Bright oranges and yellows dropping from the trees, pooling with the falling rain then flowing down the streets. It’s Halloween weekend in Vancouver and this season we’ve feasted on quintessential autumn sights: Corn mazes, pumpkin patches, cranberry bogs, and Jack O’Lanterns. Through it all, especially the wind and the rain, Vancouverites stay active, enjoy the city, and — most importantly in this case — they take some pretty amazing photos.
In 2008, back when John and I still did an independent music podcast, we received an email to our general contact form online. It was from a guy called Matt, and he and his band (The Matinée) were going to play a show at The Wired Monk in Kitsilano. I ended up interviewing him for E!Online, back when I was also a contributor to the Canadian entertainment site, and we’ve kept in touch ever since.
7 years later, this talented and soulful roots/folk/alt-country group has gone from 6 members to 4, they have toured extensively across North America, have played major festivals like JUNOfest and Live at Squamish, placed within the Top 3 in the Peak Performance Project, have been named #2 Best Local Band by the Georgia Straight, released their album We Swore We’d See the Sunrise in 2013, and in recently completely four major Canadian tours.
It seems like the bus wheels keep on turning for Matt Layzell, Pete Lemon, Matt Rose and Geoff Petrie, but they’re now back in Vancouver and cooking up a new full-length album with a “more rock” feel. As a bit of a teaser, they have released the Broken Arrows EP featuring the popular track Call of the Wild, a new single Broken Arrows and three other tracks.
The band approached long time cohort Steve Bays (Hot Hot Heat, Mounties) with a batch of undercooked new songs and half-cooked dreams of the next album. Bays turned to the band and said, “No – we’re starting from scratch.”
With Bays and long-time collaborator Ryan Dahle (Limblifter, Age of Electric, Mounties) at the production helm, the band locked themselves in Vancouver’s fabled Greenhouse Studios for a week – raising their antenna to the noosphere, courting madness, reaching, stretching, rocking, and pretty much reinventing themselves.
The resulting collection of songs – the Broken Arrows EP – is palpable, not to mention infectious. The session captured a balance of risk and seasoning – something only achieved after years of friendship and collaboration, blood, sweat and tears shared on and off the road by these high school friends.
“It just worked,” concludes vocalist Matt Layzell, on the band’s week long trip to the outer rings of imagination. “It’s like a snapshot from a rest stop along the road of our evolution….and the view is pretty wild.” (Source: Bio)
If you would like to hear the latest from The Matinée, I have two copies of the Broken Arrows EP to give away. Here’s how you can enter to win:
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RT to enter to win @TheMatineeMusic’s Broken Arrows EP from @Miss604 http://ow.ly/U3chS
Follow The Matinée on Twitter and Facebook for more information. I will draw two winners at 12:00pm on Thursday, November 5, 2015.
If you wish to receive this weekly/weekend event list right to your email inbox, please sign up for the new Miss604 Weekly Events Newsletter below. It will be sent once a week, only to those who opt-in.
Craft fairs, markets, concerts, and fundraising galas fill the event list this month as we fall back one hour and move ahead into the holiday season. Miss604 is proud to sponsor the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau’s Jingle Bell Ball happening on November 5th as well as the annual Surrey Tree Lighting Festival on November 21st.
This event list is updated several times a week so check back often and submit your events (for FREE) via the contact form. This list is generated using the events you send in so if anything’s missing be sure to let me know!
Canuck Place Children’s Hospice is marking its 20th anniversary this year, after first opening its doors in November of 1995 and becoming North America’s first free-standing children’s hospice.
Having attended the annual Canuck Place Gift of Time Gala for a few years now, I have heard about their incredible work and impact in the community first-hand, from families and volunteers. In 20 years they have helped so many families and I wanted to share a bit more of their story.
20 Years of Canuck Place
Canuck Place supports over 600 of BC’s children and families with respite and family support, pain and symptom management for complex medical needs, art and education, recreation therapy, grief and loss counselling including music and play therapy, and end-of-life care.
“If you love something, love it completely, cherish it, say it, but most importantly, show it.”
“Everyday at Canuck Place I am reminded to make the most of every moment,” CEO Margaret McNeil told the audience of hundreds at the Gift of Time Gala this year. “It’s the courage of these families that reminds us how to be in our own lives.”
In 2009, Canuck Place recognized that we were reaching only 20-25% of children and families in need of pediatric palliative care in BC. Armed with passion, experience and a growing team of inspired individuals and partners, they embarked on a quest to open a second hospice location. The vision for Canuck Place – Dave Lede House, located in Abbotsford, was born.
The Gift of Time Gala is a wonderful event that showcases the love, care, and support the Canuck Place offers. Throughout the evening this year there were musical presentations, including some songs from Canuck Place music therapist Karin Roberts, as well as a story from a Canuck Place Family, the Rosses.
“We are here tonight because for many families, things don’t go as planned,” Regan Ross told the Gift of Time crowd. Regan and Amy’s daughter Gabrielle was on the Canuck Place program. The house served as a place of comfort for their whole family. Allowing them, and a specialized medical team, to tend to their daughter’s needs in comfort. After Gabrielle passed, her parents and brothers have relied on the Canuck Place counselling team and bereavement groups.
“How do you raise a child you know is going to die?” They told of their exhausting experiences at hospitals and how the staff at Canuck Place were like angels from heaven for them, it felt like they were being rescued when they were introduced. “You fall to your knees and Canuck Place picks you up.”
Canuck Place not only offers end-of-life care, but they work with families throughout the entire span of a child’s life; from the point of diagnosis and progression of illness, to death and beyond. They provide clinical care, respite care, nursing phone support, recreation therapy, counselling, end of life car, education & art, and more.
If you would like to support Canuck Place, there’s no time like the present to make your donation. Celebrating 20 years, let’s make sure they are around for another 20 (and beyond) to support BC families. Follow Canuck Place on Facebook and Twitter for the latest information about their community and events.
In 2008, back when John and I still did an independent music podcast, we received an email to our general contact form online. It was from a guy called Matt, and he and his band (
