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!”
All your favourite rides and attractions have returned, so be sure to take a spin on the Mini Jets, experience freefalling on the 1001 Nights ride, walk through the Dark Ride haunted house and play the always-entertaining Carnival Games.
PlayDome at BC Place will be open from 10:30am to 9:00pm daily from Saturday, March 14th to Sunday, March 22nd, 2015 (closing at 6:00pm on Sunday, March 22nd).
Tickets can be purchased at the door for $29 Dome Pass (valid for full day, all rides), $59 Ultimate Pass (9-day, all rides), $8 Guest Pass (required to enter as a spectator). Purchase between 10:30am and 11:30am each morning to receive a $5 early bird discount off your Dome Pass or Ultimate Pass. Children under 2 years old admitted free (for safety reasons, they are not permitted to ride).
UPDATE: Win a 4 Pack of Tickets
I have the opportunity to give away a 4-pack of tickets to PlayDome. Here’s how you can enter to win:
RT to enter to win 4 tickets to #PlayDome at @BCPlace from @Miss604 http://bit.ly/1Agspl1
Be sure to follow BC Place on Facebook and BC Place on Twitter for more information. I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Thursday, March 12, 2015.
Update The winner is Gabriela Moore! (Facebook entry)
Browsing the City of Vancouver Archives, I am often searching for a building, a place, or a theme related to how much Vancouver has changed over the years. Lately I’ve been focusing a bit more on the people of Vancouver who walked in Stanley Park, went to parties in the Hotel Vancouver ballroom, and who drove down Georgia Street long before us.
4 Vintage Vancouver Portraits
Using the search term “portrait”, I found 4 stories to tell by researching the people captured on film many years ago.
1927: Mayor L.D. Taylor smoking a cigar in his living room. Archives# CVA 1477-51.
Vancouver’s most-elected Mayor was Louis Denison (“L.D.”) Taylor who served as Mayor eight times between 1910 and 1934, spending 11 years in the city’s top office. During his time in office the Sun Tower was built (at the time it was the World Tower), he pushed for South Vancouver and Point Grey to amalgamate with Vancouver, and the airport at Sea Island opened. [Read More]
1870s: Studio portrait of Mrs. Jane Morton, nee Bailey, and her mother. Archives# CVA 677-512
Mrs. Jane Morton was the wife of one of the Three Greehorns, John Morton. Morton bought land on Burrard Inlet in 1862 along with Samuel Brighouse, and William Hailstone. The group was dubbed the “Three Greehorns” as it was believed that they paid far too much — $550.75 — for 180 acres of land, which is now the West End.
Jane was Morton’s first wife, and she had owned a tea merchant’s business in Blackpool, England, with her brother James. When Jane passed away during childbirth in 1881, Morton was able to claim her entire share of the business, worth about 700 pounds, and use the money to retain his part in the Brickmaker’s Claim and, in 1884, to purchase a large farm in Mission.
1930s: Mrs. Herbert Drummond. Vintage print attributed to Chas. West Studios. Archives# Port N527.22.
Herbert Charles Drummond was a real estate broker born in India to British parents. He lived at 1960 Robson Street from 1913 to 1938 with his wife Helen Frances Mitcheson Lewis but the couple traveled extensively through India and Europe. In 1916 and 1917, Helen was the regent of the Coronation Chapter of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, the first chapter to be established in Vancouver. In 1931, Helen was the guest of honour at a luncheon given by Comtesse Alexandre Lambert. (Before her marriage, the comtesse was Flora Macdonald Russell, the daughter of Joseph Ambrose Russell of 1973 Robson Street). [Source]
1954: Miss Surrey 1954 (Miss Valerie Crockford). Archives# CVA 180-4421.
I found Municipal Council meeting notes from Surrey in 1954 that named Miss Surrey a Miss Valerie Crockford. They approved a motion to grant Miss Crockford $50.00 to help pay for her Miss Surrey expenses. She was a contestant in the 1954 Miss PNE pageant, competing against the likes of Miss Chilliwack, Miss Vernon, Miss New Westminster, Miss Vancouver, and others.
Cineworks is an independent filmmakers society and an artist-run production and exhibition centre that supports independent filmmakers and media artists. Through initiatives that foster dialogue and experimentation with cinematic practices, Cineworks engages their membership and the broader community through the transformative power of the moving image and the changing role of film in its contemporary context.
Join Cineworks on Sunday, February 22, 2015 from 4:00pm (doors) 5:00pm (start) until 10:00pm for their 2nd annual fundraiser and Oscar screening party at Creekside Community Recreation Centre (1 Athletes Way, Vancouver).
The event will be hosted by Paul Anthony who is the Host, Creator and Executive Producer of TV’s critically acclaimed Talent Time airing on both Shaw TV and the Novus Network. Paul was the inaugural recipient of the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame Award for the most promising newcomer and as an actor, he has performed in over fifty film and television projects including Blade Trinity and the Emmy Award winning Traffic.
Tickets for the Cineworks Oscar Party are available online for $85 and I also have a pair to give away. Here’s how you can enter to win:
Leave a comment on this post naming an Oscar nominee this year (1 entry)
Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
RT to enter to win tix to the #CWOscarParty via @CWOscarParty + @Miss604 http://ow.ly/JdM0C
I will draw one winner at 12:00pm on Thursday, February 19, 2015. Follow Cineworks on Twitter and Facebook for more information.
