Category Archives: Multicultural events

Joy Kogawa Celebration Dinner on Friday June 23

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Joy Kogawa Celebration Dinner on Friday June 23


Joy Kogawa recieved the Order of BC on June 22nd, at Government House
in Victoria BC. It was presented by Iona Campagnolo the Lieutenant
Governor of BC. 

We held a celebration dinner on Friday, June 23, at Flamingo Chinese
Restaurant, on Fraser St.  This was a celebration dinner for both
Joy's Order of BC, as well as to celebrate the purchase of historic
Kogawa House, Joy's childhood home, by The Land Conservancy of
BC.  The home had been confiscated by the Canadian government from
her family while they were interned in Slocan during World War II, and
also played a central figure in Joy's literary works Obasan and Naomi's
Road.


Joy Kogawa, MC Todd Wong (Kogawa House committee), and Anton Wagner (secretary of Kogawa House committee) – photo Deb Martin.

Anton Wagner is an independent film maker in Toronto.  He filmed
the Order of BC ceremony, and showed it at the dinner.  
Another film highlight that Anton shared with the audience, was an
excerpt that featured Joy from his film, Veterans Against Nuclear
War.  Joy spoke about how the Nuclear bomb that dropped on
Nagasaki was created by Christian Americans, and dropped on the largest
Christian Church and Christian community in Asia, located in
Nagasaki.  It is a very moving speech, that Joy gives.


Todd introduces Ramona Leungen, the composer of Naomi's Road opera,
produced by the Vancouver Opera.  Vancouver Opera will recieve the
inaugural Gung Haggis Fat Choy intercultural arts achievement award,
for their incredible production Naomi's Road which toured BC schools,
as well as in Red Deer Alberta, and Seattle Washington.


Todd Wong, Nancy Tiffin (TLC development officer), Ramona Leungen and
Joy Kogawa – enjoying the presenations and the food for the evening –
photo Deb Martin.


Dan Seto and Gail
Thompson, senior paddlers on the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team,
present Joy with a Gung Haggis Fat Choy, team shirt. – photo Deb Martin.

Joy Kogawa is the honourary drummer for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon
boat team this year.  For the Alcanc Dragon Boat Festival, we
changed the team name to Gung Haggis Fat Choy Kogawa House, to ensure
that the 90,000 people who attended the Festival all heard the name
“Kogawa House.”  The team shirt is emblazoned with “lucky gold
coins” – four on the front and fourteen on the back.  This year we
listed The Land Conservancy of BC, and Save Kogawa House Committee, as
our special “sponsors” – as we also listed the websites to help create
awareness for these wonderful organizations.

For more information, go to:
www.kogawahouse.com

To donate for Kogawa House go to:
www.conservancy.bc.ca

Shona Mooney band plays SFU Burnaby Campus ceilidh

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Shona Mooney band plays SFU Burnaby Campus ceilidh
 
From Harry McGrath, SFU coordinator for Scottish Studies:

 I
would like to extend one last invitation to everyone to come to our
campus ceilidh at the SFU Burnaby campus this Friday night.

 It features the Shona Mooney band which
is composed of some of Scotland's top young musicians. Shona herself is
this year's BBC Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year and
plays a mean fiddle. You will also be treated to Celtic harp and step
dancing. The band will be on stage at the Highland pub about 8.30-9:00

 The pipe jig and reel competition  will take place in the pub before the band comes on.

 I encourage you to come before that and support the piobaireachd competition in the SFU Theatre, starting at 6 P.M. sharp.

 There
is no need to inform me that you are coming – just show up and the more
the merrier. This is a unique opportunity for the Scots to get
together. See you there.

 Free parking for the evening is available in B-Lot.

 To check out a map of the SFU campus, go to  http://www.sfu.ca/about/maps.html

 

Beyond the Book: a research study on “One Book” programs

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Beyond the Book: a research study on “One Book” programs

Beyond the Book website lists information about the trans-national phenomenon of
“mass reading events,” our name for book events that are meant to bring
readers of one city, region or nation together by reading and sharing
the same book.

I was invited to meet with two of the researchers, North American director DeNel Rehberg Sedo (Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada), and Anouk Lang post-doctoral fellow.  I quickly contacted Larry Wong, as we were the community representatives/experts on the inaugural One_Book_One_Vancouver program in 2002 which featured The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy. We were great additions to the OBOV committee as Larry was a childhood friend of Wayson, and I was a vice-president of Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop, and also volunteering with Asian Heritage Month in Vancouver.


