbread-men cakes ican, nostalgic, comfort baked goods and “It’s super festive,” she says. “You can put some iced with chocolate ganache, but keep in mind started getting obsessed,” she adds. “I love delicious fillings in the middle. You can make it any that festive presents don’t have to be sweet. that baking is delicious and homey and comfort- way you want and decorate it any way you want: it “You could make phyllo shells or use premade ing. I loved the fact I could churn something out can be really elegant or rustic, and it’s one of those ones and maybe put tapenade in them, or fi ll in a couple of hours and it would make people things you can get the kids to help with. It’s kind of them with cream cheese and put smoked salmon see next page so happy. That’s the biggest reason I wanted like a gingerbread house where anything goes. You

THINGS TO DO

FOOD High five

Meal ticket THE FORCE AND THE CASK It’s Star Wars everything this week—including beer. Yes, Cinema Public House (901 Granville Street) is holding The Cask Awakens—a Star Wars– inspired cask night on Thursday (December 17). The beer comes care of local craft brewer Parallel 49 and Fuggles & Warlock Craftworks. The sleeves, at six bucks, are limited, so may the Force be with you. And this from the management: “Please check all lightsabers and jet blasters at the door. Use of Jedi mindtricks on the staff is strictly prohibited.” -

The best independent chocolatiers to hit for gifts

CHOCOLATAS (151–1689 Johnston Street) Every box opens to a world of art, from truffles that look like marbles to ones bedecked with snowflakes.

XOXOLAT (1271 Homer Street) Foodies can feast on single-origin chocolates from a boutique that really knows its key ingredient.

BETA5 (413 Industrial Avenue) Truly unique concoctions, such as the metallic-looking holiday balls in flavours including absinthe and eggnog.

CHOCOLATE ARTS (1620 West 3rd Avenue) Artisans bring a West Coast vibe to ganache with local ingredients like cranberries and pumpkin.

SCHOKOLADE (2263 East Hastings Street) Signature items include the Dark Brandy Truffle, the Dark Mah-Jong with orange zest, Dark Pear William, and Strawberry Pepper chocolates.

Cocktail of the week

SAINT NICK This delightfully warm cocktail from casual seafood spot Supermarine (1685 Yew Street) is a refreshing twist on the standard menu of holiday drinks. Its bourbon base offers a toasty antidote to cold temperatures, while the addition of Italian bitters, lemon, and Strange Fellows Brewing’s Talisman Pale Ale keeps the flavours fun, light, and fit for both beer and cocktail lovers. Fun fact: the cocktail’s name is an ode to Strange Fellows’ tasting-room manager Nick Black, though it also works well for the season. -

DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 37

FOOD

hether you’re slurping oysters or snacking on popcorn, sparkling wine is a little more likely to flow this time of year. ’Tis the season and all that, right? I have a few standbys that I buy semiregularly, including the citrusy and zippy Parés Baltà Brut Cava from Spain ($18.99, B.C. Liquor Stores) and Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars’ stylish and toasty Gold Label Brut ($23.99, blue mountainwinery.com/) when I feel like going local. Of course, with the celebratory nature of the holidays, we sometimes dig a bit deeper into our pockets and spoil ourselves, so here are some suggestions for when you’re Bubble up with Parés Baltà Brut Cava doing just that. or Moët & Chandon Dom Perignon. In terms of going the traditional Champagne route, Moët & Chandon you’ll enjoy aromas of fresh sourdough Brut Impérial NV ($60.99, B.C. Liquor baguette and lemon zest, then bright Stores) has long been revered for both and juicy red and green apples tumconsistency and quality. I occasion- bling across the palate. If money were no object this seaally find with Champagne, or other traditional-method sparklers from son, one of the bottles of Champagne around the world, that the form can I’d be reaching for is Moët & Chandon overwhelm the flavour. You get all of Dom Perignon 2004 Iris van Herpen Meta mor phosis the sparkle, but if Brut, available at that fizziness leans B.C. Liquor Stores toward the aggressive side, you and private liKurtis Kolt can lose some of quor stores, startthe more delicate nuances. The Brut ing around the $200 mark. I recently Impérial’s combination of Pinot Noir had the opportunity to try this wine and Pinot Meunier, rounded out with a (along with the Brut Impérial, above) smaller fraction of Chardonnay, allows at a Moët & Chandon dinner hosted the fuller-flavoured Champagne grape at Main Street’s Sun Sui Wah Seafood varieties to take centre stage. After the Restaurant. Not only is this cuisine second fermentation and the yeast and known for bold, diverse flavours sediment have been disgorged from stretching from salty to spicy to sweet, the bottle, Champagne is commonly people often share a number of dishes topped up with liqueur d’expédition, a among themselves, so a dynamic mix of wine and sugar that comes in wine with broad pairing potential is various formulas, which adds a touch fairly important. Fans of Champagne of sweetness to the wine. In this case, will often say that it goes with everywe still end up with a dry sparkling, but thing, and it certainly embraced our with nine grams per litre of that mix, Chinese feast well. The aromatics of or dosage, added in, the wine finishes this single-vintage Champagne have with a nice roundness to it—a spot of a prettiness to them: lemon blossom honey, if you will. Before that finish, and even a wisp of vanilla breezily

The Bottle

waft out of the glass. It’s quite lifted on the palate as well; lemongrass, pink grapefruit pith, and lime leaf are carried out with a tiny dollop of marmalade, adding a touch of weight that makes it a fit for dishes carrying hearty flavour. The finish can hardly be called that, as the wine seemingly goes on forever, barely trailing off of the palate. Even the packaging is brilliant, designed by Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen. Shimmering with green tones, it would certainly increase the festive quotient of any holiday table. This being a limitededition wine, only a handful of bottles are scattered across various government liquor stores, and at press time there were still a few of them (and a pink version, too) at Marquis Wine Cellars, a store that’s no stranger to killer Champagne. And now for something completely different! Coates & Seely Brut Reserve NV ($65 and up, private liquor stores) is the first traditional-method wine from the U.K. to be offered in our market in many years. Yup, the U.K. The wine’s Hampshire home harbours a chalky soil quite similar to what’s found in Champagne, and with global warming allowing optimal ripeness in the vineyard, the relatively niche category of English fizz is gaining respect the world over. Coates & Seely is a boutique winery producing just over 5,000 cases annually, and it’s been turning a lot of heads for crafting wines that many say stand up to good-quality Champagne with ease. Orchard fruit, elderflower, and a wee bit of earthiness make for quite the intriguing drop. With production being tiny, availability is definitely limited. Bottles have recently been spotted at Granville Liquor Store, as well as Liberty Wine Merchants’ Granville Island and Park Royal locations. Keep an eye out for a jaw-droppingly delicious rosé from the same winery, hitting our shores early in 2016. Happy New Year, indeed! -

STRAIGHT WRAPPED FOR THE HOLIDAYS

FOR THE WINE LOVER

from previous page

on top with a caper,” says chef and Gourmet Warehouse owner Caren McSherry by phone. “You could get mini rounds of rye bread or buy mini scones and put crème fraîche with smoked salmon and a little bit of dill on top. This time of year is an overload of sweet; a lot of people just want to have a glass of wine and have some savoury items, which is nice. “You could make up some Bolognese spaghetti sauce, put it in a jar, and tie it with raffia, then give a beautiful box of pasta to go with it,” she adds. “If you wanted to go overboard, you could put some Parmesan cheese in. You could do an olive medley—buy four or five different olives: some green pitted, some Kalamata, some Cerignola, some Castelvetrano—put them all in a bowl, mix together with some really good olive oil, put some rosemary sprigs in there, cut a lemon into wedges and put those in there, then put that in little jars for a homemade olive mix. It doesn’t take time, and you don’t have to spend a lot of money.” For those who are stuck on sweets, McSherry offers this quick and easy recipe: melt one cup of good-quality chocolate, then add a cup of toasted and slivered almonds and two cups of cornflakes. Mix it all together, press it into mini muffin moulds, and top each with a sprinkle of gold-leaf flakes and a drizzle of caramel sauce, and voilà: “It takes five minutes; it’s so easy, then you’re done. The texture is crunchy and the flavour of intense chocolate is beautiful.” Whatever you decide to make for the friends and loved ones on your list (check out the Last Crumb’s recipe for sugar cookies on Straight.com), be sure to present your edible creations with some slick wrapping. Inventive packaging will transform even the plainest baking into a gift that wows. “If I was giving baked things, I would give the pan you baked them with,” McSherry says. “If you did madeleines, I would give the madeleine mould and the recipe, and if the

budget permits, a nice plate to serve them on. With gingerbread men, I would give the cookie cutter and the sprinkles that go with them and a festive plate to match.” Lee suggests putting cookies, cupcakes, squares, bars, and other consumable items in glass Weck jars or Bernardin jars; add a sticker or a gift tag and some ribbon. Daykin likes using interesting containers such as bamboo steamers, which you can buy at the dollar store. “You could stack two or three on top of each other, each with a different treat, and tie them up with a big bow,” she says. “That extra step really adds to the gift.” You could also place your baking in a wicker basket lined with a beautiful piece of linen, Waterfall says. “The way to make your Christmas baking look awesome is packaging,” she says. “When you’re giving something homemade, if you can add something handcrafted too, like a handmade wreath or even some holly and mistletoe, it really adds a lot.” If you’re really pressed for time or completely lacking in culinary confidence, Lee has more ideas. Make hot-chocolate mix by combining good-quality cocoa and sugar; alternatively, toss together dry ingredients for cookie or pancake mixes, with instructions on what liquids people need to add. You could also make your own tea bags, using coffee filters, staples, twine, and loose tea; a collection of different tea bags could also be nicely packaged. “You can get cute little boxes from Urban Source or use Chinese takeout boxes,” Lee says. “You could get kids to decorate them and grandparents would love it. “Dress it up with cello [cellophane]; cello bags are your friends,” she adds. “You can get Avery labels at Staples— you don’t have to wait for your order to come from Etsy—and make your gift more personalized. You could have a cookie swap: get four people together; everyone makes one type and you walk away with a mix. It’s a timesaving idea and makes Christmas baking less daunting.” -

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FOOD EDITORIAL

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Champagne for everyone!

Holiday season

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38 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015

2015

MUSIC

There’s been a lot of nattering of late that re-

tail outlets and radio stations have begun playing holiday music too early in the year. Blasphemy! As any right-thinking person knows, the appropriate time to start listening to Christmas music is October 1, which also happens to be the traditional date of the year’s first viewing of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Mind you, it helps if you consider “Kidnap the Sandy Claws” and “Jack’s Obsession” to be perfectly acceptable Christmas songs, and Thanksgiving and Halloween mere way stations on the road to the main event. You know, Jack Skellington may have been a mentally imbalanced ghoul who abducted Kris Kringle and nearly ruined a beloved holiday for millions of children, but if he’d had a heart, it would have been in the right place. He saw the joy of Christmas and wanted a bit of it for himself. Who can blame the guy? In the end, he got a lesson that we could all stand to learn: don’t try to control Christmas; just let it unfold as it will. Your cousin Mark is always going to be a creepy douchenozzle who deserves to have his chestnuts roasted on an open fire, you’ll never find the keys to a cherry-red 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback in your stocking, and you’re always going

Sounds a lot like Christmas

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings wanted to give It’s a Holiday Soul Party the truly royal treatment, so they recruited a few additional Dap-Queens. LEANN RIMES

