Granville getting a 1950s flashback 200 bands lighting up Gastown

C6
|| Scene
BREAKING NEWS: VANCOUVERSUN.COM | Thursday, June 19, 2014
Scene ||
Thursday, June 19, 2014 | BREAKING NEWS: VANCOUVERSUN.COM
C7
what’s on
Interview | Zachary Stevenson
Thursday
Granville getting
a 1950s flashback
Michael Bublé
Starts Thursday
Festival d’ete francophone
de Vancouver
Tune into all kinds of francophone music at the annual fest, this
year featuring outdoor concerts by La Companie Créole, originally
from French Guiana and the French West Indies, which plays
good-time Caribbean disco; singer-dancer Alexandre Désilets,
Quebec’s answer to Justin Timberlake; multilingual folk-rock quartet Indigo Joseph, from Regina, and others. Two post-weekend
concerts feature a collaboration between Montreal-based Africanmusic guitarist Aboulaye Koné, and his group Bolo Kan, and
Vancouver’s inventive jazz clarinetist François Houle.
Admired by fans for his big-band style of singing, which they like to
compare to Frank Sinatra, Michael Bublé, the singer from Burnaby,
who used to play Monday nights at the Railway Club, also has
them eating up his ribald stage presence. After recent gigs in New
Zealand, one impressed reviewer said he should have performed
the comedy festival, then admitted his barrage of jokes were mostly
“unrepeatable.” Another recounted a line Bublé used to introduce his
drummer: “Marion Felder visited the Virgin Islands and now they’re
just called the Islands.” Then he apparently cooed: “We’re going to
take it nice and slow, like we’ve just met at a bar; maybe we’ll slow
dance, and by the end of the night we’ll be dry humping.” Crucially,
though, by every account, Bublé delivered on the musical front,
melting hearts with songs like Try a Little Tenderness and Van Morrison’s Moondance. His current jazz and swing set is also infused with
plenty of Latino numbers, Motown, the Beatles, and even a Daft
Punk song (Get Lucky).
Red Rock Diner
June 19 to Aug. 2 |
Granville Island Stage
Tickets and info: start at $29 at
artsclub.com
Shawn Conner
Special To The Sun
Inspired by Red Robinson’s
early days as a disc jockey,
Red Rock Diner is an evergreen hit for the Arts Club (a
1998 Vancouver production
featured a then-unknown
Michael Bublé). This summer, a new production of the
’50s flashback will draw on
the talents of Zachary Stevenson, the star of another Arts
Club favourite, Buddy — The
Buddy Holly Story. A musician as well as an actor, Stevenson has been part of the
Toronto/Vancouver musical
duo the Human Statues and
has recorded two albums of
early rock ’n’ roll cuts. Last
year, he could also be seen
in the Arts Club’s production
of Never Shoot a Stampede
Queen, a one-man play written by Sun theatre reporter
Mark Leiren-Young. Along
with a cast of local actors,
director Valerie Easton, a live
rock ’n’ roll band and 20 hits
of the era, Stevenson brings
the early days of rock ’n’ roll
to Granville Island beginning
June 19. We chatted with him
between rehearsals.
June 19 (sold out) and June 20, 8 p.m. | Rogers Arena
Tickets: $119/$79/$49 (plus fees) at livenation.com
June 19-26 | various venues
Tickets & info: lecentreculturel.com/festivaldete
Friday
B.C. Boys Choir: Oh Canada, Our Home
Our boys choir is acclaimed for pristine, joyful singing and challenging
repertoire. This concert showcases songs that describe Canada, its landscape, people and history: Four Strong Winds, Stan Rogers classics, and
other songs that will make you proud to be Canadian. After the show,
the young performers take off on a cross-Canada tour.
June 20, 7:30 p.m. | St. John’s Shaughnessy Church
Tickets: $10-$23 at bcboyschoir.org
You’ve done a lot of proQ
ductions of Buddy for
the Arts Club but this is your
Saturday
South
Granville
ArtWalk
Thursday
DigiTour 2014
Balance a cotton ball on your head or drink a hot pepper smoothie and you, too, could be adored by multi-millions of YouTube followers and even be a part of a live tour that travels the world and
sells tens of thousands of tickets. This “live Internet” phenomenon
sees 20 or so young cyber stars hit the stage to do their thing
live for five to 15 minutes. Some are famous for sharing personal
beauty tips or posting quirky six-second Vine videos — talents
that organizers are somehow able to transfer to the stage; personalities who don’t sing, dance or tell funny stories usually engage
in a Q&A with a moderator. (Our2ndLife, or O2L, the cotton ball
guys, above, headline, with other guests still TBA.)
