Archive for January, 2011

THE PASTE UP WEEKLY is an extension of our monthly events listings. We know that there are a lot of awesome events, happenings and goings on in Vancouver and we wanted to feature some of the best and most unique events for the upcoming week. This month’s full event listings can be found here.

Colour Magazine Talent Showcase

Where & when: Friday January 28th 2010, 9PM @ The Astoria, 769 E. Hastings

Why you should go: Co-sponsored by V.I.A. this event has so much rad!  Rad bands, rad emcees as well as a talent competition where you can win some rad free stuff! Rad. Plus delicious winter drinks on sale all night.

Cool extras: This happens once a month so you can get all of the rad you need every single month.

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Normally we wouldn’t run something like this as a blog post but Craftworks is such a super awesome non-profit and as a non-profit ourselves (meet V.I.A. Inc’s board HERE) we know that it takes a nation of millions… no, that it takes an entire village to… no, we just know it’s not always easy to get your message out there. They’re looking for a couple new board members. See below for info from them.

We are Craftworks Society, a not for profit that’s been working in Vancouver communities since 1966, Craftworks is a small retail store on 4th Ave  in Kitsilano and everything that we sell is handmade by people with disabilities in our Vancouver communities. We currently have two openings on our board of directors to help us steer this crafty ship into handmade domination! We are looking for crafty keeners who are enthusiastic, have great ideas and are willing to dive in with various projects. New product development, fundraising, community engagement, you name it. Interested? Want more information? Email Courtney at cj (at) tellydesigns dot com

Greetings V.I.A.ers. Let me introduce myself. My name is Rick Chung, a Vancouver broadcast journalist obsessed with all things arts and culture. You may know me from my many misadventures and shenanigans online, from my work at CBC News, CBC Radio 3, on Twitter, or out and about in this beautiful city of ours. I am pleased to announce myself as a regular contributor and the social editor for Vancouver Is Awesome.

I will produce a regular feature, the titular Vancouver Daze, on Fridays showcasing and highlighting the social scene of our fare city covering on events, parties, and local happenings along with the interesting people at them. So if you have a local event or happening you want covered, please let me know. And if you see me out their with my trusty camera reporting and having a good time, be sure to say hi.

I trust this collaboration will yield nothing but the most “awesome” of results.

The Cheaper Show is set to return on June 25th, 2011 for one night only! Once again, 400 pieces from 200 different artists will be priced at $200 each in Vancouver’s biggest and best art show and sale. As a patron of the arts this is something you won’t want to miss, and if you’re an artist it could also be a chance for you to show and sell your work. Click HERE to view all of the articles and artist profiles we published surrounding last year’s show.

Artist Applications open today for what promises to be their biggest show ever. Artists from Greater Vancouver, Canada and world-wide are invited to apply online at www.thecheapershow.com

Photo: Cherry Vega

Welcome to The Playground, a place for Vancouver families. Every Wednesday I post a roundup of upcoming family-friendly events and activities. I’m always on the lookout for fun stuff to do, so if there’s something happening that you think I should know about, contact me.

In The Playground for the week of January 26-February 1: Gymboree’s Winter Open House, Family Snow Day at the Mount Seymour Tube Park, the Vietnamese Tet Lunar Parade and don’t forget about the Vancouver Art Gallery’s weekend family programs.

Gymboree Vancouver is hosting their winter open house this coming weekend and families are invited to come and play while learning a bit about Gymboree’s learning programs. The open house is on Sunday the 30th at Ryerson Memorial Center from 11:30AM-2PM. No RSVP required.

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

I’m pretty excited today, I’m going to my first Canucks game of this season. I’ve been to General Motors Place many times, and visited Canada Hockey Place twice, but I’ve never been to Rogers Arena – I hear its really nice inside. Seems a good way to celebrate Wayne Gretzky’s 50th birthday with 18629 of my closest friends.

To help me get into the mood, here is a photograph from Clayton Perry of the Vancouver Canucks vs. Philadelphia Flyers from New Year’s Eve.

Clayton has submitted more photos to the Vancouver Is Awesome flickr pool than any other member. Representing almost 4% of all the photos in the pool, I knew that when I started doing the Daily Flickr Pickr that it was simply a matter of time until I selected one of his photos. With 150 more photos in the pool than the second-most prolific poster, you could almost call Clayton the Wayne Gretzky of the VIA flickr pool. Okay, perhaps that’s going a little too far.

Oh, and if you crave a little slice of Vancouver History and didn’t get your dose here in this column today, head over to Rhiannon Coppin‘s excellent installment of Vancouver Was Awesome from earlier today over here.

Gary

My first attempt at writing a review of Michael Christie‘s breakout book, The Beggar’s Garden, involved a whole lot of me trying to skirt around the fact that I know Mike personally, and that I know him through skateboarding. The fact that I call him “Mike” and would never call him the more formal “Michael”, that we had drank beers in the back alley behind a skateshop together some years ago, that we had shredded the Strathcona skatepark together, that he sent me an advance copy of his book months ago with a personal note inside of it… these were all facts that I was purposely omitting from my review. What I had hoped to do was attempt to write something completely objective about it because I felt like my knowing him would perhaps make my praise for his novel seem less genuine. But his book came out in stores today, I’m still struggling with writing from that angle and the truth is that in the past I knew Mike Christie as a damned fine skateboarder and now I know Michael Christie as a damned fine author. He’s written an incredible book that I have fallen in love with and if you live in Vancouver I feel it’s a must read.

The nine short stories contained within are fictional looks into the lives of some characters who mostly inhabit the Downtown Eastside. In them he doesn’t glamourize the poorest, most drug riddled neighbourhood in Canada nor does he minimize the distress that many of it’s most marginalized inhabitants are in, however the stories are charming, at times they are downright hilarious and his turns of phrase and character development somehow offer an incredibly raw look at it while humanizing these people. An often forgot about cast that I myself, and many residents of this city of ours sometimes feel like we would go insane if not to ignore as we go about our daily lives, these people are brought to life in this book and we are reminded that every single person who lives here adds to the cultural fabric of our city. In the end The Beggar’s Garden is a fantastic read as well as a reminder that we are all people, that we’re all trying to connect with one another on some level, and that the connections with people are one of the very things that make this city… well… awesome.

Photo: Dylan Doubt

The National Post called The Beggar’s Garden one of the most anticipated books of 2011 and compared it’s characters to those of Mordecai Richler’s who inhabited St. Urbain Street. It’s being praised by critics and authors alike and I only beg that you don’t let the fact that I call Michael “Mike” get in the way of the fact that this book will likely end up being the best book about Vancouver released in 2011. I encourage you to go out and purchase a copy from your favourite bookstore today.

“Comedy is tragedy plus time.” It’s been said many times by many comedians. I believe the original usage dates back to the great Carol Burnett. It’s a quote I have borrowed from to title this column about the wonderful talent in the comedy community right here in Vancouver.Since I’ve lived in Vancouver, I’ve heard a lot of people say that they had a bad experience at a comedy show and never went back. This is as ridiculous as swearing off restaurants as a whole because of one case of food poisoning. It’s my hope, that the profiles here will bring back those who have turned away or open the door for those who have never seen live comedy.

Finally, for those out there that don’t like to laugh, they might be best served by a quote from another lady of show business, Julia Roberts:
“Show me a person who doesn’t like to laugh and I’ll show you a person with a toe tag.”