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It's mid-life crisis month here at V-Rag! Our little magazine hits the big 40, and what better month to celebrate than facial hair fun Movember? In this issue, cover boy Patrick Wolf takes some time from his recent visit to Vancouver to chat with us, musician-turned-author Rae Spoon lets us in on their new book, local Christopher Smith gets all indie on our ass and artist Mikey remembers The Nintendo Generation. Returning for another monumental year, Art For Life turns 19, Movember combs out the stache again, and our regulars from Joan-E, Charlie David and Christopher Monk get us geared up for the Holiday season. See you in December! V Editor & Art Director
Cole Johnston • cole@v-rag.com Editorial staff
Lana Chunn Charlie David Jason Goodwin Joan-E Cole Johnston Jeff Lawrence Christopher Monk Mumbles Matt Roy Printed by
East Van Graphics Publisher
Cole Johnston Design
Art & Photography
Arsenal Pulp Press Charlie David Todd Duym Cole Johnston JJ Levine John Lindquist Michael Edward Miller Saga Sig Anselmo Swan WeAreSolidGold.com Cover Photo by
John Lindquist
Copy deadline for the December issue is Nov. 26. Ad space is available until Nov. 30 and can be booked by calling 604831-8179 or emailing ads@v-rag.com. Our rates are available upon request. V-Rag welcomes submissions but accepts no responsibility for the return of unsolicited materials. V-Rag Magazine 1535 West Broadway, PO Box 29141 Vancouver B.C. V6J 1W6
1167 Davie street Vancouver
www.pumpjackpub.com
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V-Rag is printed monthly by Cole Johnston Design. No part of this may be reproduced in any form by any means without prior written consent from the publisher. All content Š 2012 Cole Johnston Design.
www.v-rag.com
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rae spoon
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patrick wolf
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christopher smith
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good time charlie
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movember
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v-map
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nintendo generation
022
health & wellness
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film:notes & music:notes
026
art for life
029
joan-e's rag
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calendar of events
One of the most successful names on the music scene becomes an author! Indisputably one of the great talents of our time interviewed. The latest indie sensation, a common name, an uncommon sound. Charlie David travels around the globe and takes us to Kagoshima! It's the time when everyone looks like a hipster. But it's for a good cause. Don't get lost on the streets of Vancity, find everything here! Talented local artist Mikey (Michael Edward Miller) shows his latest project. Being the season of the stache, let's get to know some prostate health tips. Keep The Lights On, The Unlikely Girl, Ellie Goulding & Fathoms reviewed. Friends For Life's signature event turns 19 this year! Uh oh, Joan-E's getting political. But she assures us it's warm & fuzzy. Vancouver's most comprehensive guide, now with more moustaches!
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photo by jj levine, courtesy of arsenal pulp press
features
v-rag magazine #40 movember 2012
R
ae Spoon is a familiar name to many indie music fans. With 6 albums under their belt, this transgender recording artist is at the top of their game musically. Not one to be satisfied easily, Rae has embarked on the literary circuit with their first novel, available from Arsenal Pulp Press. Special thanks for the interview! You're an accomplished musician with multiple albums to your credit. How did you come to write First Spring Grass Fire? Is fiction-writing something you'd always wanted to do? As a child I loved to read books and write short stories. I found both to be a great way to escape reality. I had a very supportive teacher in grade five who noticed and told me that I could be a writer, and ever since then I wanted to write a book. When I started playing guitar, though, writing songs took over. I had a chaotic home situation and found it easier to express myself in the space of three minutes. I also found songs easier to share... The narrator of First Spring Grass Fire shares your first name though the book is fiction. Do you draw a lot from your own life experiences in your writing? I do draw a lot from my experiences in writing fiction. My own identity is based on a narrative I am constantly revising for myself, so I see fiction and nonfiction as things that inform each other. I do believe the cliché that people write the best about what they know and I've tried to stick to that without being too specific about my actual history. What do you hope readers will take away from the book? The narrator in the book has a difficult childhood, but there is always the possibility of escape. I think the message of survival and acceptance is important. Also, finding something to be passionate about and live for in spite of loss.
