Our accordionists: front row – Alan, Todd, Elena; back row – Barbara, Rowan, Caroline, Carney, Richard – photo Deb Martin

It was the first time performance of the Vancouver Squeezebox Circle at the Word on the Street Book & Magazine Fair, and we wanted to make it literary!  In between our solo and group songs, our co-MC’s Barbara Adler and Todd Wong read/described books that featured accordions – both adult fiction and children’s books.

We read 2 stanzas from the Robert Service poem “Accordion”, we showed pictures from Jamie Lee Curtis’ children’s book “Is There Really A Human Race”, as well as “Mendel’s Accordion”, and “When Cats Go Wrong.” We closed by briefly describing the Annie Proulx novel “Accordion Crimes”, in which an Italian-made accordion travels across the Atlantic, lands in New Orleans, and soon finds itself playing Zydeco music, then German folk music, as it exchanges hands and cultural groups.

Our repetoire opened with a Sousa March titled “The Liberty Bell” which is more known as “The Monty Python Song”.   I performed the first solo, playing J.S. Bach’s Toccata in D Minor.  Next we played the “Col. Bogey March” from the movie Bridge Over the River Kwai.

Alan Zisman played a Klezmer song, Barbara sang an original song she wrote, and we all played the Can Can from Orpheus in the Underworld to close.

Hapa Palooza is back!

Hapa-Palooza Book Readings and lively discussion tonight at Library Square – with my friends Ruth Ozeki who was one of the first readers at Kogawa House, and Wayde Compton, whom we hope to have as a special guest at the next Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner! https://www.facebook.com/events/322342784526190/

Hapa-palooza in the Strathcona Park will start with family yoga, have music by hapa DJ CRad, a super pro face-painter, a slackline exhibition, colouring sheets for kids to explore their roots and there are a whole host of kids activities right in the park: a playground, climbing boulder, big climbing diamond, and if you feel up for it there are tennis courts, basketball court, baseball diamond and soccer field.

Bring your family, friends, and community.

https://www.facebook.com/events/532240936791218/

Female image on $100 plastic bill – is “Too Asian” for the Bank of Canada

Bank of Canada bans image of Asian-looking woman from new $100 banknotes

ca.news.yahoo.com

OTTAWA – The Bank of Canada purged the image of an Asian-looking woman from its new $100 banknotes after focus groups raised questions about her ethnicity.

Earlier in August, a great debate started… and I commented lots on Facebook:

I posted the article on a few Facebook walls, as well as my own with the comment:

Todd Wong “I am thinking of Asian Canadian women who are valid and important scientists… and Dr. Hilda Ching was the Ruth Woodwyn Chair of SFU Women’s Studies – click this link to see her final report http://www.sfu.ca/gsws/RuthWynnWoodwardProfessorship/documents/1991_FinalReportRWWP-HildaChing.pdf“

Feds muzzle scientist over salmon study  margaretmunro.wordpress.com

Yes… sadly… I had learned that the Canadian Conservative government was muzzing federally paid scientists.  This was all revealed during the Cohen Inquiry concerning the missing salmon in the Fraser River.  Federal scientists were told NOT to speak to the media or “others”.  What kind of country or society, would try to suppress information and knowledge?

But then I got a FB reply from Dr. Hilda Ching:

“This is Hilda Ching responding from Hawaii. Thanks Todd for your comments. I am amazed that the Woodward report is available. Since 6 of us founded SCWIST (Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology) in 1983, the profile of women scientists has changed considerably. The women are young professionals with Asian, Indo-Asian and European origins. We value their diversity, complexity of backgrounds and images. The change of the woman’s complexion to ‘white’ on the banknote reinforces the image that science as a white male and female’s elitist community. The white guy in a lab coat is history; so it would have been appropriate to have kept that image on the bank note as a ‘typical’ Canadian woman in science. In other words, ‘white’ is not ‘typical’ in the science community anymore.”

This issue of the new Canadian $100 bill is much deeper than physical representation of white or asian.  It’s also not an issue of whether Banting or Best should be pictured with insulin.  What has been more revealing is all the racism that has filled the comment sections of the news media that discount the equal representation of women of colour, that was nixed by the so-called focus groups of the Bank of Canada.  This is what makes the comments by Dr. Hilda Ching so insightful. 