Today Is Christmas Last year LeAnn Rimes gave us the bizarrely titled EP One This year’s batch of holiday LPs includes brassy soul, Christmas: Chapter 1, which Gallic chestnuts, and sublime choral compositions featured the most delightto run out of eggnog far too soon. Also, someone is fully, deliriously unhinged rendition of “I Want a virtually guaranteed to humiliate you by bringing Hippopotamus for Christmas” imaginable. That out all your awkward-years school photos. (And by subtitle was evidently a red herring, seeing as how “someone”, we mean your mom.) Like that Adele instead of One Christmas: Chapter 2 we now have the perfectly pleasant Today Is Christmas. Apart Dazeem song says, just let it go. What you can control is the soundtrack to from a few seconds of yodelling on a somewhat your festivities, at least in the sanctity of your manic brass-addled version of “Must Be Santa”, own home. Don’t want to suffer through yet an- there isn’t much here that will have you questioning other Auto-Tuned version of that goddamn awful Rimes’s sanity. That’s kind of a shame, because she Wham! song? You don’t have to. There are many, does crazy so well. > JOHN LUCAS many other choices out there, and some of them JANN ARDEN A Jann Arden Christmas won’t even make you want to heave the stereo Ms. Arden has teamed up with producer into the fireplace and watch it go up like a Yule Bob Rock for a decidedly mainstream log. Sorting out the tinsel from the trash can be a daunting task, which is why every year we collection that adds John Lennon’s “Happy X-Mas give this gift to you: we’ve listened to all the new (War Is Over)” to the usual blah-blah-blah. Some Christmas albums released this year and sorted arrangements might pique interest, like a Coldplaythem into three categories. Here’s how our rat- esque “Silver Bells”, but it’s all very “tasteful” in that ing system works: the good stuff gets a wrapped soul-crushing, CBC-anointed way. Metallica’s Lars gift, the so-so stuff gets a pair of tighty-whiteys, Ulrich guests on a smoky “Blue Christmas” (not and anything slugged with a Charlie Brown tree really). > ADRIAN MACK is only fit for Oogie Boogie to hear. VARIOUS ARTISTS The Number SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS 1 Jazz Christmas Album There are It’s a Holiday Soul Party Breathing new life plenty of good Christmas jazz cominto something as overplayed as “White pilations out there—the jitterbugging Yule B’ Christmas” isn’t easy, but as sure as James Swingin’ and Verve’s mellow Christmas for Lovers Brown died on Baby Jesus’s birthday, Shar- spring immediately to mind—but this one is alon Jones & the Dap-Kings are up to the job on It’s a legedly the greatest of them all. And it’s not bad Holiday Soul Party. Backed by her fabulously retro (it’s hard to go wrong with the likes of Ella FitzgerDap-Kings, the queen of modern throwback soul ald and Louis Armstrong), even if it does contain arrives ready to sweat on her first Xmas-flavoured Antônio Carlos Jobim’s starkly depressing “Looks outing. Those who demand something shiny and Like December” and the Puppini Sisters’ loungednew for Christmas will be thrilled to punch up their up and thoroughly unnecessary café-jazz take on Merry Xmas iPod playlist with the brass-bombed that goddamn awful Wham! song. > JL “8 Days of Hannukah” and impressively swinging KYLIE MINOGUE Kylie Christmas “Ain’t No Chimneys in the Projects”. As for purFor all of her platinum records, Kylie ists, sorry, but “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” Minogue has occasionally played is reborn here as a Chicago-style bump-n-grind, while “Silent Night” bleeds gin-joint swagger. As for things edgy, recording with Nick Cave and un“White Christmas”, well, considering Sharon Jones leashing her inner stalker on the dance-floor is hosting, expect something that’s anything but detonator “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”. Despite a guitar-crunched duet with bad boy white-bread. > MIKE USINGER

CHECK THIS OUT

FINGER-LICKIN’ BAD Some marketing genius at KFC Australia thought it would be a good idea to congratulate Courtney Barnett on her Grammy nomination by giving her props in social-media updates promoting chicken burgers. Barnett is a very vocal vegetarian. As the kids say, #EpicFail.

KEITHMAS VI With each passing Christmas it looks more like Keith Richards might just outlast Santa Claus. And what better way to help celebrate the 72nd birthday of rock’s most famous bad boy than by attending the sixth edition of the guaranteed-to-sell-out Keithmas at the Rickshaw on Friday (December 18)? Participants in this year’s Food Bank fundraiser include homegrown shit-disturbers Rich Hope & His Evil Doers, La Chinga, the Vicious Cycles, the Dahle Brothers, and the Ballantynes. Expect Jack-fuelled renditions of Stones classics, not to mention a raging hangover on Saturday morning. -

KC AND THE SUNSHINE BAND A Sun-

shine Christmas Strange feelings of affection for Harry Casey and his Miami-based disco hit machine are both normal and healthy—don’t let anyone tell you otherwise—but what do Floridians know from Christmas? Here, catchy if lazy originals (“The After Christmas Song”) are mingled with the standards (assuming that goddamn awful Wham! song is a standard), but the production? Ugh. I haven’t felt this digitally penetrated since my last prostate exam. Much love to the Sunshine Band, always, but I’m afraid this is not the way (I like it). > AM MINT CONDITION Healing Season Look, I enjoy wallowing in seasonal despondency as much as the next guy, but (with the exception of “Blue Christmas”) I draw the line at Christmas-themed breakup songs. That’s a mope too far, so Mint Condition’s slick R&B weepers “Not What I Wanted” and “Lonely Christmas” leave me colder than the Winter Warlock’s frozen heart. The group earns back a few points for turning in fine versions of James Brown’s “Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto” and Stevie Wonder’s “Someday at Christmas”. > JL BAND OF MERRYMAKERS Welcome

to Our Christmas Party Here’s a novel idea: a supergroup aiming for something more original than rerecording “We Are the World” with a hologram of Michael Jackson. Band of Merrymakers features plenty of grizzled industry vets—Semisonic’s Dan Wilson, Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath, and Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum—but they sound anything but jaded on this collection of seven originals see page 41

MUSIC Let’s talk about

You gotta see

Iggy Pop titled “Christmas Wrapping”, most of Kylie Christmas takes the safe road, with “Winter Wonderland” and “Let It Snow” scrubbed and buffed and Auto-Tuned until they gleam, and not in a good way. A plastic-sounding Minogue still trumps Christmas with Mariah Carey, but it’s hard not to wish the Aussie pop princess had gone slumming with Cave instead of resurrecting the corpse of Frank Sinatra for “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”. > MU

A-PLUS Beth Ditto of Gossip just got even cooler with the announcement that she’ll be launching a plus-size clothing line with designer Jean Paul Gaultier. No word if there will also be a jewellery line, but if so, can’t wait for the Heavy Cross necklace. NODES ’N’ STUFF You can’t keep deadmau5 down. The Toronto DJ-producer tweeted that, though bedridden with “thyroid/lymph node shit” last week, he snuck out of hospital, flew to Miami for a gig, and then returned. That’s badass, especially considering that he could have sent anyone in that mask. PRESIDENT FRESH PRINCE Will Smith said he might run for president of the U.S. just to ensure that Donald Trump doesn’t win. Smith once rapped about being able to beat Mike Tyson, so he’s obviously not scared to battle a full-fledged crazy. -

Fresh ’n’ local BLACKBERRY WOOD MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM BLACKBERRY WOOD (INDEPENDENT) The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York” is far from a happy song. A pair of young dreamers leave Ireland with visions of Broadway, only to end up a hopeless drunkard (him) and a hospitalized junkie (her). Having lost everything, they’re on the verge of losing each other—and on Christmas Eve, no less! Rather than wallow in the song’s inherent pathos, Blackberry Wood smartly casts it as an oddly triumphant blend of country and Dixieland brass. The band throws in some dub-style Tchaikovsky and a circus-jazz take on “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” for good measure. DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 39

FOOD

Stuffing a foodie’s stocking 33 Acres’ Varga gets Straight to the Pint

> BY L UC Y LA U

ooking gadgets abound for the foodies on your list, but which ones to buy? We dug up some fresh, last-minute finds that they may not already have in their cupboard.

> B Y A D RIAN MACK

traight to the Pint taps those on the frontlines of our booming local craft-beer industry for stories about biggest brewing successes, dream vacation spots, and which brand was always in the family fridge.

YES, IT CAN This isn’t your average

can opener—for one thing, not a single part of it spins. But that’s the beauty of the Japanese-style Gangy ($18): the neat, stationary design is safer to use and longer-lasting than its more runof-the-mill counterparts. Its bold red hue should prove instantly spottable in cramped drawers, and the can opener’s compact size also makes it ideal for outdoor cooking and camping trips. And in case you’re still not convinced, Gangy is dishwasher-safe and functions as a bottle opener, too. Available at Neighbour (125–12 Water Street).

FLAT OUT Joseph Joseph’s Adjustable

Rolling Pin (on sale for $26) is a godsend for both budding and pro chefs. The genius tool comes with four pairs of removable (and colour-coordinated) discs that lift the rolling surface to varying heights—from 2 to 10 millimetres—ensuring that every piece of dough is flattened to the required thickness. Etched into the pin’s beechwood is a width-measurement guide, so your cook can make perfectly sized pizzas, pie crusts, and more. Available at Hudson’s Bay (various locations).

ARE YOU David Varga, head brewer for 33 Acres Brewing Company.

WHO

YOUR DAD’S FAVOURITE BEER

The chef in your life will love (clockwise from left) Joseph Joseph’s Adjustable Rolling Pin, the Spirelli Spiral Slicer, and the Game Time digital timer.

Trying to wean off pasta? Discover the endless possibilities of vegetable noodles with the Spirelli Spiral Slicer ($30) by Gefu. Made from dishwasher-safe plastic and Japanese stainless-steel blades, the handheld slicer quickly cuts zucchini, carrots, and other firm veggies into clean julienne strips that are perfect for salads, stir-fries, and other healthy dishes. Its small size is ideal for more modest kitchens, and the protective finger guard makes it a HOT HANDS La Maison Simons’s safer alternative to the basic knife and Decorative Diamond Neoprene Oven board. Available at Ming Wo CookMitt ($7.50) is as functional as it is ware (various locations). stylish. The lightweight glove features a showstopping mosaic pattern and IN FLIGHT Know a frequent travbold red stitching, and its neoprene eller with an appreciation for fine construction and nonslip palm offer cocktails? Treat them to W&P Dea comfortable and protective fit. It’s sign’s Carry On Cocktail Kit ($30), the perfect piece for a domestic diva. which has everything you need to Available at Simons (1060 Park Royal craft two thirst-quenching oldfashioneds. Simply order a small South, West Vancouver). QUICK SPIN

40 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015

bottle of whisky once seated on the plane and combine it with the provided bitters and cane sugar, as indicated on the handy recipe card. The kit even comes with a fancy linen coaster. Available at Nineteen Ten (4366 Main Street). GAME TIME It’s not the Game Boy

Color your parents promised you in the ’90s (an ordeal you’re probably still seething about), but Gamago’s Game Time Digital Timer ($20) will definitely take you back to a simpler age, when your biggest challenge was getting that damn spaceship to launch on Tetris. Modelled after the classic handheld gaming system and equipped with a magnetic back, the easy-to-use timer attaches to any metal surface, freeing up counter space and adding a throwback touch to décor. Available at Front & Company (3772 Main Street). -

My father wasn’t very picky, to be honest; it was usually something fairly inexpensive. I remember a brand my dad drank called Uncle Ben’s, in the stubby bottles. Ben Ginter was the David Varga of 33 Acres Brewing owner of a brewery in Prince George Company. Amanda Siebert photo. before it became Pacific Western. We used to joke and call it “Uncle George” would be proud of before then, so this beer, as the picture of Ben Ginter kind was the first beer I brewed as a “pro”. of looked like my uncle. CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT MarryFIRST GO-TO BRAND I remem- ing my lovely wife. Sounds corny, but it ber drinking Canterbury Ale and is true. Those who have met her underBlack Wolf by the pitcher at the Pit stand—she is a gem! On a professional Pub at UBC on a fairly regular basis. level, I am proud to be brewing craft I somehow managed to drink from beer for almost 20 years. I am also very pitchers and get away with it. No idea proud to have worked and trained with how I managed to do it. some great people through the years, some who are still in the industry and I LIFE-CHANGING BEER BridgePort hope will be for a long time. Oh, I manIPA blew my mind the first time I tast- aged to turn lead into gold once. Forgot ed it. Still think it is a great cask beer; to write down how I did it… pity. ticks all the boxes in my book. DREAM DESTINATION I always felt

if I ended up visiting Spain, I would never leave. I’ve been to Japan a couple times, and I really like it there, too. Basically, if it has great cuisine, I’d be pretty happy.

