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Gung HAGGIS Fat Choy tickets now available

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Hi everybody – You can be the first to order a table…
for the 2013 Gung HAGGIS Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year.

~ change of ticket sales:
is now through Ricepaper Magazine – We thank Firehall Arts Centre for helping us with ticket sales for the past few years, but are now trying to do it in-house at Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop / Ricepaper Magazine.  Please check out Firehall Arts Centre for the great multicultural programming that they do.

~ new theme for 2013:
celebrating Sir James Douglas, the father of BC and first governor in 1858.
~new incentive to buy tickets early:
We are going to put a bottle of wine on the tables that are ordered by January 1st
http://ricepapermagazine.ca/gung-haggis

Gung HAGGIS Fat Choy

Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner

Sunday January 27, 2013

Celebrating BC Scottish and Chinese pioneer culture, history – in music, poetry and culinary fusion

Photo by Deb Martin

Reception: 5:00 pm
Dinner: 6:00 pm – 9:15 pm
Floata Seafood Restaurant (#400 – 180 Keefer St, Chinatown Vancouver)

Ticket:  $65/each.
Table of 10: $625
Each ticket includes $5 service charge.
You can purchase ticket online or over the phone with a credit card, please call Kristin Cheung at Ricepaper magazine at 604-872-3464.
2012 PERFORMERS TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON!

 

History of Gung Haggis:
In 1998, “Toddish McWong” held a small private dinner for 16 friends with food, haggis, poetry and songs – from both Scottish and Chinese cultures and thus was born – Gung Haggis Fat Choy –  Now it is a dinner for 400 people!  More than  a traditional dinner with music and poetry.  Gung Haggis Fat Choy re-imagines a traditional Robert Burns Dinner format, within a BC or Canadian historical context that puts Scottish-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian pioneers on an inclusive and equal platform, while acknowledging historical racism and how we move beyond it.  This event has grown to also celebrate contemporary Scottish-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian artists and poets and their innovations to create something uniquely Canadian, and a heckuva lot of FUN!

16 Years of Highlights for Gung Haggis Fat Choy (GHFC) & Toddish McWong:
1998 – 1st Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner for 16 people in a living room.
1999 – 1st dinner in a restaurant for 40 people
2001 – 1st media interviews for Ubyssey newspaper and 100 attendees as we fill the Grandview Szechwan Restaurant
2002 – 200 attendees in a snow storm as we outgrow the Spicy Court Restaurant + Media interviews for Vancouver Sun and CBC Radio and City TV
2003 – 1st Creation of deep-fried haggis wonton, and we move to Flamingo Restaurant on Fraser.
2004 – CBC television performance special “Gung Haggis Fat Choy”– nominated for 2 Leo Awards
2005 – SFU GHFC Festival with dragon cart racing + human curling
2005 – 500 attendees and we move to Floata Restaurant in Vancouver Chinatown.
2006 – GHFC photo included in Paul Yee book Saltwater City
2007 – “Address to the Haggis” rap version performed by Todd Wong & Joe McDonald
2007 – GHFC featured in CBC documentary Generations: The Chan Legacy
2008 –  Toddish McWong photo in BC Canada Pavillion during  Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics.
2008 – Photo of Toddish McWong in the Royal BC Museum exhibit “The Party”
2009 – GHFC written about in Charles Demers’ book Vancouver Special
2009 – Toddish McWong featured speaker at Centre for Scottish Studies SFU conference “Burns in Trans-Atlantic context”
2009 – Toddish McWong photo featured at Scottish Parliament in the exhibit “This is Who We Are: Scots in Canada.”
2010 – UBC Assistant Professor Larissa Lai, who teaches Burns poetry, is the featured poet and reads from her BC Book Prize-nominated collection Automaton Diaries
2010 – feature souvenir items from Burns Cottage such as a tam and bow-tie given to Bill Saunders, president of VDLC, who gives the Immortal Memory
2011 – “Gung HAPA Fat Choy” dinner features mixed-race artists and performers and inspires the creation of the  Hapa-Palooza Festival for Vancouver 125 Celebrations
Photo by Deb Martin
Previous artist and writers included:
Writers: Joy Kogawa, Fred Wah, Brad Cran, Larissa Lai, Rita Wong, George McWhirter, Jim Wong-Chu, Lensey Namioka, Fiona Tinwei Lam.
Musicians: Silk Road Music, Heather Pawsey soprano, Lan Tung, and Blackthorn
Film makers:  Jeff Chiba Stearns, Ann-Marie Fleming and Moyra Rodger.

