34 annual Powell Street Fest pics & vids

POSTED August 4, 2010 BY Boon Kondo

BC Day long weekend is a pretty busy one. Fireworks, Pride, long weekend parties, trying to keep up with homies from out of town coming in for a long weekend rampage and there was also the 34 annual Powell Street Festival. Returning to its’ home at the newly renovated Oppenheimer Park, there are now paved paths, a slick oval shaped building, and a cool little kid’s park (see photos below). This year was my 3rd year as a member of the programming committee and volunteer during the festival. I’ve had different ways to describe the festival over the past few years as I’ve told friends to come down. It just dawned on me this year though that, above all, along with being Vancouver’s longest running community festival, it’s a very uniquely Vancouver event.

It has the history of the old Japantown while still being engaged with the current DTES community and revitalizaton movement. It packs the park every year while still maintaining a sort of low key vibe at the same time. I’m pretty sure it was the first place in town that you could get takoyaki and while it certainly isn’t the only place anymore, the lineups today are full of people who come specifically down for it. You get to see performances and collaborations from some of the city’s most talented yet underexposed artists like long time taiko drum fixtures Eileen Kage and Leslie Komori with URB Next 100 alumni No Luck Club or the do-it-to-your-earholes SSRIs and Kokoro Dance play for an all aged and diverse audience.

Here are some videos and pics from this weekend’s festival.

Poster by Kaori Kasai

Rhythm Clash III: Total Constructive Interference taiko (Leslie Komori, Eileen Kage) and No Luck Club (Trevor & Matt Chan)

Rhythm Clash III @ Powell Street Festival 2010 from Japfunk on Vimeo.

Big ups to all who came down to the park and to my programming crew Kristen, Naomi, Michael, Kaori & Miko, my co-host Mariko, other host Ambrose (who had the balls to dress even more kamikaze than I would ever go – last pic below), Kathy & Shirley for holding down the stage, Reiko for bringing in the cake, John the Pres (and next year’s sumo participant), Trevor/Matt/Eileen/Leslie for rippin it for the 3rd straight year and all the numerous volunteers.

That was fun.

Haagen & Ryuzen: Dasz Haagen (electronics) and Alcvin Ryuzen Ramos (shakuhachi flute, didgeridoo) with Eien Hunter-Ishikawa (taiko, percussion)