I’D LOVE TO HAVE A BEER WITH

My grandfathers. Never met one of them, and the other passed away before I could get my act together as a younger man. Would be very happy to see them. This is a condensed version of

Whistler Straight to the Pint. Go to Straight. Brewing Premium Lager. Did not com for the full article and a bonus really do much home brewing that I video feature. FIRST BEER BREWED

Sounds like Christmas

SATURDAY DEC. 19 • DOORS 9PM

and four covers. “Snow Snow Snow” is infectious enough to make the normally pants-shittingly terrifying idea of driving the Coquihalla in December seem delightful, while “Gather Round” will thaw the heart of the most miserable of grinches. Christ, even “Jingle Bells” sounds fresher than fresh Whistler powder. Move over, Sufjan Stevens—you’ve got competition on the new-Christmas-classics front. > MU PENTATONIX That’s Christ-

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w/ Kalibo & Thomas Maxey & Guests

EVERY

mas to Me Oh, Christmas. So many questions. How does Santa Claus deliver toys to millions of kids all over the world without travelling at speeds fast The Dickens, you say! Robyn Hitchcock (featured on Christmas Time Again! enough to melt his face off and reby the dBs & Friends) often wanders around his garden in Victorian finery. duce his sleigh to cinders? How does CHRIS TOMLIN Adore: it’s sung in the language of souvlaki Jack Frost continue to get away with Christmas Songs of Worship and ekmek. If you’ve got a γιαγιά with nipping at people’s noses and not get In case you couldn’t tell eyebrows that would impress Yanni, cold-cocked? And how is it possible from the title, Chris Tom- Tales of Christmas is a no-brainer for a record that features only the hulin is one of those religious stocking stuffer. As for the rest of us, man voice to sound as grossly overproduced as the tooth-rotting That’s types—you know, the ones who are no matter how much you love that convinced that the rest of us are en- goddamn awful Wham! song, this is Christmas to Me does? > JL gaged in some sort of War on Christ- one tale that no one not named GeorTHE DBS & FRIENDS mas. I’ll forgive him for that, because gios Kyriacos Panayiotou needs to sit Christmas Time Again! Very ’tis the season, and because Adore is through. > MU possibly the greatest Christ- a live album that sounds as crisp and mas album you don’t own. polished as a studio recording. Sweet ASTROCOLOR Lit Up A remarkably silly project from Even if you do, this third suckling infant Jesus, can Tomlin Victoria, Lit Up appears reissue since 1986 contains yet more ever sing, and his band performs to be aimed at millennials new material, all of it great. Smart miraculously well. > JL labouring under the impression that originals by ’80s college-rock heroes MARIO FRANGOULIS Tales Sade somehow denotes “class”, but it the dBs or friends like Wes Lachot of Christmas How does one ends up sounding more like panpip(his Brian Wilson–esque “Christmas make seasonal standards no ing ’90s new-age dummies Enigma. Is the Only Time” is a highlight) sit one needs to hear sung for Ever-so-serious jazz-lite, trippitybeside well-chosen covers like Alex Chilton’s sincere, moonlit version of the five-millionth time sound new? hop, and midnight-sax-infused eleMel Tormé’s “The Christmas Song”, Well, if you’re Greek tenor Mario vator Muzak are all employed to atadded in ’93. A Mike (R.E.M.) Mills– Frangoulis, you rip through “Jingle tack the likes of “We Three Kings” led take on “Jesus Christ” gives this Bells” at a clip that suggests Greece (featuring Abi Rose), “Silent Night” decade’s model an even starrier Big has many problems, but finding (featuring Rykka), and an astoundStar feel, although the best addition cheap speed and coke isn’t one of ingly ill-advised foreplay-killer called to an already eccentric collection them. That’s hardly a big selling point, “Sugar Plums” (featuring some unmight come from Robyn Hitchcock, though. The classical crossover artist’s credited vocalist aiming too hard for who debates the relative merits (or “White Christmas” is torpedoed by sultry, and by that I mean your mom). not) of “The Day Before Boxing Day” borderline-comical smooth-jazz sax, Cheesy tat disguised as quality, sort with the hilariously gloomy voices in and the only thing interesting about of like an IKEA shelving unit. > AM a triple-sugared “Ave Maria” is that his head. > AM see next page

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Sounds like Christmas

from previous page

QUADRIGA

CONSORT

Winter’s Delights: Early Christmas Music and Carols From the British Isles This Austrian early-music outfit sounds convincingly British, what with all the harpsichords and recorders. As far as classical Christmas records go, this one leans considerably in the new-age direction in its arrangements, and it’ll be perfect for anyone whose holiday celebrations wouldn’t be complete without the sounds of Loreena McKennitt and Celtic Woman (and by that I mean your mom). > JL KENNY ROGERS Once Again It’s Christmas Things start off bizarrely, with the title track proving a worsethan-tequila-and-eggnog shitmix of CinemaScope strings, ultra-lounge vocal stylings, and high-plainsdrifter harmonica. And sadly, little improves from there on Once Again It’s Christmas, where “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “Little Drummer Boy” practically bleed corn syrup. It doesn’t help that Rogers—who is apparently about as religious as Richard Dawkins—grunts out lines like “The baby Jesus born this night” like he’s just chased a carton of Marlboros with a Texas mickey of Jim Beam. Never mind knowing when to hold ’em and fold ’em, sometimes you really gotta know when to run for the Bing Crosby. > MU DEBORAH ALLEN Rockin’ Little Christmas When people say they love all kinds of music except for country, this is the sort of thing they’re thinking of. I’m sure Deborah Allen is a nice lady, but you’re never going to get in my good books by starting off an album with “Please Come Home for Christmas”, a song forever tainted by association with those twin pillars of crap, the Eagles and Bon Jovi. It also doesn’t help that the throaty Allen’s

Kenny Rogers has a present to give you. (Spoiler: the box contains a $10 gift certificate for Kenny Rogers Roasters and a used CD copy of The Gambler.)

perfunctory attempts at rockin’ are themed extravaganzas, Rockin’ Ruabout as convincing as the beard on dolph is big and brassy, sometimes to the point of being totally obnoxthe Kingsgate Mall Santa. > JL ious. But if full-throttle big-band MIREILLE MATHIEU Noël rockabilly gets you off, the former Buttoned-up ’70s hottie Stray Cat and his Gretsch remain Mireille Mathieu keeps the next-best thing to an industrialslugging away in the time-honoured sized tub of Brylcreem, a white tux fashion, a Piaf knockoff for folks with with black leather piping, and dinonly a passing interest in music and no ner for two at the Cotton Club with use for tragedy. That slightly flat sten- the ghost of Gene Vincent. > MU torian warble is put to typically good use on her third Christmas album, DANIEL TAYLOR/THE TRINITY CHOIR Four Thousand stocked with pretty much the same material as the last two (“Noël Blanc”, Winter Bathed in the nat“Mon Beau Sapin”, et cetera). The big ural reverb of St. Albans the news is Gallic chestnut “Petit Papa Martyr Church in London, Noël”, presented here in a duet with England, the voices of the Trinity beloved Nazi collaborator Tino Rossi. Choir (a new group led by Canadian He’s been dead for over 30 years, so this countertenor and conductor Daniel must be a Christmas miracle. > AM Taylor) sound positively luminous performing choral masterworks by BRIAN SETZER OR- John Tavener, Thomas Tallis, and CHESTRA Rockin’ Ru- others. I don’t get to use the word dolph Following in magnificent nearly enough when the tradition of the Brian Setzer reviewing albums, but this one cerOrchestra’s previous Christmas- tainly warrants it. > JL -

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Yurie, Wtru, LeChance, Peligro Tropical & Marilyn Hue Photo Show

FRIDAY DECEMBER 18

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New licensing policies at Vancouver city hall will make it easier for promoters to put on dance-music events at alternative venues in town.

Policy brings EDM out of the underground > B Y KATE WIL SON

here are many things you don’t want to hear when dancing at 4 a.m. in a sweaty warehouse: “I hope the DJ plays Calvin Harris!” “Can I get on your shoulders?” “Watch me wring out my shirt!” But these words are still the worst: “Shut it down.” Thanks to city council, Vancouverites will, hopefully, never hear them again. Two years ago the city launched a pilot program for artistic events, offering licences for late-night activities in industrial spaces. Approvals ranged from the run-of-the-mill to the downright bizarre. (We’re talking full-scale clown showcases.) But the greatest beneficiaries were Vancouver’s underground dance nights. Recognizing electronic events as artistic ventures, city hall licensed three EDM shows per month per venue. Council has now voted the licence into law. The decision comes as a great victory for promoter Matt Troy. As executive director of the Vancouver Art & Leisure Society, Troy is a leading light for the policy. “Vancouver Art & Leisure started when a group of young people tried to create new experiences in unconventional locations,” he explains from his Vancouver home. “We couldn’t really understand why, say, a poetry reading at a bookstore was any different to dancing in industrial spaces.” Surprisingly, city council agreed. And its decision will impact Vancouver’s EDM scene. Coun. Heather Deal is clear about the program’s objectives. “We wanted to make it accessible and affordable for organizations,” she says on the phone from her City Hall office. “Parties are fine as long as they’re well managed. And the licence opens up thousands of new locations as potential event spaces in the city.” Embracing her staff’s recommendation to make the pilot program permanent, Deal wholeheartedly backs council’s new decision. “I just think it’s a fabulous thing.” Before the permit, police sirens were more common than the bass drop. Expecting authorities to pull the plug, EDM fans kept one eye on the dance floor and the other on the exits. Troy recalls a particularly memorable evening: “I did one event above a fish market. There were seven DJs and seven visual artists: each DJ had a different artist’s work projected behind them. The police came. Their megaphones were out, and they were shouting that everybody had to clear the building. “They read the Riot Act,” he adds, disbelieving. “We weren’t rioting. We were dancing.” The new permit policy has already begun to pull EDM events out of the underground. Participants are no longer made to feel like they are breaking the law by attending alternative venues. And promoters can maintain creative freedom without worrying about those sirens. The licence has made Vancouver’s raves safer, cheaper, and more frequent. And did we mention legal?

But while alternative promoters agree the program is a leap in the right direction, there’s still work to be done. Representing underground collective the Emergence Project at last month’s hearing, organizer Nicholas Prouten is realistic about the scheme. On the line from his Vancouver workplace, Prouten describes how some events still sidestep official approval. “I think the permits encourage promoters to operate legally,” he suggests, “but you’re always going to have some people who choose to go the other route. Over the summer there were a couple of events that took place without a licence—a congregation near Stanley Park, and one on Commercial Drive.” For Prouten, the root of promoters operating illegally is the number of prescribed events. “In all honesty, I don’t think there should be a limit at all on alternative venues. Why are we only allowed to gather three times a month? It seems ludicrous. We are all grown adults with lives and jobs and property and cars— why shouldn’t we be allowed to do these things? I feel in many ways the city is like a very stern parent, holding our hands, telling us ‘This is your bedtime!’ ” But Prouten is quick to point out how the EDM community has welcomed the licence. Despite council’s flat refusal to sanction more than three shows each month, underground organizers are delighted with its decision to make the pilot program permanent. “By virtue of making these licences available, the city is demonstrating that they want to foster safe and legal events,” Prouten says. “They’ve made a move, so promoters want to meet them in the middle. Setting the scheme in stone is groundbreaking for electronic music, and it’s something we want to support.” Coun. Deal agrees. “Will the licence stop underground raves? I don’t know. But the people who approached us to ask for this scheme were those who throw rave-type events and were being shut down by the city. So we thought, well, how can we do this? How do we make raves safe enough to take place? And the result is this program. Promoters still have to play by the rules, but their events can’t be broken up just because there is no framework for them to exist. “We will continue to monitor events and ensure that they are compliant with the basic health and safety regulations that we have in place,” Deal continues. “That is a minimum requirement of this program. So if we hear of any issues, we will go in to observe.” While the underground and the mainstream may not see eye to eye on the fine print, there’s one thing that everybody agrees upon. The new law is transforming Vancouver’s ever-evolving EDM scene—and that’s something Troy, Prouten, and Deal all encourage. Promoting a new culture of transparency and safety, the licences are here to stay. “It was my motion that put this program in place,” Deal says proudly. “And I believe in it.” -

Hot Chip (DJ Set) w/ Kalibo & MGH!

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Beat Connection w/ Phantoms (early)

DJ Mustard at the Hyphy 7 Year Anniversary (late)

Matterhorn Improv ft. The Sunday Service

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44 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015

2 record with a beloved mentor, it’s

that the junior partner’s contributions can sometimes get lost. That’s not an issue on Pugs & Crows’ new collaborative effort with Hornby Island guitarist Tony Wilson, Everyone Knows Everyone. After all, bandleader and Wilson aficionado Cole Schmidt is solely responsible for writing six of the double CD’s 16 tracks, and he composed another six with his band’s esteemed guest. But there are times, at least on first hearing, when it can be hard to tell which guitarist is doing what. “That’s influence,” Schmidt says on the line from his East Van home. “I’m impressionable, and I’ve been hanging out and listening to Tony’s guitarplaying for years, and I can hear it coming out in mine. I’m influenced by his sound, and then I’m taking that and trying to add my own to it.” The process, which has included many six-ferry expeditions to Hornby and time spent playing together in the late Elizabeth Fischer’s DarkBlueWorld band, has clearly been rewarding. Everyone Knows Everyone, which inhabits an attractive and mysterious zone between psychedelic rock and avant-garde jazz, is marked by Wilson’s melodic elegance, but it also sports a degree of sonic ambition that surely derives from the band’s five younger players, who include violinist Meredith Bates, pianist Cat Toren, bassist Russell Sholberg, and drummer Ben Brown, in addition to Schmidt. Still, Wilson has a few habits that the latter doesn’t intend to adopt— or pass on to the even more impressionable kids he deals with on a daily basis. “I’m a guitar teacher, and when I analyze Tony’s technique, I’m like, ‘Oh man, these are all the things I tell my students not to do!’ ” Schmidt says with a laugh. “The way he holds his pick, and his flat fingers… We joke about that, but he’s got the touch.

We don’t know which ones are Pugs and which ones are Crows, but we can say with utter certainty that Tony Wilson is the guy wearing the plaid shirt.

