BeyondRobson | Posts by dave

Long Road North - Rolling Through the Hemispheres on Two Wheels

David — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 09:20:52 PDT

I suspect we can all relate to the feeling Gwendal Castellan had while at work in a windowless office a few years ago: a longing for something new, a change of pace, maybe a jolt to break free from a rut you may be slipping into. For some a weekend in Tofino will do the trick. Not Castellan. His plan? Build a bicycle and ride it from the very tip of South America up to the Canadian Arctic.

Quitting his job, he began to put his plan in motion. He built a tandem bike that can be altered on the road to ride as a single. He consulted maps and planned routes. He put the call out to find a riding partner or two. Then he got hit by a car. A minor setback turned positive; Castellan was not seriously injured, but used his settlement to purchase a camera and the final piece to document the journey fell into place.

The resulting film - Long Road North, directed by Castellan and Ian Hinkle - had it's world premier at the Doxa Film Fest and sold out both screenings. The filmmakers are putting on one more screening this Tuesday, June 24th at the Ridge Theatre as a fundraiser for the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition. Ticket info and an interview with Castellan after the jump...

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Saddle Up! Bike to Work Week Starts Monday

David — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:21:18 PDT

Ask any cyclist who commutes to work and they'll tell you the ride is often the best part of their day. Think about it. A great wakeup in the morning, fresh air, exercise, you can even have a coffee while you ride (the seawall that is). Coming home from work, you get that great buffer that takes you from work mode back to real life. Ah, the sweet life on two wheels. I've been doing it for eight years now and even on those damp morns, everything is still alright a few minutes into the ride.

The Lower Mainland's second annual Bike to Work Week begins this Monday, May 26. Organized by the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition (VACC), the point is to get more bums onto bike seats, and they have the goods to get you sorted. From "rush hour" commuter stations (check this handy map) to afternoon BBQs, bike-a-day giveaways and themed rides about town, both new and experienced cyclists will find more fun and support than imagined.

It's a simple step with complex repercussions. Do it for any number of reasons: eliminating carbon emissions, combating high gas prices, fine tuning your health and fitness, relieving stress, or, my fave, the sheer fun of cycling our city's greenways and bike routes.

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Hot Action at One Inch Button Show

David — Thu, 22 May 2008 09:06:02 PDT

A perennial Vancouver favourite, Hot One Inch Action once again takes over Gallery Gachet this Saturday, May 24 at 8pm sharp. Here's your chance to hob knob with the hottest art audience in town and watch panic stricken attendees breathlessly search out that elusive button that has everyone talking. Or just kick back and ride the wave of hundreds of people all mingling, bumping and talking to each other in this unique, one-night-only world.

Conceived by Jim Hoehnle and Chris Bentzen in 2004, this is the fifth, and possibly final year, for Hot One Inch Action in it's present state. A simple idea to get 50 artists to design the artwork for 50 different buttons, sold at the show for five bucks a bag - you take what you get and trade up the rest in a scene that, at times, resembles a stock market's closing hour. This year has an added bonus: they are raffling off all five years of hot action for a total of 250 unique buttons up for grabs. As they say: "Don't think you need that many buttons? Wait until you're in the heat of the moment." That's what it's all about.

While the marriage of art and protest was on the minds of the creators at the beginning, the event has become so popular they sell out of buttons within a few hours and find the thing takes on a life of it's own soon after doors open. It's become a template for social interaction, merging the high with the low brow. Redefining a familiar scene into something outside the bubble. Oh yeah, and it's a total blast as well. Keep reading for an interview with one of the creators...

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It's Getting Hot in Here: Media Intercourse at the Signal + Noise Festival

David — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:33:04 PDT

Now in it's ninth year, Vancouver's premiere experimental arts festival Signal + Noise is back at VIVO Media Arts Centre, starting this Thursday night. The three-day festival aims to generate discourse and facilitate creative exchange in response to a theme - this year's being "Media Intercourse". Of course, another goal is simply to entertain, get you thinking and show off some of the outstanding alternative-media artists in our city and from afar.

