Category Archives: Upcoming Events

Hip Hapa and Happening… Oct 25+ Heart of the City Festival

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Hip Hapa and Happening… Oct 25th to…

Harry Aoki at St. John's College, UBC,
October 25, 2007
 5pm Fireside Chat + 8pm performance


I have known Harry Aoki since around 2002 when he Margaret Gallagher introduced us.  Harry is a walking encyclopedia of trans-migrational music history.  He has performed his harmonica or double bass with me, or for events that I have organized… as diverse as Joy Kogawa House, Canadian Club Order of Canada/Flag Day luncheon, or Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner events in Vancouver or Seattle.  Harry organizes First Friday Forum, a musical cross-cultural and historical experience at the Nikkei Heritage Centre.

St. John's College
is delighted to host Harry Aoki for a talk and performance. He will be
bringing a special band to SJC and invites people to bring their
instruments and join in. For more information on how to participate,
please contact Prof. Chris Lee (
chrisml@interchange.ubc.ca). This event is part of a series at St. John's College on Asian Canadian culture. Free and open to all.  5:00 PM Fireside Talk and Coffee; and 8:00 PM Performance St. John's College Fairmont Social Lounge, 2111 Lower Mall, UBC.

The Heart of the City Festival has some great things happening this week and weekend!
I am particularly happy to see so many names and faces that I know, and call friends…

Gravity (world premiere)
Chapel Arts
304 Dunlevy Avenue
Oct 25 -27, Oct 31-Nov 3

Tricia Collins is hapa.  She shares her discovery of a historical family mystery through a journey from China to Guyana to Canada.  I first met Tricia in 2003 when she came out to paddle once in a dragon boat –  thanks to her hapa friend Adrienne Wong who was a team member that year.  Tricia is a bright light in the world who always brings joy and enthusiasm to her endeavors.

Maiko Bae Yamamoto does some incredible things in theatre, whether it is creating a small box to perform in, or outdoor theatre with Boca del Lupo or a large production like Concubine's Children.  Here she directs Tricia Collins.

• The Heart of the City Festival is thrilled to present the urban ink productions world premiere of Gravity, written and performed by Tricia Collins and directed by Maiko Bae Yamamoto. Chapel Arts, 304 Dunlevy Avenue Gravity
is an exciting new collaboration of theatre and video installation that
interweaves storytelling, memories and the stitching together of myths
and facts. , Free preview Wednesday
October 24, 7:30 pm. Thursday October 25 to Saturday October 27,
Wednesday Oct 31 to Saturday November 3, 7:30 pm. Pay what you will
matinee Sunday October 28, 2:30 pm. For more information contact
www.urbanink.ca www.urbanink.ca

Sawagi Taiko
Carnegie Community Centre Theatre
401 Main St.
Oct 26 7:30pm

•
The Heart of the City Festival presents a number of special concerts
this year by some of Vancouver’s finest world artists and musicians,
including Canada’s first all-women taiko group Sawagi Taiko, co-presented with the Powell Street Festival at the Carnegie Community Centre Theatre (401 Main Street, Friday October 26, 7:30 pm)

Silk Road Music (Qiu Xia He and Andre Thibault)

Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens
578 Carrall St.
Sat Oct 27 3:00

Qiu Xia He and Andre have been friends since I got to know them in 2003 when they were featured in the CBC television performance special Gung Haggis Fat Choy.  The Silk Road duo has performed at Gung Haggis Fat Choy in 2004, 2005 and 2007.  And we also did a First Night Performance together at Library Square to welcome in 2006. Their concerts are always special and warm-hearted.

Silk Road Music (Qiu Xia He and Andre Thibault)
at the beautiful setting of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden.  This show is being taped for CBC Radio. 
CBC Radio 2 105.7FM  (578 Carrall, Saturday October 27, 3 pm). www.vancouverchinesegarden.com

Riot in Vanocuver (best of the film series)

Carnegie Community Centre
401 Main St.
Sun Oct 28 7:30

Karin Lee is the Gemini Award winning documentary of Made in China, a story about Chinese babies adopted by White Canadian families. She has also made “Canadian Steel, Chinese Grit” and more recently “Comrade Dad.”  She is a great person, and it was a real pleasure to get to know her during the Chinese Head Tax Redress campaign.