Who are your creative literary influences? I really like author Sherman Alexie because he manages to write about difficult things with a great sense of humour. Miriam Toews is a great writer from Manitoba. I often read her books when I'm on tour and want to feel like I'm on the prairies... Of course, I'm very influenced by people I make art with and tour with such as Geoff Berner, Ivan E. Coyote, Chelsea Mcmullan and Alexandre Decoupigny. Speaking of Ivan Coyote– we hear you're working on a new show together? Ivan and I bring together words, sounds and original music in our new show Gender Failure, an exploration and exposé of their failed attempts at fitting into the gender binary, and ultimately, how the gender binary fails us all. You're the subject of an upcoming National Film Board documentary called My Prairie Home. Can you tell us more about the film? I met Toronto filmmaker Chelsea Mcmullan a few years ago when she asked me to compose the score for her last documentary Dead Man. We found that we had a great chemistry in the way that we worked together and after she got to know me she asked me to be in a documentary about my growing up in Alberta. The film is going to be a musical, which means there will be several staged musical numbers within it. It is slated to be released sometime in 2013. V Rae Spoon's first novel First Spring Grass Fire is available at Little Sister's and all fine book merchants, as well as from Arsenal Pulp Press. Ivan E. Coyote & Rae Spoon's Gender Failure plays Nov. 21st, 23rd and 24th in Montreal, Toronto and London respectively. Go to www.v-rag.com for your chance to win a copy of First Spring Grass Fire! www.raespoon.com www.arsenalpulp.com www.arsenalia.com
photo by john lindquist
features
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v-rag magazine #40
T
hey’ve all been a bit of a middle finger to how things sound on the radio, which I know makes me a hard sell.” Patrick Wolf is talking about his treasury of albums, five of them, spanning genres from electro-pop to folk. Wolf recently added to that treasury with Sundark and Riverlight, a retrospective double album of his music from the past decade in which he has re-recorded and re-envisioned some of his most popular songs, some unknown, and some completely new. But it’s still all distinctly Wolf’s dreamy folk-rock sound, and as he proudly points out, none of it is top 40 material. “It’s some kind of subconscious reaction to the things we’re bombarded with on the radio and on TV,” he says. “I guess that’s always one of the fuels for making an album and choosing the production style.” For Sundark and Riverlight, Wolf consciously fought against what he calls the “robotization” of contemporary music, recording a woodwind quartet in an empty pool and a string quartet suspended on a balcony at the top of the studio. “All producers and engineers, they’re so used to doing a session with everything fed and thinned out with this digital process, so I had to go through every little recording session and undo everything. “This is kind of why I made the album analogue — there are flaws in the vocals and there are bad notes. It’s a rebellion against the robots.” The result? Favourite songs like “Wind in the Wires” and “Paris” have been stripped of all distortion and synthesized sounds, leaving behind the pure intention of the music, which shines through acoustic instrumentals. It’s a hell of a way to celebrate 10 years in the music industry, which amounts to one-third of the time Wolf, who recently turned 30, has been alive. Looking back, it’s easy to see why he shuns radio music and embraces folk. It’s in his roots. “When I grew up, the only CDs my mom would play were Joni Mitchell, Leonard
movember 2012
by jeff lawrence
Cohen and Buffy Ste. Marie,” he says. When I note the high ratio of Canadian legends in his pantheon of musical influences, Wolf agrees. It’s been a constant theme even until today. He’s played with The Hidden Cameras, Arcade Fire, and is currently touring with Calgary folk act Woodpigeon. “Earlier on in my career I met Joel Gibb from The Hidden Cameras in a nightclub. I had my viola with me and he asked me to come and play with him,” Wolf explains. “It was really nice to meet people so supportive and creative that early on… I just created this really weird connection overseas straight with Toronto, basically.” In that earlier part of his career, after Wolf released his debut LP Lycanthropy and follow up Wind in the Wires, he was an oddity in the music community — a solo folk artist from Britain, with little support from other artists in the country he was raised in. God Bless Canada. “I didn’t realize I was being put up as the outsider in the music industry. I was the freak, I was the one with no friends,” he says. “I still don’t have many friends in the music industry in Britain, but I’ve got a whole family in Canada.” Wolf praises the underground artists that have emerged as Canadian legends of late, such as Arcade Fire cleaning up the Grammy’s a year ago. “I think it’s something to do with the passion for music and the sort of uncompromising artistic vision that they have. It’s not really a commercial decision to make art,” he says. “There’s a very healthy underground scene, it’s very self-sufficient, and I find that really inspiring.” Wolf should take inspiration from his own career, then, as it has somehow never stepped into the main spotlight amongst the Gagas and Beyonces of the world, but he has quietly carved out a solid following dubbed “the Wolfpack.” After albums like The Magic Position, which cemented Wolf’s staying power in music by making a distinctly pop music statement, he’s returned to his folk roots.
