Winter Solstice Lantern Festival 2010

If you're like me and you're kicking yourself for missing out on last night's lunar eclipse, well at least you can take solace in tonight's Winter Solstice Lantern Festival. If you've ever been to Commercial Drive for the Parade of Lost Souls or Illuminaries at Trout Lake, I'd imagine it's along the same vein - lanterns, fire, drummers - Vancouver bohemian flair. Myself? I've never been to the event, but I'm hoping to check out the festivities at Britannia Community Centre because, heck, when else are you going to walk through a labyrinth of light?

Five Vancouver neighbourhoods will be hosting simultaneous events from 6pm onward. I've provided links to their individual schedules:

East Van
Yaletown
Granville Island
South-east False Creek
Chinatown
 
For more information, check out the site at http://www.secretlantern.org

In the name of St Patrick's Day, my favourite pubs in Vancouver

Today is of course St. Patrick's Day, and for the past 5 years or so Vancouver celebrated the event with a weekend parade. However, due to the Olympics and Paralympics, they decided to cancel it. Apparently everyone who organizes and coordinates the parade is too busy organizing and coordinating the Paralympics right now. Fair enough!

So what's going on in Vancouver tonight for St Patrick's Day? Well, the same ol' debauchery... people are heading to any fake Irish pub (and yes, they're ALL fake, except for the Irish Heather) and drinking loads of cheap green beer to commemorate. And they're going to get stupid drunk, you know it.

But you know, honestly? Despite my teenage obsession for everything U2 and all things Irish, despite the fact that the U2 plane (as in, the plane that the band U2 flies around in, not the spy plane) has been parked at YVR for seemingly weeks, or that Bono's in town (apparently) recording a collaborative version of K'naan's Waving Flag as a tribute for Haiti relief... or that, heck, even my eyes are green! Well... I've never celebrated St. Patrick's Day, ever. Not once. I don't think I've ever deliberately gone to the pub to drink beer in the name of St. Patrick's Day.

Today at work we were supposed to dress up in green. For a girl whose wardrobe has a significant green hue, I forgot to wear green. I wore grey. Is that telling? I don't know.

So what do I recommend doing on St. Patrick's Day in Vancouver?

Rule number one:

Avoid fake Irish pubs on Granville Street like Ceili's like the plague.

Run.

Run fast!

Instead, the only two Irish pubs I'd even consider venturing into would be The Irish Heather or the Shebeen Whiskey House, the two legitimately Irish venues in the city. They're as authentic as they come. Owned and operated by an Irish couple, but where else can you rock out to Pride (In the Name of Love) in front of a collection of retro Guinness knick knacks while drinking a McCallan's fine aged 12 year scotch while chowing down some curry chips and mushy peas while contemplating a Guinness braised pot pie, bangers and mash, or a Black Velvet? Where else do your waiters often speak to you in real Irish accents?

www.irishheather.com

And if that doesn't work, I've always been a fan of The Morrissey. It's on Granville Street downtown, but it's not representative of typical Granville Street establishments, if you catch my drift. While not claiming to be Irish, they're certainly a legitimate pub for good beer, good food, and ultimately great music (an important element in any of my nights out). The atmosphere and layout is fantastic, especially since they've renovated with a much more stylish interior. They have a great import beer list. I am a fan.

www.morrisseypub.com

If those won't do, the Alibi Room on the outskirts of Gastown would make a great retreat, if you don't mind wedging yourself on a picnic table bench. It has the best collection of local beer out of any pub, or so many people claim. It's for serious beer connoisseurs, of which I'm not, but I try. I try hard. Way back in the late 90's I used to come here for martinis and edimame with my fellow CDIS colleagues, back when edimame was exotic and learning Photoshop was cutting edge. Gillian Anderson partially owns it, and it was a popular hangout for film types way back in the 90's, when Gillian Anderson was actually relevant and Vancouver was the home of the X-Files. Holy, that seems like Vancouver of a different era now, doesn't it? But the Alibi Room is still very much relevant and hot on Vancouver's pub map.

www.alibi.ca

If those three establishments won't do, find your way out to Stella's on Commercial for your Belgian beer fix. A nice cozy but lively environment with your favourite Belgian beer poured in their appropriate goblets. The food can be hit or miss, but it's often a hit, especially the duck confit and duck sausage with white bean. But if you're going to go, you have to eat. Belgian favourites like Gulden Draak and Piraat are so dangerous at 9+% alcohol, but so tasty and so delicious. And after three bottles of the stuff, you may start to forget where you are. But it's somehow okay because you're on Commercial Drive!

