“I believed that I could compete with the boys if I was tough enough,” Bif Naked wrote on her Instagram feed during a recent “Throwback Thursday” post. “I was so serious. I was deliberately gruff. I wanted to be accepted, and included. My hunger for equality was endless.”
Anyone who knows Bif or follows her on social media knows that despite her kick-ass, tough girl on stage persona, she really is the sweetest and self-admittedly “lovey dovey” soul who loves to laugh and give everything she can to help others. But it’s funny, she really is tough, very tough. I can’t believe how tough this woman really is.
Bif Naked arrived in Vancouver from Winnipeg in 1990 when her band had a gig opening for The Wongs (Chi Pig from the Canadian hardcore punk band SNFU). After the show, she decided not to leave. Although Toronto would have been the popular choice for a budding rock star to set up shop, she found Vancouver to be the home base she needed. “The Vancouver music scene has always been very nurturing. It’s kind of the dirty cousin of Toronto and we take pride in that.”
Over the last 25 years Bif has released 5 studio albums, 5 EPs and compilations, starred in music videos (her own and others’), hosted a reality series, starred in a reality show, made guest appearances on TV shows, survived breast cancer, kidney failure, heart surgery, and divorce. In 2013, the University of the Fraser Valley also awarded her with an honorary doctorate.
“Twitter happened for me 7 years ago, which is also when I got married, which is also when I was diagnosed with cancer,” Bif told me as we sat at her dining room table. On my way into her house I passed piles of donation items, dropped off by her neighbours, that she was going to deliver to aid refugees in Vancouver. I added this to my mental list of the many causes she supports through volunteerism and advocacy – much of which is done on her own time and with little fanfare.
Surrounded by wooden bookcases and photos of loved ones that included dearly departed pups Annastasia and Nick Naked, Bif continued. “I think somehow people became comfortable with me, where previous to that they only really saw the girl in the videos. They thought I had a motorcycle, and big dobermans or whatever, and I think it humanized me.”
Social media in general has been good outlet for Bif, in fact she’s one of the rare artists who gets almost entirely positive comments on YouTube. Her spirit, energy, and transparency is widely respected, and appreciated.
Bif’s last EP, Bif Naked Forever: Acoustic Hits & Other Delights was released in 2012 and since that time she has done countless speaking engagements, volunteered with non-profit organizations, and recently completed an autobiography.
“Everyone knows who Bif Naked is, she is a legend and an icon.”
“People don’t expect me to generally be very eloquent or have the desire I guess to speak, or even to go do any advocacy or peer to peer work. When I was in chemo I just kind of had the opportunity to do that and display that kind of desire.” She began accepting speaking invitations for breast cancer awareness events and organizations, which forayed into other opportunities.
Her strength is motivating others, whether it be about getting mammogram, dealing with menopause, trying to find strength to get through whatever you’re going through — or how to navigate changing a duvet cover with a partner who is all thumbs. “Ultimately I’m just trying to be normalizing. Like simple things like that every girl can basically relate to.”
She started doing rock shows again, writing, and this past May she was engaged to an adorable man whom she met through a longtime bandmate and mutual friend. “Always a bride, never a bridesmaid!” Bif laughed as she beamed with the joy of describing how they met, where they go on dates, how much he loves KISS, and how they finish each others’ sentences.
“I feel somehow that I’m rehearsed for it, having been married before, you know all of the mistakes I may have made in my last relationships, or just the things I missed. I think being diagnosed so quickly after being married didn’t help and we didn’t really know each other well enough.”
The next step for Bif will be the publication of her book, through Harper Collins, which is expected to hit shelves (both online and in store) in the spring of 2016. With that will come a tour that will hopefully incorporate readings and acoustic performances as she feels many of he songs will be relevant to the content of the book.
No matter the outcome and reception of the autobiography, she says she feels extremely satisfied regardless, because her dad liked it. “Being able to read my manuscript to my dad in his last days, and hearing him laugh at the right spots, it was the best. It was the best.”
Join Bif at Western Canada’s largest women’s show on Saturday, October 17th on the main stage at 3:30pm. She will be speaking, playing some acoustic music, and I’m sure she’ll also be up for a selfie with you.
When: Friday October 16, 2015 from 1:00pm to 10:00pm; Saturday October 17, 2015 from 10:00am to 9:00pm; Sunday October 18, 2015 from 11:00am to 5:30pm.
