2. The following courtesy Angus MacIssaac. A short movie entitled “The Wake of Calum MacLeod” will be shown on Bravo television at 4:30 P.M., Friday, February 29^th. The movie was made in Cape Breton so should have a great dollop of Highland realism.

The Isle of Eigg Electrification Project switched on for the first time on 1st February 2008, allowing power generated from renewable energy sources around the island to be supplied to all residents, through the new island-wide high voltage distribution network. The system will generate over 95% of the island’s annual energy demand through a combination of Hydro Electric, Wind Power and Solar Energy, which is believed to be the first time that anyone has successfully integrated these three renewable energy sources. To ensure that constant power can be provided, a battery storage system has been designed which will compensate for short periods where energy from renewable sources is not available. Two diesel generators have also been installed to provide emergency back-up power, and to supplement the supply should the output from the renewable sources be lower than the demand.

 

4. Talisker Distillery in Skye is looking forward to increased interest from connoisseurs around the globe after one of its products was named “the world’s best single malt whisky” in the industry’s most prestigious awards event.

It was Talisker 18 Years Old that took the fancy of the judging panel — and the supreme title for the first time — in Whisky Magazine’s 2007 Awards. A spokesman for Diageo, the distillery’s owners, said that demand for Talisker was expected to rise sharply as a result.  The award coincides with the retirement of Charlie Smith, manager at Talisker for the past three years, following a distinguished career in the whisky industry. Mr Smith was also manager at Dufftown, Cardhu and Glenkinchie distilleries.

He is succeeded by Willie MacDougal, a native of Aberfeldy who was site operations manager at Oban Distillery for six years prior to a brief spell at Blair Athol. His family has a long association with the industry and Mr MacDougal says he is “totally thrilled” to be taking over at one of the world’s most famous distilleries.  “Talisker is one of the most successful malts in the world,” said Mr MacDougal, “though — or maybe because — the distillery’s output is deliberately a good deal lower than some other top-selling malts. It’s a distillery with massive heritage and an amazing future, with fans all over the world.” He added that he also intended to improve his piping skills while on Skye.  The Whisky Magazine judging panel’s comments on Talisker 18 Years Old fully endorsed Mr MacDougal’s enthusiasm for the brand. Dave Broom, one of the world’s leading whisky commentators, described it as “elegant with fascinating balance between smoke and subtle sweet fruit. Ever changing in the glass and on the palate.”

Edinburgh whisky dealer Keir Sword waxed even more eloquent:

“Warm, rich and attractive. Leather, pipe-tobacco, sweet sherry and polished oak on the nose, followed by a good creamy texture and a warming finish. A very attractive

Moe Sihota rocked the house at the opening session on Monday night.  Jenny Kwan told her personal heart-warming story about the journey to find her cultural and political identity.

It's the first ever "worker of colour" conference, hosted by CUPE BC.  I am attending as a member of CUPE 391, Vancouver Library Workers. We have four members attending the conference.

This morning's session opened with a panel discussion featuring Dr. Sunera Thobani (UBC Professor, Women's Studies), Raj Chouhan (MLA Burnaby Edmonds), Jenny Kwan (MLA Vancouver Mount Pleasant), and Sid Chow Tan (Founding co-chair of Head Tax Families Society of Canada).

Each speaker talked about their own experiences in dealing with racism, as well as their community activism and what they saw as ways to address it.  And each speaker received standing ovations.  Thobani talked about racism in society, and the challenges of racial profiling in the wake of 9-11 and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Chouhan talked about his community work as founding president of the Canadian Farmworkers Union, and how it is important for unions to be active.  Tan talked about the Chinese head tax redress campaign, and how unions have been leaders in racism a century ago, and how they helped lead the CCF party and overturning racist legislation in 1947.

For me, the most powerful talk came from Jenny Kwan.  I have heard her speak a few times, but this was the first time I have heard her speak about the challenges of growing up as an immigrant in a strange culture.  Kwan arrived in Vancouver at age nine, but never felt that she felt in.  She explained how challenging it was for her mother to go to work, so her father could attend ESL classes in order to get a better job.  She described reacting against her immigrant parents, and speaking only English to them, when they could only understand Chinese.  She also described thinking that she was useless, and nobody would miss her if she died.