Menu Highlights include:
Deep-fried haggis wonton + haggis pork dumpling (su-mei) and appetizer courses.
“Neeps” served Chinese style in the form of pan-fried turnip cake, dim sum style.
Traditional haggis is served with Chinese lettuce wrap.

And we always feature fun sing-alongs such as Loch Lomand, My Chow Mein (Bonny) Lies Over the Ocean, and When Asian Eyes Are Smiling.
Lots of surprises… such as new for 2012 – a revamped version of Robbie Burns lyrics set to Johnny Cash or Elvis Presley music.

For Media Inquires Contact:
Todd Wong

Pirates at the Opera!

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Pirates of Penzance
Vancouver Opera
Dec 1-9, 2012
www.vancouveropera.ca
Pirates were roaming the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in the lobby, prior to Vancouver Opera’s wonderful production of Pirates of Penzance.  I went on Tuesday evening and the crowd was still buzzing from Saturday’s opening.  It was a lovely touch to have some of the chorus members interacting with the audience prior to the show.

Gilbert and Sullivan is not often performed by serious opera companies.  And to me, it often represents Victorian colonial values, which I have tried to rebel against in the quest for post-modern multicultural Canada.  But Pirates of Penzance was also written as social satire, critiquing the values of the day.  And with more multicultural inclusion of global pirates such as Chow Yun Fat in the Pirates of Penzance: End of the World movie,  I think I can allow myself a little more enjoyment.

This version of Pirates of Penzance is a lot of fun!  The cast and the orchestra are having fun.  We know this because the pirate king pointed his pistol at conductor Jonathan  Darlington, who also during the final applause sported a pirate hat.  And the audience was having fun… there was lots of laughter from the audience at appropriate moments, as they followed the actors and staging.

If you remotely like Gilbert and Sullivan – you will love this production.  If you have never before experienced G & S, then you will like this production.  If you were not raised in a country of the British commonwealth, then you will learn about the culture and history of the realm, and understand better about British humour, the evolution of British Music hall tradition and Broadway musicals, and maybe why the sun set on the British empire.  The program notes are by my former English teacher from Capilano College Graham Forst, who now teachers literature, philosphy and opera history at both UBC and SFU, and just happens to be married to opera star mezzo-soprano Judith Forst, who plays “Ruth” in this production.  He dares the audience to not leave the theatre humming some of the songs for this light opera.

Most G & S productions I have seen are usually by small or amateur opera/theatre companies.  So to have Vancouver Opera give Pirates a lavish treatment on the huge stage is a wonderful treat.  But then to ask Vancouver’s celebrity and theatrical Shakespearean star actor Christopher Gaze to pay Major General Stanley, and ask him to direct – is an opportunity for both the audience and Gaze, who said he “jumped at the chance.

– More to come….

Christopher Gaze was a wonderful and the very model of a modern major general, as Major-General Stanley.  We congratulated him on his performance following the show.

Karen Cho’s new film “Status Quo?” wins World Documentary Award at Whistler Film Festival

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Montreal film maker Karen Cho wins the World Documentary Award at the 2012 Whistler Film Festival. photo courtesy of Craig Takeuchi

Karen Cho’s new movie about Feminism, “Status Quo?” won the top documentary prize at Whistler Film Festival on December 2nd.