Where: TRADEX in Abbotsford (1190 Cornell Street)
Tickets: At the door: Adults $12; Seniors (65+) $9; Seniors (65+) Friday from 1:00 to 5:00pm $7 (no coupon required); Youth (13 – 17) $9; Children (6 – 12) $4; Children (5 & under) are free. Save $2 online and in store at London Drugs!
Follow the West Coast Women’s Show on Facebook and Twitter for more information.
Be a part of a very special event for an organization that has supported families in our community for the last 85 years.
Since 1930, the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau has been a centralized warehouse for other bureaus and agencies in the region. Year-round, with the support of dozens of sponsors, volunteers and donors, they gather, sort, store and ship toys to local Christmas bureaus and community agencies throughout the lower mainland.
During the holiday season, the Bureau the bureau operates a “Toy Store” where parents can choose a toy for each of their children and receive a food voucher. The bureau’s aim has always been to ensure a happy Christmas for all children in the community.
To mark its 85th year, they are pausing to celebrate and say thank you at the Jingle Bell Ball fundraiser on November 5th.
Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau Jingle Bell Ball
When: Thursday, November 5, 2015 from 5:00pm to 11:00pm Where: Pan Pacific Hotel (999 Canada Place, Vancouver) Tickets: Available online now
Join the LMCB for an evening of delicious food, magical entertainment, live music, and heartwarming stories. Proceeds from the event will help us continue to make kids smile on Christmas Day for years to come. As a registered non-profit organization, the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau relies on volunteers and a number of fundraising events throughout the year to support their goals.
Win Tickets
If you would like to participate in this magical evening that helps so many deserving families, I have a pair of tickets to give away. Here’s how you can enter to win:
At least a century of stories spill from the shadows and dark corners of some of our region’s most historic sites and they’re opening up on Halloween to tell their tales.
Where: Britannia Mine Museum (1 Forbes Way, Britannia Beach up the Sea to Sky)
When: October 31st and November 1st, 2015
Tickets: The Halloween special event rate is $15 for adults and $10 for children/youths. Standard guided underground tours with the full train ride will continue to operate throughout the day via regular admissions.*
Britannia Mine Museum is hosting a two-day weekend full of ghoulish Halloween activities and fun “Spooky Science Shows” as well as a special “Are you afraid of the dark” train ride into the creepy underground tunnel.
Housed at the Museum’s Machine Shop, the family-friendly Halloween themed activities include: “Spooky Science Shows” every hour, interactive “black magic” themed science activities, Halloween costume booth, arts and crafts stations, and hands-on games. The special Halloween train ride is appropriate for kids ages 6 years and up and the 10-minute ride in the dark will operate every hour from 11:00am to 3:00pm.
This Halloween at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery, help them solve the Case of the Cannery Curse! Meet their ghostly victim and other ghoulish characters, on a self-guided mystery tour of the historic cannery. Drop in between 1:00pm and 5:00pm for this family-fun event (plan at least 30-40 minutes for your visit).
Where: Fort Langley National Historic Site (23433 Mavis Ave, Langley)
When: Adults (ages 17+ only); October 15th to 18th and 21st to 30th at 7:00pm, 8:00pm or 9:00 pm (three hour program). Family Friendly tours (for brave youth aged 5-16, accompanied by adult(s)); October 16th and 23rd-30th at 6:00pm.
Tickets: Advance tickets are required and can be purchased online*
Tales of love in the after-life, mysterious burials, and hair-raising amputations will chill visitors during Fort Langley National Historic Site’s annual Grave Tales Historic Walking Tours. Costumed interpreters will share tales of misfortune in Fort Langley’s cemeteries, streets, and inside the spooky 1850s fort. Learn about some long dead, but still lingering spirits, including Louisa Emptage who searches for her Hudson’s Bay Company-employed husband William at the Fort Langley cemetery. Maybe you’ll see the ghostly young boy who still wants to play in the Big House. Finish the tour with a hot drink around the bonfire.
