It's the BC Highland Games on June 25th in Coquitlam, at Coquitlam Town Centre Stadium.
9am to 8pm
Click to find a map
www.bchighlandgames.com/
I will have a booth where I can sell Gung Haggis Fat Choy t-shirts and
give out GHFC recipes for haggis won-ton, haggis-stuffed tofu, and
haggis lettuce wrap.
Cool!
But I will have to leave by 6pm, so I can attend the Diana Krall concert at 8pm at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver.
Vancouver International Jazz Festival starts this weekend.
Great line-up of cross-cultural music and performers…
Music is always something that evolves and transcends boundaries and
bigotry. Lots of performers and lots of free events around
town. Tognight, I will be at the festival opener – Diana Krall
at the Orpheum Theatre. Diana is sort of a hometown girl, as she
was born and raised in the small town of Nanaimo, just a short ferry
ride across the Georgia Straight on Vancouver Island.
My favorite DK songs? Tom Wait's Temptation, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Let's Face the Music and Dance…
and Patsy Cline's I'm Crazy… and her duet with Ray Charles for You Don't Know Me.
Okay... so I'm going to be on television yet again...
but this time it is on Saltwater Water City television show.
And I am hosting the explorASIAN readings for Asian Heritage Month.
The following is from Sid Tan - who filmed, edited and produces Saltwater City TV.
Highlights of the evening on Saltwater City TV will broadcast this Sunday June 26, 2005 with repeats (schedule follows) on $haw cable 4, the
community channel.
Hosted by Todd Wong, this explorAsian presentation was recorded on May 14 at Our Town Cafe and features readings by Joy Kogawa, Michelle
Wong, Alexis Kienlen and Jessica Gin-Jade.
Sunday June 26 at 1:00PM
Monday June 27 at 10:30PM
Thursday June 30 at 2:30PM
Saturday July 2 at 11:30AM
On $haw cable 4 - the community channel - in Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley. Saltwater City TV broadcasts thanks to ICTV exercising
its entitlement to access to Shaw cable 4, the cable community channel.
Saltwater City TV thanks the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society, the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop, the Chinese Canadian National
Council and especially all the wordsmiths and volunteers for their help with this program and event.
If you want copies, set your VCR to record it. Or ask a friend. It takes alot of time to respond to requests for copies, especially since
this is volunteer community television and we have hard costs for tapes, transportation and refreshments. And yes, you are always welcome to
send in a couple of dollars to support ICTV and citizen-access to the public airwaves. Make it out to ICTV but put transmitter fund on it.
Also let our broadcast regulator, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (email: procedure@crtc.gc.ca), know what
you think about the current state of community television in Vancouver. Do it now as $haw's license renewal is up in August.
Ask the CRTC why cable companies such as $haw get all the public money from the subscriber funded community channel levy and community
television groups like ICTV not only get no money. Worse, community groups have to deal with $haw, which once denied ICTV access, for their entilement to
resources and broadcast times.
Saltwater City TV Television is an Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity Society ACCESS/ICTV Independent Community
Television Co-operative volunteer production.
For more about ICTV and to volunteer, go to www.vcn.bc.ca/ictv or call
604.254.5844. We are volunteer managed and operated so please have a
little patience.
As part of Vancouver Public Library's One Book One Vancouver program, there will be many related events designed to help bring the book Obasan to life.
Obachan's Garden, is the award winning National Film Board documentary about the filmaker Linda Ohama's Grandmother. Ohama won a 2002 Leo Award for best direction for a documentary.
Check out a review of Obachan's Garden on Culture Vulture
Please see below for the information from the VPL web page.
Obachan's Garden: Film Screening
Thursday, June 23; 7:30 p.m.
Alice MacKay Room (Lower Level), Central Library (350 West Georgia St.)
Join director Linda Ohama for a special screening of Obachan's Garden.
In 1923, Asayo Murakami left Hiroshima and settled in a fishing
village in Steveston, BC. Her family has memories of a happy woman who
sang, danced and nurtured a colourful flower garden, but underneath,
the memory of what she left in Japan haunted her deeply.
Delicately peeling back the layers of her grandmother's life,
filmmaker Linda Ohama discovers a painful, buried past. In poignant
interviews, Asayo, now 103 years old, recalls life in Japan, her
arrival in Canada as a “picture bride,” her determination to marry a
man of her choice, the bombing of Hiroshima and the forced relocation
of her family during World War II.
Beautifully rendered dramatic sequences are merged with an exquisite
collection of memories, feelings, images and voices. Culminating in an
emotional reunion with a long-lost daughter, this film is an intensely
personal reflection of Japanese-Canadian history and a testament to one
woman's incredible endurance and spirit.
Gim has reached Ontario! Sid Tan sends this note!
