Friday Art Splatter - September 26

Well, another weekend is upon us - and along with it another seemingly endless list of great ways to hide from the... uh, sun? And it's almost October? Definitely the apocalypse. Regardless, after this week I've got about enough energy for maybe one VIFF film (as long as it's not one of those powerful 'state of the world' documentaries), so I'll have to live vicariously through you readers. And while the film fest alone could sate any connoisseur over the next few days, don't let the celluloid blind you to a typically strong selection of music, art and theatre. Anything beats standing in line for another sold out show, at least. Unless you have a hot dog? Um, here's a few highlights...

Music

• Tonight at the Waldorf is GROW: a Retree benefit night. Retree is a Vancouver based organization devoted to increasing public greenspace through adopt-a-tree programs. Don't know about any of the music, but I like green.
• On Saturday you've got another chance to check out our very own Sean Orr, as his band Taxes play Better Than Nothing at the Astoria, along with some local support and a DJ set from We are Wolves. I was pleasantly surprised when I caught Taxes this summer, and urge anyone who can handle the decibel level to go support some real local talent.
• Saturday night will also see Twin Crystals at the Bourbon.
• And some quieter Vancouver talent: BC folk singer Ora Cogan will start her tour at the Sweatshop on Sunday with opening act Adult Books.
• And on the more mainstream side of things, indie rock hypsters the Cold War Kids are here on Sunday... and shit, I've got tickets. Second year UBC arts students and 'cult of the smoke machine' water-nazis, herrrrrre's Jonny. When will I learn?

Visual Art

• Blim is a community based resource center for DIY artists here in Vancouver. On Saturday they'll be having their Fall Market, where I'd expect to find all sorts of one-of-a-kind arts&craft goodies that may or may not have been made while stoned.

• This weekend also marks the close of New Forms 08: Mosaics, which brings together the latest developments in media art, including print, film, music, and internet-based installations. On top of the exhibitions, tonight is Mosaic Soundz and Saturday is Techforms. I'm just choked I missed Fond of Tigers last week.
  

Film

• Since you've got VIFF picks galore floating around the interweb (including those from Duran), I'll just recommend one film and leave it at that. Ballast won awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography at Sundance this year and is a poignant, powerfully subdued story which traces the impact of a suicide on a poor African American family in the Mississippi Delta. It's one of the best new films I've seen in the last couple years, and reminds me most of David Gordon Green's work. Writer/Director Lance Hammer is pretty vocal about his distaste for the Hollywood system, and distributed this film without any studio support, 'indie' or otherwise. I spoke with him this afternoon (that interview will be up soon), and I believe he's got the makings of a great new American auteur. Ballast plays tonight and Saturday afternoon.
• Lance recommended Wendy and Lucy, another quiet, contemplative, and critically acclaimed American independent, starring Michelle Williams in her "finest performance yet". I dunno, Dawson's Creek was pretty special. See how it compares next Wednesday, Saturday the 4th, and a Tuesday the 7th.

Theatre

• Studio 58 kicks off it's 43rd season with The Ash Girl, a retelling of Cinderella.
• And rolling with that, Stage 43 in Coquitlam will be starting their 26th season this weekend with The Rainmaker.
• In case you missed my review, I highly recommend the Arts Club's latest production at the Stanley Industrial: the dark, Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Doubt.

And don't forget that this Sunday is the Word on the Street Book and Magazine Festival, if you're still into the whole reading thing (which is so dead, btw - put down the paperback, grab a tumblr account, start artistically modifying porn stills, and get with the times).

photo by Christina T, in the BR flickr group