Monthly Archives: January 2004

Cameron and Vincent Collins – Highland Dance Champs performing at GungHaggisFatChoy2004

Leave a reply

Here are the bios of Cameron Collins and Vincent Collins, two Highland Dance Champions who will be performing at Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2004. Should be a blast and I bet they'll get the whole crowd's attention!

Cameron Collins is the 2004 North
American champion and the 2004 Ohio State Champion
and the 3rd Runner up in the WORLD Junior Highland
Dancing Championships which he won this past summer
in Dunoon , Scotland.

Vincent is the Former British Columbia Champion, lst
Runner up in the Ohio State Championship and the lst
Runner up in the Western United States Championship
which he won this past Summer in Pleasonton ,
California.

Both brothers are students of the Former
World Adult Highland Dancing Champion, Angus
MacKenzie.

Canada.com and Canadian Press gets a great story – check it out

Leave a reply

Check it out Chinese don kilts by Amy Carmichael of Canadian Press (here's a PDF version).

This story was reprinted in Seattle Post Intelligence, Windsor ON, and many other newspapers and blogsites around the world.

Harry McGrath, coordinator of the SFU Scottish Studies Program and Beverly Nann, president of Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society give great quotes about Toddish McWong and the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.

Please note: the photo credit should be to Don Montgomery and courtesy of Todd Wong

Prizes for LIVE Auction, Raffle and Door prizes.

Leave a reply

Door & Raffle Prizes for Saturday and Sunday

$25 gift certificate to The Boathouse Restaurant at New West Quay

Family Courtesy Passes for New Westminster Parks & Recreation

Luxury Manicure at Head to Toes Estheticare Spa

gift certificate for shampoo, cut and style at Hair to Dye For

$50 gift certificate for a personal training session with Brian Earle

gift certificate for three yoga classes at Yoga Tree Centre

gift of chocolates from The Captain's Deck at New West Quay

A massage treatment at the West Coast College of Massage

fruit baskets (from by Tom Yee)

Chinese Zodiac Books (from Todd Wong)

Bottle of Calona Vineyards Chardonnay (white) (From Jim & Marlene)

Bottle of Calona Vineyards Gamay Noir Blush (From Jim & Marlene)

Books (from Jim Wong-Chu)

Metamorphosis: Stages in a Life by David Suzuki

The Red Thread by Nicholas Jose1

Daughter of the River by Hong Ying
The Samurai’s Wife by Laura Joh Rowland

Salmon House on the Hill Cookbook by Dan Atkinson1

50 Great Curries of India by Camellia Panjabi

Peking Duck Dinner from Flamingo Chinese Restaurant

1 music cd from Silk Road Music (from Qiu Xia He)

Opening night pass for two for Plum Tree from Firehall Arts Centre- directed by Adrienne Wong)

Opening Night tickets to Terracotta Warriors at Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts

Alcan Dragon Boat Festival – Weekend pass for two

Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden passes

Gift basker from CBC including book, mug and valet case

Opening Night tickets to Sex in Vancouver: Chapter 2 Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre

Two tickets for Burnaby Lyric Opera

LIVE AUCTION

Gung Haggis Fat Choy in your home – Dinner for 8 with Toddish McWong & Joe McDonald

Dragon Boat rental and coaching session with coaches Todd Wong, Adrian Lee and Bob Brinson

Your own personal Book Club meeting with Vancouver City Librarian Paul Whitney and ACWW president Jim Wong-Chu – a discussion of Wayson Choy's Jade Peony (inaugural One Book One Vancouver selection) + 10 copies of Jade Peony  (Sunday Only)

CBC TV Special “Gung Haggis Fat Choy” + CBC Radio: All in one Day!!!

Leave a reply


“Wow! What a show… fast moving – lots of interesting topics. Truly
quirky and at times full of irreverent trivia about Scots and Chinese –
just like the actual Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner. Producer Moyra
Rodgers effectively captured the essence of the Toddish McWong Robbie
Burns Chinese New Year dinner.

I especially loved the animation segments that were extremely
reminescent of the old Monty Python's Flying Circus television
bits.  And the bits of trivia… such as how many times the size
or population of Scotland could fit into China – how fittingly
self-describes as “a completely uselsss bit of information.”

Quirky, irreverent, fun, educational, interesting… a juxtaposition
of diverse cultures giving new views of what it means to be Canadian. I
love it! Good on you Moyra! And to Rae too, especially for having the
vision and the courage to take a risk on Gung Haggis Fat Choy.
Afterall, 400 people at last year's dinner can't be wrong… and almost
another 600 people have already bought tickets for the the two nights
for Jan 24th & 25th, creating a 50% increase from last year.

