Category Archives: Upcoming Events

Wayson Choy is “Not Yet” dead: story in the Georgia Straight written by Brandy Lien Worrall

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Wayson Choy's new memoir “Not Yet” is now available. 

Brandy Lien Worrall wrote the related cover story for the Georgia Straight last week about Wayson.



Wayson Choy steps out of the shadows with new memoir
http://www.straight.com/article-210543/out-shadows

Also check out Charlie Smith's sidebar cover story:

Wayson Choy's Chinatown memories inspire

featuring Jen Fooksong Lee, author of “The End of East”
http://www.straight.com/article-210547/choys-chinatown-memories-inspire

Life and Death are linked.  Wayson Choy has defied death twice.  His memoir writings are just as important as his novels.

Brandy Lien Worrall is just finishing up the last courses and meetings for her Masters of Fine Arts, Creative Writing.  I got to know her during the Spring 2007 writing workshop she taught for the Chinese Canadian Historical Society, which produced the book Eating Stories: A Chinese Canadian & Aboriginal Potluck.  Just before the course was finished, Brandy was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She would fight and survive.  Check out Brandy's blog

In 1989, I was diagnosed with a life-threatening cancer tumor.  When I found myself questioning whether I would live or die, I knew I wasn't finished yet…  I didn't know what I still had to do, but I knew I wasn't finished…. not yet.

Wayson Choy also said “Not Yet.”

Not Yet is now the title of Wayson's newest memoir.  It follows the 1999 memoir, Paper Shadows, which was concerned with the ghosts and secrets of his adoption.

I got to know Wayson and his work while I was on the inaugural One Book One Vancouver program with his boyhood friend Larry Wong.  The Jade Peony was the perfect book and lent itself easily to create so many events to help make the book come alive for readers and participants.  We organized events for the library, coordinated with Asian Heritage Month, created “Jade Peony Tours” in Chinatown led by John Atkins, a reading at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens with pipa player Qiu Xia He of Silk Road Music.

But one of my favorite events was the “Dim Sum With Wayson Choy” for which Larry brought together friends of Wayson, that had inspired some of the characters to speak to the audience.  And Larry even surprised Wayson with a video greeting from Carole Shields, who was unable to attend due to cancer treatment.

But even with the impending death of Wayson's teacher, Carol Shields, few people knew about how close Wayson had come to death.  Jade Peony almost wasn't chosen because Wayson almost wasn't available. 

In July 2001, Wayson Choy suffered a combined asthma and heart attack that would put him in a coma.  He would later suffer a second heart attack in 2005.

Wayson's public talks are very accessible and intimate.  He shares openly his brushes with death, and his time in a coma, his discovery of issues about his adoption and birth parents.  Wherever he speaks, he always connects with the audience and they walk away touched by his generosity of spirit, knowledge and insight.

In 2002, the Asian Canadian Writers Workshop held their inaugural Community Builders Dinner during which Wayson and Paul Yee were both recognized along with special Community Pioneer Roy Mah.  Wayson told stories about being both intimidated and inspired by Roy Mah, the founder of Chinatown News.  It was a very special evening.  I was proud to be one of the event organizers, and especially to have pushed ACWW to hold an event to recognize Wayson's achievements.

In 2005, Wayson Choy's novel All That Matters, was a runner up for the 2004 Giller Prize.  With that came a whirlwind of more publicity tours and speaking engagements.  In the fall of 2005, he suffered a second heart attack.

As Wayson has been inspired, he in turn inspires others.  I am truly looking forward to reading “Not Yet.”

 Not Yet, by Wayson Choy

Wayson will be reading in the Vancouver area on

May 4th, 2009, 7pm

Tix $18/15

Capilano Performing Arts Theatre (2055 Purcell Way, North Van)


Heather Pawsey, Leslie Uyeda, perform at Bloedel Conservatory for a FREE event for Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival

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Heather Pawsey, Leslie Uyeda, perform at Bloedel Conservatory for a FREE event for Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival….

Heather Pawsey has been a performer at Gung Haggis Fat Choy events since 2004.  Sometimes she brings flautist Karen Cernauskas.

Heather has been a pioneer of New Music in New Spaces, performing in places as diverse as Brittania Mines, a wine vat at Calona Winery, the Vancouver Aquarium and the Vancouver Crematorium at Mountain View cemetary.

Last year, Heather performed Historic Joy Kogawa House, with poems by Joy Kogawa set to music by Leslie Uyeda.
http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/_archives/2008/4/26/3661604.html

This looks like a fun event… and Free… to get into the Bloedel Conservatory at Queen Elizabeth Park.