Here's a picture of (l-r): Larry Wong, Wayson Choy, Anouk Lang, Todd Wong (me) and DeNel Rehberg Sedo – photo courtesy of Larry Wong.

The Beyond the Book project seems to be a fascinating study of the mass book clubs for an entire city, such as One_Book_One_Vancouver, CBC Radio's Canada Reads, Seattle Reads, and One Book One Chicago.

It was a great privilege to be part of the inaugural One Book One Vancouver project.  I was invited by Community Programming Director Janice Douglas.  Also on the committee was Corrine Durston, then the Division Head Librarian for VPL Popular Reading, and Lisl Jauk, manager for The Word on the Street Book and Magazine Festival. It was an excellent exercise in community networking, as early meetings also included the VPL communications staff, as well as a representative from Douglas and McIntyre Pulishing, which published The Jade Peony.

Our discussions acknowledge the incredible creative energy of our inaugural commitee, which recognized that we were on an adventure and creating something brand new, never before done in Canada.  We created programming to help make The Jade Peony come alive. DeNel really liked my phrase “to turn the book inside out.”  Larry highlighted “The Jade Peony Walking Tour” that was created by Vancouver historia John Atkins, and was organized through the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens.

Wayson Choy spoke about the One Book program from an author's experience.  During the program, Wayson was simply amazed as The Jade Peony, was pushed back up on the BC Book Publishers'  “Best Seller” lists.  Wayson stated that OBOV (Jade Peony) committe was an important and unique program, devoid of egos, but especially strong because of the presence of community activists, and strong connections throughout the community.

I emphasized how incredible the event “Dim Sum with Ways Choy & Friends” was.  I had scouted the Floata Chinese restaurant as the best possible site.  Larry invited friends of Wayson's who had been the basis for some of the composite characters in the story.  As well, Larry showed a video greeting from author Carol Shields, who had been one of Wayson's teachers at the UBC School of Creative Writing.  I also recounted setting up reading events titled “Stories from Chinatown” featuring authors Paul Yee, SKY Lee, and Jim Wong-Chu, as well as “More Stories from Chinatown” featuring poet Sean Gunn, historian enthusiast Dr. Wallance Chung, and Roy Mah – founder of Chinatown News.

I also commented about the programming for the 2005 One Book One Vancouver selection, which was Joy Kogawa's novel, Obasan.  Early in January, 2005, I wrote a letter on the Kogawa Homestead website stating 20 reasons why Obasan should be the 2005 OBOV choice.  By September 2005, I was an active member and coordinator for the Save Kogawa House campaign to rescue Joy Kogawa's childhood home from demolition, and to turn it into a national historic landmark for all Canadians to share.

check out my articles on the OBOV program featuring Joy Kogawa's novel Obasan.
http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog?cmd=search&keywords=
%22one+book%22%2C+obasan%2C+2004%2C+joy+kogawa

Alcan Sustainability Award: nomination for Gung Haggis Fat Choy Kogawa House dragon boat team

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Alcan Sustainability Award:

nomination for Gung Haggis Fat Choy Kogawa House dragon boat team

Every year the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival has special team awards.  For 2005, the Gung Haggis Fat Choy team won the Hon. David Lam Multicultural Award for being “the team that best represents the multicultural spirit of the festival.”

image  image  image

For 2006, the Alcan Community Spirit award has been renamed as the Alcan Sustainability Award.

Alcan Sustainability Award – new for 2006
This
beautiful award is generously donated by the Alcan Corporation. The
Alcan Sustainability Award is given to the team that contributes the
most to the sustainability of their community. These contributions can
take on many forms and, as such, it is up to each team to interpret and
convey their contribution to a healthy and sustainable community. To apply, send a written submission to the Race Registrar, indicating why your team should win. Submissions must be received by May 31, 2006.

Below is the submission for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Kogawa House dragon boat team

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

re: Alcan Sustainability Award

To Alcan Dragon Boat Festival

The
Gung Haggis Fat Choy Kogawa House dragon boat team is pleased and
honoured to apply for the inaugural Alcan Sustainability Award.  We
feel that we contribute and embrace the concepts of sustainability and
apply it actively to our community.

Bio-diversity is important to the survival of our world.  So is
cultural-diversity.  Canada's multicultural program celebrating and
recognizing our globally influenced society is also important to the survival
of our society and our world.