Yo Folks. A friend sent me this JPEG. I am told
Gim is in Ontario and going to be in Toronto over weekend.
We are planning welcome home party for Gim and Jeffrey
as well as extend our appreciation to Jan and daughters.
I'm trying to find Burnaby resident to write Mayor and council
for a civic tribute. More later. Take care.
Below is the June 21st article about Gim's arrival in Winnipeg
in the Ming Pao (Vancouver)
View photos of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team in action from the 2005 Alcan Dragon Boat Festival.
Click here for all pictures and slide show.
photos by Naoko Watanabe and Nick Chin
for articles on the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team:
see http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/_archives/2006/3/29/1847817.html
Here's the latest update on Gim Wong's progress in Winnipeg from Yew Lee, via Sid Tan.
FYI:
Trailer Troubles on The Outskirts of Winnipeg
I just spoke to Gim Wong.
Gim said he and his son Jeffrey had an “unbelievable reception” last night
at the Winnipeg Cultural Centre. Their hosts provided them with a very
comfortable night at the Holiday Inn ˇ a big change from sleeping in the
trailer ˇ and found them a place to park their van and trailer. Dr. Du and
the Chinese community were very generous with their hospitality. Many
community members approached Gim and said that they were very impressed with
his undertaking to ride across Canada on his motorcycle to raise awareness
about the head tax issue.
The press conference this morning was great. There were speakers from the
Ukranian, Jewish and Chinese communities.
As they left Winnipeg, the frame on their trailer snapped in half, causing
the trailer to collapse in the middle. Gim says that the roads were very bad
in Saskatchewan with potholes the size of kitchen sinks…perhaps the cause
of this breakage. Luckily, Gim was speaking to a CBC reporter, Aldo, who
referred them to a welding shop not too far away. So as we spoke on the
telephone, Gim was having his trailer repaired.
Gim hopes to get on the road in a couple of hours and cover at least 200
kilometers this afternoon., which will bring him to Kenora, Ontario where he
will visit the Ho Ho Restaurant. The stop after that will be Dryden,
Ontario, a pulp and paper town that also has a Ho Ho Restaurant. I will be
calling the newspapers in each of those towns.
Gim says he feels tired, but he sounds cheerful and very resolved to make it
to Ottawa, where he will end his journey.
That's all for now folks.
Yew Lee
The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team had a very exciting and full dragon boat weekend.
Our weekend activities included:
1) Being featured on CBC Newsworld live national television,
Good reports from the interview… Toronto CBC Newsworld Produce
Hilary Walker called it “Awesome!” I talked with reporter Andrew via
earphone and microphone. None of the dragon boat team standing behind
me could hear the questions I was being asked, so I was re-stating the
questions, as I answered them. We were able to demonstrate enthusiasm
for dragon boating, excitement for multiculturalism, show off our
decorated paddles and our kilts. We were also able to introduce
both Bear Kilts sponsor rep Peggy Watkins (Bear's wife), and our
Roxy Nightclub sponsor rep Tanya Romanuk – both are paddlers on our
team.
2) Racing for medals in the D division final,
Our team is a combination of brand new rookies and seasoned
veterans who make having fun a priority. I was hoping that we would be
good enough to move up to Rec C, but we were solidly in Rec D as we
again competed in the Rec D finals. But once again… not strong
enough to win a medal. Saturday seeding races are tough, as there is no
chance of beating Comp or Rec A/B teams… This is certainly
disheartening to Rec D/E teams. But on Sunday, our semi-final race as
very exciting, as we were one of 3 teams surging together towards the
finish line. We were 3rd by 18/100ths of a second – giving us the
fastest 3rd place team finish for the wild card spot in the Red D
Final. Our new chant was “We LOVE Gemini Boats on Sundays”, following
our disappointing first race on Saturday in a Gemini. We posted one of
our best times at 2:34, and finished 7th out of 9 teams in the Rec D medal final.
3) Winning the Hon. David C. Lam Award for being “the team that best represents the multicultural spirit of the festival”
This Award is amazing. The Dragon Boat Festival was founded to help
promote multiculturalism through hosting dragon boat racing. It is a
great honour for the team and our efforts in promoting
multiculturalism. I have previously won this award with my Celebration
Team in 2000. In 2002, I revamped the team and renamed it Gung Haggis
Fat Choy, to have a stronger tie-in to the Robbie Burns Dinner that is
the team's major fundraising event. The focus for the team also became
multiculturalism, as we continue to attend a tour/lesson in the Dr. Sun
Yat Sen Garden/Park, have multicultural dinners, and for the first time
– wear actual kilts on dragon boat weekend, instead of tartan wraps. I
have never before in one day been asked so many times, what is worn
beneath the kilt – nor had so many women trying to peek under the kilt
– in the beer garden – no less.
4) hosting “the Sunday night party to be at”?