Under Heaven's Dome
 

REVIEW: “The C-Word” play is full of c-words: Chinese, Canadian, colou-blind, change, characters… “C” it for yourself!

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What is the C-Word that is the meaning of life?



The C-Word cast
(Foreground, from left): Preet Cheema (Akesh Gill), Grace Chin (Kelly Cho), Sheryl Thompson (Ashley Hennessey).
(Background, from left): Fane Tse (Steve Chung), Raahul Singh (Pal Prasad). Photo by Terry Wong, courtesy of The C-word.


The C-Word  April 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 2009
written by Grace Chin

at the Playwrights Theatre Centre on Granville Island, Vancouver

The C-Word is an engaging play… even before you sit down in the seats.  What is the C-Word?  Is it for  Chinese?  Or the derogatory Chink word?  Does it mean Coloured?  Is it a four letter word that belongs below the belt?  One for male appendage, or for female anatomy?

Is the C-Word something more abstract, profound and perhaps “Complicated”?

Or is it “Compassion” or “Cheating”?

In the opening scene, “The Love Guru” is giving a seminar on how to get some action for his male clients.  Pal Prasad (played by Raahul Singh), gives a short talk about goals, and what it takes to follow through.  It's about intention and going after what you want.  It could be any personal development seminar, but this is about the C-word.

Next we meet girlfriends Kelly Cho and Akesh Gill played by Grace Chin and Preet Cheema.  They are on a shopping trip and talking about Kelly's upcoming wedding plans.  Soon we learn that Kelly has a live-in boyfriend named Steve Chung (Fane Tse) who is a yellow guy, while Akesh is single, but she doesn't like brown guys.

Things become complicated when Steve goes to see his old friend Pal to ask for some advice, and compare his relationship and impending marriage with Kelly to Pal's long term “open relationship” to a blonde woman named Ashley (Sheryl Thompsson).  What follows becomes an intercultural Vancouver-style dramedy of errors, innuendo, suppositions on the study of relationships. 

Excuse me… the proper words are cheating, commitment, compassion, change, comic and consolation – after all this is “The C-Word.”

“The C-Word” is the third play by Grace Chin.  Twisting Fortunes was co-written with her TF Productions partner Charlie Cho, and was a delightful comedic romp, set to Vancouver's caffeine drive.  “The Quickie“, Chin's first solo playwright experience, explored multicultural speed dating.  “The C-Word” goes to the next level, exploring a search for meaning in relationships.  This is Chin's most frank and sexual play to date, and hints at the darker sides of relationships and human nature, not to mention weddings.

In all three productions, Vancouver's multicultural society is the setting, but it is the intercultural nature of the characters where the culture clashes occur.  It's not just a Chinese-Canadian 2nd generation immigrant experience that is explored, but also South Asian this time around too.  And somehow this is juxtoposed with what might be mainstream Canadian or possibly alternative sexual lifestyles.

From the beginning, the characters are all interesting and engaging.  The topics are easily relateable to the audience… unless you don't have any friends of a different ethnicity, or have never dated.  The pacing is good, and the diaglogue never flags.

The casting all works.  Raahul Singh has fun being the egotistical “Love Guru” and his character makes reference to the Mike Myers movie.  More cultural references abound as character development exploration occurs when Kelly and Ashley try to figure each other out, and what their men may see in each other.  Here the extremely self-critical Kelly tries to get a handle on the brazen Ashely, she labels a “Samantha” compared to her “Miranda” – or is she really a Carrie Bradshaw?  Grace Chin actually displays a bit of each of the Sex in the City characters in her role of Kelly.

Much of the action revolves around Kelly and Pal, but while Steve's character seems stalled and doesn't give Fane Tse a big range to play with, Preet Cheema gets to push her character Akesh in the 2nd Act.  Supporting actors Lili Lau Cook and Vincent Cheng provide wonderfully surprising turns as Kelly's parents.  Mel Tuck directs this ensemble cast.

Previous productions

a take-out love story

an accidentally Asian romantic dramedy

Web: www.scriptingaloud.ca/cword

See previews in Review Vancouver and Vancouverplays.com.


Robert Burns in a Transatlantic Context: SFU events FREE to the public

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SFU Centre for Scottish Studies hosts a global Robert Burns conference
2009_January 178 by you.
The 250th Anniversary of Robert Burns birth, was celebrated at the Burns statue in Stanley Park with an small informal celebration organized by Todd Wong (red vest) and Dr. Leith Davis (2nd row with purple shawl, behind her front row daughter in red skirt) – photo T. Wong

How does the poetry and songs of Robert Burns affect Canadians in West Coast Vancouver?

