Author Archives: Todd

Gung Haggis dragon boat team – Race in Kent/Seattle on Saturday – No practice on Sunday

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Gung Haggis dragon boat team
– Race in Kent/Seattle on Saturday
– No practice on Sunday

Just a reminder – NO PRACTICE on Sunday…
Sorry I could not confirm 12 + paddlers + steers or coach for a Sunday practice. 
 
How did Gung Haggis fare in Kent?
Front row (kneeling l-r): Navid, Gail, Kristine, Todd, Juliet, Raymond,
Inset row: Joe (head shot) + Steven (crouching)
Middle row (standing): Deb, Wendy, Jonas, Teresa, Ann-Marie, Julie, Terilyn, Sue
Back row (standing & peeking): Dan, Lana, Jim, Stephen, Jody




Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team at Kent WA.

 
Well… lots of fine tuning with each race.  With 12 Gung
Haggis paddlers + extra paddlers from Fluid Motion, 39th Brigade Army
Team, Scaly Justice, Sweet and Sour Dragonballs (from Victoria) +
Tacoma DBA…. it was a challenge.  But WE DID IT!
 
We improved each race…
working together with different paddling styles
different paddlers
different levels of ablilty….
but not enough to overcome the good competition at this festival. 
 
In Race #1 – there was a collision – which we stayed out of a
direct hit, but we were forced out of our lane, and off the
course.   I was steering.  I called – let it run, then
to hold the boat.  The other teams across our bow, but
stopped. We got going again, but – but our tail got clipped by one
of the other boats and broken off.  It belonged to Joel Schilling
of Dragon Sports USA.  Sorry Joel – but it was an American
team that clipped us, and caused the collision.  We continued and
recovered well.  We came second. 
 
We were recalled for a re-race.  I asked one of the fellows
on the team that forced us over – “Haven't I been nice to you, all the
years I've known you?”  To Carl Benson – formerly of Tacoma
DBA, now on the Washington DBA team.  He said they were sorry, and
warmly greeted me.  Then the real culprits from lane 2
apologized profusely… I accepted their apology, and asked them for 10
push-ups.  Two of their guys immediately responded – even doing
handclap push-ups!  People were impressed… but more impressed
that they took commands from another dragon boat team!
In the re-race we came 4th.
 
In Race #2, we came 3rd or 4th.
So we ended up in the Mixed B Rec Division.
 
For Race #3 – we had to come 1st to make the finals and race with
medals.  It was a good tight race.  We came third…. so that
was it for the day.  FOUR races within about 5 hours. 
Challenging… but FUN.  More later…
 
We thank Tacoma Dragon Boat Association for hosting us with food
and shelter.  We LOVE you…. Thank you Joe Fugle, president of
TDBA for paddling with us all day.  Thank you coaches Clem and
Rives, paddlers and organizers Lee, Merri, Candy for being good
friends and looking after us all these years!
 
Tomorrow we are off to The Museum of Glass in Tacoma – featuring Dale Chihooly works….
 
We have been invited to attend a practice with Tacoma DBA at 3pm at Commencement Bay.
 
We have been invited to race in Portland – anytime…  and
Wasabi will host us.  Club organizer Jeremy is great!  We
love him too!  And my dear friend Suzi on Wasabi Team Huge.
 
 
Cheers, Todd
 
 

Check out the No Luck Club at the Folk Festival in Vancouver this weekend

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The No Luck Club is performing at the Vancouver Folk Festival this weekend…

During the middle of the Chinese Head Tax Redress campaign during the
Federal Election – Trevor Chan came up with a track called Our Story –
detailing samples adressing Racisim, and Chinese in Canada.

Check it out!