We are very grateful to The Roxy for hosting a Apres-Paddling
Party. We gave out 300 FREE tickets on the dragon boat site to teams we
knew and liked. Each ticket gave Free Admission + one Free drink. It
was great to have the Gung Haggis team paddlers relax, dance and
socialize – especially our rookie paddlers as we induct them into the
dragon boat season culture. It was great to see old friends from Wasabi
and Kai 'iKai'Ka join us, as well as new friends from San Francisco
Dragon
Warriors.
We hit the dance floor to the Eagles “Life in the Fast Lane”
with Wasabi and Gung Haggis paddlers. Later my friend Suzi from Wasabi
Team Huge, grabbed my hand and said “Toddish, they're playing our song”
as the houseband Midnight Ramblers launced into a cover of Johnny Cash's “Ring of Fire”.
Photographer Friend Ray Shum, who was paddling with CBC Wave Catchers,
showed up and took some pictures, which I will post here later….
This was a lot of fun for me – personally! It makes me so glad to be able to just focus on one team, and not be coaching 3 teams. We had a wonderful group of
people who were all on board for the same goal – enjoy the experience.
Organizing a dragon boat is always a lot of work. But the real
reward comes in knowing people's appreciation, and seeing the
development of people in
both their paddling ability and as human beings. I have a lot of help
with this team. Coaching and team development from Bob, organization
and support from
Deb, managerial from Peggy, sponsorshop from Tanya, team leadership and
support from Kristine, technical paddling from Craig, Race day warm-ups
from Karmen,
and most of all ENTHUSIASM from Gail, Pam, Natalie, Ashley, Grace,
Randa, Aislynn, Alf, Carl, Ernest, Daming, Dan, Joe, Marlene, Manfred,
Ian and Doug!
It is truly a compliment to the team, that Manfred, Ian and Karmen
– all coaches and team leaders in their own right and boats – give high
praises to both the
Gung Haggis Fat Choy team and its leaders, and they still say they had
such a great time. We look forward to joining them at Harrison Lake on
July 16th, for
their inaugural Fraser Valley Dragon Boat Festival.
Congratulations everybody!
Party was good last night… Paddlers from Wasabi, Shibumi, Kai
Ikaika – all from Portland, Dragon Warriors from San Francisco,
PH&N Horny Goats, Drunkin' Dragons, Nestors, all from Vancouver….
This wednesday… the general feeling is we need a rest from dragon
boating…. maybe in the absence of paddling…. I will suggest
relaxing in a whirlpool jacuzzi…
waterslides / wave pool anybody?
Next race is July 9/10 SeaVancouver Festival followed by July 16
Fraser Valley DBF @ Harrison Lake Sept 4/5 Vancouver International
Taiwanese DB Race
Optional races will be:
Vernon BC
July 23/24 – on Kalamalka Lake
San Franciso
August 27/28 – Treasure Island in the middle of San
Francisco Bay… 10th Anniversary races…
Paddles up!
Todd
Dear Friends of the Japaense Canadian National Museum,
You are cordially invited to attend:
SHASHIN: JAPANESE CANADIAN STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY TO 1942
Book Launch
Tuesday, June 21, 2005, 7:00 PM
National Nikkei Heritage Centre, 6688 Southoaks Crescent (Kingsway and
Sperling), Burnaby, BC
Contributors Phyllis Senese, Imogene Lim, Grace Eiko Thomson and Jim
Wolf join special guest Bill Jeffries to launch the new publication
“Shashin: Japanese Canadian Studio Photography to 1942”.
Based on the Japanese Canadian National Museum’s touring exhibition of
the same name, the book brings together rare photographs and insight
into the work of
Japanese Canadian studio photographers depicting the vibrant pre-war
Japanese, Chinese and European communities in Cumberland, Vancouver and
New Westminster.
Admission is free.
Information: 604-777-7000, ext. 109, or e-mail: jcnm@nikkeiplace.org .
Come to our Paddlers' Appreciation Party…
because we appreciate how hard you paddle.
We appreciate how hard WE PADDLE….
FREE Tickets available…
Sunday – June 19th
7pm to 1am
@ THE ROXY nightclub
932 Granville St.
between Smithe and Nelson
Advance tickets only from Gung Haggis Fat Choy team members
tent #141
Tickets give you:
FREE ADMISSION
ONE FREE DRINK
This is a gift from our sponsor The Roxy
We are pleased to help create a new Apres-ADBF paddling party
tradition.
Sunday Nights are “Country Nights” at the Roxy – Be sure to bring your
boots and hats!
Congratulations to the PH&N Horny Goats dragon boat team who won
$1000 team sponsorship money by having the most team members attend our
June 5th 3-in-1 Paddler's Party – @ The Roxy, The Cellar and Doolin's
Irish Pub.
