The Lotus Awards are an advertising awards show celebrating creative marketing in British Columbia. Award categories include broadcast, interactive, design, ‘other’, out-of-home, and print. They’ll be coming up in November however there is a preview event coming up where you can meet those who will be judging the Lotus Awards.
Judges include Michael Borosky from Eleven, Tyson Damman from Big Spaceship, Christian DaBica from Jager Di Paola Kemp and couple of guys that gave us the legendary and unforgettable social media campaign; Old Spice’s The Man Your Man Could Smell Like. From the agency Wieden + Kennedy, Craig Allen and Eric Kallman will bring a fresh scent to the Meet the Judges Mingler.
The event with the judges takes place this Thursday, September 9th at Opus Bar at the Opus Hotel (350 Davie St). Tickets are $40 for the mingler and things will kick off at 6:00pm. This is an amped-up networking opportunity and preview for the Lotus Awards. I’ll be there on Thursday liveblogging and tweeting updates as attendees mingle with these advertising masterminds.
The Lotus Awards ceremony will take place November 10th 2010. Follow them on Twitter @LotusAwards
“Johnny Tomorrow takes you on a journey to the stars inside the star theatre, and back in time over the 40 year history of the H.R. Macmillan Planetarium. He’s searching for answers to the ultimate astronomy question: Are we alone? And if so, why are we here? And why are there so many lasers?”
This one-man show is presented at the HR Macmillan Space Centre September 9th until the 19th.
To enter to win, please leave a comment that includes anything space-related. You can include a memory from the Planetarium or mention the meteor shower that we experienced this summer.
The winner will receive a pair of tickets to opening night, September 9th. Since we’re short on time, this will be a one-day contest and I will do the draw at 5:00pm today.
The Vancouver International Fringe Festival launches this week with over 600 performances from 83 shows at over two dozen venues around the city. From September 9th until the 19th Fringe will host shows from pop-up “Bring Your Own Venues†outdoors around Vancouver to seven main stages.
Update “G” is the winner, have a great time at the show!
The following post was contributed by Anita Webster.
Peter Fox, photo by Anita Webster
Peter Fox has spent a lifetime looking at the ground.
“I started out in linoleum – I looked at flooring where ever I went. Then I moved into shoes and my gaze moved up about an inch.â€
Peter is the Fox of Fox & Fluevog, the wackier-than-thou shoe emporium born in Gastown in the early 1970s. He spoke at the Museum of Vancouver (MOV) last night as part of the exhibit Fox, Fluevog & Friends, an entrancing look at the lives of these Vancouver-based gods to the well-shod.
MOV’s Joan Seidl had to coax the story out of the self-effacing Fox, but we did find out he was working at Harrod’s in London in the ’50s when he was offered a job at Evans-Sheppard, a downtown Vancouver shoe store. He didn’t know where Vancouver was but over he came, family in tow.
King Tut, photo by Anita Webster
Years later he took his aunt’s suggestion that he open his own store. He borrowed money from a friend at church on the condition the friend’s son – one John Fluevog – be part of it. So began the legend that is Fox & Fluevog.
(Fox intimated that there was talk of calling the store ‘How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet’. Hey, it might have flown! BTW, it’s a quote from the Bible).
Through the ’70s Fox & Fluevog presented Vancouverites and the fashion-forward with high-as-you-dare platforms and clogs that no Dutchman would recognize. In the early ’80s the partners went their own ways, Fluevog to pause then re-open stores in several fashion capitals and Fox to SoHo where he set up business and moved into satin shoes – especially a bridal line.
Peter Fox, photo by Anita Webster
Fox was adept at going where the others weren’t. He told us for inspiration he’d examine what was out there, find what was missing, then fill in those holes. He took cues from galleries and art around him – for example a King Tut shoe came after he saw that exhibit.
Toward the end of the evening I noticed a loyal customer showing Fox a bag full of his shoes she’d brought along and I saw something I’d never seen before – a shoe-signing.
Fox, Fluevog & Friends runs until September 26th at the MOV.
Before John and I headed out to cover a second day of Live at Squamish we took a detour to the estuary for a quick stroll. Afterward, on our way back to the festival grounds, we ran into a roadblock setup by a black bear. It was a great start to another great day.
Arriving at the festival grounds we noticed immediately that dancing, hopping, and sometimes somersaulting were just a few ways concert-goers kept warm on the breezy Sunday afternoon.