Let's interpret sustainability
to as “cultural sustainability”, “community
sustainability,” and “heritage sustainability.”

From the World Commission on
Environment and Development:

“Sustainable development
meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

   from Wikipedia:

  “Sustainability is a systemic concept, relating to the continuity of

   economic, social, institutional and environmental aspects of human    society.


Taking the ideas of enviornmental sustainability:
Re-use, Re-cycle, Re-duce, Re-cover, and…. we add Re-store,Re-think, and Re-energize!

How can we apply them to the community and cultural activities of the Gung
Haggis Fat Choy Kogawa House dragon boat team?

1 – Re-store and Reuse
The Gung Haggis Fat Choy Kogawa
House dragon boat team actively promotes awareness for the preservation  of the Joy Kogawa childhood home.  We
have helped with fundraisers (January 22nd, June 23 and promotion of the
house).  Don't tear down a heritage house and Canada's literary and
political history.  Preserve it for the future.  We believe that Joy
Kogawa is an important literary figure, and that her childhome home that was
confiscated by the Canadian government during WW2, when her family was
interned, should become a national landmark for Canada.  We are honoured
to name Joy Kogawa as our team's honourary drummer. 

We need to
sustain Canada's cultural and literary history.

2 – Re-use & Reduce
Instead of trying to build from scratch a community dragon boat paddling
program for the public.  We volunteered to help take people out for a
dragon boat ride with a cultural and instructional introduction, on Sundays at
1pm.  People got to try a dragon boat for the first time, without trying
create their own team, or gather 20 friends… We volunteered our own time,
muscles and knowledge.

It is important to make it easy for people to try dragon boating, just as it is
important to make it easy for people to recycle.  By encouraging people to
paddle dragon boats, we are helping to sustain the dragon boat community by
introducing new people.   We also network frequently with other
teams, such as Tacoma Dragon Boat Association, Lotus Sports Club and Fraser
Valley Dragon Boat Club.  With these organizations, we have donated
prizes, joined together for teams, and events.  They are our
friends.  Last year, we held a party on ADBF weekend, and gave free
tickets to out of town dragon boat teams such as San Francisco Dragon Warriors,
Portland's Wasabi Paddling Club, and Portland's Kai I'Kai'ka team.  These
are our friends too! 

We help to sustain our dragon boat community
and networks.

3 – Re-cycle & Recover
Everything is valuable.  We don't just throw out our old ethnic cultures
when we come to Canada.  We recycle them into Canadian culture.  Gung
Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinners blend together the
cultures and history of Scotland and China.  We promote Scottish-Canadian
and Asian-Canadian poets and artists with a Chinese banquet dinner.  And
we invent our own traditions:  Haggis won-ton, Haggis lettuce-wrap, Haggis
spring rolls…. and coming soon Haggis-maki sushi.  And we also sing
“When Asian Eyes Are Smiling.” 

We actively sustain
Canada's cultural traditions.

4 – Re-think
Sustainability is not just about our environment.  It is also about hour
culture, our heritage and our society.  We must be proactive to sustain
our what is important to us, and we must find new ways to engage the public to
be proactive as well.  To this the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team
promotes our unique form of multiculturalism, or rather interculturalism. 
We host Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinners, and encourage the team to
participate in events such as Asian Heritage month.  Our dinner and social
conversations always seem to revolve around culture, heritage and how it is
applied to our food, music, activities, as well as community efforts. 

We
actively sustain Canadian multiculturalism, and its evolving society and
culture.

5 – Re-Energize and Self-Sustaining
The idea of sustainability is
also important  to include taking care
of ourselves so we don't burn ourselves out in pursuit of all our worthy causes
but continually strike a balance between what we need to do and HOW we do
it.  I think GHFCKH does a wonderful job of balancing
community/cultural/heritage/sport pursuits with having plain old inclusive fun
for community building and recharging our batteries.  

To look after the world and our community, we
must first be able to look after ourselves.

Think globally, act locally.
This is Gung Haggis Fat Choy Kogawa House dragon boat team.

Our team philosophy is that we are ONE!  One team, one paddle, one community,
one world.  There is no separation between paddlers on the boat, or on the
team.  What one person does affects us all.  Every team member is
valued, and nobody is turned away.  This is how we sustain a team, and
apply our principles to the dragon boat community, as well as our role in
Canadian society.

