Category Archives: Upcoming Events

Chairman George (Sapounidis) to Rock Beijing!

Chairman George (Sapounidis) to Rock Beijing!


“Chairman George” and “Toddish McWong” finally meet!
Read about “Toddish McWong meets George Sapounidis”

George Sapounidis is a Greek-Canadian who sings in Mandarin
Chinese.  He has become famous in China.  In 2004, he was
featured in the CBC television performance special “Gung Haggis Fat
Choy.”  In February of 2005, I met him when he came to do a Spring
Festival concert for a Chinese audience in the Vancouver suburb of
Burnaby.  We hit it off immediately with our spontaneous wacky
sense of humours and living in the moment styles.  George sent me
the invitation below…. obviously…. he's very excited.

Todd & George pose with Chinese dancers!


INVITATION /
YAOQING:
 
Friends !   Hope to see you in Beijing
for our performance.   
George QiaoZhi from Canada
Call  13693364944 after April 29 .  
 
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE                 
Ottawa, Canada   April 15, 2007

CANADA'S CHAIRMAN GEORGE set to ROCK
BEIJING

Performing at:
7th MEET IN
BEIJING International Cultural Festival 2007
April 30 – May 4, 2007 in
Beijing (Chaoyang Park)  
 
Apr.30   19:30–21:00  

May.1   
10:00–11:30   
             19:00–20:30 

May.3     09:00–10:30 

May.4     09:00—10:30 

CHAIRMAN
GEORGE and the MINISTERS  (photo attached)
 : 
George
Sapounidis – vocal, guitar, bouzouki
Vince Halfhide – electric
guitar  
Stuart Watkins –  bass, backing vocal
Ross
Murray – drums

 

For performance details please call Zhu Dan at
13552287798 in Beijing (China Performing Arts Agency).

George
Sapounidis and his Ottawa-based Canadian rock band Chairman George and the
Ministers
have been invited

to Beijing to perform in one of China's biggest
international festivals this spring, the MEET IN BEIJING Cultural Festival
2007. 
Sapounidis and his band will perform
a combination of Chinese folkpop and Greek bouzouki blues. Their repertoire
also includes original songs written and performed by Sapounidis in Mandarin, as
well as Olympic-themed tunes. In addition to singing in Mandarin and
Greek, Sapounidis plays the guitar and the Greek bouzouki which resembles a
Xinjiang instrument called the Dongbula. In 2002 Sapounidis appeared solo
at the Festival for the first time.
 
MEET IN BEIJING Cultural Festival 2007 is
a month-long gala featuring diversified cultural performances by artistic
troupes from around the world. Chinese performances by top-class arts groups
from different regions in China will also be included.
The Festival is sponsored by the Ministry of
Culture of the People’s Republic of China, the Beijing Municipal Government and
the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and is organized by
the China Performing Arts Agency. The Festival has been held every May since
2000 and has attracted more than a hundred arts groups and exhibitions from all
over the world.
 
This will be the band's second visit to
China. In October 2006 they performed in Beijing's award-winning rock music
venue Yugong Yishan, at the Nanning International Folk Song Arts
Festival in Guangxi Province, and in Shenzhen. 
Sapounidis also attended the 5th Shanghai Baoshan
International Folk Arts Festival as a solo performer. He was invited by Beijing Television to take part in the annual
performance competition for foreigners and participated in the CCTV4
program Tong Le Wu Zhou. He has submitted original songs for the song
competition for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. He regularly lectures and
performs in schools and universities in Beijing. Sapounidis and his
band are based in Ottawa, Canada.
 