Check out their information on the Folk Fest Website
http://www.thefestival.bc.ca/artists.php?perID=2739

 British Columbia

A lot of this Festival is about listening. So is the instrumental
hip hop created by no luck club. That's why brothers Trevor and Matt
Chan, and Paul Belen were part of last year's Collaboratory. For a
group that had never worked with acoustic musicians before, or even
attended a folk festival, agreeing to take part was a great leap of
faith that said a lot to me about their creative approach as artists
and music lovers. Over the winter I went to see them perform several
times and was more deeply impressed each time with the depth,
complexity and full-on groove they could throw down. (Note: In the
interest of full disclosure, I should mention that my Muse is bonkers
about nlc. We started talking about a special project for this summer's
Festival. For more on that, see Folk 109 below.)

Their parents watched Trevor and Matt, and Paul, head off to
university, hoping they would apply themselves studiously to becoming
doctors, lawyers or accountants, but didn't factor in the unique
attractions of campus radio. Trevor and Matt started spending more and
more time around the station, working on shows and listening to the
latest hardcore, hip hop and every other kind of music on offer.
Ultimately they fell under the spell of the Bomb Squad, the production
team of Public Enemy, who were in the process of changing the sound of
hip hop forever.

You can still hear some Bomb Squad in their work today. nlc's music
is a dense sonic wonderland where scratches, samples and melody lines
roll together with a love of old-school funk. It's smart, it's fun and
it kicks. There's a big difference between a beat and a groove, and nlc
draws on a groove 40 years long, reaching back to Stax, Sly, Say It
Loud, and all the way up to the state-of-the-art right now. It's a
groove that has never forgotten its roots in the rise of hip hop: the
sound of the dance parties in the Bronx that went out to all kinds of
chocolate cities and those vanilla suburbs.

You'll also find other history in nlc, rare sounds plucked out of a
North American popular culture where Asians appeared only as
caricatures drawn from racist ignorance. Having grown up in that
hyphenated-Canadian way, they can also drop Asian film and other
popular culture into the mix to create instrumental hip hop that has a
lot to say about our city in 2006. -DS

Visit this artist's website at www.noluckclub.com 

Tang Dynasty Concubine story premiering in Vancouver

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Tang Dynasty Concubine story premiering in Vancouver
Each
time I attend the Action Musicals at the Centre in Vancouver for
Performing Arts, I find I learn more about Chinese history, culture and
art.  Unfortunately I will be missing the opening night
presentation tonight, Friday July 14 – but I hope to review the show
when I return from dragon boat racing in Seattle this weekend.


The Tang Dynasty is one of the
most powerful and artistic epochs in Chinese history.  I was
thrilled to visit the museums in Bejing and Xi'an during my visit in
1993, as well as seeing the Ming dynasty tombs and the Terracotta
Warriors.  Growing up in Canada, we really develop with a
Euro-centric view of history. 

This show is in Mandarin Chinese, with surtitles in English.


– Todd

The following is from the website for http://www.centreinvancouver.com/upcoming.php

Sight, Sound & Action Presents

The 2nd Annual Chinese Performing Arts Festival




Tang Concubines

Deciding the fate of a dynasty

July 14 – 23

This new Action-Musical portrays the lives and loves of two of the most famous women in all of Chinese history, Wu Zetian and Yang Guifei. Their notorious and celebrated lives played a major role in deciding the fate of the Tang dynasty [618-906 AD].

Tang Concubines combines a unique story with palatial sets and costumes
and stunning dance and action. The show contrasts the treacherous power
of one concubine who became China's only Empress with the love and
sacrifice of another whose legendary beauty was immortalized by
countless poets.

Both had amazing love affairs with father and son Emperors and
both used their sexuality and beauty to their fullest advantage. Most
importantly, each attained great power and changed the course of
Chinese history.




Terracotta Warriors

Ruled by terror. Loyalty by force. Love by decree.

July 28 – 30

This haunting story of China's First Emperor is seen through the
eyes of his beloved concubine and scheming eunuch. The most incredible
Chinese historical facts are revealed on stage against a backdrop of
epic sets and lavish costumes. The audience will marvel at the dance,
music and action used to tell a story of power and lust, of betrayal
and forbidden passion.

