ess >>> CULTURE

What’s On Around Town (July 17 - August 14)

Tyler Bradford
Culture Editor

Concerts: Bean

All right all you Birkenstock racers, your time has
come. Get your blankets, sunscreen and aloe gel
ready and practice your hippie twirl dance as it’s
time for another year of the Vancouver Folk Music
Festival at Jericho Beach from July 19-21. Some
of the headlining acts for this year’s festival
include slide guitar ace Kelly Joe Phelps, folk
storyteller Utah Phillips, and the nutty Dan
Bern. Canadian content at this year’s festival
includes Stephen Fearing, Tegan & Sara, James
Keelaghan, as well as local favorites Veda Hille,
and Zubot & Dawson. There is a plethora of other
artists worth checking out too, but be warned: As
mentioned last issue, fiddler Oliver Schoer will be
playing the festival, so bring earplugs.

For you crazy skateboarders with nose rings
who are concerned about running into your mom
or aunt (or both) at the Folk Fest, perhaps a better
option would be the Warped Tour at Thunderbird
Stadium on the 19th. Tickets are $40, so | hope
you’ve been saving your lawn-mowing money, but
you get a multitude of punk acts so it’s well worth
it. Included on the bill are veteran punks Bad
Religion, NOFX and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones,
not to mention MXPX, Reel Big Fish, Lagwagon,
Useless ID and a tonne of other bands with kitschy
names. Tip of the day: To get hard liquor into this
show and past security, pour the contents of your
mickey into a Ziploc bag and tape it high on your
inner thigh. Your baggy shorts should cover it.

For you kids who are into the indie music scene
and like hanging out with record store clerks,
scrawny boys with thick glasses, and girls not like-
ly to put out until after the second month, forget
the second date, then Fireball Freakout July 25-27
at the Pic is the rock festival for you. Thursday
night includes performances by local ass-kickers
The Nasty On and Seattle’s Shake City, while
Friday features Alabama blues-rawkers The
Immortal Lee County Killers and Toronto’s
Shikasta. The festivities come to a smouldering
close on Saturday with local heroes John Ford and
from Kansas City, The Last of the V8s.
be square!

Fear not blues fans;
Blues Festival at De

Kelly Hunt and many more. Go and enjoy the one
day out of the year you can see blues in
Vancouver outside of the Yale.

If you, like the folks who live on Commercial
Drive, have devoted your life to covering the Lower
Mainland with “Stop Campbell” stickers, then
Under the Volcano August 11 at Cates Park is the
festival for you. The thirteenth annual
festival of art and social change features a myriad
of artists as well as ranters, er, speakers, and
workshops. No worries if you’re environmentally
conscious and can’t drive there, a shuttle will run
from the Broadway Skytrain station. Call
604.682.3269 for more info.

If all these multi-band festivals have got you
worn out and you want to be able to focus on one
(or at most two) band(s) per night, there are lots of
shows for you too. For the hip-hop crowd, New

York MC J-Live plays at the Purple Onion on July —

18 with People Under the Stairs, and Ugly
Duckling. Tickets are at the door so get there early.

Raunchy and raucous rockabilly storms the
Commodore July 19 for the smokin’ hot double bill
of Nashville Pussy and Reverend Horton Heat.
Pretty-boy David Usher (yes, the man with the
luxurious hair) plays a solo show at Atlantis (for-
merly Wett Bar). | can hear the girls fawning
already. After that, the old-timers looking to cash in
on past glory come out. Billy Idol lets out the rebel
yell at the Orpheum July 28, and Cher will pack
them into GM Place July 30. Boys, be warned:
Unless you're looking to pick up, don’t smile at
other guys in the washroom at this show. ~

One of the best songwriters of all time, John
Hiatt, plays a show at the Commodore August 5,
while the next big hype, The Vines, play Richards
on the same night. August 10 finds hot young
chanteuse Norah Jones at Sonar for an early
show. Finally, Questlove (of the Roots) & Ursula
Rucker double bill at the Purple Onion o

weird and unique films at The Blinding Light!!,
Pacific Cinematheque, and Criminal Cinema.
Check out:
www.blindinglight.com,
www.cinematheque.bc.ca
www.criminalcinema.com.

Theatre:

For those of you who like Shakespeare, Bard on
the Beach continues at Vanier Park this summer
with productions of Twelth Night, Henry V and
Cymbeline. Productions run until the end of the
summer. :

For a more campy performance be sure to check
out the rock phenomenon The Rocky Horror
Picture Show, on at the Arts Club Theatre until
August 31. Sorry folks, but please do NOT bring
rice and toast to throw.

Visual Arts:

At the Vancouver Art Gallery until September 15
is an exhibition of 56 paintings by Georgia
O'Keefe, Frida Kahlo and Emily Carr.

Comedy:

What's the deal with ticket prices? OK, so you
probably won’t hear that one come out of his
mouth, but Jerry Seinfeld brings his “noting the
obvious” shtick to the QE Theatre July 27. Tickets
start at $79 and go up to $125. Plus service
charges, of course.

For a cheaper comedy option, don’t miss out on
the Vancouver International Comedy Festival at
various venues around Vancouver from July 16 —
August 5 including free street performances from
1-3pm daily on Granville Island. For more i
604.257.0366.