“Because I’ve built up a big touring band over the last six years and now I’m sort of back to basics, I just thought I need to remind myself what it is to be a solo artist and to pick up an instrument and sing without any backing,” he says of his latest tour in support of Sundark and Riverlight. “It’s kind of just been a long journey around the world. I think the one thing that connects every album and every experience is this uncompromising attitude that has lost me a lot of record deals, but it has got me to a place where I have an audience that’s still with me, and I hope will be with me for the next 60 or 70 years.” It’s not unimaginable to think that will hold true. Patrick Wolf: lone wolf no more. V
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Patrick Wolf's Sundark and Riverlight is available now on iTunes. He is currently touring the album. www.patrickwolf.com www.wearesolidgold.com
photo by john lindquist
photo by saga sig
features
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photo by todd duym
features
v-rag magazine #40
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hat’s in a name? Sometimes not enough. When I originally Googled Christopher Douglas Smith, the first thing that came up was an obituary, then several lawyers, and a trombone player. No luck there. Even when I narrowed the search to include location (Vancouver) and profession (music), all I found were a few sound bytes and interviews for an album past. With a name so common, the Internet was failing me. So, who is Christopher Smith? I still don’t really know. But in this day and age, when music is oft overshadowed by the overtly manufactured product that is the “artist”, maybe all we need to know about Christopher Smith is that the music is pretty damn good. Earning Keep is Smith’s sophomore album, a rich recording that, for its slow tempo, is surprisingly wakeful. This could be due in part to his influences, namely Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' 1997 album The Boatman’s Call and Antony & The Johnsons generally, which can be heard in the subdued piano solos of some songs and the sweeping string peaks of others. But beyond that, Smith’s album draws influence from all over. Jazz greets us in the opening number "Settling Pitch", where a sneaky trumpet inserts itself almost immediately, followed by songs that conjure up old Canadian masters of folk and pop, and by the end we’re offered a big electro-fashioned conclusion with "No Light Could Pass Through Me So I Have a Shadow". And of course, Vancouver weather also plays its part. As Smith notes, “Long, cold, and wet winters keep you indoors to work and not in a park or at the beach.” This ensemble is a big change from his first album The Beckon Call, which was primarily Smith and a guitar. But this shift was made intentionally and according to plan. “It was always my intention to expand the sound of my music. I've always thought of
movember 2012
by matt roy
my guitar as more of a song-writing tool than a sonic feature. Honestly in a live setting I'd like to drop playing guitar completely. I've been so lucky to be surrounded by amazing musicians willing to work and collaborate with me. I'd much rather showcase their skills and musicianship.” Whereas some artists rely too heavily on the work of others to forge their sound, Smith is very involved in his music, writing it and then taking charge in the recording process. “The great thing about my process is that it creates a foundation to work from. I bring finished songs to rehearsals and sort of direct my band, setting up parameters to embellish within. I've been working with the same people for a long time, and it’s gotten to a really good point where everyone can express themselves in their playing without compromising the integrity of the song.” And so what we have in Earning Keep is thoughtful and provocative: big songs split equally with tender interludes, words that mean something, and a sound unique to our time. But what else can we expect from a born artist? “I make art (both painting and music) because I want and need to and I always have.” V Earning Keep by Christopher Smith is available now on iTunes. www.christophersmith.bandcamp.com www.wearesolidgold.com
travel
by charlie david
A
