Music Monday: Vancouver Music

Comments 10 by Rebecca Bollwitt Monday, September 12th, 2011 — 10:03am PDT

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John and I have known musician Phil Ayoub virtually for about five years now. John discovered his pod-safe music and added his tunes to the RadioZoom podcast (which John started in 2004 and will some day resurrect, I’m certain). A few months ago I made a friendly wager with Phil, who lives in Massachusetts, regarding our favourite hockey teams that were involved in a highly-esteemed championship battle at the time.

The winning team’s fan would receive a collection of local music assembled by the fan of the team that will definitely have a better go next year. I have put this off for long enough and it is now my duty to assemble the most fantastic “Vancouver Mix Tape” to send over to Phil.

Dan Mangan. Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr

Over the last few years, Vancouver has nurtured a surge of talented and upcoming artists that no longer have to travel across the border to gain enough fame to get them a headlining gig at the Commodore Ballroom. With so many options I’m not sure which albums I should collect and send over to The Bay State. Here’s what I have on my list so far:

Dan Mangan: Nice Nice Very Nice or perhaps the new Oh Fortune
Louder Than Love: Dark Days
The New Pornographers: Together
Black Mountain: Wilderness Heart
The Matinee: The Road

It being “Music Monday” I thought I would crowd-source the rest. If you could travel with only a handful of local albums, which would they be?

Canada’s Got Talent Vancouver Auditions

Comments 3 by Rebecca Bollwitt Monday, September 12th, 2011 — 9:27am PDT

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Canada’s Got Talent, our version of America’s largest talent show, will be airing next spring on CityTV and auditions are coming to Vancouver this month.

Vancouver auditions for the reality competition show will be held September 19th and 20th, it’s the third stop on the tour that will also visit Winnipeg, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax.

If you can dance, sing, juggle, play piano, rock the guitar, or have an unique talent you think the world should see, come out to audition. Solo and group acts are welcome to compete.

What Canada’s Got Talent Audition Tour in Vancouver
Where The Westin Bayshore, 1601 Bayshore Drive
When Competitor lineup starts at 6:00am PT. Doors open at 8:00am.

There are some extraordinarily talented people in Vancouver so I know the West Coast will be well-represented. Those wishing to participate should visit the Canada’s Got Talent website to find out how to get signed up and to fill out the Participant Agreement Release form. Walk-up performers will be welcome but they will need to have two pieces of valid ID.

Update November 9th and 10th there will be call-backs in Vancouver for the next round of Canada’s Got Talent.

Vancouver Canadians Win Northwest League Title

Add a Comment by Rebecca Bollwitt Sunday, September 11th, 2011 — 4:02pm PDT

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The Vancouver Canadians won the Northwest League title today at Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium. It was a one-game, winner-take-all game against the Tri-City Dust Devils and the Canadians came out on top.

Photo via @VanCanadians on Twitter

The Canadians are the minor league affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays and enjoyed a high number of sell-out crowds at home this season with a record attendance of 162,162 fans (according to their Twitter account). With plenty of sunshine, lots of action, a unique dance team and one of the best ticket deals in town, there’s no wonder Vancouver had baseball fever this summer.

The Canadian affiliation also helped the popularity of America’s Passtime quite a bit and the C’s even started off the season with six Canadian-born players.

I also got more into baseball this year after watching all 10 innings of the Ken Burns Baseball documentary series. I admit, it took me 30 years to come around but I think the game is really growing on me. Marrying a man from the Midwest and playing catch the at Field of Dreams movie site helped a bit.

I was also proud to host three ticket giveaways (and the chance to throw out the first pitch) with the BC Sports Hall of Fame this season. Thanks to the Hall, my readers and 27 of their friends were able to attend games this season.

This is the Vancouver Canadians’ second title. They also won the Pacific Coast League championship in 1999 [source: Bob Mackin].

Congratulations to the Vancouver Canadians on bringing home the title today. Follow them on Twitter @VanCanadians and on Facebook for news and updates throughout the rest of the year.

Shops at Morgan Crossing 1 Year Anniversary

Add a Comment by Rebecca Bollwitt Sunday, September 11th, 2011 — 2:59pm PDT

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The Shops at Morgan Crossing in Surrey are celebrating their first year anniversary next Saturday and they’re inviting one and all to join the festivities.

Photo credit: Shops at Morgan Crossing on Facebook

What Food, crafts, pony rides, face painting, street performers, musical acts.
When September 17, 2011 from 12:00pm to 4:00pm with a pancake breakfast (8:00am to 10:00am) outside London Drugs.
Where 24th Avenue & Croydon Drive, Surrey, BC. [Google Map]

Over the last 12 months they have opened over 60 shops and services, hosted outdoor movies nights, an all-weather skating rink, and hosted a number of contests and fundraising events.

Aside from shops such as Winners, Roots, Gap, Golf Town, Crocodile Baby, and the Banana Republic outlet, they also recently broke ground on a 5,000 square foot facility that will be home to Arts Umbrella. Arts Umbrella is a not-for-profit arts education centre for children and youth ages 2 to 19. Arts Umbrella is committed to delivering the highest quality visual and performing arts education to young people, regardless of their socio-economic circumstances.

Vintage Vancouver Billboards

Comments 2 by Rebecca Bollwitt Friday, September 9th, 2011 — 9:21am PDT

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John and I are in Kansas City this week and when driving through KCMO, you get welcomed downtown by classic old billboards on rooftops and painted advertisements on the side of buildings.

Photo credit: John Bollwitt on Flickr

Vancouver used to have a lot of these until they slowly disappeared due to city bylaws. Now returning around town in flashy digital form, old school billboards around Vancouver are my Archives Photos of the Day.