•  In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the anti-Asian Vancouver race riots, we present a powerful evening of short films gleaned from Riot in Vancouver
a four part program by Asian, Aboriginal and South Asian media artists
that confront and question notions of displacement, family, language,
race and culture. Riot in Vancouver Artistic Director Karin Lee, co-presented with Anniversaries of Change 2007. Carnegie Community Centre, 401 Main Street, Sunday October 28, 7:30 pm www.anniversaries07.ca

Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival delights with authors and intercultural insights

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Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival delights with authors and intercultural insights

On Friday morning I listened to CBC Radio's Sheila Rogers interview with Jen Sookfong Lee as they talked about Lee's debut novel The End of East, which is partly set in Vancouver's Chinatown.  Lee is one of the many featured writers at the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival this week.  She is featured in the program Fresh Faces in Fiction on Friday and GAWK on Thursday night.

The interview was pre-taped at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden.  Rogers asked Lee about the state of Vancouver's Chinatown, and what it meant to her, as well as what it meant to be a Chinese-Canadian author.  Lee, of course, said that there are many different views to Chinatown and she could only represent her own.  And in the same way there are many different types of Chinese-Canadians, but to be put in the same grouping as Wayson Choy was wonderful.

Dan Seto, Christine Chin and Todd Wong meet Jen Sookfont Lee in May 2007 – photo Julie Wong

Hearing Jen Sookfong Lee on the radio reminded me of
meeting her at the CBC Radio Studio One Book Club back in May.  She is lively, expressive and articulate.  She loved the SKY Lee book “Disappearing Moon Cafe” and would use that as a guide post for her own novel. “No incest – good,” she joked. 

The Festival runs until Sunday.  And many writers from around the world and from different cultures are featured including Helen Oyeyemi, Kiran Desai,

I would have loved to have seen Severn Cullis-Suzuki, who is hapa and the daughter of the famed Dr. David Suzuki, dicuss how youth can help change the world.  Vincent Lam won the Governor General's award for his novel Bloodletting and other Miraculous Cures – which I enjoyed immensely.

But somehow being on the picket line at the library seemed to deny me the usual connections with books, literary festivals and money.

If you can check out events for Sunday, October 21.  It includes the 11:30 Sunday Brunch at Performance Works  hosted by Gloria Macarenco  and authors Peter Behrens, Justin Cartwright and others.

Maritime Medley features author Alistair MacLeod and the Chor Leoni Choir, at 1:30 at Waterfront Theatre.

Paul Gran hosts the After Noon Tea at 3:30 at Performance works with Gail Anderson-Dargatz, Edward O. Phillips, and Célestine Hitiura Vaite – who comes originally from Tahiti and writes about frangipani.

The Bill Duthie Memorial Lecture is given by Eleanor Wachtel who will speak about her long friendship and communications with author Carol Shields. “Random Illuminations is Wachtel’s collection of
those discussions, which offer us an intimate portrait of a great
Canadian writer. Wachtel is widely admired for her contribution to arts
journalism and as the host of CBC Radio’s Writers & Company.”

A Place of Compassion: Joy Kogawa's Dream Vancouver statement

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A Place of Compassion:
Joy Kogawa's Dream Vancouver statement


Joy Kogawa holds up her arms to embrace and support everything she loves in the world
– photo Todd Wong

Joy Kogawa, author of Obasan, has written A Place of Compassion for her submission  to the Dream Vancouver conference and website, organized by Think City. While Joy will not be attending the conference, I will be as one of the directors of the Joy Kogawa House Society. 

Dream Vancouver is an all-day conference which will take
participants from their dreams about Vancouver to a possible agenda for
change. The conference will be facilitated by Bliss Browne, internationally-renowned speaker and president of Imagine Chicago.  Former City of Vancouver Co-Director of Current Planning Larry Beasley is key note speaker. 
Ms. Browne will then facilitate a discussion-based session which will
take participants through a series of questions designed to bring them
to a collective vision of what the city could be. 

To attend you must register, click here.

Registration: 9:30 am – 10:00 am

Conference: 10:00 am – 3:30 pm

Reception: 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Location: Jewish Community Centre, 950 W. 41st Avenue, Vancouver (at Oak Street).