June 19, 6:30 p.m. | Vogue Theatre
Tickets: $25 | livenation.com
Starts Friday
Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival
Come for the boat races, stay for the free concerts, including Vancouver’s 13-piece Gypsy music shindig
Orkestar Slivovica, the Latin jazz-funk fusionist Alex Cuba, the double-horn reggae-ska party Los Furios,
and many others. Expect tens of thousands of spectators, a packed beer garden, plenty of ethnic food
and mad paddling by more than 180 teams.
first time in Red Rock Diner.
What’s the learning curve like
for you?
This show has put me
A
a little bit outside my
comfort zone, which is a
refreshing change. I’ve been
fortunate enough to ride
the Buddy Holly wave for a
while — I’ve averaged one
point two productions of it
over the last eight years, or
something like that, which is
great. With that role, every
time I come into rehearsal,
90 per cent of the work is
already done. This is 100 per
cent new material, with a lot
more dance than I’m accustomed to.
Gallery Row’s 18 art galleries
lure collectors and art enthusiasts with simultaneous
wine receptions and artist
talks. Highlights: Bau-Xi Gallery
serves Bomber Beer and food
by Heirloom Restaurant as Cori
Creed gives a painting demonstration; Kimoto Gallery hosts
an opening and wine reception
for Jennifer Clark’s psychedelic,
X-ray vision; (pictured) and at Initial Gallery, Roselina Hung gives
an artist talk revealing secrets behind her fantastical oil paintings.
June 21, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. | South Granville galleries
More info: southgranville.org/artwalk
training. I went to theatre
schools. The moves come a
little bit slower for me than
maybe for people with formal training.
5 reasons to check out ... Make Music Vancouver
Vancouver’s theatre
Q
community is fairly
small. Have you worked
200 bands lighting up Gastown
June 25, 5-10 p.m. | Gastown
Info: makemusicvancouver.ca
Shawn Conner
Special To The Sun
with any of your co-stars
before?
Starts Saturday
maybe some you haven’t. Alternative cabaret, anyone?
Scandinavian
Midsummer Festival
What’s in a name? This
3
year’s crop of where-didthat-come-from monikers in-
clude My Mother the Carjacker,
Sour Gout, and Disco Funeral.
Steamclock. Make Music
There will be many, many
1
options. More than 150 4 Vancouver takes place all
bands and musicians played over Gastown, so you’ll be able
at last year’s, which was the
event’s third time in Vancouver. This year, organizers are
hoping for 200. Scheduled
performers include Goodwood
Atoms, one of the finalists in
this year’s Peak Performance
Project; the theatrical, genrefusing Two Apple Tobacco; and
budding fashion tycoon/singersongwriter Ben Everyman.
Variety. With that many
2
acts, there’s bound to be
a wide range of musical styles,
Budding fashion tycoon/singer-songwriter Ben Everyman will be among the eclectic mix of
performers playing at the Gastown Make Music Vancouver night on June 25.
from those you’ve heard of
— country, folk, blues — and
to see a ton of different acts
all within a few blocks of each
other. And if you get separated
from your friends, you can
always meet at the steamclock.
Volunteer-run. Inspired by
5
La Fete de la Musique in
France, which began in 1982,
the Make Music event has since
gone global, and now takes
place in 450 cities worldwide.
It’s volunteer-run, so everyone
involved is in it for the love
of music — yet another death
blow to the music industry.
Vive la révolution!
Scandinavian immersion without going there. Now in its 19th year, this event
features a Viking Village, folk dancing, choirs, marketplace, beer garden and a feast,
including Swedish meatballs, barbecued salmon and Danish smørrebrød.
June 21-22 | Scandinavian Community Centre
Tickets: $10 at scandinavianmidsummerfestival.com
Saturday
B.C. Highland Games
& Scottish Festival
Pin the kilt and kick it up at B.C.’s largest celebration of Scottish
culture, featuring Celtic folk groups and pipe bands, scores of
Highland dancers, heavy events competition (including the caber
toss), Scottish food, and more.