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dvancing in age, hair length, and neuroses as my one time teen idol now potentially crazy person Tom Cruise, I decided to follow in his heavy elfin footsteps to Kagoshima, Japan - site of the true Last Samurai. Kagoshima is the capital city of the Kagoshima Prefecture at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu. With its impressive stratovolcano, Sakurajima, hot climate and beautiful bay location it has been nicknamed the Naples of the Eastern world. Modern Japan does not outwardly embrace homosexuality and yet in a city like Tokyo there are more gay bars per capita than anywhere else in the world. Like most cultures, in Japan there is a long history (as long as humans have had genitals) of gay relationships. The practice of shudo, "the Way of the Young", paralleled closely the course of European pederasty. Pederasty is a homosexual relationship between a young man and a pubescent boy and was prevalent in the religious community and samurai society, documented from the mediaeval period on, and eventually grew to permeate all of society. Its legendary founder, Kobo Daishi, is said to have brought the teachings of male love over from China, together with
the teachings of the Buddha. Social norms were drastically different at that time and as a point of reference young women were often married off by the time they were twelve. A samurai’s life was strict, focused and intense. If they had a family, they would often be away for months at a time. Having a younger guy learn from them in training, wash their clothes, cook their meals and provide intimacy was simply a way of life. I decided to train in the arts of the ancient samurai, still practiced by a small but disciplined community today. Jigen-ryu is a traditional school of Japanese martial arts with a focus on the art of swordsmanship founded in the late 16th century by Togo Chui in Kagoshima. My training was in Japanese, which I don’t speak but after a while I began to simply feel the intention behind words and follow like a child. There was as much focus on the unity between the force of what I was doing and the movement of the ocean or the power of the volcano in the distance or the slip of the sand under my feet. There was symmetry between myself and the elements, as with the guiding principles of Shinto. Kagoshima, like much of Japan, dances like a delicate cherry blossom in a windstorm between ancient traditions and modern innovation. Her people perfect this race going in two directions and I’m left as the Westerner feeling centuries behind. Catch me if you can! V Where in the world is Charlie? www.facebook.com/OfficialCharlieDavid
v-rag magazine #40
t’s that time again, when we need to shed our beards or our razors to don a dirty stache and talk about prostates. Movember is upon us, and its bigger and better than ever. I spoke with Alan Bedingfield, head of the Vancouver Movember Commitee, and he gave me some insight into a fundraising campaign that has, in a very short time, grown insanely fast. After almost 10 years in existence, Movember is now the largest fundraiser for prostate cancer research, raising to date over one hundred million dollars. The numbers are impressive. In Canada, participants jumped from about two thousand in 2007 to over forty thousand last year. So don’t be timid about rocking a Mo. “People think that shaving their beard or growing a Mo for a month is the most drastic thing going but it is only a month. There are tens of thousands of men doing it this year. Mo Bros are not alone. The first week is always the most awkward but when you get into week two and walk down the street you will notice just how many guys are growing. It becomes a conversation point.” Alan stresses that Movember is, above all things, about discussing men’s health: “men are so apathetic to our causes that we don’t talk about them. If Movember encourages one uncle, father, brother or friend to get checked out this year, then the tens of thousands of Mo’s grown across Canada have done their jobs. It is about getting checked up and saving lives.” Guys have that funny habit of not talking about things, especially if that “thing” happens to be nestled in their butts. Even gay men, who are generally more fond of their prostates, probably aren’t thinking about some of the scary numbers surrounding prostates. According to statistics, men are 35% more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than a woman is to be diagnosed with breast cancer; and every sixteen minutes a man dies of prostate cancer. Clearly, we need to be a little more open about our health. This is where the Mo comes in. V For more information and full Vancouver event listings, go to http://ca.movember.com.
