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Sunday, February 21

Gung Haggis Fat Choy SEATTLE!!! Feb 21, 2010
by
Todd
on Sun 21 Feb 2010 12:18 PM PST
Gung Haggis Fat Choy in the USA
 Sunday, February 21st 2010 5-9pm Ocean City Restaurant 609 S. Weller St. Seattle Chinatown, WA
Ticket Price US$35 Reservations
required
Scottish Troubadour Red McWilliams Belltown Martial Arts Lion Dance Troop
Master, David Leong
Pipers Don Scobie & Paul Vegers
Drummers Thane Mitchell & Steven Wheel
Kenmore and District Pipeband
Pipe Major, Jim McGillivray
The Asian Youth Orchestra
Director, Warren Chang
Scottish Highland Fiddler Susan Burke with Bill Boyd
Here's the information from the Caledonians Website
Gung Haggis Fat Choy! Huh?! In 2007 Bill
McFadden, President of the Caledonian & St. Andrew's
Society, introduced Todd Wong's trademarked production of "Gung Haggis
Fat Choy" to Seattle. Billed as "A Celebration of Chinese New Year and
Robert Burns' Dinner", the laughter-filled evening included haggis, a
delicious Chinese dinner, Pipes & Drums (traditional and fusion
style), sing-alongs (including "When Asian/Scottish Eyes are Smiling"
and "My Haggis/Chow Mein Lies Over the Ocean"), Poems, The Address tae
the Haggis (delivered in rap to an enthusiastic and responsive crowd)
and Auld Lang Syne sung in both Mandarin Chinese and English.
For February 21st, 2010
BIll has worked out improvements, and Gung Haggis Fat
Choy IV will be the best year! We will celebrated the
251st Birthday of Robert Burns and Chinese Lunar New Year Year of the
Tiger with an 8 Course Chinese Dinner, Haggis, Raffle/Door Prize, and
musical entertainment featuring: Emcee "Toddish McWong" and
his inimitable "Address tae the Haggis Rap", "Red" McWilliams, Sifu
David F. Leong's Belltown Martial Arts, Kenmore & District Pipe
Band, Piper Don Scobie and Asian Youth Orchestra - Warren Chang, Director
Toddish
McWong's 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy IV (Seattle style) Produced by Bill McFadden
The fourth
annual event has been scheduled for Sunday, February 21st 2010 5-9pm Ocean City Restaurant 609 S. Weller St. Seattle, WA
Ticket Price US$35 Reservations
required
For tickets and additional information please contact Bill McFadden (206) 364-6025 bill@gunghaggisfatchoy-seattle.com
Please click here to go to the gunghaggisfatchoy-seattle.com web site.

Todd
Wong (aka "Toddish McWong") of Vancouver, B.C., creator of Gung Haggis
Fat Choy. Recognized in the Scottish Parliament's exhibition: "This
is Who We Are: Scots in Canada". Photo taken in Edinburgh, October of
2009.
Please click here to view photos in our Gallery from the '07 event in Seattle.
Please click here for a sample of "Toddish McWong's" Haggis Rap!
Please click here for additional information on Todd Wong's annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy held in Vancouver, BC.
Saturday, January 30

Robbie Burns was born in the year of the Tiger.
by
Todd
on Sat 30 Jan 2010 04:38 PM PST
In 1759, a wee bairn of a boy named Robert was born in a cottage in the village of Alloway, in Ayrshire Scotlandm, on January 25th in the last days of the Chinese Lunar Year of the Tiger. Four days later on January 29th, Chinese New Year of the Rabbit occurred + pictures + more
more »
Wednesday, January 27

Google News Alert for "Gung Haggis Fat Choy"
by
Todd
on Wed 27 Jan 2010 12:44 PM PST
Every year I do media interviews. On Robbie Burns Day, I was woken up at 7am by a request from BBC Radio Scotland. Yesterday, I did an interview for French CBC television. Monday was Epoch Times. Last week the Georgia Straight did a food feature article. Somewhere in Scotland there is an interview in the Sunday Post. Even SFU, Seattle and North Shore News have stories about Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner this year. Check out the links: more »
Monday, January 25