The turning point came when Kwan revisited her birthplace of Hong Kong, and saw the life her parents left behind so that they could come to Canada to build a better life for themselves and their children.  She then realized and appreciated the sacrifices they made, and she buckled down returning to SFU to complete her studies.  Kwan also became a community activist, working as a legal advocate.  In an effort to make a greater positive change for people's lives, she became the youngest ever councilor for Vancouver City Council in 1993.  In 1998, she became the first Chinese-Canadian cabinet minister as Minister of Municipal Affairs.

But it hasn't always been easy.  Whether it was because she was young, a woman, or a person of colour - Kwan was not treated with equal respect.  She shared stories from both her time as a city councilor and a MLA when male white opposition colleagues did their best to belittle and intimidate her.

For me, Kwan's story drove home the struggles that many people of colour face, not only from racial discrimination at school, or in the work place, but more importantly the struggle to fit in and find a cultural identity that is not in conflict with parental expectations and mainstream integration.  These same themes were repeated in the workshops that conference attendees sat on, addressing multicultural and racial issues in the union, the workplace, the community, political arena, as well as racial profiling.

I attended the workshop titled "Walking the Walk in the community."  It was led by Sid Chow Tan and Shashi Assanand.  With 14 other union brothers and sisters, we shared our own experience of racism, and issues of colour.  We discussed barriers to equal opportunity and also suggested solutions to these challenges.  Everybody came up with ideas that could help combat racism, as well as to promote cultural understanding.  We left the workshop feeling positive and vowing to take these informative ideas back to our unions and workplaces.

Tomorrow.... expect more of the same!
 

Watch GLOBAL NEWS on Tuesday Feb 26 -
6pm
TOMORROW!

Everybody knowns that BC's cultural diversity is one of the best things about living in BC.  Where else can you celebrate almost all the world's cultures worldly cuisines in a single city, go dragon boat racing, go to First Nations pow wows, enter a St. Patrick's Day parade, and learn bangra dancing?

Todd Wong (me)  was interviewed on Feb 17th for a Global TV story celebrating BC's 150 years.

I talk about cultural diversity in BC, and am seen with the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team, paddling in the background.

Cultural diversity is the topic, Todd and the Gung Haggis dragon boat team will represent it to Global TV viewers.  Our dragon boat team itself has a good mixture of not only Asian and Caucasian paddlers, but also one paddler with Iraqi heritage and 3 paddlers with both Asian/Caucasian DNA.

I also explain the history of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner, which celebrates not only the Scottish and Chinese pioneer histories of BC, but also "everything inbetween and everything beyond."



We did a poll asking people what they thought were the things that made BC a world-class place, and people/culture/diversity was one of the top 10 responses.  To illustrate some of BC's amazing culture and diversity, I thought you would be a great person to profile.  But of course, we need some viz of you doing something, and since we missed the dinner, the dragon boating would be great, as well as another example of cultural diversity.  The story is scheduled to air Feb 26.

Tarun Nayar of Beats Without Borders occasionally sends me announcements of upcoming events and concerts.  Last night he and the group Delhi 2 Dublin performed at the CBC studios.  We met at the first Delhi 2 Dublin concert - back in March 2006 - see my review: St. Paddy's Eve in Vancouver - What is a man in a kilt to do? -

Looks like a nice line up of South Asian music with some cross-cultural fusion.  Especially the Transfusion dance show where "Flamenco blurs into Kathak, and Bhangra is intertwined with Celtic."

I have seen Kiran Ahluwalia both performing traditional ghazal songs as well as her performance in the jazz opera Quebecite - written by Chinese-Afro-Canadian D.D. Jackson with lyrics by Afro-MicMac-Canadian George Eliot Clarke.

We had a great practice in the sunshine today with a full 22 paddler boat and a Global TV camerman!

It was the first practice of the year, and all paddlers were enthusiastic veterans who braved the chilly February sunshine.  We were even filmed by a Global TV camerman.  Maybe it's like a dragon boat version of ground hog day.... if we can see our shadow we will have have great season of fun and medals.

It's the earliest time we've ever been out on the water.  Last year we started on the first Sunday in March with only 8 paddlers in the rain who went out in Marathon canoes.  This year it was 24 team members. 