This afternoon, soprano Heather Pawsey and I appeared on the CBC
Radio show The Afternoon Show with Kathryn Gretsinger and Fairchild
radio host Deborah Moore. Debra and Kathryn asked me about the origins of
Gung Haggis Fat Choy. Debra even asked what I was wearing under the
kilt! True to the code, I dinna gie her a straight answer! “We'll go
for a wee walk after the show,” I told her…

I brought Gung Haggis Wun-tun and spring rolls as an offering to
these queens of afternoon radio. And I brought along my accordion and
new friend Heather Pawsey. Heather is an accomplished classical soprano
singer who regularly appears with the Vancouver Opera and will be the
lead principle in the Feburary production of the Burnaby Lyric Opera.
While Heather was raised on a steady diet of Burns dinners since she
was a little girl, she has recently been singing in mandarin and has
developed a real appreciation for Chinese music and culture. There is
nobody better that I could think of to bring to the special Chinese New
Year programming day for CBC and Fairchild Radio at Aberdeen Mall in
Richmond BC.

After dropping Heather off back in Vancouver so she could prepare
for her evening gig at the Pan Pacific doing “Opera Nights,” I had
dinner with my girlfriend and her parents – visiting from Vernon BC.
This is what they had to say about it:

“I like it,” says Pat Martin, “Loved the blend of cultures… I
liked the music. I love the idea of dinner tomorrow. I love the idea of
watching the dinner show tomorrow and I can hardly wait to see who is
on. Waiting for lots of laughs.”

“I enjoyed the show thoroughly,” said her husband Bill Martin, who
is looking forward to having haggis at the dinner, and wants to take
some home to friends in Vernon. We watched for all the credits for our
friends and family.After the show was over, my girlfriend gave me a big
hug. She is very proud of me.

Tonight! Watch CBC TV – Gung Haggis Fat Choy, 7:30pm

2 Replies


Tonight… tonight… the stars align tonight…

Tonight we get to see how well CBC Regional Director Rae Hull's
vision of a multicultural television performance special has been
realized by producer Moyra Rodger.  I sat in on our first blue sky
conception meetings that were rejected.  I
recommended performers, locations and concepts in my role as
consultant.  

I watched the music video filmings at Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden and on
Keefer St in Chinatown.  I brought my family in for filming a
simulated Chinese New Year Dinner.  I modeled a kilt on a late
night Gastown street. I listened to Moyra say that she is happy with
the production and that she is proud to have her name on it.

What can we expect?  Expect the unexpected!  Look for the
intersections between two of Canada's oldest non-official founding
cultures on the West Coast.  Look at how stereotypes are
flipped, racial images are juxtaposed with cultural images in ways
you never imagined before.  Think outside the box.  Think…
“What if?”

But most of all… think of how much fun all the performers had of
being a part of this show.  Think how much they enjoyed pushing
the boundaries of stereotypes and playing cheekily with the
traditional.  I haven't seen the final product.  I look
forward to seeing the show tonight with my girlfriend, Deb Martin, and
her parents who have travelled all the way from Vernon BC to attend the
dinner. 

I look forward to hearing comments from my parents and my 93 year
old grandmother who was born in Victoria BC, the grand-daughter of Rev.
Chan Yu Tan who came to Canada in 1896.  In each subsequent
generation we have had inter-racial marriages in the family.  The
blending of Scots and Chinese is truly nothing new to us!

What to expect at this Gung Haggis Fat Choy musical dinner theatre variety show event

Leave a reply

Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2004 Dinner

Arrive Early:  The doors will open at
5:30pm. We expect a rush just prior to the posted 6:00pm reception
time.  This is the time to go to the bar and get your dram of
Glenfiddich or pint of McEwan's Lager – specially ordered for tonight's
dinner.

Buy Your Raffle Tickets: We have some great door
and raffle prizes lined up.  Lots of books (being the writers we
be), gift certificates and theatre tickets.  Most exciting are the
tickets for opening night of Terracotta Warriors at the Centre in
Vancouver for Performing Arts, opening night tickets for The Plum Tree
– directed by Adrienne Wong (who will also co-host GHFC). 

This dinner is the primary fundraising event for
both the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop and the Gung Haggis Dragon
Boat Team. We have assembled some wonderful prizes, to help raise funds
to support our missions of supporting and developing emerging writers,
organizing reading events, and to spread multiculturalism through
dragon boat racing.