We have written about this festival a few times before, and not without good reason. These truly are the sights and sounds from out there, the art that percolates underground like the tidal flats of False Creek. Like those flats, every now and then a rising tide will dampen the earth and flood the basements, giving light to a new level of artistry - visually, sonically, even texturally. Now we can add erotic and sensual leanings to this list.

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NOW Orchestra Flaunts Flute with Windy City Woodwind

David — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:11:30 PDT

Do you remember that scene in Anchorman where Ron Burgundy reveals his secret talent as a ripping jazz flutist? And you thought to yourself, it can't get more cool than that, right? That was some fine fluting, but I'm sorry. Burgundy's performance will have nothing on Chicago's Nicole Mitchell when she joins Vancouver's NOW Orchestra at Vancouver East Cultural Centre this Friday, April 11 for an evening of performance entitled Through the Eyes of a Child.

Mitchell, known as one of the world's top jazz flutists, flourishes in the windy city's fertile jazz and improv scenes. Vancouver is no slouch in that department either. The NOW Orchestra is a veritable who's who of local improv talent recently gaining kudos from a couple of big times: the Lisbon Jazz Festival & New York's Village Voice who said the "free ensemble are provincial enough to feel the need to keep the anarchy intact, even when their guest breaks out." Hopefully not by stomping tables while jamming, but who knows.

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The Pemberton Festival + A Summer of Music Love

David — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:15:11 PDT

With the changing of the seasons and the saving of daylight comes the inevitable look ahead to summer plans. Camping, hiking and of course, music festivals. There have already been a number of big announcements made. But perhaps the biggest of all - in our little neck of the woods - is today's announcement of the inaugural Pemberton Festival, July 25-27, 2008. Anyone who has travelled up to the Mount Currie area knows the setting is sublime. In fact, it may just be too much for those used to 'festivals' on racetracks, parking lots or wind-blown prairie pastures.

It's billed as Canada's first European-style festival put together by the behemoth Live Nation and the lineup is...unusual. Tom Petty, Coldplay and Nine Inch Nails headline. The Hip, Jay-Z and Flaming Lips are also up there. So is Crystal Method, Junkie XL and Sam Roberts. And you have your Black Mountain, Vampire Weekend, Fiery Furnaces, Interpol, and MGMT among others for the indie rock crowd. It's almost like there could be a partition between stages with independent, mini-festivals going on at the same time. Have a look at the lineup yourself. A bit of a catch-all, isn't it?

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Music Preview: The Pack A.D. Unleash the Blues

David — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:57:57 PST

Vancouver may not feel like the hot and bothered bayou of the deep south, the place where blues is born, bred and put out to the killing floor night after night. You couldn't be faulted for being resistant to the place of a modern, old-school blues band from right here in Terminal City. And you may be disarmed after hearing the work of The Pack A.D. to discover the fierce conviction they play with, the lyrical bite of a lover forlorn or the whisky-soaked growl of a hell-torn rambler.

These two ladies whip up a fury of sound on their full-length debut Tintype, enough so that anything more that can be wrenched from Becky Black's slide guitar and impassioned vocals or Maya Miller's accentuated drumming would be a detriment to their health. This is a deep, passionate album full of woe & fury - a roadside blues bomb going off in all directions. Sometimes simmering on the sultry side, sometimes reining in the chops, it's no wonder Tintype was the number one album on CiTR 101.9FM in 2007.

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Fake Jazz, Real Music at the Front

David — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:39:08 PST

Just a little heads up for those experimental music fans out there. The weekly melting pot of noise/skronk/improv/punk known as Fake Jazz Wednesdays is boiling over and uptown to the Western Front (303 East 8th Avenue) this Friday for a one night stand.

Yeah, I know we've talked about it before, but it bears repeating. Why? Well, every week is a different blend of music - sometimes pure, unadulterated noise, other times gentle ambience or slightly skewed punk with just enough random action to justify it's inclusion. Plus, if you have ever been a little turned off by the Cobalt but wanted to check the scene, here's your chance.