Dr. Leith Davis, director of the Centre for Scottish Studies, Simon Fraser University, has organized a conference about the global Robert Burns – titled “Robert Burns in a Transatlantic Context.”

Leith loved attending the 2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, and how we blended and juxtaposed Scottish, Chinese cultures with a Canadian twist and a seasoning of First Nations.  In planning her conference for Tartan Week, we wondered how to give a “Gung Haggis” experience to her conference attendees.  So for the Tuesday night evening of Robert Burns songs and poetry, A Musical Celebration of Burns in North America, she has invited Toddish McWong and Gung Haggis Fat Choy performers to give our “Rap to a Haggis”, a Chinese claper tale performance by Dr. Jan Walls set to a Robbie Burns poem, and a performance of Auld Lang Syne (with the first verse sung in Mandarin Chinese) augmented with our parade dragon and Chinese Lions.  Deep-fried haggis wontons will hopefully be served along with haggis on Tuesday evening. 

On Wednesday afternoon, I will be part of the Community Research Forum of “Burns in BC.” – where I will talk about the history and development of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, and how it inspired both a CBC TV television Gung Haggis Fat Choy performance special and the SFU Gung Haggis Fat Choy Festival.

2009_January 261 2009 SFU Gung Haggis Fat Choy Festival features “dragon cart racing” invented by yours truly – photo Todd Wong.

How did I first meet Dr. Davis?

After brief email introductions, I called her with the idea of a wreath laying ceremony at the Burns statue in Vancouver's Stanley Park to mark the 250th Anniversary of Burn's birth.

We emailed and talked by phone and organized some activities, but we didn't meet in person until after she had spent 2 weeks in Scotland for the 2009 Homecoming activities, and arrived back in Vancouver on January 25th, and came to Stanley Park for our planned event, which her husband and two children were already present at.

That evening she and her husband were guests of honour at the 2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.  Leith gave “the immortal address” and marvelled at all the songs, guests, food and performances at the Gung Haggis Dinner, and especially at the impromptu ceremonial cutting of the haggis by Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson.

Please check out the free public events for the:


SFU's Centre for Scottish Studies presents

“Robert Burns in a Transatlantic
Context”

 

Public events:

 

Tuesday, April 7th

Doors open at 6:30 p.m.; concerts starts at 7:00
p.m.

A Musical Celebration of 
Burns in
North America

Jon Bartlett and Rika Ruebsaat, 
“Burns Songs in BC”

Kirsteen McCue and David Hamilton, 
“Burns Songs Set by Serge Hovey”

Gung Haggis Fat Choy Performers

Scottish Cultural Centre,
8886 Hudson Street , Vancouver

 

Wednesday, April 8th, 3:00 – 3:30 p.m.

Michael Russell, Scottish Minister for Culture,
External Affairs
and the Constitution
“Connecting
Scotland and
the Scottish Diaspora”

Room 1425
SFU Harbour
Centre, 515 West Hastings Street ,
Vancouver


Wednesday, April 8th, 3:45 – 5:00 p.m.

Community Research Forum on 
“Burns in BC”

Room 2200
SFU Harbour
Centre, 515 West Hastings Street ,
Vancouver

 

Wednesday, April 8th, 7:00 p.m.

Lecture: Dr. Robert Crawford, 
“Writing Burns’s
Biography”

Room 1400,
SFU Harbour
Centre (reception to follow)

 

Thursday, April 9th, 3:00-4:30 p.m.

Workshop: “Connecting Diasporas: 
Scotland, Asia and the Caribbean ”

Room 2200, Harbour Centre,
515 West Hastings Street , Vancouver

 

All events are free and open to the public. 

Please contact Ron Sutherland to reserve a seat:

rsutherl@sfu.ca;
604-988-0479

 

Sponsored by SFU’s Centre for Scottish Studies;
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada; and the
Vancouver Burns Club

1st Writer-in-residence reading at Joy Kogawa House with John Asfour and guest Ann Diamond on April 6th

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Writer-in-residence John Asfour welcomes novelist, playwright, and essayist Ann Diamond to read excerpts from My Cold War, stories from 1950s Montreal


2009_March 095 by you.

Montreal writer John Asfour met the Historic Joy Kogawa House Society at a board meeting March 23.  John (with dark glasses) stands beside life-size photo of Joy Kogawa used in the Royal BC Museum exhibit “Free Spirit.” – photo Deb Martin.

