It's that time of year again! SWARM began last night in the Mount Pleasant district, and tonight's "zone" is the Downtown/Gastown corridor, and tomorrow it ends with the Hastings and Commercial area....
If you haven't gone, it's a totally fun thing to do! Hopping from art gallery to gallery with the masses...!
Friday, 5 September 2008
Friday, 29 August 2008
Renaissance Fest, Me Lords and Me Fair Maidens?
I don't know what y'all got planned for the long weekend, but I know where I'll be!
The BC Renaissance Festival!!
Aye, it is no lie, fine Sir!! Come hither with me, let me be thine guide!!
I bid thee adieu until another fort night, where chance may have it, we will reconvene and meet again upon a midsummer night's dream!
The BC Renaissance Festival!!
Aye, it is no lie, fine Sir!! Come hither with me, let me be thine guide!!
I bid thee adieu until another fort night, where chance may have it, we will reconvene and meet again upon a midsummer night's dream!
Friday, 22 August 2008
For My Eyes Only: A Night With Sheena Easton
"Let me take you somewhere, you've never beeeeeeeeeeeen....." - Sugar Walls
So, Wednesday it was pouring rain. I bought my gate admission tickets to the PNE, a local fair that takes place every summer for two weeks. The cost was $15, but I managed to get the discounted rate at $12. Move To This and I stood at the front of the stage, awaiting the arrival of one Sheena Easton. We were both sooo excited! I personally never would have dreamed in a million years I'd get to see Sheena perform, let alone for $12!!!
She was a bit late, having trouble getting across the border, but it was worth the wait! She started with a song that I wasn't familliar with, but it kept repeating the word "Celebrate" in it. Yes, she looked older, but the girl is pushing 50 so give her a break, right? She can still pull off a fantastic bitch-face if she wants though! We tried to give her one back but really, who can compete? We did however, manage to give her an arm-crossed snap of the fingers the way she does it in so many of her videos. She then went into The Lover In Me, which had us screaming for more!
She approached the edge of the stage and shook some of our hands, including Move To This! Lucky bastard!! I was feeling a bit snubbed by her and it made me sad. But when she sang her other hits like Almost Over You, U Got The Look, and Sugar Walls, I was feeling better about things!
She actually talked quite a bit, poking fun at her age and how people constantly confuse her with Sheila E. (During the performance, she did break into a few lines from The Glamorous Life, much to my delight and amusement!)
NOT Sheena Easton!!
She also started talking about how in her day, there was a thing called "records." At this point, I jumped up and down and waved my copy of her album "A Private Heaven" around so she could see it! She stopped dead in her tracks and looked at me and said, "Gimme that baby!!" and came over and took the album cover and showed it to everyone, then struck the same pose as on the cover, i.e. the fist under the chin pose!!
So much hilarity, so much joy. I did not feel snubbed any longer! She performed the Kenny Rogers duet, We've Got Tonight and a medley of Burt Baccharach songs, which infuriated me cause she could have been singing Modern Girl or Swear or even Jimmy Mack for all I cared at that point, not stupid Burt Baccharach songs! Is that even how I spell his name?! Who cares!!!
Everyone cheered when she erupted into Strut!!
My favourite song was next: Telefone!! She told the crowd that the song was older than cell phones. Older than text messaging and answering machines. She explained that there was once a time when you would call someone and WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO REACH THEM! "It's so sad that I have to explain the meaning of this song because I am so old!!" she shouted before breaking into it in all its 80s glory!
And of course then led us all in a Morning Train sing-along!
She then faked an encore and ended the 90 minute show with For Your Eyes Only.
(Singing For Your Eyes Only)
Afterwards, she approached the edge of the stage again to shake people's hands and this time, I managed to get a handshake!!! Yes, that's right, I shook Sheena Easton's hand!!!!!
Best. Week. Ever.