Even the media attention has come early.  Last April, a the ADBF sprint regatta, it was a ZDF German Public television crew filming us for a travelogue documentary titled Toronto to Vancouver.  We are featured near the end of the show.  Check out:
http://wstreaming.zdf.de/zdf/veryhigh/071219_toronto_vancouver.asx
go to 54 minute mark of the 58 minute documentary to find the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.

Attending our first practice were: returning Gung Haggis paddlers Wendy, Tzhe, Keng & Gerard, Georgia, Julie, Ashleigh, Steven Wong & Jane, Stephen Mirowski, Joe, Emma, Leanne, Daming, and myself...  + Lena who joined us in Oct + Raphael, Adam & Nicole from the UA team (who had joined us for Lotus and Ft. Langley Races) + 5 paddlers from CC Dragons Don & Paulette, Gail, Marg, and Debbie = 24 people on the water - Wow!

We were enthusiastically enjoying the sunshine, and happy to be out paddling, stretching our muscles!

We are grateful to the CC Dragons paddlers who are joining us, and bringing lots of experience from years of competitive, and Rec A/B racing.  Thank you to the Gung Haggis paddlers for making them feel welcome.  We will be inclusive, sharing leadership, wisdom, experience, enthusiasm and lots of fun, food and drink.

The Global TV cameraman came out to shoot some shots of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team and to interview Todd for a story about "The Best of BC".  Cultural diversity is the topic, and Todd and the Gung Haggis dragon boat team will represent it to Global TV veiwers for the story celebrating BC's 150th Anniversary.



Today was a great start to a new Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat season.  We plan to have two teams where new paddlers can learn from veteran paddlers, and our best paddlers can race to their potential. 

Please remember to dress warmly, with polypropelene underwear that will wick moisture away, windbreakers to cut the wind chill, and bring water - as we still loose moisture through our breath.  It's important to stay warm and hydrated - even more so, as we are just getting started again in cold weather and many of us have not been exercising for awhile.

Two teams for 2008 will be GREAT!
Two boats can race together on Sunday afternoon practices
Tuesday and Wednesday 6pm practices will evolve as either advanced paddler or technique/beginner practices... or dependent upon which night people can attend. 

We are building flexibility into our practice schedule.
People could also paddle on one day, and help coach or steer on another day or more.

If new people would like to join they can contact me at:
gunghaggis at yahoo dot ca

or phone Todd Wong
h: 604-987-7124
c: 778-846-7090

Back in January, Todd Wong was interviewed by Eric Model for "Conversations on the Road."  Model describes his  show as "journeys into the offbeat, off the beaten path, overlooked and the forgotten."

"And today most appropriately takes us into the category of offbeat.  And today's journey we go to Vancouver and we are discussing and event called 'Gung Haggis Fat Choy.'"

It's a very interesting 21 minute and 38 second pod cast with a stimulating conversation about the origins of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, early Chinese and Scottish pioneers in the late 1800's, racism, cultural traditions, inter-racial marriage, and the Canadian explorer Simon Fraser who was actually born in Vermont.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Gung Haggis Fat Choy - A Unique Scottish-Chinese Cultural Celebration

Gung Haggis Fat Choy is a cultural event originating from Vancouver, BC. The name Gung Haggis Fat Choy is a combination wordplay on Scottish and Chinese words: haggis is a traditional Scottish food and Gung Hay Fat Choy/Kung Hei Fat Choi s a traditional Cantonese greeting (in Mandarin it is pronounced Gong Xi Fa Cai) used during Chinese New Year. The event originated to mark the timely coincidence of the Scottish cultural celebration of Robert Burns Day (January 25) with the Chinese New Year, but has come to represent a celebration of combining cultures in untraditional ways.

In Vancouver, the event is characterized by music, poetry, and other performances around the city, culminating in a large banquet and party. This unique event has also inspired both a television performance special titled Gung Haggis Fat Choy, and the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Canadian Games, organized by the Recreation Department at Simon Fraser University.

In this conversation, we speak with event founder and spearhead Todd Wong. He tells us how it got started, and what it has come to represent around Vancouver and far beyond. 

TAILOR MADE: Chinatown's Last Tailors
CBC Newsworld
Tuesday February 12th
7pm/10pm   EST & PST

Modernize Tailors began in 1913 when their father opened the store.  Brothers Bill and Jack took it over in 1953.  It's now 2007, and Bill's younger brother Milton wants to help brothers Bill and Jack retire gracefully by turning the tailor shop into a "living museum" and "hobby shop," and move into the restored building and original site of their father's tailorshop. But will they pass the historic tailor shop on to an fashion journalist apprentice or the hot shot tailor at Holt Renfrew?