It’s just that thing that happens after you’ve played for 30 years, I guess.” Landscape is another major influence on the Pugs & Crows sound. Schmidt aptly describes Everyone Knows Everyone as having a “West Coast, foggy feeling”, and although some tracks depart from that—notably “Goya Baby!”, which is as Iberian as jamón serrano—most swim in a decidedly oceanic atmosphere. “I can’t say that I go out there and sit by the water with a guitar and write the music, but I’m sure I’m picking up on that feeling,” Schmidt says. “So I’m definitely reflecting on that a lot—and missing it when I’m away from home. You know—that thing where you kind of complain about your surroundings, but when you leave for a couple of months it’s pretty loud and clear what you’ve been taking for granted.” One aspect of Vancouver life that Schmidt refuses to complain about is the music scene. Like just about all of our working musicians, he’s got multiple bands on the go, playing in the Sands, Copilots, and the NOW Ensemble, among others, and he notes that Everyone Knows Everyone is both

a commentary on and a love letter to his community. That’s especially apparent on the title track, which closes the sprawling set in anthemic fashion, thanks in part to a horn section—featuring Brad Turner on trumpet, Jon Bentley on tenor sax, and Jeremy Berkman on trombone—borrowed from cellist Peggy Lee’s long-running sextet. Including them on the disc was both a generous gesture and a necessary one. Mostly, though, Schmidt says that the new record reflects Pugs & Crows’ fruitful partnership with Wilson, and its own growing maturity. “If there’s one thing I’d like to put out there, it’s that this has been a great process for us, even if it doesn’t reach everyone,” he says. “Artistically, we’ve moved a great deal forward—and, selfishly speaking, I’m pretty happy with how the band’s getting along and playing together. I think it’s going to be a fun year!” > ALEXANDER VARTY

Pugs & Crows and Tony Wilson host a CD-release party for Everyone Knows Everyone at the Western Front on Thursday (December 17).

Sumners to liquor up Santa

t’s a bleak winter’s night, and Bob Sumner’s rusticfor-Strathcona house is pretty much what you’d expect. The bikes cluttering the hallway outnumber the tenants, Willie Nelson’s Christmas album (Pretty Paper) is being piped through the entire building, and there appears to be a shotgun leaning against a wall. It’s an urban-folkie oasis with a hint of survivalism thrown in. Funny, then, that the last Sumner Brothers record sounded more like hesher Rush than Tom Rush. “At some point we needed to compete with loud audiences, so we started writing harder stuff,” reasons brother Brian, the older and apparently more experimentally inclined half of the duo. “The way we recorded that album, we did the bed tracks and then he just went weird with it,” adds Bob, nodding at Brian. “On his own, mostly.” Some asshole at the Georgia Straight has already praised September’s The Hell in Your Mind for, among other things, its “punctilious feel and hyper-articulate guitar and bass work”, and that’ll be the material the brothers bring to their 10th annual Christmas Holiday The Louvin Brothers said Satan is real, but the Sumners Extravaganza this weekend at the Rickshaw, augmentknow Santa is real—a real drunkard. Jodie Ponto photo. ed in spectacular fashion, we’re sure, by Kenton Loewen (drums) and Joseph Lubinsky-Mast (bass). Promo-ing Scouten, and 22-year-old Etienne Tremblay, who stole that show is the real reason we’re here in his kitchen, 2014’s party with a couple of shit-hot Elvis tunes. drinking all of his Italian beer. Last year’s effort was The Sumners have also invited friends from Ballard, off the hook, but then again, it always Washington’s unreasonably excellent has been. The only difference is scale. country-music scene. “The first one was at the ANZA “I don’t like a lot of new country beClub,” recalls Brian. “Although we got cause it feels to me like Mr. Dressup,” Adrian Mack kicked outta there a couple times. All says Bob, of A.P. Dugas, “but he’s a Texas our buddies would come to the show, old suburban kids. songwriter and he’s just so good. These are all people that The ambulance was there three years in a row.” Bob strug- I believe in, and who deserve to be heard.” gles to recall the year that someone was found bleeding to Speaking of belief, drunk Santa makes his 10th appeardeath outside the venue. “I think it was the second one,” ance at the Christmas Holiday Extravaganza. But not the he offers, squinting. Did he make it? “I dunno,” he shrugs, real Santa. amiably. “The ambulance took him away.” “You find me another Santa that’s been working 10 years Gradually, the show moved to the WISE Hall (“I think it in a row,” thunders Brian. “He should be the real Santa.” might have been because the ANZA had had enough,” sug“For some reason we were able to get away with this,” gests Bob), growing in size, if not maturity. It was around Bob muses, “but we sell shot glasses as merch, and you’d this time that the Sumners met the legendary Elliott C. pay five bucks, get a shot of CC, and have a shot with Way, whose country-folk evangelism constituted the most Santa. And Santa would go fucking shot-for-shot with, heroic effort to galvanize a city’s music scene since Gram like, 70 people. And then he’d always puke, but his wife’s Parsons dosed L.A. with tequila, weed, and George Jones. a nurse, so she’d take him home and put an IV in his “He’s a visionary,” says Bob, quickly adding that Way’s arm at the end of the night.” band, the Wild North, will be among this year’s guests. Turns out this only happened once (the IV, that is), but Also returning from last year’s barnburner are Viper Cen- the brothers agree it’s always better to print the legend. tral’s Kathleen Nisbet (another visionary, as it happens, and the prime mover behind the East Van Opry), the Real The Sumner Brothers Christmas Holiday Extravaganza takes Ponchos, Twin Bandit, the exquisitely lovely Sarah Jane place at the Rickshaw Theatre on Saturday (December 19).

Local Motion

MUSIC

Chippy Nonstop is a Twitter icon â&#x20AC;&#x153;B

eing kicked out of clubs wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t enough, I had to get kicked out of an entire country,â&#x20AC;? boasts newly minted Vancouverite Chippy Nonstop. Though sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been banned from the USA for a litany of visa issues, which received extensive coverage in the hipster media earlier this year, their loss is our gain. Not only are we up a rapper and DJ, Chhavi Nandaâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;as it reads on her flagged Canadian passportâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;has also made the city funnier as a whole on Twitter with her hilarious account @ Chippy_Nonstop. While all weak attempts to slide into her DMs will be screen-capped and shamed, you can have IRL encounters with Chippy at Happy Ending Fridays at Fortune Sound Club as well as Glory Days on Saturdays at the Cobalt. And if she doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen to be on the bill at one of those nights, sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll likely be partying there anyways and, inevitNew Vancouverite Chippy Nonstop clearly loves the USA, but, sadly, the USA does not love her back. Stacy Leigh photo. ably, live-tweeting in all caps as the A SONG THAT CLEARED THE familiar with. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always been way pinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. The amount of free shit and bouncers drag her out. DANCE FLOOR I wish it was â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hotline more into tropical dance music and opportunities Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got from TwitBEST GIG EVER All my gigs are Blingâ&#x20AC;?, because Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m so fucking over that thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a lot of diversity in that ter will literally blow your mind. amazing, even if thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only two song, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not. If sense, in terms of People are always like, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Woah, people. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m an icon. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not DJing and producers, but Chip, how do you have so many So Many DJs â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hotline Blingâ&#x20AC;? I really like D. baes?â&#x20AC;? Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m like, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Twitter.â&#x20AC;? People TOP TRACK RIGHT NOW For in plays I immediateTiffany and Un- be like, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Woah, Chip, who got you Michael Mann the bedroom, the new Jeremih track ly stop dancing and known Mobile. I that Louis bag?â&#x20AC;? Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m like â&#x20AC;&#x153;Twitter.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pass Datâ&#x20AC;? is everything to me right stare at the DJ and mean mug him till canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t claim they are the best produ- People are like â&#x20AC;&#x153;Chip, why are you now. For in the club, everyone from he plays something that slaps harder. cers in Vancouver, because I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t more loyal to your Twitter than simps to cool people to old people just know enough yet, but they both your boyfriend?â&#x20AC;? And Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m like, â&#x20AC;&#x153;My love to hear â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sorryâ&#x20AC;? by Justin Bieber; FAVOURITE VANCOUVER PRO- make dope music. Twitter would never cheat on me.â&#x20AC;? itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the most commonly requested DUCER There are producers in track. Why? Because Justin Bieber is Vancouver? Joking! Actually, there WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S UP WITH YOUR TWIT- ODDEST REQUEST YOUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;VE EVER the Prince of Pop, Skrillex is God, and is a really dope scene here for house- TER ACCOUNT? What do you RECEIVED Someone once paid me music shit, which Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not even that mean whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s up with it? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pop- $100 for a chunk of my hair. Blood Pop is a genius.

FRI DEC 18

* LEGION OF GOONS * MOLTEN LAVA * STREETSWEEPER * SAT DEC 19

* SUBCULTURE METAL MARKET * 2PM TO 7PM * ART * ODDITIES * BAND SHIRTS * LEATHER * CHAINMAIL * JEWELLERY * PILLOWS * SOAPS * MUSIC * NO ITEMS OVER $50 * MANY VENDORS * FREE FOLLOWED BY

SAT DEC 19 * ANTICHRISTMASS XIV AT 9PM COVER $10 * WITH DEATHGRIND BANDS * OGROEM * FUNCTOR * TERMINAL SEQUENCE [VIC] * PEST SYNAPSE * AND SEASONAL SNAPS WITH SATAN CLAWS * SAT DEC 26

* THE EVIL BASTARD KARAOKE EXPERIENCE PRESENTS * A SCARYOKE REUNION WITH WENDYTHIRTEEN * NO COVER * 9PM * THURS DEC 31

* NEW YEARS SHENANAGINS * LIVE PUNKAOKE WITH THE ALL STAR AMPHIBIANS * THE SPREE KILLERS * KILL MATILDA * THE SHIT TALKERS *

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DEC 31 BALANCE NYE

17 THE PHONIX 18 HOT LUCY 20 19 31 BALANCE NYE 23 THURSDAY $2.75 DRAFT, $5.50 PALM BAYS

FRIDAY $5.50 LONG ISLAND ICED TEA

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SUNDAY

SATURDAY

TROPICAL CHRISTMAS DANCE PARTY FEATURING DJ MARC FOURNIER

WEDNESDAY $4.50 HIGHBALLS

DEATH BY COWABUNGA WITH CELINE CHANDRO, DM604, 3STONES

ATOMIC SWING FEATURING RUGCUTTERS JAZZ BAND

THURSDAY $2.75 DRAFT, $5.50 PALM BAYS

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: &RUGRYD 6W $EERWW [ &RUGRYD *DVWRZQ ZZZ LJQLWHVPRNHVKRS FD 9DSRUL]HUV ( &LJDUHWWHV ( -XLFH $FFHVVRULHV DQG PRUH )ROORZ XV RQ ,QVWDJUDP )DFHERRN 7ZLWWHU DECEMBER 17 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 45

Fizal, KIDS, Ghost Music Page, Seth Kay, Spotty Josif, and JayKin. Dec 17, 10 pm, Alexander Gastown (91 Powell). Tix $15-20, info www.alexandergastown.com/.

music/ timeout CONCERTS < CLUBS & VENUES < OUT OF TOWN <

CONCERTS 2JUST ANNOUNCED CONTACT FESTIVAL OFFICIAL AFTERPARTIES Blueprint Events and Live Nation present performances by special mystery guests after the Contact Winter Festival shows at BC Place. Dec 26-27, doors 10:30 pm, show 11 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix $40/35/30 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE—A PARTY FOR PARKINSON’S A benefit concert for the Parkinson Society British Columbia features music by Star Captains, David Morin, Tonye Aganaba, Dutch Robinson, Emily Chambers, and Camaro 67. Jan 8, 8 pm, The Imperial (319 Main). Tix $125/25, info bit.ly/shakeconcert.

PRESENTS

SONNY LANDRETH

MODERN SPACE Toronto five-piece indie band tours in support of yet-to-betitled debut album, with guests Derrival. Feb 4, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Media Club (695 Cambie). Tix on sale Dec 18, 10 am, $12.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. TRIVIUM American heavy-metal band tours in support of latest release Silence in the Snow. Feb 8, 8 pm, Venue (881 Granville). Tix $23 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu Records, and www.bplive.ca/, info www.bplive.ca/ events/trivium/. ADVENTURE CLUB Canadian electronicdance duo composed of Christian Srigley and Leighton James, with guests Vanic. Feb 11-12, 9 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix $47.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/.

SUNDAY JANUARY 17, 2016 with WAILIN’ AL WALKER

DOORS 6 PM

IMPERIAL

SHOW 7 PM

319 MAIN ST, VANCOUVER BC

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT: WWW.TICKETWEB.CA

BEAT MERCHANT, HIGHLIFE, NEPTOON, RED CAT, & ZULU RECORDS

ZZ TOP American blues-rock legends (“Legs”, “Sharp Dressed Man”) perform on their Hell Raisers Tour. Apr 7, doors 6:30 pm, show 7:30 pm, Abbotsford Centre (33800 King Rd., Abbotsford). Tix on sale Dec 18, 10 am, $85/65/35 (plus service charges and fees) at www.livenation.com/. QUANTIC British-born DJ tours in support of new 2016 release. Apr 9, doors 8 pm, show 9:30 pm, The Imperial (319 Main). Tix on sale Dec 18, 10 am, $20 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu Records, and www.ticketweb.ca/. ADELE British pop superstar tours in support of recently released album 25. Jul 20-21, Rogers Arena (800 Griffiths Way). Tix on sale Dec 17, 10 am, $195/99.50/75/49.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www. livenation.com/.