Happy 251st Birthday Rabbie!
by
Todd
on Mon 25 Jan 2010 11:18 PM PST
BBC Radio Scotland woke me up at 7am for a 9:30 am interview. There is 8 hours time difference. After I was woken up, it was hard to get back to sleep, so I got onto the computer and listened to BBC Radio Scotland for awhile. It's always fun to listen to them both on New Year's Eve and Robbie Burns Day.... + PICTURES + MORE more »
Sunday, January 24

Menu revealed for 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner to welcome Year of the Tiger
by
Todd
on Sun 24 Jan 2010 10:43 PM PST
There are some changes for the dinner menu for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner. We try to vary the dinner items from year to year, add some new surprises, take out items we are bored with. This is a draft menu - subject to change.
See if you can spot the new additions - not repeated from last year.
1. Floata Appetizer Platter
a. Haggis Pork dumpling (Shiu Mai)
b. turnip cake (Lo-bak-goh)
c. Honey BBQ Pork
d. Jelly Fish
2. Deep fried haggis won ton + PICTURES + MORE more »
Monday, January 18

Cultural Connection interview: What is the connection between Chinese New Year and Robbie Burns Supper?
by
Todd
on Mon 18 Jan 2010 11:44 PM PST
Internet Radio blog link to Cultural Connects - Very interesting interview with Todd Wong, creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, by Gary Jarvis.Listen to Gary's interview of Todd Wong, creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, as he explains the Scottish and Chinese and BC roots of his brain child - a cultural fusion Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.vie...w&friendId=400868504&blogId=526013921 more »
Thursday, December 31

2009 Year of Gung Haggis Fat Choy from Royal BC Museum in Victoria to Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh
by
Todd
on Thu 31 Dec 2009 01:42 PM PST
2009 featured photos in exhibits at Royal BC Museum and Scottish Parliament. Other highlights included the inaugural writer in residence program at Historic Joy Kogawa House, and Todd Wong's first visit to Scotland for the finale weekend of Homecoming Year. And there was the 250th anniversary of poet Robert Burns.
more »

Todd Wong on CBC Radio One December 31st - Traditions of singing Auld Lyne Syne for New Year's Eve.
by
Todd
on Thu 31 Dec 2009 01:10 PM PST
Why do we sing Auld Lang Syne at New Year's Eve?
Todd Wong
be heard today on CBC Radion One 690 AM - ON THE COAST. 3-6pm
They
asked me about the origins of singing "Auld Lang Syne" - the Robert
Burns lyrics connection and the proper way of holding hands while
singing. Of course I threw in similarities between Scottish Hogmannay
and Chinese New Year - such as making lots of noise and paying off your
debts.They asked if I will be with friends ringing in the New Year. I said I
am at Silver Star in Vernon, with good friends... including Craig Brown
who was at my 1st Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, when the only "kilts" we
had were Canadian Mackinkaw lumberjack shirts tied around our waists... Origins of singing Auld Lang Syne in North America are traced back to a Scottish tradition that spread through Scottish and British emmigration. Wikipedia writes:
Singing the song on Hogmanay or New Year's Eve very quickly became a Scots custom
that soon spread to other parts of the British Isles. As Scots (and
other Britons) emigrated around the world, they took the song with them.
Canadian band leader Guy Lombardo
is often credited with popularising the use of the song at New Year’s
celebrations in America, through his annual broadcasts on radio and
television, beginning in 1929. The song became his trademark. In
addition to his live broadcasts, Lombardo recorded the song more than
once. His first recording was in 1939. A later recording on September
29, 1947 was issued as a single by Decca Records as catalog #24260 Wikipedia's entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_Lang_Synealso compares the 1711 version of Old Long Syne by James Watson to the 1788 version of Scots verse by Robert Burns.
Wednesday, December 9