June 21 | Percy Perry Stadium
Tickets: $5-$15 at bchighlandgames.com
guy who is drumming in the
band, Todd Biffard, is my
go-to guy for gigs outside
the theatre world when I
play in my little rock combo
(the Smashed Hits). And
Jeff Gladstone’s on guitar,
and I often use him as a bass
player.
There are 20 songs in
Q
Red Rock Diner. How
many are you performing?
Save for a couple where
A
there’s a costume
change, I’m at least doing
backups on all of them.
Then the songs are divided
fairly equally among the
cast. If we’re not singing
lead, we’re singing backup
or doing some dancing. I
get to play guitar a couple
of times in the show. I also
get to brush up on my saxophone skills for one of the
numbers.
Last year you took
Q
the play Never Shoot a
Stampede Queen up to Haida
Gwaii.
What was really cool
are your dancing
A
about that is, they have
Q How
skills?
a very small arts council,
(laughs) They’re im- and a small budget up there
A
proving by the day. I so they can’t be bringing
don’t have any formal dance
June 20-22 | Creekside Community Centre and Concord Pacific Place; more info at dragonboatbc.ca
Make Music Vancouver
Multi-talented Zachary Stevenson will dance, act, sing, play
guitar and saxophone in the rock ’n’ rolling Red Rock Diner.
Starts Saturday
Heritage Vancouver Garden Tour
Experts at Heritage Vancouver curate a self-guided tour of 13 gardens, from soul-restoring personal sanctuaries, to wonderfully inventive Edens for entertaining and socializing.
There’s a sweet townhouse garden and a sprawling country estate to explore in neighbourhoods including Shaughnessy, Southlands, Dunbar, Point Grey and Kitsilano.
June 21-22, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. | Various venues
Tickets: $35 at heritagevancouver.org
I haven’t, save for Val
A
(Easton), the director,
she choreographs Buddy. And
Neil (Minor, one of the Red
Rock ensemble) and I did a
production of Assassins way
back in 2003, at the Waterfront Theatre stage. But the
a lot of productions up
there, especially large-scale
productions. Because it’s a
one-man show, and it was
basically just me and director TJ Dawe, who came up
and ran the show, it was
affordable for them. And it
was a refreshing experience
to get some theatre up there.
There’s a lot of northern
B.C. humour in there, too.
My only regret is we didn’t
have more down time for
exploring.
What are your plans
Q
after the summer run of
Red Rock Diner?
Sunday
Greek Day
Greeks are renowned for their passion and it’s what fuels the
great vibe of this block party — offering live music (traditional
folk and Greek pop), dance performances, rides for kids, and
a smorgasbord of souvlaki, roast lamb, spanakopita and loukoumades (mini doughnuts soaked in honey — ridiculously
good).
June 22, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. | West Broadway, from MacDonald to Blenheim Street
Free: more info at greekday.com
I’m not sure. My fall
A
plans are a little up in
the air. I fell in love with a
girl from Kansas City last
summer and I think I’m
going to spend some time
stateside. And I’m working
on a new one-man show, I’ve
written part of a draft, about
folksinger Phil Ochs. I’m a
huge, huge fan. People often
ask me if there’s a dream role
I’d like to play. I’d really like
to do a show about Phil Ochs
that does his story and music
justice. I think he’s an incredible writer.
H e wa s pa r t o f t h a t
Q
Greenwich Village folk
scene in the early ‘60s.
What did you think of Inside
Llewyn Davis, the movie last
year about that time and
place?
It was cool. I read Dave
A
Van Ronk’s book, The
Mayor of MacDougal Street
— the character was definitely inspired by Dave Van
Ronk. I thought it was a cool
little portrait of that scene,
especially capturing the music and esthetics of it. I find
Phil Ochs’ story more appealing. He arrived in 1962 right
when things were exploding
and anything felt possible.
He really got swept up in the
idea that people were ready to
hear songs with more political
depth, and that that was going
to grow into the mainstream
and they were going to be able
to reach a lot of people and
change the course of America
with their music. But slowly
and surely, the movement
kind of got crushed. And Phil
kind of went down with it.
He became very disillusioned
with it, when things went
more psychedelic and the
politics kind of dropped out
of it and the war just carried
on and on.