www.stellasbeer.com

And finally, if all else fails, head back downtown to the Railway Club upstairs from the 7-11 on Dunsmuir and Seymour. This place has been around since forever. Literally, since the early 1930's - an impressive feat in No Fun City! They've got a great list of local brews, plus a serious import list which still surprises me every time. I mean, I don't have to go to Stella's for my fix of Gulden Draak? It gets me every time! Live bands, model trains, and 3 separate bars. Pretentiousness-be-gone, which is rare for Vancouver these days. Could life be any better? Well, yes... if they only reopened their patio.

www.therailwayclub.com

Free concerts during the Olympics

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David Lam Park, the beloved grassy field along Yaletown's False Creek waterfront (as seen above in happier days), has been turned into a collection of pavillions and tents. I've been watching them construct this for weeks. It's in preparation for LiveCityVancouver: a series of free concerts that will be happening during the Olympics.

The list of performers actually looks like something compiled right out of CBC Radio 3's playlists - a little CanCon, a little ethnic, a little folk, a little indie, and a little blues.

I'm interested in seeing a few shows: Blue Rodeo, Jill Barber, deadmau5, Wilco, Delhi2Dublin, Jim Byrnes, Malajube, and Matisyahu. Heck, the Olympics would probably be a good time to finally see Dal Richards. But there are also bands I'm really not interested in seeing whatsoever, like Default or Alexisonfire. Although even if I stay at home, I'm still right across the street so will be exposed to these shows whether I want to be or not!

What about you?

Any performers that stand out for you?

Any recommendations?

Here's the list of official performers so far for LiveCity Yaletown (aka: David Lam Park):

13-Feb-10
5:00pm - 6:00pm Bollywood Olympics with En Karma
6:15pm - 7:15pm Default
7:30pm - 8:30pm Califone!
9:00pm - 10:45pm Wilco

14-Feb-10
5:00pm - 5:30pm Lion Dancers
6:00pm - 7:30pm Silk Road
8:00pm - 9:00pm Mother Mother
9:30pm - 10:45pm Daniel Wesley

15-Feb-10
5:00pm - 6:00pm DJ Spooky and DBR
6:30pm - 7:30pm Grand Dérangement
8:00pm - 9:00pm Malajube
9:30pm - 10:45pm Matisyahu

16-Feb-10
5:00pm - 6:00pm TBC
6:30pm - 7:30pm Kevin Parent with Pornflakes
8:00pm - 9:00pm Vulgaires Machins
9:30pm - 10:45pm Alexisonfire

17-Feb-10
5:00pm - 6:30pm DRUM!
6:30pm - 7:30pm Alpha Yaya Diallo
8:00pm - 9:00pm Allez Ouest
9:30pm - 10:45pm Corb Lund

18-Feb-10
5:00pm - 6:00pm Radio Radio
6:30pm - 7:30pm Zuco 103
8:00pm - 9:00pm Keisha Chante
9:30pm - 10:45pm Marianas Trench

19-Feb-10
5:00pm - 6:00pm Andrée Watters
6:30pm - 7:30pm Lennie Gallant
8:00pm - 9:00pm Les Breastfeeders
9:30pm - 10:45pm Deadmau5

20-Feb-10
5:00pm - 6:00pm Vishten
6:30pm - 7:30pm The Arkells
8:00pm - 9:00pm Coeur de Pirate
9:30pm - 10:45pm Sam Roberts Band

21-Feb-10
5:00pm - 6:00pm DanceSport Snowball Classic
6:30pm - 7:30pm Dal Richards Band
8:00pm - 9:00pm Lazare Halk
9:30pm - 10:45pm Jully Black

22-Feb-10
5:00pm - 6:00pm Zapata Negro
6:30pm - 7:30pm Dustin Bentall with guest Barney Bentall
8:00pm - 9:00pm Jill Barber
9:30pm - 10:45pm Colin James

23-Feb-10
5:00pm - 6:00pm Tigerstyle
6:30pm - 7:30pm Bitterly Divine
8:00pm - 9:00pm Constantines
9:30pm - 10:45pm Wintersleep

24-Feb-10
5:00pm - 6:00pm Eagle and Hawk
6:30pm - 7:30pm Tambora Rasa
8:00pm - 9:00pm Chocolat
9:30pm - 10:45pm Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley

25-Feb-10
5:00pm - 6:00pm Ache Brasil
6:30pm - 7:30pm illScarlett
8:00pm - 9:00pm Crystal Shawanda
9:30pm - 10:45pm Johnny Reid

26-Feb-10
5:00pm - 6:00pm Polyjesters
6:30pm - 7:30pm Tracey Bone
8:00pm - 9:00pm TBC
9:30pm - 10:45pm TBC

