My show today featured some of the best music from the past year. I didn’t have time to play everything I liked this year, but there are some great tracks below, some fantastic Canadian music, and quite a few new artists. Check out the playlist below, and download the podcast from cjsf.ca!
Fucked Up – Let Her Rest
Fucked Up – Queen of Hearts
Yuck – Get Away
Wy Lyf – Dirt
Wilco – I Might
Sun Wizards – World’s Got a Handle
Off! – I Don’t Belong
Iceage – White Rune
Django Django – Storm
The Pack A.D. – Take
Real Estate – It’s Real
Battles – Ice Cream
TV On The Radio – Will Do
The Strokes – Under Cover of Darkness
Deerhoof – Super Duper Rescue Heads
The Sheepdogs – I Don’t Know
Toro Y Moi – Divina
Hooded Fang – Tosta Mista
Destroyer – Chinatown
Dum Dum Girls – Wrong Feels Right
Imaginary Cities – Hummingbird
Hey Rosetta! – Yer Spring
Atlas Sound – Mona Lisa
Washed Out – Amor Fati
Grimes – Vanessa
Chad Vangaalen – Sara
M83 – Midnight City
Surfer Blood – Miranda
Library Voices – If Raymond Carver Was Born In The 90s
This entry was written by , posted on December 29, 2011 at 9:09 pm, filed under Uncategorized. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
On November 19th, former Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan will be hosting his second public salon, featuring talks by an impressive range of speakers. I attended the first event and walked away inspired and even awed by the thoughts and achievements of the presenters. I’m taking 3D design at Emily Carr Wednesday evenings (which is very cool) but I urge everyone else to be there!
“I hope you will consider attending another season of Public Salons on November 9, February 8 and May 31,” Says Sam. “My goal is to present a cross-section of the most interesting people in Vancouver and the ideas and insights they have about our city. What is in store for November 9?”
“Judy Illes of the UBC Brain Research Center is an expert on how startling discoveries about the brain are forcing us to rethink ethical assumptions; Peter Klein, former Producer of 60 Minutes, is uncovering how the war on drugs is starving poor countries of medical morphine leaving sick people without pain relief; Dale MacKay is the winner of Top Chef Canada; Setty Pendakur helped develop the plans for False Creek and saved the Roundhouse and now serves as Advisor to China at the highest level; Harvard trained Dr. Shimi Kang is unraveling the tangle of concurrent disorders; John Korsrud founded the Hard Rubber Orchestra and will demonstrate how four trombones can explore emotions in astonishing ways; Shannen O’Brian is a young woman from Vancouver who has single-handedly provided education and hope to hundreds of young women in rural Ghana and Max Cameron who is bringing wisdom of the ancient philosophers to improve our modern society.”
“These people and more have agreed to present in seven minutes some of their most poignant insights into Vancouver and life itself. Please help spread the word!! Tickets are $20 but if you want to attend the pre-salon dinner/reception with the speakers then the full price is $90.”
For more, visit the Global Civic Policy Society , and get tickets at TicketsTonight or by calling 604-684-2787.
This entry was written by , posted on October 13, 2011 at 9:07 pm, filed under Uncategorized. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Tomorrow and Tuesday (October 3 & 4) Rob Adams, the Director of City Design for Melbourne, will be hosting Creating Places for People – The Melbourne Experience. Rob is an award winning architect and urban designer, and shares his experience in helping Melbourne become one of the world’s most liveable cities. Vancouver is ranked high on liveability lists, but can still take lessons from some of the innovations in Melbourne’s design.
Tomorrow’s talk is 7 PM at SFU Surrey, and Tuesday’s talk is 7 PM at SFU Harbour Centre downtown. The talks are free, but reservation is required at www.sfu.ca/reserve.
You can find more information from the SFU City Program site here.
This entry was written by , posted on October 2, 2011 at 10:11 pm, filed under Uncategorized. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
What single paradigm shift would have the greatest positive effect on the future development of our region? Join a cadre of prominent planners, designers, politicians, and developers, each with an answer to this question. Tomorrow, Monday October 3, UBC’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA) presents Shift, part of SALA’s Fall 2011 City Design Series.
The event will be hosted by David Beers, founding editor of TheTyee.ca, and the presenter list is exciting: Peter Cardew, Patrick Condon, Hadani Ditmars, Jane Durante, Marta Farevaag, Ian Gillespie, Dan Granier, Michael Green, Bruce Haden, Ken Lum, Jennifer Marshall, Cornelia Oberlander, Andrew Pask, Bill Pechet, Sam Sullivan, and Brent Toderian
The talk is at 6:30 PM at UBC Robson square, 800 Robson Street. More on the City Design lecture series from SALA here.
