Brush off the chilly January blues and focus on the warm fuzzy feelings that come with Valentine’s Day and supporting a great local cause. A Loving Spoonful CandyGrams are back this year and are available for purchase now, ensuring your special-someone gets a funny, sweet, or flirty delivery on this cheerful day.

A Loving Spoonful CandyGrams include a special-edition Valentine’s Day card, a message of your choice, two delicious Purdy’s heart-shaped chocolates, a complimentary McDonald’s Signature McWrap, fresh mints in a stylish tin from Yelp, and a Shamin Jewellers sparkly heart cell phone charm.

Sponsors donate all the items included in the CandyGrams so proceeds from the sale of CandyGrams will go directly to assisting those with HIV/AIDS. Each year, A Loving Spoonful’s volunteers deliver over 100,000 meals to those in need, and with very little government funding they rely on the generosity of the community.

Although A Loving Spoonful is based in Vancouver, their CandyGrams can be sent anywhere in Canada — and they only cost $10! For on-time delivery (via Canada Post) by or before Valentine’s Day, orders must be placed before February 4th for Eastern Canada, before February 6th for Western Canada, and before February 10th for Metro Vancouver.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy is the annual celebration of Chinese New Year mixed with Robbie Burns Day that epitomizes the sense of community and collaborative spirit that thrives in Vancouver. The event has been postponed this year so be sure to make note of the new date!

Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2014

Photo by Deb Martin

Celebrating BC Scottish and Chinese pioneer culture, history through music, poetry and culinary fusion, Gung Haggis Fat Choy will take place Sunday, March 16, 2014 starting at 5:00pm at Floata Restaurant (180 Keefer St).

The new date is St. Patrick’s Day Weekend so the event will be inclusive of Irish, Chinese, Scottish and First Nations cultures for a reinvigorated Gung Haggis Fat Choy that will celebrate our province’s pioneer history and the cultural fusion of today’s diversity.

Single tickets are $65 and group tickets are $650 for a table of 10. Each ticket includes a service charge. Purchase online in advance.

Founded by Toddish McWong (Todd Wong) in 1998, Gung Haggis Fat Choy events have sprouted up across the Pacific Northwest and on Vancouver Island. In 2005, the dinner moved to the largest Chinese Restaurant in North America at the time (Floata) and has since been attended by Mayors, MLAs, and celebrities.

Menu highlights previous years have included deep-fried haggis wonton and haggis pork dumpling (su-mei) along with appetizer courses. “Neeps” served Chinese style in the form of pan-fried turnip cake, dim sum style. Traditional haggis is served with Chinese lettuce wrap. Toss in poetry, music, and sing-along tunes like My Chow Mein (Bonny) Lies Over the Ocean and When Asian Eyes Are Smiling and you’ve got yourself a party.

For more information follow Ricepaper Magazine on Twitter and Facebook and be sure to mark your calendars for St. Patrick’s Day weekend.

Comedian, writer, director and legendary Kid in the Hall Bruce McCulloch combines stand-up, live music and assorted autobiographical insights in his new solo Young Drunk Punk at the Firehall Arts Centre, from January 28th until February 1st, 2014.

Showcasing his signature wit, the show chronicles McCulloch’s journey from his wild early days as a ‘young punk’ in 80’s Alberta, to his flannel plaid days in 90’s Toronto, to becoming a ‘pajama-clad dad’ in the Hollywood Hills.

Featuring McCulloch’s lifelong musical collaborator, Brian Connelly of Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet and Atomic 7 fame, the show is directed by One Yellow Rabbit’s Blake Brooker.

Bruce McCulloch’s Young Drunk Punk will tour to the following Canadian cities:
January 16th to 18th Martha Cohen Theatre, High Performance Rodeo – Calgary, AB
January 19th Banff Centre for the Performing Arts – Banff, AB
January 24th UVic Farquhar Auditorium – Victoria, BC
January 27th The Arden Theatre – St. Albert, AB
January 28th to February 1st Firehall Arts Centre – Vancouver, BC

Tickets for the Vancouver show are $35 and can be purchased from the Firehall Arts Centre or by calling (604) 689-0926. McCulloch will do a post-show talkback on Thursday, January 29th. If you would like to win your way in, I have a pair of tickets to give away to see Bruce McCulloch on January 29th. Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)

Follow Firehall Arts Centre on Facebook and Twitter for more information about these shows and others this season in Vancouver. I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Sunday, January 26, 2014. Update The winners is Liz Kalt!

Join the CKNW Orphans’ Fund to celebrate Pink Shirt Day with a kick-off Pink Shirt Day Ladies Luncheon on Friday, February 21st from 11:30 am to 2:00 pm at the Award Winning Blue Water Cafe in Yaletown.

Presented by Coast Capital Savings, Pink Shirt Day in BC is Wednesday, February 26th, 2014. On that day everyone is encouraged to wear something pink to symbolize that we as a society will not tolerate bullying anywhere.

The idea for Pink Shirt Day was inspired by two Nova Scotia high school students, David Shepherd and Travis Price, and it has since blossomed into an annual campaign against bullying here in BC.

The Pink Shirt Day Ladies Luncheon is for a good cause, but it’s also a fabulous event: it will feature a delicious lunch, wine, silent & live auction and a signature Pink Shirt Day swag bag. Emcee’d by two of Vancouver’s media darlings, the lovely Fiona Forbes from Shaw TV’s The Rush and Karen K from CFOX’s Jeff O’Neil Show, it will be a great opportunity to network while helping a very important cause.

Tickets are $65.00 plus applicable taxes. Net proceeds raised from the lunch will benefit a variety of anti-bullying programs in BC including Boys & Girls Clubs and the Red Cross RespectED Violence & Abuse Prevention Program.

Tickets can be purchased online. To learn how to you can get involved in Pink Shirt Day, visit PinkShirtDay.ca.

Vaudeville in Vancouver was huge given the age of the city and the era in which the theatrical genre thrived. From about the 1880s until the 1930s (when Vancouver was just growing up as a city) Vaudeville theatres around town — like the Pantages and the Orpheum — attracted popular traveling acts and kept locals entertained. Today’s collection of photos from the Vancouver Public Library and City of Vancouver Archives features some Vaudeville highlights in Vancouver’s early years.

1914. Vaudeville actors who performed at the Orpheum Theatre. Archives# CVA 371-2165.

1915. Columbia Theatre billboard & Pantages and Loew’s theatre posters. VPL# 18817 & 7333. Photographer: Philip Timms.

1909. “Little Miss Robinson Crusoe. Archives# CVA 19-30.

1913. Signed photograph by cast of “The Bower of Melody” given to Mr. Jim Pilling, Manager of the Vancouver Orpheum Theatre. Archives# CVA 18-2.

1913. Sullivan-Considine vaudeville circuit ladies’ chorus line as they probably appeared at the Vancouver Orpheum Theatre. Archives# CVA 18-1.

1913. Members of Happiness Vaudeville Company in “The Symbols” as they probably appeared in the Vancouver Orpheum Theatre. Archives# CVA 18-3.

1923. The marvellous [Harry] Houdini hanging outside the Vancouver Sun building. Archives# Port N100.