Battles and conquest, forbidden love, burning of books, live
burial of scholars and even the building of the Great Wall end with a
final climax of the Dance of the Terracotta Warriors. It's a theatrical
event to be remembered!




Of Heaven and Earth

The Wrath of a God, the Love of a Woman

August 4 – 6

Of Heaven and Earth tells a story of gods and mortals. Passion
ignites a war between heaven and earth and forbidden love becomes
immortal. This acclaimed production was unveiled at Beijing's renowned
Poly Theater in August 2001 and premiered in North America on May 29th,
2002 at The Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts.

A true fusion of East and West, Of Heaven and Earth combines the
grand scale of a Broadway production with the ancient traditions of
Chinese dance, music and martial arts. Under the art direction and
costume design of Tim Yip [winner of the 2001 Academy Award for the Art
Direction for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon], Of Heaven and Earth
introduces Western audiences to a stunning new genre of live-stage
entertainment. It is a spectacular combination of Chinese classical and
folk dance, different styles of martial arts, and a new kind of Chinese
acrobatics.

Extravagant costumes and futuristic stage design, uncharacteristic
of Chinese musical theatre, combine to create an original theatrical
experience for the audience. Of Heaven and Earth was the first
Action-Musical that paved the way for Sight, Sound & Action to help
invent the future of Chinese musical theatre for the international
arena. This re-arrangement of a thousand years of tradition Chinese
performing arts for use in musical live-theatre to showcase the beauty
of the human form was indeed unprecedented.

Mr. Ralph Lee, 106 years old, rode the “Head Tax Redress Express Train” to Ottawa for the “trip of a lifetime”

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image

Mr. Ralph Lee, 106 years old, rode the “Head Tax Redress Express Train” to Ottawa for the “trip of a lifetime.

I
attended the ceremony that saw the first people that boarded the
“Redress Express Train” to Ottawa, for which they would see Prime
Minister Harper make an apology for the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion
Act.

Travellers
got on board at stops in Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Toronto.  106
year old Ralph Lee, got on board and travelled from Toronto to
Ottawa.  The following letter is from his grand-daughter, followed
by an article in Sing Tao News.

July 5, 2006

VIA Rail Canda
Inc.

Headquarters

3 Place
Ville-Marie, Suite
 500
Montreal, Quebec H3B 2C9
Canada

 

Attention: Mr.
Paul Cote; President and Chief Executive Officer

 

Dear Mr Cote;

I am writing on
behalf of my grandfather, Mr. Ralph Lee who, at 106 years old is the oldest
living Chinese Head Tax Payer in Canada . 

In Canada , my
grandfather was a Chinese Railroad worker.  Although he was not part of
the early Chinese Railroad crews whose labor enabled the Last Spike to be
driven in 1885, he was part of the work crews who maintained and extended the
extensive Railroad network in Canada
.  As a Chinese Railroad worker, my grandfather is one of the last living
links to the building of the Canadian National Dream. 

On June 22, 2006
my family took Grandpa for the last real trip of his life on the “Redress
Express”¬ train ride from Toronto to Ottawa courtesy of VIA
Rail. The family's decision to let Grandpa travel came with great trepidation. 
Our fears quickly subsided, the moment we arrived at Union Station.  Once
Grandpa saw the train station, he lit up and was eager to board the train and
start his journey. Grandpa could hardly contain his excitement.

During this
historic train ride, Grandpa was given the honor of carrying the commemorative
Last Spike to its final resting place in Ottawa
. What an amazing tribute! A Chinese Railroad worker carried the Last Spike by
train, representing the Chinese contribution to the building of the
transcontinental railway, honoring the four thousand Chinese workers who lost
their lives during construction.  VIA made this pilgrimage possible. 

 I can'tt begin to
describe the joy I felt watching my Grandfather enjoying such happiness, while
participating in such a monumental event, the last significant event of his
lifetime.  My family was overjoyed by this experience and deeply grateful
to VIA Rail for their contribution to this celebrated event. Your gift has
touched my family in a unique and intimate way that has made an overwhelming
impression.

