Friday, March 25, 2011
honey, i don't know why i get so mean

Just a quick update to say that the Lotus Hotel has been sold... which means Lotus, Honey, and Lick are all under new ownership. And, that means that this past week's Ice Cream Social, Hump, and Honey Lung Thursday were the last ones (at least at their current venues). It also means that tonight's edition of Mod Club is the last one.

No official word on what the venues will be in their new forms, but I heard a rumour that the Honey space is set to become an "Irish sports bar"... in case it was too full when you dropped by Ceili's... or Smiley's... or...

And so this isn't a total bummer, check out Tristan's SXSW recap over at Winnie Cooper.

now playing: Dominique Young Unique - Immaculate

Labels: no fun city

posted by Quinn @ 11:13 a.m. Comments:0

Monday, January 17, 2011
between the bars

There are a pair of open houses this week, where the City will be presenting its progress on a review of live performance regulations for Vancouver and soliciting feedback. Among other things, this will effect the sort of quasi-legal (to just straight up illegal) venues that have been popping up and, subsequently getting busted, for years and making it easier for combination studio/performance spaces (and the like) to run legitimately.

The first one goes down tonight at.. er... right now (sorry) until 7pm at Mt. Pleasant Community Centre. It's a drop-in thing, not a formal meeting with a set agenda, so if you're reading this at work, you can still drop by after.

The second one is Wednesday at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Salons (650 Hamilton St.) from 4pm-7pm.

now playing: Robyn - With Every Heartbeat (Acoustic)

Labels: no fun city

posted by Quinn @ 3:44 p.m. Comments:0

Tuesday, October 19, 2010
metal detector

First, bad news: the old Scratch space (christened, appropriately, Scratch on Dick's after the retail space moved to Gastown and it started hosting shows), is no more.

The Duffy & the Doubters show scheduled for this Saturday is now at Anti-Social and they're looking for venues for the rest.

Now, good news: the Waldorf celebrates its reopening (though they'll be officially be open for business the night before) with a massive free Halloween party on October 30th. Rodney Graham, Animal Bodies, and Joyce Collingwood perform live, but there's a lot of other stuff going on. Check out the full itinerary on Facebook.

And, as a reminder to myself, because I always find a way to miss it, on November 13th, SK Robot put on their annual, "Guided by Robots" show at the ANZA, featuring a set of GbV covers by the band and the GbV karaoke following. As always, all proceed go towards the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter.

Labels: no fun city, show announcements, waldorf

posted by Quinn @ 4:11 p.m. Comments:0

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
mistaken for strangers

Sad news from Tristan of Winnie Cooper/No More Strangers:

I am extremely saddened to announce that No More Strangers is on a temporary hiatus. At the height of its success, the owners have imposed conditions on us and the Friday night "Good Burger" party that has forced us to leave.

After six months of making this night my life, putting in countless hours of hard unpaid work to struggle to break even and make the night successful, the bar has suddenly imposed (via a 1 am text message) ridiculous conditions that no promoter/human would accept.

I wanted nothing more than to be part of something that I see as an amazing music community. It has brought great joy to me to be able to put on shows for the talented emerging bands that we have in this city.

We have had problems with the new owners and their inexperience with the industry from day one. We have been extremely patient. It has been a constant struggle, one that has seen $2000 of my own gear stolen from the venue due to their inability to keep it safe and getting repeatedly broken into through an easy point of entry that they neglected to secure. Also, recently having my bike which was left locked up in the gear room "disposed of" was another blow.

We really appreciate everyone's support, from the bands that have taken a leap of faith in doing some of the first shows with us in a new format and music venue, to the supporters that have been with us from day one and come out to our shows.

Despite all of this I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished and vow to not make this the end. We have new plans in the works we will announce via our No More Strangers facebook group. Our Halloween show has a new amazing venue and we hope to still do our upcoming Saturday October 24th show but need to confirm some details. It has been a pleasure getting to know a lot of you through the night and I hope I can continue to do so.