 

Monday, April 6, at 7:30pm, by donation

 

Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver

 

Ann Diamond's best-known work is a long poem, A Nun's Diary
(1989), which was adapted for theatre by Robert Lepage and became the
subject of a National Film Board documentary, “Breaking a Leg” directed
by Donald Winkler. Her first novel, Mona's Dance, was chosen by CBC as the best small press novel of 1988. In 1994, a story collection, Evil Eye, won the Hugh MacLennan Award for fiction. As an experiment, she self-published her novel Static Control after it had been accepted by DC Books and Les Editeurs XYZ.

 

Since 2002 when Diamond began work on her memoir, My Cold War,
she has reincarnated as a researcher and haunter of libraries,
fine-tooth-comber of documents and files, and explorer of a forbidden
chapter in recent Canadian history. This ongoing project has been, in
many ways, about reclaiming her own history as the daughter of a
Canadian Air Force intelligence officer, who came to Quebec from Sea
Island, BC, in 1943 to “hunt for Nazi spies.” Learning of her father's
secret activities led her inevitably into a wide-ranging study of the
history of that period, some of which remains classified to this day.

 

It
has also changed Diamond's relationship to the community she came
from–Anglo Montreal. It was a mixed blessing to live in a city with a
rich cultural tradition and a multi-layered history. By the mid-1980s,
when I began publishing fiction and poetry, Montreal had wandered off
the literary map of Canada. Diamond waged a personal campaign to change
that, writing for the Gazette, Books in Canada, Canadian Forum, CBC, Montreal Mirror, Room of One's Own, Geist, and so on.

 

Today
Diamond continues to study the history of Cold War experiments on
children, a secret program that spanned the country. Her birthplace,
Montreal, was the epicentre of a project that has altered our future in
countless ways which need to be faced. After five years of research and
writing, Diamond is pleased to shared those stories with a Vancouver
audience at Kogawa house.

 

Join us on Monday, April 6, at 7:30pm at Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue in Vancouver. Admission by donation.

The C-Word… new play by Grace Chin opens April 2 at Playwrights Theatre Centre

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The C-Word is a new play by Grace Chin…

Gung Haggis members saw her first play Twisting Fortunes and the 2nd play “The Quickie”

Both were featured as sneak preview excerpts at Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners in 2007 and 2008.

Check out Grace's play “The C-Word“



The C-Word cast (from left): Preet Cheema
(Akesh Gill), Sheryl Thompson (Ashley Hennessey), Grace Chin (Kelly
Cho), Fane Tse (Steve Chung), Raahul Singh (Pal Prasad). Photo by Terry
Wong, wonger.ca

From http://www.scriptingaloud.ca/cword/

If cheating is colour blind, so is commitment, increasingly a “C-word”
to both sexes. How do you deal with intercultural cheating, commitment,
and consequences? The C-Word,
a contemporary, set-in-Vancouver dramedy directed by Mel Tuck, invites
an intimate in-and-out of the bedroom view of four friends' lives when
infidelity and unforeseen consequences force them to choose to whom,
and to what, they must commit. More

… a contemporary, set-in-Vancouver dramedy directed by Mel Tuck, invites an intimate in-and-out of the bedroom view of four friends’ lives when infidelity and unforeseen consequences force them to choose to whom, and to what, they must commit.

Playwrights Theatre Centre, Granville Island
1398 Cartwright Street, Vancouver, BC

Thurs Apr 2 – Sat Apr 4
Thurs Apr 9 – Sat Apr 11
All shows 8 pm

Tickets:
$18 online (PayPal)
“2 for $30” Thursday April 9
$20 at the door

DOOR PRIZES MOST NIGHTS

To buy tickets in advance and for more information:
www.scriptingaloud.ca/cword
cwordplay@gmail.com

CELTIC FEST – Lots of events… where will I be?

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Celticfest is one of Vancouver's most exciting ethno-cultural festivals:
Saturday I will check out “Battle of the Bards” King O' Men (about Robbie Burns, and the annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy entry in the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Celticfest started on Wednesday and goes to Sunday March 15th.  St. Patrick's Day is on Tuesday March 17th.

Check out the website: www.celticfestvancouver.com for lots of great events featuring Ashley McIssac, Lunasa, Irish Pipes Regiment, Battle of the Bards etc. etc.

This year there is a play about Robbie Burns, titled King O'Men – featuring bagpiper Rob McDonald and actor John Hardie.  All the more to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the birth of poet Robert Burns.

I was involved in the augural “Battle of the Bards” event last year, playing poet Robbie Burns.  It's a great fun event, where performers “channel” the spirit of the poets, and read the poems.   Check out my story from last year: www.GungHaggisFatChoy.com :: Toddish McWong's “Robert Burns” wins Battle of the Bards

The annual St. Patrick's Day Parade is lots of fun too!  We usually hang out at the Celticfest Village following the parade.  This year's parade is on Georgia St.  Starting at Broughton, the parade route heads East ending at Howe St.  The Village is on the North lawn of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Check out my story from last year: www.GungHaggisFatChoy.com :: Gung Haggis Fat Choy puts a dragon (not a snake) in the parade.