Friday's lineup features Totally Ripped, B.C.V.C.O., her jazz noise collective, and Black Dicks. If myspace streaming is anything to go by, Totally Ripped are doing a study of sine waves and distortion pedals - very cool. Has a bit of a Yellow Swans vibe to it perhaps and some downright spooky interludes. her jazz noise collective is an experimental music network for women in Vancouver with members coming and going all the time. It's a community thing, not a "band" per se. But with the right bunch you'll get something golden.

B.C.V.C.O. - British Columbia Voltage Controller Oscillators - is an all analog synth ensemble featuring members of luminaries Black Mountain, Jackie-O Motherfucker, Destroyer and Superconductor among others. They're flying high all the time. Black Dicks? Well, they don't make it easy to search them online, so you'll have to see it to believe it I guess.

My recipe for a great night? Grab a burrito from Budgie's, check out the rare vinyl at Dandelion next door (make sure to wipe the salsa off your hands first) then walk a block to the Front for a night of mind-expanding sounds. And if you really dig it, Fake Jazz Wednesdays continue to happen at the Cobalt most weeks.

Image courtesy Western Front

Got a Thing On My Mind: 2008 World Telekinesis Competition

David — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:22:05 PST

Stop me if you think you've heard this one before. Ok, so it's not telepathy, but telekinesis I'm talking about here. Telekenisis, a form of psychokinesis, is the application of mind over matter that allows one to influence objects remotely. The idea has fueled imaginations for decades now. Citing Uri Geller, people went on (spoon) benders in the 70s and still do today. Sissy Spacek's Carrie showed us the dark side in the movies. The phenomenon has a history of controversy but skeptics and believers can't claim a definitive answer one way or the other.

It is a mystery, but perhaps you can put your mind to rest at the first ever World Telekinesis Competition coming to Victoria this spring. Teams of three will compete against each other to influence the behaviour of a candle placed in the middle of the game board. The winning team will have swayed the candle's drip to fall upon their opponent's side of the board. Here's the clincher: team members do not have to compete from the same geographic location, hence the "remote" part of the program.

The event is being organized by Noxious Sector - a collaboration of Victoria artists Ted Hiebert, Doug Jarvis and Jackson 2bears "dedicated to the exploration of alternative cognitive function". I spoke with the group about this unique competition because, frankly, I had no idea how one would go about setting it up, let alone declaring a winner in such an ambiguous contest. Turns out they have it all figured out.

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New Spaces: A Preview of the Biltmore

David — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 12:20:52 PST

Vancouver has been losing out on performance space over the last few years with the tearing down of the old (historic watering holes) and the building up of the new (shiny condos). Anyone heading out after 10pm looking for some live music, stand-up comedy or variety acts of any shape and size are sometimes left to wander the streets in search of a destination. A new venue in town promises to fulfill those simple needs with local and touring bands, Watermelon and Canned Hamm (respectively, to name a few).

The Biltmore Cabaret (395 Kingsway) opened it's doors on Monday night for a free neighbourhood preview. Seeing as I live a few blocks from the club and the furthest I usually got inside was the caged offsales trap, it was time to see the place with a new light. That new light was red. The place has been completely renovated with lush velvet curtains, deep cushy booths and a very spacious floor to bounce, dance or bob to the music. A few more pics below...

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Finally, A Clear Sky in the Forecast

David — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 11:37:47 PST

After a decade-long battle, the owners of the Lee Building on the corner of Main and Broadway will be forced to fold their hand and remove the over-sized billboard that sits on the roof of the seven-storey landmark. Seen from kilometres away, the billboard is recognizable from almost any vantage in the northern part of the city and is one of the last rooftop billboards in the city.

The billboard has been creating controversy ever since it was re-installed on the roof in 1998, despite a Vancouver by-law banning rooftop advertising that came into effect more than 30 years ago. At that time more than 400 businesses voluntarily conformed with the by-law and removed their structures.

The Lee chose to fight, but it seems the saga is about to wrap and the owners have just over a year to take down the sign. It's about time. Not only has the Lee Building been flaunting the bylaw for almost 10 years, but taking this case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada? A little much. This morning, the Supreme Court dimissed an application by the owners to hear their case leaving them pretty much out of options. They fought the law, and guess what? This time, the law won.

