Cats in East Vancouver, May 24, 2012. Robyn Hanson photo
My girlfriend took this photo on the way out of my building on East 2nd Ave near Commercial last night around 6 p.m. This is in the backyard of the punk rock house next door. The grey furball is my cat, Max; the other two are neighbourhood felines. There’s something going on, though I’m not sure what; no wonder he was so eager to go outside.
Grandview Cut in Vancouver, May 12 2012. Photo by Bill Campbell.
My gal and I were walking along Woodland Saturday evening when we came a cross a photographer setting up his camera for some shots of the sunset from the Grandview Cut overpass. We stopped to chat and I asked him to send a few of the pics. His name is Bill Campbell and these are the absolutely gorgeous photos he sent.
Grandview Cut in Vancouver. Photo by Bill Campbell.
Vancouver Craft Beer Week Belgian Beer Showcase at Biercraft on Commercial 2011. Robyn Hanson photo
I recently wrote a preview for the third annual Vancouver Craft Beer Week, which begins this Friday (May 18). I had a blast at the events I went to last year – an American beer expo at the armoury downtown and a Belgian showcase at Biercraft on Commercial – and from the looks of this year’s lineup, there’s lots of great events coming up. I’m especially excited about Portland Craft, a new bar opening up during the festival. It features only Oregon brews on tap.
Anyway, usually a piece like this should probably only run 5 – 600 words, especially for the pay rate, which barely covers the cost of the ticket I bought for one of the events during my research. But I got carried away…
From BCLiving.ca (posted May 14 2012):
Imerse yourself in the wonderful world of beer at Vancouver’s Third Annual Craft Beer Week May 18-26
If you haven’t started drinking craft beer, here’s a word of advice: don’t.
Because if you do, you might find yourself sniffing the air at bars and informing people, “The tap selection here isn’t fit for swine.” Party invitations will stop coming because you can’t stop talking about hoppiness and barley notes. You’ll find yourself standing in front of the beer fridge at specialty liquor stores, looking for that perfect magical elixir among the selection of newly arrived small-craft brews that seems to grow every week.
However, if you’re already at this point – or if you don’t mind ostracizing yourself from your circle of PBR-swilling friends – then welcome to third annual Vancouver Craft Beer Week.
Read more at BCLiving.ca.
Vancouver Craft Beer Week Belgian Beer Showcase at Biercraft on Commercial 2011. Robyn Hanson photo
The Payola$’ No Stranger to Danger (1982).
I had this album in the mid-eighties; I think I might’ve been late to The Payola$, and that maybe the band’s “Eyes of a Stranger” – ubiquitous thanks to the video, and MuchMusic’s need for Canadian content in its early days – had already been a hit.
Anyway, that wasn’t the song I liked on No Stranger to Danger, which was the Vancouver group’s second full-length. The opening track “Romance” is a killer, and “Some Old Song” and “Youth” still get my blood flowing, if just a little.
Video – The Payola$, “Romance”:
Growing up, I was a sucker for singer/lyricist Paul Hyde‘s jaded romanticism on songs like “Rose” (about a junkie) and “Hastings Street” (about a junkie). I have to laugh now, looking back on the 18 or 19-year-old me, listening to “Hastings Street” and not knowing a thing about the street outside of the song. Now, of course, having lived in Vancouver for decades, Hastings Street is part of the landscape, like the mountains and Telus Science World.
Getting back to The Payola$: one of their shows in Winnipeg – at the Centennial Concert Theatre, if memory serves – was one of the first times I got backstage, I think because I’d written a story on the band for my community college rag. I remember for some reason asking Hyde about the future of the band, and him saying something about the group having to make some money soon or they would go “tits-up.” It was the first time I’d ever heard the term (Hyde would’ve been 10 years old than me, probably 29 or 30).
There were a lot of interesting things about The Payola$; they weren’t punk and they weren’t quite new wave, either. No Stranger to Danger has ’80s production but the songs hold up. The Clash was obviously a huge influence – The Payola$ too dabbled with reggae and ska. The band’s creative engine was comprised of schoolboy chums Hyde, a British emigré, and Bob Rock, originally from Winnipeg. In the ’90s and beyond, Rock would become a sought-after producer (Bon Jovi, Metallica, Aerosmith), but No Stranger to Danger was produced by Mick Ronson.
Ronson is a whole other story – he was David Bowie‘s guitarist for awhile and formed Mott the Hoople with Ian Hunter. Ronson continued to play with Hunter during the latter’s solo career, although probably around the time of No Stranger to Danger, The Clash’s Joe Strummer and Mick Jones were producing Hunter’s Short Back n’ Sides album. Full circle.
The Payola$ recorded a third record, 1983′s Hammer on a Drum, which featured the hit “Never Said I Loved You”, a duet with Rough Trade’s Carol Pope (and now we’re really heading down the rabbit hole of ’80s Canadiana). I think “Where is This Love” might also have been a hit on Canadian radio and MuchMusic. My favourite songs on the album were both on the second side, however; “Christmas is Coming” is another Hyde-ian junkie’s lament and an unjustly forgotten Christmas anthem, and record-closer “People Who Have Great Lives” is a joyous, life-loving rocker.