We embrace all of our world's cultural diversity, we recognize that it is our
shared heritage and our shared responsibility.   We share with our
friends, and help to develop our community.  We know it is important to
protect and nurture our heritage and culture for future generations.

This is
sustainability in action!


The Gung Haggis Fat Choy Kogawa House is deserving of the inaugural Alcan Sustainability
Award.

Todd Wong
Jim Blatherwick
Laurie Anderson

Gung Haggis Fat Choy Kogawa House dragon boat team

The Hon. David Lam Multicultural Award, at the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival – nomination for Gung Haggis Fat Choy Kogawa House team

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The Hon. David Lam Multicultural Award, at the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival – nomination for Gung Haggis Fat Choy Kogawa House team



Every year, the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival has special team awards.  The Hon. David Lam Multicultural Award” honours the team that “best represents the multicultural spirit of the festival.”

In 2005, the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team won the award.

     

In 2000, its forerunner team, Celebration Dragon Boomers won the award.  Back in 2000, our annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner only seated 60 people at the New Grandview Restaurant on Broadway.

Below is the 2006 nomination letter for the David Lam multicultural award.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alcan Dragon Boat Festival

To Whom It May Concern:

Re: David Lam Multicultural Award

Google the keywords dragon boat and multiculturalism and the 1st entry is Gung Haggis Fat Choy.

Ask
anybody on a Vancouver street to tell you about Gung Haggis Fat Choy and
they will pause, smile, then say:

1) It's that Robbie Burns Chinese
New Year Dinner in Vancouver;
2) it's that CBC TV special that mixes
Scots and Chinese together;
3) Wasn't that the dragon boat float in
the St. Patrick's  Day parade?;
4) I heard about Gung Haggis Fat Choy
on the CBC radio;
5) Wasn't it that crazy Dragon-cart race up at Simon
Fraser University?
6) That's that fun dragon boat team that wears
tartans while paddling!

This year we have changed our name to
Gung Haggis Fat Choy Kogawa House.  This is to help promote the
campaign to save author Joy Kogawa's childhood home from demolition. 
Joy is one of Canada's most important authors, and was removed from
her home at age 6 due to the internment of Japanese Canadians during
WW2 in 1942.

We
love Joy, and in January 2006, we featured her as our special Poet of
the evening at our annual Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner aptly named “Gung Haggis Fat Choy.”  Joy is our honourary drummer, and
we will be inventing haggis sushi in her honour.

Gung
Haggis Fat Choy is known across Canada, and all around the world People
in China, Scotland, California and New Jersey have all posted links to
www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com.  Our website that highlights our favorite
cultural fusion events.  This crazy boat of Canadians is led by Toddish McWong.the
coach and chieftain of  Clan Gung Haggis Fat Choy.  This team for the past 5 years has embraced
Canada's Scottish and Chinese heritage, based on the unlikely but
coincidental conjunction of Robbie Burns Day on January 25th and
Chinese New Year (late January/early February).  Our annual dinner now
attracts an average of 500 people each year to sing songs and eat
haggis won-ton together.

But
it is with humour that we celebrate Canada's cultural diversity.
Vancouver Museum Curator Joan Siedl said, “I think you have
identified Vancouver's “two solitudes.” But in reality we
celebrate everything in-between and everything beyond.  Our team's
members  have claimed birthright from all around the world: Russian,
Japanese, Italian, Indonesian, and even mixtures of ancestries.

Ever
seen a dragon boat featured in a Vancouver parade?  Welcome to the
world of Gung Haggis Fat Choy Kogawa House. Every year since the
inaugural St. Patrick's Day parade in 2004. The Gung Haggis Fat Choy
entry is especially invited by the Celtic Fest organizers to bring our
special multicultural energy to the parade.

In 2004, Gung Haggis
Fat Choy was the dragon boat team chosen to represent multiculturalism
in the television documentary series “Thalassa” filmed by France 3,
public television, at the 2004 ADBF. The team was used to demonstrate
how ethnicities from around the world, live, work and paddle together
as one community, as one team, in the very multicultural city of
Vancouver. The Director and producer Anne Gourmand felt this was
important to show not only France, but to francophone communities all
around the world.

Our
logo features a chinese dragon wearing a Scottish tam hat.  Our team
uniform features Chinese “lucky coin” designs.  Every member of the
team wears a cloth swath of the “Fraser Hunting tartan” and some of
our members will even be wearing kilts!  We are inclusive and welcome
everybody and anybody to our team.