2THIS WEEK FORTUNE SOUND 6 YEAR ANNIVERSARY American club musician Baauer performs with Cherchez, Chile Palmer, Eclectik, Ex Youth, Flipout, Gman, Jay Swing, Lechance, M!g!h!, Nina Mendoza, Rizk, Sincerely Hana, SJS, and Tone. Dec 17, Fortune Sound Club (147 E. Pender). Info www.fortunesoundclub.com/.

www.markhummel.com

www.canadianpacicblues.com

46 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015

VAN DJANGO BELLS Vancouver Gypsyjazz quartet performs hits from new holiday CD Cool Yule, with guests Keith Bennett and L.J. Monterey. Presented by the Rogue Folk Club. Dec 18, 8 pm, St. James Hall (3214 W. 10th). Tix $20/16, info www.roguefolk. bc.ca/concerts/ev15121820/. LIL DEBBIE California rapper, with guests Jaclyn Gee and Baby G. Dec 18, 8-10:30 pm, Fortune Sound Club (147 E. Pender). Info www.fortunesoundclub.com/. CHRISTMAS WITH THE RAT PACK Tribute to the Rat Pack featuring Gary Anthony as Frank Sinatra, Andy DiMino as Dean Martin, and Lambus Dean as Sammy Davis Jr. Dec 19, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, River Rock Show Theatre (River Rock Casino Resort, 8811 River Rd., Richmond). Tix $24.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www.ticket master.ca/, info www.riverrock.com. NICK LOWE’S QUALITY HOLIDAY REVUE Brand-new Christmas classics by Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets, with guests the Cactus Blossoms. Dec 19, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Vogue Theatre (918 Granville). Tix $35 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu Records, and www.ticketfly.com/. DJ MUSTARD Los Angeles DJ at a sevenyear-anniversary celebration for Hyphy. Dec 19, doors 10:30 pm, Fortune Sound Club (147 E. Pender). Info www.fortune soundclub.com/. BEAT CONNECTION Seattle-based artpop band, with guests Phantoms and James Deen. Dec 19, 7-10:30 pm, Fortune Sound Club (147 E. Pender). Info www. fortunesoundclub.com/.

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

www.straight.com

SOFT SERVE Vancouver guitar-rock band performs in support of self-titled debut album, with guests Painted Fruit. Dec 19, 7-10:30 pm, Cobalt (917 Main). Tix $5, info www.facebook.com/ events/1655229894749219/. THE SUMNER BROTHERS 10TH ANNUAL XMAS PARTY EXTRAVAGANZA Local alt-country band hosts a Christmas concert with Dylan Rysstad, Johnny 99, Twin Bandit, Kathleen Nisbet, Colebrook Shepherds, Gabriel Mintz, Sarah Jane Scouten, A.P. Dugas, Mike Giacolino, Emile & Kesia, Real Ponchos, Etienne Tremblay, Elliot C. Way, and Jayne Trimble. Dec 19, 8 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $9.50, info www.rickshawtheatre.com/. JPNSGRLS Vancouver garage-pop band tours in support of latest LP Circulation, with guests the Written Years and Hawking. Dec 19, 8 pm, Biltmore Cabaret (2755 Prince Edward). Tix $10 (plus service charges and fees), info www.mrgconcerts.com/. ROCK TILL YOU DROP Local rock bands Uncle Sid, Chilled Clarity, STRIP, and the Mike Machado Trio help raise money for the Vancouver Food Bank. Dec 20, 7 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $15, info www.rickshawtheatre.com/.

PUGS & CROWS Canadian instrumental band tours in support of new album Everyone Knows Everyone, Part 2, with guest guitarist Tony Wilson. Dec 17, 8-11 pm, Western Front (303 E. 8th). Tix $15, info www.pugsandcrows.com/.

30TH ANNUAL BLUES FOR CHRISTMAS Blues music by Jim Byrnes, David Gogo, Gary Comeau and the Voodoo Allstars, Dalannah & Owen, Billy Dixon Soul Train Express, Johnny Ferreira and the Swing Machine, Incognito, Steve Kozak West Coast Allstars, Murray Porter Band, the BobCats, and Brainchild. Proceeds go to the Drew Burns Commodore Musicians Fund administered by Access To Music Foundation. Dec 20, 7:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Tix $25 (plus service charges and fees), info www.bluesforchristmas.com/.

CHRISTMAS RAPPIN’ 6 California rapper Casey Veggies performs with Dkay,

PITY SEX Michigan indie-rock band tours in support of upcoming release, with

MAGFEST: GAME OVER VANCOUVER A music and gaming festival features performances by Bryface, the Runaway Four, and missingNo. Dec 17, 8 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $15, info www.rickshawtheatre.com/.

TICKETS AT WWW.RIOTHEATRE.CA BEAT MERCHANT, HIGHLIFE, NEPTOON, RED CAT & ZULU RECORDS

KEITHMAS VI: A FOOD BANK FUNDRAGER Music by Rich Hope & His Evil Doers, the Jolts, the Vicious Cycles MC, Elliot C Way & the Wild North, the Rentalmen, the Ballantynes, La Chinga, Dahle Brothers, and the Tranzmitors. Proceeds go to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. Dec 18, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm, Rickshaw Theatre (254 E. Hastings). Tix $15 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Highlife Records, and www.ticketweb.ca/.

guests Colleen Green and Eskimeaux. Dec 22, doors 8 pm, show 9 pm, Cobalt (917 Main). Tix $13 (plus service charges and fees) at Red Cat, Zulu Records, and www.ticketweb.ca/.

FUNK THE HALLS Holiday party features music by Vancouver electronic-dance duo the Funk Hunters. Dec 22-23, doors 8 pm, show 9:30 pm, Commodore Ballroom (868 Granville). Dec 22 show SOLD OUT, tix for Dec 23 $35/32.50/28.50 (plus service charges and fees) at www. commodoreballroom.com/.

2UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS CONTACT WINTER MUSIC FESTIVAL Electronica festival features music by Above & Beyond, Hardwell, Steve Angello, DJ Snake, Andrew Rayel, Oliver Heldens, Klingande, Tchami, 3LAU, Bakermat, Jauz, Mercer, Jai Wolf, Vanic, Wiwek, Snails, Slander, and Nghtmre. Dec 26-27, 5 pm, BC Place Stadium (777 Pacific). Tix $250/175/150 (plus service charges and fees) at www.contact-festival.com/.

CLUBS & VENUES ALEXANDER GASTOWN 91 Powell, 778379-0407. Gastown club, lounge, and live music venue featuring weekly club nights and various concerts. 2CHRISTMAS RAPPIN’ 6 Dec 17 2ALEXANDER GASTOWN X HYPHY NYE 2016 Dec 31 AT THE WALDORF 1489 E. Hastings, 604-253-7141. The Waldorf has been a Vancouver mainstay since the late 1940s with its retro and Polynesian décor. Three separate rooms, including Tiki Room, Tabu, and the Hideaway. Cherryoke Wed, Tank Gyal & guests Thu; live music & dance party Fri; Thomas Maxey & Kalibo Sat. Tiki Bar open 6 pm Wed-Sat. BACKSTAGE LOUNGE Arts Club Theatre, 1585 Johnston, Granville Island, 604-6871354. Vancouver’s only live-music venue on the water, with music nightly. Live band karaoke hosted by Sami Ghawi and Reuben Avery Tue at 9:30 pm. BELMONT BAR 1006 Granville, 604-6054340. Fresh and local fare, craft beer and wine on tap, and live entertainment nightly. Open daily at 5 pm. BILTMORE CABARET 2755 Prince Edward, 604-676-0541. 2JPNSGRLS Dec 19 2GREG BEAMISH BOXING DAY BASH Dec 26 2KITTY NIGHTS BURLESQUE: HAPPY NUDE YEAR BASH Dec 27 2DEVOTCHKA Jan 8 2JD MCPHERSON Jan 11 2TRIBAL SEEDS Jan 22 2FREAK HEAT WAVES Jan 27 2THE BRIGHT LIGHT SOCIAL HOUR Jan 30 2DANCE YOURSELF CLEAN: THE TOUR Feb 4 2BAIO Feb 5 2WET Feb 10 2SUMAC Feb 19 2JOSEPH Mar 4 2AOIFE O’DONOVAN Mar 5 2ROBYN HITCHCOCK Mar 10 2RADIATION CITY & DEEP SEA DIVER Mar 17 2AN EVENING WITH GREG DULLI Mar 22 2RADIO RADIO Mar 26 2RA RA RIOT Mar 31 BIMINI PUBLIC HOUSE 2010 W. 4th, 604733-7116. Twenty-four taps of rotating and interesting craft beers. Pub trivia Mon; beer club Tue; Wing Wed; dance party Fri-Sat; happy hour 3-6 pm. BLACKBIRD PUBLIC HOUSE & OYSTER BAR 905 Dunsmuir, 604-899-4456. Bistro and public house with oyster bar, barbershop, Scotch bar, and live music Wed-Fri. Open daily at 11 am. Happy hour 3-6 pm. BUTCHER & BULLOCK 911 W. Pender, 604-662-8866. Traditional pub and beer hall in downtown business district featuring 28 draft beer taps, craft beers, interesting cocktails, and honest pub food. Open from 11:30 am till late every day. DJ Ray Black Sat. CHARLES BAR 136 W. Cordova, 604-5688040. Gastown sports bar features nine-foot HD screen and DJs on weekend nights. Wavy Fridays with DJs Seko&Marvel; Back & Forth Saturdays with rap, R&B, and club classics. Open Sun-Thu from 11:30 am to 1 am, Fri-Sat from 11:30 am to 3 am. CINEMA PUBLIC HOUSE 901 Granville, 604-694-0202. Pub featuring craft beer and cocktails, pub food, late-night menu, and weekend brunch. DJs all night Wed-Sun. Happy hour 3-6 pm. COBALT 917 Main, 778-918-3671. 2SOFT SERVE Dec 19 2PITY SEX Dec 22 2MAJICAL CLOUDZ Jan 22 2CAR SEAT HEADREST Jan 24 2SAINTSENECA Jan 31 2DIANE COFFEE Feb 20 2ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER Mar 4 2ANDERSON EAST Mar 5 2ALEX G AND PORCHES Mar 26 2LITTLE GREEN CARS Mar 31

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straight choices

BLUES FOR CHRISTMAS 30TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION Anyone labouring under the illusion that the music of the Mississippi Delta and the holiday season don’t go together has obviously never heard the killer comp Blues, Blues Christmas: 1925– 1955. In case further proof is needed, consider what Vancouver’s Blues for Christmas has accomplished, namely running strong for three full decades while raising thousands of dollars for charity. This year, the 30th anniversary of one of Vancouver’s most enduring musical traditions takes place Sunday (December 20) at the always-fabulous Commodore Ballroom. In the spirit of the season, folks are asked to bring a donation for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society when they head down for a bill that includes local legends Jim Byrnes, Dalannah and Owen, David Gogo, Incognito, and others. Proceeds from the night will go to the Drew Burns Commodore Musicians’ Fund, which means you’ll be easing someone’s blues while celebrating. COMMODORE BALLROOM 868 Granville, 604-739-4550. Tix at www.commodoreball room.com/. 230TH ANNUAL BLUES FOR CHRISTMAS Dec 20 2FUNK THE HALLS Dec 22-23 2CONTACT FESTIVAL OFFICIAL AFTERPARTIES Dec 26 2NERO Dec 29 2ERIC PRYDZ Jan 2 2ECCW WRESTLING: BALLROOM BRAWL V Jan 16 2THE DEVIL MAKES THREE Jan 19 2NATHANIEL RATELIFF AND THE NIGHT SWEATS Jan 21 2CHASE RICE Jan 24 2 CORB LUND Jan 29 2ARKELLS Feb 1 2YUKON BLONDE Feb 5 2ADVENTURE CLUB Feb 11 2THE BOOTS & BABES BALL Feb 13 2THE MUSICAL BOX: SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND Feb 17 2THE SHEEPDOGS Feb 18 2MONSTER TRUCK Feb 25 2CLASSIFIED Feb 27 2FRANK TURNER AND THE SLEEPING SOULS Mar 3 2CANNIBAL CORPSE Mar 4 2DELHI 2 DUBLIN Mar 5 2REBELUTION Mar 6 2ANJUNABEATS Mar 10 2DISTURBED Mar 11 2THE WAILERS Mar 12 2MOTOWN MELTDOWN Mar 19 2AFRO-CUBAN ALL STARS Mar 20 2WOLFMOTHER Apr 1 2THE DECIBEL MAGAZINE TOUR 2016 Apr 2 2CIARA Apr 5 2GARY CLARK JR. Apr 12 2SPIRIT OF

