The Chan Centre’s 2016/17 season will launch with Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue on September 25th in the Chan Shun Concert Hall. Troy Andrews (aka Trombone Shorty) and his high-energy band will make their anticipated return to Vancouver with an exhilarating mix of funk, rock, jazz and hip-hop – all underscored by a signature New Orleans sound.
Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue
When: Sunday, September 25, 2016 at 7:00pm Where: Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (6265 Crescent Rd, UBC) Tickets: Available online now, by calling 604-822-2697, or in person at the Chan Centre Box Office (Tuesdays to Saturdays, 12:00pm to 5:00pm).
The musical prodigy, Trombone Shorty, got his nickname early in life when his instrument was twice his size. It wasn’t long before a major music figure, Lenny Kravitz, took notice and recruited a teenage Andrews to tour the world.
Now a well-established star in his own right, Trombone Shorty heads up Orleans Avenue. This supercharged and infectiously uplifting brass band have followed their horn-playing leader overseas to major venues in Europe, Australia, Russia, Japan and Brazil, headlining festivals and selling out performances along the way.
You may have seen Trombone Shorty on HBO’s Treme, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon or Conan. You could have also caught him at the 2016 GRAMMY Awards ceremony sharing the stage with Madonna, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and Mary Lambert.
On September 25 in Vancouver, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue will share songs from the 2013 release, Say That to Say This, which debuted in the Billboard jazz chart’s top five albums. The Chan Centre strives to present artists who transcend musical styles & culture, therefore it’s fitting that Trombone Shorty should start the season off.
Win Tickets
I have a pair of tickets to give away to this stellar season opening show at the Chan Centre, here’s how you can enter to win:
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RT to enter to win tickets to @Tromboneshorty at the @ChanCentre from @Miss604 http://owl.li/StxU303WJqX
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Tuesday, September 13, 2016. Follow The Chan Centre on Facebook and Twitter for more information about its upcoming season shows and performances.
I’ve been to the tasting rooms where I have swirled, swished, and sipped the delicious bounty of the Okanagan before. I have dined at winery restaurants, toured barrel cellars, discovered two new-to-me wine regions, and taken a workshop on BC bubbles. However, it wasn’t until last season that I experienced harvest time in wine country and found that several Oliver and Osoyoos wineries offer interesting, hands-on, vineyard tours and events that are available to anyone.
Tinhorn Creek’s Grazing in the Vineyards
Enjoy a hike through the vineyard with proprietors Kenn & Sandra Oldfield while sampling wines with canapes from Miradoro Restaurant. Learn about the gold mining history of the area and the new Golden Mile Bench Sub Appellation. Afterwards enjoy a 3-course lunch by Miradoro.
Tours start at 11:00am and ends at 1:30pm. Available every fall and spring wine season. Tickets for Grazing in the Vineyards are available online now for October dates during the Fall Wine Festival.
Miradoro Restaurant at Tinhorn Creek
Fall at Tinhorn is full of culinary events taking place at Miradoro. There’s Hops, Grapes and Grub on September 30th; and on October 4th is the Guest Chef Dinner as part of the Okanagan Wine Festival. Chef Jeff Van Geest invites Chef Chris Whittaker from Forage Restaurant in Vancouver, into the Miradoro kitchen to partner with him to create a multi-course dinner paired with Tinhorn Creek wines.
Covert Farms Canadian Signature Experience
This personally guided 1-hour tour provides an educational and entertaining experience of breathtaking landscapes and sustainable farm practices. The passion, humour, and individual approach to this experience is certain to leave you with memories to cherish and an arm load of freshly grown organic produce and bottles of wine to share.
Tours are option to most ages (special price for ages 5-18) just meet at the Wine Shop at either 10:45am or 12:45pm. Includes wine pairing and small bites at the rustic wine lounge. Relaxing tasting at your leisure in the wine shop. Stay as long as you like. Book now for tour through the end of October.
Watermark Beach Resort
Enjoy the Covert Farms Canadian Signature Experience directly from Watermark Beach Resort, making it your hub in wine country this season. Guests can take a tour bus over to Covert Farms for their signature tour, and then back at Watermark, they can sample locally-made wines paired with fresh Okanagan Valley fare at supper time.
Breakfast on the lakeside terrace at Watermark
There’s also a new farm to (treatment) table concept at Watermark’s Levia Spa. Recently opened in May 2016, the brand new Levia Spa brings a fresh approach to relaxation, with signature treatments themed around a ‘farm to treatment table’ concept that includes the use of fresh home-grown herbs such as lavender, rosemary, mint and basil in herbal footbaths and facials. Locally inspired body wraps, massages and scrubs are also available. Scrubs are blended in-house with Himalayan salt or raw organic sugar and all Levia treatments incorporate the use of the ancient jade stone, which is believed to bring wisdom, balance and peace by relieving anxiety.