For information contact :

 
1) George Sapounidis aka
“Chairman George”  
   Ottawa :  613 951
6439  
   Beijing :  mobile
13693364944
   Email : 
george_sapounidis@hotmail.com
   www.chairmangeorge.com

   www.myspace.com/chairmangeorge   (listen to interview, songs)
  
www.cdbaby.com/sapounidis  (purchase CD) 

2) Han Yi  (Assistant to George Sapounidis)  

    Email : 
han_yi_1980@hotmail.com

3) Beijing :  Winston Wang Xiuqin (Deputy
Director, China Performing Arts Agency)
    Email
:  
wxq001@vip.sina.com
    Mobile : 
13701206798
————————————————-
 
About Chairman George and the
Ministers   (Ottawa,
Canada)
      
 
Lead singer and musician George Sapounidis
(Chairman George) is a Chinese folk-singing sensation of Greek descent
who has appeared at international festivals across China, on stage at Beijing's
Forbidden City Concert Hall, the Great Hall of the People and for China Central
Television. He is a polyglot who sings in more than six languages. In 2005 he
was the subject of the award-winning CTV / BBC international television
documentary Chairman George. He was Olympic Torch-Bearer and National
Olympic Committee Assistant with the Chinese Delegation at the Athens 2004
Olympic Games. His CD release  George from Athens to Beijing,
consisting of Chinese and Greek repertoire, was nominated for Best World Music
at the 2005 Canadian Folk Music Awards.  He holds a Ph.D. in mathematical
statistics from the University of Toronto.
Stuart Watkins (electric bass)
has performed at the Athens and Torino Olympics, in Hong Kong at the
international premiere of the film the DaVinci Code, and appears regularly with
the East Village Opera Company out of New York City. This was the house band for
the Miss USA 2006 pageant on NBC television and is currently set to perform in
Peru, South America. 
www.stuartwatkins.com
 
Vince Halfhide (electric guitar) is
originally from Trinidad and is of African, British and Japanese descent. He has
appeared on television and radio and has toured nationally and internationally
across Canada, the U.S. and in Europe as guitarist for many Canadian and
American artists.

Ross Murray (drummer) has been a professional
percussionist and drummer for more than 25 years. He has collaborated with
bands, composers, choreographers, and film makers across Canada and
internationally.  He is also a well-known producer and recording engineer
in Canada.  

CBC Radio Studio One Book Club: featuring Jen Sookfong Lee

CBC Radio Studio One Book Club: featuring Jen Sookfong Lee

The following is from CBC Radio's Sheila Peacock and the CBC Radio Studio One Bookclub website:

Jen Sookfong
Lee with
The End of East

Wednesday May
2, 2007
6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

The CBC Radio Studio One Book Club
takes place in Studio One, in the CBC Broadcast Centre.
Please note we have a new entrance at 775 Cambie Street
(between Robson and Georgia).

The End of East by Jen Sookfong Lee

In celebration of ExplorASIAN 2007, the CBC Radio Studio One Book Club
is pleased to present Jen
Sookfong Lee
on Wednesday, May 2, 6:30 to 8
pm, at the CBC Broadcast Centre.

Her debut novel The End of East
has been garnering great reviews from across the country. It's an
evocative portrait of three generations living in Vancouver's
Chinatown, spanning most of the last century.
Jen Sookfong Lee

Sammy Chan was sure she’d escaped her family obligations
when she fled Vancouver six years ago, but with her sister’s
upcoming marriage, her turn has come to care for their
aging mother. Abandoned by all four of her older sisters,
jobless and stuck in a city she resents, Sammy finds
herself cobbling together a makeshift family history
and delving into stories that began in 1913, when her
grandfather, Seid Quan, then eighteen years old, first
stepped on Canadian soil.


Here's your
opportunity to discuss the art of writing, and the struggles of young
writers, with one of Canada's newest literary stars!

The only way to get in, is to win!
For all the details and to enter online, go to www.cbc.ca/bc/bookclub .

check out these Links and reviews.