THE WEST Apr 15 2ST. GERMAIN Apr 18 2ADAM CAROLLA Apr 22 DOOLIN’S IRISH PUB 654 Nelson, 604605-4343. Live music Sun-Thu, with acoustic soloist or duo Sun-Wed and live band Thu DJ Fri-Sat. FORTUNE SOUND CLUB 147 E. Pender, 604-569-1758. 2FORTUNE SOUND 6 YEAR ANNIVERSARY Dec 17 2LIL DEBBIE Dec 18 2DJ MUSTARD Dec 19 2BEAT CONNECTION Dec 19 2HOT CHIP (DJ SET) Dec 29 2FORTUNE SOUND NYE 2016 Dec 31 2MATTERNHORN IMPROV FT. THE SUNDAY SERVICE Jan 5 2CHROME SPARKS Jan 20 2DARIUS Feb 7 2MIKE STUD Mar 3 2PROTOMARTYR AND CHASTITY BELT Mar 8

NEW YEARS EVE

FOX CABARET 2321 Main. 2NOTHING BUT TREBLE: A VAUDEVILLE AFFAIR Dec 23 2OLD MAN CANYON Jan 15 2LET’S NOT BEAT EACH OTHER TO DEATH Jan 21 2EL TOPO Jan 22 2AN EVENING WITH HAROLD BUDD Jan 23 2AN EVENING WITH ROOMFUL OF TEETH Jan 25 2AN EVENING WITH FOND OF TIGERS Jan 28 2SONGS OF RESILIENCE Jan 29 2THE SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLE Jan 30 2ANTHROPOLOGIES IMAGINAIRES Feb 1 2DECODER 2017 Feb 4 2A LIVING DOCUMENTARY Feb 5 2DECLARATIONS Feb 6 2SAID THE WHALE May 7 FRANKIE’S 765 Beatty, 778-727-0337. Coastal Jazz presents live jazz and blues throughout the weekend (Thu-Sun). 2MILES BLACK TRIO PLAYS SONNY CLARK Dec 17 2RUMBA CALZADA Dec 18 2SARAH KENNEDY PLAYS JONI MITCHELL AND CHARLES MINGUS Dec 19 2WE THREE QUEENS Dec 20 2DAWN PEMBERTON Dec 31 2NEW YEAR’S EVE WITH DAWN PEMBERTON Dec 31 FUNKY WINKER BEANS 37 W. Hastings, 604-764-7865. 2LEGION OF GOONS, MOLTEN LAVA, STREETSWEEPER Dec 18 2OGROEM, FUNCTOR, TERMINAL SEQUENCE, PEST SYNAPSE Dec 19 2A SCARYOKE REUNION WITH WENDY THIRTEEN Dec 26 2THE ALL STAR AMPHIBIANS, THE SPREE KILLERS, KILL MATILDA, THE SHIT TALKERS Dec 31 HARD ROCK CASINO VANCOUVER 2080 United Blvd., Coquitlam, 604-523-6888. 2TROOPER Dec 31 2STEVEN WRIGHT Jan 9 2LEWIS BLACK Feb 28 2ED KOWALCZYK Mar 3 2GEORGE THOROGOOD & THE DESTROYERS Apr 21 2JOE SATRIANI Apr 24 2TRACY MORGAN May 13 2THUNDER FROM DOWN UNDER Jun 17 THE IMPERIAL 319 Main, 604-868-0494. 2SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE—A PARTY FOR PARKINSON’S Jan 8 2VANESSA CARLTON Jan 14 2SONNY LANDRETH Jan 17 2SHIGETO Jan 22 2THE KNOCKS Feb 3 2SUPER FURRY ANIMALS Feb 4 2YOUNG

The Lampligher /LEUDU\ 6TXDUH 7KH %LPLQL 7KH 7KUHH %ULWV New Oxford 7DYHUQ 7KH %ODFNELUG 7KH %XWFKHU %XOORFN &LQHPD *UDQYLOOH 5RRP &ORXJK &OXE +HOOR *RRGE\H

Tickets available at

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DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 47

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GALAXY Feb 10 2LAKE STREET DIVE Mar 1 2BAG RAIDERS Mar 4 2DAMIEN DEMPSEY Mar 5 2SILVERSTEIN Mar 8 2JUNIOR BOYS Mar 10 2WE ARE THE CITY Mar 11 2POLICA Mar 30 2QUANTIC Apr 9 IVANHOE PUB 1038 Main, 604-608-1444. Pub with live bands on weekends and open jam night Sun from 4 to 8 pm. Open at 9 am with breakfast and daily food specials. Pool tourney Thu. No cover. 2RHYTHM ST. Dec 18 268 LIPS Dec 19 2SONS OF THE HOE Dec 20 2MIKE MACHADO Dec 25 2SONS OF THE HOE Dec 27 2SAVAGE Dec 31 LAMPLIGHTER PUBLIC HOUSE 92 Water, 604-687-4424. Pub trivia with Nice Guys Inc. Tue; bourbon and bingo Wed; Rocksteady with DJs Arems, Hoppa & Rexx Thu; FKYA DJs Fri; DJ Antonia & Friends Sat. LIBRARY SQUARE PUBLIC HOUSE 300 W. Georgia, 604-633-9644. Free pinball Wed, Show Me Love ‘90s party Fri; Saturday Night Special dance party Sat. Canucks and Whitecaps pregame.

ROGERS ARENA 800 Griffiths Way, 604-8997400. 2BLACK SABBATH Feb 3 2JUSTIN BIEBER Mar 11 2ELLIE GOULDING Apr 1 2IRON MAIDEN Apr 10 2RIHANNA Apr 23 2THE WHO May 13 2SELENA GOMEZ May 14 2HEDLEY May 20 2CITY AND COLOUR Jun 3 2DIXIE CHICKS Jul 7 2ADELE Jul 20 2DEMI LOVATO AND NICK JONAS Aug 24 THE ROXY 932 Granville, 604-331-7999. House band Tattoo Alibi Sat & Mon; country band Locked & Loaded Sun; the Bulge and DJ Joe Pound Tue; Troys ‘R Us WedThu. 2THE KYLA COOPMAN BAND Dec 16 2SOUNDSTEM, ALTERMIND Dec 18 2KILL CADENCE Dec 19 2SONS OF DAUGHTERS Dec 20 2CHARLIE PEARS-SMITH Dec 21 2THE SUNSET KIDS Dec 22 2DAVID ALEXANDER Dec 23 2TABOO QUEEN Dec 28 2JODY BLACK, YES WAY Jan 8 ST. JAMES HALL 3214 W. 10th, 604736-3022. 250-seat venue at St. James Community Square features concerts presented by the Rogue Folk Club. 2VAN DJANGO BELLS Dec 18 2LYDOM, BUGGE & HØIRUP Jan 15

TAVERN AT THE NEW OXFORD 1141 LULU’S LOUNGE River Rock Casino Resort, Hamilton, 604-669-4848. Yaletown comedy 8811 River Rd., Richmond, 604-247-8562. Tue; Skee-ball and rock, paper, scissors Live music Wed-Sat, no cover. 2RACHAEL tournament Wed, the SHOW Thu with live CHATOOR Dec 17 2TOY ZEBRA Dec 18 hip-hop, rap, and R&B; ‘90s weekends 2RACHAEL CHATOOR Dec 24 2POP with DJ Tower Fri and DJ Kenya Sat. JUNKIES Dec 25 2LUV SHAK Dec 31 TEN TEN TAPAS 1010 Beach Ave. West M.I.A. 350 Water St., 604-408-4321. Coast tapas restaurant featuring live Gastown’s newest intimate nightclub music four nights a week at 7 pm. Rising and special-event space, equipped artists Thu, flamenco guitar Fri, hornman with an industry-leading Funktion-One Gabriel Hasselbach Sat, soul/R&B Sun. Soundsystem, hosting local & touring Guest musicians/singers every weekend. electronic, live, & club events weekly. No cover; reservations recommended. 2EMOTIONS OPEN MIC EXPERIENCE NYE 2MURDER MYSTERY DINNER Dec 17 Dec 31 2ILLUMINATE NYE Dec 31 THE THREE BRITS 1780 Davie (at MEDIA CLUB 695 Cambie, 604-608-2871. Denman), 604-801-6681. The West End’s Live music most nights. 2RIHANNA only craft-beer house, steps away from TRIBUTE NIGHT: B!#@H BETTER ROC MY English Bay. Pub trivia with the Nice Guys BIRTHDAY Dec 18 2TOMBOY: HOW THE Wed at 7 pm; brunch daily till 4 pm. EMPIRE STOLE CHRISTMAS Dec 19 2BIG JOHN BATES Dec 31 2THE EAGLE ROCK VENUE 881 Granville, 604-646-0064. Tix for GOSPEL SINGERS Jan 30 2MODERN all events at www.venuelive.ca/ and www. SPACE Feb 4 2HEY MARSEILLES Mar 4 bplive.ca/ 2NEW YEARS EVE: UNDER 2MOTHERS Mar 27 THE STARS Dec 31 2VENOM INC. Jan 16 2VENOM INC. Jan 16 2KILLING JOKE ORPHEUM THEATRE 601 Smithe, 604-665Feb 2 2DR. DOG Feb 6 2TRIVIUM Feb 3050. 2VANCE JOY Jan 12 2BLUE RODEO 8 2ST. LUCIA Mar 1 2THORNLEY Mar Jan 26 2HEART Mar 8 2LEON BRIDGES 12 2ULI JON ROTH’S ULTIMATE GUITAR Mar 15 2CHICK COREA AND BELA FLECK EXPERIENCE Mar 19 2NAPALM DEATH Apr 22 2RAFFI Apr 23 AND MELVINS May 2 2NADA SURF May 17 2PRONG May 29 PAT’S PUB & BREWHOUSE 403 E. Hastings, 604-255-4301. Invitational jazz VOGUE THEATRE 918 Granville, 604jam Mon; Disaraygun DJ and live trumpet 569-1144. Tix at www.voguetheatre.com/. Tue; Steve Kozak Blues & Brews Wed; No 2NICK LOWE’S QUALITY HOLIDAY REVUE Cover Thu; live bands Fri-Sat at 9 pm; live Dec 19 2#SINGITFWDFINALE Jan 14 2TY jazz Sat from 3-7 pm. No cover. 2THE SEGALL AND THE MUGGERS Jan 22 BOTTOM SHELF BOURBON TRIO Dec 19 2THE WOOD BROTHERS Jan 31 2TROYE SIVAN Feb 3 2BOOKER T JONES Feb QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE 650 13 2LOGIC Feb 15 2MATT ANDERSEN Hamilton, 604-665-3050. 2JOHNNY REID Feb 18 2CHARLES LLOYD QUARTET Feb 1 2YAMATO, THE DRUMMERS OF JAPAN Feb 6 2TWENTY ONE PILOTS Apr 10 Feb 20 2JEREMY HOTZ Feb 26 2VINCE Mar 1 2THE IRISH ROVERS STAPLES 2RAIN Apr 20 2IL DIVO Nov 6 Mar 17 2DAUGHTER Mar 18 2RACHEL REPUBLIC 958 Granville, 604-669-3214. PLATTEN Mar 28 2ALESSIA CARA Mar 29 House, hip-hop, EDM, chart, and reggae. 2JOANNA NEWSOM Mar 30 Open nightly from 10 pm to 3 am. WISE HALL 1882 Adanac, 604-254-5858. RICKSHAW THEATRE 254 E. Hastings, Live music by local artists and internation604-681-8915. 2PYJAMA PARTY Dec 16 al touring acts. 2SSRIS Dec 18 2MAGFEST: GAME OVER VANCOUVER Dec 17 2KEITHMAS VI: A FOOD BANK OUT OF TOWN FUNDRAGER Dec 18 2THE SUMNER BROTHERS 10TH ANNUAL XMAS PARTY EXTRAVAGANZA Dec 19 2ROCK TILL YOU 2JUST ANNOUNCED DROP Dec 20 2YOB Dec 31 2BAPTISTS AND POWER TRIP Jan 16 2ZIMMERS HOLE AC/DC Hard-rock legends from Australia Jan 23 2UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA (“Highway to Hell”, “You Shook Me All Night Long”) perform on their Rock or AND LOWER DENS Jan 28 2ENFORCER Bust World Tour. Feb 2, 8 pm, Tacoma AND WARBRINGER Jan 30 2THE Dome (Tacoma, Wash.). Tix on sale Dec 19, DREADNOUGHTS Feb 13 2PARQUET 10 am, US$137 (plus service charges and COURTS Feb 20 2CRADLE OF FILTH Feb fees) at www.ticketmaster.ca/. 24 2REVEREND HORTON HEAT Mar 10 2LUCA TURILLI’S RHASPODY AND PRIMAL FEAR May 9 2KING GIZZARD AND THE TIME OUT MUSIC LISTINGS LIZARD WIZARD May 28 are a public service provided free of charge, based RIVER ROCK SHOW THEATRE River Rock on available space and editorial discretion. We Casino Resort, 8811 River Rd., Richmond, can’t guarantee inclusion, and we give priority to 604-247-8900. Tix for all shows at www. events taking place within one week of publication. ticketmaster.ca/. 2CHRISTMAS WITH THE Submit listings online using the event-submission RAT PACK Dec 19 2BURTON CUMMINGS form at straight.com/AddEvent. Events that don’t make it into the paper due to space constraints Dec 30 2ANDRE-PHILIPPE GAGNON Dec 31 2THE NYLONS Apr 9 will appear on the website.

