The line up of performers for the 2005 Gung Haggis Fat Choy:
Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner is really taking
shape.

Co-hosts: Todd Wong, Shelagh Rogers & Tom Chin

Performers:  Fred Wah, Joe McDonald & Brave Waves, Heather
Pawsey, Karen Wong & Zhongxi Yu (Dragon River Shadow Puppet
Theatre), LaLa, Vincent and Cameron Collins, Dr. Jan Walls, Veera devi
Khare.

First to be confirmed were co-hosts Shelagh Rogers and Tom Chin. 
I appeared on Shelagh's CBC Radio show “Sounds Like Canada” back in
January of 2003.  We struck up a wondeful rapport, and the Sounds
Like Canada crew invited me to be one of the presenters at a special
reception welcoming the show's move to Vancouver.  It was at this
event in September 2003, that haggis wun-tun moved from an idea to a
reality.  It was part of the welcome gift I presented to
Shelagh representing the 7 generations of my Chinese Candian roots,
that included lo-bak-gow (turnip cake) that my great grandmother would
make, apple tarts my father would buy in Chinatown, and haggis wun-tun
to represent the racially and culturally integrated 6th and 7th
generations.

Tom Chin is somebody I know from Vancouver Asian
Canadian Theatre.  The first time I saw him on television, he was
wearing a costume that was left side Chinese jacket and right side
Canadian lumberjack.  He was telling jokes and stories about
growing up half Chinese and half Canadian.  I thought “Right
on!”  Over the years, we have become friends, and I have seen him
perform at Asian Comedy Night, as well as host other VACT events. 
Knowing his wacky sense of humour, I can only fear what will
happen when we actually write something together or perform on a stage
at the same time… oops this may actually happen on January
30th.  Last September in 2004, I invited Tom to bring VACT to
Plaza of Nations and become play by play announcers for the Vancouver
International Taiwanese Dragon Boat Race.  The group was very well
recieved and brought much laughter and merriment to the activity.

Joe McDonald & Brave Waves.  Joe has
performed bagpipes for Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners since 2001. 
He has seen the dinner grow from 100 to 550 served last year.  He
has performed with me on both CBC Radio's national programs “The Round
Up” and “Sounds Like Canada,” as well as CBC TV's “The National,” and
the 2004 TV Special “Gung Haggis Fat Choy.”  Tabla player
Nealamjit Dhillon also first performed at the 100 seater restaurant and
along with Joe, has seen us outgrow 3 previous restaurants – New
Grandview Szechwan, Spicy Court and Flamingo, as we move to
Floata. Nealamjit is just back from tabla studies in
India. Chris Trinidad (bass) has also performed with the group and
is part of the Brave Waves trio that performed for their latest cd
“Havens of Light.”

more to come…

Here's a fun activity organized by my friend Valerie Sing Turner.

 ******************************************

On Sunday, January 9,
many of Vancouver’s finest actors, directors, writers and poets are
starting the new year with a resolution of compassion: they are
donating their time and talents to read from the prodigious body of
work of Irish poet and playwright William Butler Yeats in a benefit for the Actors’ Fund of Canada.
For 12 straight hours, 10:00am to 10:00pm, the public has the
opportunity to hear some of the most famous (and not-so-famous) words
of the man many consider to be the greatest 20^th century poet to write in the English language. Chapters Books has generously provided space for the event, and all proceeds raised – through donations and the raffling off of Yeats’ Complete Poems (donated by Chapters and signed by all the readers) – will go to the Actors’ Fund. There is no admission charge.

Featuring such local luminaries as Dean Paul Gibson (soon to appear in Humble Boy at the Playhouse); John Burns (book editor, Georgia Straight); Kim Collier and Kevin Kerr (Electric Company); Johnna Wright (Solo Collectives), David Adams, Raugi Yu and Kathleen Duborg (appearing soon at The Firehall in Einstein’s Gift); Donna Wong-Juliani (Bardathon, Savage God); Richard Wolfe (Western Theatre Conspiracy); Anna Hagan (Western Gold); Patrick Gallagher and Fred Keating (Da Vinci’s Inquest); David C. Jones and Brad MacNeil (The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr at the Arts Club); and the entire cast of Beggars at the Waters of Immortality, which was written by Yeats and is opening January 14 at Pacific Theatre (Donnard MacKenzie, Bill Moysey, Kyle Rideout, Varya Rubin, Valerie Sing Turner and director Anthony F. Ingram),
the event is also an opportunity for Vancouver audiences to get to know
more of this city’s vibrant but often overlooked artistic community.

Inspired by Felix Culpa’s 24-hour marathon reading of James Joyce’s Ulysses, the Dumb Prophet Equity Co-op, producers of Beggars at the Waters of Immortality,
decided to plan an event that would benefit not only the Actors’ Fund,
but also raise awareness of the Vancouver theatre community, local
actors and current or upcoming shows in Vancouver, as well as foster a
community relationship amongst Vancouver’s writers and performing
artists. To raise funds, Chapters Books has donated a volume of Yeats’
poetry, which, after being signed by each artist who reads, will be
raffled off at the end of the marathon.

The Actors' Fund of Canada
promotes artistic excellence for performers, creators, technicians and
other members of creative and production teams in all entertainment
industry sectors. The Fund carries out this mission by providing
encouragement and short-term financial aid to help entertainment
industry workers maintain their health, housing and ability to work
after an illness, injury or sudden unemployment. The Fund has helped
more than 10,000 people working in film & television, theatre,
music and dance since its creation almost 50 years ago and has
delivered more than $2.5 million in financial aid within the past 10
years.