March 23, 2007

“The End of East is just her start”
Jen Sookfong Lee profiled in 7 section of The Globe and Mail

March 22, 2007
“End of East chronicles immigrants' gamble”
The End of East reviewed in The Georgia Straight

March 22, 2007
“Vivid Vancouver”
The End of East reviewed in NOW Magazine

March 17, 2007
“Uprooted from Vancouver”
The End of East reviewed in The Globe and Mail

March 10, 2007
Listen
to the archived conversation of SPiN talking with Sheryl
MacKay on North by Northwest at CBC Radio One's archive,
www.cbc.ca/nxnw

Battery Opera April 27-29: FUSE, What the Hell, & Bob's Lounge

Battery Opera April 27-29:
FUSE, What the Hell, & Bob's Lounge

battery opera is an eclectic and creative duo surrounded by lots of
creative and elcectic friends.  David McIntosh is of Scottish
descent, Lee Su-Feh is of Chinese descent… They are very neat people
that like to challenge the audience, as well as ensure that everybody
has a good time.  Last year, Lee Su-Feh was listed in the
Vancouver Sun list of influential Chinese-Canadians. The Bob's Lounge
duor of David and Max performed at the 2005 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie
Burns Chinese New Year dinner event.

The following announcement is courtesy of battery opera

battery opera announcements: the revised version

A double-dose of Lee Su-Feh at FUSE!
Friday, April 27
6 to 11pm
$15 admission
Vancouver Art Gallery

1. Su-Feh is a Leaky Heaven Circus collaborator in this upcoming edition of FUSE. 
With
Leaky Heaven Artistic Director Steven Hill at the helm, collaborators
Jamie Long, Tanya Podlozniuk, Lee Su-Feh and Billy Marchenski will be
set adrift in the House of Oracles. Designers Catherine Hahn and
Stephan Bircher will weave a landscape of sea and wreckage in which
gallery patrons can watch, play and chew the fat on this 3-hour tour.
You're sure to eat this show up!

2. Su-Feh has also created a piece called “Welcome to all the Pleasures” featuring performers
Ali Robson, Amanda Sheather, Alana Gerecke, Stacey Murchison, Amber
Funk Barton, Billy Marchenski, Joseph Jurd, Chris Wright & Chengxin
Wei. If you've seen any of the exquisite candle dances at various Bob's
Lounge gigs, you won't want to miss this!

For the full listing of FUSE events, please visit 

What the hell?
Saturday to Sunday, April 28 to 29
1 – 3 pm
Free
In association with The Dance Centre
A series of dance interventions an happenings instigated by battery opera in celebration of International Dance Day. 
Dance
is injected into the midst of life with encounters small and large –
puzzles, amusements and celebrations that sneak up and sprout up on
street corners around downtown. 
Performers
are Amanda Sheather, Alana Gerecke, Stacey Murchison, Amber Funk
Barton, Billy Marchenski, Joseph Jurd & Chris Wright. Choreography
by Lee Su-Feh.
Locations to be announced at www.batteryopera.com 
For the full listing of International Dance Day events, please visit

Bob's Lounge
Saturday, April 28
8 until late
No cover, no regrets
Café Montmartre (Main St @ 28th Ave)
Featuring David McIntosh (vocals), Max Murphy (baritone saxiphone), Finn Manniche (cello) & Ben Brown (percussion).
With special guest artists Amber Funk Barton, Sarah Brown, Adrienne Wong & MACHiNeNOiSeY.
Described
as “a louche supergroup”, Bob’s Lounge is at once a highly portable
creative practice, an experimental production format, and a platform
for inclusion and collaboration. Bob's Lounge has appeared in cafés,
clubs, living rooms, roof tops, art galleries and theatres. Guest
artists have included dancers, actors, schuplattlers, sopranos, and
Veda Hille. 
Watch a video (or two) at 

BC Book Prizes annual soirée: I love it… lots of literary connections and prizes!

BC Book Prizes annual soirée: I love it…
– lots of literary connections and prizes!

On Saturday, April 21, 2007, I attended the annual BC Book Prize Soirée at Vancouver
Lookout
,
Harbour Centre.  It is one of my favorite literary events of the
year.  Now I can hardly wait for the actual BC Book Prizes Awards
Gala later this year…. check PHOTOS
taken by Deb Martin and myself that are featured on the BC Book Prize Soiré  website. 

I love meeting up with my good friends in the BC literary community… and making new friends!  