Here are 3 events that I will be attending – hope to see you there!

Saturday March 14
2:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Festival Pick
Spoken Word
Music

Battle of the Bards – A Literary Pub Crawl and Grand Finale

Three cheers! The Battle of the Bards is back for 2009, whisking you along on a flying tour of Granville Street’s best Irish pubs.

Dynamic spoken word artists Sean McGarragle, Duncan Shields and Warren Dean Fulton
channel W.B. Yeats, Oscar Wilde and Robbie Burns respectively as they
duke it out to be crowned “top bard” in an on-the-move poetry
slam-style contest, judged by members of the audience in each venue.

The crawl culminates at The Cellar, where the bards will do final “battle” with Vancouver’s first official poet laureate George McWhirter
presiding over the event. Expect plenty of artistic license as the
performers offer their own hilarious perspectives on the masters with
the help of improv fiddler Caitlan Read.

Who will be this year’s “top bard”? Why don’t you be the judge!

Pub Crawl
Round 1 – 2:00 PM @ Doolin's Irish Pub
Round 2 – 2:45 PM @ Ceili’s Irish Pub
Round 3 – 3:30 PM @ Johnnie Fox's Irish Snug
No admission charge @ Pub Crawl venues

Open Mic & Finale Event
The Cellar, 1006 Granville St. @ Nelson
4:25 PM to 6:00 PM

Saturday March 14

2 shows:
2:00 PM & 4:00 PM

Festival Pick
Spoken Word
Music
Kids / Family

King o' Men – A Robbie Burns Stage Play & 250th Birthday Tribute

Featuring John Hardie & Rob MacDonald

A
literary and musical costumed event that will send you spinning back in
time to the glorious days of Scotland’s most legendary poet and
lyricist. 2009 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robbie
Burns, a cultural icon in Scotland and around the world. This tribute
features Rob MacDonald, a local piper, Chairman of “A
Swarm of Drones” and a Burns aficionado. He’ll be telling the
fascinating story of the life and times of Burns and playing some of
the tunes Robert set words to.

His performance will be followed by King o’ Men, an exciting new one-man play directed by writer and actor John Hardie
and making its Vancouver premiere at CelticFest. The production
imagines one of Burns’ closest and oldest friends reminiscing to a
curious journalist following the news of the great poet’s final
passing. This show will appeal to loyal fans of Scotland's favourite
literary son as well as those who are new to Burns’ story and works.

Here's
what Chris White, Artistic Director of the Ottawa Folk Festival, had to
say about a recent production of the play at the National Arts Centre:
“With minimal set and few props, Hardie delivered the piece with
enormous skill and subtlety, somehow managing to be humorous,
informative and intensely moving all at once. The performance, which
elicited an overwhelmingly positive audience response, is one that I
will be forever grateful to have witnessed.”

Tom Lee Music – Music Hall
3rd floor – 929 Granville St.

Sunday March 15
11:30 AM

Festival Pick
Kids / Family
Music
Dance

Shamrock6th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade

Where can you find hundreds of thousands of people, all seized with Celtic fever? At the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, of course! This year the parade travels a new route along Georgia Street, beginning at Broughton St., ending up at the Celtic Village
outside the Vancouver Art Gallery at Georgia and Howe. Round up your
family and friends (and favourite green attire) and enjoy the spectacle
of over 2,000 colourfully costumed participants, from pipers and
drummers to acrobats and stilt-walkers. The price is still right –
absolutely free!

Presented by Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association

Blogger Night at the Opera… Rigoletto gets thrown to the net surfers!

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BLOGGERS RULE at the Vancouver Opera… Live Blogging for Rigoletto!

2009_March 007

Local Bloggers sat in the lobby during intermission, live blogging opening night at Rigoletto. (l-r) Monique Trottier “So Misguided”, Rebecca Bollwit “Miss 604”, Tanya “Netchick”, Kimli “Delicious Juice” – photo Todd Wong

Opera is one of the most intercultural art forms.  It forces its audience to listen to foreign languages, as it tells stories from different cultures.  Okay, it also presents a lot of stereotypes and racial chariactures too!  But today's productions will balance historic stereotypes with 21st Century sensitivity for cultural diversity.

Vancouver Opera has been one of the most innovative arts organizations to find new ways to market themselves, whether creating Manga comics for promotion, marketing to the Asian population base in Vancouver with the Voices of the Pacific Rim recital, or beginning live blogging with Carmen and now Rigoletto operas.