As John and I spent about 10 hours a day at the Logger Sports Field in Squamish we survived on truck/street food. Pulled pork, gyros, jerk chicken wraps, mini-donuts, and homemade oatmeal chocolate peanut butter cookies. One thing I’d like to see next year is more of a “lighter” selection when it comes to the food. Inviting folks from the local Farmers’ Market to sell fruit and some vegetable options wouldn’t be a bad idea. However, I did hear the “Bucket o’ Poutine” was pretty good.
There were quite a few families at the event and all of the young ones we saw seemed to be having a fantastic time. I think the kids really added to the fun and happy-go-lucky atmosphere.
It also seemed the enclosed beer gardens helped control any rowdiness although I’m not sure what the perk of the VIP beer garden was other than it being closer to the stage (you still paid the same for beer). However, I’m glad we had VIP access so that we could use the washrooms that were inside portables (with stalls, running water, etc.)
At the end of the day, we were all there for one reason: the music. Here are just a few of the acts we checked out during Day Two of this first annual Happy Times in a Big Field event.
Kuba Oms
I did a quick interview with Kuba and had to hold my Flip camera pretty close to ensure I captured audio so please excuse the poor framing of the shot.
The bands were on fire (solid sets, great voices, rocked out instruments) and the mood was light and festive. My highlights included We Are the City, Jon & Roy, Mother Mother (who drew an immense crowd & hung out in the audience after their set), and Bad Religion. I tweeted last night that one of the first mp3s I ever downloaded in the mid-90s was ’21st Century Digital Boy’ and it was awesome to see Bad Religion — celebrating their 30 year anniversary — rock it out last night.
One thing I failed to mention in any previous post was the abundance of Canadian content and I’d say well over half of the acts on the schedule were from British Columbia. Kudos to the organizers and host radio stations, Mountain FM and The Peak, for cultivating this enthusiasm for home-grown talent.
We’re looking forward to seeing how this annual festival will grow; there’s definitely room for more people to come out and party in the giant venue. As long as they can maintain the mix of good wholesome family fun combined with beer garden silliness and carefree dancing to wicked tunes, I think Live at Squamish will become a regular end-of-summer highlight around here.
See also my recap of Day One. All photos used in this post were taken by John Bollwitt for Miss604.com. You can view the rest of John’s photos in his Flickr set.
The first day of the Live at Squamish music festival was pretty awesome. The view is absolutely stunning as you sit out on the grass and listen to the tunes of local and international artists.
The place is barely packed (far less than say, Surrey on Canada Day) so it’s easy to find a place to chill out on your blanket or get up and boogie. It filled up once the sun started setting but it still wasn’t at capacity.
Got to hang out with some cool people like Andy and David from We Are the City, Jon and Roy, and The Peak crew (Tamara, Cory, James etc.)
The festival has a really high production value in terms of bog screens, cameras flying overhead, and to-the-minute performances. You can walk from one stage to the other and catch acts on time without the sound from one stage drowning out the other.
John commented that this is really about the experience of the audience. Bring your blanket, bring your family and just chill on the grass or dance your heart out.
All photos used in this post were taken by John Bollwitt for Miss604.com. You can view the rest of John’s photos in his Flickr set.
Tips for attendees:
Bring closed-toes shoes because the dust will cake your feet by the end of the night.
Wear layers. If the sun pokes out it could get warm but it’s very breezy and gets super chilly at night.
There is a beer garden at every one of the 3 stages. Bring ID if you wish to partake.
There is a solar-powered ATM on site.
Food options include everything from pulled pork to gyros, coffee, and beaver tails.
Download the iPhone app so you don’t have to sit in front of the schedule board and take a photo with your iPhone to remember the schedule.
TAKE THE FREE SHUTTLE either from downtown Squamish or downtown Vancouver (especially if you plan on frequenting the beer gardens).
You can’t beat the scenery here (trust me, your breath will be taken away) and the vibe is fun and positive. We’ll see you at Day Two of Live at Squamish today for the big old party in a field.
The Lotus Awards are an advertising awards show celebrating creative marketing in British Columbia. Award categories include broadcast, interactive, design, ‘other’, out-of-home, and print. They’ll be coming up in November however there is a preview event coming up where you can meet those who will be judging the Lotus Awards.