– photo courtesy Joy Kogawa

Is Joy a Vancouver dreamer?  She was born in Vancouver in 1935.  During WW2 in 1942, when she was 6 years old, her family was removed from Vancouver and sent to internment camps for Japanese-Canadians.  She forever dreamed about returning to the the house in Vancouver's Marpole neighborhood, even after the Canadian government confiscated the property of the Japanese-Canadian internment victims, and resettled them to work as labourers on Alberta beet farms.  She lives mostly in Toronto but returns to Vancouver often, and has great hopes for Vancouver as a city, and as a cultural entity.

Joy Kogawa and her brother Rev. Timothy Nakayama, at the opening event for Obasan, the 2005 choice for One Book One Vancouver at the Vancouver Public Library – photo Todd Wong

Joy is acknowledged as one of Canada's most important writers in the 20th Century for her ground breaking novel Obasan – a story about the impact of the internment on the Japanese Canadian community.  Since May 2005, when I met Joy, at the first Obasan event for One Book, One Vancouver event at the Vancouver Public Library, our developing friendship was been a wild ride as I became a key player on the Save Kogawa House committee (See my articles on Joy Kogawa & Kogawa House).


I have witnessed Joy speak in numerous circumstances and she always seems to have an unwavering position that calls for peace and compassion in so many circumstances.  It embraces her anti-war stance, the Japanese-Canadian redress, South African apartheid, the Chinese-Canadian head tax issue, Japanese atrocities against China in WW2, the history of her ancestor's home of Okinawa, the naming of the 401 Burrard building after Howard Green.  Joy doesn't look to find blame for right or wrong, she looks to find resolution.

Joy
Kogawa and Todd Wong at the 2006 Canadian Club Vancouver's annual Order
of Canada / Flag Day luncheon.  Joy was key note speaker, and Todd was
one of the event organizers – photo Deb Martin

Vancouver has long had a reputation for a history with peace activism.  This is part of our social-cultural make up, and can be embodied through social policy initiatives.  Perhaps it has become such because so many people have come to Vancouver after leaving war, destruction, starvation, revolution, upheaval in their home lands.

Joy has given Dream Vancouver a very apt and fitting dream statement to find reconciliation and understanding “within and between the
faiths, between rich and poor, among immigrant groups, in established
neighbourhoods, in the Downtown Eastside, among those who are still
suffering from unresolved injustices of the near and distant past can
come to healing and hope and inner freedom.”

Joy
Kogawa and children from Tomsett Elementary School in Richmond.  After
seeing the Vancouver Opera Touring Ensembles production of “Naomi's
Road”, the children were inspired to helps save Kogawa House from
demolition.  Joy and the children stand in front of the house for their own private tour and reading event. – photo Joan Young

On November 10th, come to the 2nd open house event at Kogawa House.
Sunday, 3-5pm.  1450 West 64th Ave. (just East of Granville St.)
Admission is by donation.  Proceeds go to restoring historic Joy Kogawa House, now owned by The Land Conservancy of BC.

A Place of Compassion

Posted October 15th, 2007 in 

Joy Kogawa, poet and novelist: The
dream I have for this west-coast city on the edge of the peaceable
ocean is the dream I have for the world – a dream of peace. What better
time than this to abolish war as we face our common planetary fate?

We have choices – to continue blithely on our way, fighting and
devouring one another for the rest of our dwindling days, or we can
individually and collectively lay down our weapons and practice the
ways of truth and reconciliation, cooperation and peace.

In a city where east-west faces and races meet and mix, where
cultures both clash and blend, the ways of peace can be cultivated,
watered, nurtured and the seeds of that action can fly to the farthest
corners of our hearts and the world.

As a Japanese Canadian, I have welcomed conversations with two
granddaughters of Howard Green, the politician whose public words
against us during the Second World War were dreaded in our community.
If they can seek to make peace with us on behalf of the grandfather
they loved, ought we not to walk with them? What an opportunity for
peace making and for walking on.

And ought we not, as Canadian descendants from Japan, to stand with
those Canadian descendants of China, who seek a fulsome parliamentary
acknowledgment from the country of our ancestors for the horrors their
ancestors faced in the Rape of Nanking? Or is it our choice to turn
aside and say, “These are no concerns of ours.” I believe that the
morally appropriate action is to respond to those who suffer and who
call our names.