Thank you again for your support.

Tristan Orchard
No More Strangers
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=54686214758

I think I've already mentioned what an amazing job these guys were doing with this night, so this really is a downer. If anyone's got a venue that's looking for DJs who spin great music and consistently book great, local talent, drop Tristan a line.

Labels: no fun city, no more strangers

posted by Quinn @ 5:45 p.m. Comments:0

Thursday, October 01, 2009
living easy, living free

Beginning today at 6pm, CiTR hosts 24 Hours of Thunderbird Radio Hell. Starting in the mid-80s the weekly radio broadcast has brought in hundreds of local acts for some on-air live performance, and tonight they're filling 101.9's airspace for a full day. Tune in at 101.9FM or streaming live at CiTR.ca between 6pm tonight and 6pm tomorrow. You can check out a partial schedule on the Facebook event.

And tomorrow, to celebrate a hard day's work on the radio, Twin Crystal, What's Wrong With Tohei?, and Dylan Thomas play the official after party at the Ukrainian Hall. It's free, by the way.

Not show related, but my friend Annie asked me to mention Taqwacore--The Birth of Punk Islam, a film that's playing at th VIFF. The screening this Saturday at 9:30pm features a Q&A with director, Omar Majeed.

And finally, bad news: Most Serene Republic lost a shitload of gear after their show here earlier this week, so keep your eyes peeled for musical equipment deals that seem too good to be true, specifically This stuff.

More show listings, etc soon.

Labels: citr, no fun city, show announcements

posted by Quinn @ 4:05 p.m. Comments:1

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
never in a dream

I was sick (on my day off, even) yesterday, so I kept the internerding to a minimum, but here's the weekly listings, in the nick of time.

So, it's with some sadness that I compile the weekly listings today, as this week marks the end of one of the most important venues in the city, the Cobalt. The bar's welcomed the kind of music that's mostly un-welcomed by most other "legitimate" venues in town, so it's sort of fitting that Fake Jazz Wednesday plays it out tomorrow night. If you can't make it down for Boosh tonight or Fake Jazz tomorrow to raise a glass in person, I hope you'll join me in thanking Wendy, the staff, and all the people who've booked and played shows there over the years.

Regulars: September 28th-October 4th

Monday

Tuesday
Boosh Tuesdays @ the Cobalt: B-Lines, Nu Sensae, and Two Cabins
Sailing @ the Astoria: unknown

Wednesday
Fake Jazz Wednesday @ the Cobalt: Deep/End, Aerosol Constellations, Black Mage, Reflektionss, Ahna, Horde of Two
The Beehive @ Honey: The Good News and Witch Water
Discorder Presents... @ the Astoria: back on Octber 7th
Gypsy Fade Wednesday @ the Media Club: B-Lines, Healthy Students, and Keep Tidy

Thursday
Honey Lung Thursday @ Honey: Catamaran and Aunts & Uncles

Friday
Damaged Goods @ the Astoria: Colour & the Shape
Far Away @ the Media Club: Manta Ray-Gun
Good Burger @ Funky Winkerbean's: unknown

Saturday
Glory Days @ the Biltmore: no live act
Night Shift @ the Astoria: no Night Shift. Astoria Soul Club and Ting are teaming up for Astoria "Customer Appreciation Night"
No More Strangers @ Funky Winkerbean's: Treelines and Cairo

Labels: no fun city, show announcements, the cobalt

posted by Quinn @ 3:31 p.m. Comments:2

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
a minor bone of contention

From the comments on this article in the Straight about Hoko's shutting down on August 22nd:

I was in Hoko's on Saturday, August 21st and the inspectors were in there giving him a hard time on that night too. They've clearly got an agenda to shut Hoko's down. On this night, there was maybe 10 college student's having some drinks and dinner. It was pretty quiet, no band. The place was kind of dead. Everyone had ordered food including myself. Hoko looked like he was going to have a meltdown. The inspectors were going through everyone's reciepts and generally being a nuisance. I was amazed at what I was witnessing so I wrote down the details including the name and email address of one of the inspectors laying down the no-funs.