Terrafina at Hester Creek
Terrafina is located in the former Hester Creek tasting room that has been re-designed by award winning designer Judith Park. Meaning ‘from the earth’, the friendly Tuscan inspired menu will have you arriving as guests, but leaving as friends. Comfortable Old World charm with an injection of New World approach inspires everything from Terrafina’s décor to the way they prepare their pizza dough and present their traditional Antipasto platter.
Whether on a wine tour with a group or an intimate dining experience Terrafina at Hester Creek Estate Winery will lay the setting in true Tuscan style. Book a spot online now for their Tuscan Dinner on October 8th.
Some of the harvest time sights and activities you’ll probably experience when visiting a winery in September/October
River Stone Estate Winery
Looking for a winery with a guest house? River Stone Cottage is a quaint two bedroom house with a fenced yard, large deck and shade trees. It is conveniently located a short walk through row #83 from the main house, winery site and tasting room.
Owners Ted and Lorraine Kane tend 9.5 acres of estate land on the edge of Tuc-el-Nuit Lake in Oliver. The grapes in their vineyard were once available to other BC wineries, but are now the main focus of River Stone. Enjoy harvest activities, like vineyard sugar tasting (brix) while staying at the winery.
The Greater Vancouver Food Bank is hosting the Vancouver Citywide Food Drive this month, online and in person, making it easy to give where you live this season.
At Your Door
Over the next week or so, volunteers, organized by the BC Thanksgiving Food Drive, will leave environmentally-friendly, paper donation bags on the doorsteps of over 38,000 households in our catchment area – Vancouver, Burnaby, North Vancouver, and New Westminster. Residents who choose to participate are asked to leave the donation bag of non-perishable food items on their doorsteps in a visible spot from the street on Saturday, September 17th.
Much needed items include canned fish, fruit (in its own juices or water) and beans. Donation bags left outside on September 17th will be picked up from 9:00am to 1:00pm. If your donation does not get picked up by 1:00pm on the 17th, email: [email protected] with your address, postal code and phone number. Volunteers will make every effort to pick up your donation by 4:00pm.
Drop-Off
Non-perishable food donations may also be brought to participating Save-on-Foods and PriceSmart foods grocery stores on Saturday, September 17th from 10:00am to 5:00pm.
Online
Residents who would like to make a monetary donation can donate funds online to the Citywide Virtual Food Drive.
Every week 26,500 people access our services at locations in Vancouver, Burnaby, North Vancouver, and New Westminster. 20% are children and 19% are seniors. Each year, the Greater Vancouver Food Bank distributes 4.1 million pounds of food. This campaign leads into Hunger Awareness Week in Canada.
Follow along on Facebook and Twitter for more information about participating in the Citywide Food Drive on September 17th.
Last week I was invited to Gibsons for the afternoon, to check out the plans for The George Gibsons Marine Resorts and Residences, a new development on the waterfront in this Sunshine Coast hub. My niece and I hopped on the ferry at Horseshoe Bay and sailed the Queen of Surrey to Langdale on a bright and sunny morning. I spent a lot of time on the Sunshine Coast as a kid and teen counselor at summer camp, but Gibsons was never the destination. Aside from Beachcombers and a trip to Molly’s Reach with my family as a kid, I didn’t know much about the seaside town until recent years.
After the lovely day over in the corner of the “604”, and after a few other recent trips to the Sunshine Coast for writing assignments, I can confidently recommend these 5 Things to do in Gibsons.
1) Art & History
Whether it’s history of a CBC television series, or that of the town itself, you’ll find it all right in the heart of Gibsons Landing. There’s the Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives, Heritage Walks, and the George Gibson statue where, right beside the visitor centre, George and his family are buried. George Gibson was the first European settler in the area. He was a British naval officer who moved from Ontario to the area and claimed Gibsons Landing in 1886 (the same year Vancouver was incorporated).
There is so much art on the Sunshine Coast. SO MUCH ART! From Howe Sound to Desolation Sound, the Sunshine Coast is home to more artists per capita than any other Canadian region. You can follow the purple artisan banners during events like the Sunshine Coast Art Crawl or pick up guide and start visiting galleries and studios where you could spend hours (and days) browsing all kinds of beautiful, crafty, and creative works. The Gibsons Public Art Gallery is a great place to start.