But it is not for me to say what is right for anyone else. We are
each required to struggle with our own conscience and to respond to the
many voices that call us.

The DUNSMUIRS – a theatrical telling of the enigmatic BC historical figure who employed Chinese labourers

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The DUNSMUIRS – a theatrical telling of the enigmatic BC historical figure who employed Chinese labourers


Todd Wong aka “Toddish McWong” stands in front or Craigdarroch Castle, the real castle imported stone by stone from Scotland, built by Robert Dunsmuir, BC's richest man, and 5th richest in North America. – photo Tracey Louie

 

The Dunsmuirs: Alone at the Edge

Oct 5 -20, 2007

Presentation House Theatre

333 Chesterfield Ave

North Vancouver, BC V7M 3G9

Rod Langley has written a play about Robert Dunsmuir and his family. Learn about The Dunsmuirs
who built Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria, and how Robert Dunsmuir
became the 5th richest man in North America, on the backs of Asian coal
miners in Nanaimo/Cumberland.

Check out this play about Robert Dunsmuir, the BC Premier who spoke out against anti-Asian legislation… partly because he employed Japanese and Canadian coal miners at lower wages.

Earlier this year I visited Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria, and talked with operations manager Yvonne Sharpe.  We discussed Dunsmuir's interactions with the Asian populations, and what a Gung Haggis Fat Choy event might look like… at Craigdarroch Castle.  That's why… I have to see this play!

Opening October 5
Sea Theatre Presents

The Dunsmuirs:

Alone at the Edge

By
Rod Langley. Directed by Bill Devine. Starring Duncan Fraser, Lee Van
Paassen, Daniel Arnold, Mike Wasko, Cat Main, and Wiliam Samples.
Lighting design: Michael Schaldemose, Set design: Gary and Lynda Chu,
Costumes: Sandy Buck, Sound Design: Paul Moniz De Sa, Stage Manager:
Colleen Totten.

The
play chronicles Robert Dunsmuir's rags to riches ascent and the
eventual price he pays for money and power. It focuses on the early
years when the family was clawing their way from mine workers to
owners. Dunsmuir's discovery of a vast coal deposit in Nanaimo, his
scramble to gain control over the Wellington Mine, and his scab labour
tactics, netted him a fortune in coal. His ascent, literally over the
dead bodies of his friends and supporters, brings this play to a
stunning climax.

“The story of the Dunsmuirs is a hell of a tale that's got everything:
ambition, greed, ruthlessness, scandal, danger and despair…the
writing is tight and lively.”

2 for 1 Tuesdays: Oct 9 $ 16

Tickets are $20 for Adults and $15 for Students/Seniors. October 4-20 at 8pm.

Click here to see an interview with some of the cast.

How(e) Sound: Heather Pawsey takes “New Music in New Places” to Brittania Mines

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How(e) Sound: Heather Pawsey takes “New Music in New Places” to Brittania Mines

How(e) Sound
October 7, 2007 at 2:00 pm
B.C. Museum of Mining
Britannia Beach, “Sea to Sky” Highway 99
FREE (Reservations toll-free 1-866-640-9881)

Soprano Heather Pawsey is always creating “don't want to miss” concerts in really cool spaces.  Earlier this year, she was singing at the aquarium.  A few years ago, she was singing in a Kelowna wine vat.  I have known Heather since 2003, when she invited me to a performance where she sung in Mandarin Chinese.  This Scots-Canadian lass who grew up wearing tartan, soon joined the Gung Haggis Fat Choy roster for our annual Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner fundraiser.

Pianist Rachel Kiyo Iwassa is hapa, and a Japanese Canadian descendant.  She also plays in a flute/piano duo called Tiresias with fellow hapa musician Mark McGregor.  I first met her after a concert at West Vancouver's Silk Purse.

Kathryn Cernauskas came to play at Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner earlier this year with Heather.  Kathryn plays wonderful flute, and also hand drums.

Here's the press release that Rachel just sent me:
 


Psst ….. Wanna hear some
truly “underground” music?