movember 2012
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by matt roy
v-map
DOWNTOWN VANCOUVER
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v-rag magazine #40
The
Nintendo Generation by Mikey
Vancouver artist Michael Edward Miller (aka Mikey) recently showcased his '90s-inspired new work The Nintendo Generation at East Van Studio. If you missed this spray paint and stencil-based collection, check it out in all its retro fabulousness at www.MichaelEdwar dMiller.com
health
by christopher monk
T
his was an easy month to decide what to prattle on about – our prostates! As it's the furry month of Movember, we should all be taking that extra step to inform ourselves about that fun little gland that can cause men quite a bit of trouble down the road. So how do we help steer clear from trouble? It's not as tough as you might think, and there are a few ways to protect yourself that are even a lot of fun. Let's get to know our prostates!
Top Five Tips for a Healthier Prostate :
• T hink Christmas colours: Reds and greens that is. Cooked tomato products have been proven to reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Harvard researcher Edward Giovannucci first discovered this in the 1990s and countless studies
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have backed up his findings. Aim for two servings a week. Isothiocyanates, a compound found in broccoli may also help to fend off prostate cancer, a 2008 British study found. 4 servings a week (either cooked or raw) may have a very strong correlation with lower cases of prostate cancer. • T here's nothing fishy here: Omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA in fish oil inhibits tumors! Plus, Harvard researchers found that men who ate fish three times a week reduced their risk of aggressive prostate cancer by 25%. •E xercise, exercise, exercise: As if you needed another excuse to work out. Exercise reduces the risk of fatal forms of prostate cancer by 41%. Not only that, survivors of prostate cancer who exercise for 5 hours a week have a 56% lower risk of death from the disease. •G ay sex could save your life: It's true! A study from 2004 concluded that giving the old prostate gland a good working over can decrease the chance of prostate cancer. Also in the study, men who had 21 or more orgasms a month were about 30% less likely to develop prostate cancer than those who climaxed less than 8 times per month. But always be careful! Not only are they nasty, STDs could increase cancer risks. One in particular, trichomoniasis, double the chance of advanced-stage prostate cancer. The infection could lead to prostate inflammation, which has been linked to cancer risk and progression. If you've never been tested, see your doctor. A single, 2-gram dose of either tinidazole or metronidazole can usually clear the infection. •S tarbucks the saviour? Perhaps not, but a recent study found that men who drank 6 or more cups of regular or decaf coffee were 59% less likely to develop advanced prostate cancer than those who show up to work tired and cranky. So there you have it. The health of your prostate should be taken seriously, but who says you can't have fun with it in the process? Movember is a great month to spread awareness and share these helpful tips! V
www.checkhimout.ca
entertainment
keep the lights on
the unlikely girl
Keep The Lights On plays out in a somewhat beautiful tragic love story between two men who can’t seem to ever get it right. Erik is a documentary film maker in his thirties who has yet to break out. He meets Paul on a phone sex line (because film gods forbid two gay men actually meet in a semi normal way). Paul is a drug addict and struggles back and forth with addiction for the entirety of the film. This is a brutally honest look, not only at what some gay men are living through, but at how addiction can completely ruin a relationship. The film runs the span of nine years, and we see in an unflinching tone, how addiction affects these two. Truthfully, the film works just as much as a “gay” film as it does an “addiction” film, thanks entirely to the incredible direction from Ira Sachs. Keep The Lights On presents some equally disturbing and beautiful imagery and performances. The desperation on Thure Lindhartdt’s face is uncanny. The conflict of emotion climaxes in a scene that is one of the most painful and uncomfortable I’ve seen this year. Erik wants to offer Paul a chance at salvation and redemption so badly to the brink of hopelessness. Paul may not be a fully developed character, but this film is really only about Erik. This was one of the break-out hits at this year's Vancouver International Film Festival, and as such will be playing November 9th–15th at the Vancity Theatre.