27-Feb-10
5:00pm - 6:00pm Bollywood Olympics with Delhi2Dublin
6:30pm - 7:30pm Matt Mays
8:00pm - 9:00pm Chic Gamine
9:30pm - 10:45pm Blue Rodeo
11:00am - 12:15pm Jim Byrnes, Steve Dawson and The Sojourners

In addition to David Lam Park (aka: LiveCity Yaletown), there's also LiveCity Downtown at the corner of Georgia and Cambie which will have these following performers:

13-Feb-10
8:30pm - 9:30pm TBC
10:00pm - 11:30pm Jessie Farrell

14-Feb-10
8:00pm - 9:00pm TBC
9:30pm - 11:00pm Elliot Brood

15-Feb-10
8:00pm - 9:00pm TBC
9:30pm - 10:30pm Jets Overhead

16-Feb-10
7:30pm - 9:00pm TBC
9:30pm - 11:00pm Buck 65

17-Feb-10
8:00pm - 9:00pm Romy Mayes
9:30pm - 10:30pm TBC

18-Feb-10
8:00pm - 9:00pm House Of Doc
9:30pm - 11:00pm Rumba Calzada

19-Feb-10
9:30pm - 10:30pm Town Pants

20-Feb-10
8:00pm - 9:00pm Billy Joe Green
9:30pm - 10:30pm Sherman Downey

21-Feb-10
8:00pm - 9:00pm John Reischman and The Jaybirds
9:30pm -10:30pm In Flight Safety

22-Feb-10
8:00pm - 9:00pm TBC

22-Feb-10
9:30pm - 11:00pm Alpha Yaya Diallo

23-Feb-10
8:00pm - 9:00pm Julie Doiron

24-Feb-10
11:30pm - 12:30am Quinzy

25-Feb-10
11:30mpm - 12:30pm Inward Eye

26-Feb-10
11:00pm - 12:00am TBC

27-Feb-10
11:00pm - 12:30am Soulstream

Vancouver New Year's Eve 2010

Unlike Whistler, Vancouver doesn't really have any public festivities at NYE. No fireworks, sadly, and no public square to collectively celebrate. (Drunk on Granville Street doesn't count.) But it's often cold and rainy anyway - not so fun to be outside then.

Saying that, almost every restaurant has a special dinner promotion and most night clubs, lounges, and hotels host massive parties. You typically have to purchase tickets or make reservations well ahead of time.

Here's a good list of some of the New Year's Eve parties happening around Vancouver:

http://www.clubzone.com/nye1/vancouver-new-years-eve.html

And here's a quick glance at what some of the city's restaurants are doing for NYE:

http://www.opentable.com/promo.aspx?m=73&pid=4

As I mentioned, it's hard to recommend an actual NYE party because every year the venues host something different, and many locals just go to house parties on NYE anyway. This year I'm heading to Chambar (fantastic Belgian restaurant) with a group of friends which I'm looking forward to.

What are you doing for NYE?

Celebration of Photography

Tomorrow evening one of my favourite blogs, Vancouver Is Awesome, is hosting a party at the Fortune Sound Lounge (147 E Pender in Chinatown) to celebrate photography:

Some of my photos will be featured, as will the photography of 98 other local photographers. It's a great excuse to check out a new Vancouver nightlife venue, celebrate local artists, and have fun at the same time!

If the Fortune Sound Lounge doesn't sound familiar, some of you may remember it as its previous incarnation as the kitschy-hip Royal Unicorn Cabaret. Well, they've revamped the space quite a bit! Check out these photos which were posted on SkyScraperPage, here.

Or better yet, see you tomorrow! :)

Richmond Night Market - one month left!

Last night, after several pitchers of Granville Island honey lager at the Pirate Pub downtown, a bunch of us decided it would be a great idea to head out to the Richmond Night Market. Being the last weekend of August and a gorgeous evening at that, it seemed appropriate enough. After all, we had spent the last few weeks talking about going and we weren't going to let the end of summer slip us by.

This year the Richmond Night Market is going under the new name of "Summer Night Market". A bit confusing since the old Richmond Night Market's website is still live despite being obsolete, and the old name is still what people are searching for. Nevertheless, Richmond's Summer Night Market, though under new management, offers the same thing at the same place at the same times:

- rows of Asian street food vendors
- stalls of cheap merchandise
- permeating smells of BBQ meat
- bright lights
- large crowds
- over-flowing garbage cans

The Richmond Summer Night Market has been a summer tradition of mine since the late 90's. Back then it was held at Richmond's Lansdowne Mall parking lot, with only a handful of vendors selling things like bubble tea and Asian stationery. It kept on expanding, however, and outgrew its location, eventually finding a semi-permanent home behind a warehouse north of Bridgeport Road's big box sprawl. Mention "it's just north of Ikea" and only then do locals begin to understand where it is.