Grab your hard hat and descend into the cavernous 1912 tunnels of the
B.C. Museum of Mining

(Britannia Beach, “Sea to Sky” Highway 99) as HOW(E) SOUND excavates some
buried

treasure. Critically acclaimed musicians
Kathryn
Cernauskas, flute;
AK
Coope, clarinet;

Rachel Kiyo
Iwaasa, piano; and
Heather
Pawsey, soprano take you on
a musical adventure

through the stunning and mysterious spaces of this National Historic Site
(including the core

sheds, load-haul dump, Mining House, 235 tonnes “Super” Haul Truck, and
the awe-inspiring

1923 gravity-fed concentrator mill, with its 1,194 windows and 18,792
panes overlooking Howe

Sound) at this limited-seating, one-performance-only concert,
Sunday, October 7 at 2:00
p.m.


Mining a wealth of
contemporary Canadian classical repertoire, works (including, among
others,

Harry Freedman’s
Lines;
Paul Steenhuisen’s
Foundry;
Patrick Cardy’s
Sparkle;
Mary

Gardiner’s A Resonance in
Time; James M. Gayfer’s
Cave Pools;
Violet Archer’s
If the Stars

are Burning and Leila Lustig’s
Wretched Highway) on the
themes of minerals and gems,

caverns and caves, dreams and aspirations, and history will be
highlighted, with a special nod to

early British Columbian heritage music dealing specifically with the
history of mining in our

province. Admission to HOW(E) SOUND is free; however, due to space
restrictions, seating is

limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. To book a
space, please call the

reservations line at 1-604-815-4073, or toll-free at 1-866-640-9881,
beginning September 10.

Please advise if you have to cancel your seats so that others may be
admitted.


DRESS ADVISORY:
As portions of this concert
will be held outdoors, please dress appropriately

for weather and underground temperatures, and wear footwear suitable for
uneven terrain.


Musicians Kathryn Cernauskas, flute; AK Coope, clarinet; Rachel Kiyo
Iwaasa, piano; and

Heather Pawsey, soprano are particularly noted for their fearless and
innovative approaches to

contemporary music. Collectively, they have premiered hundreds of new
Canadian works, many

written specifically for them, and their performance histories span North
America, Europe, Asia

and Australia.


HOW(E) SOUND is part of
the Canada Music Centre's “New Music in New Places” initiative
to take

Canadian music out of concert halls and in to alternative venues, and is
made possible through the

generous support and assistance of the B.C. Museum of Mining, Tom Lee
Music, Epcor, and the Howe

Sound Performing Arts Association.The Canadian Music Centre is an
independent, not for profit, nongovernment

agency that promotes and disseminates the music of Canadian composers.
The Canadian

Music Centre gratefully acknowledges the support of the SOCAN Foundation
and the Government of

Canada through the Canada Music Fund.


More Info:
Canadian Music Centre |
www.musiccentre.ca
| 604.734.4622

-30-

Media Contact: Kara Gibbs | kara@karagibbs.com | cell 604.644.6985

Hip Hapa and Happening… Sep 21 +

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Hip Hapa and Happening… Sep 21 +

Here's my weekend plans….


Friday Sep 21, (repeats Sep 22)
Triaspora at the Chan Centre
Dance, Music and multimedia telling of Chinese Canadian history, through the elemental themes of Fire, Air and Water.  Featuring Orchid Ensemble, Moving Dragon Dance

Saturday, Sep 22
private function annual Scotch Tasting fundraiser.
(by invitation only)
 
The hosts are a married couple, He is of Scottish descent and she is of Chinese descent.  She is well known in the community and has worn a tartan at my Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.  Last year, I performed at this private fundraiser with my accordion… a few of the songs I do for Gung Haggis Fat Choy events such as Loch Lomand, When Asian Eyes Are Smiling… and The Haggis Rap.
They LOVED me… and so… I have been invited to return.