I should also mention that just getting to Hoko's was a GONG SHOW of crack heads, prostitutes, and people tweeking on meth. We all know this area and what it's like at night. You can do pretty much anything.

This is where your tax dollars are going Vancouver. Paying some twit to go through the bills of a handful of Karaoke singers on a Saturday night while the REAL problems in this city rage out of control.

The guy harassing Hoko that night was named: Edward Osei-Appiah and his email is: edward.oseiappiah@gov.bc.ca

A beer on the stage. puhleezze. Oh and you can't dance at Hoko's either, that's illegal too. Where's Kevin Bacon when you need him.

If you're back at school at UBC (or if you work there like me), you'll be pleased to note that CiTR is presenting bands at noon on various days throughout this month. Gang Violence unfortunately got rained out last week, but Hermetic plays Tuesday and Fine Mist plays Thursday. "Live at Lunch" goes down outside the South end of the SUB.

Rah Rah plays WISE Hall on Thursday with Red Cedar and Yukon Blonde.

Adjective, Peace, and Spectres are at Pat's on Friday.

Empty Love, Holzkopf, the Worker, Frozen Stake, Jarrett Evan Samson, the National Shield, and Dr. Dad's Sound Lab play the Shed on Saturday the 26th.

Octoberman, the Abramson Singers, and Bells Clanging are at the Railway on September 24th.

That reminds me that the Abramson singers have a new album out and as of right now, you can only get it direct from Leah. Details are on her MySpace. I still need to get my copy.

Red Cedar, No Horses, A Pale Blue, Adelaide, and the Shilohs play WISE Hall on October 11th. If a night of great tunes isn't enough for you, you should note that there's also a pig roast before the bands go on.

Former Ghosts are at the Media Club on October 21st.

Alea Diane and Marissa Nadler co-headline the Media Club for an early show on October 23rd.

Regina Spektor is at the Orpheum on November 2nd.

Art Brut is at the Biltmore on November 3rd.

Bishop Allen plays an early show at the Media Club on November 6th.

Shout Out Out Out Out play the Rickshaw on November 13th.

The Fiery Furnaces play the Red Room on November 17th with Cryptacize.

King Khan & the BBQ Show play the Red Room on November 23rd.

And Japandroids play a homecoming show at the Rickshaw on December 2nd.

Oh, and I was under the weather last night, so I wasn't there, but can report that Aunts & Uncles won the first night of Shindig.

Labels: hokos, no fun city, show announcements

posted by Quinn @ 3:25 p.m. Comments:4

Monday, August 31, 2009
diner's only

Why don't we start with bad news... because that doesn't happen enough in Vancouver. From Jarrett from Shipyards/Geographing/Phantom Islands:

I spoke yesterday on the phone with Jian from Hoko's. She informed me that earlier this week they received another visit from city inspectors. It seems that, much like the last time, the inspectors arrived looking to find faults and kept trying different avenues until they could finally pin something on Hoko's, leaving them with nothing to do but wait for a hefty fine in the mail. It has come to the point where Hoko's feels singled out and in light of this and what they feel is a continued unfair treatment by city officials(and I would add that I certainly agree with that sentiment), they have decided to close their restaurant.

Personally, I am devastated; Jian and Hoko found a way to make a business in an area that doesn't attract many casual diners viable, and in doing so made themselves an important part of the music community in this city. Anyone could book a show at Hoko's with just a myspace message, they never asked for any money from the bands/promoters, they took video of performances themselves and posted them online-- they went far and beyond anything that could have been expected of them in supporting the music scene. I've been working closely with Jian & Hoko since they reopened for shows a few months back, trying to help them out both through the Safe Amplification Society and just by doing as many shows there as i possibly could, but it's gotten to the point that they need to look out for their family and they feel continuing on is not a possibility.