BC Book
Prize board member George McWhirter, recently named Vancouver's inaugural
poet laureate, was crowned with a laurel wreath and read a poem for
an appreciative crowd. (photo: Deb Martin)

I
introduced myself to George McWhirter who last year became Vancouver's
inaugural poet laureate.  I also invited George to be a special
guest for next year's Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner – he was
thrilled.  George told me that while he is “technically” born in
Ireland – his family has a generations long history crossing back and
forth between Ireland and Scotland.  He even shared with me that
his daughter-in-law is Chinese from Singapore…. I think.  I will
have to reconfer with George on that.  When I joked about creating
a “McWong” tartan, George suggested that I could even use the term “Ma
Wong” which in Gaelic means “son of Wong” – but he also knew that “Ma”
was a chinese name meaning “horse.”  “That's my mother's maiden
name!” I exclaimed… I think it will be a great 2008 Gung Haggis Fat
Choy dinner with Vancouver's first poet laureate.



Literary men about town, Todd Wong and Ian Chunn posed with BC Book
Prizes board member Ann-Marie Metten. (photo: Deb Martin)

Ann-Marie
Metten is a favorite liteary friend of mine. She is an editor for many
publishing houses and magazines in BC… and she is also the Secretary
for BC Book Prizes.  And most important of all… we are two of
the coordinators for the Joy Kogawa House committee, working hard
throughout 2005 and 2006 to find ways to raise the profile of the Save
Kogawa House campaign and fundraise with The Land Conservancy of BC,
who were so impressed with the campaign, that they ultimately stepped
in to lead fundraising and eventually purchase Joy Kogawa House.



The silent
auction featured great stuff, including a gorgeous dragon puppet donated
by the BC Library Association, books, weekend getaways and much more.  (photo: T. Wong)

Silent Auction prizes are always great at the BC Book Prizes Soiree. This beautiful red dragon donated by the BC Library Association was later picked up by Todd Wong to become a new member of the
Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team… Red is definitely one of our
team colours.



BC Book
Prizes Executive Director Bryan Pike and Melanie Reid, successful
bidder of a signed Vancouver Canucks jersey. (photo: Deb Martin)

When
I put my $140 bid on the Canucks jersey, Melanie Reid warned me that
she would outbid me.  It was a thrill to reconnect with my former
English Drama instructor from Capilano College.  Last year, I met
up with Stan Perskey, my former Political Science instructor from
Capilano College who was also a Book Prize nominee.



|
At the
end of the evening, Todd Wong showed off his successful bid sheets
with Executive Director Liesl Jauk and BC Book Prizes board president,
Michael Hayward. (photo: Deb Martin)

Other events for BC Book Prizes:


Monday, April 23, 2007
Vancouver reading event at Chapters on
Robson | 7 pm

April 23-27, 2007
BC Book Prizes On Tour: Southern
Leg PHOTOS
Kamloops | Salmon Arm | Vernon | Kelowna | Princeton
| Osoyoos | Oliver | Victoria

Thursday, April 26, 2007
Vancouver reading event at Wonder of Words
| 7 pm

Saturday, April 28, 2007
End of
BC Book and Magazine Week

imaginASIAN” Bedtime Stories Collection 2007 – Part 2

imaginASIAN” Bedtime Stories Collection 2007 – Part 2


From the explorASIAN website:



Due
to popular response, we have extended the imaginASIAN program to the
end of May in celebration of Asian Heritage Month in Canada.

We
invite Canadians of all ages and ethnic backgrounds for their original
bedtime stories that weave together both Asian and Canadian culture.

“imaginASIAN”
seeks to generate a new legacy collection of fun, witty, and
imaginative bedtime stories for all Canadian children and in particular
those of Asian background.

Created as part of the 2010 Arts
Now program, the goal of the “imaginASIAN” Bedtime Stories Collection
is to celebrate the unique experience of Canadians of Asian descent.

We
hope these new bedtime stories will help to strengthen family bonds,
instill pride in young people’s cultural identity, and help to further
greater understanding between the ethnic communities. In addition,
Ricepaper Magazine seeks to revitalize the storytelling tradition and
to stimulate creative writing in children and adults as part of an
overall desire to improve literacy and reading skills in these
communities.

