Sunshine in the forecast, cherry blossoms painting the town pink, a new year celebration, and a home and garden show will all make this a wonderful weekend. Here are just a few events and activities you can check out around town. If I missed anything, feel free to email Miss604 with your event info.
This spring you can make a big difference in someone’s life! Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland is currently looking for volunteer mentors ages 19-25 for its Go Girls! Group Mentoring Program, taking place in Vancouver, Burnaby and Coquitlam Schools.
If you enjoy working with young people and would you like to help young girls learn to embrace active living, balanced eating and a positive body image, then consider volunteering with Big Sisters.
Go Girls! takes place over a two month period and encourages physical activity participation, healthy eating choices, and the development of a positive self-image among girls ages 11-14. Two mentors co-facilitate the program for a group of 8-10 participants and the sessions are two hours long, held after school in select Burnaby, Coquitlam, and Vancouver middle schools. Each session is structured around themes of physical activity, healthy eating, self-esteem, and communication skills.
The most important goal of the program is to positively shape the lives of girls by helping them build a positive self-image – setting them on a path to reach their full potential.
More information on Go Girls! can be found online and the volunteer application is also available online.
Miss604 is a proud sponsor of the 2015 Big Sister of BC Lower Mainland Volunteer Recruitment Campaign. Follow Big Sisters BC Lower Mainland on Facebook and Twitter for more information.
Virgin Mobile Presents Squamish Valley Music Festival this August 7th, August 8th and August 9th in Squamish, BC. Bringing some of the world’s biggest artists up the Sea to Sky, along with celebrating a lot of local BC talent, over 70 artists will join the three headliners Mumford & Sons, Drake, Sam Smith for three days of eclectic music from all genres.
Squamish Valley Music Festival Lineup
Mumford & Sons, Drake, Sam Smith, Of Monsters And Men, Kaskade, Alabama Shakes, Brandon Flowers, Schoolboy Q, Mother Mother, Chance The Rapper, Adventure Club, Porter Robinson (live), Hot Chip, The Kills, Milky Chance, Arkells, Vance Joy, Death From Above 1979, Sharon Jones & The Dap-kings, Odesza, Royal Blood, Angus & Julia Stone, George Ezra, Bahamas, Kaytranada, A-trak, Tchami, Gorgon City (DJ Set), Slightly Stoopid, K-os, Joel Plaskett With The Emergency, First Aid Kit, Mariachi El Bronx, Whitehorse, Robert Delong, Hannah Wants, James Bay, Elle King, Slow Magic, Benjamin Booker, The Funk Hunters, Sza, Bear’s Den, Alvvays, Justin Nozuka, Dear Rouge, Peking Duk, P Reign, Tei Shi, Oliver, Mat The Alien, The River And The Road, Willa, Scott Helman, Old Man Canyon, Little India.
More than 105,000 music fans attended the Festival last year, making it the largest outdoor music event in Western Canada. Squamish Valley Music Festival generated an estimated economic impact of over $32 million over its four day run.
Photo credit: John Bollwitt for Miss604
New This Year
This year, the festival is proud to have Spotify Canada onboard to enhance the fan experience by providing unique playlists of festival performers online, on their phones and through the festival app. Check out the lineup playlist here: SVMF.
Passes
Weekend passes go on sale Thursday, February 26, 2015 at 10:00am. Tickets will be available through Ticketmaster. Virgin Mobile Members Presale starts Monday, February 23 at 10:00am and ends Wednesday, February 25 at 11:59pm. Members who purchase a Festival pass will receive a $20 credit applied to their RFID wristband, while quantities last. Go online to see the exclusive access and deals available for Virgin Mobile Members.
The Festival will again be held at Centennial Fields and will be expanding its use of the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) enabled wristband system that was implemented last year to incorporate all food and merchandise vendors, including those at the four offsite campgrounds.
The 42nd annual Vancouver Chinese New Year Parade takes place on Sunday morning, as a part of the Vancouver Chinatown Spring Festival, celebrating the Year of the Ram.
Vancouver Chinese New Year Parade
There will be a pre-parade photo opportunity at the Millennium Gate on East Pender on Sunday, February 22nd, 2015 at 10:45am, with the parade starting out at 11:00am. Over 80 parade teams from various multicultural groups will start at the historic Chinatown gate and cover a 1.3 kilometre route along East Pender Street, Gore Avenue, and Keefer Street.
This annual parade is a non-commercial event, bringing in over 3,000 participants from various community and cultural groups. It will feature the largest assembly of traditional lion dance teams in Canada with dozens of colourful and energetic lions from various local fraternal and martial arts organizations. From dance troupes to the Vancouver Police Department Motorcycle Drill Team, marching bands and various community groups, the parade is expected to draw close to 100,000 spectators.