TIX ON SALE: 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Dinner - January 31st.
by
Todd
on Wed 09 Dec 2009 06:36 PM PST
Now Available: Tickets for Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner
- It's the 12 Anniversary of the "little dinner that could."
January 31st, Sunday 2010 Floata Seafood Restaurant Vancouver Chinatown Contact Firehall Arts Centre:phone 604.689.0926
The Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Dinner has created an awareness of cultural fusion that has spanned international media, and been featured at the 2008 BC Canada Pavillion in Bejing during the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Royal BC Museum celebration exhibit of the 150th Anniversary of the province of BC, and a 2009 touring exhibition in Scotland titled This Is Who We Are: Scots in Canada.
Gung Haggis Fat Choy creator Todd Wong at the Scottish Parliament exhibition of THIS IS WHO WE ARE: Scots in Canada. The exhibition featured a life sized photo of Wong and a video interview about the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner, which features the acknowledgement of Chinese and Scottish pioneer history in Canada and contemporary culinary and cultural fusions.Tickets are now on sale for the 12th Anniversary Dinner.January 31st, Sunday, 2010 Floata Seafood Restaurant Vancouver Chinatown Doors open 5pm Dinner starts 6pm $60 + $5 service charge or $600 per table + $20 service charge prices for students and children available. Raffle Prizes are featured, as this dinner has traditionally been a fundraiser for: Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team, Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop/Ricepaper Magazine and Historic Joy Kogawa House. Contact Firehall Arts Centre:phone 604.689.0926
Visit the Firehall Box Office, 280 E. Cordova Street.
Box Office hours are: 9:30am - 5:00pm, Monday through Friday. For media information - contact: Todd Wong 778-846-7090 - email: gunghaggis@yahoo.ca The origins of the dinner started with 16 people in a living room in 1998. The next year it expanded to 40 people in a restaurant. Soon it outgrew the first restaurant and expanded to 220 people in 2002. Moving to a larger restaurant for 2003, and expanding to a 2-night event in 2004, serving over 500 people. 2005 saw the move to North America's largest Chinese restaurant and present home of the dinner where 570 people were accomodated. A 2004 CBC telelevision performance special, Gung Haggis Fat Choy, was inspired by the dinner, and received two Leo nominations for best music performance, and best director of music performance. In 2007, a CBC television documentary Generations: The Chan Legacy featured interviews with dinner creator Todd Wong, and film clips of the dinner. A wide range of musical performers have been featured over the years including: fusion musicians Silk Road Music Ensemble, Dragon River Chinese Music Ensemble, Blackthorn celtic band, The Mad Celts, Chinese erhu master Ji-Rong Huang; opera singers Heather Pawsey, Veera Devi Khare; Jazz singer Leora Cashe. Featured poets have included: Joy Kogawa, Rita Wong, Fred Wah, George McWhirter, Fiona Tin Wei Lam, Jim Wong-Chu, Sean Gunn and Tommy Tao. The past 3 years have also featured sneak previews of Asian Canadian plays including: Mixie and the Half-Breeds, The Quickie, and Twisting Fortunes.
Todd Wong visits Scotland for Homecoming Year, the 250th Anniversary of the birth of Scottish poet Robert Burns.
For the 2010 dinner, creator Todd Wong has just returned from Scotland after visiting the birthplace of Scotland poet Robert Burns, and researching the displays of Burns for Homecoming Scotland, and museum exhibits on Scottish history and emmigration to Canada. Wong is active in Chinese Canadian activities and visited Bejing and Xian in 1993. He hopes to combine a merger of Scottish-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian history and culture in the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner. Another extravaganza of culinary and cultural fusion are expected for the 2010 dinner. Details will be released each week leading up to the event. Special guest speakers, media hosts, poets and musicians are confirmed or being confirmed. The 2010 dinner will feature old traditions and new surprises, something borrowed and something brewed - especially created for the 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Dinner. Tell your friends, and put a table of 10 together to enjoy the singalongs! or come as a single or a double, and meet 8 brand new best friends for the evening at your table! It's the most fun and intimate dinner for 500 you will ever attend!
Monday, December 7