Opening Saturday Night at Vancouver Opera, there are lots of people dressed up in the finery.  The lineups are deep and long for the cappucinos or wine.  Over at the East side of the lobby, 6 bloggers sit madly typing into their laptop computers during intermission.  It's Live Blogging Night at the Opera.  It started with a few bloggers being invited to blog Carmen in January.  And now a few more have been invited to blog Rigoletto. 

Some of the audience members are curious.  Some are demanding.  Some are complaining about the sound in the balcony.  One audience member insists that they are not having a true opera experience unless they are drinking wine.  One of the bloggers writes that she is having sooo much fun people watching, she finds it hard to touch type at the same time.

I bring out my camera and ask the bloggers for a picture.  Actually I yell out, “Bloggers… smile for the camera!”

They all look up and smile.  I will post the picture laters…

I recognize Miss 604 Blogger, Rebbecca Bollwitt.  She recognizes me and writes on her blog that “We were just visited by Karen Hamilton of TinyBites.ca who is here to enjoy the show as well as Gung Haggis Fat Choy.

2009_March 009

Rebbecca Bollwit “Miss 604”, Todd Wong “Gung Haggis Fat Choy”, Tanya “Netchick” – photo A. Youngberg/T. Wong

Back on January 18th, she was live blogging the Canucks hockey game.  I comment that she probably wishes she was at the Canucks vs San Jose game.  She says “yeah.” 

It turns out that blogger
NetChick is a rower, now interested in dragon boat paddling.  I tell her that my Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team has been featured on television documentaries for German and French public television, as well as the CBC.  It would be pretty cool, if she joined our dragon boat team… we have lots of opportunities for blogging.  Oops, I forgot to tell her we will have a parade entry in the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade.

At the opera, it's always interesting to see who is there in the audience.  I spy an older couple, a male caucasian with an Asian woman.  They are always at major arts events.  I think he used to work at the CBC.

I chat with Doug Tuck, VOA Marketing and Selina Rajani, Communications/Media.  I introduce them to my date for the evening, Alexandra Youngberg, my CUPE 391 Vancouver Library workers president.  Alex loves this production of Rigoletto.  She loves music and sings in a choir.  Alex has even sung O Solo Mio, while I played my accordion.

The 2nd and 3rd Acts are wonderful ( I will write my formal review tomorrow).  Some members of the audience give a standing ovation to
Eglise Gutierrez who plays Gilda, Rigoletto's daughter.  We all stand up up for
Donnie Ray Albert who plays Rigoletto.  It's quite the multicultural cast.  Donnie Ray is African-American, born in Louisiana.  Eglise is born in Cuba.  Sam Chung, Chinese-Canadian born in Winnipeg, steps out of the Vancouver Opera chorus to play his first supporting role with Vancouver Opera in the role of Matteo Borsa. I congratulate Sam at the reception following.

During the reception, I also chat with Michael Mori, who is hapa Japanese-Canadian.  Kinza Tyrell, chorus master tells me how exciting this production is, and asks me how I know Sam and Michael.  “Well… through events at Joy Kogawa House, because we really supported, and raved about the Naomi's Road opera. 

2009_March 010

James Wright, VOA General Director congratulates the cast at the opening night reception – photo T. Wong

My old friend Walter Quan is here!  We first met back in 1986, while we were volunteers for the Salt Water City exhibit celebrating 100 years of Vancouver Chinatown history.  We recently had lunch in Victoria 2 weeks ago, when I had to return the life-size photos to the Royal BC Museum.

Opera Manager James Wright spots me, and waves at me.  So does orchestra concertmaster Mark Ferris, who along with his wife Gloria, have been friends for years. Mark performed at the 2004 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner. Meanwhile, the bloggers are noshing at the food tables, taking pictures of the event, and chatting amongst themselves.

I think it's great that Vancouver Opera is connecting with bloggers.  Back in December 2004, I blogged my own review of the VOA production of Madama Butterfly: Madama Butterfly Review: Vancouver Opera Nov 27 to Dec 11.

Since then, I have also reviewed:

Check out the opera night blogs:

Blogger Night: Rigoletto

Heather Pawsey performs Sunday at Rocky Mountaineer train station

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Heather Pawsey performs this Sunday on rail cars!

She is one of the most adventuresome and creative performers that I know. 

DSC_4176_103729 - soprano Heather E. PAWSEY by FlungingPictures.Heather is a favorite performer at Gung Haggis Fat Choy events – photo Patrick Tam/Flunging Pictures

Through her unique music series “New Music in New Places,” She has sung in mines, a wine vat, at the aquarium… Now she will be singing in rail cars.