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ore homes are coming to the Community activism is often a lonely and rapidly growing East Vancouver thankless pursuit, but with respect to the community of Norquay Village. planned apartment zone, Jones is pleased that On December 15, Vancouver his perspective on the matter was reflected in city council took a step toward the creation of the direction set out by city planners. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I would take some joy in pointing out that, cona new zoning area within the neighbourhood. The new district will allow the development trary to stereotype, this is the opposite of NIMBY of four-storey apartment buildings between [not in my back yard]. It is saying in this area, it is planned taller buildings of eight to 16 floors appropriate to have greater density,â&#x20AC;? Jones told the along Kingsway and lower residential build- Georgia Straight in a phone interview. On the topic of bringing in four-storey ings of up to 3.5 storeys behind the apartments. apartments, Jones observed The creation of the zone that city planners listened will be subject to a public to residents who were conhearing next year, and it cerned about the original enjoys community support, Carlito Pablo plan to include stacked town according to a staff report. The community has seen many changes since homes in the proposed zoning district. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are happy that the city stepped back 2010, when council approved the Norquay Village Neighbourhood Centre Plan, which lays from forcing stacked townhouses into this out a long-term vision for the area along and area,â&#x20AC;? Jones said. Town homes typically fetch higher prices around Kingsway between Gladstone and Kilthan condo units, and developers stood to earn larney streets. Skyway Tower, a 12-storey condo and four- more under the initial plan. In a report to council, Kent Munro, assistant storey mid-rise development at 2669 Kingsway, director of planning with the city, noted there was built in 2014. Also along Kingsway, at the former Can- were concerns that putting stacked town homes adian Tire store location, excavation work is in the proposed apartment zone would limit under way for the massive Kensington Gar- housing options for seniors and people with modens project. The Westbank Projects Corp. bility issues, because these donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have elevators. Munro also reported that city staff have development will consist of three 14-storey condo towers, three mid-rise buildings, town- echoed community concerns that building these townhouses would not contribute much houses, and retail spaces. In June, the city received an application to to increasing the number of dwellings in the rezone 2395â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2443 Kingsway for two buildings apartment district. In his report that was included in the Deof 12 and four storeys. Based on information made available by cember 15 agenda of council, Munro said that Vancouver planning staff, as of September stacked townhouses are already permitted in 2015 the city had a total of 108 applications for another part of Norquay that comprises 29 pera variety of housing types in other zoning dis- cent of the land in the neighbourhood. The city planner also stated that the planned tricts in Norquay. In addition to single-family homes, these areas allow a variety of housing zone represents only 10 percent of the land forms, such as multiple small homes, duplex- in Norquay and is the â&#x20AC;&#x153;only place (aside from es, townhouses, and row houses. The city has Kingsway) where four-storey apartments are likely to developâ&#x20AC;?. issued 73 permits for these projects. As Jones pointed out, there will be more Local resident Joseph Jones keeps watch on whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happening in his neighbourhood apartments than there would have been if the city had not listened to concerns about reducthrough his Eye on Norquay blog. The retired UBC librarian has tangled with tion in the zoning area for apartments. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are happy with the result, and we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t city hall and developers over questions of whether Norquay is getting a fair shake when want to cause any problems,â&#x20AC;? Jones said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to see this go through as it is.â&#x20AC;? it comes to planning and development issues.

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savage love I’m a straight 26-year-old man

who wants advice on helping my fiancée realize a particular fantasy. We have been dating for three years and are in a happy monogamous relationship. I was always vanilla, but she enjoys rougher sex and light bondage. We’ve incorporated some of this into our sex lives, and we are both happy with how fun it is. She has expressed interest in a rape fantasy. Both of us want to be safe when we do this, and we trust each other completely. But I cannot think of a way in which she can get the experience she desires while still maintaining a safe dynamic. I am wondering if you have advice on how I can help act out her fantasy in a way that we both have fun. > SEEKING EROTIC ADVICE NOW

You and the fiancée are obviously capable of communicating about varsity-level sex play, SEAN; your track record with bondage and rougher sex demonstrates that. Now you just have to use the same interpersonal skills that made your past kinky fuckfests possible—along with the same respect for limits, boundaries, and each other—to negotiate and realize your girlfriend’s edgy but thoroughly common fantasy. I recommend reading “Rape Fantasy: How to Carry It Out Safely”, a long and thoughtful post at Slut Lessons (slutlessons.wordpress.com/), an engaging sex blog that’s, sadly, no longer being updated. The first recommendation from Educated Slut, the site’s anonymous author: maybe we shouldn’t call them “rape fantasies” at all.

> BY DAN SAVAGE The idea of a cheating woman is really hot in spite of all of that. But there’s this lingering feeling of disgust surrounding the whole thing. Is it possible to have a fetish you hate?

“A rape fantasy is almost invariably more about forced sex and not a desire to actually be raped by someone,” writes Educated Slut. “Very few people have the desire to be put through the physical and emotional trauma of a real rape. This is the primary reason I refer to this as ‘forced sex fantasy’ rather than rape fantasy; it just gives the wrong impression to some people.” You might be one of those people, SEAN. You seem to be under the impression that there’s something inherently more dangerous about realizing/role-playing your way through a forced-sex scenario. And it may be more dangerous and/or triggering on an emotional level—talking through any past traumas or fears will be important—but slapping the label “rape fantasy” on rough(er) sex shouldn’t result in you having some sort of out-of-body experience that leads you to go apeshit on your helpless fiancée. Talk things through in advance, just like you have before, agree on a safe word—a word that stops the action cold should either of you utter it—and take it slow the first few times you go for it.

> BAFFLED ABOUT ROMANTIC FUTURE

Don’t you just hate it when someone leaves a fetish sitting on the steps and then you come along and stumble over it and—bam!—you fall and hit your head, and when you come to you’ve got a brand-new fetish? Yeah, no. We don’t know exactly where people’s fetishes and kinks come from—how or why someone’s erotic imagination snaps on an inanimate object (high heels, leather gear, rubber masks) or a particular sexual scenario (cuckolding, role-play, outdoor sex)— but we can safely say that people don’t stumble into their fetishes or kinks. Forgive me for being a pedantic asshole, BARF—I’m sure you didn’t mean you literally stumbled over a cuckold. But misinformed, sexnegative, kink-negative pornophobes routinely talk about fetishes and kinks—and fetish/kink porn—like a moment’s exposure can transform an innocent person with purely vanilla tastes into a horned-up, slobbering, gimp-outfit-wearing kink monster. And that’s not the way it happens. So what did happen to you, BARF? You found some cuckold porn online, and your dick said: “Dude. This is it. This is what we’ve been looking for. Run with this.” Your particular kink was already in there somewhere, already rattling around in your erotic subconscious, but you couldn’t

I’m a single straight guy and this

is probably going to sound really stupid, but… I basically stumbled over the cuckold fetish and I can’t get it out of my mind. I’ve tried to stay away from it because I’m pretty sure you aren’t supposed to feel like garbage after enjoying porn. But I can’t get it out of my head. It’s worrying, since I fear that one day it might end up spoiling things when I fall in love with someone since I’m a bit of a jealous person.

articulate it—it didn’t take shape— until you finally “stumbled over” the images and narratives you were looking for all along. And your kink, like the kinks of so many other people (see SEAN’s fiancée, above), seems to be grounded in insecurity and fear: you’re the jealous type, you fear being cheated on, and your erotic imagination/reptile brain took your fears and spun them into a kink. Congrats. On to your question: yes, you can have a fetish you hate, i.e., you can have a kink you don’t want to act on because the fantasy can’t be realized for moral or ethical reasons (it involves children, nonconsensual acts, Donald Trump), or because you’re fairly certain doing so would suck for emotional or physical reasons (potentially traumatizing, physically dangerous, Donald Trump). But if your only issue with your kink is those lingering feelings of disgust, BARF, those feelings may diminish the more time you spend thinking/jacking about your newly revealed kink. Time will determine if your feelings of disgust are merely your run-of-the-mill, beneficial-to-overcome kink negativity or if they’re a sign cuckolding should remain a go-to masturbatory fantasy for you, BARF, without ever becoming a cheating-woman reality.

wooden chopsticks have been fi led down and shaped into a cylinder, and I’ve been asked to let them clench my dick. I brought it up once and tried to gently suggest a waxing or letting the hair grow back. She didn’t want to talk about it. I get it: nobody likes having their genital area critiqued. But the problem keeps recurring. I understand that I don’t really have the right to dictate her grooming habits. And if waxing is out of the question for her—maybe there are philosophical implications I’m not up to speed on—how can I suggest that maybe there are other solutions? > SEEKS COUNSEL REGARDING AGONIZING PENILE EXFOLIATION

The only solution is your girlfriend letting her pubic hair grow back permanently, SCRAPE, since waxed labia will eventually become stubblecovered labia. Here’s how you suggest letting those pubes grow back: start by letting your girlfriend know you’re aware that women have had to endure millennia of misogynistic/religious garbage about their genitals but you shouldn’t have to silently endure painful sex because that garbage has made discussing her choices around genital grooming unnecessarily fraught. This isn’t about appearance or preferences or clashing philosophies about pubic I’ve been dating a girl for a grooming. You’re in pain. Address the while, and I take our relationship matter directly. seriously. Sometimes sex is a little difficult because of her pubic hair. On the Lovecast, Peter Staley on the She shaves it close to the labia, which benefits and dangers of PrEP. Email: is right where my cock is going in and mail@savagelove.net . Follow Dan out, and it’s very prickly. I don’t mean on Twitter at www.twitter.com/fake lightly prickly—it’s like a bunch of dansavage/.

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redhotdateline.com 18+ DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 53

> Go on-line to read hundreds of I Saw You posts or to respond to a message < GERMAN GIRL WORKING MILEY CYRUS CONCESSION

ON THE PLANE FROM DENVER TO YVR

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 15, 2015 WHERE: Queen Elizabeth Theatre

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 13, 2015 WHERE: Plane Arriving at YVR

You were working the concession and sat with me while I waited for my brother. You’re beautiful and I would love to take you out for drinks some time. Sorry for telling you I take Vancouver for granted, this place definitely is beautiful.

You caught my eye, sitting a row ahead & across the aisle from me, row 33. Bearded, tattooed, cute. Me: blonde, headphones, blue & red baseball T. I should have said hello after we left the plane. Or waiting for my bag. Or at the exit. Kicking myself now. Lesson learned: take the opportunities that are presented to you.

NORTH VAN SKATEBOARDER

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 14, 2015 WHERE: North Vancouver I just want to commend you on always successfully skateboarding with a coffee in hand.

LOOKING FOR TIGHTS

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 12, 2015 WHERE: Commercial Drive We met briefly in the Dollar Tree on the Drive on Saturday evening. You were heading to an xmas party, I to an xmas ball. I was looking for a costume and you were avoiding the rain waiting for a friend.

SHAUNA

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 14, 2015 WHERE: Pride/Celebrates We found each other twice about ten years ago. I am and have been looking for you since. You had long brown hair, hazel(?) eyes and a beautiful smile. I am still trying to find you. Young Buck

CUTIE IN DA HOOD

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 12, 2015 WHERE: IGA on West 4th While I was at the checkout, we made eye contact briefly - because of course I looked away immediately when I saw you were looking at me. For all I know, you were only looking because you found me disgustingly hideous... but I thought you were cute.

WE SHARED AN UMBRELLA

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 12, 2015 WHERE: Davie and Pacific Vancouver We were standing waiting to cross on Davie and Pacific. You looked over and said “I’m jealous” pointing at my umbrella. I invited you under it. We walked and talked for a block.

LOUGHEED SKYTRAIN

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 12, 2015 WHERE: Columbia Stn to Lougheed Stn SkyTrain I can’t believe I’m writing this but I feel I have to try. I got on at Columbia Stn and saw you sitting at the back, I wanted to give you a smile and make contact but a wave of shyness hit me and all I was able to do was give a smirk. We both got off at Lougheed, I wish I at least said hi to you but my heart was beating too fast in my chest to do anything, I really hope you see this because you are beautiful and I just really want to take you to coffee. If for some miracle of a chance you see this, message me with what I was wearing and we’ll go from there!

ABOUT VINCE VEGA

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 8, 2015 WHERE: At My Workplace. You made a joke about Pulp Fiction that I didn’t hear. And you thought I hadn’t seen that movie before but then I told you who I was for Halloween last year :) Let’s go for a bike ride sometime!