This was one of my favourite selections at the 2012 Vancouver International Film Festival, a beautifully crafted psycho-sexual thriller from first-time director Wei Ling Chang. At first focusing on a girl's journey back to her French countryside home and the rivalry she faces with the beautiful American exchange student, The Unlikely Girl slowly morphs into something far more adult and sinister. It's hard to believe The Unlikely Girl is Chang's debut, with its rich colourful cinematography, intricate story line and assured performances. It's really more of a seasoned Lynchian puzzle (David Lynch, not lead actress Shane Lynch). So much so that I had to see it a second time to fully wrap my mind around the questions the film was posing. What is truth and what is reality? Where do the lines blur between narrative and paradox? The fact that The Unlikely Girl starts off as a very by-the-book love triangle thriller (think Cruel Intentions goes to France) only makes the mid-film change in tone all the more brilliant. You think you know what this is about, who the characters are, what the outcome might be... But there's a lot more happening here under the surface, and a host of fantastic clues to solving this puzzle. The film starts with one of the best of these clues in the opening credits: The sentence below is true. The sentence above is false.
D: Ira Sachs by Jason Goodwin
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D: Wei Ling Chang by Cole Johnston
v-rag magazine #40 movember 2012
christian lÖffler
ellie goulding
fathoms
Every now and then an album comes out that seems to perfectly sum up the season of which it's released. As the madness of summer fades away and is replaced by the grey skies of Fall, A Forest feels like an appropriately timed lush, warm blanket. This album by its simplest definition is minimal electronica, but there is something extremely human and organic at the heart of each song. The bass lines are deep and melodic, each groove is engaging, each sound conjures an image and each guest vocalist tells a beautifully haunted story. The young producer describes his own music as "a gloomy spirit which is minted by a warm sincerity". Christian expertly uses sound and atmospherics to create a world that is more than worthy of repeated visits. For a sample, check out the stand out track "Eleven" featuring Mohna.
Known most widely for her single "Lights", singing at Will and Kate’s wedding reception and dating Skrillex, Ellie Goulding showcases the depth she is capable of both artistically and vocally in her sophomore release Halcyon. Halcyon is an ethereal mix of angelic vocals and exquisite sounds. Whereas Lights was an electronic-oriented and hook-heavy album, Halcyon finds Goulding taking a departure to a more ambitious musical soundscape. The album incorporates much more traditional instruments like pianos and drums, while layering Goulding’s signature airy vocals, creating a compelling, bordering haunting effect. The album has joyous moments, but for the most part embraces a darker, more somber tone. It’s an emotionally charged album with songs that take you on a storytelling journey of love lost, but with resounding hope throughout. It is the perfect company for a cold winter’s day.
Big and subtle at the same time. This doesn’t happen often in music, but Fathoms are killing it with their release As High as Low Goes. Vancouver-based duo Geoff Nilson and Kevin Jack are marrying electro and pop like it was just legalized, and I’m dancing to the alter. What first grabs my attention is the lucid layering and perfect pace of the opening track “Hornets”. But what cements my interest are the vocals, clean cut and rich enough to hold up against the deep beats of the song. Okay, all that is pretty big. So what is subtle about Fathoms? How about the fact that I get lost in the music? It’s a fine art to mix a seamless song, let alone an entire album. The attention to detail is astonishing. All six songs are superb. I hate to pick favourites, but if I had to choose, I’d say I’m partial to “Hornets”, “Chaos Waltz”, and “Miscommunication”. But honestly, this is an end to end album that I recommend buying whole.
"A Forest" by Mumbles
"Halcyon" by Lana Chunn
"As High As Low Goes" by Matt Roy
artwork by anselmo swan
art
U
nwrap your desires and feast your senses on the vision that awaits you at this year's Art For Life, presented by Murrick & Somerset Insurance Services. Stimulate your senses with delectable bites, luscious libations and a dazzling collection of 80 artworks, valued at close to $150,000, donated by Vancouver's top artists and galleries. The evening will include a breathtaking performance by Inner Ring Circus and the vocal stylings of Mary Zilba from The Real Housewives of Vancouver. All proceeds benefit the Vancouver Friends For Life Society. Join Friends For Life for the exclusive Collectors' Preview presented by Affinity Auto, featuring an intimate introduction to the 2012 fine art collection, a cocktailstyle dinner, a host bar and exclusive advanced opportunity to purchase artworks from the live auction (not including the signature piece). Tickets to the Preview also include entrance to the Gala immediately following.