The story criteria are as follows:
– Language: English
– Subject matter: must be suitable for children aged 5 and under
– Must feature at least one prominent Asian character
– Story should be between 300 to 1000 words in length (no images or graphics)
– Submissions should be created in electronic form in TEXT or MS WORD format
– Submissions should be sent by email to: imaginasian@ricepaperonline.com

The submission deadline for imaginASIAN is May 31, 2007 (Part 2)

A
selection of qualified stories will be posted on these websites:
Ricepaperonline.com, CBC.ca, and explorASIAN.org. Some of the stories
will also be selected to be featured and read on CBC Radio One and at
the explorASIAN festival celebrating Asian Heritage Month in May 2007.
A selection of the best stories will be published in 2007.

Presented by the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop and Ricepaper Magazine.

Sponsored by CBC Radio One, explorASIAN, and Vancouver Public Library.

The imaginASIAN Bedtime Stories Collection is made possible with the financial support of Arts Now.

For more details, please visit our website at http://www.ricepaperonline.com/imaginasian

Richard Rodriquez, author of Brown: “The Last Discovery of America” speaks at UBC

Richard Rodriquez, author of Brown: “The Last Discovery of America” speaks at UBC

The
following announcement has been sent to me from Glenn Deer, Assistant
Professor of English, University of British Columbia. 

It's
funny how I just read about Richard Rodriquez, and wished that I could
have attended a talk that he just gave in town…. Well, thanks to
Glenn Deer sending me this announcment of upcoming talks by
Rodriquez… I guess I can!

Glenn has been teaching Asian
Canadian literature in his courses.  He is a head tax descendant,
and knows of my interests in interculturalism and racial
identies.  Glenn is also a supporter of my Gung Haggis Fat Choy
Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinners.

Richard Rodriguez,
author of Hunger of Memory (1982), Days of Obligation (1992), and
Brown: The Last Discovery of America (2002) will give two presentations
at UBC on April 25th. These talks are free and open to the
public.  (Please distribute this notice to others who might
be interested in attending.)

“On Being Brown: Identity and Impurity in North America”

Wednesday,
April 25th, 3:30 p.m.
at the Buchanan Penthouse,
University of British Columbia.
 
“Writing the World: The Essayist Within the Americas”

Wednesday, April 25th, 7:30 p.m. at UBC Robson Square (Campus Level),
HSBC Hall.
 

Richard Rodriguez (B.A. Stanford, PH.D., Berkeley)
is the author of an acclaimed autobiography — Hunger of Memory (1982)
— along with two other books that explore Mexican American identity,
multiculturalism, family life, language, and literature, including Days of Obligation:
An Argument with My Mexican Father (1992) and Brown: The Last Discovery
of America (2002). He has written regularly for publications like
Harper's and The Los Angeles Times, and his works have been honoured with
many awards, including the Frankel Medal from the National Endowment for
the Humanities and the International Journalism Award from the World
Affairs Council of California.

Richard Rodriguez's visit has been made possible through the
generous support of the American Consulate General in Vancouver and, in
particular, the support of Indran Amirthanayagam, Public Affairs Officer
for the Consulate. This visit is also sponsored by the UBC Department
of English.

Vancouver Historical Society presents Karin Lee's film “Comrade Dad”

Vancouver Historical Society presents Karin Lee's film  “Comrade Dad”

It's
been a great pleasure getting to know film maker Karin Lee during the
Head Tax redress movement.  She is an astute historian and story
teller.  She won a Gemini award for
the documentary Made in China – the Story of Adopted Chinese Children in CanadaCanadian Steel: Chinese Grit, is a historical documentary about the Chinese who helped build the CPR.

Vancouver Historical Society

Thursday, April 26, 2007, 7:30 pm
Comrade Dad: A Father and a Vancouver Bookstore
Speaker: Karin Lee

Vancouver Museum, located at 1100 Chestnut Street at 7.30 pm.�

All meetings are FREE and open to the public and visitors are welcome.

The story of Comrade Dad
is a quintessentially Vancouver story. Presented as a half hour DVD
followed by an engaging talk and discussion, Karin Lee presents the
story of a Chinese-Canadian family's journey through a particular
period in time, the late 60s to the early 80s. It is a story about
conflicted family which, with equal amounts of idealism and
stubbornness, marginalized itself within the greater society of the
time.