I personally want to thank them again for all they have done, and I will be attempting to help them with this latest and last ticket they received by at the very least holding a fundraiser show at another venue in the coming months. Any individuals or bands wishing to contribute in any way are welcome to email me at
geographingrecords [AT] gmail.com.

Also, there are a number of shows booked at Hoko's this month that have been canceled last minute now, notably the Makeout Videotape/Search Parties/Half Chinese show on September 5th. Anyone who might be able to help us out with a new location for these shows would be very, VERY appreciated. On top of that, in my own personal note, I am left without a home to book my monthly Phantom Islands show, and I
would love to continue it on in a new location as well.

One more time, a huge thank you to Jian & Hoko for everything they did to create one of the best venues this town has ever had.

Jarrett Evan Samson

I'd add that I've seen countless great shows there, notably the very first time I saw Japandroids... you might have heard of them.

On to the weekly listings.

Regulars: August 31st-September 6th

Monday

Tuesday
Boosh Tuesdays @ the Cobalt: back on Sept 15th
Sailing @ the Astoria: unknown

Wednesday
Fake Jazz Wednesday @ the Cobalt: "Hearing Pin" (2/3rds of Shearing Pinx), Nu Sensae, Gross Xmas, Terror Bird
The Beehive @ Honey: back on September 30th
Discorder Presents... @ the Astoria: Fanshaw, Kidnap Kids, and Shane Turner Overdrive
Gypsy Fade Wednesday @ the Media Club: back at the end of September

Thursday
Honey Lung Thursday @ Honey: back on September 10th

Friday
Damaged Goods @ the Astoria: Disaster
Far Away @ the Media Club: no live act
Phantom Islands @ Hoko's: RIP

Saturday
Glory Days @ the Biltmore: no live act
Night Shift @ the Astoria: Vapid and Juvenile Hall
No More Strangers @ Funky Winkerbean's: Dreamboat, Stefana Fratila, and Balacade

Labels: hokos, no fun city, show announcements, weekly listings

posted by Quinn @ 11:43 p.m. Comments:1

Wednesday, May 13, 2009
back of the van

1) First, good news: Burnside's guitar was returned!

2) Second, bad news: Mark, who has probably snapped your photo if you've been to Far Away or Ice Cream Social lately, had his camera stolen on Monday at Shine. Here's the info:

Hey all, my camera was taken from my bag behind the DJ booth in the back room last night at Shine. It was a Canon Rebel XT with a 20-35mm lense and a 580EX Speedlite flash. The lense is old and worn with a red elastic and a red Heinecken wrist band wrapped around the outside.

As most of you know, my camera is an extension of my body, further, it's a tool for a large part of my income. If anybody saw or knows anything about my camera's whereabouts, please contact me, everything will be kept anonymous. I'm a forgiving person and really hope that this situation is made right!

Thanks,

Mark Gutknecht

mark_gutknecht AT hotmail.com

3. Potentially good news: My!Gay!Husband! is in the running to win Nissan Hypercube Van. It's about a two minute diversion from checking Facebook and giggling at lolcats to register and vote, which would be a nice and easy "thanks" to a guy whose thrown some great parties in this city, and done quite a bit for the local music scene by featuring local bands at said parties (I know he obviously makes money doing it too, but still). EDIT: It probably helps if I put the link up.

That's it for now... an update from one of my favourite Vancouver acts tomorrow.

now playing: Loop - Straight to Your Heart

Labels: mygayhusband, no fun city, tight solid

posted by Quinn @ 9:22 p.m. Comments:0

Saturday, May 09, 2009
love and theft

From Burnside of Tight Solid:

I honestly can't describe how much my guitar, which goes by the name Shaniqua, means to me or how much I am feeling this loss. She was one of the few things I had left from the money my father left me after he died. I am a one guitar man so with the loss of Shaniqua I am now without an electric guitar and in no way have the ability to buy another one. If you see her around, in the words of Morrisey and James Brown, "please please please" send her home to me. No questions what so ever will be asked, just pure jubilation.
I miss her. A lot.

