St. Andrew's Day - Gung Haggis Fat Choy style

St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland.  St Andrew was one of Jesus' twelve disciples and he lived and worked as a fisherman in Galilee. He was the brother of Peter, another of Christ's disciples.

A few days ago... Maggie Shiels of the BBC Radio Scotland program "Scotland Licked" asked me if I had any plans for St. Andrew's Day.  I had to confess that I hadn't thought about it.  But I promised I would celebrate now that she had brought it up.

So... how did Toddish McWong celebrated St. Andrew's Day?  By forgetting to wear my kilt - but with the freezing temperatures and yesterday's snowfall still hanging around the upper elevations, I didn't dare. 

St. Andrew was a fisherman, so for dinner I ate fish.  Well actually it was sushi, and it was during a meeting for the Save Kogawa House committee.  Next I went to see the musical show celebrating the music and dance of South Africa, called Umoja, "the spirit of togetherness."  Amazing! Filled with incredible songs, drums, music and dance... I will write my review later.

The most important thing I did on St. Andrew's Day was go to my favorite drinking establishment in Vancouver - Doolin's Irish Pub, where we celebrate "Kilts Night" on the first Saturday of each month. My buddy Rod and his brother Rick were my drinking partners as we celebrated with Guinness.  We had the Irish Nachos made with potato chips... covered with cheese, sour cream, onions, diced tomatoes...

Doolin's is fun - the waitresses all wear short plaid skirts, and I recieved greetings from Evan the manager, Christine Van, the promotions manager, and Jenny our waitress.
Bear,Me, Dallas and Raphael at Kilts Night
Vancouver really doesn't celebrate St. Andrew's Day.  There's a mention in the Georgia Straight by Jurgen Goethe about a limited release Scottish Ale by Granville Island Breweries.  A few of the local Scottish societies are having St. Andrew's Day dinners.  But nobody's invited me yet.  Maybe they're afraid I might bring my accordion.

It was way back in 1955 on St. Andrew's Day in 1955, 21 Scottish Canadians groups finally opened the United Scottish Cultural Centre at Fir and 12th Avenue in Vancouver. (In July, 1986, the centre would move into a new home at 8886 Hudson in Marpole.)  Apparently there was a party there on Nov 26th, Saturday Night - but nobody told me. 
- Joe McDonald on flute
Mad Celts was providing the entertainment - and Joe McDonald band leader is my regular piper for Gung Haggis Fat Choy.... and he didn't tell me!

A Common Man's Guide to Loving Women Firehall Arts Centre November 11 to December 3, 2005 written by Andre Moodie directed by Denis Simpson starring Awaovieyi Agie, Kwesi Ameyaw, Peter John Prinsloo and Hayden Thomas Where can you find four sexy black men, who are hip, urbane, and live in Vancouver's trendy Yaletown neighborhood? Well... believe it or not - at the Firehall Arts Centre on the corner of Cordova St. and Gore St. in the Downtown Lower Eastside. Denis Simpson directs the Andrew Moodie play "A Common Man's Guide to Loving Women. Set designer Derek Butt has created a beautiful urbane condominium that every person would want to live in. A wide screen tv with a kick-ass sound system, complimented by a very cool dining set complete with clear acrylic chess set. This is not some "gangsta crib in the 'hood."   more »

Eastside Culture Crawl - I am no longer a culture crawl virgin

There were people everywhere when I went to 1000 Parker Street on Saturday afternoon, as part of the Eastside Culture Crawl.  And this is only one of 37 building sites where 59 artists had opened their studios to the public.  No wonder it takes 2 whole days and 1 whole evening to explore.  There are so many people in the building, the crowds have to move at at snail's pace - no wonder it is called a "crawl."

My main priority was to visit my cousin Janice Wong who is a visual artist concentrating on monotypes.  Janice has been really busy for the past two months also promoting her book CHOW, which includes recipes from her father's chinese food restaurant in Prince Albert + stories about her family and our shared ancestors.

We talk with Janice's husband George, as Janice talks to some of the many friends that drop in to visit.  Huge canvasses line the studio walls priced at $1000 and up, as well as little ones for only $175.

We wander in and out of the many studios where I bump into Arleigh Wood.  Arleigh is half Japanese and she is combining visual art with a zen approach, integrating her East and West cultures. Crows and circles dominate her work.  I spot a photograph of a Japanese man on a fishing boat - she tells me that it is her grandfather.  We have a good chat - I tell her what I am up to, and promise to introduce her to Ricepaper Magazine.