I initially met Karen probably around 2004 when she brought Shadow of Gold Mountain (2004) to Vancouver.  It is an extremely moving documentary about the Chinese Head Tax Survivors and descendants,and questioned how one side of the her family (white) could be given free land to come to Canada, while the other side of the family (Chinese) would be charged a racist head tax and denied citizenship.  It also features interviews with my friends: activist Sid Tan, WW2 Veteran Gim Wong; and recently deceased Charlie Quon – the first person to receive an ex-gratia Head Tax Redress payment after the Canadian government apologized in 2006.

Read Craig Takeuchi’s story in the Georgia Straight.

“When Montreal-based director Karen Cho won the World Documentary Award at the 2012 Whistler Film Festival on December 2 for Status Quo? , a film about the ongoing struggle for women’s rights and issues in Canada, she said that she was “absolutely shocked”. She said she had seen the other films in the competition, which she regarded as ‘high-calibre docs’. But she said she was thrilled that it had garnered such attention at a festival like WFF. (She also received a standing ovation.)

“‘To have it recognized in a more mainstream way really will help propel the issues that the film talks about into the spotlight and hopefully get people talking and thinking about these things,’ she told the Straight shortly after her win. ‘So I think it’s great for what we’re trying to do with the film is create change.'”

125 Places That Matter in Vancouver, includes Hastings Park Livestock building that housed detained Japanese-Canadians during WW2

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Vancouver Heritage Foundation had a ceremony on Dec 1 to recognize the Livestock Building at Hastings Park, an important part of Japanese Canadian Internment History, as one of Vancouver’s Places that Matter.
At 1pm, everybody met in the Hastings Room, and MC Lorene Oikawa, told people the order of events.  We would do a walk to the Livestock Building for an unveiling, followed by a walk to Momoji Gardens for a Parks Canada unveiling.  Finally we would return to the Hastings Room for formal speeches, personal stories, and presentations in appreciation.
Marta Farevaag, Chair of the Vancouver Heritage Foundation, watches as Mary Kitagawa steps back from unveiling the plaque for the Livestock Building at Hastings Park.
Mary had recently pushed for the University of British Columbia to recognize the Japanese Canadian students that were not allowed to finish their degrees at UBC because they were interned during WW2.  It was an emotional ceremony when 76 students were honoured with degrees at a special tribute 70 years later.  http://japanese-canadian-student-tribute.ubc.ca/
Watch this video of Mary Kitagawa speaking about the detainment and internment of Japanese Canadians during WW2.  Roy Miki, Japanese-Canadian Redress co-leader and author stands at the top of the stairs in long dark coat and white hair.  Chinese-Canadian historian/author Larry Wong stands on the stairs in rust coloured jacket.  Lorene Oikawa, union leader and human rights activist stands on the right in red coat.
The Parks Canada plaque at Momoji Gardens was re-located for better public viewing, and unveiled.

One of the event attendees shares a personal moment, as she stands beside the plaque with photos of family members.

Naomi Yamamoto MLA, is the first Japanese-Canadian to be elected to the BC Legislature.  She shared a story how her father had spent 5 months living as a detainee at the Livestock Building.  Naomi explained that because her father was an older teen-aged boy, he was separated from his mother.  His father had already been separated from their family and sent to a labour work camp.  Unfortunately, her father could not attend the ceremonies on Saturday, due to not feeling up to it.
My friend Ann-Marie Metten was deeply touched by some of the personal stories.  She wrote:
“Mary Ohara’s story resounded. She told of her incarceration in March 1942 in the livestock barns at Hastings Park, still reeking with manure and infested with bugs. Birds flew overhead and fouled their blankets. Bedbugs bit at night, and the administrators brought in DDT and sprayed the bedding, including the blankets under which the children would sleep at night.

