February 20, 2010 | 2010 Olympics >
Vancouver, Festivals & Events
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The 2010 Cultural Olympiad has brought to Vancouver and Whistler hundreds of amazing events – music, theatre, dance, puppets! – during these Winter Games. And it’s some of these ticketed events that have been really special. Last night I was at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre for the second night of Hal Willner’s Neil Young Project, a three-hour+ tribute show featuring some tremendous Canadian and US performers including members of Toronto’s Broken Social Scene, Ron Sexsmith, Metric and, spectacularly, the most venerable Lou Reed (pictured in the middle of photo) and Elvis Costello.
I’ve never been to the Queen E (located right next door to the Aboriginal Pavilion on Hamilton and W. Georgia in Vancouver) and it’s a slick, modern theatre with great sound. While the show itself was a bit slow at times (not sure about the choice of some of Neil Young’s more sleepy rareties), there were some amazing gems as well: Emily Haines’ from Metric doing “A Man Needs A Maid” Ron Sexsmith’s covers of “New Mama” and “Star of Bethlehem”, Eric Mingus (son of jazz great Charles Mingus) doing a spoken-word version of “On the Way Home” and Elvis Costello’s “Cowgirl in the Sand” and “Cinnamon Girl” (which he performed brilliantly with NYC’s Joan as Policewoman). Lou Reed did a crunchy rock version of “Helpless”, which sounded awesome.
In all, I felt proud to be among happy music fans who were in such high spirits during these Olympic Games – and it was nice to be able to show off a sunshiney and glistening Vancouver to these great out-of-town-artists!
February 18, 2010 | 2010 Olympics >
Vancouver, Festivals & Events
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A French Quarter in the heart of bohemian Granville Island, Place de la Francaphonie is housed in what is normally the False Creek Community Centre. Wandering in, I was invited to watch Radio-Canada record a live show – not something I get to do every day!
Next door was a huge room devoted to Francaphone artists, tourism exhibits, culture and food. Huge wool-spun coats hung from the ceiling, surrounded by paintings on easels.
I stopped by the Alliance Française Vancouver stand to look at brushing up on my French and even got to enjoy a relaxing shoulder massage at another stall. But most arresting was a giant quilt, a collaborative creative effort by the residents of BC’s largest Francophone community – Maillardville in Coquitlam.
Outside, on a huge stage, at least 20 people were rehearsing a show for the evening’s Carnival du Monde, and crepe stalls were firing up. On certain days there’s even a French farmers’ market.
Afterwards I spent an hour or so browsing the arts studios around the rest of Granville Island. The nearby Kids Market was rammed with hyper little people, running amok in the masses of sparkly, fun shops aimed especially at them.
February 17, 2010 | 2010 Olympics >
Vancouver, Festivals & Events
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Waiting in line or queuing has become something of an Olympic sport in its own right at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. Here are some survival tips:
Don’t give up… yet! At Livecity Yaletown I’ve found the back of the line stretching to practically the next province, only to be swiftly transported into the pavilion.
Get a Good Coach: Johnny from China kept me powering through the line up to Vancouver Art Gallery. An Olympic pro, he’d been to the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and was all about the free swag doled out at Celebration venues. “Quickly you go get baseball caps, I keep your place!” he yelled. “Then we sell on EBay,” he grinned.
Cheat: Queue-jumping or line-hopping is mostly the reserve of innocent looking grannies or impoverished students. I’m getting sorely tempted…
Dress for Success: Hey it’s Vancouver, bring a brolly JUST IN CASE. My compadres and I spent several sodden hours watching Matisyahu, rain dripping into places we’d rather not mention.
Team Spirit: Work together people. Post Dad in the line, Mom can run for coffee and snacks, while the kids pose for photos in the Olympic bobsleigh or other available distraction.
Pick a Role Model: my husband’s colleague Karen waited for the Robson Square zipline for FIVE AND A HALF HOURS. An Olympic Queuing Hero.
February 16, 2010 | 2010 Olympics >
Vancouver, Festivals & Events
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Having moved to British Columbia from the UK, I’ve still never been to the East Coast – but am seriously keen to visit, after checking out the Atlantic Canada House (an Olympic Games pavilion). Held three times daily at the Revue Stage on Granville Island, Come On In! is an awesome, foot-stomping musical tour of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland & Labrador.
With cinematic backdrops, musicians from each of these provinces gave us glimpses into their personal lives, families, homes and breathtaking views of sandy beaches, and rolling Anne of Green Gables-style countryside. (Author LM Montgomery came from Prince Edward Island).
Long-haired Newfie, Daniel Payne had everyone clapping and whooping along to his square dance tunes on the accordion, while New Brunswick singer Monique Poirier showed audience members how to play musical spoons and recreated a proper Atlantic Kitchen Party, with fiddle, guitars and hearty singing and even tap dancing.
This much fun – and all before booze o’clock! I now get why ‘Acadians’ call soft drinks “mixers”!