So, Wednesday it was pouring rain. I bought my gate admission tickets to the PNE, a local fair that takes place every summer for two weeks. The cost was $15, but I managed to get the discounted rate at $12. Move To This and I stood at the front of the stage, awaiting the arrival of one Sheena Easton. We were both sooo excited! I personally never would have dreamed in a million years I'd get to see Sheena perform, let alone for $12!!!
She was a bit late, having trouble getting across the border, but it was worth the wait! She started with a song that I wasn't familliar with, but it kept repeating the word "Celebrate" in it. Yes, she looked older, but the girl is pushing 50 so give her a break, right? She can still pull off a fantastic bitch-face if she wants though! We tried to give her one back but really, who can compete? We did however, manage to give her an arm-crossed snap of the fingers the way she does it in so many of her videos. She then went into The Lover In Me, which had us screaming for more!
She approached the edge of the stage and shook some of our hands, including Move To This! Lucky bastard!! I was feeling a bit snubbed by her and it made me sad. But when she sang her other hits like Almost Over You, U Got The Look, and Sugar Walls, I was feeling better about things!
She actually talked quite a bit, poking fun at her age and how people constantly confuse her with Sheila E. (During the performance, she did break into a few lines from The Glamorous Life, much to my delight and amusement!)
NOT Sheena Easton!!
She also started talking about how in her day, there was a thing called "records." At this point, I jumped up and down and waved my copy of her album "A Private Heaven" around so she could see it! She stopped dead in her tracks and looked at me and said, "Gimme that baby!!" and came over and took the album cover and showed it to everyone, then struck the same pose as on the cover, i.e. the fist under the chin pose!!
So much hilarity, so much joy. I did not feel snubbed any longer! She performed the Kenny Rogers duet, We've Got Tonight and a medley of Burt Baccharach songs, which infuriated me cause she could have been singing Modern Girl or Swear or even Jimmy Mack for all I cared at that point, not stupid Burt Baccharach songs! Is that even how I spell his name?! Who cares!!!
Everyone cheered when she erupted into Strut!!
My favourite song was next: Telefone!! She told the crowd that the song was older than cell phones. Older than text messaging and answering machines. She explained that there was once a time when you would call someone and WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO REACH THEM! "It's so sad that I have to explain the meaning of this song because I am so old!!" she shouted before breaking into it in all its 80s glory!
And of course then led us all in a Morning Train sing-along!
She then faked an encore and ended the 90 minute show with For Your Eyes Only.
(Singing For Your Eyes Only)
Afterwards, she approached the edge of the stage again to shake people's hands and this time, I managed to get a handshake!!! Yes, that's right, I shook Sheena Easton's hand!!!!!
Best. Week. Ever.
Thursday, 31 July 2008
Guess Who I Met Last Night!?
Last night I wound up drinking from 5:30pm onwards and heading to the 20th floor of a friend of a friend's apartment building to watch the fireworks. It was a stunning spectacle from China as there is currently a fireworks competition going on in Vancouver with Canada, the US, and China vying for top honours. I haven't gone to the Celebration of Light (formerly known as the Symphony of Fire) for a while as I don't like dealing with the massive crowds some of whom can get rude/violent. It's been relatively quiet and calm this year, however.
Canada started off the contest last Wednesday with a Godzilla-themed display, while the USA countered with a fireworks theme of Love. Last night, China's theme was the Olympics and it was just gangbusters! The sky was brilliant with reds, greens, blues, golds, silvers... From the moment it started to the moment it ended, it was non-stop explosions of light in the evening sky.
Afterwards, I met up with some friends and went down to Celebrities (gay bar) as Vancouver is currently also in the midst of celebrating Pride, culminating with the big parade this Sunday! What better way to party mid-week than to go clubbing, get drunk, run into your boss' boss, and then meet the legendary transgendered icon Amanda Lepore!!! She was the special guest of the evening and did a performance for everyone, which brought the house down! Afterwards, people lined up for photos and as I didn't have my camera with me, I just went and told her how awesome she was and to thank her for being here. She was a total sweetie, which the organizers of the event also attested to.