Toddish McWong returns to Canada after 7 days in Scotland
by
Todd
on Mon 07 Dec 2009 01:37 PM PST
I am now back in Canada. It was an incredible learning experience for my first trip across the Atlantic to one of the most important cultural and historical ancestral homes for this country called Canada. Canada is probably the most Scottish nations outside of Scotland. Our first prime minister, many of our explorers, BC's first premier, Vancouver's first mayor - were all born in Scotland.
And yet... Scotland is a country that is learning from Canada.
My trip was initiated because a life-size picture and video-interview of me were used in the photo exhibit This is Who We Are: Scots in Canada. I have written about the exhibit here: Toddish McWong arrives in Scotland for inaugural visit and reception at Scottish Parliament for "This is Who We Are". Here are my pictures from the exhibit and the reception at the closing of the event on St. Andrew's Day more »
Wednesday, October 28

Johnny Cash is Scottish... "Because it's Burns, Burns Burns... It's Robbie Burns"
by
Todd
on Wed 28 Oct 2009 01:57 PM PDT
From Rosanne Cash website:
There are still a few things with the name of Cash scattered around this part of Fife: Cash Mill, Cash Farm, Cash Easter and Cash Wester, and this street, Cash Feus. It’s odd— and comforting— to know that my ancestors lived here for hundreds of years, until one of them decided to move to America in the 17th century. I don’t even know what they passed on to me— perhaps a love of melancholy, Celtic- rooted music? A love of rolling hills and crumbling stone walls? more »
Saturday, May 16

Gung Haggis Fat Choy, a scholarly take as alternative to the "Scottish Discursive Unconsious"
by
Todd
on Sat 16 May 2009 03:16 PM PDT
A New Perspective on the Scottish Diaspora
Source: www.arts.gla.ac.uk
Dr. Leith Davis of SFU Centre of Scottish Studies, writes that "Gung Haggis Fat Choy" bucks the trend of "Scottish Discursive Unconscious."
She writes: "In his contribution to the recent volume on Transatlantic Scots, Colin McArthur comments on what he calls the "Scottish Discursive Unconscious," a restricted range of "images, tones, rhetorical tropes, and ideological tendencies, often within utterances promulgated decades (sometimes even a century or more) apart"...
"There are indeed traces of the Scottish Discursive Unconscious at work in Vancouver....
"Gung Haggis Fat Choy takes many of the features of traditional Burns nights and gives them a non-traditional twist...The "Address to the Haggis" morphs into the "Rap to the Haggis," featuring Joe MacDonald and Todd Wong with a synthesized beat maker in the background." more »
Saturday, April 4

Robert Burns in a Transatlantic Context: SFU events FREE to the public
by
Todd
on Sat 04 Apr 2009 02:38 PM PDT
SFU Centre for Scottish Studies hosts a global Robert Burns conference 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 po etry, 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 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
Wednesday, April 1

Picture of Toddish McWong appears in Vancouver Sun article about Jason Kenney's views on Canadian identity, diversity and not giving money to specific immigrant cultural groups
by
Todd
on Wed 01 Apr 2009 11:55 PM PDT
This picture was created while Todd Wong was involved with the local CBC television performance special "Gung Haggis Fat Choy", based on the concepts of his annual Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner. This picture was reproduced in the Vancouver Sun today uncredited... even though it was first used by the Vancouver Sun, Dec 21, 2004, in the Mia Stainsby article "Have a taste of 2004". Recently, Jason Kenney waded into the discussion about Canadian identity, and immigration language classes, when he talked with editors at the Calgary Herald:
New Canadians, says Kenney, "have a duty to integrate." Further, he says, "We don't need the state to promote diversity. It is a natural part of our civil society."
more »
Wednesday, January 28