Sunday
February 15, 2009
Rocky Mountaineer Station
Vancouver BC
(see Heather's message below for details)

At the 2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, she reprised her Brief
Encounters work with dj Timothy Wisdom, singing opera arias to hip hop
beats.  As well, she sang the classic Chinese folk song Mo Li Hua
(Jasmine Flower) in mandarin, accompanied by cultural fusion ensemble
Silk Road Music.

DSC_3803_103366 - Heather PAWSEY & Mad Celts by FlungingPictures.


Check out her website www.heatherpawsey.com

See the message from Heather below:

Hi!

If you're looking for something a little different next
weekend, please come and enjoy an evening of evocative railway-themed
Canadian chamber music at my upcoming New Music in New Places concert
Sound-Tracks.  Due to recent federal cuts, this unfortunately marks the
final round of New Music in New Places, so if you haven't had the
opportunity yet to check out these unique, site-specific events, come
to the Rocky Mountaineer train station on February 15 to find out what
they've been all about.

Hope to see you there!
Heather

SOUND-TRACKS
Sunday, February 15, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
Rocky Mountaineer Train Station
1755 Cottrell Street, Vancouver
 FREE
(Reservations required, 604-606-7361 or concert@rockymountaineer.com)
 
All
Aboard!! SOUND-TRACKS, a rollicking ride of contemporary classical
Canadian music celebrating the mystery and romance of the rails, “hits
the track” Sunday, February 15, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. at the Rocky
Mountaineer Train Station (1755 Cottrell Street, Vancouver).  This
event is part of the New Music in New Places concert series, presented
by the Canadian Music Centre.
 
Board three stationary carriages
of the Rocky Mountaineer and Whistler Mountaineer trains (including the
gracious Glacier Dome car, and luxurious, bi-level GoldLeaf Dome Coach
affording a spectacular view of downtown Vancouver by night) with
critically acclaimed musicians Ariel Barnes, cello; Kathryn Cernauskas,
flute; AK Coope, clarinet; and Heather Pawsey, soprano for short,
intimate “mini-concerts”, and then move into the renovated vintage
station itself to join pianist Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa for a full ensemble
finish.
 
Just as the railway united the vast borders of our
country, music brings us closer together and sets us dreaming of
journeys, explorations and new discoveries.  From coast to coast,
Canadian composers and authors have been fascinated with the legends
and lore of our iconic railways. SOUND-TRACKS celebrates this robust
legacy with works that include Violet Archer’s Train at Night; Paul
McIntyre’s At the Railway Station; Elma Miller’s Windwalker; Marjan
Mozetich’s Duet in Blue; Eldon Rathburn’s Ghost Train; Sid
Robinovitch’s Three Winter Songs; and Norman Symond’s Deep Ground, Long
Waters. 
 
Works from British Columbia highlight Michael
Bushnell’s On Track; Jocelyn Morlock's Train; John Oliver’s 3
Trains; Sylvia Rickard’s Songs of the Loon; Barry Truax’s Steam;
and Leslie Uyeda’s Classical Escapade (world premiere), among others.
 
Admission
to SOUND-TRACKS is free but reservations are required on a first-come,
first-served basis. To book a space, please call the concert hotline at
604-606-7361 or email concert@rockymountaineer.com.
 
DRESS
ADVISORY: As a portion of this concert will include moving from car to
car along the platform, please dress appropriately for weather and wear
footwear suitable for boarding railway carriages.
 
Critically
acclaimed musicians Ariel Barnes, cello; Kathryn Cernauskas, flute; AK
Coope, clarinet; Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa, piano; and Heather Pawsey, soprano
are particularly noted for their fearless and innovative approaches to
contemporary music.  Collectively, they have premiered hundreds of new
Canadian works, many written specifically for them, with performances
spanning North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
 
The Rocky
Mountaineer Station is located at 1755 Cottrell Street, Vancouver (east
on Terminal Avenue, south on Cottrell Street, located beside the Home
Depot) and parking is available.  The vintage station is a renovated
mid-1950s Canadian National Railways locomotive maintenance building
with exposed timber and brick, 35 foot vaulted ceilings, and a
full-length glass wall that provides a complete view of the track and
rolling stock.
 
SOUND-TRACKS is part of the Canadian Music
Centre’s “New Music in New Places” initiative to take Canadian music
out of concert halls and in to alternative venues, and is made possible
through the generous support and assistance of Rocky Mountaineer
Vacations and Tom Lee Music.  The Canadian Music Centre is an
independent, not for profit, non-government agency that promotes and
disseminates the music of Canadian composers.  2009 marks the 50th
anniversary of the Canadian Music Centre, and SOUND-TRACKS is dedicated
to the CMC in appreciation and celebration. 
 