Todd Wong But what if the original picture was of a woman who was only “Half-Asian” like environmental scientist Severn Cullis-Suzuki, the daughter of David Suzuki, finalist for CBC’s tv show “The Greatest Canadian” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F26UqJaOUEQ

Severn Cullis-Suzuki Keynote Address

www.youtube.comDaughter of famed Canadian scientist, David Suzuki, Severn Cullis-Suzuki develop…See more

Steveston Dragon Boat Festival report:

Great racing on Saturday Aug 25

Congratulations on winning the C Consolation Final.

Deb Martin steers the boat back to the dock following a thrilling 1st place victory in the C Consolation  Final. Anne and Karl are lead strokes with drummer Debbie Poon.-  photo by Caroline Ng

But wait…. we won a little Chinese drum for 1st place in Consolation C. Several of us had stayed for the medal ceremonies: Deb, Todd, Anne-Cecile, Anne D, Robyn, Diana and Nicolas all stood on the ceremonies stage with our drum !!!

next races:

soon – canoe paddle on Burnaby Lake for beaver spotting!!!

Sept 22 – Paddle North Shore (new race)
Oct 6 – Ft. Langley Cranberry Festival Canoe Regatta

Enchanted Evenings with Jocelyn Pettit Band: Review

August 17th, 2012

Dr. Sun Yat Sen Chinese Classical Gardens, Vancouver BC

by guest writer Xavier MacDonald

The Doctor Sun Yat-Sen Gardens’ Enchanted Evenings series lived up to it’s name Friday night with the inclusion of the Jocelyn Pettit Band – a toe-tapping Celtic Band that features a 17 year old Chinese-Celtic-French-Canadian fiddling wonder!

There really can be no more magical a setting than the interior courtyard where the audience was surrounded by rare trees and traditional stone work around the fish pond.  This did not go unnoticed by the band members who obviously enjoyed themselves as much as the full house.  At sunset the crows threatened their evening murder as they always do, but even this could not transpire against the spell cast on the gardens that night.  In our defence, fairies zipped round our heads protecting us form mosquitoes.  They might have been dragon flies though.

The band comprises family friend Bob Collins on guitar and vocals as well as the Pettit family, with father Joel Pettit on bodhran, mother Seiw Wan Khoo on keyboards and second fiddle, all to support Jocelyn on fiddle, tap shoes and vocals.  How she managed to stay perched on her chair tapping her toes in the French Canadian style is a mystery to me.  She also performed traditional Irish step dancing on some songs while fiddling as well.

Even more astonishing is how a seventeen year old can command such skill and nuance on a violin.  Whether bowing a lively waltz or drawing out a slow air in her pan-Celtic repertoire Jocelyn has an attack on the bow and fingerboard which belies her young years.   Jocelyn easily displayed her craftsmanship and maturity on her more recent songs Late for the Feast and the as yet unnamed waltz which she debuted for us.  It’s uncanny how much expression her fiddle playing displays.

Jocelyn also sang on a few songs.  She has excellent pitch and expression, but lacks the support and resonance of a professional singer.  Luckily she still has time to improve her skill with this instrument and I sincerely hope she does because next to her charming step dancing and wonderful fiddle playing it tends to stand out in the few songs where it’s employed.  She chatted to the audience and built up an informal camaraderie that was charming in its own right.

It was an indeed an “enchanted evening” as Jocelyn cast a spell of her own with her evident joy and charming smile.  She smiled and fiddled and danced the whole night away to joy and swept us all away with her. I couldn’t stop grinning myself.  For an encore the band evoked the spirit of Oberon himself playing King of the Fairies to bless us all to a good night – and it was.  I can highly recommend this captivating fiddler and her family and friend to put a smile on your face, and a tap on your toe.  You won’t regret it.

Todd’s note:

The Jocelyn Pettit Band performed at the 2011 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner, which led to Jocelyn’s inclusion in the inaugural 2011 Hapa-Palooza Festival.  Jocelyn says her ancestral heritage includes Chinese, Irish, French and Scots – but she is definitely 100% Canadian.

https://www.gunghaggis.com/2011/02/03/2011-gung-haggis-fat-choy-is-a-big-success-or-was-it-gung-hapa-fat-choy/

Jocelyn’s website is http://www.jocelynpettit.com/and contains links to videos, performances, and samples of songs from her album.  Her next Vancouver area performance is September 10 at St. James Hall for the “We Love Vancouver Festival”

Come meet HISTORY – Larry Kwong – the first person of colour to play in the NHL. Less than a year after Jackie Robinson shattered the baseball color line, Larry Kwong broke the barrier in hockey. On March 13, 1948, Kwong made his NHL debut with the New York Rangers against the Montreal Canadiens in the Montreal Forum.