This is the story behind Tailor Made: Chinatown's Last Tailors, directed by Len Lee and Marsha Newbery, and produced by Marsha Newbery

This was a wonderful documentary that was more concerned with the present day human story of finding a successor for Modernize Tailors, rather than retelling the history of Chinatown and how the Wong Brothers Bill and Jack turned to their father's tailor shop after they were told there would be no jobs for them because they were Chinese, even though they had just graduated with UBC engineering degrees in 1946.  In following the two different successor storylines, the viewer learns an appreciation for what Bill and Jack Wong created with Modernize Tailors, and why it has a special place not only in Chinatown history, but also Vancouver history.  We learn that it once was Vancouver's busiest and largest tailor shop, employing up to 20 people and operating 7 days a week.

You really got to know a sense of Bill Wong, tailor.  He is such as nice down to earth person.  He genuinely was interested in apprentice JJ Lee, and the hot shot tailor David.  But now Bill is 85 years old.  There are other concerns in his life such as his wife and garden. It is shared that wife Zoe is in the beginning stages of Alzheimers disease, and there is a touching scene of them walking hand in hand in Queen Elizabeth Park near their home.  And then there are the many children and grandchildren that we are never introduced to.

There are even some celebrity appearances!  Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan comes into the shop to visit and says that he wants to be able to brag that he has a Modernize Tailors suit.  There is a picture of Sean Connery who was a customer, as well as a thank you note from Gordon Lightfoot.  At one time, Modernize Tailors was "the tailor shop" to go to in Vancouver - especially when the zoot suits were in fashion!  Nowadays they just make zoot suits for the theatre and film companies.

But the best celebrity appearance is their baby brother Milton Wong.  Bill shares that Milton was named to the Order of Canada and chancellor at Simon Fraser University.  The narrator says that Milton is a well-known investor and philanthropist who has bought the historic Chinese Freemasons building and restored it as a senior's residence.  It was also the early site of Modernize Tailors from for fifty years from 1936 to 1976.  Milton has created a smaller storefront for Modernize Tailors to "retire" into, as a kind of living museum and hobby shop, because elder brothers Bill and Jack aren't ready to quit tailoring yet.

Tailor Made was filmed over a 1 1/2 year period from 2006 to 2007.  Bill Wong's son Steven is on our Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team so we heard about some of the story ideas and filming events, such as "the move."  From time to time I pop into Modernize Tailors, so I also bumped into the film makers and Wong family members.  At one point the film crew was asking about having the 85 year old Bill Wong paddle on our dragon boat team, because he had done so as part of "The Wong Way" family dragonboat team in 2004 and 2005.

Bill Wong attended this year's Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, and his son Steven is a paddler on our Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.  It's nice to get to know Bill over the past few years, as our family's have many connections.

It was nice to see my uncle Laddie in the show, since he is one of the tailors employed by Bill and Jack.  And I saw my Auntie Verna, when there was a food celebration with the Wong families in the store.

My cousin Joe Wai made a brief appearance as "the architect" of the restored heritage building, that Bill Wong's younger brother Milton has bought to house the "living museum" of the working tailor shop.

Over the past 3 years there have been 4 documentaries about Vancouver Chinatown families and individuals: Mary Lee Chan: Taking On City Hall, I Am the Canadian Delegate (the Douglas Jung Story), Generations: The Chan Legacy and now Tailor Made: Chinatown's Last Tailors.  I am proud to know descendants from each of the families documented, and especially that there are descendants from each family paddling on our Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team!

photo Todd Wong

Here's a picture of tailor-turned-woodcarver Bill Wong working on a dragon boat head with the youngest generation of Wongs.  Both the Wong Way and Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat teams took part in an experimental workshop to carve wooden dragon boat heads in the spring of 2005.

We saw Grace Chin's new play "The Quickie" on Friday night.  Two words quickly came to mind - "Very Vancouver."
Two people drag their friends to a Speed Dating event, meet new people, have a follow-up date, then let the sparks and fur fly when they ask their friends to tag along on a double date.

It is a witty comedy play that had the audience talking about it during the intermission, and even making the "awwww" sound when one of the characters was rejected. 