The first appetizer dish will appear once people
are seated, quickly followed by the Piping in of the musicians and
hosts.  We will lead a singalong of Scotland the Brave and give
good welcome to our guests.  I will read my new opening poem Gung
Haggis Fat Choy.

From then on… a new dish will appear every 15 minutes –
quickly followed by one of our co-hosts introducing a poet or musical
performer.  I don't want to give anything away right now as I
prefer the evening to unfold with a sense of surprise and
wonderment.  But let it do be known that we have an incredible
array of talent for each of our two nights.  This includes
bagpiper Joe McDonald with his fusion band Brave Waves and Qiu Xia
He and Andre Thibault from Silk Road Music – both of these groups
appear in the CBC tv special.

Co-hosts with me for Saturday evening are Adrienne
Wong and Margaret Gallagher.  For Sunday, we have Adrienne and
Heather Pawsey.  On Saturday, 13 year old violinist Alex Sachs
performs, followed later by Vancouver Opera concert master Mark Ferris
– who will debut original compositions.  On Sunday soprano Heather
Pawsey will perform her favorite scottish songs, along with a song or
two in Mandarin.

On both nights we have award winning teen-aged
Highland Dancers Vincent and Cameron Collins, as well a Burns
afficianado Neil Gray, who is also featured in the CBC tv performance
special.

Our non-traditional reading of the “Address to the
Haggis” is always a crowd pleaser.  I hand-pick members of the
audience to join us on stage to read a verse.  Past participants
have included former federal Secretary of State Raymond Chow, Qayqayt
(New Westminster) First Nations Chief Rhonda Larrabee, UBC
Director of the Chan Centre Dr. Sid Katz.

The evening will wrap up somewhere between 9:30 and
10:00pm.  People will leave with smiles on their faces and say to
each other, “Only in Canada, could something like this happen.”

Good Haggis morning on Global News

Leave a reply

“Good Morning Toddish!” called out Zach from the Global morning news show as Gung Haggis Wun-tun made it's way to the set of the morning Global News today. 

Lynn Collar called me up yesterday to invite me onto the set.  I sat next to Lynn and Steve, and they asked me lots of questions about the fundraiser dinner we call Gung Haggis Fat Choy!  Sara Daniels was very very taken with the phrase, saying I should trademark it (already in process!).

This was the first time I had ever been on a morning television news show.  It is so much more frenetically fast-paced than doing Urban Rush, City Cooks or when the CBC National News reporter Leanne Haven actually came up to my home to interview me. 

Two minutes… not 5 or 15.  Two minutes.  I blurted out all the important things like Dinner at Flamingo Restaurant… Television Special on CBC tonight at 7:30pm…  I first wore the tartan kilt up at Simon Fraser University… This is good for multiculturalism… 

But… everybody really liked the haggis wun-tun!!!  Sara Daniels became a quick fan.  Sophie Lui tried it.  Dana Gee tried it.  Zach called down from his location shoot in the parking lot to save him some haggis wun-tun.

What a rush… literally… this morning…  To ensure that the haggis wun-tun was cooked fresh this morning.  I went to the Slocan Restaurant on Hastings and Slocan in East Vancouver.   It took some convincing of the Filipina waitress to let me speak to the cook.  The cook/owner Gus is actually a Greek-Canadian and he was so nice to put my haggis wun-tun and spring rolls in his deep fryer for me. He didn't know exactly what haggis wun-tun was… but he bought my story about having to be on tv in 40 minutes. And he was very interested when I told them that George Stephanapolous, a Greek Canadian from Montreal, would be featured on the tv special Gung Haggis Fat Choy tonight on CBC at 7:30pm.

While I immediately told Lynn and Steve that the wun-tuns were just cooked by a Greek Canadian – unfortunately, I forgot to mention Gus and his Slocan Restaurant on tv. Sorry Gus – I will mention it on CBC radio this afternoon!

 

Mark Ferris to perform at GungHaggisChoy

Leave a reply

Mark Ferris, violinist, concertmaster of the Vancouver Opera and also a multi-media artist, will be performing at the Saturday Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner!

Here's Mark's bio:

QUOTE

Mark Ferris has been a professional violinist in Vancouver for over fourteen years performing regularly with the CBC Radio Orchestra, Vancouver Opera and the Vancouver Symphony. He is also the current Concertmaster of Sinfonia, Orchestra of the North Shore and as of May 2003, he is Concertmaster of the Vancouver Opera. Mark's passion of music performance and digital audio production has also led him to being a music producer, composer, arranger, instructor, music contractor and consultant to the arts and media industries – tv, film, video, music/audio recordings, live music, dance, theatre, gaming, broadcast and new media.

UNQUOTE