“At age twelve, Mary developed mumps and had to be isolated from others so as not to sprea the highly communicable disease. She and other children were moved to the coal-storage area under the livestock barns, where only a small hole high in one of the walls let in daylight. In the darkness, other young children cried for their families. She was held there for ten days.”
My friends: Ellen Crowe-Swords, Ann-Marie Metten (executive director of Historic Joy Kogawa House), and Joy Kogawa – author of Obasan, the first novel to address the issues of the internment of Japanese Canadians.  Roy Miki, Simon Fraser University Professor Emeritus and 2003 Governor General’s Award Winner for Poetry, had called Obasan, “A novel that I believe is the most important literary work of the past 30 years for understanding Canadian history.”
My friend Inger Iwaasa and my accordion.  Inger married a Japanese Canadian, and her daughter is pianist Rachel Iwaasa, who performed at Kogawa House for the presentation when Joy Kogawa was named recipient of the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award.  Inger said she recognized each of the songs that I performed: Sakura, Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower), O Solo Mio, Neil Gow’s Lament, Hungarian Dance No.5, Dark Eyes.  I wanted to perform a mixed repertoire that would represent many of the ethnic groups that had come to settle in Vancouver: Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Irish, Hungarian and Russian.
Todd Wong, Judy Hanazawa, Jessica Quan – special projects coordinator VHF, Mary Kitagawa, Lorene Oikawa, Tosh Kitagawa.

Bruce Springsteen in Vancouver – hard hitting rock and soul music, with folk, gospel and celtic influences

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Springsteen surfs the crowd during Hungry Heart- only the third song of the night! – photo T. Wong

I went to see Bruce Springsteen in Vancouver on Monday night, Nov 26.   It was a GREAT CONCERT!!!  We couldn’t get tix when they first went on sale… but some seats were released and I got a single seat – 7th row – Sec 112 – directly across from the stage.  I had been checking ticket prices, wondering about going, fretting about my budget, and resolving the situation by arguing to myself that I was already attending the Paul McCartney concert.  And since I had already since Springsteen 4 times, the toss-up choice was McCartney tickets… but in my heart, I still wanted to go.

I was at the McCartney concert the night before, and as fantastic as Sir Paul and his songs were… it was controlled and planned.  But Springsteen takes it to a whole other level, unsurpassed in sheer energy and spontaneity.  At a Springsteen concert, anything can happen… and surprises usually do. Springsteen picks audience requests out from the signs that people hold up. He walks into the audience… he has a young girl sing the chorus to “Waiting on a Sunny Day”… he brings an 80 year old woman to dance along with him to “Dancing in the Dark”… and during the encore songs, he pulls a fan dressed as Santa Claus up on stage to sing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”

Soozie Tyrell on violin, Charlie Giordano on accordion, Max Weinberg on drums, Springsteen, and Nils Lofgren on banjo. – photo T.Wong

I love the picture above because it demonstrates the acoustic side of Springsteen’s music.  Violin, accordion and banjo are more associated with blue-grass and country music.  But that is also at the heart of Springsteen’s roots.  Listen to the Dylanesque first album of Greetings from Asbury Park, the starkness of Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad, and especially the hootenanny style of the Seeger Sessions played live.  Springsteen opened with Shackled and Drawn from his latest Wrecking Ball album which has a strong Celtic influence.  It is not unlike the Celtic tunes we play in the Black Bear Rebels ceilidh ensemble.  Death to My Hometown leads with a tin whistle and a marching beat, while Land of Hope and Dreams has a more gospel feel reminiscent of the classic tunes This Train is Bound for Glory and People Get Ready.

I went with my bagpiper friends Allan and Trish who sat up on the top level.  They may have been Springsteen concert virgins, but they are stout musicians and have both seen and been in lots of performances.  They are big David Bowie fans, and we both saw him on his ’83 concerts in Vancouver – both of them!  It was only about 2 months ago we went to see The Chieftains together with some other musician friends.  This summer I loaned Allan a lot of my Springsteen concert cds, hoping to bring him up to speed.  We sang along to Thunder Road and Sandy on the way home in my car.