World Poetry Gung Haggis Fat Choy performs at Vancouver Library on Chinese New Year Day
by
Todd
on Wed 28 Jan 2009 11:41 PM PST
 Monday night was the 6th Annual World Poetry Gung Haggis Fat Choy Gala. This event was first created when I noticed there were no readings of Robbie Burns at the library... I contacted Ariadne Sawyer of the World Poetry Reading series to collaborate for this now popular program. Just before our 7:30 start time, I chatted with the audience, explaining the origins of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, and sharing some of the events that happened the night before at the big Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, and at our small ceremony at the Robert Burns statue in Stanley Park - to celebrate the 250th Birthday of Robbie Burns. We bring together the elements of Gung Haggis Fat Choy within a world context. We feature poetry of Robbie Burns, China, as well as contemporary Scottish-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian poets. And sometimes we add in music and dance and of course... singalongs. This year's program was a lot of fun. It was hosted by Ariadne Sawyer, Diego Bastianutti and myself. We featured poet James Mullin and myself reading poetry by Robbie Burns. I also brought my accordion to play some tunes too.

Rita Wong, the 2008 BC Book Prize Poetry winner, read from her books
Monkey Puzzle and Forage. With the World Poetry theme, Rita even read
a poem by Pablo Neruda, which Diego read in Spanish afterwards.
Tommy Tao, explained how he ended up doing poetry translations of 9th
and 15th Century poetry, and how he has come to love it. He read a few
poems about food and celebrations.I talked about some of the similarities about Chinese New Year and Scottish Hogmanay.
I readthe Burns poem "A Man's A Man For A' That", then later performed "Address to A Haggis."
 James Mullin led a group of four volunteers to dance my parade dragon around the room while I played "Scotland the Brave" on my accordion.
 There were a number of Korean ESL students in the audience, and they really had a lot of fun.
My earlier attempt at playing and singing "My Luv is Like a Red Red Rose" was easily redeemed by my playing of Scotland the Brave, and leading the audience in a group singalong of "Auld Lang Syne"
Evrerybody really got into the spirit of the evening. This photo features poets James Mullin, Tommy Tao along with a Korean language student and Peter Clark originally from the U.K. Check out more photos:

250th Anniversary of Robert Burns recognized with poems at statue in Vancouver's Stanley Park
by
Todd
on Wed 28 Jan 2009 11:32 PM PST
Informal gathering celebrates the 250th Anniversary of poet Robbie Burns birth, at Stanley Park statueOur group of Burns celebrants included bagpipers Trish and Allan McMordie (very rear), members of the Burns Club of Vancouver, members of the Centre for Scottish Studies at Simon Fraser University, some visitors from Scotland, and lots of Vancouverites included myself.
Three television cameras from CBC, CTV and Global came out to film our little ceremony. Friends would later report that they saw me on the evening news on Sunday.
I had never before attended a "wreath laying" at the Robbie Burns statue. In fact, I had never before visited the the Robbie Burns statue on Robbie Burns Day. Often, I simply passed it, as I drove along Georgia Street enroute to the Stanley Park Causeway and Lion's Gate Bridge.But this year was different. It was the 250th Anniversary of Robert Burns, and I had contacted a few organizations back in December. Dr. Leith Davis of the Centre for Scottish Studies at Simon Fraser University, had committed to contacting Burns Clubs and Scottish organizations around the world whose cities also had statues of Robert Burns
When I arrived just before 12 noon, there were already some bagpipers playing tunes in front of the statue. Surprise! It was Trish and Allan McMordie, of the JP Fell Pipe Band from North Vancouver. It was exactly one year ago on Robbie Burns Day, when Allan and I first met at the Rock 101 Bro' Jake show. Allan also came to Vancouver City Hall, when I received the City Proclamation for Tartan Day, and we created a photo op with then Mayor Sam Sullivan, and councilors Heather Deal, George Chow, Tim Stevenson, BC Lee, Kim Capri. See: Tartan Day (April 6) proclaimed in City of Vancouver, April 3.
My friend Stuart Mackinnon, newly elected Parks Commissioner, was there with his doggy companion Kiku. Stuart was dressed in his kilt and sweater ensemble. To see Stuart this past week, at the VDLC and Gung Haggis Fat Choy Burns suppers, you would think he's been wearing kilts all his life - but it's not true. He only started wearing kilts less than 2 years ago, after he joined the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.Also attending, were some members of the Burns Club of Vancouver, and from the Centre for Scottish Studies at Simon Fraser University. Some onlookers came up to ask if they could take our pictures - especially with the bagpipers, as Trish and Allan McMordie were wearing their "dress whites."
John Eagle sang "My Luv is Like a Red Red Rose" and I put a red rose into his hand, to the delight of the crowd.
Robert Barr of the Burns Club of Vancouver, talked about how when the Robbie Burns statue was put up in 1929, it was the first statue in Vancouver, and a thousand people came to watch the statue unveiling by J. Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister of Britain, on 25th August, 1928.
Dr. Leith Davis, director for the Centre for Scottish Studies at Simon Fraser University, talked about her new virtual project of setting up a wreath laying and Burns statue in Second Life. She only arrived back in Vancouver the night before after having spent 2 weeks in Scotland for Homecoming Scotland activities. We took a group picture, that Leith then sent to other Burns statues ceremony groups around the world. With the television cameras on us, I led spontaneous singings of "Happy Birthday Dear Rabbie" and "Auld Lang Syne."To close our ceremonies, I performed the immortal Burns poem, "Address to a Haggis" with audience participation repeating the last line of each verse. Both Leith and the Burns Club members complimented my performance as one of the best they've seen. I have definitely improved over my last year's reading of "Address to the Haggis" at last year's Burns Club Vancouver Burns Supper. I actually know the entire thing by heart now!
We posed for one last small group picture with the special limited edition of "The Famous Grouse" 37 year old blended whisky, that was especially made for the 250th anniversary of Burns' birth. Here I stand with John Eagle, Leith's youngest child, Ron Sutherland, and a Burns Club member.
Here's the bottle! It was auctioned off that evening at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Robbie Burns Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner for $750 CDN. Half of the funds will stay in Vancouver, and half will go to Scotland's National Trust to help sponsor the Chinese punch bowl that Robbie Burns used at his brother Gilbert's wedding.
Here are previous articles I wrote about the George Lawson statue of Robert Burns:Robert Burns Statue in Vancouver's Stanley Park
by
Todd
on Tue 09 Dec 2008
Burns statue in Stanley Park
The Robert Burns statue in Stanley Park can easily be seen
by
Todd
on Sat 24 Jan 2009
Burns Statue in Vancouver's Stanley Park ,
The rededication plaque reads: "This
statue of Robert
by
Todd
on Wed 10 Dec 2008
Burns statue in Vancouver's Stanley Park can also be seen in other Canadian cities
Check out the rest of my pictures on Flickr.
Tuesday, January 27

Photos from 2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner
by
Todd
on Tue 27 Jan 2009 06:22 PM PST
Gung Haggis Fat Choy is always a wonderful event for photographs. Special thanks to our incredible photographers Patrick Tam, Lydia Nagai and VFK.
If you like their photos, please contact them and purchase them. We have asked them to put "water marks" on their photos, so that we will advertise and promote them.
They help us with our event, because they believe in the community work and social consciousness raising that we do. + PICTURES more »
Monday, January 26