Playwright Grace has captured the diversity of even the Vancouver's Asian population, incorporating Maylaysian Chinese, Korean, South Asian and Cantonese Chinese origins, as well as Irish-Italian, and Hong Kong origins.  Accents blend into the action, and you don't notice them as none of the four lead performers speak with accents.

Inter-ethnic dating is a topic discussion.  Do we or don't we?  It was funny, because my girlfriend and I were sitting with friends, and we were both inter-ethnic couples.  So very Vancouver, in Canada's capital of inter-ethnic relationships.

Check out http://www.scriptingaloud.ca/quickie/

More later....

Theatre review: Banana Boys jabs and pokes fun at Asian-Canadian inferiority complex... 

Banana Boys
Firehall Arts Centre
directed by Donna Spencer
until February 9th.

Bananas are everywhere in Canada.  They are the Canadianized Asians that are yellow on the outside and white on the inside.  Terry Woo wrote the novel, and Leon Aureas turned it into the play being performed at the Firehall Arts Centre.

Everybody knows a Banana.  They straddle in between the Mother tongue culture trying to distance themselves from the FOB (Fresh Off the Boat) new immigrants who still speak with an accent, and they don't quite fit in with the Mainstream White-Canadian dominant culture - because everywhere they go, people still refer to them as Chinese because of their skin colour.

In a negative perspective, Bananas are sometimes accused of denying their racial and cultural heritage, by trying to be mainstream.  Former Governor General of Canada, Adrienne Clarkson, could be considered a Banana, even though she was born in Hong Kong and came to Canada at age three.  She doesn't even use her maiden name Poy anymore, keeping the name of her ex-husband political scientist Stephen Clarkson.

In a positive perspective, Bananas emphasize Canadian values, and the integration (or assimilation) of Chinese culture into becoming good Canadians of Chinese ancestry.  My friend David Wong calls himself a Banana, and like myself, is proud of his multigenerational Chinese-Canadian pioneer ancestry.

But in both the book and play, Banana Boys are college friends at the University of Waterloo.  They are called losers by one of their girlfriends.  And the most successful of them, is at odds with trying to distance himself from them and fit into the rising corporate class of new Chinese-Canadian immigrants.  They are 5 friends that each  represent many of the Asian-Canadian male stereotypes: unassertive romantically delusioned male, family values dominated number one son that goes to medical school, computer/math/tech geek, commerce faculty BMW or Accura Integra driving Chuppie (Chinese yuppie).

What is wrong with being a Banana?

Nothing... and everything!

The play opens with the 5 friends declaring their friendship in a prologue.  The real action starts when we discover that main character Rick Wong (Victor Mariano) has died by self-impalement of a piece of mirror into his heart.  The rest of the play explores each of the character's relationship to their "Banana-ness" and how they relate to each other.  Simon Hayakawa plays Michael Chow, the medical student who is in charge of documenting Rick Wong's life, struggling between following his bliss of becoming a writer or his family expectations of becoming a doctor.

It is a manic romp through many issues of being Asian-Canadian such as: dating white women or Chinese Women; following parental expectations for academic achievement; facing racial discrimination and cultural stereotypes; and trying to blend in with the mainstream or immigrant cultures.  Simon Hayama, Victor Mariano, Parnelli Parnes, and Vincent Tong, are all back for this return engagement after closing the 2007 Western Canada premiere with sold out shows.

The first act is fast paced with some brilliantly insightful and funny scenes. A scene addressing why Banana Boys are at the bottom of the relationship desirability ladder, begins as a mock battle scene with the boys playing soldiers fighting with machine guns, but transitions into a description of Venn diagrams explaining the intersections of Asian women with White men, but not White women or Asian women with Banana Boys.  It's a hilarious tribute to the mathematical geek stereotype of Asian males.

But this play goes beyond mere racial issues, it also tackles the tough issues of identity, drug addiction, friendship and learning to love oneself. 

Kudo's to Firehall Arts Centre for premiering this wonderful play to the West Coast, and having the strong belief in it to re-launch it a year later, in the wake of Firehall's remount of Urine Town.  Director Donna Spencer has tightened up the production, and the actors seem much more comfortable with the material.  The actors are all  amazing, as this play pushes them to over the top performances that exaggerate the issues to extremes.  Highlights include two of the actors dressing up with blonde wigs, as go-go dancing game show hostesses with Chinese accents, or dressed up in a big Sumo Wrestler outfit as Michael Chow's mother wrestling his personal ambitions against family expectations.  Metaphor is big in this play, and it hits you with big outrageous scenes and imagery.