Max Weinberg on drums, Jake Clemons on tenor saxophone, Bruce swings his fender stratocaster around,  Stevie Van Zandt on guitar, Curtis King on backing vocals, Everett Bradley on percussion and vocals. – photo T.Wong
I have always enjoyed that Springsteen had an ethnically integrated band.  When I picked up the album cover of The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle – there was Clarence Clemons and David Sancious – two black men in a rock and roll band.  And it didn’t sound anything like Earth, Wind & Fire or any of the other R&B bands I was listening to in the 70’s and 80’s… well maybe The Tower of Power – another racially mixed band that also mixed up funk, soul and rock.  But this current line-up of the E Street Band is augmented by a five piece horn section, 3 back up singers and a percussionist.  It can play soul, rock, blues, gospel, country, rockabilly, celtic and whatever it wants, whenever it wants.  Case in point was a rockabilly version of Buddy Holly’s Not Fade Away that segued into She’s the One.
Springsteen took requests from the audience, and holds up the sign request for Red Headed Woman.  He tells the audience that they don’t even play this song anymore, but for this sign he will give it a try.  He started solo on the bluesy tune that was originally featured on the MTV Plugged album.  Gradually the rest of the band found their places one by one, with Soozie on fiddle and Nils on slide guitar.

This was the 5th time I had seen Springsteen, and it was fresh and exciting! The E-Street band lives up to the hype – as Springsteen himself introduces the “‘The heart-stopping, pants-dropping, house-rocking, earth-quaking, booty-shaking, Viagra-taking, love-making – Le-gen-dary E – Street – Band!” Incredible musicianship, that can play almost any style of music: soul, rock & roll, rockabilly, country, gospel and new wave punk (who do you think wrote the big Patti Smyth hit “Because the Night?

I remember back in high school Physics class, when my friends Mike and Chris asked me to join them for the Springsteen concert in June 78.  But I didn’t know his music then.  My friends and I listened to Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Crosby Stills & Nash, John Denver, Elton John and Earth Wind & Fire.  But it was in 1980 that I was forced to discover Springsteen’s music during my summer education tour of Taiwan.  One of my room mates, Dennis was from California, and a huge Springsteen fan – he taught us the lyrics to Born to Run and Thunder Road.  We actually formed a music group with our roomies.  Dennis on harmonica, Lindsay on washboard, Calvin on keyboard, sometimes me on keyboard or just singing along.

Here are my pictures from the Springsteen concert on my Flickr photo account

Springsteen 2012

Springsteen 2012
Here are some great videos of the concert:

Video: Bruce Springsteen in action in Vancouver | Vancouver Sun

 

Scotch tasting in Victoria

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photo

I visited with my friend Mary, who bicycled across the Isle of Islay a few years ago.  While we have talked scotch before, we have never drank any together… until Thursday night.

Favorites for the evening were the Macallan 12, Glenlivet and Laphroaig.   The Macallan 15 had previously been served at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner when Famous Grouse came as a scotch sponsor – the 15 is smooth, the 12 is nice… but I don’t much care for the 10.  Usually it’s the Glenlivet 12 that is usually served in bars and restaurants, so the 18 was nice and rich (I have a bottle of Glenlivet 15 Oak waiting to be opened).  Laphroaig is a lovely smoky Islay… one of my favorites!

I had never had the Arran Malt before.  They are the same distillery making the Robert Burns single malt – that none of my whisky drinking musician friends will touch… (except one, and he bought it on sale).  This Auchentoshan select was nothing special… I think Mary said she uses it for cooking.  But the Auchentoshan Three Wood is one of my favorites – very rich.

It was great fun to be tasting with Mary and her husband Mike, I hope to host them for an evening of tastings when they come to Vancouver.

In 2011, Mary and Mike spent the summer in Scotland.  From June to August, they hiked, biked and sailed in some of the remote areas of Scotland.