Please consider the Gung
Haggis Fat Choy to be the 2006 recipient for the Hon. David C. Lam
Award, for all the continual multicultural ambassadorship this team has
done all around the world.

Peace
and Blessings,

Todd Wong,
Coach and Founder of Gung Haggis Fat Choy

Night of the Sultans at the River Rock Casino

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Night of the Sultans

 

Night of the Sultans
At the River Rock Casino until June 11
By Deb Martin – special for GungHaggisFatChoy.com

I must admit that half the reason I went to see this show was to see
the new theatre at the casino. I wanted to see how people with real
money build a performance facility. I was impressed with the design.
The house holds 1022 people, but felt much cozier, and I doubt there is
a bad seat in it. I am always happier when I am close enough to see the
expressions on the performers faces and the details in the costumes.
Part of the seating can also be dropped to create a larger floor area
for cabaret style dinner theatre.

It was apparent from the first number that this was not opening night
for this troupe of dancers. The performance was tight, polished and
very well rehearsed. It just got better after that. In a conversation
with some of the dancers after the show we were able to determine that
the group of about 60 performers had been on the road traveling the
world with the show for two years. All but 10 were Turkish, and a lack
of Turkish on my part put an end to further questions. The other 10
were Russian.

These dancers are eye-candy for both genders, and very skilled in all
genres of dance, from folk to modern to ballet. The level of fitness
required to perform this show is astounding. You can excuse the hokey
story of Pandora and Prometheus that ties the numbers together – it’s
merely marketing to draw an audience. I doubt a show called
“Turkish-Arabic Folk Dancing” would sell. The story also creates
opportunities for solo dancers to be showcased. The real spectacle is
the phenomenal group dances with colorful and creative costumes. The
show-stopper is a number with just the men in a line at the front of
the stage.

The running time was just over an hour, and I gather the show can be
expanded in time and the number of dancers adjusted to suit the stage.
I can compare it to the shows I saw while holidaying in Mexico at a
resort that has evening entertainment. My friend also says it compares
to cruise ship entertainment with a minimum of sets and projections
used as backdrops and scenery. We will overlook the canned music that
was just this side of acceptable for sound quality. This was the one
disappointment of the new theatre.

See
Night of the Sultans official website

Night of the Sultans – review by Alex Varty, Georgia Straight


Show brings a little Vegas to the Euphrates interview by Alex Varty, Georgia Straight

www.greatcanadiancasinos.com/riverrock/

Silk Road Music with Celso Machado & friends – June 17th at St. James Hall

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Silk Road Music with Celso Machado & friends



Silk Road Music is the unique blend of music created by Qiu Xia He on pipa, 
and Andre Thibault on guitar and flutes.  I am pleased to be able to call
these wonderful people my friends.  Andre and Qiu Xia have performed
at Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners, and also were featured in the CBC tv
performance special that was broadcast in 2004 and 2005.  We also 
performed together for First Night 2005, at Library Square.

Saturday June 17th, 8pm
St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue) Vancouver
Info/reservation Hotline:
604-736-3022

Performers:
Qiu Xia He on pipa and vocal  
Andre Thibault on guitar, oud and flutes  
Celso Machado on guitar, percussion  
Jun Rong on Erhu  
Zhimin Yu on Ruan

http://www.silkroadmusic.ca/sitefiles/qx.htm

A CD release concert by Silk Road Music. Autumn Cloud is their 3rd 
recording . The concert  reflects the musical experiences and speaks 
the languages of the Journey of Qiu Xia He with her Pipa: from 
traditional Chinese to a Celtic reel; from a folk song to a 
contemporary classic; from a Spanish guitar piece to a flamenco 
rumba; add a Brazilian baiao, and a modern blues. Some of the 
compositions are by well know local composers: Jin Zhang, Mark 
Armanini and Celso Machado, as well as many pieces written by Qiu 
Xia He or with Andre Thibault, who is an important part of the new CD 
and show.  

Silk Road Music is a professional Chinese ensemble that has been 
touring and recording since 1991. It has a consistently successful 
rapport with audiences and their last two CDs have won Best World 
Music Album at the West Coast Music Awards. Their debut CD, Endless, 
was also nominated for a JUNO.  

“The new CD release concert promises to be a wonderful musical event 
blending the familiar with the exotic, all expertly played and absolutely 
captivating."  