2005 Black American Gibson SG Standard
Tuned to Open E
White Skull Skates sticker on the back
New graphite bridge which I had fitted for extra BIG strings (the bottom string is a 56)
New tuning pegs and machine heads (I can't remember the brand but they are shiny silver 1/2 circles)
The paint has been chipped off down to the wood on almost every "devil point"
Pick ups had been replaced but I didn't like them so I put the originals back and also had some work done inside but doubt that matters in the description

Brown leather hard case with "Gibson USA" written on it with the combo set to 666
The inside of the case was plush beautiful bright pink
At time of theft it held my Boss tuning pedal, several patch cords, a love note from Adrienne, some guitar strings and maybe a receipt or two
Black Vinyl Strap


I doubt this will make any difference but please if you see any black SG's around take a second to have a look at them and send my baby home


in love and sadness,

-burnside

Labels: no fun city, tight solid

posted by Quinn @ 5:03 p.m. Comments:1

Saturday, May 02, 2009

Just an update that the Hermetic, Collapsing Opposites, Search Parties, SSRIs show at Little Mountain is canceled. (Thanks to the anonymous commenter)

CORRECTION: It's at the old ER

Apparently Little Mountain is temporarily unable to host live shows due to noise complaints.

Labels: no fun city, show announcements

posted by Quinn @ 3:55 p.m. Comments:2

Thursday, February 12, 2009
open the heart, just a machine

HEY VANCOUVER,

It is with much anger and a heavy heart that I write this… It appears that “NO FUN CITY” has again become true. The Sweatshop has been shut down! The city and the landlord have terminated our licenses and our lease. We have to exit the premises as of Monday Feb. 16th. I have gone head to head with a couple officers for the past year and have been trying to work with city hall to meet their demands on us as a venue, skate park and gallery space. But in the end the $$$, fines and the cities demands are just too much to fight. They have closed us down!

I will be in contact with all the promoters, bands and events that are booked in the future at the sweatshop. I will do everything I can to find and relocate all of the upcoming shows.

This space has been amazing! And lets be honest this city sucks, venue after venue being closed, space after space being shut down and so many independent promoters, artists and performers being crushed by the corporate machine! This is a very sad day for me. And as much as the fight gets harder and more and more frustrating everyday. I don’t really know what else to do but fight and continue on. So stayed tuned… support the underground and I promise you! Another space will soon arise!!!! But for now we are done.

This past year we have had some of the most amazing performances, art shows and parties. And being true to form we are going to go out with one more… So for all of you who have been to the sweatshop and for those who always wanted to…. please come and join us this sat night. Feb. 14th Valentines Day with PRIDE TIGER, THE JOLTS, ADELAIDE and a few surprise deejays keeping the party going. Because in the end its always a party at the sweatshop!!!!

MALICE

Labels: no fun city, the sweatshop

posted by Quinn @ 2:09 p.m. Comments:11

Friday, August 22, 2008
an open letter from zak pashak to peter ladner

Hello Peter,

I know you are busy and I want to thank you for reading this. I am a young business person from Calgary who has recently opened a bar in Vancouver. In Calgary I run a venue called 'Broken City' that has been voted best live music venue each of the 4 years it has been open. We host local and touring rock bands for the most part. We also host Calgary's longest running jazz jam and various community events, fundraisers and even political debates. I also run a music festival called Sled Island.

My mother lives in Vancouver when she is not in Calgary running the magazine Alberta Views (a political magazine). My father was an MLA in Alberta, and I am also politically active in Calgary. My bar in Calgary is frequented by a few of our city councillors and I have hosted events for them.

