NEws 6 ‘The Heart of the City Festival Week of events taking place in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside Nicole Burton, News Editor The second annual Heart of the City Festival began last week, and will be run- ning through November 6 in Vancouver. While festivities are only for a week, there are over 70 different events being organ- ized, focused mainly on celebrating the art, culture and achievements of different com- munities in the Downtown Eastside- famous for its place as one of the poorest neighborhoods in all of Canada. Organized by the Carnegie Community Centre and the Vancouver Moving Theatre, a number of events are emphasizing differ- ent aspects of art and culture. Featured are a variety of theatre performances, music, and workshops in painting, music, and making decorative costumes. Many of these costumes, along with flowers, pifiatas, dancing, and music, will hit the streets this Wednesday in a parade to celebrate Latin America’s Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a feature event of the Festival. Heart of the City events that run through this week will be in our events sec- tion. JOU TOU Wednesday November 2, 2005, 11:15 am - Noon Strathcona Community Centre, Seniors Lounge, 601 Keefer Street Imagine Quebec, China, South America and Ireland sitting down for a session. That’s the remarkable sound of Jou Tou. In French, “joue-tout” means “play every- thing,” which is the philosophy of this group. As with the changing face of Canada, Jou Tou’s members come from wildly different backgrounds. Jou Tou takes the best from each musician’s heritage and blends the different traditions into a dra- matic fusion, which represents contempo- rary Global music with a truly Canadian sound. A special event for our Strathcona Seniors. All welcome. Free MULTICULTURAL STORYTELLING Wednesday November 2, 2005 2pm - 4pm Aboriginal Front Door, 384 Main The Aboriginal Front Door will once again host for the Festival an afternoon of story- telling by local people from diverse back- grounds. Last year’s event was by turns hilarious and moving, but always sincere. The Aboriginal Front Door is an accessible storefront that assists Downtown Eastside Aboriginal people to walk through life with love, honour, respect and compassion for all things in creation - including themselves. Ongoing activities at the Front Door include Elder Capacity Building, Healing Circles, Arts and Craft s and Drumming Circles. Free. DAY OF THE DEAD Procession, Mass & Celebration Wednesday November 2, 2005 5:30 - 9:30 pm St. James Anglican Church, 303 E. Cordova November 2 is All Souls’ Day and Dia De Los Muertos for Latin Americans. It is a day to honour departed souls with love, humour, music and pageantry. Everyone is invited to meet at 5:30 at the corner of Gore and Cordova to parade in honour of lives lost in this community. Bring masks, costumes, musical instruments, noisemak- ers, flowers and photographs. At 6:30, fol- lowing the procession, St. James Church will hold a Mass for the Dead, with choir and soloists, followed by a celebration in the church hall with pifiatas, traditional food, and performances by Isabel Ramirez, Alfredo Flores, capoeira dancers, and marimba music. Everybody Welcome. DJ MUSIC NIGHT Wednesday November 2, 2005 9 pm - mid- night Radio Station Café, 101 East Hastings/Live Broadcast CFRO FM 102.7FM Witness a spectacular event as tradition meets contemporary during an evening of celebration In the Heart of the City. Indigenous DJs and MCs jam along with acoustic and spoken word in an event that will have you up out of your seat and mov- ing to the beat. Pay as you can HEART OF THE CITY FESTIVAL MUSIC SHOWCASE Thursday November 3, 2005 9 pm - mid- night Radio Station Café, 101 East Hastings/Live Broadcast CFRO FM 102.7FM This is the second annual "Heart of the City" Festival, and this heart beats strong. Keep your ears open ’cause CFRO, the lit- tle radio station that could, will once again be airing LIVE Music. This years’ lineup will feature: Poco Locos, Alfredo Flores, Dave Botten, Heidi Morgan, Dean Obrol, Rick LaVallie, Stan Hudac, Mary Sue Bell, Dave Myers, The Heartland Hootenanny, Susi Hollmann, Peggy Wilson, and possible mystery performers. Ken Tabata is MC, with Mark Oakley on the soundboard. Stay tuned for all the skinny on this once-a-year Live Broadcast. Pay as you can THE SHADOWS PROJECT - Workshop Presentation & Roots of Addiction Forum Produced by Vancouver Moving Theatre with Carnegie Community Centre Friday November 4, 2005 8 pm and Saturday November 5, 2005 2 pm Russian Hall, 600 Campbell - see link for details FIRST FRIDAY FORUM Friday November 4, 2005 8 pm Japanese Hall, 487 Alexander Usually held at Nikkei Place in Burnaby, the Powell Street Festival and the Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall are pleased to present with Heart of the City Festival this monthly freeform exchange and musical program. In 2001, the National Nikkei Heritage Centre appointed Harry Aoki, recipient of the Asia-Pacific Foundation Heritage Award,' to initiate a cultural outreach pro- gram with the objective of sharing experi- ence and identity through the arts and dia- logue. Exploring how world music relates through the roots of ancient Persian tradi- tions, the panel will also delve into the phi- losophy that influences cultures, briefly examining past and present colonization. Pay as you can OUT OF THE RAIN: A Project for Homelessness Friday November 4, 2005, 7 pm - 11 pm Opening & Reception November 4 to 27, 2005 Gallery Gachet, 88 East Cordova Out of the Rain is a multi-faceted arts project in association with the Roundhouse, LIVE Performance Art Biennial, the Heart of the City Festival, Judith Marcuse Projects’ Earth(lings) Festival, and the Vancouver International Writers (& Readers) Festival. The visual arts exhibitions create awareness about the root causes of homelessness in Vancouver and raises funds to benefit peo- ple living on the street. www.outoftherain.org OUT OF THE STORM Friday November 4, 2005, 10 pm Performance Gallery Gachet, 88 East Cordova Gallery Gachet presents a lyric video per- formance by local (street-informed) youth artists.