Archive for April, 2010

We are incredibly proud to announce that Vancouver Is Awesome has signed on as “guest curators of public programming” with the Museum Of Vancouver, bringing our flavour of awesomeness to MOV in 2010! The first programming we’re introducing is…

“A Night at MOV with Conor Holler, Volume 1”
A co-presentation of Vancouver is Awesome Inc and the Museum Of Vancouver
Friday May 28th, 2010
Doors open and bar open at 7:00pm
Show starts at 8:00pm
Tickets $25 in advance (HERE) or $30 at the door
After-party in the MOV studio overlooking Vanier Park

This retro talkshow will feature Vancouver’s most interesting, funny and creative folks for 90 minutes of chat with local comedian and artist, Conor Holler. The show is the brainchild of Vancouver Is Awesome’s creative director/founder, Bob Kronbauer, and is a chance to re-imagine a fun old variety show/talk show format for a new audience. The first show will feature musical guest Dan Mangan, writer and raconteur Charles Demers on his recent book, Vancouver Special, Grant Lawrence of CBC Radio 3 and featuring another special guest to be announced.

The theatre at MOV seats 210 and we are pre-selling tickets. We are anticipating this event to sell out so purchase now. You can purchase your tickets HERE.

Design Week Vancouver is rolling along and last night’s keynote speeches were by Helen Walters, Cameron Sinclair and Don Ryun Chang. The main theme of all three speakers was; “How does design create value and how do we value design?” The bulk of the conference is happening today and Thursday with full days of discussions and talks like “If it Works in India…” by Ashwini Deshpande. If you are current student this is a great opportunity to get informed on global design issues before doing the jump into the work force.

The conference is being held in the always classic Canada Place and the keynote talk started just as the sun was setting.

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Are you in a BC-based band? Have you entered to be a part of The PEAK Performance Project year two yet? You haven’t? Are you CRAZY?!? I have insider information telling me that only 100 bands have completed the entry process for this year’s contest, and the deadline is this Friday.

This is the contest where The Peak 100.5 FM and Music BC are helping musicians. First prize is $100,500 (whaaaaat?) and aside from gaining some awesome experience and knowledge on how to navigate the music industry as an up and coming band, there are heavy prizes for all of the 20 finalists.

If you’re in a band and you’re good and you’re often like “Man, I wish we could catch a break” then you have to apply for this. Seriously, you would be absolutely crazy not to. APPLY HERE!

Here’s the official word with more details:
Year two of The PEAK Performance Project will see an increase of overall funding to B.C. artists from $275,000 to $315,000 in development cash awards and will see all Top 20 artists receive artist development funding. The 1st place artist will receive $100,500, 2nd is $75,000, 3rd is $50,000, 4th is $10,000, 5th is $5,000 and all 20 finalists will receive $3500 each in initial artists development funding. In addition to this, all of this year’s 20 finalists will receive a showcase spot at The Kelowna 2010 BreakOut West Festival presented by the Western Canadian Music Alliance October 21 – 24, 2010.

The Top 20 Artists will be announced on May 31st followed by the PEAK Performance Orientation (June 12, 2010), Bootcamp (August 27 – Sept 3, 2010) and the PEAK Performance Concert Series (Sept – Oct 2010). The final three artists will be announced on …READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Dan Mangan's show at the Vogue is sold out, but he's playing some songs for us at A NIGHT AT MOV on May 28th... just announced and not yet sold out! Buy tickets!]

I just got a roll of film developed and figured I’d share a few photos taken on Record Store Day at Red Cat Records in case any of you guys missed it. I stuck around for Dan Mangan and Ladyhawk, two of my favourite Vancouver talents. It was a great, intimate show and a chance to see Dan Mangan live seeing as I didn’t manage to get tickets for his upcoming sold out show at the Vogue. Ladyhawk played some new material from their new album they’re currently working on. According to their blog however, it won’t be coming out anytime soon. Here’s hoping these talented guys fall into some good fortune very soon!

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New mix from my pals Flowers Flores and Eric Zee. They call it Muffin Tops. Obtain it HERE. Tracklist below.

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Every day we share a single photo from our Flickr Pool with you, shot by one of our faithful and talented readers (that’s you!).

Today’s photo was shot by snub_you and it’s entitled Landed. I know, I know, I went on a bird kick a couple of weeks ago with the Daily Flickrs and I guess I’m at it again as yesterday’s was of a heron and this one is of a huge bird statue that’s apparently down at the Olympic Village. When did this go in? It wasn’t there the last time I was down there…

Sneeze issue 7, the poster sized mag with photos, skateboarding and random stuff, is now in the Gastown street box. Good use of your toonie.

A short video of the street box.

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V.I.A.’s Home Grown features only the most awesome companies in Vancouver. From tiny, single-person operations to the big players, we profile our favourite businesses and interview their owners.

Kube Computers Established 2006 www.kubecomputers.com

Kube Computers is an awesome little computer store on Cambie Street owned and operated by Georgina and Mirek Havelka. They wanted to create the kind of computer store where technology doesn’t overshadow the human element – where buying a computer or getting a computer repaired can be a comfortable, fun and transparent experience.

At Kube, there’s no marketing jargon and every customer gets the information they need to buy a computer, laptop, peripheral that is suited to their needs. Or if they are in for a computer repair or upgrade, they get fast and effective service at reasonable prices. For example, they can fix most problems in 1-2 days and if a computer is in for a virus removal they selectively remove the virus keeping all of the customer’s data intact. They also don’t cut corners when it comes to building quiet and reliable computer systems. Each component is individually selected to uphold the following mantra: EVERYBODY deserves a quality computer, regardless of price. A consequence of being a small computer shop is that it gives them the flexibility to make component selection decisions instantly; something a large computer manufacturer can only dream about.

They also wanted to create a computer store that women would be comfortable going into and getting what they need. On top of all of this, along the way they discovered stylish laptop bags and accessories that were hard to find and they made it a mission to have a large selection in the store. They want to rid the world of the bland, boring black nylon laptop bag!

We got Kube’s owners, Georgina and Mirek Havelka, to answer some questions for us…
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