Check out Mary’s blog here: http://maryslens.blogspot.ca/

David Wong book launch for “Escape to Gold Mountain”

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My friend David HT Wong, launched his 1st book Escape to Gold Mountain on Sunday afternoon November 18th at the Sun Yat-sen Classical Chinese Garden in Vancouver BC.

It is the first ever graphic novel to tell the story of the Chinese immigration to North America.  David gave many thanks to his publisher and editors at Arsenal Pulp Press, as he had just returned from a week-long book tour in California.

Above, David poses for a pictures Paul Leung and Peggy Lee, veterans of Pacific Unit 280.  David made sure he included the stories of the Chinese Canadian veterans of WW2, as it is an important part of Chinese Canadian history that helped to win the right to vote for people of Chinese ancestry who were born in Canada, like my parents and all our family elders.
I have known David since 1986, when we first met during the construction of the Saltwater City Exhibition, a museum quality exhibit that celebrated 100 years of Chinese history in the City of Vancouver, for the city’s Centennial celebrations.  The exhibit was chaired by author/archivist Paul Yee.  At the time, David was studying architecture at UBC, and I was studying political science and literature at Capilano College.
A dragon dance from the Gung Haggis Dragon Boat team started off the afternoon’s event as a fun ceremony.  This was fitting as David had been a member of the team in 2002, and had designed the team’s logo – a smiling Chinese Dragon head, wearing a Scottish tam hat.  The Chinese parade dragon was carried by 5 people, and followed by a Chinese Lion.
When the Chinese lion arrived at the front of the room, I presented it with a “lucky money” red envelope, which it “ate”.  Then I removed it’s Lion head mask, to reveal author David Wong.  What a great way to make an entrance!   Susan Ma, staff host for the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens welcomes David to the event, while our dragon paraders finalize their work.  The dragon was led by Gung Haggis team paddler/Asst Coach Steven Wong, with David Wong’s two sons: Colten and Cameron, and two more team memberss: Caroline Ng and Deb Martin.
For 30 minutes, David Wong explained the process of how he created his graphic novel.

Would he do it again?  David told the audience that if you had asked him that question four months ago, he would have said “Never again.” But now after speaking to many audiences, and seeing the delight in people’s faces, and receiving their encouraging feedback, he says… “maybe.”

Has it been successful?  The first printing of the Escape to Gold Mountain has already been sold out.  The book is now in its second printing and is ranked #1 for Asian North American literature.

David knows his subject.  He has been active in the community and promoting Chinese Canadian history for many years now.  I have known him when he was a board member for Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society in 2002, then later as a founding director for Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC.   He has been a blogger at the Ugly Chinese Canadian and author of the Generasian website.
The line up for autographs and pictures was long…  and many community leaders and activists came out to support David. L-R: Bev Nann (red scarf) was president of VAHMS in 2002.  Suzanne Ma is a writer/blogger.  Judge Randall Wong is the first provincial court judge of Chinese ancestry in BC and is included in David’s book.  Cynthia and Daniel Lee were head tax redress activists during the big Redress campaign of 2005/2006, when I got to know them.

WW2 Veteran Frank Wong holds open the page, that tells his story on page 216-221, Chapter 21 Old Foes New Relations.   This is a great real-life story, about how Frank’s WW2 experience as an engineer at Normandy has ramifications for his current life.  I have known Frank since I was a little child as childhood friends to his nephews.

Daylight Savings at Vancouver Asian Film Festival 2012 – Opening Day

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Kudos to Barbara Lee, Grace Chin, Kathy Leung, and the Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF) gang on putting on such a wonderful show on opening night.    It’s risky business to follow up with a hugely successful Surrogate Valentine, which brought audiences to their feet last November 2011 in applause and cheer, with a sequel which might or might not live up to expectations.  Rest assured, VAFF wisely selected a winner for an opener.  It was eerie, as Daylight Savings brought the same smiles to the faces of audiences.   What a great way to open a festival.