My whole family
appreciated the extent to which VIA Rail went out of their way to ensure
Grandpa was well cared for and comfortable.  Everyone was helpful,
gracious, friendly and most of all, sincere.  In particular, Catherine
Kalooski was awesome!  Catherine ensured that every detail was taken care
of.  Catherine went out of her way to ensure that Grandpa's last ride
was the best trip of his life.   

The symbolic train
ride lifted everyone's spirits and allowed strangers to bond in an atmosphere
of pure camaraderie. Even today, several weeks after the historic journey,
Grandpa continues to be invigorated by his trip. His eyes are still sparkling
and my whole family agrees that Grandpa has been revitalized by this memorable
and monumental occasion.

VIA Rail's
contribution enabled the Redress Express and created a lasting legacy, which
will be remembered for generations to come.  My family extends a heartfelt
Thank You to Via Rail for their role in this profound event.

Warmest Regards,

Landy Anderson

Granddaughter of a
Chinese Railroad worker and Head Tax Payer

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GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY: The CBC TV special – summaries and video clip – view the origin of Gung Haggis Fat Choy and Toddish McWong

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GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY: 
The CBC TV special – summaries and video clip
– view the origin of Gung Haggis Fat Choy and Toddish McWong


Robbie Burns Day meets Chinese New Year. 
Two separate cultures. 
Nothing in common. 
Everything in common.

View this video clip from the CBC television performance
special “GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY.”  The 30 minute show was created in
the fall of 2003 on a small budget, and debuted on January 24th, and
25th, 2004.  It recieved two nominations for Leo Awards for Best Musical/Variety, and Best Direction for Musical/ Variety.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy – View Clip

Gung Haggis Fat Choy
Chinese New
Year. Robbie Burns Supper. Gung Haggis Fat Choy fuses the two unique
cultural events in a celebration of music, dance and tradition.
Featuring performances by The Paperboys and Silk Road Music.  A CBC Television production.

It was produced by CBC who hired Moyra Rodger to produce and it was directed by Moyra with Ken
Stewart.  It was amazing to join them on the different sets as
they filmed each segment.  I did get paid by CBC as a consultant, and for
use of the television rights for the name “Gung Haggis Fat Choy.”

The show blended together stories, music and dance from Chinese and
Scottish cultures to highlight both Robbie Burns Day and Chinese New
Year celebrations.  I was involved in the planning stages, as well
as being filmed for the “Origins of Gung Haggis Fat Choy”
segment which featured me donning a Scottish outfit, adjusting the
buckles of the kilt, and the “flashes” which hold up the socks.

“Only one student volunteered to carry the haggis for the Robbie Burns
Celebration at Simon Fraser University” says the narrator retelling a
short version of how I first developed the “Gung Haggis Fat Choy”
concept.  Check my version of the origins here: http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/OriginsofGungHaggisFatChoy/_archives/2004/1/16/14225.html

There was a strong belief to ensure that each segment had something
Chinese and something Scottish in each of the music performance
segments.   Also featured was a cartoon segment about poet
Robert Burns, with Monty Pythonesque animation style.  And on the
serious side… a straight reading of Burns’ “Address to a Haggis” by
ex-Scotsman Neil Gray, a non-professional actor but loyal fan of The
Goon Show, and Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners since 2002.

Every segment was short and quick paced.  Information preceded
each musical performance, giving background on not only Scottish and
Canadian culture, but also on Gung Haggis Fat Choy.  Archival film
footage highlighted a segment about the making of haggis. 
Archival film footage of Vancouver’s Chinatown during its heyday during
the neon nightclub years from the 1950’s and 1960’s featuring long gone
restaurants and dinner nightclubs such as the Bamboo Terrace and the
Marco Polo. Visit https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13434799/.

