This is a shorty to keep y'all in the loop. Pulp Fiction Books on 2422 Main St. (near Broadway & Lugz Coffee Lounge, a block up, at 2525 Main St.), is now buying snazzy new books at US cover prices. What does this mean? It means their selection and stock has just taken a new turn towards new releases and publications that often cannot be found in used stock -- a lovely addition to what is still otherwise awesome inventory! If you've never been able to find this Virillio or that Deleuze book you've been seeking for ever, and if you refuse to support any chains, this is great news for you. Care to make requests for that Derrida book you've been unable to find anywhere? I do and...I have.

I don't know if you've heard of what happens at the Cobalt last Wednesday (and every Wednesday thereafter) its called Fake Jazz Wednesdays. Experimental everything you can imagine. Check it out. This is a night of improv punk, skronk n noise -- kinda like a night of more punk but this time catering to the cities burgeoning "noise" scene -- an interesting intersect of both. How it works is: nights are booked 1 month at a time, announcing the entire monthly line up, where possible. 4 groups/performances are scheduled per night with a dauntingly low $3 cover. Nights usually end by 1am and start at 10pm. Anyone interested in playing respond asap with the preferred date, name of the project, what it consists of (ie: instruments and a brief explanation of the sound/experiment, Visual elements, etc.) and they'll letcha know what's up. Everything "new" is encouraged.

Here's another battle y'all gotta go to. Dancers must perform a 1-2 minute choreographed routine or freestyle that best suite the music given. All forms of dance are welcome, just as long as you can perform to the music selected by our DJ. But note, it will be HIP HOP songs/beats. So 'Bring It On': bboys/bgirls, krumpers, poppers/lockers, jazz, salsa, tap-dancers and Hip Hop Heads! Lets see who is gonna get 'Served'! Here's a recording of one of the last ones, just for you.

Care to see Lil'C live in Vancouver? What you don't know who he is? Well, first off, he's a choreographer who is, in part, responsible for choreographing a bunch of things for So You Think You Can Dance, where he was introduced as one of the creators of 'krumping'. This has occurred on three occasions: during Season 3, where he choreographed a routine for Sara Von Gillern and Jesús Solorio in thetop 16, as well as for Lauren Gottlieb and Dominic Sandoval in the top8, and in Season 2, where he choreographed a routine for season runnerup Travis Wall and Martha Nichols. Lil' C gets his credit for being acreator of krump from being featured in the film, RIZE.

Here's more dirty filth on our splendid Police Department and their, shall we say, gray and violent history. I've stumbled upon something very troubling yesterday. A few days ago, a retired Judge, a lovely man by many accounts, by the title of Honorable Commissioner William Davies, heard opening statements from 15 lawyers acting for the Vancouver police, ambulance, coroner's service, the criminal-justice branch and four major aboriginal groups, about a very interesting case. This is just as heinous as the Taser death in Vancouver recently, only a tad less attacking, yet equally as shocking. Have you heard of Frank Paul? A man who was found dead in 1998 in the DTES whose death, for all intents and purposes, is only now being investigated. My thinking is, wtf? What's wrong with this picture? Is this simply a typo? Nope. The date is right.

Allegedly, a month after Vancouver police "dumped" the body of Frank Paul in a downtown alley, where he eventually died of hypothermia, it was reported that police told Paul's Mik'maq family in Big Cove, New Brunswick that he'd been killed by a hit-and-run driver. Sure, when someone freezes to death that's the PC thing to say, to avoid all responsibility. And, suffice it to say, that was nothing less than a lie. On December 6, 1998, the body of Frank Joseph Paul was found in an alley in the Downtown East Side (DTES) of Vancouver. He died of hypothermia while "in custody" of the Vancouver Police Department. Read on...

I'm blown away by the slew of artists in this years East Side Culture Crawl. We've all heard and put this on our backburners, so this post is my aim to make sure we're giving this festival some good attention. So, umm, this is just a reminder to get crackin' on a most fabulous Arts crawl starting, like, tomorrow. So what are you gonna do for the next three days? Omg, I'm just blown away by all artists, the venues, and the wealth of genius here. There is nowhere more worthy of your presence.

I got to chatting with Hula Girl, a lovely young woman who, aside from jiving it with a hula hoop during some of Vancouver's premier live gigz but is also, in her nerdy-slash-brilliant capacity, a sly manager of one of my fave fusion groups, Wassabi Collective. After a short convo (and facebook pokes) we had enough material for an interview, so here's what we compiled for ya. Wassabi Collective is a forward thinking band whose lyrics spread a message of positivity. The band can be seen at sold out shows across this country and were recently nominated in the 7th Annual Independant Awards for Best Song "Blues on My Mind" and their song "Simplicity" was just featured on an episode of Road Trip Nation on PBS. Having just released their first full length studio album "Stories Not Forgotten" in the Spring 2007, they are already on board for a follow up.. "Wassabi's joyous sound takes you on a cosmic carpet ride from satisfaction to pure bliss...THE ULTIMATE FEEL GOOD ELIXIR!" (EXCLAIM, TORONTO)

1. It's a pleasure meeting you guys, I saw your last show at Richards
on Richards. I also caught you, young lady, at the Adham Shaikh gig
at the commodore this summer. My first question for you is, where do
you guys get the inspiration to collaborate with other Artists?

Its fun, we're all friends.