When the play premiered last year, Terry Woo the Banana Boys author, came out for the opening and was happily amazed by the production.  The play had originally been workshopped in Toronto, but still translated well to Vancouver.  While the original material was written with a Chinese-Canadian specific culture in mind,
the actors come from a diverse Asian ancestry including Filipino, Chinese, Japanese and Hapa-Canadian.  The issues are universal enough to relate to all Asian-Canadian and Canadian immigrant community groups.

I was amazed by all the pop-cultural references and Asian Banana Boy cultural specifics such as dragon boat racing, driving Acura Integras, and drinking Coca-cola - which I do personally in my life.  As a 5th generational Chinese Canadian, am I that much of a Banana Boy?  Or are some of these issues relatable to all Canadians?  Judging from the laughter in the audience, lots of people, White or Asian, were enjoying the play.

Happy Chinese New Year - Gung Hay Fat Choy!

...or should that be Gung Haggis Fat Choy ?

Province Newspaper reporter Cheryl Chan interviewed me about the multiculturalism of Chinese Lunar New Year, and about my recent Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner.  I told her about how I have been asked to speak at Elementary schools to help them express the Lunar New Year as a multicultural event, that all cultures can share in - not just Chinese New Year, Tibetan Losar, or Vietnamese Tet celebrations.

Gee... like everybody can be Irish for St. Patrick's Day, or everybody can be Scottish for Robbie Burns Day, or all Canadians can celebrate Chinese New Year.... definitely!!!

Then she asked what I was up to for Chinese New Year's Day...  I told her going to see Banana Boys Play... and Kilts Night at Doolin's Irish Pub. The writer included it in a list of events for Chinese New Year.

But darn... she didn't use any of my quotes about inter-culturalism expressed in a dragon boat team!

I am going to spend some time with my Hapa-Canadian niece and nephew today, then go see bagpiper friend Joe McDonald, who has survived 9 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners, and a dragboat float in the 1st Vancouver St. Patrick's Day parade. 

Some of our Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team members and Kilts Night clan will be having Chinese New Year dinner at Hon's before they head over to Doolin's Irish Pub, Nelson and Granville for Kilts Night and to watch the hockey game before the Halifax Wharf Rats start playing.   I am going to see the 7:30pm Banana Boys show at the Firehall Arts Centre- but should make Kilts Night around 9:30 to 10pm. 

Slainte, Todd

It's Chinese New Year week....

here are some FUN events this week.... after recovery from Gung Haggis Fat Choy Chinese Robbie Burns Dinner recovery....

Tuesday February 5, 2008 - 6:00 PM

CITY COOKS with Simi Sara

Channel 13 in Metro Vancouver
Our cooking dragon boat chef Dan Seto (Chinese Canadian Historical Society of B.C.)

1. Lotus Root Soup
2. Steamed Pork with Salt Fish
3. Green Beans with Fooyi Bean Cake

Check out
TUESDAY to Saturday FEB 5 - 9th
BANANA BOYS
Firehall Theatre
The fun play by Leon Aureas, based on the Terry Woo novel
Back from a hit run last year... manic comedy and Asian identity... or Asian confusion.

THURSDAY Feb 7
CHINESE NEW YEAR DAY
- Kilts Night at Doolin's Irish Pub
FREE pint of Guinness if you wear a kilt.
8:00pm - Raphael to greet you.
Hockey game starts a 7:00 pm - expect music by Halifax Wharf Rats to begin afterwards around 9:30

FRIDAY Feb 7 - 16
THE QUICKIE
- Playwrights theatre centre on Granville Island
- this is the play excerpted at Gung Haggis dinner
- this is by the same group that did Twisting Fortunes last year

purchase tickets online via PayPal at www.scriptingaloud.ca/quickie.
but see them:

Friday, February 15 concert of DEAD Serious 
7:30 p.m. at Vancouver Memorial Services and Crematorium / Hamilton-Harron Funeral 
Home, 5390 Fraser Street) will TAKE PLACE AS SCHEDULED.  
If you would like to make reservations, 
please call 604-325-7441.