The 2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish McWong's 250th Robbie Burns Birthday Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner was a big success - worth 2 ceremonial haggis.
by
Todd
on Mon 26 Jan 2009 11:07 PM PST
Hi everybody...
A wonderful job by everybody last night - Veteran Gung Haggis performers Joe McDonald and Heather pronounced last night as "The Best Gung Haggis Dinner yet"
And Dr. Leith Davis said it was the best Burns Supper she had ever attended - and she just spent 2 weeks in Scotland for Homecoming Scotland!
Congratulations to everybody. The energy was brilliantly contagious and fun. There were lots of nice surprises in the program, with the Mayor reading a Burns poem, a treatise on the details of scotch drinking, Parks Commissioner Stuart Mackinnon singing A Man's A Man For A' That, and hip hop artist Ndidi Cascade coming up from the audience to rap a verse of Burns' Address to A Haggis. more »
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2010 GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY Dinner
January 31, 2010
Contact Firehall Arts Centre:
phone 604.689.0926
2010 prices SINGLE TICKET
$60 + $5 service charge = $65
Student price is $50 + $4.50 = $54.50 (must show student high school or university ID)
Children's price is $40 + $4.00 = $44 (ages 13 and under).
Reservations for tables of 10
$600 + lower service charge
WHAT: GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner - 12th Annversary Dinner, celebrating 251st Anniversary of Robert Burns' birth + incoming Chinese New Year of the Tiger.
WHEN:
6PM January 31 2010, SUNDAY
doors open 5pm, Dinner 6pm
WHERE: Floata Chinese Restaurant,
#400-180 Keefer St.
Media Inquiries
Call Gung Haggis Productions / Todd Wong
direct: 778-846-7090
email: gunghaggis at yahoo dot ca
CULTURE:
Our Performers
create something special for us every year with traditional and contemporary performances featuring everything in-between and beyond!
FOOD: A quirky fusion/mix/buffet of
Scottish Canadian and Chinese Canadian culture 10 course Chinese banguet dinner
2004 - The debut of Gung Haggis Won-Ton
2005 - Haggis lettuce wrap!
2007 - Haggis dim sum appetizer buffet
2008 - Scotch tastings! + debut of Gung Haggis parade dragon!
2009 - debut of Gung Haggis Fat Choy Pipes & Drums band + auction of 37 year old special edition Famous Grouse whisky + scotch tastings of Famous Grouse, The Macallan and Highland Park.
Watch for more surprises in 2010!
Description of 2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner
co-hosted with CBC News anchor Gloria Macarenko and Media colunist Catherine Barr
featuring performers: bagpiper Joe McDonald and Mad Celts, Silk Road Music's Qiu Xia He and Andre Thibault, Opera Soprano Heather Pawsey and DJ Timothy Wisdom, BC Book Prize winner Vancouver poet Rita Wong + poet traslator Tommy Tao, Playwright Adrienne Wong and a scene from "Mixie and The Half-Breeds"
Description of 2008 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner
co-hosted with Media colunist Catherine Barr
featuring performers: , celtic band Blackthorn, bagpiper Joe McDonald and Brave Waves, Ji-Rong Huang on erhu, Film maker Ann-Marie Fleming, Vancouver poet laureate George McWhirter, Playwright Grace Chin and a scene from "The Quickie"
Description of 2007 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner
co-hosted with CBC Radio's Priya Ramu,
featuring performers:
Silk Road Music,
Heather Pawsey,
Brave Waves,
Leora Cashe,
No Luck Club,
Dr. Ian Mason (Burns Club of Vancouver)
Lensey Namioka - Author "Half and Half"
Margaret Gallagher,
"Twisting Fortunes" (sneak preview of play)
Description of 2006 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner
with co-host with CityTV's Prem Gill
featuring performers:
Rick Scott & Harry Wong, The Shirleys, Joe McDonald & Brave Waves, Sean Gunn, author Joy Kogawa,
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Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team
for lots of summer fun, fitness and friendship. We are a social team full of cultural vigor, that likes to eat.
We have been featured on television, local, national and international. We have a unique and internationally famous fundraiser dinner event.
We practice starting March
Sunday 1:30 pm -3:30 pm
Tuesday 6pm-7:45pm
We meet at Dragon Zone clubhouse - just south of Science World in Creekside Park above the Aquabus and dragon boat docks.
Our coach Todd Wong has 15+ years of experience including novice, recreational and competitive levels, and both community and corporate teams.
Our 2008 season took us to races in Burnaby, Vancouver, Vernon, Vancouver Taiwanese race, UBC, Ft. Langley.
It was our strongest team ever and we are proud of our race performances.
For more information:
Click on
Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team information
phone: 778-846-7090
e-mail: gunghaggis at yahoo dot ca
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