Goh Nakamura and Yea-ming Chen gives a remarkably funny and touching performance in Daylight Savings as two hurt lovers in search of themselves.  Just as Goh gives up all hope for love after breaking up his girlfriend,The Professor, he is instantly captivated by Yea-Ming at a house party.  Chasing after destiny, Goh begins his  journey on a wing and a prayer to find her Las Vegas with the help of his screwball cousin Mike and junkie Will.     They meet, they fall in love, they make love – Yea-Ming is everything Goh believes he wants in life.   Yet he is never quite able to leave his baggage behind as he still holds onto his girlfriend’s plant.  Leaving us to wonder at the age old adage of love is all about timing.

The second feature film, Bleached, was a surprisingly witty but heart-wrenching film about a love-struck Filipino-American teenager, Lenny who gives in to becoming a guinea pig model to skin-lightening cream given to her by her vain, image-obsessed mother.   Only to discover a shocking twist.

VAFF’s founder and President Barbara Lee was on hand at the opening to welcome friends and supporters of VAFF.  The after-party at the Kentizen was rocking with celebrities, friends, and community supporters.  

We caught up with our good friends over the years, including Grace Chin, who has become this year’s Festival Director, Kathy Leung (author of Red Letters, Mark Oh (VAFF 2012’s Volunteer Director), Iven Tse (VAFF board member), Peter Leung, Winnie Tam, Patricia Lim (Ricepaper Magazine) Callan Tay, Gavin Hee (MAMM Sponsor), Mark Lee.

The party began with a celebration of the sweet-16 celebration cake cutting at the Kentizen Fusion Lounge, followed by a beautiful night of musical performances by Goh Nakamura and Yea-Ming Chen.

Barbara Lee has been a bastion of strength and perseverance in the sixteen years of VAFF’s history.

Starting off with a dream to start a small film festival, VAFF has grown to become a cultural mainstay, featuring the who’s who in the Vancouver community, and has spawned offshoot festivals across the city.  Congratulations to you, well done!

Reporting for Gung Haggis, this is Allan Cho

Multimedia Gold Mountain tells a universal story that is common to all immigrants everywhere!

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Gold Mountain at The Cultch in Vancouver

Actor/playwright David Yip holds a large fan upon which images are projected for his project “Gold Mountain.”-  photo courtesy of Van East Cultural Centre.

Gold Mountain will feature exciting multi-media technology in an interesting collaboration of  Montreal’s Les Deux Mondes and Liverpool’s unitytheatre.

The media promo states that “David Yee is trying to piece together the broken jigsaw of his father’s life. In an epic journey from a small village in China, to war-torn Liverpool, through the horrors of the Atlantic convoys, follow Yee Lui’s story of friendship, addiction, and adversity. This stunning production features breath-taking imagery, engaging film, moving music, and extraordinary soundscapes. ”

Gold Mountain would be of interest to any immigrant group to any country, and the aspect of Chinese in Liverpool is an interesting twist, similar to the diversity of multiculturalism in Canada.  Stories of the Chinese diaspora have much in common to the stories of the Italian, Irish, Indian and the Jewish diaspora to Canada, as well as the recent immigrants from Iran, Taiwan and Tibet.

It is the “Telling of Our Stories” that made “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” or “Bend It Like Beckham” stories that related to all immigrants. But what makes Gold Mountain more interesting is the multi-media angle of a global story.  It’s a new perspective of story telling with awesome use of modern technology.

Canada is a country of immigrants, and so Gold Mountain will relate to all Canadians, wherever they came from.  But maybe for this story, BCers and Vancouverites are especially interested because BC is seen as the Gold Mountain of Canada, as thousands of Chinese migrant workers came to Canada first seeking gold in 1851, then building the railway in the Fraser Canyon, and working in the coal mines of Vancouver Island.