 When I walk into artist Michael Fitzsimmon's studio, his paintings are luminescent with his own mix of special paints that glow as if they have lights inside them.  Check this out!

The Age of Opulence: Turning Point Ensemble + Heritage Vancouver create a musical afternoon of tea and heritage

Turning Point Ensemble
Heritage Vancouver

Sunday, November 6th, 2005
The Age of Opulence, Vancouver 1915-1930
Stanley Park Walking Tour, & Vancouver Historic Music w/ the Turning Point Ensemble
Location: Stanley Park Pavillion, The Rose Garden Tea Room
Time: 2pm to 4:30pm
Admission: By donation
2pm Walking tour with Heritage Vancouver President, Donald Luxton
3pm - 4:30pm Parlour performance by the Turning Point Ensemble

The idea was to "Take a journey back to Vancouver's age of opulence with Heritage Vancouver and the Turning Point Ensemble. Imagine... the date is 1915, the Stanley Park Pavilion is newly built, and you are joining us for tea and an afternoon performance of music and song in the Stanley Park Pavilion Rose Garden Tea Room."

"Meet at the tea room for a walking tour of the pavilion and Malkin Bowl, then relax to music featuring premiere arrangements of early BC parlour songs and concert music composed by Vancouver's first internationally trained composer, Jean Coulthard. Woven together with a sparkling narrative, the concert will include music by Ravel, Rachmaninoff, and Jelly Roll Morton - all featured guests in Vancouver in the 1920's."

So many people showed up for the tour that the guide kept saying "I can't believe so many people showed up!"  Meanwhile inside the Stanley Park Pavillion, at the Rose Garden Tea Room, the kitchen rushed to make up more sandwiches and the staff set up more seats creating a new row, so that the reserved seats formerly in the front row were now in the second row.

Guest performers Heather Pawsey and trumpeter/pianist Alan Matheson were all dressed in time period perfect costumes with the Turning Point Ensemble.  Pawsey opened the show with "Here's a Ho, Vancouver" credited to B.C. Hilliam and E. Pauline Johnson.  Her heel coquettishly raised, Heather flirted with the audience and bequiled them to enjoy themselves.  Her operatic soprano was perfect for the palour songs presented from 1915 to 1930. 

Throughout the performance the Turning Point ensemble took turns performing popular and classical arrangments in duos, trios and larger ensembles.  Rachmaninov's Vocalise was performed by Ariel Barnes on Cello and Jane Hayes on piano.  Narrator Alexander Browne spoke into an old microphone that perfectly duplicated the old microphone radio sound of the 1920's.  Looking around the Heritage Class "A" building of the Rose Garden Tea House, you could actually imagine that this was how high society used to enjoy music in the afternoon salons of Vancouver.  Organizer Lindsay McDonald and photographer Lindsey Donovan were both dressed up in period dresses, helping to create an atmosphere of glamour and fun.

The Turning Point Ensemble's mission is to increase the understanding and appreciation of concert music composed during the past hundred years, linking the music of earlier times to the music of today.  I particularly enjoyed the three songs by Vancouver born, Jean Coulthard, Spinning Song, Cradle Song and The of China's Daughter.  Francis Poulenc's Sonata for Horn Trumpet, and Trombone were beautiful, as Maurice Ravel's Chansons Madecasses were serious and imposing.

The afternoon of team and salon music ended on very exhuberant notes, as Pawsey and the full ensemble performed their encore numbers, S Nice by William Eckstine and Sam Howard.  Again, Pawsey posed and flirted with the audience proving what a dramatic performer she is.  The audience was asked to join in for the "stuttering song"K-K-K-Katy, and then the desserts came out.

Definitely a fun afternoon.  I will be that next year it will happen again, but maybe with advanced ticket sales.

Chinese Canadian History Fair in Nanaimo at Malaspina College

The Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC organized another history fair, this time at Nanaimo's Malaspina University-College.   Nanaimo's Chinatown used to be a thriving bustling place from 1860 to 1923.  My great-great-grandfather, Rev. Chan Yu Tan, had ministered at the Chinese United Church around 1924. After becoming increasingly derelict it was destroyed by a fire September 30, 1960.  CCHS board member Dr. Imogene Lim played a big part in bringing many presenters together from Nanaimo, Cumberland, Vancouver and Prince George. 

Here's what Imogene had to say about the event:

"Although we had a very wet and stormy day, I think we can say the second CCHS Chinese Canadian History Fair was a success; we drew a sizable crowd to all the featured activities.  There was a lot of mingling and conversation between visitors and between exhibitors; in many cases, a reunion and reconnecting of intersecting lives." 