The Canadian Music
Centre gratefully acknowledges the support of the SOCAN Foundation and
the Government of Canada through the Canada Music Fund.
 
 
SOUND-TRACKS
Sunday, February 15, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
Rocky Mountaineer Station (1755 Cottrell Street, Vancouver)
FREE
(Reservations required, 604-606-7361 or concert@rockymountaineer.com)
 
More Info: Canadian Music Centre | 604.734.4622 | www.musiccentre.ca
 
-30-
 
Media Contact: Kara Gibbs | kara@karagibbs.com | 604.644.6985

Jen Sookfong Lee reads Feb 12 for The On Edge reading series at Emily Carr University of Art + Design

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The End of East


Jen Sookfong Lee will give a reading on Granville Island at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.

I really enjoyed reading Jen Sookfong Lee's debut novel, The End of East.  It updates “the Chinatown story” from past incarnations by Wayson Choy in “The Jade Peony” or “Disappearing Moon Cafe” by SKY Lee.

Jen brings a grittier edgier approach to dealing with family and Chinese-Canadian identity issues.  In fact, the protaganist tries to escape her family and its issues by disappearing into Montreal, until she is dragged back to face then in Vancouver. 

Lee's writing is thoughtful, and her in-person readings and talks are very delightful.  She will sometimes address that it was her grandfather's head tax certificate that inspired her to write some of the aspects of this story.  Sometimes it's the third generation that often tries to rediscover what the 2nd generation was trying to cover up, or deemphasize in their own ambitions to blend in and assimilate into Canadian society.


Check out my May 2007 article about meeting Jen Sookfong Lee at the CBC Book Club


Jen Sookfong Lee featured at CBC Radio Studio One Book Club – we check it out!


The following information is courtesy of Rita Wong, our featured poet at the 2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner.

The On Edge readings series presents:
Jen Sookfong Lee
Thurs, Feb 12 – 7 pm

in South Building Room 406
Emily Carr University of Art + Design
Granville Island

This reading is free and open to the public. All are welcome.

Jen
Sookfong Lee’s novel, The End of East (Knopf Canada, New Face of
Fiction 2007), delves into the underside of Chinese Canadian history
through the eyes of the Chan family. The National Post calls The End of
East “impressive, both in terms of its accomplished prose and its
ambitious three-generational scope.” The Calgary Herald notes that “Jen
Sookfong Lee is aware, it would seem, of the dark side of mythmaking,
its distorting and even parasitic price. It's one of many things that
make her a novelist to watch.” Jen, who edits two online magazines,
Schema and Wet Ink, is a member of the noted writing group SPiN. To
find out more, visit www.sookfong.com.

*****

Here is the spring schedule:

Feb 26 – Taien Ng-Chan
March 12 – Weyman Chan
April 2 – Shirley Bear

All
readings are at 7 pm on Thursday evenings in SB 406 at Emily Carr
University, Granville Island, Vancouver. Please come, and bring
friends, students, colleagues…

The On Edge series gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council and Emily Carr University.

Note: There is free parking in the parkade under the ECU South Building after 7 pm.

**********
Bios of writers:

Taien
Ng-Chan is the author of Maps of Our Bodies and the Borders We Have
Agreed Upon, anthology editor of Ribsauce, and co-editor with Dana Bath
of Navigating Customs.  She has written drama for stage, screen, and
radio, and her short films have played at festivals in Canada and the
US.  Based in Montreal, she currently writes a regular movie column in
Matrix Magazine, and is in post-production on a trilogy of videopoems
called Sum-tung (heartache).  As well, she is trying to finish her
first collection of stories, Blueprints for a Red Paper House.

Weyman
Chan is the author of Before A Blue Sky Moon, the 2002 recipient of the
Alberta Book Award for best book of poetry.  Noise From the Laundry,
his latest book of poems, was published by Talonbooks in 2008 and
shortlisted for the Governor General's Prize in Poetry.  hypo-derm,
more poetry,will be released in 2010 by Frontenac.  Weyman Chan lives
and works in Calgary.

The author of a book of poems entitled
Virgin Bones (McGilligan Press, 2007), Shirley Bear is a multi-media
artist, writer, activist, and native traditional herbalist.  Born on
the Tobique First Nation, she is an original member of the Wabnaki
language group of New Brunswick, Canada.  Shirley Bear was the 2002
recipient of the Excellence in the Arts Award from the New Brunswick
Arts Board.