**********************************************
Dumb Prophet Equity Co-op presents
BEGGARS AT THE WATERS OF IMMORTALITY
by Irish poet/playwright William Butler Yeats
January 14 – 29 at Pacific Theatre
Featuring Donnard MacKenzie, Bill Moysey, Kyle Rideout, Varya Rubin & Valerie Sing Turner
Directed by Anthony F. Ingram
Tickets/info: 604-731-5518

After
days of anxious planning and coordinating for the premier performance
of Gung Haggis Fat Choy: First Night Vancouver – everything flowed like
a dream.

Unfortunately, the venue change caught people offguard, and the
proper sinage was not posted.  People looking for us at QE Plaza
as written in the First Night Vancouver
Program and on the website could not find us as many information
volunteer staffers did not know our venue had been changed to Library
Square, Lower Level, Peter Kaye room.  City Counsellor Ellen
Woodsworth bumped into me on Georgia Street, 10 minutes before the
midnight fireworks and asked “Where were you? We wanted to see you, and
we were told you were cancelled when we asked at QE Playhouse.”

Otherwise… once we put sinage up in the Library Promenade to let
people know where Fun Too! was… and I asked our venue coordinator to
put a “Gung Haggis Fat Choy” poster up to attract attention… then
things flowed.

LaLa and I arrived at Library Square shortly after 5pm for a sound check with Qiu Xia and Andre Thibault, the brilliant core of Silk Road Music. 
I ran off to do a quick radio interview for CBC Radio One's “On the
Coast,” with reporter J.J. Lee, and with Margaret Gallagher as guest
host while Pria Ramu is on holiday.  JJ set it up brilliantly
talking about singing Robbie Burns' Auld Lang Syne in other languages
such as Chinese, then introduced me as the creator of Gung Haggis Fat
Choy, which I described as a collision and colusion of Scottish
Hogmanay and Chinese New Year.

6:15pm and our show started.  Andre, Qiu Xia, Lala and I sat on
stage, as I introduced the show about being like a Living Room or
Kitchen Party, where everybody has brought a song to sing.  For
each show, I introduced the performers to the audience, and at
different times would make comments about Scots and Chinese Canadian
pioneer history, as well as about the similarities of Scottish Hogmanay
and Chinese New Year.  LaLa and I started things off with
“Scotland the Brave,” followed by a chinese piece by Andre on guitar
and Qiu Xia on pipa (chinese lute).  We took turns and also took
time to talk about how we celebrated New Years in our own
cultures.  LaLa and I also perform “My Chow Mein Lies Over the
Ocean” where I recite a poem about homesick travelers, then substitute
“My Bonnie” for “Chow Mein,” “Haggis,” and “Chicken Feet.”  The
audience laughs as soon as I say the title… They get the the joke
really fast!

6:45pm, our show is over, the audience applauds and we congratulate
ourselves on what feels like a good show.  Good positive feedback
from well-wishers and friends affirm our perceptions.  After
grabbing some coffee and something to eat, LaLa and I head off with my
girlfriend and her friend to see Dal Richards and his band at the CBC
Ballroom.  It is Dal Richard's 60th New Year's Eve celebration in
a row.  Great music for swing dancing!d

7:40pm… Karen Wong and Zhongxi Wu (“Jonesey”) arrive.  We
fill them in on how things are going.  Zhongxi warms up his
bagpipes in the Library Square parking lot.  They are greeted
warmly by Andre and Qiu Xia – who haven't seen them for over a
year.  For the 8:15 show, we each take turns.  Sometimes
joining in on each other's songs when we can.  We all play
together for Auld Lang Syne, then finish up with Scotland the Brave.

At 8:50 pm, a reporter from Channel M, wants to grab mandarin
speakers Zhongxi and Qiu Xia for a very quick interview for the
cameras, as they also film the “Midnight in Montreal” fireworks for 9pm.

We start our 10:15 show early… at 10pm, as the crowds were already
lined up.  It is our best show yet.  Zhongxi and Karen play a
Scottish song “My Home” on Chinese instruments, then later play a
Chinese song “Jasmine Flower” on Scottish instruments.  Andre and
Qiu Xia play a tango-influenced song from Venezuela.  LaLa and I,
after some coaxing from the audience, premier our version of “Haggis
Rap” where we take 4 verses of Robert Burns' imortal “To a Haggis,” and
we rap it with an added chorus.  It was great fun… then we
closed with Auld Lang Syne, with everybody joining in.

My girlfriend, our friend Chris and I, stay to watch the
Construction Ink performance, which alternated sharing venue space with
us throughout the evening.  Then we rush outside to watch the
fireworks and midnight celebration.

A fine fine successful evening.  Pictures to post as soon as possible.

Kilts Night is a new Vancouver Tradition organized by Terry “Bear” Varga, of Bear Kilts – the official Kilt sponsor of Gung Haggis Fat Choy.

We meet around 7pm on the 1st Saturday of each month, at the Atlantic Trap & Gill, at the corners of Davie and Seymour Streets in Vancouver.  It's lots of fun – good food, good beer.  Live entertainment later in the evening.

January 1st, 2005, also marks the 2nd anniversary of Bear Kilts.  You can bet I will be wearing my new Maple Leaf tartan that I debuted December 7th, 2004, on CBC TV's the National.