Writer/director
Karin Lee reflects on her father Wally Lee and the communist bookstore
that he ran on Vancouver's Skid Row from the mid-1960s until the early
1980s.

Production still from Comrade Dad

This
experimental biography of archival documentary photographs and footage,
explores both the person and the effect that his ideological beliefs
had on his family, set within the political landscapes of Canada and
China at the time of the Cultural Revolution. It is also a little known
story about how a segment of Vancouver's Chinese community embraced
Chinese socialism and how their idealism was affected by a changing
political climate in China. This work is not only about memory and the
filmmaker's relationship with her father, but also about questioning
his place within a divided political community as well as her own
ideals and identity.

Karin
Lee is a Canadian Academy Award (Gemini) winning filmmaker. She has
directed films and videos, both fiction and documentaries about the
effects of global displacement, feminism and the Chinese diaspora in
North America. Her other films include
Oyster and Chocolate; the Gemini award winning documentary Made in China – the Story of Adopted Chinese Children in Canada; Canadian Steel: Chinese Grit – a historical documentary about the Chinese who helped build the CPR; Songs of the Phoenix about contemporary feminists in China; and My Sweet Peony a short drama about cultural identity and sexuality.


Bilingual book launch: Finding Memories Tracing Routs, Chinese Canadian Family Stories

Bilingual book launch: Finding Memories Tracing Routes, Chinese Canadian Family Stories


Author
Dan Seto holds a copy of the original Finding Memories Tracing Routes,
Chinese Canadian Family Stories anthology collection.  In the
picture on the right, he is signing copies at the book launch. 
Dan is also a member of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.

Tuesday, April 17, 7:30 PM, the bilingual edition of Finding Memories,
Tracing Routes, Chinese Canadian Family Stories will be launched at the
Vancouver Public Library.  Please come meet the authors and translators
of this very unique contribution to Chinese Canadian history. Copies of
this bilingual edition will be available for sale that evening. http://www.vpl.vancouver.bc.ca/cgi-bin/Calendar/calendar.cgi?isodate=2007-04-17 .

See my pictures and stories from the original english language book launch

“Finding Memories, Tracing Routes:” CCHSBC book launch BIG SUCCESS for Chinese Canadian Family Stories

upcoming event: “We're All In This Together”

Vancouver Moving Theatre
in association with urban ink's Fathom Labs
and the Carnegie & Roundhouse Community Centres present

imageLive Shadow Theatre on a Giant Shadow Screen
Featuring 30 DTES involved musicians, crew and actors!
A contemporary fable from the Downtown Eastside
Two families from different social backgrounds encounter humanity's struggle with addiction.
Out of the shadows emerge dreams and memories,
fears, hopes and visions.

APRIL 19 to APRIL 29, 2007
Thursday to Sunday Shows 8pm
Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Avenue
Campbell and Keefer, seven blocks east of Main
Suggested Donation $5 – $20
Reservations Recommended 604-254-6911
www.vancouvermovingtheatre.com

“Stunning, stark and startling all at the same time.”
Robyn Livingstone, Carnegie Newsletter
“There is more wisdom in this play then in 150 years of research.”
Author, SFU Professor Emeritus Bruce AlexanderBy Rosemary Georgeson and Savannah Walling
with Sheila Baxter, Wendy Chew, Paul Decarie, Mary Duffy, Melissa Error, Patrick Foley, Leith Harris, Stephen Lytton, Muriel Williams
and contributions by Larry Reed and James Fagan Tait

Savannah Walling
Artistic Director
Kim Collier Director
Ya-wen V. Wang
Musical Director
Joelysa Pankanea & Ya-wen V. Wang Music
Tamara Unroe w/ Sharon Bayly Design
Adrian Muir T.D. and Lighting Design
Robin Bancroft-Wilson Stage Manager
David Chantler & Larry Reed Shadow Theatre Consultants
Terry Hunter Producer
John Endo Greenaway Graphics