Fourteen displays were presented including the Nanaimo District Museum, Cumberland Historical Society, Chinese Women Aviators, Trev Sue-A-Quan's Guyanese Chinese  genealogy titled "Cane Reapers," Head Tax Redress, 1907 Riots, Chinese soccer team featuring Queene Yip, chinese cemetaries, and Chinese Canadian women pionneers.

Janice Wong presented her book CHOW From China to Canada: Stories of Food and Family.  This was followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Imogene Lim, restauranteur Gerry Wong who along with Janice all grew up in restaurant enviornments.  Gerry's father had chinese restaurants in Nanaimo, while Imogene's uncle and father ran the WK Gardens in Vancouver, which she described as a "high end" restaurant which had catered to Prime Ministers, royalty and entertainers such as Frank Sinatra and Gary Cooper.  Imogene even showed some of the original menus and special event menus created for events such as weddings and royal visits.

Karin Lee also showed her movie Comrade Dad, as well as having a display table.  It was the Vancouver Island premiere of Comrade Dad, a Karin Lee film about her father, Wally, who ran a Communist bookstore in Vancouver's Chinatown in the days before China was recognized by the Canadian government.
The NFB film featuring my cousin Rhonda Larrabee's story about growing up half Chinese and half First Nations, Tribe of One, was also shown.

I set up a display of the Rev Chan Family, including the poster displays that were made for our family reunions in 1999 and 2000.  It was very cool that I had pictures of Janice Wong's parents, Dennis and Mary, her grandparents Joseph and Rose, and her great grandfather, the Rev. Chan Yu Tan with his wife Wong Shee, as Janice is my 2nd cousin once removed.

Rhonda Larrabee is also a relative as her father Art is my grandmother's elder brother, so we had pictures of Rhonda at the reunions as well, with her brothers, daughters and grandchildren.

I had meant to phone my grand-aunt Helen who lives in Nanaimo, and tried to reach her through Directory Assistance once I got there but to no avail.  As I was setting up the display, I saw a white haired woman approach the Rev. Chan Family display flanked by CCHS board members Larry Wong and Edgar Wickberg. 

"That's my grandfather!" she exclaimed, "And my grandmother! How did you get these pictures!"

Both Larry and Ed looked over at me, as I stood silently behind my Auntie Helen.  I held my finger to my lips asking them not to say anything.

"That's his sister! How did you get these pictures!" my Aunt continued pointing at the pictures.

I finally spoke saying, "Please don't touch the pictures, they are very sensitive."

"Sorry," she said as she kept looking at the pictures saying, "That's my Aunt!  That's my Uncle!"

"Excuse me," I said, "How are you related to these people in the pictures?"

She turned and looked at me.  Her eyes suddenly widened joyfully in recognition.  "Todd!  What are you doing here?"

It turned out that Auntie Helen's friend had been listening to CBC Radio's North By Northwest, and host Sheryl Mackay had talked about the Chinese Canadian History Fair at Malispina College, and she told herself that her friend Helen had to be there. 

"You look just like your sister!" Janice Wong exclaimed to Auntie Helen, when I introduced them to each other for the very first time, during the CHOW book signing, after the panel discussion with Janice, Gerry and Imogene.  They had never met each other before, but they knew they were family.

Tree planting at City Hall today: Cherry Tree graft from Kogawa House

Today at 1pm, Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell and city councillors will plant a cherry tree graft taken from the old cherry tree at Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Ave.

The cherry tree and the house figure prominently in both books Obasan and Naomi's Road, written by Joy Kogawa.  The cherry tree is getting old and diseased now, so grafts were taken to help preserve its memory.  Unfortunately, the tree was pruned severely last fall.  But imagine 5 year old Joy Kogawa, swinging and climbing from a younger tree, still full of vibrant life and cherries. (Read one of my favorite books Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree.")

Vancouver City council passed a motion to plant the tree graft in September - the same week an inquiry for demolition of Kogawa House was made.

Also attending the tree planting will be Paul Whitney, Chief Librarian of Vancouver Public Library, and James Wright, General Directof of Vancouver Opera.  Obasan was VPL's 2005 choice for One Book One Vancouver program, and Naomi's Road premiered on September 30th, as a 45 minute opera commissioned to tour BC schools.

Also listen to CBC Radio's "On the Coast" 4-6pm, Paul Grant's Art Report interviewed me yesterday about saving Kogawa House.

Cherry Tree at Kogawa House - photo by Don Montgomery

Cherry Tree at Kogawa House - photo by Don Montgomery

Cherry Tree at Kogawa House - photo by Don Montgomery