February 16, 2010 | 2010 Olympics >
Vancouver, Festivals & Events
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After watching coverage of Alexandre Bilodeau receiving his mogels gold medal, it was time to get out and celebrate Canada's first gold at a winter Olympics. I headed down to Livecity Yaletown for the Matisyahu concert.
Unbelievably the queues to get in were even longer than Saturday's Wilco lines – and we were still waiting as the opening tracks rang out. Luckily we got a decent view through the fence.
Cutting a striking figure in his black baseball cap, and skater jeans, Matisyahu was on fire, bounding around the stage and building his mix of rock, hip hop and reggae to blinding sonic heights. A Hasidic Jew from New York he seamlessly blends culture, religion and politics in his lyrics – and does a kicking human beatbox number to boot.
“Hey Vancouver, thanks for coming together in the rain tonight – PEACE!” he yelled to sodden fans. We were treated to hits like King Without a Crown, the lilting Jerusalem and my fave, the epic One Day off his latest album Light.
February 15, 2010 | 2010 Olympics >
Vancouver, Festivals & Events
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“QUAAAAATCHIIII!!!! SUUUUUUMIIIIII!!!! MIIIIIIGAAAA!!!!!” Hysterical fans of 2010’s cuddly Olympic mascots were screeching their heads off just for a chance to pet or hug the giant furry creatures. I thought I might be the only big kid at Robson Square’s GE Plaza in Vancouver but no, ‘kids’ of all ages crammed around the ice rink to meet their idols. You’d have thought Madonna or Brad Pitt was in town – such was the level of excitement.
The ice rink had been transformed into an enchanted forest and other skaters in leafy green outfits twirled in formation around the stars. A commentator gave us the lowdown on the Winter Games Mascots: Miga (black and white) is a sea bear, which in First Nations mythology is part Orca whale and part Kermode bear. A snowboarding fanatic, she normally lives in surf capital, Tofino. Quatchi (huge and fluffy with blue ear muffs) is a Canadian sasquatch from the Great White North – and he loves ice hockey.
Mascot to the Paralympic Games, green Sumi loves skiing. He wears the hat of an Orca, flies with Thunderbird wings and skates on furry bear legs. Their sidekick marmot, Muk Muk was absent, maybe marmots just don’t skate?
At the end, we all did get our moment with the mascots as they glided around for big hugs, and putting wide grins on little faces. And afterwards it was time to put on skates (rentals are $3) and make the most of the free ice rink.
February 14, 2010 | 2010 Olympics >
Vancouver, Festivals & Events
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By now, I’ve learnt to leave a couple of hours to get into Vancouver’s free Olympic events – at least the big ones. So my friends and I joined the line around David Lam Park early to see alt-rock Chicago band, Wilco perform at Livecity Yaletown. And surprisingly we all moved pretty fast, getting in to see today’s Games highlights on the big screens. Canadian Jenn Heil’s silver medal win at the Women’s Moguls at Cypress Mountain was going down a storm, with US fans jubilant over Hannah Kearney’s Gold.
Award winners (of the Grammy kind), Wilco got everyone rocking enough to forget about the pouring rain. I got chatting to Steve from London, UK who’s a big fan, but even more psyched about his Olympic snowboarding tickets. “It’s one thing watching the Games on telly, but way more special getting to see them live,” he admitted.
As the band drew to a close, we checked out the rest of Livecity Yaletown, stalls offering global street food, 3-D videos in the Panasonic marquee and computer games in the Samsung tent. Coca-Cola’s tube-shaped pavilion showcased bottle designs through the ages, interactive games, a giant polar bear and video footage of the Olympic torch relay.
Trooping out, we were just in time to catch a spectacular firework display over False Creek.
February 13, 2010 | 2010 Olympics >
Vancouver, Festivals & Events
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Avoiding steep ticket prices to the Vancouver Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony in BC Place, my friends and I joined the majority of Vancouverites and visitors on the streets. Every bar, restaurant and Olympic Pavilion seemed to be showing the ceremony on big TV screens. Livecity Yaletown in David Lam Park was at capacity so we caught the athletes’ entrances, Nelly Furtado performing with Bryan Adams and more on TV at The Hub bar before heading down to False Creek. Across the water, the Athletes’ Village and Vancouver’s globe-shaped Science World were gloriously lit up.
As we passed the backstage area of BC Place, dancers still in costume were streaming out ready to party. A surreal case of art and reality colliding. After stopping for a curry at the Plaza of Nations food stalls, we continued along False Creek to Ontario House at Concord Place. Unforgettable ‘wow’ moments followed as, on the huge outdoor screens we watched Wayne Gretzky light the Olympic cauldron, just as to our left, an enormous burst of red fireworks exploded into the night sky above BC Place. Quite literally, the city went wild.
February 10, 2010 | 2010 Olympics >
Vancouver, Festivals & Events
I took a trip downtown to see the art installations, the pavilions and the buildings that have been decorated for the 2010 Olympics. I saw the Olympic clock counting down the seconds unitl the opening ceremonies and couldn't help but notice the excitement with all the visitors, international press and athletes all starting to arrive.