Happy Pride everybody!
Friday, 18 July 2008
Vancouver Art Gallery
The recent exhibit KRAZY! at the Vancouver Art Gallery could have you cooped up for days if you're not careful. The exhibit is a study on comic books, anime, manga, and video games. Given enough time, you could spend all day reading all the comic strips they have framed up on the walls, sitting and going through all the graphic novels at a rest station, or taking a breather and playing some video games including an old school original Pac Man arcade machine. An interesting exhibit with lots to see and do, especially for folks who don't normally go to the art gallery but are interested in this genre of pop culture.
Meanwhile, two floors up, a new exhibit has just opened, featuring Chinese artist Zhang Huan. His pieces were more on the creepy and shocking side, with photographs, videos of his live performance installations, and painting/sculpture. One photo that stood out for me was of the artist doing a live installation inside an outhouse in Beijing, where he sat naked for an hour on top of the toilet, covered himself in fish juice and let flies cover and attack him.
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Hive 2
So, this weekend I went to Hive 2, a smorgasborg of theatre that took place back in 2006 at a funeral parlour in the Downtown Eastside. I was looking forward to this second coming of the event but made the mistake of going on the final night of a two week run, after it had already received major press coverage and selling out. I should have gone earlier during the two-week run.
It was a bit of a stressful evening, beginning first with trying to get a friend in at the last minute and then jockeying for position at all the different theatre productions. I didn't get to see the shows that I wanted to get into, which was highly frustrating. One had a one-person audience and used a lottery system to get in. You had to draw straws (only 10 were available), and out of the 10, only one of them had the magic mark on the end, and the person with that stick was the one who got to go in to see the show. My friend Emily made it in, and described the intimate show as this: "You look into a microscope and see this eyeball staring back at you. Then you look at this book and a projector is showing drawings and images on it for you. Suddenly a real life hand comes crashing down on the book and this actress appears before you and starts performing." Those aren't her exact words but you get the idea.
The Electric Company's "Flanigan Affair" was apparently the best show there, but I didn't get to see it because it was constantly surrounded by a mob to get in. This probably had a lot to do with a review in a local paper that basically said, "This is the best one there, go see it if you can" causing the onrush. Boo!!
Another production had us all get orange armbands which we wore all night long until a soldier came to grab us without notice. Peter and I were in line for one production when we were pulled out, put into orange jumpsuits, blindfolded and had headphones placed on our ears. We were then led through the room holding onto a rope and shut into seperate rooms. Peter was put in a room where he saw images and news footage of Guatanamo Bay, including George W. Bush repeating over and over, "We haven't done anything wrong." I, on the other hand, was sequestered in a room that was pitch black and heard audio of soldier's talking about the prisoners. "I like to throw corn at them," laughed one. It was a neat experience, scary and sad. Actress Sandra Oh was in attendance a week prior and the word spread like wildfire that this particular production brought her to tears.
One that I missed out on was a YouTube thing, where people from the night before pick out videos for the next night's audience to see, and then after watching the videos, actors come out and do a performance by using the comments that are left underneath the videos as their dialogue. Supposed to be pretty hilarious, with lots of stupidity and homophobia in the comments. The reason I missed this was because our group of 4 got separated. Two of us were able to make it in, but the other two weren't, and I felt obligated to keep everyone together so we decided not to go in without the rest of the gang. We thought we could hit it up again by the end of the evening but it never happened.
Boca Del Lupo's offering this year wasn't as cool as last year's dumpster bin diving, but it was still nice to see. We were led into a space where we all had to lay down and look up into what appeared to be an elevator shaft of sorts. Seperating us was a see-through plastic partition, on which lay an actor looking down at us. Without words, the piece told the story of someone trapped at the bottom of this shaft or well, and slowly going insane down there. From above, a cover is slid open to reveal blue sky and the arrival of someone to come rescue our fallen character, who ends up striking the rescuer with a monkey wrench and climbing up the rope ladder to freedom and closing the lid behind, leaving the new person laying on the partition staring down and waiting for the next audience to arrive.