When I used to visit Vancouver people would complain that there were no good venues that supported the local arts community (the Railway and Media clubs being notable exceptions). One year ago an opportunity to do something here opened up for me.

I took the old bar in the basement of the Biltmore (Kingsway and 12th) - this was formerly a rough place- and did a small yet expensive non-structural renovation, including expanding the existing stage and installing a top of the line sound system. We hire local staff and bands and have already started to make some waves in Vancouver.

We were recently shut down on a technicality regarding the expansion of our stage. This came about after we had been shut down due to going over our posted capacity. Our posted capacity is punitively low- but we should not have gone over. Getting shut down, however, seems to be not in keeping with normal practices. Normally a fine is issued unless people are at risk (from my understanding). We are currently closed because the fire inspector then took issue with the stage being larger that it was on the drawings he had. That same inspector told us we would not likely get shut down again- but then came in at 4pm the night of a show to tell us we had to close. He then told us that if we got a drawing we could open the next day. We got the drawing and were then told we had to wait for them to process things for a few more days. Today I have learned that things have now been pushed over to a building inspector and it will take at least 10 more days. Now that I am in this process I know it could keep getting passed around endlessly. It is amazing how suddenly effective municipal employees can be when they are trying to make things hard for people/small businesses. This is not meant to be a threat- but my consultant is recommending that I initiate legal action. I would rather avoid this.

Apparently our liquor inspector (a hapless and misinformed man named Edward) stated to one of my employees that he wanted to see the club shut down permanently. All of what we are being put through seems excessive and punitive. It is also costing me a lot of money. Bar owners are people too- at least some of us are. We have a loose cannon in Edward acting like a renegade sheriff.

It is a largely held belief that the Granville Entertainment Group is paying off civil servants. I don't know if this is true- but that it is widely held to be true is troubling enough.

There are bars in Vancouver that have been in business operating as brothels (the #5 orange, etc) for years. There are bars that lock the front doors and serve drinks until 7am. There is a bar that serves drinks all night, has no license AND deals with the city the city of Vancouver regarding plumbing issues- and is still in operation. They have dangerous wiring and actually could put people in harm's way. In Vancouver I have been to filthy restaurants with public bathrooms in the kitchen. There is also a MASSIVE drug problem in the city. But we are closed for weeks because of a technicality with our stage. The amount of heat being put on us is completely out of scale. We are a well run, well intending bar that wants to do good things here in Vancouver and we are following the rules.

Our stage was approved in our initial inspection. It is true- we made non-structural changes and we increased the size of the stage, but it was approved already. It is under two feet high and from what I know about building codes it should not require a permit. Yet here we are having the book thrown at us.

I believe everything we have done is legal, other than going over capacity. We have paid piles of money in taxes. I feel we are being treated unfairly and I am writing to ask for your help. If you would be willing to ask a couple of questions to find out why this is happening to us it would be very helpful and very much appreciated.


Yours,


Zak Pashak

You'll have to wait until Monday. But if you care about live music in this city. Hell, if you care about bars that don't define themselves by how impressive their bottle service is, you might want to call or write the mayor or some of your city councillors.

Labels: biltmore, no fun city

posted by Quinn @ 6:25 p.m. Comments:14

no fun, my babe, no fun

Apparently the Biltmore could remain shut down for a few more weeks. It seems that they're having some problems with the City. Semi-official worrd is "regulatory issues," but rumour is that they pissed off some of the other bar owners around the City and, somehow in turn, someone that works behind a desk at 12th & Cambie.

Regardless, I'm sure glad the City has turned its attention to the Biltmore now that it's done such a bang up job cleaning up the rest of Kingsway.

Official word on the Biltmore, Saturday's Mirah show, and other events planned there if/when I get them.

now playing: Chad VanGaalen - Poisonous Heads

Labels: biltmore, no fun city

posted by Quinn @ 1:03 p.m. Comments:1