A simulated Chinese New Year dinner featured my
bagpiper friend Joe McDonald, my parents, grandmother, girlfriend,
friend Don Montgomery with his two young children, and friends Ray and
Ula.  Typical Chinese New Year food dishes were served as well as
traditional haggis.  Joe wore his full Scottish regalia outfit
complete with bear skin hat, while I wore my beautiful Chinese
jacket.  This was a fun segment to film.  My father passed
out li-see, lucky money red envelops, to pass out to the children and
young single adults.  We actually had four generations
represented.  My grand mother, my parents, my friends, and my
friend Don and his two young children who are actually half-Chinese and
half-Caucasian.  It was a perfect example of what Gung Haggis Fat
Choy is about… blending Scottish-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian
cultures and bloodlines.  In fact, all my maternal cousins have
married Caucasian partners, and our family dinners feature little Hapa
children running around laughing and playing together.

The PAPERBOYS
were filmed outside in October at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen
Chinese Classical Garden.  This was the first music video ever
filmed in the gardens, which were designed by my architect cousin Joe
Wai.  This was exciting to watch being filmed because bagpiper Tim
Fanning (aka Constable Tim Fanning of the Vancouver Police Department)
and Chinese flautist Jin Min-Pang were added to Paperboys lineup. 
This segment is an instrumental but filled with lots of great
energy.  The premise is imagining what would happen if a Chinese
flautist accidently meets a Scottish bagpiper in a Chinese Classical
Garden where a Celtic-Canadian band is playing… just the normal
Canadian thing in intercultural Vancouver… happens all the time…
really!

SILK ROAD MUSIC
is lead by Qiu Xia He and her husband Andre Thibault, who lovingly
refers to her as “the boss.”  They are joined in this segment by
Willy on vocals, Zhimin Yu on Roan, and a Chinese vocalist.  The
segment was filmed on Vancouver Chinatown’s Keefer St.  It was a
chilly November evening when we filmed at night.  One store stayed
open late so we could film using its contents and site as the props and
the set.  The segment also features archival footage of
1950’s/1960’s Vancouver Chinatown with all its neon lights as
b-roll.  It’s a great segment sung in both Mandarin Chinese and
English.
 

JOE MCDONALD has been the “Official Gung Haggis Fat Choy” bagpiper
since 2001, when the dinner only served 100 people.  For 2002, he
joined me on an invterview on national CBC Radio with host Bill
Richardson.  It was only natural to bring him into the CBC
television performance special.  Joe performs with his band “Brave
Waves” supplemented by singer Sharon Hung,
performing an uptempo
version of Auld Lang Syne.  Sharon is great singing… everybody
asks “Who is the Chinese girl singing?” Joe has become a good musical
friend since 2001, as has Sharon.  Both of them have performed at
many Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners since our first meeting.  Sharon
also performed with me for First Night Vancouver on Dec 31, 2004.

GEORGE SAPOUNIDIS
is the Greek-Canadian who sings in Mandarin.  He is a big hit in
Shanghai, and Chinese women literally “scream” a la Elvis at this mild
mannered statistician from Ottawa.  George was a volunteer
translator for the Chinese Olympic team in Athens 2004. In 2005 CTV
made a television documentary about him titled “Chairman George.” In the CBC tv special, Chinese fan dancers from the Vancouver Academy of Dance
in a spectacular sequence which features the dancers and their fans,
while a male voice sings in Mandarin Chinese.  The fans slowly
reveal the mysterious face of the singing White man.