Next year, if they have it again, I have a plan: go on a weekday and don't go on the last night of the event. Also, if I'm going to be with more than one person, screw them if they can't get into a show and let everyone fend for themselves!!!
It was a bit of a stressful evening, beginning first with trying to get a friend in at the last minute and then jockeying for position at all the different theatre productions. I didn't get to see the shows that I wanted to get into, which was highly frustrating. One had a one-person audience and used a lottery system to get in. You had to draw straws (only 10 were available), and out of the 10, only one of them had the magic mark on the end, and the person with that stick was the one who got to go in to see the show. My friend Emily made it in, and described the intimate show as this: "You look into a microscope and see this eyeball staring back at you. Then you look at this book and a projector is showing drawings and images on it for you. Suddenly a real life hand comes crashing down on the book and this actress appears before you and starts performing." Those aren't her exact words but you get the idea.
The Electric Company's "Flanigan Affair" was apparently the best show there, but I didn't get to see it because it was constantly surrounded by a mob to get in. This probably had a lot to do with a review in a local paper that basically said, "This is the best one there, go see it if you can" causing the onrush. Boo!!
Another production had us all get orange armbands which we wore all night long until a soldier came to grab us without notice. Peter and I were in line for one production when we were pulled out, put into orange jumpsuits, blindfolded and had headphones placed on our ears. We were then led through the room holding onto a rope and shut into seperate rooms. Peter was put in a room where he saw images and news footage of Guatanamo Bay, including George W. Bush repeating over and over, "We haven't done anything wrong." I, on the other hand, was sequestered in a room that was pitch black and heard audio of soldier's talking about the prisoners. "I like to throw corn at them," laughed one. It was a neat experience, scary and sad. Actress Sandra Oh was in attendance a week prior and the word spread like wildfire that this particular production brought her to tears.
One that I missed out on was a YouTube thing, where people from the night before pick out videos for the next night's audience to see, and then after watching the videos, actors come out and do a performance by using the comments that are left underneath the videos as their dialogue. Supposed to be pretty hilarious, with lots of stupidity and homophobia in the comments. The reason I missed this was because our group of 4 got separated. Two of us were able to make it in, but the other two weren't, and I felt obligated to keep everyone together so we decided not to go in without the rest of the gang. We thought we could hit it up again by the end of the evening but it never happened.
Boca Del Lupo's offering this year wasn't as cool as last year's dumpster bin diving, but it was still nice to see. We were led into a space where we all had to lay down and look up into what appeared to be an elevator shaft of sorts. Seperating us was a see-through plastic partition, on which lay an actor looking down at us. Without words, the piece told the story of someone trapped at the bottom of this shaft or well, and slowly going insane down there. From above, a cover is slid open to reveal blue sky and the arrival of someone to come rescue our fallen character, who ends up striking the rescuer with a monkey wrench and climbing up the rope ladder to freedom and closing the lid behind, leaving the new person laying on the partition staring down and waiting for the next audience to arrive.
Next year, if they have it again, I have a plan: go on a weekday and don't go on the last night of the event. Also, if I'm going to be with more than one person, screw them if they can't get into a show and let everyone fend for themselves!!!
Tuesday, 27 May 2008
I Don't Care If Monday's Blue
Off the top of my head, I can recognize and name a handful of Cure songs.
Looking at The Cure's discography, I can recognize and name a handful of Cure songs.
How then, did I find myself swaying to the melodic songs of Robert Smith and company last night at The Cure concert? I think I wanted to go because they are iconic. They make me feel like I am young again.
Although, I felt a bit old when they launched into their THIRD encore and I glanced at my watch and saw it was nearing the witching hour and boy am I going to be tired in the morning when I have to be at work by 7:30am...
The show was pretty good. Robert Smith did not talk much. I've been going to way too many concerts recently.
If only I'd thought of the right words...
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