Sunday, Sep 23
Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team
Dragon Zone docks and clubhouse (just south of Science World)
12:30pm
We are training paddlers now for the Sep 30th UBC Day of the Long Boats event and the Oct 6 Fort Langley Cranberry Festival Canoe Regatta.
3:00 – Voyageur Canoe Orientation at Jericho Paddling and Sailing Centre

Sunday Sep 23
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
Vancouver Recital Society
Chan Centre, UBC

Maori folk songs and the best of classical voice and opera singing.  I first saw Kiri Te Kanawa perform in 1986, the weekend that Princess Diana and Prince Charles came to Vancouver.  Okay… it wasn't the same night.  But the event was still magic.  She is a wonderful singer… and better looking than Pavarotti.  Her last Vancouver performance was 1993 at Deer Lake.  More tickets now available with the move from the Orpheum Theatre to two nights at the Chan Centre.  Here is last night's review from the Vancouver Sun:

Kiri te Kanawa

Kiri Te Kanawa builds to glorious concert ending

TRIASPORA: artistic telling of Chinese Canadian history through music, dance and multimedia

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TRIASPORA: artistic telling of Chinese Canadian history through music, dance and multimedia


Triaspora (with Orchid Ensemble, Moving Dragon Dance)
September 21 and 22, 7:30pm
Telus Studio Theatre, Chan Centre at UBC

I am really looking forward to this exploration of Chinese Canadian history.  Lan Tung and the Orchid Ensemble are incredible musicians and I have enjoyed their performances this past year, especially performing flamenco music with Mozaico Flamenco.  Lan first told me about this project last year, as she was actively engaged in searching out images of old Canadian Chinatowns – particularly Nanaimo.

This production has been previewed recently by both the Vancouver Sun East meets West in three ways in mixing Triaspora and twice in the Georgia Straight with Janet Smith's Dance | Critics' Picks: Dancers spin visions of angst and beauty …and Alex Varty's Arts Features | A whole new breed

I am particularly excited becasue Lan Tung the leader of Orchid Ensemble, Moving Dragon's Chengxin Wei and composer Jin Zhang, are all immigrants to Canada.  I have heard many immigration stories about the Chinese coming to Canada from  many Chinese-Canadian pioneer descendants (and have also been telling them in the CBC documentary Generations: The Chan Legacy), so it will be refreshing to witness the production with fresh eyes and ears of these newcomers.

Telus Studio Theatre, Chan Centre at UBC

Telus Studio Theatre, Chan Centre at UBC
 
Stories of Chinese Canadians come to life in Triaspora, featuring music by the Orchid Ensemble, dance by Moving Dragon and multimedia performance by Aleksandra Dulic and Kenneth Newby

Inspired by real life stories collected from personal interviews and archives, Triaspora explores
the Chinese Canadian experience, incorporating Asian traditions with
contemporary expression, filling the Chan Centre with an exhilarating
mix of style, movement and sound.  Triaspora
draws on numerous insightful interviews from different generations of
Chinese Canadians, while examining the search for cultural identity and
social acceptance.
 
The collaborative ensemble injects the work with their various
artistic talents. Moving Dragon, founded by Chengxin Wei and Jessica Jone, punctuates Chinese dance tradition with contemporary
thought and movement; The Orchid Ensemble combines Chinese traditional
musical instruments with western percussion, performing original scores
by Canadian composers Michael Vincent, Jin Zhang, Mark Armanini and Ya-wen Wang; and leading media artists Kenneth Newby and Aleksandra Dulic punctuate the space with their interactive multimedia exhibit.
 
Triaspora not only reflects
the crossing of three disciplines (music, dance and multimedia), but
also incorporates the three themes (fire, water and travel). These themes inspire many layers of meaning to the overall collaborative work. In Triaspora, water, which at one time used to cover Vancouver¡¦s Chinatown and was
also the only medium to carry immigrants to the new country, symbolizes
their emergence from a repressed world to a new frontier. Like water,
which changes its form in natural cycles, the Chinese community
continues to transform and renew with each generation. The theme of
fire takes inspiration from a major fire that burned Nanaimo Chinatown
to the ground in 1960.  Fire also represents struggle, hardship and the
opportunity for regeneration and rebirth. Traveling
is a familiar reality for the immigrant generation. Canada¡¦s economic
lifeline – highway 401 and Steve Reich¡¦s famous composition Different Trains inspired the music for the final theme in the piece.
 
Triaspora will
be performed on Friday, September 21 and Saturday, September 22 (with
Reception to follow) at the Chan Centre at UBC Telus Studio Theatre. 