Eventually the band devolved into Paul Hyde and The Payola$ and then just Rock and Hyde for the 1987 album Under the Volcano. That record too had some memorable songs, though, including “Dirty Water”, “The Blind the Deaf and the Lame” and another of my favourite Hyde/Rock rockers, “Middle of the Night”.
Since then, the duo have only released one seven-song EP, 2007′s Langford Part One (named after the Vancouver Island community where Hyde and Rock grew up). Alas rock ‘n’ roll can be cruel and I guess there wasn’t enough of a demand for a Part Two. Rock ‘n’ roll also never forgets, though, and I hope this little tribute will encourage some people to check out The Payola$. And for those who remember, please share any Payola$ tidbits you might have in the comments section.
Last weekend, I wrote a blog post about buying a cheap science fiction paperback (Destiny Doll by Clifford D. Simak) off a guy selling books outside my neighbourhood liquor store. The guy had a huge selection of SF paperbacks and I regretted not taking a photo then. So yesterday the same dude – I think his name is Ritchie – had his wares out once again so I snapped these pics.
Nicky Ninedoors at the Rio Theatre, May 3 2012. Cameron Brown photo
- photos by Cameron Brown
Last night was the third and final showcase performance for the 2012 Vancouver International Burlesque Festival (although there is a VIBFA members-only pyjama party tonight).
Dancer/performer Nicky Ninedoors supplied us with a list of performers. They are, in chronological order: Betsey Bottom Dollar, Bunny Bee, Cheesecake Burlesque (Rocky Horror Picture Show tribute), Spooksy DeLune and the Cabaret Du Passe (including Cameo LeCrock and Candy Curves), Burgundy Brixx (on the Rolls Royce), Alyssa Kitt (sexy knees girl), Capitol City Burlesque (space!), Cherry On Top (the phoenix), Dapper Dan and Via Rose (The Magic Flute), Judith Stein (an honoree in the Burlesque Hall of Fame), Capitol City Burlesque (the apples), Persephone Illyri (purple fan dance), Indigo Blue (the chartreuse fan dance).
You can also see the pics at Cameron Brown’s site.
I was so befuddled after my last call to a laser eye surgery facility that I dropped the idea entirely for the last two weeks. I began thinking, after London Eye Centre‘s hard-sell of their ultra-expensive ($2,000 per eye) Intralase procedure – “We don’t even do lasik,” scoffed their rep – that if I didn’t do it up right, i.e. spend the extra $1,000 per eye, I might as well just bite the bullet and get a quality pair of glasses.
However, the idea of another pair of glasses isn’t as attractive as putting an end to the need for glasses once and for all. So today I called up yet another eye surgery centre in Vancouver, Coal Harbour Eye Centre, and made an appointment for another consultation (my third). I’m back to thinking about getting the basic lasik procedure; the healing time is faster than PRK, although it does leave your eyes permanently drier. Coal Harbour offers both procedures for the same price though, with no hidden fees (as far as I could tell – unlike Lasik MD). I also liked that Marty, their “consultant” (what the receptionist called him), said I couldn’t wear contacts for five days before the consultancy. This made me think they might do a bit of a more thorough job of measuring and testing my eyes than in previous consultancies, where I got the idea I could’ve jabbed carrots in my orbs before the tests and no one would’ve cared/noticed.
Dr. Steven might operate on my eyeballs!
The appointment is next Thursday a.m. I hope to finally come to a decision soon after… these Internet-ordered glasses suck!
Some charges have been announced in the June 2011 hockey riot in Vancouver, and now the riot has a sex symbol: Alicia Price.
Alicia Price is being charged in the 2011 Vancouver hockey riot.
Okay, maybe she’s not the hockey riot’s sex symbol… yet. But just you wait. We can just see the Playboy cover: Hotties of the Vancouver Hockey Riot! Likes: Hugs, the Sedin twins, smashing in windows.
We hope to bring you more pics and info on Alicia in the days and weeks to come, as the 2011 Vancouver hockey riot continues to the media story that gives and gives some more.
Watch this space for our exclusive “Free Alicia Price!” T-shirts, coming soon.
London Eye Centre homepage screengrab
A friend recommended London Eye Centre. Apparently the clinic is one of, if not the, pioneering laser eye surgery outfits in Vancouver. They’ve been cutting up corneas since 1985 and, according to one of their employees, Mike, the clinic’s surgeons have performed over 100,000 operations.
So their bona fides are certainly in place. Problem – unlike most other clinics, LEC doesn’t offer Lasik. Instead, IntraLase SBK is a non-invasive (i.e. no cutting) alternative that also happens to be twice as much as many of the prices (averaging about $1000 per eye) for Lasik I’ve come across.
London Eye Centre – two locations in the Lower Mainland, including a newer facility in North Vancouver and the original in New Westminster – also performs PRK, for about $500 less per eye (which is on parr with most other PRK prices). PRK takes longer to heal, but is also a non-invasive procedure.