BEAUTIFUL BLONDE. BEAUTIFUL SMILE!

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 11, 2015 WHERE: In Front of Sophie’s on 4th Ave. You are a stunning woman with blonde hair and a ridiculous smile. I was running late... literally running across 4th Ave (at Arbutus) in gym clothes and a baseball hat. We made eye contact and shared a smile for a fraction of a second. Read this! Haha. Please. :)

BEACH AVE APART LOBBY DOOR

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 10, 2015 WHERE: Apartment near Beach and Hornby I approached the door with my hands full of olive oils and you were there in uniform like a gleaming ginger’y authority of the law. After confirming that I did in fact call this building home, like a true gentleman you held the door open for me with such natural force that you toppled into me as I ducked under your arm. Caught in the moment, I neglected to ask who you who and what you were doing in my building. You filled the silence with “have a beautiful day”. I make have to fake an emergency soon just to see you again...

HEY TIM LET’S TALK MORE 19 BUS, LIGHT RAIN AND LAUGH BUT THE CONVERSATION WAS TOO BRIEF

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 8, 2015 WHERE: 19 Bus at Stanley Park You hopped on the 19 Bus at Central Station, we exchanged a nice glance in the aisle before you took your seat. Exiting at Stanley Park you looked over smiled and laughed. I complemented you on your floral leggings. We chatted briefly, walk alongside each other before I crossed the street. Looking back to the corner I saw you looking over. Wishing we chatted more. This endless rain is a good excuse for a coffee.

DEC 8TH SKYTRAIN FR SURREY TO MAIN STN....10:00’ISH TIL 10:30 ISH....

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 8, 2015 WHERE: Surrey SkyTrain from Gateway to Main street Station I got on SkyTrain at gateway. I commented on your sk8z art, talked about art more and you showed me those sik shoez. I gave you my info on sticker and you got off at Main and waved as you went down escalator... Wow we simply must talk much more I never give out number but something told me too. I will see you soon Mya and I’m Ian .

KINGWAY BEFORE THE CHEVRON

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 9, 2015 WHERE: Kingsway and Killarney Me Bright yellow work jacket!! You blonde blue eyed bomb shell!!! I smiled at you while we were walking towards each other you smiled back and made eye contact with me! I will never forget that smile have a Merry Christmas you just made mine!!!

You were having a meal in a restaurant on Powell Street with a dark haired friend. I see you often in Gastown. Typing on your Mac on the bench in Maple Tree Square. I work nearby and wonder... coffee sometime?

I saw you at the corner waiting to cross and you were already smiling as I approached. You were holding hands with a wee one waiting for the light to change. As I crossed the street and looked back you were still looking and smiling. Felt like I knew you but couldn’t place it. If this note crosses your path shoot me a message! I had dark hair and an Insite hoody. Tell me what corner you were standing on.

BUS NUMBER 4 MONDAY 12/7

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 7, 2015 WHERE: West 4th and Granville Street I hopped on the bus just before the Granville Street bridge on West 4th. You were wearing a cute yellow scarf and I a black toque. You kept looking at me and smiling from your seat just next to the back stairs, and I wish I had smiled back at you and started up a conversation. Instead I sat down in front of you but missed my chance when you jumped off around the Granville SkyTrain... A beverage sometime?

FRIDAY NIGHT @

DENNY’S

Leeloo... I really want to take you for sushi. The stars may be making it difficult for us but if you see this text me! I lost your number when I lost my phone. I hope you still have the wig. -Skeleton Babe.

You came in late friday night with friend for takeaway. You were rocking black jammies/hoodie. I was there with a friend and overheard you mention about the dating scene. you are beautiful and I’d like to show you how amazing love can be. Go out with me and we can talk about “stuff”

SINGLE ESPRESSO

HOT COP ON WEST 12TH

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 6, 2015 WHERE: Hastings & Columbia

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 5, 2015 WHERE: Denny’s at Kingsway

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: OCTOBER 31, 2015 WHERE: North Shore

MOUSTACHE MAN - HASTINGS & COLUMBIA SUNDAY @ NOON

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 1, 2015 WHERE: Gastown

LEELOO ON THE SHORE

MATURE REDHEAD BLACK BERET GASTOWN

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 5, 2015 WHERE: Georgia and Jackson

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 4, 2015 WHERE: 12th/Fir

I used to work in the cafe that you go to most days. I am fairly certain you knew I found you attractive, but didn’t ask you out because it wasn’t appropriate. There is something peaceful about you that I really enjoy. One time you fixed the door with some tape, another time you forgot your mouse. Coffee sometime?

Directing traffic around an accident on W. 12th Ave this morning. Tall, beardy, VPD. Looked extremely bored, maybe you just needed a coffee. Being stuck in traffic for 10 mins trying to get through one intersection was infinitely less frustrating with that interesting view. HELLO.

THE WEEKND CONCERT PHOTOGRAPHER

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 2, 2015 WHERE: Roger’s Arena I was outside the Toyota Ticket Centre outside Rogers Arena for the Weeknd Concert, and you asked if you could take my picture. I had black straight hair, an olive green jacket and a maroon striped shirt! Lol I should have asked why you were taking my picture? You were wearing a black baseball cap and I think your hair was blonde and short? Please tell me why u wanted my picture! Haha

LOOK WHAT’S COOKING

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: DECEMBER 2, 2015 WHERE: Noodlebox, Homer Street As I was making my way out of Noodlebox you told me you loved my sweater and asked me if I was having a good night. I smiled, generously, answered politely and left. However, walking home, glowing, I wondered if I should have chatted some more. Shouldn’t I?

CACTUS CLUB ENGLISH BAY FRIDAY NOV 27

I SAW A: I AM A: WHEN: NOVEMBER 27, 2015 WHERE: Cactus Club English Bay You arrived alone and had bday drinks with your friends. You had such a great smile as my table engaged with yours. I wanted to chat but you left with your friends. Would like to meet you again

Did you see someone? Go to straight.com to post your FREE I Saw You _

Advertising Sales Representative Are you currently working in sales, marketing, or communications, but looking for a new challenge? The Georgia Straight, Vancouver’s leading voice in Arts & Entertainment, has an opening for a highly motivated Advertising Sales Representative to join our young, fun & dynamic work environment. Your goal is to sell advertising opportunities across all platforms, including digital, mobile, newsletters, social media, and print, to both new and existing clients. You’re savvy about digital and social media products, have a passion for networking and are highly productive. You’re conﬁdent, dedicated to developing business relationships, and excited about Vancouver’s arts, food, and cultural scene. We are looking for candidates with the following qualities: A dynamic and creative thinker Excited about digital media & marketing Social media savvy Comfortable making presentations to clients Highly motivated self-starter and organized, with eﬀective time management Excellent oral and verbal communication skills Recent experience in sales Eager & willing to learn Background in marketing, communication or public relations is an asset. Please send resume & cover letter to careers@straight.com quoting GS_SR0915 in the subject line. Preference will be given to candidates with advertising or media experience.

THANK you thank YOU This season we were able to donate over $100,000 in toys and food to the Salvation Army and Greater Vancouver Food Bank at our 14th annual Donnelly Fund Toy Drive. We appreciate the continued support each holiday season and look forward to seeing you again for our 15th year. Happy Holidays!

We thank all applicants for their interest, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE.

Jeff, Pattie and the Donnelly Group team

DONNELLY FUND donnellygroup.ca

54 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015

straight stars December 17 to 23, 2015

tar Wars isn’t the only show hitting overdrive. For all of us, it’s a blockbuster and/or record-breaking weekend. Friday through Sunday, the transiting Aries moon packs a punch. Action, passion, and aggression— they’re all in high gear. Something small or seemingly insignificant could trigger something formidable, especially if it’s been on stew or repressed for a while. Mercury in Capricorn also calls the shots this weekend, conjoining powerhouse Pluto on Saturday morning and shift ing gears (squaring) with Uranus on Sunday evening. Saturday is the peak of the weekend. The pressure is on; we’re running at full-to-overflow capacity. Time is short, and patience is too. No matter how hard you/we may work to keep it in check, if it needs to blow, it will. Coping skills can be tested, but with deliberate, conscious, and concentrated effort, Mercury/Pluto can support you in keeping a lid on reason, organization, and self-control. Mercury/Pluto brings us to an end of the road, a completion, stop, goal post, limit, or finish line. On the plus side, this is an accomplishment, results, and reward combination. We can gain recognition or an official status. It’s also a right time to take an official step or make an announcement. By Sunday evening, Mercury/ Uranus offers a fresh perspective or conversation, as well as an energy boost. A well-paced Taurus moon

> BY ROSE MARCUS

accompanies the winter solstice on no matter how much is on your to-do Monday evening. Th rough Thursday, list, the Gemini moon keeps you runthe stars are on a fairly smooth-running at peak and pacing it just right. ning track. Thanks to the Cancer full CANCER moon and the end of Uranus retroJune 21–July 22 grade, Christmas Day will be one to Before and after the weekremember. end, the stars are fairly smooth-runARIES ning. Friday/Saturday, patience can March 20–April 20 run short. The sharp-edged Aries The big push or push- moon may put you under added through is on. There’s something pressure. Folks can be demanding, major to figure out or work through pushy, or argumentative. As best this weekend. The fresh or unexpect- you can, cut to the chase and aim ed can rev it/you up all over again. for quick or straightforward soluIt’s up to you to call the shots or lay tions; pay for the added convenience. down the law, to get it up, rolling, Monday and Tuesday are your most and under better control. As of sol- lucrative and/or productive days. stice Monday, you’ll get onto more LEO solid ground.

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TAURUS April 20–May 21

Unwind and let off steam Thursday evening. Friday/Saturday, you’ll fight through it just like the rest of us. As much as you can, try to keep to yourself and avoid the crowds or hot buttons. As of Sunday evening and into solstice Monday, you’ll feel the tension lift or shift. These are your best days to get it said or done.

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GEMINI May 21–June 21

Go with the flow, ease your way into it on Thursday. Friday/Saturday, it’s a fast track and an onslaught. The Aries moon keeps it firing on all cylinders through the weekend. The pace is somewhat easier-going as of solstice Monday. Tuesday/Wednesday,

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July 22–August 23

win streak. Sunday evening sparks it under control. Whether you win the a fresh insight or solution, or an battle or not remains to be seen. opportunity to speak up. Monday/ CAPRICORN Tuesday, your stars are optimal.

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LIBRA September 23–October 23

There’s pressure from all sides; don’t pile extra on yourself. Perhaps you can’t get everything finished off, but aim for what’s manageable, quick, available, or instant. You’ll be pleased to see how far one step at a time gets you. While it’s nearly impossible to curb spending, as of solstice Monday you should get a better overall grip on time management and what’s necessary.

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SCORPIO October 23–November 22

On Thursday, you can easily be swayed by advertising or sweet talk. Play up the romance, let the spirit move you. Friday to Sunday, the Aries moon is on a full battery recharge. Don’t gamble on time margins—aim to arrive early. The sooner you get at it, the more you’ll have to show for it. Choose quick, short, simple, and snappy.

Saturday’s Mercury/Pluto keeps you focused, determined, and working hard for it. While you may reach the finish line in good time, there’s always something more to do or say, or to tantalize you. Saturday through Monday, the stars coincide well for the switch from work to a vacation week. Tuesday is a big money day. On Wednesday, you’ll hit stop, then go.

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VIRGO August 23–September 23

You’re a powerhouse this weekend. Friday through Sunday evening, Mercury keeps you driven, perhaps even obsessed, about getting your point across and/or your objective met. Concentrate on staying organized, apply a good measure of self-control, and you’ll hit a win/

SAGITTARIUS November 22–December 21

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December 21–January 20

Feel the extra weight on your shoulders? Everything you do and say holds greater than usual sway and impact. Stay ambitious, pace yourself, play it smart, and there’s good reward in it. Impulsiveness, emotional triggers, or a health issue can flare up on Saturday/Sunday. Despite the challenge, Mercury in Capricorn helps you to keep it under control.

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AQUARIUS

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PISCES

January 20–February 18

On Thursday, money evaporates, time does too. Friday through Sunday, the action is full-on and fullblast. Sunday evening could dish up something last-minute. A conversation, a visit, or an arrival can be a great perk-me-up. As of the winter solstice, it’s time to gear down, although only somewhat and not for long. February 18–March 20

Thursday’s great, any way you play it. Saturday brings you to your destination or the finish line. By Sunday night, you’ll catch a fresh wind. A busy week lies ahead of the full-moon Christmas, but even so, you should fi nd you can keep to a smooth and steady pace, especially through the fi rst half of the week. -

Thursday is for easing up, coasting, or relaxing at home, but Friday through Sunday is for getting the show on the road. You’ll have excess energy to burn. While an impulsive, impetuous, frisky, or combative mood can get the better of you, Mer- Book a reading with Rose Marcus at cury in Capricorn nags at you to keep www.rosemarcus.com/astrolink/.

DECEMBER 17 – 24 / 2015 THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT 55

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