Yaa us This Month in Rock: Snow Pop!

Chelsea Mushaluk, OP Musico

It’s that time of the year again: the holidays are over, school is starting back up, and so are the cross-continental rock tours. It’s a good time to take in as many shows as possible, because assignments and exams are always right around the corner. So take this list and stick it on your fridge, or write these shows down on the new “Smokin’ Hot Firefighters 2007” calendar you got for Christmas, because it’s looking like a good month for live music. :

Local indie pop is the order of the evening on January 12 at the Railway Club. The Awkward Stage, The Mohawk Lodge, Romance and the Choir Practice fill out the bill. The Awkward Stage is a great new live act, and The Mohawk Lodge is always pleasant. The last time I saw them they were performing at New Music Westin a strip club, so it'll be nice to see

them in a more comfortable venue. Three shows on January 18 are sure to delight and confuse you, as they’re all worth seeing,

Ghost House, another project of local music whiz Jesse Gander, plays the Media Club. From the reviews I’ve read of Departures, it comes highly recommended and worth checking out. One of my favourite bands is not coming to town this year, since they have been broken up for eight years. However, Pavement’s ex-front man is still going strong. This is why I will be at Richard’s on Richards on January 18 for Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. Former Sleater- Kinney drummer Janet Weiss is now on drums for the Jicks, which should be great. The third show for the night is happening at the Commodore. Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton will be playing with openers Tall Firs. I don’t really dig Metric of her solo stuff, but since ’m the only one I know who is of that opinion, chances are it'll be a pretty packed house that night. Now for something completely different: ska! The Skatomatics are at the Media Club on January 19 with The Dreadnoughts, The Furios, and The Set. Skank until your heart’s content, as ska shows here tend to be few and far between. If you aren’t a rude boy but still want to go

out on the 19, another all-local show is happening at the Pic Pub. It’s a Living Thing,

Jump+Dash, Huge Manatease and The National Shield promise a night of pop goodness. While some might point out that three out of four of these bands were losers at CiTR’s Shindig battle of the bands, they’re all winners to me!

Polysics are bringing their Devo-esque synth pop all the way from Japan to the Plaza on January 26. I was introduced to Polysics by way of their 2003 release New, and with albums like Hey! Bob! My Friend!, Polysics or Diel!!!, and their latest, Now Is the Time!, they have taken synth (and exclamation marks) to a whole new audience. Pitchfork called them “spastic digi-geek new

wave.” With a description like that, you can’t go wrong.

Other notable shows worth mentioning include Catlow with Amy Honey at the Railway on January 18, followed by a two night stint by The Buttless Chaps with The Fits at the Railway, The Paper Cranes at Limerick Junction on January 26, and some other stuff. Probably.

January promises everything from ska and synth to pop and more pop. This month should keep you busy and puts 2007 off to a great start for live music in Vancouver. Will it top 2006? Check back next month for another exciting installment of This Month in Rock. Next month’s topic? February!

Jenn Farrell’s sugar bush and other stories:

Print Futures Grad’s Not-So-Sweet Tales of Love, Sex, and Longing

Kate Lancaster, OP Contributor

Jenn Farrell, Print Futures grad of 2002 and former Other Press contributor, has just released her debut collection of short fiction, sugar bush and other stories. Published by Anvil Press, sugar bush is a sometimes shocking, sometimes sweet collection of coming of age stories that depict the lives of young women (and one young man) struggling to find both themselves and acceptance. They are all, in one way or another, damaged goods—their less- than-wise choices arising from desperation, loneliness, simple curiosity, or outright rebel- lion.

Some of the stories are semi-autobiograph- ical, based on friends Farrell has known and experiences she has had. Others are pure fic- tion. But in all the stories, Farrell exposes read- ers to the broad range of young women’s sex- ual and relational experiences. Sometimes these experiences take especially disturbing turns.

Farm Report is the story of a thirteen-year- old girl’s infatuation and subsequent “affair” with her girlfriend’s father. Not only does the girl not experience the sex as abuse, but when the man leaves her, she is heartbroken and wanting more. In writing this story, Farrell says she wanted to dispel the archetypes of villains and victims. ;

“Not every case of sexual abuse is cut and dried,” says Farrell.

Good Tenants reveals how a new mothet’s loneliness from being at home with baby leads

to an infatuation with a client of the prostitute upstairs. Dish Pig, the only story with a male protagonist, so accurately describes male ado- lescent lust that the throb of his hard-on puls- ing against his jeans is palpable. And On/y Game in Town elicits both sympathy and irritation for the naive “angel” who blithely allows a para- plegic to buy her beers all night and is shocked and disgusted when he wants something in return.

sugar bush doesn’t read like a first book. The writing is sharp, in-your-face, and as ripe as a sixteen-year-old cherry. Farrell’s economic prose flows so smoothly from languid begin- ning to turbulent end, and navigates each twist and turn of plot so subtly, that the often dis- turbing outcomes both shock and delight.

Calvin Wharton, author and creative writ- ing instructor at Douglas College, is a fan. “Like blues songs pushed through a metal screen, Jenn Farrell’s stories distill and reveal the sad humanity of her characters. You'll be glad you’ve read these tales, and relieved that you're not living them,” says Wharton.

Farrell is a two-time winner of the Vancouver Courier Fiction Contest, recipient of the 2001 Maclean-Hunter Endowment Award, a con- tributor to CBC radio, and a judge for the three-day novel contest sponsored by Book Television, Edmonton. And now she’s a pub- lished author — not bad for a self-described survivor of the pink-collar ghetto.

8 THE OTHER PRESS JANUARY 15 2007