This entry was written by , posted on at 9:49 pm, filed under Uncategorized. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Western Canada’s largest interior design show has come to town, and I shouldered my way through the throngs of Vancouver’s beautiful people to give you a sneak peek of the goodies in store. Even three hours barely got me through the event, and I’ll need to return Saturday to bring you coverage of some of the most exciting exhibits that I’ve missed in my gallery below!
Some of the must-see exhibits include the Inform Interiors display, The Future Masters as well as the young designers area, The Re-Fab display of re-used sail material from Canada Place, the L41 200 sq. foot house by Michael Katz, the Molo soft shelter, and so so so much more.
Tomorrow is House & Home Day, presented by IKEA, and Sunday is Vancouver Sun Day, presented by General Paint. Tickets are only $15 for today and tomorrow, well worth it to see some stunning design collected under one roof. Check out IDSwest.com for all the details!
Very cool coloured sinks by Blu Bathworks
The FAVN sofa from Fritz Hansen seen at the Inform Interiors exhibit. Sit on every beautiful chair or sofa at IDSwest, and you'd be there for days.
I ran into Ross Lovegrove, award winning designer and keynote speaker for IDSwest. He will be available from 3–5 PM tonight!
Jeremy Cole, ceramic and lighting designer, spoke at IDSwest Friday. Some of his arresting lighting designs can be seen at the event.
A whimsical Vancouver carpet by Salari.
Cozy concrete firepit and chairs from Solus.
Lounge chair from the upcoming North Vancouver store The Other Room.
From 18Karat, a great prototype reclaimed wood cabinet.
Wooden sculpture by Brent Comber.
Minimal kitchen from Christian Woo.
Beautiful concrete planters by Collaboration.
A horse lamp from Moooi. Don't let the picture size deceive you, this is a FULL SIZE horse. Moooi also has a great pig table.
This entry was written by , posted on October 1, 2011 at 10:55 am, filed under Uncategorized. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Saturday September 24th marked the grand opening of Bing Thom Architects’ latest project, the Surrey City Centre Library. Adjacent to the Central City project housing the SFU Surrey Campus, the new library is the first development in what will eventually include the new Surrey City Hall as well as a large public plaza, arts centre, parkade, and commercial space.
The library incorporates green features to achieve LEED certification, including a partial green roof to capture rainwater, huge external windows to provide natural light, and the capacity to add geothermal heating once the new City Hall is completed.
The library is also the largest in Surrey at 82,000 square feet, and the third largest in the Vancouver area, after the Bob Prittie Metrotown and Vancouver Central libraries. While this means that the new library will be able to hold an extensive 150,000 book collection, including materials in 17 languages, the design recognizes that library patrons seek more than just books at the library. It is designed as a focal point and meeting place for the surrounding community, and uses different levels of space to provide for public activities in the more open levels, to private reading and study in the more contained areas. The library incorporates many meeting rooms, a café (which library traditionalists will cringe at), and 80 public computers, and is built in such a way as to make people feel at ease.
Because of the time constraints placed on the funding of the project, BTA used a novel form of public consultation that dramatically reduced the completion time of the project while keeping it on budget. Social media such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter were used to engage the public and circumvent a lengthy public meeting process.
I checked out the madness at the opening, and I was very impressed by the sense of openness inside the building, despite the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds in the main atrium. Call it architectural white space if you will, but the less formal atmosphere of the library should do an excellent job at drawing a more diverse crowd inside the space, compared to some of the older, more cramped libraries in the city.
This entry was written by , posted on September 25, 2011 at 10:30 pm, filed under architecture and tagged Bing Thom, Surrey City Centre Library. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
If you’re starving for some new bands and the hottest tracks of the moment, check out my show New Indie Music on CJSF Radio! Every other Thursday from 6–8 PM I’ll be spinning new indie rock, pop, electronic, and a bit of hip hop.
Tonight’s show will feature rising stars such as Iceage, Youth Lagoon, Wu Lyf, and Pictureplane, I’ll be doing a spotlight on this year’s excellent Polaris Prize shortlist including winner Arcade Fire, and I’ll have some brand new tracks from the likes of Thom Yorke, Wild Beasts, Wavves, and Florence & The Machine. I’ll post the complete playlist in the comments after the show. If you need more reasons that that to tune in, be assured that I’ve been told I have a great radio voice!