Where: Fort Langley National Historic Site (23433 Mavis Ave, Langley)
When: October 31st, 2015 from 10:00am to 5:00pm
Tickets: Can be purchased online in advance. Free for valid annual pass holders. Age 2 and under free; age 3-16 $6.30; age 17+ $11.70.*
Trick-or-treat at Fort Langley National Historic Site and enjoy two great Halloween-style Bobs and Lolo concerts at 11:00am and 2:00pm. Make a craft, visit the Spooky Servants quarters and get a pumpkin-shaped airbrush tattoo. Geared toward young families, wear your costumes for great photos.
* All prices are as of time of publishing of this blog post and are subject to change. All prices on online ticket sales or in person at these venues are the final and valid amounts.
A 10,000 square foot athletic shop has opened up in Downtown Vancouver, for both men and women who are on the go in our active city. Located in Hudson’s Bay, this is a new one-stop destination for athletic and outdoor apparel and footwear with a focus on running, biking, yoga, hiking and golf.
Photo credit: Janis Nicolay for Hudson’s Bay
New Hudson’s Bay Athletic Shop
The shop features sought-after brands such as Nike, Reebok, Under Armour, Adidas, Helly Hansen, Lole, Y.A.S. and Puma. In addition, fitness accessories such as water bottles, headbands, bags and caps will be available in the new space.
The new athletic shop in Vancouver is part of Hudson’s Bay’s vision to become the activewear destination for the modern man and woman, ranging from high-performance items for workouts including running, cross-training, conditioning, hiking, biking, golfing, and yoga.
Photo credit: Janis Nicolay for Hudson’s Bay
Win a Gift Card
If you would like to check out the new Hudson’s Bay Athletic Shop and browse the selection of activewear that suits your lifestyle, I have two $100 gift cards to give away to two lucky Miss604 readers. Here’s how you can enter to win:
Leave a comment sharing how you stay active or like to break a sweat (1 entry)
Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
RT to enter to win a $100 @hudsonsbay #HBActive gift card from @Miss604 http://ow.ly/TlpD1
Hudson’s Bay‘s Athletic Shop is open in the Downtown Vancouver location at 674 Granville Street at Georgia. Follow Hudson’s Bay on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more information.
I will draw two contest winners who will each receive a $100 HBC gift card on Sunday, October 18, 2015 at 9:00pm.
This post has been contributed by Celina Starnes, SPES Public Education & Outreach Manager with Stanley Park Ecology Society (“SPES”). I have been following SPES since I moved into the West End a decade ago and I have been a member for three years. I wanted to offer the team an opportunity to share their news, events, and work so I have created “SPES Saturday” where they contribute and share stories with my audience once a month.
Fur Flies in Stanley Park
After the sun sets, northern flying squirrels cruise the Park’s tree tops.
Look! It’s a bird! It’s a bat! No, it’s the elusive northern flying squirrel! Unlike Stanley Park’s other two squirrel species – the common bushy-tailed eastern grey squirrel and the smaller Douglas squirrel – the northern flying squirrel, Glaucomys sabrinus, is rarely spotted in the Park.
Northern flying squirrel
(Photo: US Fish & Wildlife Service)
What makes this species so hard to find? For one thing this squirrel is strictly nocturnal. Its large eyes and whiskers help it to see and feel in the dark, and a sensitive nose leads it to its favourite food: truffles (fungi).
This squirrel’s penchant for truffles benefits the forest when the squirrel inadvertently spreads the truffles’ spores.
The fungus has a symbiotic (mutually beneficial) relationship with the forest that provides the trees with otherwise unavailable water and nutrients from the soil and the fungi with carbohydrates from the trees.
The same feature that gives these fascinating rodents their name is another reason why this squirrel eludes detection. They cannot fly, but they do adeptly glide five to 25 metres through the forest canopy on thin “wings” of skin stretched from wrist to ankle. The skin flaps that help them fly, however, hinder their locomotion on the ground, so these squirrels stick to the trees to get around.
They are so elusive up there, though, that the last one identified in Stanley Park was in 2007 by a biologist thinning branches during post-windstorm restoration initiatives.
Your best chance to spot one of these night creatures, then, would be on Stanley Park Ecology Society’s free annual Creatures of the Night candlelit forest walks on Thursday to Sunday nights every half hour in parallel with the Stanley Park Halloween Ghost Train, October 9th to November 1st, 2015.
Stanley Park Ecology Society members ride free on the Stanley Park Ghost Train!
This post has been contributed by Celina Starnes, SPES Public Education & Outreach Manager with 