Archive for December, 2011

I recently read a theory that going for 50 coffees with people you’ve never met is the entrepreneurs equivalent to the theory that doing anything for 10,000 hours will make you an expert on it. While I get the idea, 50 coffees is far easier than practicing something for ten years, and while I’m far from lazy I’ve decided to set out on a fairly simple mission: over the next 50 weeks I’m going to invite 50 interesting Vancouverites, most of whom I have never met before, to go for coffee. I’m going to use this as an exercise in networking for myself and for V.I.A. while also using it as a platform to introduce you to some people who are doing really cool stuff in the city you live in. COFFEE #15 Name: Steve Pratt Occupation: Digital Director Beverage: Dark roast coffee

Meet Steve Pratt. Director of Digital Music at CBC, a regular speaker on the subjects of the future of music and media as well as training traditional media in using new media, he is also an unsung hero and champion of the comedy radio show, This Is That. I’m making another exception to my 50 coffees rule of meeting with strangers as Steve and I were already friends before chatting over caffeinated beverages. In fact he used to be on our board of directors and is now on my personal board of advisors and I just really wanted to introduce you to him. Being able to turn to him with big questions or just to sit down over hamburgers so I can complain on his shoulder are things I hold a really high value on as, while we both have done a lot of work in the digital space, he has a certain kind of smarts and sensibility that I lack.

This particular meeting didn’t involve me gleaning wisdom from him or complaining about my workload, we met in his office at CBC to talk about an exciting new music project that he’s heading up for our national public broadcaster. It’s something they’ve been hinting at on Radio 3 and Steve shared as much as he could say publicly about it HERE. I signed a nondisclosure agreement that says he’ll remove himself from my board and kick me in the ass (not necessarily in that order) right before CBC sues me if I tell you anything about it yet so I can’t say anything aside from it’s really, really awesome and it’s rolling out… well… sometime very soon.

In the meantime, if you haven’t already then why don’t you go poke around CBC Radio 3 and see how awesome it is? When this mysterious music thing launches we’ll be the second to tell you about it, right after them.

Precious secrets on Steve’s Macbook, soon to be unveiled

The Bassment is a weekly article bringing you coverage of the best in Hip Hop and Electronic music from around Vancouver. Weekly interviews, event coverage, album and concert reviews that show how awesome our city’s electronic and hip hop scene really is. If you think there is someone or something that needs coverage in this city in regards to the Hip Hop / Electronic community then get in touch with us.

Had the chance to ask a few questions with Vancouver’s own Evil Ebenezer about his new album The Birds which is available free for download. It is amazing what you can get for free these days. The album contains a colourful array of artists who are featured from producers to lyricists including Toronto artist D-Sisive. The first video off the album was released this week for the song “Wonder Years“. Check out the interview and check out this ALBUM!

Photo: Courtesy of Artist

What can we expect from this album that differs from previous work?

Making this album “The Birds” felt a lot more of a natural process than when I made Evil Eye. I think I learned a lot making Evil Eye, and one of those things was don’t force it. So on this project, I just felt it happened a lot more organically. Plus this album has more singing on it, as Im starting to feel more comfortable with my voice. I also think this album is much more personal and dark. I was going through a bad break up and wrote about it.

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

A new kitty once a week! Click here to find out how your cat can appear on Van City Kitty.

Meet black panther cat Skinny Minnie, submitted by VIA reader Bailey Finden:

Name: Skinny Minnie Breed/Colouring: Black Panther Hood: Oakridge Habits: Sleeping, hunting mice and giving them to my owners, sleeping, cuddle time. Hangouts: My owner’s bed, the computer chair, couch, and I love laying in bathtubs! Other Info: My name may be Skinny but I am a cat of huge stature. Eating is my favorite hobby! If you’re interested in adopting a pet, check out our Happy Tails feature or our monthly Van City Kitty Take Us Home editions (most recently here or here.) If you adopted your pet from the SPCA and would like to share your awesome story on Happy Tails, send an email to Rory.Blanchard@novusnow.ca.

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

As much as your knee might have jerked when you read the title of this post (“But Calgary isn’t awesome!” is a shot that often rings out when I parse the subject) the fact of the matter is that Calgary is an awesome Canadian city full of creative and interesting people doing awesome stuff in and for their community. Paul Friesen has taken over as the editor of our sister site to the East, CalgaryIsAwesome.com, and some positive changes are afoot over there.

I’ve been to enough Calgary Flames VS Vancouver Canucks games to know that a great deal of people who live in Vancouver, and likely who read this blog, hail from Cowtown. So if you’re going back to Calgary for the holidays, or you have friends and family who live there, then check out C.I.A. to find out about the latest and greatest things that are making the place awesome… and I’ll see you at the next home game. You’ll be wearing red, I’ll be wearing blue, and we can still be friends. Right?

VANCOUVER DAZE showcases and highlights the social life and scene of our beautiful city, covering all the misadventures and shenanigans at various cultural events, mixers, parties, meetups, and local happenings. We fiercely promote all the fun times the city has to offer along with the interesting people behind them. Follow more of my work/coverage over at RICKCHUNG.COM and on Twitter at @RICKCHUNG. You can pitch me HERE.

Volume 48: XLB Tour at Lin Chinese Cuisine and Tea House on Broadway, The Place Restaurant on Granville Street, Shanghai Wonderful Restaurant and Dinesty Chinese Restaurant in Richmond on December 17, 2011. Hashtag: #XLBtour. More photos available on Flickr.

A bunch of us decided to go on a XLB tour of Vancouver and Richmond for some sweet xiaolongbao steamed soup dumplings. We solicited recommendations and hit up four restaurants strictly for XLBs. We were stuffed eating two to three dumplings at each each place.

#1. Dinesty. The XLBs (very top) from this Richmond eatery were the smallest by far but packed a big punch. There were really good and my favourite of the bunch. They were so flavourful, most and tasty.
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Complete success guys! A magical night of music and raising money for a great cause!

We want to thank everyone involved and all of you who came out, it wouldn’t have been such a success without you!

We saved one last video for the night OF the concert, so we thought we’d share it with all of you that missed out. It’s Vince Vaccaro and the St James Music Academy…
…oh and here are all the other videos too, just in case you missed any. Or, want to watch them again, because they really are awesome!

THANK YOU!!!!!

…READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

Melbourne, Australia’s Cut Copy played the Vogue Theatre a while back, and thanks to Tyler from CiTR’s Radio Zero I got an interview! Doot doola doot doo … Happy Holidaze!

Nardwuar vs Cut Copy

Stay tuned for another interview next week and if you can’t wait then head over to NARDWUAR.COM, FACEBOOK.COM/NARDWUAR or TWITTER.COM/NARDWUAR!

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

A few more days folks…only a few more days.:)

I figured that since we are so close to “The Big Day”, that I’d select a Christmas Holiday themed photograph to feature this time around from the ole Daily Flickr Pickr pool. This one comes courtesy of Basic Elements Photography and their super cool symmetrical night time shot of an urban park festooned with a Christmas tree and Christmas themed lights, all framed nicely by warmly lit Yaletown condo buildings. The mixture of both concrete and nature all dolled up for the holidays not only signifies that all new(er) urban developments in Vancouver incorporate a good amount of natural features and greenspace, but makes for a wonderful photograph, don’t you think?

Enjoy Christmas In Vancouver by Basic Elements Photography

John