You can tune in TONIGHT from 6–8 PM at 90.1fm, or listen to our live stream at cjsf.ca. If you can’t tune in for the show, it will be up as a podcast for a week after the show on cjsf.ca: go to the program guide, and navigate to the Thursday 18:00–20:00 slot (If you download it more than a week after, you’ll catch Pop-O-Pie Planet hosted by our very own station manager Magnus Thyvold — great show, and recommended listening as well!)
I’ve designed my logo and poster as a nod towards the timeless United Airlines logo design by Saul Bass, as well as the fantastic poster design by Shawn White for Vampire Weekend at the Sasquatch! 2010 music festival. Click the pic for a big version.
CJSF is a volunteer-run campus and community radio station broadcasting from Burnaby Mountain. Check out the website for our super-diverse program listings here: cjsf.ca
This entry was written by , posted on September 22, 2011 at 1:18 pm, filed under music and tagged New Indie Music. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Vancouver is gearing up for the West Coast’s premium residential design show. IDSwest will take over the Vancouver Convention Centre September 29 – October 2 and transform it into a design fan’s dream, featuring 200 exhibitors and keynotes speeches by some design heavyweights such as industrial designer and Red Dot award-winner Ross Lovegrove.
Last year’s event was host to over 30,000 visitors, and this year’s event is sure to be a hit. Head over to idswest.com for a drool-worthy look at the exhibitors for this year, from furnishings to interior design to architecture to art and media. The new green Vancouver Convention Centre should be a perfect setting for the show, which I’m sure will feature some great green and sustainable products, even designs crafted from the sail material at the old convention centre at Canada Place.
This entry was written by , posted on September 19, 2011 at 9:43 am, filed under design, upcoming and tagged IDSwest. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Mark your calendars for the next Vancouver Pecha Kucha night! It will be held October 20th at the Vogue, and tickets are already on sale for $15 at www.voguetheatre.com. The presenters should be announced soon, but tickets are sure to sell out before the event.
For more information on the Pecha Kucha nights, a global phenomenon of talks by leaders, scientists, artists, and activists, go to the Pecha Kucha website here
This entry was written by , posted on September 13, 2011 at 8:38 pm, filed under talks, upcoming and tagged Pecha Kucha. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Sunday August 7th marked the first TEDxStrathcona, an independently organized TEDx event held at the Electric Owl on Main Street. As opposed to the unrelated TEDxVancouver, this was a public event, and by 7 PM the Electric Owl was hopping with a young, good looking crowd. The evening featured six speakers and two video presentations taken from official TED talks.
We were treated to two items off the Electric Owl food menu and a drink, so that even without the talk we would have nearly gotten our money’s worth. The speaker lineup included actor and Gemini winner Phil Granger, local street artist Indigo, animator Ann Marie Fleming, designer Caleb Beyers, engineer Johathan Tippet, and philosopher/physicist John H. Spencer. As well, we saw clips from TED presenters, architect Michael Pawlyn and a performance by computer software artist Golan Levin.
First out, I’m glad that TEDxStrathcona happened. Our city, and indeed the world, needs more exposure to big ideas and big accomplishments. It’s too easy now to be passive observers; the ideas shown at events like TED and Pecha Kucha inspire us (hopefully) to action, to making a piece of this world a better place. If you’ve never seen any TED talks, head over to TED.com immediately. TEDtalks feature the best thinkers, scientists, artists, and entrepreneurs in the world giving striking presentations about their life’s work. The talks can be riveting and inspiring at their best.
However, I don’t think that TEDxStrathcona quite lived up to the reputation that TED has built for itself. Sound issues, confusion about the schedule, and kitchen troubles were minor annoyances, but it was the presentations that left me feeling flat. There was a sense that nobody quite knew what they were there for, and the impossibly wide theme “Discovering Unity: Technology, Art, & Science” didn’t help to lend any focus. I don’t want to criticize too much given that I see such promise with the TEDx format, but a couple points come to mind for the next (and I really do hope there will be a next) TEDxStrathcona: Aim bigger, at bigger ideas and bigger accomplishments tied to a strong theme. Also, aim smaller, by really stressing tight, rehearsed presentations, and by creating a polished, professional feel to the event.
PS. I do recommend the Electric Owl as well, the Japanese tapas were rich and satisfying (if a bit mayo heavy), and the club ambience will make this a great new place to see smaller concerts.
This entry was written by , posted on August 10, 2011 at 12:28 pm, filed under Uncategorized. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