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Music Preview: Piling Sand - Piling Stone II

David — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 12:31:38 PST

For all you experimental music fans, one of our city's finest DIY art spaces is hosting the premiere of Andre Cormier's Piling Sand - Piling Stone II - a new work for viola, cello and live electronics this Saturday night at Blim. The acclaimed duo Suna no onna will start soft and steady playing with a six-minute cumulative tape loop before building the acoustics at Blim into a frenzy.

I caught up with violist Robin Streb after a night of intense rehearsals to put into words how this music will unfold: "The piece begins very quietly and slowly, and gradually builds in intensity as the music becomes more complex and the tape loop creates layers of sound. Because the loop is six minutes long, by the end we will have created a densely layered six-minute recording. The audience will hear the instruments acoustically as well as through the recording."

The piece explores microtonal tunings - what American composer Charles Ives called "notes between the cracks" on the piano. I can start to wrap my head around that one (Black Flag and Radiohead are two bands who have used this technique in their work). But how does that work with this arrangement of instruments?

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The Poetry of an Island

David — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:58:06 PST

Vancouver writers, poets and musicians are flocking to Gabriola Island this weekend and next for the Poetry Gabriola Festival. This is the fourth annual spoken-word and storytelling fest on the island, but this year there is much more than just voice.

Gabbing will mix with finger-picking as Texas' Charalambides perform in the Great Room of the Surf Lodge this Saturday night. I admit, having seen Charlambides perform once before in the appropriately freezing cold Butchershop, the thought of hearing their ethereal song cycles spin unknowingly throughout a "great room" on a rocky coastline - well, that in itself sold me. As a bonus, Glaswegian singer (and Will Oldham & Jason Molina collaborator) Alasdair Roberts performs on this bill, opening the festival with his take on traditional songs mixed with his own magical blend of guitar and voice.

If you miss out on the opening this weekend, due to a perfectly valid excuse like the Eastside Culture Crawl for example, fear not! The festival moves into high-gear the weekend of November 23-25, with more than a dozen events to take in.

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Winter Fresh Finds at the Farmers Market

David — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 13:51:32 PST

Vancouver is blessed with an abundance: fertile Fraser Valley soil brimming with produce to the east, the bounty of the Salish Sea to the west, the blessed fruits and wines of the Okanagan some 400km inland and those famous Pemberton potatoes a few hours north.

Why then do we still find nothing but New Zealand Galas in our grocery stores in the midst of our fall apple harvest? Why eat imported European cheeses when Little Qualicum Cheeseworks is only a ferry ride away? Why is everyone buying Little Brown Mushrooms when there are so many diverse wild species to dine upon?

It's enough to make you want to just go out there and pick your own damn food. In the summertime that's actually not a difficult task to muster. Many farms offer tours and 'you-pick' possibilities. Come the grey skies and damp chill of the winter months and you may wonder if there can be any escape from the clutches of a Buy Low lineup.

Enter Vancouver's Winter Farmers Market. Now in it's second season, and expanded to twice monthly due to demand, this one-stop fresh fix happens down at the WISE Hall (1882 Adanac) with the first of the season this Saturday, November 10th.

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Music Review: Caribou Reins It In

David — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:26:33 PDT

Dundas, Ontario's Caribou - Dan Snaith's one-man recording visionary - brought his four-piece band to town on a cool Devil's Night to an oddly decorated and packed Richard's on Richards.

With the now classic dual-drum setup front and centre facing each other in a twisted new gladiator style and room in the back for the string slingers, Caribou has attitude from the get go. Trouble is, once the show began and the precise technicalities of the songs unfurled there was a bit too much brain leaving a lack of the essential soulful punch.

It was my third time seeing Caribou here in Vancouver (albeit once when he was still called Manitoba). Although Snaith's music has improved brilliantly from album to album, the live show was lacking this time around. The music never transcended from the stage enough to really captivate and enrapture the audience. Trust me, with the warped visuals blanketing the band in technicolour paired with sheer volume, this is music that should be capable of doing just that.

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