2) Shop
Whether you’re visiting the Gibsons Public Market or Gibsons Sunday Market, filling up your bottles at Sunshine Coast Olive Oil Co., or picking up some beautiful seasonal styles at a local boutique, you’ll want to fill your shopping bags (and trunk of your car) with all the goodies you can find in Gibsons. Swish Ladieswear is worth a browse even for the beautifully designed displays.
3) Beach
Gibsons has 20 parks and civic lands, beach accesses, trails and natural areas for public use and enjoyment. There are four beaches within Gibsons proper, and during our visit I also drove us up to Roberts Creek — a beach I was familiar with as a child — where we dipped our toes in the water before returning to the ferry. From town, check out Pebbles Beach, Atlee Beach, and Armour’s Beach.
4) Beer
Persephone Brewing is at the top of my list for my next visit, I still haven’t been to the award-winning farm but you can get their beer in Vancouver. Persephone operates an 11-acre farm and craft micro-brewery in Gibsons where they grow their own hops – one of the principal ingredients in beer – and other food crops in support of local food security.
5) Food
For lunch, we stopped by Smitty’s Oyster House, right on the waterfront (below Molly’s Reach). There we enjoyed some delicious oyster po boys and the menu also offers fresh oysters, halibut fritters, mussels, crab cakes, fish tacos, and more fresh-caught deliciousness. Of course there’s also Molly’s Reach, and out further on the wharf is Smoke on the Water BBQ. Within walking distance there’s Sweetwater Bistro and The Black Bean is great for breakfasts.
The best part is that you only pay one way for the ferry, and it’s a quick ride through Howe Sound (40 minutes) compared to Vancouver Island crossings. We took the 9:40am ferry over and we were back on the 2:40pm after a full day of fun.
If you would like to explore Gibsons, I have a $60 gift card for Smitty’s Oyster House to give away, courtesy of The George. Here’s how you can enter to win:
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RT to enter to win $60 for Smitty’s Oyster House in Gibsons from @thegeorgecondos & @Miss604 http://bit.ly/2bJ27SF
I will draw one winner from all entries at 12:00pm on Wednesday, September 7, 2016.
The George Gibsons Marine Resorts and Residences is a new waterfront luxury hotel and private residences that will rise in the Sunshine Coast’s historic town of Gibsons Landing. 40 luxury private condominium homes will offer ever-changing Howe Sound and North Shore mountain vistas.
The resort hotel will offer residents access to concierge services and fitness facilities, and will feature meeting facilities, a 350 dinner-seating conference style ballroom, and a 21,000 square foot Health & Wellness Centre, the first of it’s kind in the Vancouver region. Follow The George on Facebook and Twitter for more information about the the development in Gibsons.
If someone were to ask me what I would love to do more of in Vancouver, “going to see live comedy” would be near the very top of my list. This city has such a seemingly hidden hive of world-class talent and we all need to experience (and support) our comics every chance we get. You have the opportunity to check out the hilarious Rob Pue this weekend as he returns home from MTV, Comedy Network, and national comedy festival appearances to hit the stage at Yuk Yuk’s in Vancouver.
“A gregarious and dynamic comedian with a knack for telling it like it is, Rob has become one of the brightest voices to hit the Canadian comedy scene. With unmistakeable charm, wit and trade-mark act-outs, Rob is a must see performance.” [Tourism Vancouver]
Rob’s tour follows the highly successful release of his first official Comedy Album, PUEGILIST – Debuting at #2 on the iTunes Comedy Charts. Born in Chilliwack, Rob has appeared on Comedy Central, MTV’s Punk’d and had his own Comedy Now special on The Comedy Network. He’s also a regular on CBC’s Debaters, performed multiple times at Just For Laughs, the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, Halifax Comedy Festival and was the winner of the prestigious San Francisco Comedy Competition – with past winners including Doug Stanhope and Dana Carvey, and runner ups including Louis CK, Robin Williams, Ellen Degeneres and Patton Oswalt.
I have a copy of Rob’s album PUEGILIST to give away along with a 4-pack of tickets to one of his Abbotsford shows at Yuk Yuk’s. Here’s how you can enter to win:
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Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
RT to enter to win tickets to see @RobPue_ at @yukyuksabby from @TOOFARTV @Miss604 http://bit.ly/2ckkdfy
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Tuesday, September 6, 2016. The winner can select their show date (September 8, 9, or 10) based on availability. Must be 19+. Please enjoy the hilarious comedy responsibly.