Links for the featured performers are:

  • PAPERBOYS – Contemporary Celtic-Canadian sounds
  • www.paperboys.com
  • SILK ROAD MUSIC – World Music fusion, led by Qiu Xia He and Andre Thibault
  • www.silkroadmusic.ca
  • GEORGE SAPOUNIDIS – Mandarin singing Greek-Canadian
  • www.chairmangeorge.com/aboutgeorge_blog.htm
  • BRAVE WAVES: Joe McDonald & Sunny Matharu – bagpipes + South Asian tabla drumming world music fusion
  • www.bravewaves.com

For more stories about the GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY television performance special click on: 

 CBC TV Special “Gung Haggis Fat Choy”

Outrigger Canoeing: The Lotus Ironman race on Burrard Inlet with Gung Haggis paddlers

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Outrigger Canoeing: The Lotus Ironman race on Burrard Inlet with Gung Haggis paddlers

Outrigger canoes waiting for the race
start with safety boats, at Lotus Iron Races, Barnet Marine Park in
Burnaby, BC – photo Dave Samis

I like the beautiful glide of an outrigger canoe, whether solo, double
or six-person.  I liken paddling in a solo outrigger to taking out
a sports car compared to riding in a bus of a dragon boat.  When
you paddle solo in a canoe, you can really feel the effect of your
blade on the movement of the boat.  You really become “ONE” with
the boat.  The following story is from Gung Haggis paddler Dave
Samis, who raced in the Lotus Sports Club Iron Race on July 1st,
2006.  I love the colour of the water in the pictures…. they
remind me of Hawaii…. sigh…. – Todd

Outrigger Canoeing: The Lotus Ironman race on Burrard Inlet with Gung Haggis paddlers

Special Contribution from Dave Samis


Two Gung Haggis paddlers climbed into a six person Hawaiian outrigger
canoe to race in one of the Lotus Iron races. The calm water of Burrard
inlet sparkled under a blue cloudless sky on July 1st as Gail Thompson
and Dave Samis paddled with a Lotus Sports Club outrigger team.  The 11km race is 22 times longer than a 500m dragon boat race.

Outigger canoes are sleek sexy canoes, with a pontoon or “ama,” on one side,
connected by an “iaku” in Hawaiian language.  These boats are
perfect for riding the surf and give good stability where there are big
ocean swells.

For the race start, the six person outrigger canoes (OC6s) line up and
wait for the green flag.  No horn – flags, a red at five minutes
then a yellow at one minute and finally the green and go.  The
start is sort of similar to a dragon boat start with 6 long hard
strokes then a series of short fast ones followed by reaching out for
the rest of race strokes.



Outrigger canoes waiting for race start – photo Dave Samis

Timing is essential, like in a dragon boat, and technique is
very important (not that mine is that good).  Paddlers paddle on
alternating sides in outriggers, These races are long and so you
couldn't paddle the whole thing on one side, because of this, every 15
strokes everyone switches to the other side on the call of the person
in the third seat.

Outrigger races are also different from dragon boat races in that you
don't stay in a lane (it's much too far) and it really helps if the
steersperson can read the water, understanding the currents that
develop with tide changes and where the water moves fastest.  This
can add minutes to your time.   For instance, if the tide is
coming in, the inlet, it will be faster in the deep water and much
slower along the shore.  If you are going the same way as the tide
you want to be in deep water and if you are bucking the tide you want
to be near the shore.
 


Heading North into Indian Arm from
Burrard Inlet – you can really see the pontoon and ama on the outrigger
canoe. – photo Dave Samis (from a safety boat – not while he was
supposed to be paddling!)

Saturday, the OC6s raced north from Barnet Marine Park, and after a few
kilometers, they circle around Boulder Island and head southwest
towards the North Vancouver shoreline, past Cates Park and the
lightbeacon (much much smaller than a lighthouse) and across the inlet
to the McBarge (remember it from Expo?).  Then they race straight
back for the final three kilometers to Barnet Marine Park and the
finish line. 

Our OC 6 took an hour and 5 minutes to do this which put us in sixth
place (fifth place after one boat was disqualified).  We didn't
win anything but weren't last either.  Gail and I paddled in a
Lotus team in which the other three paddlers and the steers are Lotus
members.   Another Gung Haggis alumni paddler, (Craig Brown)
competed in another longer race, a 17 K race at this same event, and
came first overall!  


– story by Dave Samis

Outrigger canoe race at Lotus Sports Club, Barnet Marine Park – on land before the race – photo Dave Samis