Presenting Asian-Canadian themed productions is a bit tricky in Vancouver.  Many new Chinese immigrants really don’t seem to understand or care for stories about peasant immigrants in the 19th Century.  Non-Asian-Canadians often aren’t interested in “ethnic stories”. But Joy Kogawa’s Obasan and Wayson Choy’s Jade Peony, are two of Canada ‘s most beloved novels. They have been emphasized that they tell Canadian stories, but are set in the Chinese and Japanese communities of Vancouver and BC.  They also feature Canadian born characters, that explore what it means to be Canada.  “Jade Peony” and “Obasan” are also close to my heart because I have been busy the past 10 years helping to promote them, and be involved in related projects, such as Vancouver Public Library’s One Book Once Vancouver featuring “Jade Peony”, and the “Save Joy Kogawa House” campaign in 2005.

Over the past few years, I have seen many theatre productions with Asian-Canadian themes such as Gateway Theatre’s production of “Forbidden Phoenix” (2011).  Simon Johnston’s “Gold Mountain Guest” at the Arts Club, Denise Chong’s “The Concubine’s Children” put on in Nanaimo, as well as the recent “Red Letters” by Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre, UBC Theatre’s “Jade in the Coal” at the Frederic Wood  in partnership with Pangea Arts and Theatre,

One of my favorites was the 2010 Mortal Coil production of “Salmon Row” that was performed in the Historic Britannia Shipyards at Steveston 2 summers ago, and the 2005 “Naomi’s Road” performed by the Vancouver Opera Touring Ensemble.  This is a mini-opera based on the children’s novel version of Obasan, which is again touring BC for their 2012-2013 season.

http://www.thecultch.com/content/view/363/527/

Here is the link to the Georgia Straight article by Alex Varty:

http://www.straight.com/article-812491/vancouver/painful-history-paved-gold


Around the web:
 Les Deux Mondes official website
unitytheatre’s official website

Wayson Choy Tribute dinner was an intimate and uplifting dinner event!

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The celebration of Wayson Choy and his novel “Jade Peony” was the cause for many of Vancouver’s literary luminaries to come together in Vancouver Chinatown’s Floata Restaurant on Sunday evening, October 14th.  The event was presented by Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop, Gung Haggis Fat Choy, Historic Joy Kogawa House Society, and Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society.
Project Bookmarks Canada founder Miranda Hill finally brought her project to the West Coast, after setting up 10 Bookmarks in Ontario.  Anna Ling Kaye had assisted Miranda in scouting the site, along with other aspects of the project.  When the site was finally confirmed by City of Vancouver, Anna brought the latest details to Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop, where she is the current president.  Immediately ACWW co-founder Jim Wong-Chu and vice-president Todd Wong agreed to organize a dinner, along with new board member Winnie Cheung.  In four weeks time, 170 people gathered from many corners of Vancouver’s literary communities to celebrate.

(Left to right) Author Lawrence Hill, Miranda Hill (creator of Project Bookmark), Wayson Choy, Anna Ling Kaye (president of the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop) and her husband Alex gathered for photos before the dinner. photo courtesy of Charlie Smith/Georgia Straight.

The Georgia Straight wrote up both a preview story and posted pictures of the event.

http://www.straight.com/article-811146/vancouver/community-honours-jade-peony-author-wayson-choy-chinese-banquet

A total of 15 speakers graced the stage to share intimate stories of growing up as childhood friends of Wayson such as Garson, to fellow students during his time as the first Asian-Canadian in the UBC Creative Writing MA program.  As well, industry representatives and community leaders also spoke including author/editor/community organizer Jim Wong-Chu, Vancouver Public Library Chief Librarian Sandra Singh, and BC Bookworld publisher and author Alan Twigg.  The evening was co-hosted by CBC Radio One broadcaster Sheryl Mackay who also hosts the CBC Radio One Bookclub, and Todd Wong creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, as well as president of Historic Joy Kogawa House and vice-president of Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop – some of the events’ presenting organizations.

Sid Tan of W2 Media filmed much of the evening along with sound technician Elwin Xie.  Both have worked with event organizers Jim Wong-Chu and Todd Wong for many . It was the conclusion of the Wayson Choy Special Tribute Evening

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