Hip Hapa and Happening…. Sep 14 onwards

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Hip Hapa and Happening…. Sep 14 onwards

check out the Fringe Festival:

Assaulted Fish… Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre presents the Henry David Hwang play Bondage… and something called Deep-Fried Curry Perogies…

I just saw Assaulted Fish performing at the Sept 7th Reconciliation Dinner at Floata Restaurant.  And they were bang-on funny… poking lots of fun at multicultural stereotypes and characters like Jacky Chan.

David Henry Hwang is North America's most successful Asian-American playwright.  I have seen his plays FOB, M. Butterfly and Golden Child performed in Vancouver… so I can't miss Bondage.

I eat perogies… I put curry on my popcorn… I deep fry haggis wrapped in won ton dumplings… gotta go!

Assaulted Fish
Vancouver, Canada

Comedy/50 mins/14+

Pacific Theatre

For its second Fringe appearance, 83% pan-Asian Canadian sketch comedy
troupe, Assaulted Fish presents the “best of 2006-2007”. “No dud
sketches here…plenty of laughs.” — Kathleen Oliver, Georgia Straight
“…one of the smartest, boldest, most hilarious, most exciting comedy
troupes around…” — Morgan Brayton, former Executive Artistic
Director, SketchFest Vancouver “…cast is brimming with charisma and
enthusiasm.” – Schema Magazine.

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Showtimes

Sept. 6 – 6:45pm
Sept. 9 – 4:00pm
Sept. 11 – 6:15pm
Sept. 12 – 8:45pm
Sept. 14 – 5:30pm
Sept. 15 – 1:30pm

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Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre
Vancouver, CAN
Drama/60 mins/14+

Firehall Arts Centre  

In an S&M parlor, a dominatrix and her client are clad in costumes
to conceal their faces and ethnicity's. Their disguises allow them to
play out fantasies based on racial stereotypes and sexual mythologies.
Their power games expose the arbitrariness of racially minded thinking
that moves them towards a true intimacy which transcends the bounds of
race.

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Showtimes

Sept. 6 – 8:00pm
Sept. 7 – 10:45pm
Sept. 9 – 7:30pm
Sept. 12 – 10:30pm
Sept. 15 – 8:15pm
Sept. 16 – 11:00am

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Deep Fried Curried Perogies

Mahatmamajama Productions

Comedy, Dance, Drama/70 mins/14+
Playwrights Theatre

What do you get when a Jamaican Filipino and a Ukrainian Brit start a
family? A Jalipinukranibritinadian? A Deep Fried Curried Perogy?
Definitely a legacy full of stories, hair trauma and certain
indigestion. Touching, funny, smart – a show for anyone who is black,
white, Ukrainian, Asian, European, flat-chested, short, breathing…
*****Edmonton Sun ****Vue Weekly ****See Magazine.

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Showtimes

Sept. 6 – 6:45pm
Sept. 7 – 10:30pm
Sept. 8 – 9:15pm
Sept. 12 – 10:30pm
Sept. 15 – 11:30pm
Sept. 16 – 4:45pm

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Writers reading for Library Workers 1pm Wed, Thurs + beyond

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Writers reading for Library Workers 1pm Wed, Thurs + beyond

Hi everybody.  Here are the newest authors and writers to come to my
reading series for library workers and the public, at Library Square. 
Past authors and writers have included Terry Glavin, Stand Persky,
Chuck Davis, Tom Sandborn, Daniel Gawthrop, Hiromi Goto and the World
Poetry collective.

Aug 27 CUPE 391, Daniel Gawthrop comes to read + visits by Paul Whitney and Tom HansenDaniel Gawthrop comes…

CUPE 391, Aug 24 Stan Persky + Media visit library workersAug 24 Stan Persky

Day 36, Aug 23 Chuck Davis visits CUPE 391 Vancouver Library StrikeAug 23 Chuck Davis visits

Day 34 Tues Aug 21 Tom Sandborn speaks to CUPE 391 Vancouver Library Workers StrikeAug 21 Tom Sandborn speaks…

Lined up this week are:

Wednesday, Sep 5th
Fiona Tinwei Lam
author of “Intimate Distance” poetry collection
finalist for the 2003 Vancouver Book Award
Fiona
was born in Scotland of Chinese ancestry, and came to Canada at an
early age.  She has Her work has been published in The New Quarterly,
Descant, Event, Grain, The Malahat Review, Quarry, The Antigonish
Review, Contemporary Verse II, and Canadian Literature. Her poems have
also been anthologized in A Room at the Heart of Things (Vehicule, 1999), Swallowing Clouds, an anthology of Chinese Canadian poetry (Arsenal Pulp Press, 1999), and Vintage 2000 (Ronsdale 2000).  Her debut book of poetry, Intimate Distances explores childhood, family death, relationships and
childbirth.

Thursday, Sep 6th
Rita Wong
author of “Monkey Puzzle”
winner of the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop emerging artist award.
Rita is now an Assistant Professor in Critical and Cultural Studies at the Emily Carr Institute.
Her work investigates the intersections and relationships between
decolonization, social justice, gender, racialization, labour,
migration, and contemporary poetics.


(date to be confirmed)
George McWhirter??? (possible)
 Author of Queen of the Sea :
Poems, Catalan Poems, Eyes to See Otherwise.  He is also professor emeritus of the UBC Creative Writing Department where he was department head from 1983 until 1993.  On March 8, 2007, Prof. McWhirter was named the inaugural Poet Laureate of the City of Vancouver – an
honourary two-year term, as a champion for poetry, language and the
arts, and create a unique artistic legacy through public readings and
civic interactions.

Taiwanese Cultural Festival and dragon boat race this weekend!

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Taiwanese Cultural Festival and dragon boat race this weekend!



The Taiwanese Cultural Festival is pretty cool… It is not the watered down Chinese and multicultural stuff you find at the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival.  Taiwanese youth exploring Taiwanese pop culture is evidenced by the Taiwanese rock bands imported for this year's show.

Past years have seen a parade of Taiwan's aboriginal culture, that distinguishes themselves from the imported Chinese culture, and as a distinct country and culture from the People's Republic of China.  And in Vancouver, the Taiwanese Cultural Festival have often brought in local Canadian aboriginal arts and culture.  This is a good way to help assimilate Taiwanese ex-patriates to become more aware and understanding of Canadian aboriginal or First Nations culture.  Wouldn't it be great to see a First Nations canoe team paddling in a Taiwanese dragon boat and a Taiwanese dragon boat team paddling in a First Nations war canoe?

This year's festival also promises a showcase of Taiwanese Hakka people.
Also check out: 

Puppets and Me, a historical perspective of Taiwanese puppets
presented by the City of Kaohsiung, which will host the 2009 World
Games.

– 19th-century model steam train exhibit also hosted by Kaohsiung.

– Barbie and Me II, a new exhibit showcasing the dolls through a
series of historical perspectives, including Taiwanese aboriginal, the
Japanese occupation era and the Chinese era,

check out the Vancouver Sun story by Karen Gram:
http://www.canada.com/cityguides/vancouver/story.html?id=bb82c40a
-3b40-4aa7-9468-0c51ff9ef7e0&k=65469

For dragon boat action check out the race schedules on www.dragonboatassociation.ca

The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team will race at 10am in the first heat, in a Hong Kong style teak boat.  These are some of the re-conditioned dragonboats that were originally raced in 1986, when the Hong Kong Pavillion at Expo 86 donated 4 dragon boats to the city of Vancouver.

Our second race at 11:45am, is in a Taiwanese dragon boat, which was donated to City of Vancouver in 2003.  These boats feature flag grabbing to determine the winner.  But this is the NOGARD race (Dragon spelled backwards).  Instead of paddling up to the flag and grabbing it, you have to paddle past the flag, then back the boat up for the flag grabber to get the flag.  Many of the team simply turn around in the boat, and paddle forward while facing backwards in the boat… got it?

Our third race of the day will be a straight 500m race in a Taiwanese boat with a flag to grab before crossing the finish line.  But the time of the race is dependent upon our placement in our first race… so look for us in the 1:30, 2:00 or 2:30pm Taiwanese dragon boat heats.

On Sunday, teams will be settled into A, B, C or D divisions.  Semi-final races in the morning, and consolation and race finals in the afternoon.