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Amazingly talented and generous artists this year include Angela Grossman, Patty Ampleford, Pat Service, Barbara Cole, Stuart Slind, David Edwards, Katherine Surridge, Jane Kenyon, Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Victoria Plewman, Justin Ogilvie, Cybele Ironside, Chris Charlebois, and the internationally accomplished Andrew Salgado. "I think that art created solely for the artist's purpose is selfish," says 30-year-old Salgado, now based in London, UK. "As a gay man, Art For Life has a powerful and important message and it is something that I want to support; I hope to continue to contribute throughout my career. It's a wonderful charity and a great cause that I believe in strongly. It's also important to me because I want to support the Vancouver and Canadian art scene." V The Art For Life Collectors' Preview begins at 6pm on Nov. 17th, with the Art For Life Gala immediately after, 8pm at CBC Studio 40. www.artforlife.net www.friendsforlife.ca
v-rag magazine #40 movember 2012 Artists L-R: David Pirrie, Yared Nigussu, Andre Petterson, Verna Vogel, Mark Boyko, Joshua Jensen-Nagle, Joe Fafard, Tim Fraser, Nick Lepard, Andrew Tong, Wendy Sexsmith, Christopher Friesen, Andrew Salgado, Glenn Payan, John Dann, Judy Cheng, Shannon Belkin, Jamie Evrard
entertainment
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BACKDOOR T-DANCE
v-rag magazine #40 movember 2012
I
try to avoid anything political when writing this column, but lately I have been bombarded with all of the ads coming out of the United States urging people to vote for people or initiatives, and thought that it might be nice to reflect for a moment on how fortunate we are as Canadians. Call it my gratitude list. At this time in Canada no one is seriously debating Gay Marriage. It is a done deal. No one here is spending millions of dollars trying to convince everyone that the gays will bring the end of "family". The headlines are not filled with vitriol and hate speak and, for the most part, we seem to have moved on from the "us versus them" mentality that our LGBTQ friends down south seem to have to fight every day. It is great to see that Canada is finally beginning to have real conversations about the trans community. For so long our transgender community members have been fighting along side us so that we could have rights and freedoms. Now it's our turn to do the same for them. We can surely look to the day when these precious members of our cultural family feel the same sense of belonging that we feel and the same recognition for the kind of equality that we all more and more take for granted. I am thrilled that, for the most part, that we live in a country that accepts the
fact that the choices a woman makes with regard to their health should indeed remain that woman's choice. I sleep better at night knowing that I live in a county where the right to health care for all Canadians is not just law, but is indeed one of the greatest cornerstones of what it means to be Canadian. I am terrified when I read stories of countries where Pride parades are cancelled by governments. I am appalled when I hear that LGBTQ persons around the world are being tormented, arrested, attacked and even killed for just being their true selves. We can walk down the street holding hands with our same sex partner and know that our rights protect our ability to do so. We also know that if, God forbid, we are attacked while holding our partner's hand, that Canada has hate crime legislations which judges are presently using to put those that bring us harm in jail where they belong. I am thankful that the other night I arrived, in drag, at an up scale very straight club in Yaletown and that the door man greeted me the same way he treats everyone else. While in the club, I held hands with one of my friends and no one reacted with anything other than acceptance and amusement. I was treated like a citizen. They even offered us a drink to stay longer. This is not a perfect place. There is still hate and there are still those that would see us banished to an island or worse. But I can honestly look at the youth of our community in the eye and say "yes, it got better". V Read more of Joan-E's Rag at www.v-rag.com
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Vancouver Lured Opening Jerk It Asian Film Fest maritime museum the cobalt int'nl village
Ladyhawke
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artwork by michael edward miller www.michaeledwardmiller.com
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EVERY PERSON IS UNIQUE. Talk to your doctor.