When asked about the advantages of IntraLase over Lasik Mike, who works in the education department of the Centre, mentioned a few, such as:
- it doesn’t weaken the cornea, as occurs with cutting
- the laser makes a far cleaner flap, one that “locks back into place like the lid of a pumpkin” (Mike’s words)
- there is no dry-eye syndrome – the eyes produce as many tears and as much moisture as previously
- the procedure is as non-invasive as PRK and the healing is as fast as Lasik
- according to Mike, less than one per cent of patients have to come back for re-treatment. Although I do believe this procedure is still relatively new, so it might be too early to tell.
The overall feeling I got from London Eye Centre and its representative was one of cockiness. “We’re not even going to compare our prices with procedures that were out of date years ago,” Mike said at one point. Well excuse me…
Another thing that gives me pause: when I threw the question of where to go out onto Twitter, someone wrote that they’d gone to London Eye Centre and has had to have surgery four times in the last 10 years. “They say I’m a unique case. Heal too fast and get a scar tissue buildup on the cornea, creating a haze. Fed up. Back to glasses,” wrote @WeHuntBuffalo.
Still it’s in my top three… although I’m not sure what the other two might be.
Laser eye surgery is a big step. When, towards the beginning of Nov of this year, I decided to have my eyes done, I went in for a consultation with the first place recommended by a friend. Although I liked the facility I still wanted to do my due diligence and check out some other clinics and surgeons. The more I researched the more confused I became, however; it seems like every clinic offers different treatments (or the same treatments with different names) and different pricing structures, some with hidden costs. This is part two of a series in which I share my experience of trying to find the right treatment and clinic for my operation.
I just got off the phone with Pacific Laser Eye Centre, recommended by someone on Twitter. Although I’ve found that most laser eye clinics in Vancouver post their fees on their websites, this place (located at 1401 W. Broadway) doesn’t. When asked why, the receptionist said, “We just don’t”, but that the price “ranges from $1500 – $2050.” The cost, she said, depends on the patient’s prescription.
I hadn’t heard this one before. Most clinics’ websites do post their fees, which at least gives the person considering laser eye surgery a starting point. Nor is there a breakdown of the kinds of treatments offered. And, to be totally nitpicky, I didn’t like their homepage, from the too-large font to the choice of images:
Pacific Laser Eye Centre homepage. Is it wrong to dismiss an eye surgery clinic because of its website?
Is it wrong to cross a place off my list of potential clinics because I don’t like their website? Well, maybe not, but I also don’t like that their fees aren’t posted. I also have a mistrust of anything that comes up first on Google (i.e., the Nickelback syndrome; anything that popular can’t be good), as does PLEC.
So far I’ve had two consultations. The first was with Lasik MD. Now, this is a company whose W. Georgia St. locale is more like a spa than a clinic, with a spacious waiting room with TVs and free cookies and someone whose sole purpose seems to walk around talking to potential customers, er, patients, about laser eye surgery. During this consultation, I talked to no less than four different people, including a technician and an optometrist to measure and test my eyes, and someone behind a desk to discuss pricing, what to expect and scheduling.
Although I left feeling confident that Lasik could do a decent job, the consultation also felt kind of assembly line-like. And I didn’t like the upsell; after the initial cost (around $2000) they wanted another $300 for five years of annual appointments (the money would theoretically also cover any additional work that needed to be done). Lasik MD is also a franchise, which might make you feel better or worse about doing business with them; also, I didn’t like the fact that you don’t actually meet the surgeon doing the operation until the day of the operation (unlike the other place I went to for a consultation, which I’ll get to in a sec).
As for their homepage, well:
Lasik MD homepage screenshot. Kind of Dollar Store, no?
The other consultation was with Boydvision in Burnaby. Compared to the luxury sanatorium feel of Lasik MD, Boydvision seems like a mom-and-pop operation – indeed, the daughter of one of the receptionists also works there. Although it offers no fancy waiting room and is kind of hard to locate (it has a Kingsway address but is accessible by a parallel street, Bennett), I did like the fact that the person who tested my eyes, Dr. Boyd himself, was also the person who would perform the surgery. He also explained which treatment was best for my eyes and why; a treatment that can reduce the need for reading glasses – “laser blended vision correction”, which I was interested in but which costs $500 per eye more – probably wouldn’t do me much good, he said.
I also liked the fact that Boydvision offers just one lasik procedure (some clinics offer “standard” and “wavefront” at different prices). Nor did they try to sell me a post-op package, a la Lasik MD; any work for 18 months following the operation would be on the house, and anything necessary after that would be a flat $350 (or about the cost of the package Lasik MD tried to sell me, but which might not even be necessary).
And, in the interests of fairness... the Boydvision homepage.
I probably would have gone with Boydvisionbut for the fact that the company they use for financing took one look at my finances and went, “See ya later.”
Next: I look into two more laser eye clinics in Vancouver.
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