crows to burnaby

I was in a Mexican restaurant last week, I think it's called Cilantro & Jalapeno. It's on Broadway between Willow and Heather. And they have a whole lot of Mexican candy there. I can't resist foreign candy - other nationalities come up with things for dessert that just boggle my mind and tease my palate.

So I had to pick up some Salsaghetti.

If you can't read it, it says "hot WATERMELON candy straws and TAMARIND sauce". It's meant to look like spaghetti and sauce, and it has a chicken on the front, oddly enough. The ingredients go on for five lines of small text and include almost nothing natural, but "chili powder" is one of those things.

It's, um, kind of vile.

I kept trying to decide whether the flavour was actually interesting, or intriguing, but eventually concluded that it was completely inedible and not a pleasant experience at all, and threw it out. But not before talking Greg into trying a bit:

Yeah.

But it won't stop me from trying some other bizarre concoction the next time I find one. I like to keep my taste buds guessing.

• I've been listening to the mastered version of the next ARCTIC album. After mixing the tracks, it's like you've got this nice woodworking project almost completed, and then mastering is like applying a very nice varnish that brings out all the colour and warmth in the wood and makes it look finished. One minor tweak to make, I think, plus we need the right ISRC codes (they sent us codes for videos instead of audio. Thanks.)
• Going on a road trip to Kelowna this weekend for a few solid days of rehearsals. Whee!!

I learned a few new things on Saturday night, working at the door of a relatively new gallery and performance space.

First of all, I was a little worried about Chapel Arts' location, right near Oppenheimer Park, in the heart of Vancouver's biggest problem: the drug-addled poverty zone known as the Downtown Eastside. Visitors to Vancouver who happen to wander into the area are generally horrified at the crowds of homeless, wandering the alleys, shooting up or smoking things that aren't really conducive to a long and healthy life.

The odd thing is that the DES is pretty safe to be in. It's very unlikely that anyone is going to attempt to mess with you. Someone might ask you for change, or a junkie might say something nonsensical that puts you off guard, but for the most part people are pretty polite. And there seems to be a real sense of community there, a sort of bonding through the strife. (Don't leave anything in your car, though.)

Still, it's not a neighbourhood that I have spent much time in, and I was afraid that working at the door would mean dealing with some hard cases. And it wasn't so at all. It was far more inviting and pleasant a location than, say, the door at the Lamplighter, and really a lovely place to be.

The Chapel itself is a converted funeral home. From its owner, I learned a few things about the restrictive permit policies of Vancouver City Hall and the staggering amount of waiting, bureaucracy and hassle involved in creating a venue like this. It made me understand a bit better why so many Vancouver venues close, and makes me wonder how many potential arts projects can never get off the ground because of these obstacles.

Most of the two stories of Chapel Arts is an art gallery, with everything from paintings to screenprinted shirts to the owner's own artisan furniture. The room with the stage can fit about 150 people. The whole place has a really nice vibe to it, pleasant and artsy. One fellow I talked to theorized that the art on the wall has a calming effect on people, and inspires them to behave in a different way than they would at a typical concert venue.

I also learned that Dan Mangan is a quite talented showman, who pretty much owned the entire audience. I couldn't watch the whole show, since the Chapel's entrance is in a separate room from the stage area, but I watched for a few minutes and you could hear a pin drop in that room. And people came out seemingly entranced as they drifted out the door into the rainy Downtown Eastside.

You should watch the Algorithm March.

Then after you're done watching that - and not a moment before - watch this version.

Okay, I've been preoccupied with other interesting things happening, plus I was away for a few days. And between that and the evils of Facebook, I haven't been able to come up with anything I've felt like blogging about.

So what do you want me to blog about? Ask me and I'll do it!

With the ridiculous amount of construction downtown, and all the condo developers taking over nice little neighbourhoods, and all the music venues vanishing from the area, and longstanding independent places squeezed out of town, I've often shaken my head and worried about what's happening to Vancouver. It looks like all the character, all the charm is getting spread further and further afield. Small businesses can't afford the rents downtown, only big brand names and big spenders. It's sad.

I started thinking about other cities. And how you don't go to midtown Manhattan for its character, you go there to work, or to visit a business, or other fairly straightforward goals. Midtown doesn't do quirky. So maybe downtown Vancouver won't either.

The difference is that midtown Manhattan doesn't pretend to be a great place to live. Yet we're trying to encourage people to live in these Vancouver condos that wipe out character building after character building - a whole lot of concrete boxes surrounded by... nothing particularly interesting.

What's going to happen when everybody has moved in to their shiny new buildings with the catchy one-word names, and they realize that there's nothing to do downtown any more?

• ARCTIC's song "Some One Turning" has been picked up for use in a Lifetime TV movie, "Too Young to Marry", featuring Nina Dobrev (from Degrassi), Dillon Casey, and Polly Draper (from thirtysomething).
• New ARCTIC is close, very close. We're fretting about track order. I know, I know, this is nearly pointless in the days of playlists and shuffle, but some people DO still listen to CDs beginning to end.
• I really enjoyed Shapes and Sizes at the Railway Club last week. There's a lot going on there musically, a lot of energy, and you can really tell how carefully they listen to each other and work together. A certain Arcade Fire-ness to them. The female singer's may be one of those love-it-or-hate-it qualities - I was fascinated by her singing live, but less so in the studio tracks they have online. I was quite impressed
• Something occurred to me while practicing in this newfound summertime heat. If you're an aspiring stage musician, you will also be a perspiring one. If you get used to playing in air-conditioned, well-lit spaces, you'll be a mess the first time you have to play in a dark, humid club. Practice playing in less-than-optimal environments. Your hands will get sweaty and sticky in the summer heat, and if you're a guitar player it'll change how fast your hands move on the strings. You may not be able to see your fretboard in the dark, so don't get in the habit of staring at it; practice with your eyes closed or with the lights off so you're not dependent on little lines.
• Going to an outdoor music festival this summer? Wear sunscreen, kids!

There's a lot of things I should be doing in my spare time, mostly related to ARCTIC happenings, also including some random webwork, and, oh, maybe stepping away from the computer once in a while.

BUT I CAN'T. STOP. PLAYING. THIS. GAME.

Psst - the secret is to click to make the hamster glide. If you can hit the springboards and rockets, you'll do really well.

But don't even TRY it if you want to, you know, ever get anything done ever again.