- Steve Edge-Rogue Folk Review


For more info:
www.silkroadmusic.ca
Tel: 604-434-9316
e-mail: qxcloud at telus dot net

Review: Asian Comedy Night – What are the 10 most misunderstood things about Asians?

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Review:  Asian Comedy Night – What are the 10 most misunderstood things about Asians?



At the afterparty – OPM with Vancouver's Charlie Cho (Hot Sauce Posse) back row: Charles
Kim, Charlie Cho; front row: Janina Gavankar, Ewan Chung, Vancouver's
Philip Gurney, and Jae-Suh – photo Todd Wong

A man steps into the spotlight with a guitar slung over his
shoulders, and a jet black pompadou hairstyle.  The sound track is
Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” but the words are strange.  It’s
about being Asian, racing “rice rockets” on “Streets of Fire.” 
It’s comedian Tom Chin, doing yet another karaoke musical send up.

The
7th Annual Asian Comedy night opened on May 26th at the Round House
Community Centre, produced and presented by Vancouver Asian Canadian
Theatre.  Flipping racial stereotypes is the norm, and white
actors are the exotic rarities.  The mostly Asian crowd laughed,
tittered and guffawed.  Even the white folks laughed and had lots
of fun identifying with the humour.

“Vancouver has a lot of inter-racial relationships…” starts Vancouver stand up comic Jeffery Yu,
a former social studies high school teacher. “Everybody thinks that
mixed race people are so exotic-looking,” he says and goes into a joke
about how Asian/White couples always seem to be Asian female / White
male.  Yu has lots of jokes, and the audience gets lots of
laughs.  Yu will be featured in a CTV comedy special later this
year, and was written up in the Georgia Straight last year.

“You’re
just not french enough!” say three Asian casting directors who are
auditioning a white actor in a racial role reversal.  “This is the
first time in a long while that we are casting an all-white cast in a
move.  Try a little more Catherine Deneuve, a little more French
Maid.”  

The female actor is clearly exasperated, trying to
please them, but clearly failing in her attempts to portray what they
“think” is French.  Finally she says, “I really don’t want this
part that badly,” like so many Asian actors who get frustrated trying
to portray what white casting directors and producers “think” is Asian,
or Chinese, or Japanese, etc.

“Maybe we can get Keanu, or Meg
Tilly,” the directors decide.  They’re half-white already, nobody
will know the difference.

OPM (Opening
People’s Minds) is a sketch comedy troupe now based in Los Angeles,
after first originating in Seattle.  Charles Kim and Ewan Chung
are the leaders with Jae-Suh and new kid Janina Gavankar.  They
also individually make the tv acting round in L.A. individually racking
up credits in ER, Strong Medicine, Girlfriends and Las Vegas. 
This is one talented troupe! 

The skits are fast and
furious.  Kim plays a Japanese rapper named “50 Yen,” or was that
Chung who did it?  Sometimes Asians look alike to me.  But
there is no mistaking their abilities to quickly change characters from
one skit to the next.  Omigod, it’s like an Asian version of
Saturday Night Live with an all-Asian cast, presenting stories with
Asian themes, as well as a wonderful skit about a male car mechanic and
a female car owner who (gasp!) took her car to a different mechanic for
a hose job, when he was too busy.  The double entendres and the
acting were spot on!

Some of the better characters involved an
Iron Chef spoof featuring the North Korean leader dictator Kim Jong-Il
with a “Capote” accent,
and Savuri from “Memoirs of a Geisha,” the night’s performance who
tries her best to become an “exotic dancer.”

For
the Vancouver show, they are joined by Hot Sauce Posse member
Philip Gurney, their token white actor.  Gurney was only able to
rehearse for about 40 minutes with OPM, but seemed to fit
beautifully.   Saturday's show promises to be an even tighter
smoother production.


Jeffery Yu, Tom Chin and Kermet Apio – at the afterparty! – photo Todd Wong

Kermet Apio
grew up in Hawaii, a land and culture that I consider to be much more
interculturally and accepting of inter-racial relationships.  He
now does stand up comedy in Seattle and tours nationally.  “You
learn to laugh at yourself when your name is Kermet,” he says. 
Apio spins jokes and stories about growing up named Kermet as well as
growing up Hawaiian.  

“How was school today?” my parents would ask when I would come home.

“How do you think it went. I’m named Kermit,” he replies.

“I
was first born,” starts Apio,  “I was the guinea pig. My parents
learned with me as practice.  My sisters got normal names.”