Post Performance Talks Sharon Kravitz, ModeratorApril 19th – Coco Culbertson, Director, Lifeskills CentreApril 20 – Aline LaFlamme, Executive Director, Aboriginal Front DoorApril 21- Gabor Mate, Doctor, newspaper columnist, and authorApril 22 – Dennis Wardman, Doctor, community medicine and addictions specialistApril 26 – Bud Osborn, Poet & community activistApril 27- Susan Boyd, Author of From Witches to Crack Moms: Women, Drug Law and PolicyApril 28- Professor Emeritus Bruce Alexander, Author of Roots of Addiction in a Free Market SocietyApril 29- Donald MacPherson, Vancouver Drug Policy Coordinator

A Growing Accordionists Movement is happening in Vancouver

A Growing Accordionists Movement is happening in Vancouver


Todd performed accordion at the Vancouver Story Telling Society's January programs in 2006 & 2007.  Here he poses with Pauline Wenn – photo Deb Martin

Every year I meet new accordionists.  Some have played for years.  Some have just picked up the instrument.  I have played accordion since I was 10 years old.  The following year I entered the Kiwanis Music Festival.  Soon I was winning certificates in for 3rd, 2nd or 1st place.  I learned to play “concert arrangements” for music competition.  This included Brahm's Hungarian Dance No. 5, Bach's Prelude and Fugue in C Major, and even Gerswin's Rhapsody in Blue.

At the 2006 Word On the Street Festival, I met Rowan Lipkovits  – performer and accordionist.  Rowan says he wants to become synonymous with the accordion in Vancouver.  To succeed in this endeavor he hosts a CFRO Co-Op Radio program titled Accordion Noir, and he has started up a Tuesday Night Accordion Circle. 

It meets the 2nd Tuesday of each month at Little Mountain Studios. 195 East 26th Ave., Vancouver
Next meeting will be Tuesday, May 8th.

Below is Rowan's report from the first Vancouver Accordion Circle.

A dozen squeezers of bellows gathered last month to play a bit of  how and tell with a half-dozen instruments, comparing notes and experiences ranging from learning accordion in the 1930s to trying to figure out how to use them today!

This helped to establish a crucial point: apparently there is some mass interest in this much-maligned instrument!  So we are doing another one, and will continue on the second Tuesday of every month until Lawrence Welk arises from the dead and overthrows human civilization with his zombie polkas.

The circle remains a bit unfocused, but I'm hoping that with some group input that can be tightened up — examples of things we can achieve as a community include:

•    helping would-be students find teachers (I'm already in negotiation with the Slackademics workshops to provide an  introductory “rudiments of music”  session for our musical novices);
•    helping would-be teachers find students (these items kind of do go  together);
•    helping would-be public performers find bands and ensembles that are looking to incorporate a little squeezebox (when last inquired, the Ukrainian Hall at 805 E. Pender was looking for an accordionist for their folk orchestra — my recollection also has it that the accordion marching band, last seen in
•    the St.Patrick's Day parade, is looking for some fresh blood);
•    sharing information regarding local events where accordions can be heard (such as our weekly all-accordion radio show Accordion Noir* at CFRO CO-OP Radio, 102.9 fm! … sadly still at 2 am Friday mornings, but moving soon!);
•    and of course getting to the bottom of where to go to get accordion repairs and modifications done.
We also get to share songs, stories, album recommendations, and some /terrible/ jokes, as well as getting to ogle everyone else's beautiful instruments.  Maybe we make some friends!  If all we make is some beautiful music, we still end up ahead.

We're still using the facilities at the Little Mountain Studios,
located at 195 E. 26th at Main — a little chilly last time, so bring a jacket just in case — but as the seasonal weather improves perhaps we can go on field trip excursions to parks and terrify everyday citizens.

* One parting aside: we've been granted a one-off prime-time spot for the CO-OP Membership drive April 29th, from 7-9 pm: we plan to run two hours of  accordion musics from Latin America, from cumbia and conjunto to forró and, we hope, some exclusive live recordings of a local bandoneon player sharing tango music!