The Night Market is best described as this surreal, frenzied, mish mash of cheap trinkets and rows upon rows of Asian street food, all in a night carnival kind of atmosphere. While not parallel to the epic night markets in Asia, it's about as close as it gets to Hong Kong night markets here in North America. Set your expectations accordingly.

I typically drive if I'm going to the Richmond Night Market. It's often less than a 20 minute drive from downtown Vancouver. Park for free on the streets by Ikea and walk 15+ minutes, or pay $5 in the Sear's lot to be closest. This year since the opening of the Canada Line, it probably makes as much sense to take the train to Bridgeport station and then transfer onto whatever bus that takes you to the Ikea at Bridgeport & Sweden Way.

Just walking to the Night Market is an event in itself. You end up walking behind the long-closed big box stores and trample through the brambles over railroad tracks before following the crowds through the darkness to a warehouse where you can hear music and lights coming from behind. It's all so mysterious and exciting, and not unlike a rave.

As far as I'm concerned, the only reason you go to the Night Market is for the food. The merchandise vendors come secondary. We're not talking about high end knock-offs, but cheap plastic trinkets, Sanrio-esque stationery, Vietnamese and Canto-pop DVD's, Samurai swords, "magic" bras and panties, and doggie outfits. This is a generalization, I assure you, but you get the idea. It makes for great entertainment moreso than great shopping.

So, for me, it always come down to the food. I wouldn't come here expecting gourmet foodie delicacies, but cheap and tasty Asian street food typically unavailable in this environment elsewhere in Vancouver. There's usually a decent variety, from BBQ meat and seafood on skewers to noodles, to the more traditional Cantonese style dumplings, to exotic desserts. It's all so very festive and half the fun is going around with a group of friends and trying new things together.

Highlights of our night:

Pork siu mai
Shrimp gyoza
Japanese scallop & octopus cakes
Spicy, crispy, deep fried chicken
Sesame red bean cakes
Spicy halal lamb
Deep-fried ice cream

While we arrived with only one hour to go, we managed to stuff ourselves silly. Next time, however, we'll be coming back earlier, and with an empty stomach.

Richmond's Summer Night Market is open Fridays and Saturdays from 7pm until midnight, and Sundays from 7pm until 11pm. It closes for the season on October 4, 2009.

For more information, visit: http://www.summernightmarket.com/

Section 3

Section 3 has become our regular Friday night haunt.

Intentional or not, we somehow always end up there on Friday evenings - a large table of 5-12 of us, mostly guys... mostly guys from the same video game studio - and I (for the most part) the token girl.

It starts out innocently enough.

We start with a table on the patio - a few drinks after work.

Throughout the evening friends and acquaintances who also live or work in the neighbourhood will come and go. A few bottles of wine will have gone around, and we'll dabble into several appetizers - pizzas, baked brie, and yam fries.

Before you know it, it's 11pm and they shoo everyone from the patio to the tables inside where there's a DJ (Bee or Blondetron) playing 80's and indie discopunk tunes on their iMac. The place is packed with beautiful people and the staff look like models and rock stars. It feels like a nightclub without a dancefloor. The atmosphere is fun and high energy, and lacks the typical Yaletown snob appeal found elsewhere.

Then somebody from our table gets the bright idea to buy a round of tequila shots or jaeger bombs, and the next thing you know, there's a table of 20 of us, and we've collectively run a 4 figure tab, and it's almost 2am.

Oh, life is rough!

But this happens consistently on Friday nights, without fail, at Section 3. There's a reason why our blonde waitresses have memorized what we drink. In a way, we've got Friday nights at Section 3 down like clockwork.

Located at 1039 Mainland Street between Helmcken and Nelson, Section 3 has been a fixture in Yaletown since the mid- 90's, somewhat before Yaletown became the fashionably superficial yuppy party mecca that it is today.

Back then Section 3 was known as DeNiro's. And back then, Yaletown was still somewhat under the radar. And by that I mean, instead of the celebrity hangouts like Blue Water Cafe, you had casual joints like Benny's Bagels. It was better known for its pool halls than its meat market. So DeNiro's comes from that era.

In case you're wondering, the owner of the restaurant was a die hard Robert DeNiro fan. To show her appreciation, she named her restaurant after the actor, and even named a few dishes after his key roles. A glowing tribute to an actor, no doubt, but when the man himself discovered that somebody was using his name without his permission, he threatened a lawsuit. A well publicized "name the restaurant" contest ensued, and Section 3 became the winner.

Why Section 3?

Section 3 is the section of law that covers these types of lawsuits.

But that's the brief history of Section 3, although it truly has come into its own and has developed its own identity. The only evidence of the previous name is the neon orange NERD sign over the bar - letters that were once collected with the intention of spelling out, "DeNiro's". They only never got that far.