Hi from Vancouver!
Fri, 2007-07-13 15:35
#1
Hi from Vancouver!
Fri, 2007-07-13 15:35
#2
These are the first Babble posts I've ever actually sent in FROM Canada(unless I sent some in from Prince Rupert a few years ago, but I forget). I'm here for the Folk Festival. Any Babblers planning on checking it out?
I also stopped in and bought some radical reading materials from Spartacus Books. Great place.
Hope everybody's having a nice weekend(aside from His Lardship, obviously).
[ 13 July 2007: Message edited by: Ken Burch ]
Fri, 2007-07-13 15:38
#3
Hey, welcome! Stick around, we've got some nice health care, I hear. [img]biggrin.gif" border="0[/img]
Seriously, sounds nice. But I'm going to put this in "out and about" since you're, well, out and about!
Fri, 2007-07-13 15:46
#4
Hey Ken,
The family and self will be down there for a spell tomorrow and maybe for a bit this evening.
Have a good time. And if you decide to seek refugee status, there are a couple NDP federal politicians, like Libby Davies and Dawn Black apparently attending this weekend as well.
Have a good time.
Steppenwolf
Fri, 2007-07-13 15:51
#5
Thanks, Step. The weather this afternoon makes asylum seek quite inviting.
(er...political asylum, not the kind with the padded walls...)
Sun, 2007-07-15 00:21
#6
The Festival was great last night and today. I like the combination of culture and politics(although a BIT more politics onstage woulda been nice).
(edited to delete question about the NDP and the Festival that became moot upon explanation of the Festival's tax-exempt status by a Festival volunteer)
Got to hear Utah Phillips answer questions from a Festival staffer about the history of the idea of Folk Festivals. Very informative. Interesting bit of irony towards the end. Those not attending this year's festival will be unaware of the fact that they've added, just to the left of the mainstage, a massive video monitor which shows various live shots of the performers, the MC's making announcements, some visual images prepared by Festival fans, and other imagery(the Australian
multicultural group Ganga Giri had a particularly inventive video presentation that went with their late evening show). Utah thought it was a horrible idea, and said they should tear the damn thing down(he may be right, since it tended to encourage a "rcck audience" reaction in the crowd when it was turned on them).
A moment later, the screen was showing Utah himself.
There was no sound, but from the hand gestures he was making(no, I don't mean THOSe kind of hand gestures) I could tell it was the exact moment where he'd been DISSING the screen.
I guess you'd call that postmodern or something.
The scene at the Festival grounds was fascinating, with dozens of booths of all sorts, from food booths to alternative crafts to something called Sacred Aztec Massage(I'd be a little scared to see what they did to you at that booth if your card declined after the massage).
It's been a magical weekend. I'll be back tomorrow night.
I'm also having an unintentionally interesting sociological experience, in that the low priced hotel I'm staying at is on E. Hastings St. The place is ok, but the reality of the street hits you pretty quickly. A lot of despair and an undersupply of solutions(or at least none that the
NPA city government appears interested in implimenting). On the good side, I did find out where the Marijuana Party Bookstore is.
I think in fifteen years' or so the place might
get turned into Vancouver's version of Larimer Street(now Larimer Square)the street Utah Phillips immortalized in song for the yuppification and economic cleansing it received, with the end result being that they were "rolling the bums out of town". Reminded me again why I'm on the Left.
We have to bring the bastards down, and soon. Elsewise, they'll roll US out of town.
[ 15 July 2007: Message edited by: Ken Burch ]