VANCOUVER FETE FOR LARRY KWONG
Friday July 3,  5:30 at Double One Chinese Restaurant

event for the Fans of Larry Kwong Society

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Kwong

  

  Larry Kwong – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  en.wikipedia.org

Larry Kwong was 1951 MVP in the Quebec Major League – playing against future NHL Stars Jean Beliveau and Jacques Plante – Watch this Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpUeWY2ldfs

LARRY KWONG: The Longest Shotwww.youtube.com
July 23, 2010 – BC Hockey Hall of Fame Induction Dinner (Penticton, BC)
1st Aboriginal to play in the NHL was Fred Sasakamoose in 1954. He made his debut in the NHL for the Chicago Black Hawks at Maple Leaf Gardens the night of February 27, 1954 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Sasakamoose

Willie O’Ree was the first Black NHL hockey player. Born in Fredericton NB, he made his NHL debut with the Bruins on January 18, 1958, against the Montreal Canadiens, O’Ree is referred to as the “Jackie Robinson of ice hockey” due to breaking the colour barrier in the sport,[1] and has stated publicly that he had met Jackie Robinson twice in his own younger years.[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_O%27Ree

Macbeth Theatre review

at Bard on the Beach, Vanier Park, Vancouver

directed by Miles Potter

on until September 20

At one time, Vancouver was a very Scottish colonial city.  It’s first mayor, Malcolm Alexander MacLean was born in Tiree, Scotland. The Scots used to be the #1 ethnicity listed in the Vancouver census.  And on August 25th 1928, a statue of Robert Burns, The Scottish Bard was erected in Stanley Park.  On July 19th, a group of people wearing kilts and tartans went to see Macbeth at Bard on the Beach for several reasons: 1) to mark the 212th anniversary of the passing of Robert Burns on July 21st; 2) Macbeth is known as “The Scottish Play”; 3) wearing kilts is just plain fun!  – Todd Wong

special guest review by Xavier MacDonald – on July 19th

“The Scottish Play”, as it is also known, begins with a tartan bundle centre stage amid the stark, drably beautiful set. Yes tartan is used in the costuming but don’t expect anachronistically kilted warriors everywhere. Here the tartan serves to accent the clean costuming. It is often said of a production and more often striven for that the actors be clothed in something “timeless”. Bard’s Macbeth achieves it in a way that most productions can only hope to. Costumer Mara Gottler shows us genius.

There is little to criticize in this excellent production and if I were to criticize it would really only be me being picky about minor points and not representative of this outstanding production so let me just quickly give you a taste of what is so right about this show. The performances range from solid to outstanding. Where Duncan is often presented as a shallow king with little substance who leaves the stage early, Bernard Cuffling plays him as a truly noble and worthy king whose loss actually feels like a tragedy. Craig’s Ericson’s Banquo is more than serviceable right up until his death after which he becomes chillingly realized.

The coronation dinner always seems a difficult scene to pull off demanding more of the macabre than most versions can present, but the company at Bard on the Beach serves it fantastically where it is actually terrifying and deeply affecting. Another tough scene to pull off for modern audiences is the porter scene. It’s just so full of contemporary (to Shakespeare) references that it too often seems to mean little to a modern audience. John Murphy makes it look like child’s play. He brings it right to us and makes me feel like he’s simply letting me understand him.

Oh, and I could crow on and on about how powerful and ambitious, sexy and even loving Colleen Wheeler’s portrayal of Lady Macbeth is, but I will strive to be concise and merely state that she is not only the stately raven, dark and cunning, but the whole horrifying murder embodied herself. It’s worth the price of admission just to see tragic fate turn back on her. The shining clarity that the Macbeths are unaware of the changes to themselves and their environment that each bloody action initiates is vividly clear from scene to scene until they are indeed steeped so far in blood that there is no turning back.

The real strength in Macbeth is that the pieces all work together as a whole. There is a fantastic unity to the piece where all the performances, design, technical and directorial elements of the play are working together to support one another and accomplishing their respective tasks to make each other look good.  It’s team work folks and it’s beautiful to see a company, any company reaching such heights.  If I were to offer any criticism I would say that you probably shouldn’t expect to be wowed by the battle scenes. Some of the sword play is very simple and sometimes that’s a good thing amid the starkness of this production, but sometimes it left me wanting more.

If you’re looking for an uncommonly good production of Macbeth you are unlikely to ever do better than director Miles Potter’s outstanding accomplishment at Bard on the Beach this summer. It might be the only time this play has its superstitious curse removed and consciously so.  Do yourself a favour and catch it.  You deserve it.