It was a memorable night – the BEST Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner ever!
Joe McDonald “raps” and slices the haggis
The Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner 2008 is
Vancouver's 10th annual East/West
multicultural Fusion banquet for 400
people.
There was an incredibly warm vibe full of surprises… and we went and rolled with it.
a) Children's lion head mask
b) Host and creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy – Todd Wong aka “Toddish McWong”
c) Co-host Catherine Barr and Todd auction off bottles of Johnny Walker Red Label scotch
d) All the performers sing O Canada
e) Hot & Sour soup – vegetarian style
f) Ginger crab
g) Blackthorn celtic band
h) Joe McDonald + Jim McWilliams bagpipe the haggis, while Hareesh drums the dohl drum.
i) Hareesh drums for Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan
j) Joe Mcdonald “raps” and slices the haggis.
k) some of the many tasty and savoury dishes including the haggis lettuce wrap.
l) Grace Chin and Jim Wong-Chu read his poem “Recipe for Tea” – a Gung Haggis favorite
m) Ji-Rong Huang and Todd Wong perform “The Horse Race” on erhu and accordion
n) Catherine Barr poses with her kilted male chorus from the “Toast to the Lassies”
Who would have expected:
…being greeted by complementary scotch tastings by Johnny Walker – Gold and Green labels?
…that following Catherine Barr's reading of the Selkirk Grace, that the
Blackthorn men to spontaneously rise from their seats and lead a song,
followed by all the good strong Scotsmen in the audience?
…an erhu/accordion duet with Ji-Rong Huang and Toddish McWong?
… the depth and complexity of Scots and Chinese issues imortalized in a poem by Vancouver Poet Laureate, George McWhirter?
…Catherine Barr's rap version of the Toast to the Lassies would
include a male chorus in kilts including Vancouver councilor Raymond
Louie, and MLA Gregor Robertson?
…the creative visuals and story of The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam,
with Chinese-Scottish-Irish-Swedish-Austian Hapa-Canadian Ann Marie
Fleming?
… The Quickie's snappy words about dating Asian or White Men?
…a Chinese cowboy in the audience? Where did those cowboys come
from?
…the incredible cultural fusion of bagpipes with funky bass lines,
and the tabla and dohl drumming of Brave Waves…. Wow – Hareesh really
liked drumming for the Mayor!
…then wrap it all up with Blackthorn on stage for “Todd Wong –
where's your trousers” and a very warm circle singing of Auld Lange
Syne.
Big thank you especially to the good hard and admirable work by:
Carl Schmidt – song technician and Charlie Cho – stage manager. They pulled it all together and kept it tight – despite the challenges of the room configuration, poor house speaker system, competing with a Chinese New Year dinner in the room beside us, and technical problems for the dvd and screen projection.
Our performers are absolutely incredible, and so were our volunteers from the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team. We couldn't have pulled off last
night with out you. I am impressed and amazed…. and dedicate this
coming year to finding grants, sponsorships, events and networking that
will highlight your wonderful talents.
The evening was our
fundraiser for very worthy organizations in Metro Vancouver – Joy Kogawa House, Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop and
Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team. These organizations help highlight the Asian-Canadian history of British Columbia, as well as contemporary arts and culture, as well as the integration of multiculturalism and interculturalism in our society.
Our
Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner always great for incredible images and
memorable moments. Joe McDonald and Todd Wong perform the “Haggis
Rap”, Catherine Barr leads a kilted male chorus in a “Toast to the
Lassies”, celtic band Blackthorn perfrom on stage…
Next year's Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner will be:
January 25th, Sunday, 2009 – the 250th Anniversary of the birth of Robbie Burns
and we will be holding one of the largest Burns dinners in North America…
oh, and did you know that January 25th is also the Eve of Chinese New Year?
Big big surprises coming up for next year….
organize your table now…