It’s
a friendly “in the know” crowd at the Roundhouse.  They know what
it’s like to grow up Asian.  But the comedy is universal. 
It’s the situations that we laugh at.  The stereotypes, the
mistaken identities, the misunderstandings.  But Asian Comedy
Night goes beyond the obvious.  This is also a night of social
commentary.  Yes there is racial discrimination, but we don’t have
to get down about it.  If we can laugh at the world and ourselves,
we’ll do okay.  

Thanks to Vancouver Asian Comedy Night,
the world is safer for Asians and their friends, and hopefully the
world will understand better why Asians are such bad drivers, don’t
understand the concept of tipping, think White people all look alike,
and why we speak with funny accents.

Check out the Comedy
workshops at the Roundhouse on Saturday afternoon, as well as the final
show on Saturday night.  It's well worth it.  Take your white
friends… or your Asian friends… even if just to have an excuse to
make fun of each other later.

Asian Comedy Night – This Friday and Saturday – Don't Miss it!

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Asian Comedy Night is a tradition in Vancouver – started by Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre, seven years ago.  It is great fun – poking at all the stereotypes of both Asians and White People.

This year, OPM (Opening People's Minds) returns, along with Vancouver
stand up comic, Jeffrey Yu, returning host Tom Chin, and Seattle's
Kermet Apio.

Bring your friends, and see
how they squirm or laugh at the right or wrong places.  Political
correctness?  Asian Comedy Night re-writes it.  Cheers, Todd

Below is from the www.vact.ca website

Get Addicted to OPM !
OPM- Asian Sketch Comedy Troupe – Returns to get “HIGH” lighted
in the 7th Annual Asian Comedy Night

Return of the Chung King – 7th Annual Asian Comedy
May 26 – 27, 2006
8pm nightly
@ The Roundhouse Performance Centre, Vancouver

VANCOUVER,
BC (April 24, 2006) – The coveted Rice Bowl that is awarded to the
funniest Asian Sketch Comedy Troupe at the Vancouver Asian Canadian
Theatre’s highly successful SKETCHOFF!#$%!! – sketch comedy competition, returns with the 3 time winners to Vancouver, to highlight this year’s Asian Comedy Night.  OPM (Opening People‘s Minds)
will get you laughing, rolling in the aisles, and totally high for the 
evening!   It’s 120 minutes of craziness irreverence, as triple-crown
winner OPM present a semi-star studded show with appearances by 50 Yen,
Tyra Banks, Iron Chef Bobby Flay, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il,
Savuri from “Memoirs of a Geisha,“ and MORE! 

The event, organized by Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre (VACT), takes place May 26 – 27 at the Roundhouse Performance Centre, hosted by Tom Chin.  This year’s Comedy Night showcases local favourite standup comedian, Jeffery Yu who has a CTV comedy special this Fall, and Seattle’s funniest comic, Kermet Apio.

“If
you’re talking about entertainment value, we’ve got it with this year’s
Return of the Chung King Show,” says Joyce Lam, President for VACT. “We
are highlighting the Kings of Comedy.  Jeffery Yu is my local favourite standup comedian while Kermet Apio from
Seattle had me laughing from the get go when he explained his unusual
name and how he was sent to preschool in green pants.  Match that with
the fast pace hilariousness of OPM, back with new material from their most recent show Get Laughs or Die Tryin‘, and the very funny Tom Chin and you’ve got a wild night of mayhem, madness and hysterics!”

Also as part of this weekend of Asian Comedy, The Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre is hosting a community public forum, Dissection of Comedy, held
on Saturday, May 27th at 2pm at the Roundhouse Community Centre.  This
forum will have the Asian Comedy Night comedians:  OPM, Jeffery Yu, Kermet Apio and Tom Chin provide
insight on what is “comedy“. The audience will have a chance to see a
demonstration, hear a discussion and ask questions.  Admission to this
event is free.

Party On! Join the performers and producers at 2 AFTER PARTIES:

  1. Friday Night at SHIRU-BAY with fighting Chef, Kodai Uno
  2. Saturday Night at THE DINER (both within steps from the theatre)

$5 gets you in. You hang with the comics, have some fun and become an
official OPM groupie. Join us for a good time! Cash Bar. AFTER PARTY Tickets available on-line

Tickets:
– online at www.vact.ca
– in person at the Roundhouse Community Centre
– by phone by calling 604.713.1800

$18 plus service charges in advance
$21 cash at door

Group Rate and/or Information 778.885.1973