Vancouver Chinatown Spring Festival Cultural Fair
Throughout the weekend there will be multicultural performances, a special lion dance, martial arts and military demos, and more at the Sun Yat-Sen Plaza (50 East Pender Street). Stop by anytime between 2:00pm and 4:00pm on Saturday, February 21st or Sunday, February 22nd.
“This is 2015, this is what soul music is,” Adam Castaneda of Houston’s The Suffers told me last night at the Sunset Tavern in Seattle. The 10-member band is currently on a West Coast tour to spread their Gulf Coast Soul sound to those hungry for real, exciting, and energizing live music. Somewhere along the way, I also got the recipe for great gumbo.
The Suffers are Nick Zamora, Kam Franklin, Kevin Bernier, Jon Durbin, Jose ‘Chapy’ Luna, Michael Razo, Cory Wilson, Adam Castaneda, Alex Zamora, and Pat Kelly. (Photo by Daniel Jackson)
The Suffers’ Recipe for Success
I met Adam in the front room of the Sunset Tavern on Ballard Ave NW, under glowing red lights and next to the hum of the old school photobooth, in which we couldn’t resist posing following the interview. Painted above the front door in cursive letters it stated that the venue’s capacity was 99 people, meaning over 10% of the people in the back room tonight would be on stage — meaning we were about to get walloped with some amazing sound.
Adam, who plays bass, formed the Suffers in 2010 with keyboardist Pat Kelly and the pair carefully assembled the group piece by piece over several months, adding each ingredient to the mix along with the cherry on top, powerful and energetic vocalist Kam Franklin.
“If you haven’t been to the Gulf Coast or spent much time there, there are a lot of different cultures that come together.” Adam says that Houston is a melting pot, especially when it comes to music. Country, classical, blues, jazz, get stirred up with Cajun music, combinations of caribbean and native music, and African melodies. Pour latin influences into the mix such as Tejano music, Colombian influences, and you’ve got a hearty combination.
“It may not necessarily be soul as it’s defined in record charts and in stores, but it’s all very soulful music, and it all gets mixed up.” While avoiding a throwback or retro vibe, The Suffers manage to show what soul means to them, in this day and age.
“It’s a gumbo, which is not just in New Orleans it’s all over the place.” Starting with your base, the roux, each chef adds in their own ingredients to make their gumbo unique. “Some put a little crab in it, or some shrimp. Some people put chicken in it or some other combination and it just makes a gumbo, it’s a stew. No matter what they put it in, it’s always good.”
The band took to the stage shortly after 9:30pm, did a quick round of sound checks, then turned inward toward Nick on the drums to let out a battle cry in unison with their arms in the air. The music that then filled the room was in perfect harmony, and I was able to savour every note.
The first song rolled into the next, and the next, as the group barely seemed to pause, boiling over with energy and keeping the motion and the music flowing. Even the lights of the disco ball that slowly turned in the corner couldn’t keep up until they cruised into Giver, an 8-minute ballad.
Funk, soul, and definite ska influences tickled my ear drums. Michelle, with whom I made the trip to Seattle, leaned over and mouthed the words, “She’s amazing!” I nodded, took another sip of my local Chuckanut Pilsner, and felt even more glee as audience members began to let loose on the dance floor in front of the horn section. Bringing together a solid, smile-inducing, toe-tapping, core-shaking, sound with everything from bongo drums and a keyboard to bass and a trombone, takes talent and The Suffers have it in spades.
As it turns out, I was standing next to Lynval Golding, of legendary new wave/ska band The Specials, for almost the entire show, after which he recorded a video message standing alongside lead singer Kam Franklin. “Tonight I fell in love with this wonderful, amazing, beautiful lady,” Golding says in the video.
“Music has got such strength,” he added. “Good music is what it’s all about and this is a fantastic band.” Golding, who says he doesn’t usually get excited but was actually beaming with the joy from The Suffers’ performance, signed off by saying they were wonderful, wicked, excellent, and I felt exactly the same way — and hungry for more.
Recent winners of five Houston Press Music Awards, you’ll be able to experience The Suffers live in the “604” this summer at a music festival — I can’t tell you which just yet — but you’ll want to make sure to set a reminder to catch them on stage. Adam told me that the band loves festival settings as much as small venues. “We’ve all been playing music for a long time and in front of different size crowds, it’s just a different thrill. Whether it’s a barbecue or a sushi dinner, both are great you know. Bring your appetite!”
